1 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — AFTERNOON
Contrary to normal practice, scenes are numbered throughout.
This is for reference: the action in a scene often refers
back, quoting action in other scenes, through a monitor or
screen.
David sits on a chair against a white wall.
DAVID
Who am I? I’m the guy with the
camera. No, scrub that. I was
the guy with the camera… the
camera, which is now sitting, locked-
off on its legs, maybe a metre
away from my face. I’m slightly
soft? out of focus? Sorry. I didn’t
have a sitter for this. See, I
didn’t plan this. I didn’t plan
any of this.
(Pause)
I’d like to speak plainly about
where I see the limits of my
responsibility. Finally, I’d like
to set limits on my responsibility.
If this seems a bit rushed, it’s
because I don’t imagine I’ve much
time before I’m taken away for
questioning.
(Pause)
This tape will be marked Tape 1.
The other tapes I’ve done my best
to get into some sort of order –
shape. I mean I’ve edited as I’ve
gone along. But, as I say, I didn’t
plan any of this, so you – whoever
you are… And I think I know,
although I didn’t when I began…
(Pause)
You will see something that’s taken
form, been shaped and polished as
it’s come to light. Like those
blind men describing an elephant,
feeling their way, gaining more
idea of what they’re dealing with
as they proceed – prodding and
poking around. Until the animal’s
so enraged it turns and tramples
them! It’s still an elephant: do
you want to hold the blind
responsible? Or like the sculptor,
working on a pebble, who finds
it’s a whole mountainside – only
because it’s falling on top of
him, in a slow-motion avalanche.
And he’s thinking, one more pebble,
one more little cut, one more death.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
2.
DAVID (CONT’D)
I don’t mind saying the whole
thing’s fallen on my head. But I’m
just the camera. What choice did I
have? I had to do it. And what
choice have I got now? Other than
to make whatever responsibility or
guilt may be imputed to me part of
the work? – to finish it that way
by beginning like this: here I am,
trampled. Buried. And part of it.
Obviously.
(Pause)
I’m here on Tape 1 so you won’t
have to go looking for me elsewhere.
And don’t go thinking I’m living
proof that any of this even
happened, because I’m not. Living
proof. As soon as I get through
with this, this – I’ll be destroying
the raw footage. As soon as you
see me shift position slightly, to
punch the remote, like this.
He shifts position.
DAVID (CONT’D)
Now you won’t find me no matter
how hard you dig, dig, dig. Call
it vanity, if you want. Selfishness.
But where’s your evidence? You
won’t find a return address. You
won’t even have a name. Not one
name. I’ve made sure of that.
(Pause)
I would like to think I’m leaving
behind, for you to judge and for
whatever posterity may follow, a
work that is only now complete –
now I’ve said all that. You know,
here on the inside, the work’s all
that matters. And I’d like to think
that this process, this project,
this ordeal, has made me the film-
maker I set out to be…
(Pause)
He shifts, preparing to stop the camera.
DAVID (CONT’D)
But it hasn’t: I’m not. It has
effaced me. Destroyed me. I am
not. Now. See?
He stops the camera by remote.
2 INT. CAFE — DAY
We enter a crowded cafe.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
3.
Music.
People sneaking glances at the camera, then trying to ignore
it.
Barrista down the bar to Dishpig in the background. Dishpig
approaches, wiping hands on teatowel.
DISHPIG
Hello! Hello! What are you doing?
DAVID (O.S.)
Just shooting some stuff…
DISHPIG
It’s normally polite to fucking
ask!
DAVID (O.S.)
I’m sorry I thought it would be OK
if I…
DISHPIG
You could ask first… You still
rolling?
David lowers the visual frame.
DISHPIG (CONT’D)
It’s just fucking polite, isn’t
it. … Is this for commercial,
private or educational purposes?
If it’s commercial we charge a
location fee. If it’s private you
talk to me or one of the staff
first. If it’s a school project or
tech or whatever, we arrange a
convenient time when it’s not going
to get in people’s faces. Have a
bit of fucking consideration. You
ask or you fuck off.
DAVID (O.S.)
I’m sorry. I didn’t think anyone
would mind. It’s a new camera and
I wanted to see if…
DISHPIG
What? To see what? If it works?
That’s fucking ridiculous!
(Looks at camera)
What is it?
The camera swings around as Dishpig inspects it.
DISHPIG (CONT’D)
Nice. … May I?
(Takes camera and
shoulders it)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
4.
Pan down bar, faces in mirror, Barrista carrying coffees.
DISHPIG (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Nice balance.
BARRISTA
(Making a face)
If you want to keep your day job I
suggest you take these coffees up.
DISHPIG (O.S.)
Who’re they for?
BARRISTA
Seven. Fucking take them would
you!
DAVID (TO BARRISTA) (O.S.)
Do you mind if I do some shooting
in here. I’ll be discreet.
BARRISTA
No you can’t.
(To DISHPIG)
Take the muthafuckin coffees,
muthafucka!
(To DAVID)
What’s it for?
DAVID (O.S.)
I’ll take the coffees if you want.
BARRISTA
Are you insane?! This is a highly
specialised operation!
DAVID (O.S.)
May I have my camera back please?
DISHPIG (O.S.)
No.
BARRISTA
Give the camera back!
DISHPIG (O.S.)
But I like it.
BARRISTA
Drop the camera!
DAVID (O.S.)
No!!!
Smooth pan down bar follows Barrista to machine. One face
in particular follows movement from the bar: it’s Paul.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
5.
DAVID (O.S.) (CONT’D)
(To BARRISTA)
Do you really mind if I film in
here? … It’s only for my own
private …
BARRISTA
Well just show a bit of
consideration for the customers
would you. And you fucking ask
first, alright? … And you order
something.
DAVID (O.S.)
Short…No. Long…
BARRISTA
(Moving on to other
customers)
Yeah, yeah.
David turns to Lydia standing behind him.
LYDIA
Excuse me, camera guy…
DAVID (O.S.)
Yeah?
LYDIA
Do you know what you’re doing? I
mean…
BARRISTA
Yeah, blocking the fucking way!
LYDIA
No. No. I mean, you know, filming
stuff; I mean, are you, do you –
is this what you do?
David frames up Lydia, holds the shot.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
I mean, do you come here often?
(Laughs nervously)
I mean, you don’t come here often,
do you. Do you? I haven’t seen
you before. I’d have noticed. …
No. I don’t mean that. I mean,
with that.
(Gestures at camera)
I’d have noticed that. … Have
you been, um, filming long? Are
you good at it? I mean, what you
do…? You know, it could be just
a hobby. For all I know you could
be one of those pricks with rich
parents, right?
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
6.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
I don’t mean to be rude but… I
don’t mean to be rude but it could
be important… not either way
but, for you, if, you know, you
could undertake seriously to do
this, um, filming, I mean as a
full time thing… if you’re any
good at it, I mean. But if it’s
just a hobby then I’m wasting my
time. Am I wasting my time?
Pause.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
You don’t need to reach a decision
now. I mean, it could be important
for you. But it’s up to you. You’re
either a dilettante or you’re in
the service of human kind, you
know?
She hands David a card, flashing white.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
Anyway. I’ll leave this with you.
I’ll leave it up to you… Oh. And
sorry for the intrusion. Sorry for
intruding on whatever it is
you’re…
(Gestures towards
frame)
I’m Lydia.
(Down the barrel)
That was Lydia.
3 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — LATER
360 PAN OF ROOM.
Paul’s house is a large room with no windows, a door leading
out to a hallway, down which is Paul’s bedroom.
A kitchen set up at one end, sofas, cushions on the floor,
a dining table, rugs.
Dispersed about room sit people in casual dress. Standing
in the foreground, the rough kitchen behind him, a man
with faded jeans, glasses, a friendly open face, smiling.
This is Paul, seen at the bar of the cafe.
Everyone, including Lydia, who sits at the table, is
motionless.
WIDE ON LUKE, PETER, LYDIA, JANE, TOSH.
At the end of the movement, not knowing where to go, David
points the camera at the grouping on the sofas, the faces.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
7.
The faces turn to the voice, Paul, as he begins talking.
PAUL (O.S.)
Thanks.
(Pause)
Did you get everyone?
(Short pause)
You obviously know what you’re
doing.
(Pause)
Not everybody lives here. But…
In case you’re wondering. But I
invited them here.
(Short pause)
Not really so you could meet them.
Rather so they could meet you.
And…
(Pause)
And so that… Well, for your sake
and mine, really. So that when I
asked you to shoot some footage,
of the interior, and of me…
MEDIUM ON PAUL.
PAUL (CONT’D)
I wouldn’t look like some bizarre
sort of egoist or narcissist or…
And I had to ask… I thought it
important to have witnesses. No.
No, they’re not brainwashed or
anything – just normal ordinary
people.
Laughter from background.
PAUL (CONT’D)
And I could appear paranoid, if I
had a written contract, for you to
sign, or… what. Naturally I would
like our understanding to be
completely… reciprocal. So, no
paperwork! A verbal agreement? Now
you don’t know me. But everything
looks completely normal, doesn’t
it?
PETER (O.S.)
I think you’re going overboard on
the whole “normal” thing.
PAUL
(Smiling more broadly)
Which is odd!
(Short pause)
But take it or leave it: there it
lies in your eyes. … I would
like you to film me. Not like
reality TV or anything, not twenty-
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
8.
PAUL (CONT’D)
four seven: no shameless intimacies.
More or less on call but also at
your discretion – we have to go on
talking if this agreement is going
to work. I think nice objective
shooting. Like now, I suppose.
You’re not going to be in any
danger. That I can guarantee. The
risk and the source, I suspect, of
the mild embarrassment I’m
experiencing now, is in the nature
of the question… will you?
(Pause)
You will be on commission. After
all, this is work. I’m treating
this, and I expect you to treat it
also, as a professional engagement.
So… you’re mobile – that’s good.
You have a car – that’s good.
Certain expenses either Lydia or I
can take care of but I don’t want
to be too concerned about that, do
you?
(Pause)
Is there anything further you wish
to have brought to this agreement?
PETER
Property. And release.
PAUL
A dangerous issue. For my part I
would like to think that our images
could remain the property of the
company assembled here, including…
He gestures towards the camera, then looking around for
assent:
PAUL (CONT’D)
… yes?
LYDIA
All of us?
PETER
Yes.
PAUL
These are the tenets of community:
common rights and property.
LYDIA
So you mean Lydia is “Lydia Howe
of Howe Street”?
PETER
No.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
9.
JANE
You are you…
LUKE
I I am
PETER
But your electronic double is owned
by all of us.
(To PAUL)
I thought it was common rights of
property or to property?
PAUL
Held in common.
LYDIA
I might be exploited!
PAUL
Trust.
JANE
Nobody’s going to exploit you.
LUKE (TO PAUL)
You never get anything out of
Trusts.
LYDIA
I might want to be exploited!
LUKE
They tie everything up in legal
paraphernalia…
PAUL (TO LUKE)
All the more reason to trust in a
verbal agreement, to keep it simple.
LYDIA
(Indicating DAVID)
What about him?
PAUL (TO LYDIA)
David?
LYDIA
What controls do we have on him, I
mean, what controls do we have on
his…
LUKE
Dissemination.
LYDIA
I mean – David blank, blankety-
blank – blank – where’s his
“electronic double”?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
10.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
PETER (TO LYDIA)
Are you worried he might exploit
you?
LYDIA
Not me.
JANE (TO PETER)
It’s possible.
TOSH
With her?!
JANE
All of us.
LUKE
Anybody.
JANE (TO LUKE)
No.
PETER (TO LUKE)
We’re the ones making the
agreement…
LYDIA (TO TOSH)
No need to be unkind.
TOSH
Oh, you were talking sexual
exploitation, I thought you were
talking economic exploitation.
LUKE (TO JANE AND PETER)
It’s true. You’re simply walking
down the street, going about your
usual business – you’re anybody –
when BAM: grand theft identity,
your image – lifted, by kids with
camcorders, banks and all the little
brothers in the surveillance racket.
LYDIA
(Ignoring TOSH)
That’s what I mean, I mean, don’t
we need some commitment from this
guy…
PAUL
David.
LYDIA
Whatever. … that he’s doing the,
you know, doing the… you know
what I mean!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
11.
TOSH (TO DAVID)
Exploit her. Please. The talent’s
there.
JANE (O.S.)
Shut up, Tosh!
TOSH
It’s supremely well-hidden, that’s
all.
LYDIA
We’re like willing subjects…
TOSH
Some more willing than others.
PAUL
No. I’m the subject.
PETER
No. You’ve called us all here for
a reason and if ownership rests
with all of us, including this
guy…
PAUL
David.
PETER
… of whatever David does with
this…
(indicating surrounds)
Then we all have a responsibility.
And that’s no small thing.
(To PAUL)
You put yourself on the line and
the way things play out – if they
continue to play the way they have
been – you’re potentially asking
us to sign up to the rights on a
snuff movie!
PAUL
No signing. No contracts. I’m asking
you all to bear witness to an
agreement into which I willingly
enter.
LUKE
With the devil.
PAUL
David.
JANE
Better the devil you know, Luke,
than all the little devils on your
streets of sin!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
12.
PAUL
You may or may not wish to attest
to the soundness of my decision or
to my soundness of mind at the
time of making this choice or to
my general photogenic qualities
but really the only person who has
the right to question it is…
(indicating DAVID)
LYDIA
David.
PAUL
Yes.
Silence.
CLOSE ON TOSH, PETER, JANE, LYDIA, LUKE.
David searches in the faces of those in the room for an
answer.
TOSH (O.S.)
It’s not a snuff movie…
WIDE ON TOSH.
TOSH (CONT’D)
Unless somebody stands to make
money out of it.
LYDIA
David!
JANE (TO TOSH)
That’s the most profoundly stupid
thing I’ve heard today.
PETER
Under Paul’s terms we all stand to
make money out of it.
JANE
I can’t stand this!
PETER
We are all accomplices.
LUKE
Unless nobody dies.
Silence.
ON JANE.
JANE (TO DAVID)
David, turn it off.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
13.
DAVID (O.S.)
Why?
JANE (TO DAVID)
You can’t be serious!
LUKE (TO PAUL) (O.S.)
That would be a question, Paul.
JANE
Because I don’t like it. Because I
don’t like games. Because I have a
little bit more respect for…
PETER (TO JANE)
For what, Jane?
JANE
For myself! Is that what you want
to hear?
TOSH
Come on, Jane! Where’s your PR
shtick now? Where’s your chutzpah?
JANE
And if none of you have any self-
respect, I’m quite willing to show
it on your behalf!
Jane stands in front of camera.
LUKE
If I’m not mistaken, the question
David wishes to ask, Paul, the
amendment he wishes to make to the
agreement, is Why…
TOSH
Not.
PETER
In answer to the demand that he
turn it off.
Jane turns from David and the camera.
JANE
My demand!
LUKE (TO DAVID)
Is that your only question?
David assents, off.
LYDIA
What does that mean?
TOSH
Why not?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
14.
Jane goes to Paul.
JANE
Paul, be sensible. What are you
asking us to do here?
LUKE (TO PETER)
Do you have a problem with that?
PETER
No.
LUKE
I don’t have a problem with that.
What’s he asking you, Jane? What’s
he asking you to do?
PAUL (TO JANE)
I appreciate it but you don’t have
to be so protective.
LUKE
Tosh?
TOSH
Why not?
Luke looks at Lydia.
LYDIA
I believe in Paul, I mean, what he
wants to do is OK. It should be
OK, Jane.
JANE
I’m feeling a bit used, a bit raped –
no, that’s not the right word – a
bit bruised: like it’s my personal
integrity on the line; like you’re
putting my personal integrity on
the line, Paul. David?
(To PAUL)
What do you want? What do you want
me to say?
PAUL
I’m sorry, I should’ve expected
this. I shouldn’t have expected
this to be easy, after what I’ve
put you all through over the last
six months…
LYDIA
It’s not your fault.
TOSH (TO LYDIA)
Why not?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
15.
PAUL
But I felt I owed it to all of you
to engage a little more pro-actively
with, well, with this…
(Holds his head,
still smiling.)
Of course, if you thought I was
going insane or I was insane before,
then this…
(indicates DAVID)
Of course, must seem like more
insanity. But I thought you might
be relieved I was taking my
situation seriously and at least I
was sharing with you, that at least
I was involving those who are close
to me, you who have seen, heard
and felt, who have already been,
involuntarily, involved from the
beginning; so that you might lend
your affirmation to what I have
confirmed for myself, that this is
a remedial step, a step towards an
answer, however unwelcome, mundane
or frightening that answer or
however absolute that cure might
turn out to be.
(To TOSH)
My fault.
PETER
You’re free to do what you want
just so long as you don’t hurt
anyone. Or yourself…?
(Pause)
Unfortunately that isn’t the world
we live in, not that I like to be
the one to point it out. Whether
it’s all real or it’s not real…
LUKE
What’s real, Pete?
TOSH
Quiet! Pete’s going to tell us.
Make it real, Pete.
PETER
That’s my point: what you can’t
see. My point is, whether it’s all
real or it’s not real…
(to PAUL)
You’ve asked us to be in a room
with this ‘I am a camera’ guy and
that in itself has value because
you’ve given that a value and we’ve
attested to that value by agreeing
to being here. Paul, I’m afraid of
agreeing to the consequence of
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
16.
PETER (CONT’D)
having to prove something whose
value we cannot immediately attest
to, because all we can say about
it is that it is real or it is not
real. I’m comfortable with what I
can’t see. And I think we’re
consensually afraid of what happens
next – for your sake.
TOSH
That was real, Pete. But what
happens next happens.
PAUL
Yes.
(To DAVID)
What are you doing? Don’t…
David turns off the camera.
BLACK.
4 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
People have rearranged themselves.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
Clear now?
Pause.
PAN AROUND ROOM.
LYDIA
I don’t know.
TOSH
What?
LYDIA
It doesn’t seem like a very
reliable, you know, very reliable
at the technological level.
TOSH
Shit on the lens. You get shit on
the lens.
PETER
A moth – anything.
LUKE
Noise.
JANE
A moth? Paul, you’re putting your
life in the hands of a moth?
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
17.
JANE (CONT’D)
It makes me feel vulnerable. I
feel vulnerable and I’m not even
the… It’s like the train story
but it’s your life. It’s dangerous,
Paul. Don’t you see how dangerous
it is?
LUKE
Noise on the lens, in the frame.
PETER
What’s the train story?
JANE
Well, you’re heading along the
rails of your life…
TOSH (TO JANE)
Tell it straight.
LYDIA
We’re heading down the rails of
our lives!
JANE
It’s old days, right? Train. Middle
of nowhere. The prairie or whatever.
Tracks run right through, straight
as a die. Driver’s barreling along,
drunk on speed. Coal dust. Wind in
his hair…
LYDIA
They wear those hats.
JANE
It’s an open cab or whatever: he
has to lean out to see the tracks
because of the great steam-bomb in
the front, the engine. He’s leaning
out. It’s the middle of nowhere.
We know this: there is nobody for
fucking miles! And up ahead – it
can’t be – he spots some guy waving
his arms. Now we’re doing a straight
run, we’re burning up the tracks;
we’re pulling a thousand tons: the
driver can’t believe it! The figure
doesn’t move just waves his arms.
This is bad, guy doesn’t know that
the train won’t stop for nothing.
Driver pulls the whistle. It blasts
out like a foghorn. This guy’s
waving his arms stood stock still
in the middle of the tracks. Driver
shouts, whistle blasts. He’s gotta
brake even though he knows he’s
not going to stop that juggernaut
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
18.
JANE (CONT’D)
in time. Graunch of steel on steel.
Sparks fly up. Horrible noise.
Figure waves his arms like he can’t
see what’s coming at him. Maybe
he’s blind? But he could hear the
screaming rims on the rails. At
the last moment, the driver looks
away. Can’t face it. A thousand
tons of steel slow-mo’s to a full
stop. Let’s say there’s a little
boy…
LUKE
A little boy?!
JANE
A little coal-covered runt. He
hops out of the cab or whatever
right behind the driver. Driver
turns, says get back! Doesn’t want
him to see death this young,
expecting mangled limbs, blood on
the track, whatever that big old
snow-plough thing at the front of
the engine’s picked up. … Nothing.
Nothing. Not a sign. Nobody on the
track . Nobody beside the track.
Nothing. Little runt grabs the
driver by the elbow.
PETER
Now he’s a mute?
JANE
He points, without a word, at the
big old headlight on the front of
the engine, the single light to
light the way… A moth has settled
on that magnifying lamp. It raises
its wings, up and down, to get
enough lift to fly away. And there,
up ahead, there’s the figure on
the tracks, gesturing for help, a
shadow figure still waving his
arms in the pool of light cast by
the one-eyed engine.
LYDIA
Maybe it was the linesman.
JANE
Who?
LYDIA
The man raising and lowering his
arms.
JANE
It was the moth! That’s the point!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
19.
LYDIA
Then maybe the little boy’s
protecting the driver from something
he’s seen but the driver hasn’t.
And he has to come up, he has to
come up with an explanation the
driver will accept, a scientific
explanation, otherwise…
PETER
Otherwise the driver will go mad
trying to find the waving man.
PAUL
The driver’s already mad.
LYDIA
No, otherwise the little boy will
be late.
LUKE
We know who’s behind the driver
but what’s behind the little boy.
LYDIA
Maybe…
LUKE (TO DAVID)
What do you think, David?
LYDIA
Maybe there’s somebody literally
behind him, holding a shotgun to
his head and he has to, I mean, he
has to come up with something quick,
a decoy.
JANE
It was the fucking moth!
LYDIA
I don’t buy the moth.
LUKE
The little boy is really Billy the
Kid.
LYDIA
Really? Or he knows there’s another
train due.
PETER (TO DAVID)
There’s definitely blood on the
tracks, gore on the wheels, or
there’s going to be…
LUKE (O.S.)
He doesn’t care.
The camera’s turned off for a second.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
20.
BLACK.
5 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
JANE
You can’t make the story any better.
TOSH
A boy and a man take a train-trip
through the vast open prairie in
the middle of the night. And meet
… a moth!
PETER
But there was somebody else out
there, wasn’t there, Jane?
LYDIA
A linesman would know semaphore.
PETER
What?
LYDIA
He’d be raising and lowering his
arms: semaphore, it’s a code.
TOSH
For fuck’s sake!
(To JANE)
You can’t even tell the fucking
story! Don’t any of you know this
story? Paul?
PAUL
Yes.
TOSH
Well, the moth’s fucking real. But
the moth’s Grace, because the driver
stops the train, walks a few feet
up the track and finds the rails
have been completely washed away!
What the hell are you blocking,
Jane? The driver and the train
miraculously saved by the mysterious
signal-man: the moth’s a fucking
angel! Not Death!
Uncomfortable silence.
TOSH (CONT’D)
You’ve always got to give the people
what they want, don’t you Jane!
Even if it’s bread and fucking
Roman circuses! Your mind is about
as superficial as your last ad-
campaign.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
21.
PETER
Shut up, Tosh.
TOSH
As for the rest of you, you’re all
just as bad! You’d love to see
Paul in the grip of some fatal
psychosis – Look! I can fly!
(mimes, pause)
What’s more, you’d like to see
this fuck
(To DAVID)
Get it on film!
LYDIA
You wouldn’t say that, I mean, you
wouldn’t say that if you cared.
TOSH
As if you care!
PAUL
I want to get it on film.
PETER
Let’s hope you’re right, Tosh.
TOSH
Yeah?
PETER
Let’s hope it’s a fucking angel.
Pause.
JANE
I’m sorry but…
TOSH
It’s just a story.
JANE
I still think it’s dangerous.
LYDIA
What if there’s no moth?
LUKE
There is no moth.
TOSH
It’s just a story!
LYDIA
There’s no waving, no signal-man;
there’s no warning.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
22.
LUKE
You saw: he checked the lens. It
could be a cable, a connection in
the viewer. Noise.
TOSH
There’s never any warning, any real
warning. Shit happens in fucking
stories because it’s not real. You
can’t go back and say I should’ve
listened to the moth! Now look!
I’m derailed in the wreckage of a
thousand tons of steel!
PETER (TO LUKE)
A loose connection?
JANE
Why are you so cruel, Tosh?
LUKE (TO PETER)
It could be…
TOSH
I’m not cruel.
LUKE
Electromagnetic interference.
TOSH
Why not say ectoplasmic goo?
LYDIA
But you can go back, I mean, in
any story, you can go back.
TOSH
What?
LYDIA
You said you can’t. But you hold
all the stuff, all the shit that
happens in your memory…
TOSH
And by then it’s too late.
LYDIA (TO DAVID)
Do you have playback, David?
(To PAUL)
Paul?
LUKE
You need the right cables and Paul
doesn’t even have a TV.
LYDIA
I think we should stop.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
23.
JANE
I said we should stop.
Paul is staring into space, the smile gone.
LYDIA
Paul?
LUKE
Are you with us, Paul?
PETER (TO LYDIA)
Has he got pills?
JANE
He might’ve stopped taking them.
TOSH
He’s always so fucking happy.
JANE
What does that mean?
TOSH (O.S.)
I’d self-medicate too if I could
be that fucking happy!
LYDIA
What are you doing, David?
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
6 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
We see the tape of the preceding in review, ie. having
been rewound, it is replayed and refilmed with no loss of
image quality.
When and how this is taking place is, at this stage,
irrelevant.
The tape is reviewed a series of times through the following
scenes to imply that somebody is watching and that somebody
or something is actively engaging with the mechanics of
the film, because each time the film is passed before the
viewer unexpected variations occur.
BLACK.
LYDIA
What are you doing, David?
CLOSE ON PAUL.
A shadow on his face.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
24.
PAUL (TO DAVID) (CONT’D)
(Pause. Shouts)
DAVID!
(Long pause)
This is all wrong. It’s not good…
CUT TO:
7 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
Second version.
BLACK.
TOSH (O.S.)
… I could be that fucking happy!
LYDIA
What are you doing, David?
CLOSE ON PAUL.
Shadow in front of his face, off to the right.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
(Pause. Shouts)
DAVID!
(Long pause)
This is all wrong. It’s not good
enough. I’m sorry, David…
CUT TO:
8 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
Third version.
BLACK.
LYDIA
… doing, David?
CLOSE ON PAUL.
Shadow has grown, like a wall off to the right of Paul’s
face.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
(Pause. Shouts)
DAVID!
(Long pause)
This is all wrong. It’s not good
enough. I’m sorry, David, you’re
here on false pretenses.
Shadow moves, wavers in and out, shadowing half of Paul’s
face.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
25.
Paul stands, his head out of shot. Shadow crosses the frame.
CUT TO:
9 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
Paul smashes things. Others retreat. Lydia tries to
approach. No audio.
CUT TO:
10 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
Fourth version.
BLACK.
JANE
… mean?
TOSH (O.S.)
I’d self-medicate too if I could
be that fucking happy!
LYDIA
What are you doing, David?
CLOSE ON PAUL.
Shadow like a vague chiaroscuro around Paul’s face, as if
something unseen masks the light around him.
As he speaks the following, he becomes smaller in the frame,
the shadow tunneling down to him.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
(Pause. Shouts)
DAVID!
(Long pause)
This is all wrong. It’s not good
enough. I’m sorry, David, you’re
here on false pretenses.
CUT TO:
11 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
Fifth version.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
Shadow again to the side of Paul’s face, moving, wavering
in and out, shading half the face.
It is somebody blocking the shot.
Behind them, Paul stands, his head off the screen, the
person crosses in front.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
26.
12 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — EVENING
Michael’s viewing-room features a super-format flat-screen
TV.
The new tape made by shooting scenes from Paul’s house in
different versions is here being reviewed, played back and
filmed again in front of an audience.
BLACK.
LYDIA
… stop.
JANE
I said we should …
We see the tape fast-forwarding, through:
Paul is staring into space, the smile gone.
LYDIA
Paul?
LUKE
Are you with us, Paul?
Fast forward up to:
TOSH (O.S.)
… fucking happy!
LYDIA
What are you doing, David?
CLOSE ON PAUL, ON SCREEN.
PULL OUT.
David pulls out during the following:
On screen, Paul’s face surrounded by shadow. His face
smaller and smaller in a tunnel of darkness.
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
(Pause. Shouts)
DAVID!
(Long pause)
This is all wrong. It’s not good
enough. I’m sorry, David, you’re
here on false pretenses.
On screen, Paul flickers in and out of darkness as the
shadow of someone standing beside the screen wavers in and
out of the projected image.
We see there are two kinds of darkness, that of the shadow
of the person in front of the projection screen and that
of the unreal shadow around Paul.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
27.
It is important to give the impression that both could be
similarly caused by an unseen presence blocking the light.
Paul stands, full-screen and the shadow-man passes in front.
This time the camera follows:
PAN INTO THE VIEWING-ROOM.
13 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — EVENING
A home-theatre set-up in a minimally appointed but
discreetly opulent padded cell: there are sofas and
armchairs and plenty of cushions.
Again, no windows. It is evening.
Michael pours drinks for Peter, Luke. Tosh, Jane and Lydia
already have theirs. David operates camera.
The preceding scene, Scene 12, took place at the end of
the screening, the room dark. This scene is before the
screening, the lights as yet undimmed.
Paul at this point stands next to David, he’s just asked
him if he would be so kind as to document the pre-screening.
JANE (TO TOSH)
Have you met my friend, Chantille?
(Pronounced “shantih”)
TOSH
No. Cheers.
(Shakes her hand.)
JANE
She’s a doctor.
TOSH
Are you here in a professional
capacity or…?
JANE
(Laughing)
No. No. She’s just a friend!
PETER
She’d commit us all if she were!
PAUL (O.S.)
Would you like a drink, David?
CHANTILLE
I might yet have occasion to!
PAUL (O.S.)
Nervous at showing your work? You
might need a drink! I know I do,
I’m thirsty as hell. It’s alright
though, you’re playing to the home
crowd.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
28.
Paul crosses into shot.
PAUL (CONT’D)
But, good luck, David.
JANE
Paul, you’ve met Chantille?
Paul heads straight for the bar. Chantille is clearly
perturbed.
PAUL
Yes.
Tosh looks questioningly at Chantille, who knits her fingers
through her glass. He looks at Jane for an explanation.
MICHAEL
Gin, Paul.
PAUL
What is it?
TOSH
You have professional reservations
about all this, Chantille?
MICHAEL
Plymouth.
PAUL
Straight up.
JANE
She’s with me.
LYDIA
No, Paul.
TOSH (TO JANE)
I’m interested!
PAUL
Cut.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
Don’t say that with a cameraman
present!
LUKE
Why, Michael? You want the sequel?
MICHAEL
I am the sequel!
(To PAUL)
What with?
PAUL
I don’t care.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
29.
PETER
I don’t think you want to be the
sequel.
Michael pours Paul’s drink.
CHANTILLE (TO TOSH)
Of course I have my reservations,
not all of them professional…
Lydia’s at the bar.
LYDIA
Neat.
PAUL
What?
LYDIA
Gin is neat.
CHANTILLE
But I’m not prepared to enter into
them with you…
MICHAEL (TO LYDIA)
You’re so right!
TOSH
Oh! I see, Jane’s been spreading
her usual venom.
LYDIA
And whiskey is straight.
CHANTILLE
I was going to say, At this point.
But you’re right…
MICHAEL
(Ebullient)
Don’t cha know!
Michael raises his glass to Lydia.
TOSH
Thank you, Doctor. Good Doctor.
PETER
Up your bum!
Peter returns Michael’s toast.
JANE
(Hissing)
This is a social event.
MICHAEL
Bottoms!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
30.
TOSH
Is it, Jane?
LYDIA
Thank you, Michael.
MICHAEL
What for?
LYDIA
For all of this.
LUKE
Michael!
Luke raises his glass.
LYDIA
Paul?
JANE
Michael!
Jane raises her glass.
PETER
Michael!
Peter raises his glass again.
PAUL
David!
Paul raises his glass.
All turn to camera for an instant.
MICHAEL
Yes, David! Without whom no Michael!
All move toward seats. Jane and Chantille sit together.
Lydia leaves a space between her and Paul for Tosh. Luke
takes a cushion, Peter an armchair. Michael goes to the
dimmer.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
David, you haven’t got a drink!
Tosh tries to squeeze in with Jane and Chantille.
JANE
Fuck off, Tosh!
Tosh goes to his seat. Paul pours himself another drink.
TOSH
Lesbians are so antisocial!
PAUL
I’d like David to keep filming.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
31.
TOSH
(Looking at PAUL,
talking about JANE
and CHANTILLE)
Do you think they should even be
drinking!
PETER (TO PAUL)
Why?
LYDIA (TO TOSH)
Shut up, Tosh!
PAUL (TO PETER)
Because it’s what I pay him for.
MICHAEL
(Laughing: he’s the
money)
I think that’s a very good idea!
(To DAVID)
Lights, Maestro?
(Dims the lights.)
WIDE TO SCREEN.
MICHAEL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I seem to have the remote. May I?
PAUL (O.S.)
David?
Screen lights up with a slow pan down the bar of the cafe.
One face in particular stands out. It’s Paul, Scene 2.
14 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — LATER
A darkened room, faces illuminated by the super-format
flat-screen.
No audio. Music.
Tosh commenting to Paul.
Lydia’s eyes widening in horror at seeing herself on screen.
Michael guffawing.
Chantille cupping Jane’s ear to whisper to her.
Paul blanching, nervous.
Luke frowning.
Peter shaking his head, leaning forward to talk to Luke.
PULL BACK.
Another face is clearly visible for an instant behind the
sofa where Paul and Tosh and Lydia are sitting. The camera,
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
32.
David, doesn’t notice, he pans around to the screen, on
which:
JANE
You are you…
LUKE
I I am
PETER
But your electronic double is owned
by all of us.
(To PAUL.)
I thought it was common rights of
property or to property?
SUBJECT
Held in common.
LYDIA
I might be exploited!
This is Scene 3.
15 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
No audio. Music.
The tape has played through to:
PAUL
…at least I was sharing with
you, that at least I was involving
those who are close to me, you who
have seen, heard and felt, who
have already been involuntarily
involved from the beginning…
Scene 3.
PULL BACK.
Screen duly shrinks against the black wall set with mini-
speakers behind it. During the slow pull out, we see a
shadow. It is the shadow of a person. It moves past Paul
and stands near him, as if there is another character in
the room.
Scene 5 plays.
On screen black.
The first of the different versions of scene commences,
when the shadow anomaly first occurs.
PAN AROUND TO THE VIEWERS.
Tosh is standing pointing and shouting at Jane.
Paul is back at the bar with his back to us.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
33.
Luke crouches beside Peter, deep in confab.
Chantille frowns at the screen.
Lydia’s caught Michael’s attention.
Michael stands. He goes to the lights. He fires the remote
at the home-theater system.
16 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — EVENING
Viewing with audio, Scene 5.
Background audio from action on screen, foreground audio
from the viewing-room.
On screen:
PAUL
…at least I was sharing with
you, that at least I was involving
those who are close to me, you who
have seen, heard and felt, who
have already been involuntarily
involved from the beginning…
And following. Meanwhile:
LUKE
What the hell’s that?
JANE
You mean, who the hell’s that?
TOSH
There’s your fucking moth!
LUKE
No, I mean, what the hell is that?
TOSH
What’s wrong with your fucking
camera, David?
MICHAEL
What are you talking about, it’s a
shadow.
PETER
No, it’s not.
JANE
It’s my shadow. I would’ve been
standing about there.
LUKE
Where’s the light?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
34.
CHANTILLE
Are you trying to spook the new-
comers, or what?
LUKE
No. David? David saw something. We
thought it was something on the
lens. Noise or…
TOSH
Are you fucking with us, David?
Have you doctored it? Sorry, Doctor.
JANE
I tell you, it’s my shadow.
PETER
You were carrying the light-source,
Jane?
LUKE
Paul, you were there, was there
anybody who could’ve made a shadow?
LYDIA
Cast a shadow.
MICHAEL
Don’t worry about it, there’ll be
a simple explanation.
JANE
Yes. It’s my shadow.
TOSH
It’s our shadow.
PETER
It’s got to be in the lens, in the
optics.
TOSH
I thought you were comfortable
with what you couldn’t see, Pete.
JANE
God, Tosh, you’re boring.
LYDIA
Look, we can all see, I mean, we
can all see this. Michael,
Chantille, what do you think?
JANE
They weren’t there.
LYDIA
Jane, you weren’t even anywhere
near Paul at the time!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
35.
TOSH
But explanations don’t come any
simpler.
Jane stands.
JANE
That’s it! Dig, dig, dig. What are
you a fucking mole?!
Tosh stands.
TOSH
No, I’m a moth, Jane. Just a
warning!
JANE
Oh we all know you’re an angel!
Paul’s little fucking kept angel!
But I know who you really are,
Tosh, a destructive little shit!
And none of us should have to put
up with it. If Paul wants to,
well… There was nothing wrong
with him till you appeared. Nothing!
TOSH
There is nothing wrong with him! I
think we might’ve established that.
Look! For god’s sake, look, woman!
Can’t you see?!
LYDIA
Michael, can you hit the lights?
PAN AROUND FROM SCREEN INTO ROOM.
CHANTILLE
Forget it, Jane, it’s gone.
JANE (TO TOSH)
No, I don’t see it, because…
PETER
No, it’s not, Jane.
JANE (TO TOSH)
You want it to be some dark demonic
force? I’d say that’s a
projection…
TOSH
You’re so right.
JANE
That’s what you’re projecting!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
36.
TOSH
Take the Doctor’s advice, Jane.
What are you the doctor of, anyway?
Are you in therapy, Jane? It
certainly sounds like it. Have you
both been abusing the leatherette?
No. I imagine a purple velour sofa,
Doctor of crystals!
Michael brings up the lights. He fires the remote at the
home-theatre system.
Paul is back at the bar with his back to us.
Luke crouches beside Peter, deep in confab.
Chantille frowns at the screen.
Paul turns out.
PAUL
WHY ARE YOU SO SELFISH! Listen to
you! Peter, what has just happened?
Peter, confused, looks at Tosh and Jane.
PAUL (CONT’D)
No.
(Gesturing to the
screen)
What’s just happened up there?
There’s no answer.
PAUL (CONT’D)
David, is there any chance there’s
something in the optics?
David indicates no.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Peter, you saw.
PETER
We all saw but…
PAUL
You saw David…
(gesturing at screen)
remove the lens, check it; check
all the settings; and the
connections; and the ratios: there’s
nothing wrong with the unit. What
did I say to him?
No answer.
PAUL (CONT’D)
“Clear, David?”
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
37.
PAUL (CONT’D)
That’s what I just said.
Interference, Luke? Interference
does not resolve itself into perfect
simulacrum of a person’s shadow!
(Pause)
Where were you standing, Jane?
Paul approaches the camera.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Come on !
Jane follows his lead.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Michael. Can you take out those
extra spots?
(points at them)
Lydia, you were sitting.
Lydia comes into the composition
PAUL (CONT’D)
Well, just stand. Now, Chantille,
humour me: try and cast a shadow
that passes over my face.
She does.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Jane, you try, it’s ‘your’ shadow!
She does.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Tosh, come here. Now fly from left
to right a foot below the level of
the ceiling!
From behind Paul, Tosh passes his hand slowly over Paul’s
head.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Terrifying!
JANE
The lights aren’t the same.
PAUL
They were down-lights!
(Pause)
Michael, do you have a food-
processor?
Michael nods.
PAUL (CONT’D)
A microwave?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
38.
MICHAEL
In the kitchen.
PAUL
Where’s the kitchen?
MICHAEL
(Pointing at TV
wall.)
Next door.
PAUL
Close enough. Turn everything on.
Luke will call you on his cellphone
when you’re there.
Michael turns to go.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Oh, Michael? Turn on the TV. And
turn on the stereo. And the radio.
Make some fucking noise!
Michael remotes the home-theatre, the tape resumes. He
leaves.
Sounds of things being switched on: clashing music, humming.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Not very scientific, I know, Luke.
But Jane, find a spider’s web.
JANE
A what?
PAUL
See if you can find a moth. Or
even a fly. A fly will do!
Tosh crosses past Jane.
TOSH
Kiss my arse!
Jane doesn’t move.
Tosh goes to the lights.
Luke punches his cellphone. Noise.
Tosh turns the lights on and off.
PAUL (TO TOSH)
What are you doing!?
TOSH
Scaring off the evil spirits! Shame
you’re not a priest, Doctor!
Chantille turns to him.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
39.
TOSH (CONT’D)
We could have an exorcism as well!
The volume’s right up on the home-theatre system, playing
from where it was stopped.
Paul stands in the middle of this artificial storm.
JANE
Stop it, Paul! Make it stop!
PAN AROUND ROOM.
As lights turn on and off, we glimpse an extra shadow, an
extra figure, closing on Paul.
Tosh relishes the chaos.
Chantille goes to an upset Jane.
PAUL
(Shouting)
Is that enough noise, Luke? That
enough interference?
LYDIA
(Shouting)
You’ve proved your point, Paul!
For an instant we see a figure in shadow, standing beside
Paul and Paul turning to face it. It leaves him quickly,
Paul hunches over.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
(Shouting)
Stop it!
PAUL
(Barely audible)
It’s your noise, you stop it!
LYDIA
(Shouting)
Tosh!
Tosh leaves the lights dimmed, picks up the remote where
Michael left it.
LYDIA (TO LUKE) (CONT’D)
Tell Michael! Tell Michael it’s
over.
Luke speaks into his cellphone. Soon the extraneous sounds
stop. Tosh has killed the audio on Michael’s system.
Paul is in pain.
Tosh fast-forwards through the tape, up to Scene 5.
Lydia reaches out to Paul.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
40.
Michael enters, he stands to one side of the screen, shading
it from the camera.
MICHAEL
What…!?
The audio is from the tape in review.
LYDIA (O.S.)
I think we should stop.
JANE (O.S.)
I said we should stop.
Paul rejects Lydia.
PAUL
DON’T touch me!
(Pause)
You don’t know what it’s like –
when he leaves me…
LYDIA (O.S.)
Paul?
LUKE (O.S.)
Are you with us, Paul?
Tosh skips the tape forward.
LYDIA
He hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s still
here, Paul.
(To TOSH)
Tosh…?
JANE
More’s the pity!
Paul goes to the bar.
PAUL
No, no, no, no, no…
LYDIA
Don’t drink anymore, Paul.
TOSH
Why not? Let him drink.
JANE (O.S.)
…mean?
17 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
WIDE ON SCREEN.
Michael’s shadow is to one side of the screen, wavering in
and out. As in Scene 11.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
41.
Following audio is from the tape:
TOSH
I’d self-medicate too if I could
be that fucking happy!
LYDIA
What are you doing, David?
CLOSE ON PAUL, ON-SCREEN.
PULL OUT FROM PAUL, ON-SCREEN.
The camera movement makes Paul’s face disappear down a
tunnel of shadow.
PAUL
David?
(Pause. Shouts)
DAVID!
(Long pause)
This is all wrong. It’s not good
enough. I’m sorry, David, you’re
here under false pretenses.
On the screen, the shadow leaves: Paul stands, his head
out of shot.
Michael crosses in front of the screen.
On-screen, without audio, Paul smashes things. Others
retreat. Lydia tries to approach.
During which:
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
You don’t know what it feels like.
None of you! You’re all so fucking
selfish. It feels like an act…
it feels like an act of
abandonment… gutted. Like they
say, you know? Like a fish – gutted.
18 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
David follows Michael:
PAN INTO THE VIEWING-ROOM, REAL-TIME.
The viewing of the scene has finished. The screen is blank
blue.
CHANTILLE (TO JANE)
(Re playback)
This is a hoax, yes? You were
there, Jane. Even I can see it’s
not just your shadow. I have to
say, I find this end-segment very
disturbing. Disregarding the special
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
42.
CHANTILLE (TO JANE) (CONT’D)
effects, which I can only assume
David –
(to DAVID)
If that’s your name – David,
possibly in collusion with
(pointing)
… Paul? – supplied later –
disregarding this fact, did you
not at least realise that you were
putting yourself…
(encompassing the
company)
yourselves, in real physical danger?
And if not, if you’ve staged this,
this, this evening, then, I have
to say, I feel, personally, grossly
manipulated! Jane? Michael, you
must have known about this.
(To DAVID)
Stop pointing that bloody thing at
me!
Silence.
MICHAEL
No one tells me anything, so I
can’t really comment. But I can’t
imagine, I really can’t imagine
Paul, that you’ve posed any physical
threat to anybody. Has he?
LYDIA
There’s been times… I mean…
CHANTILLE
Do you know how irresponsible it
is? To deal with an illness in
this way?
TOSH
Illness!? What do you know about
illness, Doctor of Crystals?
JANE (TO CHANTILLE)
(Quietly)
I’m sorry. That’s why I wanted you
to come. I thought you could reason
with them.
CHANTILLE
A mental illness is an illness
like any other. However, it requires
the support and understanding,
understanding of family and friends,
once it’s been identified. You
have to understand what you’re
dealing with.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
43.
TOSH
As much as you know about taste!?
CHANTILLE
This is a serious matter.
TOSH
Well you should have dressed more
seriously!
LUKE
You know nothing about us!
PETER
I’m sorry, you come in here on
your high professional horse and…
CHANTILLE
No, I’m sorry but I do know
something about Peter here.
(indicating Paul)
TOSH (TO JANE)
You took him to see your Doctor
Muff?!
JANE
No, I…
CHANTILLE
He came to see me about six months
ago – depression, couldn’t sleep –
on his own.
PETER
And used my name?!
LUKE
Oh God, whatever happened to patient-
doctor confidentiality!
CHANTILLE
Form what I’ve seen, you’ve all
borne witness to a great deal more
that should have given you greater
cause for concern than anything
presented to me in my professional
capacity.
PETER
Why my name?
MICHAEL
And what was your diagnosis?
CHANTILLE
He was depressed. He couldn’t sleep.
LUKE
Oh God.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
44.
MICHAEL
Did you give him anything?
TOSH
Happy talking happy pills!
CHANTILLE
It’s very common, it’s normal
practice to…
LUKE
Let’s run through these symptoms
again, shall we?
CHANTILLE
I will not be grilled in this
manner.
TOSH
Oh.
(Reclaiming his
glass)
Well a toast, then!
JANE
Will you listen to her!
TOSH
To Peter!
PETER
So in some perfidious doctor’s
dive there’s a record with my name
on it?
LYDIA
Peter, you got off lightly, I mean,
if she’d been doing her job, think
what else it might have said.
CHANTILLE (TO LYDIA)
Are you just going to insult me or
are you going to stop acting like
children and deal with this
responsibly?
LYDIA
But you don’t know, Chantille. You
don’t know what we’re dealing with.
MICHAEL
With all dues respect but I feel
I’ve missed something, can we
rewind? Paul? David? Can we
playback?
LYDIA
You see, Chantille, I, I think we
all, we believe in Paul, in what
Paul’s doing.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
45.
MICHAEL
Let’s hope there’s more to it than
sleeplessness and depression, for
God’s sake!
19 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
The viewing room, darkened, some minutes later.
David has already loaded a new tape into the camera and
put the tape of Scene 12 into Michael’s playback machine,
an accessory to the standard home-theatre system.
On the screen: Michael pours drinks for Peter, Luke. Tosh,
Jane and Lydia already have theirs. Paul is off screen
talking to David. (Scene 12.)
Over the audio of this version of the viewing-room, they
comment on the action:
LYDIA
Where’s Paul?
MICHAEL
Talking to David.
TOSH
Plotting, scheming.
CHANTILLE
How do we know what he’s talking
about, we can’t hear or see him.
JANE
Shut up, Tosh.
The on-screen action plays for a few more minutes.
MICHAEL
I don’t look like that! Look at
me. I’m red!
(Pause)
Red with bonhommie before the
tragedy.
(Pause)
Reality is really so awkward, isn’t
it. Tragically awkward.
Pause. Tape continues.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
I can’t bear this. How can you
film this dross?
PAUL
I pay him.
MICHAEL
Lydia?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
46.
LYDIA
Not now, Michael.
MICHAEL
Perhaps I should allow you more
allowance so you can employ a
stylist.
(Pause)
For me.
TOSH
Fast forward, Michael.
Michael does.
On-screen: the bar of the cafe, having been refilmed in
the viewing-room. The slow pan down the bar.
The face that appeared for an instant earlier (Scene 14),
Alex’s, is at the bar, and Paul’s, but no face in particular
is picked out anymore.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Ah. We begin.
TOSH
Stop!
JANE
Please don’t stop, Michael.
TOSH
It’s probably nothing.
JANE
Isn’t that what we’re looking for?
Nothing?
CHANTILLE
This isn’t the right tape.
PETER
What?!
CHANTILLE
This isn’t the right tape.
PETER
Keep it to yourself.
LUKE
No. The tape is not right…
TOSH
Peace, good Doctor, I might even
agree with you.
LUKE
But it’s the right tape.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
47.
Michael rewinds to the bar.
PAUL
David.
CLOSE ON PAUL.
PAUL (CONT’D)
What’s going on?
TOSH
For fuck’s sake
CLOSE ON TOSH.
TOSH (CONT’D)
Pay attention, Michael!
CLOSE ON MICHAEL.
MICHAEL
What? I…
Michael punches buttons on the remote to try and see what
they see. He rewinds.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
I don’t even want to see this: I
didn’t want to see this bit.
PETER
Paul, cast your mind back. Who was
at the bar that day? Did you have
a visitor at the bar?
PAUL (TO DAVID)
David?
20 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
BLACK.
David has turned the camera off.
Camera back on.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
A frozen frame of Paul and Alex at the bar of the cafe.
Michael proceeds frame by arduous frame. Paul and Alex are
talking.
LYDIA (O.S.)
It’s no one we know.
LUKE (O.S.)
But it’s not noone.
PETER (O.S.)
Who is that, Paul? Do you know?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
48.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID) (O.S.)
Is there no audio?
(Pause)
We’re wasting our time here, folks.
Wasting our time.
PAUL (O.S.)
No.
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
But…
TOSH (O.S.)
You saw him put the tape in the
thing. It’s doctoring itself, Doctor
Doctor. Doctor. Doctor.
PAUL (O.S.)
No. I have visual evidence: a visual
index to what didn’t happen.
LUKE (O.S.)
Define “didn’t happen”, Paul.
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
I do not accept…
LUKE (TO CHANTILLE) (O.S.)
Alright. You. Define “not”,
“didn’t”. Define absence!
Pause.
LUKE (O.S.) (CONT’D)
“The dead speak to me, through the
transparent walls of their absence.”
LYDIA (O.S.)
What’s that?
LUKE (O.S.)
Evidence.
LYDIA (O.S.)
No, I mean, where does it come
from? You know, who…
21 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
BLACK.
David’s turned the camera off again.
Camera on.
The viewing/screening continues with David filming the
screen.
On-screen: the camera pulls back from Paul and Tosh and
Lydia sitting on the sofa.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
49.
The face, Alex’s, that was visible for an instant (Scene
14), that David didn’t see, is there no longer.
TOSH (O.S.)
Where’s Alex?
PETER (O.S.)
What?!
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
Jane…
Michael pauses the tape.
CHANTILLE (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I want to go.
WIDE ON VIEWING-ROOM.
Tosh, Paul and Lydia are seated, as before.
Michael stands behind them, leaning over the back of their
sofa with the remote.
Luke and Peter are standing.
Jane is sitting, as before.
Chantille has just stood up, facing Jane.
CHANTILLE (CONT’D)
I want to leave. Now.
Jane reaches for her arm.
TOSH
(Looking up at him,
worried)
Michael…
LUKE (TO JANE)
Let her go, Jane.
TOSH
Where’s Alex….?
MICHAEL (TO PAUL)
What’s going on?
Paul looks at Tosh.
JANE
Please, Chantille…
MICHAEL
I have a right to know what’s
fucking going on!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
50.
PAUL (TO MICHAEL)
(still looking at
TOSH)
Go back.
CHANTILLE (TO JANE)
Some of us have work tomorrow!
Michael goes for David and the camera.
MICHAEL
Right!
PAUL
Stop.
Michael turns before he reaches the camera and decides to
take his aggression out on Chantille.
MICHAEL (TO CHANTILLE)
You want to go? Go! Get the fuck
out of my house! Go work out some
sucker’s deviation in your bad
pant-suit! I didn’t invite you!
Jane stands to protect Chantille.
PAUL
Go back.
PETER
What?
LUKE
What for?
TOSH (TO MICHAEL)
But you invited Alex.
MICHAEL
Who? Who? Is Alex?!
LUKE
We don’t know any Alex, Tosh.
CHANTILLE
I’m going…
Chantille backs off towards the door, pauses.
TOSH
But he was just…
(gestures out)
He was just here…
CHANTILLE (TO JANE)
I’m going to go now.
TOSH
Paul?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
51.
JANE (TO TOSH)
(Turning)
Can’t you hold your liquor?!
TOSH
(Meaning CHANTILLE)
Can’t you hold your licker!?
PAUL
Michael?
Michael looks at the remote, understands, rewinds, plays.
Silence.
We see them see something.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Again.
Michael rewinds and plays again.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
In the pullback a face appears, a female face, behind the
sofa, for an instant, in a slightly different spot from
before.
TOSH (O.S.)
Fuck.
22 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
Lydia stands at the door of the viewing-room.
Jane has just reentered.
In the background, Michael, Luke, Peter, Tosh have taken
bottles to their seats.
Paul sits with eyes shut, a glass still in his hand.
David has taken possession of the remote.
THREE SHOT: JANE, LYDIA AND CHANTILLE.
LYDIA
Is she alright?
JANE
See for yourself.
Chantille enters behind Jane, sick.
CHANTILLE
I’m not very happy.
TOSH (O.S.)
Lost your professional demeanour,
Doctor?!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
52.
LYDIA
Take her home, Jane. Don’t stay. I
mean, what’s done is done…
CHANTILLE
No! … I…
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Now, this, this is what I want to
see!
Audio from the tape runs through the following:
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
Next door.
CHANTILLE
…need…
PAUL
Close…
David blips the tape forward.
CHANTILLE
… a drink!
Chantille lurches into the room.
PAUL
… fucking noise!
LYDIA
Is she alright, Jane?
JANE
(Shrugging but
concerned)
She’s a big girl, I suppose…
Chantille goes to the bar, picks up a big bottle of fizzy
mixer, swigs, sits next to Paul, whose eyes remain closed.
On screen, out of shot, on the audio of the tape, the sound
of things being switched on, clashing music, humming.
MICHAEL
I’m not in this one!
CHANTILLE (TO PAUL)
Peter! What are you doing, Peter?
Tape audio continues in the background.
PETER
Jane! Inform your friend…
CHANTILLE
(Closing her eyes)
SOMEBODY TELL ME: what’s going on?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
53.
PAUL
I’m thinking.
Chantille rests her head against Paul’s shoulder.
Tape audio continues.
TOSH
Get her out of here, she’s a fucking
liability.
Nobody moves.
The light from the screen goes on and off as Tosh on the
screen works the lights.
Shadows flicker on the walls behind the viewers of other
figures, standing figures, not in the room.
Lydia notices: she and Jane are still standing.
The sound is overly intense, a storm.
The faces of the viewers are grim but also slightly addled
by the drink.
LYDIA (O.S.)
You’ve proved your point, Paul!
Paul opens his eyes at the sound of his name. He stands.
Chantille catches herself from falling into the sofa behind
him.
Paul stares, steps forward towards the screen. He can’t
believe what he’s seeing.
23 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
Searching for the absent Alex on the tape.
TOSH (O.S.)
Fuck.
PAUL (O.S.)
Again.
Michael rewinds and plays.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
In the pullback a face appears, different again, the face
of a little boy, behind the sofa, but only partly resolved,
as if shifting.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Definitely not on the guest-list.
PAUL (O.S.)
Again.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
54.
LYDIA (O.S.)
Paul?
LUKE (O.S.)
Must we?
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
I’m not feeling…
Michael rewinds and plays.
WIDE TO SCREEN.
In the pullback, Alex, smiling, something like a box around
his head.
PAUL (O.S.)
Stop! Pause it!
A vague black box stays where the face should be.
WIDE ON VIEWERS.
Tosh has brought his hands to his face.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
Please, not again.
LUKE (O.S.)
What is it?
PETER (O.S.)
It’s yuk –
JANE (O.S.)
Don’t.
PETER (O.S.)
– that’s what it is.
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
It’s evil and it’s making me feel…
ON CHANTILLE.
Chantille hurries from the room, followed closely behind
by Jane.
LYDIA (TO TOSH)
Who is it?
TOSH
Somebody. Somebody I used to know.
PETER
Is Jane right, Tosh? Have you
brought them here?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
55.
PAUL
LEAVE HIM ALONE!
CUT TO:
24 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — LATER
Back to preceding: the storm on-screen.
PAN FROM PAUL TO SCREEN.
Paul has stood and approached the screen.
On screen, the figure in the shadow beside Paul is clearly
Alex and the shadow is the box around him.
Alex is alternately in and out of shadow but we see his
lips are moving.
David pauses the tape as Alex is about to leave and Paul
hunches over in pain.
WIDE ON ROOM.
A brief silence.
PETER (TO PAUL)
What did he say to you?
PAUL
I don’t know.
LYDIA
Can we, like, filter out the
noise…?
LUKE (TO LYDIA)
Too many movies!
LYDIA (TO DAVID)
David?
PAUL (TO MICHAEL)
Go back.
CHANTILLE
No!
She puts her arm around Paul from behind, half in embrace,
half in restraint.
CHANTILLE (CONT’D)
You people can’t let this go on
like this, this is…
JANE
(Uncertain who she’s
dealing with)
Chantille?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
56.
CHANTILLE
Evil! This is…
Michael approaches his home-theatre system.
MICHAEL
I could try and get it on the EQ
but I don’t think…
CHANTILLE
He needs love and support!
PAUL
(Ignoring CHANTILLE)
Tosh is lucky in one respect…
CHANTILLE
Yes.
PAUL
I don’t even recognise him. At
least I know he was there.
(To DAVID, looking
for an answer)
David?
CHANTILLE (TO PAUL)
Peter?
PETER
Yes?
(Realising the
mistake, to JANE)
What did she take? What the fuck
did she take out there?
Michael has opened the EQ on the bijou home-theatre system.
MICHAEL
I don’t think it’s worth it.
JANE (TO PETER)
She locked herself in.
LYDIA
Try, Michael!
MICHAEL
Should I?
(To JANE)
In my bathroom?
Chantille has disengaged herself from Paul and reaching
for the nearest bottle is chugging gin.
PAUL
Swap the tapes, again.
JANE (TO MICHAEL)
Why?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
57.
Michael is on his feet.
PAUL
(Answering JANE)
I just know what I feel, what I
felt.
JANE
Why, Michael?!
Michael grabs the bottle off Chantille but doesn’t want to
touch her.
MICHAEL (TO JANE)
Help me!
Jane helps.
TOSH
(Supine)
Great party.
MICHAEL
I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.
LYDIA
Paul, what do you expect…?
PAUL (TO DAVID)
SWAP…
CUT TO:
25 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
David swaps the tapes.
On screen: searching for the absence that is Alex in the
playback.
On screen, Jane and Chantille are not in the room.
PAUL
Again.
Michael is holding the image paused on the black box that
has appeared with Alex.
MICHAEL
No. Credit where credit is due.
David should know…
JANE
Not now, Michael.
TOSH (TO PAUL)
Why won’t he talk to me?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
58.
MICHAEL
Especially if you’ve found
something: it looks like some very
productive supernatural events…
TOSH (TO PAUL)
Why doesn’t he come to me?
MICHAEL
… are divulging themselves.
Paul holds Tosh.
PAUL
Because it’s not Alex.
MICHAEL
Come on, Paul!
PAUL
It’s not really him.
PETER
But we saw him and it was him before
at the bar! I don’t claim to
understand the connection with
you, Tosh. I don’t know if I want
to know… but you knew he was
there.
MICHAEL
A ghost.
PAUL
No. I have a theory but…
LUKE
An absence. Death.
PAUL
I don’t know for sure, David.
MICHAEL
All the more reason David should
know…
(pointing at the
screen)
I own –
LUKE
No, Michael.
MICHAEL
But I paid…
TOSH
I went to a medium once. In amongst
visits from the family’s pets and
the usual self-help crap from dead
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
59.
TOSH (CONT’D)
relatives, she said, the suicides –
the suicides – on the other side,
were kept in boxes.
MICHAEL
The attractions of the afterlife!
LYDIA
That’s your attitude, Michael!
LUKE
Why?
TOSH
For protection. To protect the
living.
CLOSE ON MICHAEL.
Michael presses play on the remote.
MICHAEL
(Quietly)
It’s still my movie.
CUT TO:
26 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
WIDE ON SCREEN.
On screen plays the pan around to the viewers and the face
(originally, Scene 13) that appears we’ve seen paused.
David frames up the screen. Michael has pressed play.
JANE
You are you…
LUKE
I I am.
PETER
But your electronic double is owned
by all of us.
(To PAUL)
I thought it was common rights…
The tape speeds up as Michael fast-forwards by a factor of
2.
PAUL (O.S.)
Perhaps now you’re prepared to
listen; I’ve said so all along,
since even before you extended
your charity, Michael…
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
60.
LYDIA (O.S.)
You don’t have to say anything,
Paul.
PAUL (O.S.)
Why else would I have gone along
with it? Even the disciples needed
some incentive – a sweetener – to
write the Gospels! What did you
want me to think, Lydia? That you
were making the money between your
legs? Like the Magdalene?
ON PAUL.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Why else would I have gone along
with this?
(gestures, taking
in DAVID)
So far down the track!
MICHAEL
(Obsessing over the
remote)
Where am I?
PETER
No, no, no.
PAUL
I’m doing the deal of a lifetime,
here!
(To MICHAEL)
At least you’ve given me the chance
to prove that it’s real – that
it’s all real!
MICHAEL
Where the fuck am I?
PAUL
I’m doing the deal that could save
us all!
MICHAEL
Look at this! Where the fuck have
I gone? I’m lost!
WIDE ON SCREEN.
On screen, Michael has arrived at the point in the tape
where Paul has the shadow around him but a new version:
Paul’s on-screen with the shadow of Alex around him. To
one side of his face, where Michael’s shadow had been is
now clearly the shadow of a woman.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
61.
PAUL (O.S.)
All I need now is for death to buy
the pitch.
LYDIA (TO MICHAEL) (O.S.)
Give me that.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
That’s not me!
Lydia passes in front of the camera.
27 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
Lydia hands David the remote.
BLACK.
David has nixed the image on-screen.
David swaps the tapes.
FOLLOWING LYDIA.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Well that was disturbing! Thank
God for gin!
The door opens: it’s Jane.
MICHAEL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Cheers, Gentlemen!
LYDIA
What were you doing out there?
Tosh laughs. He, Michael, Luke and Peter have taken bottles
to their seats.
Paul sits with eyes shut, a glass still in his hand.
David has the remote.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
Shut up, Tosh.
JANE
Don’t ask me.
Tape plays, discontinuously, Scene 22.
On screen, the three-shot: Lydia, Chantille, Jane.
LYDIA
Is she alright?
JANE
See for yourself.
On tape, Chantille enters behind Jane, sick.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
62.
CHANTILLE
I’m not very happy.
Seeing herself on screen, Chantille starts screaming: she
thinks she’s seen a ghost.
TOSH (O.S.)
For God’s sake give her more of
whatever it was she had, Michael.
LYDIA
Take her home, Jane; don’t stay. I
mean, what’s done is done…
TOSH (O.S.)
It might shut her up.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Perhaps a needle in the chest:
I’ve seen it done.
Michael on tape audio (Scene 22).
MICHAEL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Now, this, this is what I want to
see!
TOSH (O.S.)
You’d never find her heart.
JANE (O.S.)
Oh shit!
Stifled sounds from Chantille.
Meanwhile on-screen the review of the tape continues.
LUKE (O.S.)
(languidly)
What is it?
JANE (O.S.)
Her tongue.
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
… a drink!
On screen, Chantille lurches into the room.
Sounds of struggle, out of shot.
JANE (O.S.)
No, it’s alright. It’s vomit.
LYDIA (O.S.)
That’s good!
MICHAEL (O.S.)
No it’s not!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
63.
On screen, the audio of things being switched on, clashing
music, humming. The storm, again.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
I’m not in this one!
MICHAEL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
My sofa!
LYDIA (O.S.)
Towels!
Sounds of vomiting, out of shot, added to the chaos.
PETER (O.S.)
Shit! My shirt!
CHANTILLE
(Closing her eyes)
SOMEBODY TELL ME: what’s going on?
Out of shot, the sound of the door slamming, as Lydia goes
for towels.
LUKE (O.S.)
Jesus Christ!
PAN INTO THE ROOM.
Lydia’s rushing back in with towels.
Paul’s attention is fixed on the screen.
He sees where the camera is pointed, dashes forward and
swings it back to the screen.
There is a discernable change in the audio: the original
storm has become background to the noises in the room on
screen, which in turn go still.
On-screen, the figure of Alex, next to Paul, speaking
audibly.
ALEX
You scare me, Paul. All this!
What’s it all for? You seem
reluctant to leave but I can be
reasonable. Some might say I should
refuse your offer but it’s simple
courtesy and I can be appreciative.
You make me feel welcome. I feel I
can talk frankly. Just as, if you
come into my home, I expect you to
accept whatever small kindnesses I
can offer you. These are not just
formalities – not just words: they
are important.
On screen, Alex turns to leave.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
64.
Paul hunches over in pain.
TOSH (O.S.)
ALEX!
Seeing Alex, on screen, Chantille screams, again.
David mutes the playback.
WIDE ON VIEWING-ROOM.
We see: Paul standing in the middle of the room, smiling,
with Michael off to his right, Peter on his left.
Luke, behind Peter, vomit down the back of his shirt,
approaches.
Tosh is nearer Lydia, who tends to Chantille, and Jane,
reluctantly helping her (she can’t stand the smell of
vomit).
Chantille is tripping out on some medication she’s found
in Michael’s bathroom cupboard and, with the towels, the
faces looking down at her lying on the sofa, has decided
she’s giving birth.
LUKE
He can’t hear you, Tosh.
TOSH
It’s not my fault. Peter, I didn’t
bring him here. It’s not my fault.
JANE
He’s dead.
PETER
He is dead, isn’t he, Paul?
PAUL
Who?
MICHAEL
(Angry)
What did you offer him, Paul?
CHANTILLE (TO JANE)
Get it out of me! I want it out of
me!
LUKE (TO MICHAEL)
The bathroom?
LYDIA (TO CHANTILLE)
(Soothing)
Shhhh, Shhhh…
Michael points to the door. Luke leaves to clean up.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
65.
CHANTILLE (TO LYDIA)
I don’t want to do this!
PETER (TO JANE)
How do you know he’s dead?
MICHAEL
Paul! Pay attention!
JANE
I don’t know if he’s dead but isn’t
that the scenario?
CHANTILLE
I can’t do this! I’ve got my
trousers on.
Michael grabs Paul, manhandles him.
Chantille tries to take her trousers off.
MICHAEL
You don’t go making offers, you
don’t go making deals, in my house,
in my movie, without telling me!
LYDIA
Help me, Jane!
JANE (TO PETER)
(Absently helping
LYDIA, indicating
TOSH)
IT’S HIM! IT’S HIM DOING IT.
TOSH
No it’s not.
CHANTILLE
I want to go to the bathroom.
MICHAEL (TO JANE)
What do you mean? What does she
mean, Paul?!
PAUL
He’s not dead.
CHANTILLE
IT’S EVIL! GET IT OUT OF ME!
PETER
But he committed suicide. Tosh
said he committed suicide.
CHANTILLE
(Self-pitying)
LIKE ME!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
66.
TOSH
But I didn’t bring him back!
Chantille’s weeping.
JANE
But he was with you, wasn’t he
Tosh! That’s why he’s come back!
Now you’re offering Paul…
Tosh jumps to his feet.
TOSH
You stupid bitch!
JANE
… in your place!
PAUL
(In full voice)
NO!
(Pause)
Only David can bring him back.
MICHAEL
What do you mean?
PAUL
Don’t you see? I can save us all!
Luke reenters wearing another shirt.
Michael lets go of Paul.
Jane’s gullet rises from the smell of sick.
Tosh regards her with antipathy.
LUKE
(Revising the thought
he left with)
Perhaps he can hear you.
MICHAEL
I see you found my shirts.
PETER
Who?
LUKE
Death.
Silence, apart from the quiet whimpering of Chantille.
CHANTILLE
(Softly)
My baby…
Pause.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
67.
MICHAEL
Can someone, please, clean that
up.
(indicating CHANTILLE)
JANE
I can’t. I can’t handle the smell
of vomit.
(To TOSH)
Don’t. Say. Anything.
CUT TO:
28 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — LATER
We see the viewing-room at Michael’s house on the monitor.
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
On the monitor screen, there’s a change in the quality of
the sound.
Everybody is still.
The lights in the room are dimmed.
On the monitor screen, Chantille gets up off the sofa. We
hear the rustling of her clothes as she walks forward to
Paul.
As she approaches, David frames up her face, all expression
gone from it.
CLOSE ON CHANTILLE.
CHANTILLE
You came to see me about six months
ago. I think it was pills.
(Responding to an
inaudible question)
No. You’d taken them. Usually when
people come to my office, I try
and show every courtesy. I try and
make them feel comfortable. There’s
a view out my window of a river
that runs in only one direction.
You said to come to the window. I
thought, “I might as well humour
him, out of kindness.” After all,
you’d made the effort to come and
see me in the first place. What
would it cost me? On the other
side of the river, close enough to
be in easy shot, was a man with a
camera.
She finishes speaking.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
68.
PULL BACK.
Her face falls into the shadow of a dark box, a frame.
On screen, she turns and leaves quickly.
On screen, Paul turns to follow but can’t, for the pain
that always ensues upon death leaving him.
29 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — MORNING
A plain room in an inner city flat. Pretty much everything
in the room is white, except the black iron bedstead and
the technical equipment strewn over a long table, where
David has set up his home digital-editing suite.
David has just got up.
He documents the room: sunlight through the curtains, a
sash window; his clothes on the floor; the bed where he
has slept; an Andres Serrano print, the only decorative
touch; some books, expensive and unread, and some magazines –
underground fashion.
PAN AROUND ROOM.
He opens the door. He takes care not to show himself or
any part of himself.
The shot of the doorframe is carefully composed: the door
opening only slightly, dark behind it.
We hear knocking, tentative at first. It continues.
We see the carefully composed shot of the doorframe.
PULL OUT.
We pull out. The doorframe is on the monitor.
The same sequence of shots documenting David’s bedroom
plays again through to the door opening slightly, dark
behind it, this time off the monitor.
And again pulling out from the monitor into the bedroom.
The knocking continues.
30 INT. OUTSIDE PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
We are outside another door in the darkness of the hallway.
We see nothing until the door opens in its frame, similarly
composed to David’s bedroom door.
Paul stands – in the open door, light around him. He wears
a white bathrobe. He is still sleep-dishevelled.
CUT TO:
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
69.
31 EXT. OUTSIDE MAX’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
Another door: again, the same composition.
The knocking continues until the door opens, slightly,
dark behind it.
A momentary cut, removing David’s questioning of the dark
interior.
The door shuts.
The knocking starts up again.
PULL BACK.
32 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — EVENING
We pull out from the shut door on the monitor.
The same sequence of shots of David’s bedroom plays.
But this time, the bed is made, the curtains are drawn,
the clothes have gone and on the table there is a new tape,
newly labelled.
33 INT. OUTSIDE DAVID’S BEDROOM — MORNING
The door to David’s bedroom shuts as he leaves in the
morning, shuts on darkness.
34 INT. OUTSIDE PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
Paul pushes the door shut behind David. Paul’s place is
full of artificial light.
The knocking stops again.
35 INT. MAX’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
David has gone through the exterior door and films the
door shutting out the day outside in the dark hallway of a
suburban villa.
We follow Max down the hallway.
He shambles: an indoors type, slow careful and zen-like.
36 INT. MAX’S KITCHEN — MOMENTS LATER
Max’s kitchen: a circular table with bentwoods, a low-
hanging pendant-lamp, on.
The mullioned windows are small, the sills crowded with
bric-a-brac. A bookcase in the kitchen, spills books and
papers into the room.
Max automatically goes to make tea.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
70.
Throughout the following, David has edited out his questions –
for sense, indicated here:
DAVID etc.
Max distinguishes the camera on David’s shoulder from David
himself – if Max is addressing the camera: to camera.
MAX
I’m sorry. I haven’t heard that
name in a year; I’m not usually so
rude. Were you a friend of his?
DAVID¤
No. ¤
MAX
What’s this, then,
(to camera)
A documentary on broken hearts?
DAVID¤
Are you his father? ¤
MAX
(Laughs)
Do I look that old?
DAVID¤
Is he here, now? I followed him
here. ¤
MAX
(Taken aback)
Alex is dead.
(Pause)
Is this a stunt? Are you in the
business of exploiting old has-
beens? “Suicide New Zealand: The
Real Dross.”
(To camera)
That was Max, Maximillian, thanks-
a-million!
(Pause)
Turn it off.
DAVID¤
I’ve never met him but I followed
him here today. … It’s a long
story.¤
MAX
I’ve always got time for a story.
Max sits with the tea.
David turns the camera off: David tells Max what he thinks
his job is, as camera-man.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
71.
BLACK.
37 INT. MAX’S KITCHEN — MOMENTS LATER
Max smoking a B & H, sceptical.
DAVID¤
Did you find him? ¤
MAX
No. They brought him here. His
friends dumped him here. … Then
his family whisked him away… I
never saw him again! And of course
I wasn’t invited to the real
funeral.
(Pause)
Shame!
`
DAVID¤
But he lived here? ¤
MAX
Yes. I’d invite you to look at his
room…
DAVID¤
That would be…¤
MAX
(Archly severe)
But I don’t do shrines!
David stands.
DAVID¤
I’m sorry. If you mind me asking,
then…¤
Max has to swivel to talk to him as David retreats.
MAX
Why should I mind? I mean, why
should I mind? Do you mind, …?
DAVID¤
David. ¤
MAX
(Considers for a
second)
That’s not your real name, is it?
No answer.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
72.
MAX (CONT’D)
And, Alex, you saw Alex. How
unusual. But then your situation
is quite unusual, isn’t it, ‘David’?
Pause.
MAX (CONT’D)
Is that it? Is that all you came
for?
(Pause)
You and your
(to camera)
‘Friend’? Tell me, ‘David’, do you
trust him,
(about camera)
Or her? Sit down.
David resumes his seat.
MAX (CONT’D)
If it’s a ‘he’, he won’t mind:
he’ll probably have something going
on behind your back. If it’s a
‘she’, well, you can always lie.
(Pause)
As an intimate… stranger…
perhaps I can help you, perhaps I
can help you both.
DAVID¤
How? ¤
MAX
Tell me.
DAVID¤
What? ¤
MAX
More.
38 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
There’s little evidence of Paul’s smashing spree.
Luke sits at the table, dressed for work. He’s finished
breakfast.
Lydia, in a robe, is still eating hers.
Paul goes to make tea.
David hangs back.
PAUL
Where’s the teapot?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
73.
LYDIA
(With a mouthful)
You broke it.
PAUL
Fuck it.
Paul leaves to the bedroom.
David lingers on Luke (ie. the shot lingers), who picks up *
an old-fashioned attache-case and nurses it. Lydia takes
her plate to the bench, sets things away in the background.
LUKE
(After a pause)
I sometimes stay here. Sometimes.
(Pause)
It’s been like shiftwork here over
the past couple of months. … And
now… Tosh is not… reliable –
he’s young. He has his own
destructive propensities, his own
demons.
David turns off the camera and asks:
DAVID¤
You don’t think…? ¤
David turns the camera on:
LUKE
I’m an academic – I’m not paid to
think!
Luke checks his watch.
LUKE (CONT’D)
Speaking of which…
Luke stands. Lydia comes to the table to clear it. They
kiss.
Luke leaves.
David follows Lydia to the bench. She turns to the camera.
ON LYDIA.
LYDIA
(Angry)
What?
No answer.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
I’m starting to think this is a
bad idea, a very bad idea.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
74.
Pause, then she turns back, runs water, throws dishes into
the sink. Something breaks.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
SHIT! Now I’m doing it, I’m doing
it too!
Her head drops forward and she weeps.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
I just, I mean, I don’t want to
see him die.
Pause.
MEDIUM ON LYDIA’S BACK.
PAUL (O.S.)
David!
Pause. Lydia turns, angrily but still crying.
LYDIA
GO!
(She points)
Go to him!
39 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — MOMENTS LATER
Paul sits up in bed, robed, wearing glasses. Next to him,
Tosh’s head is visible, face down, sleeping.
PAUL
(About the glasses)
It’s a bit like smoking. It helps
me think.
David is reluctant to enter.
PAUL (CONT’D)
Don’t worry about him. He’s asleep.
(About glasses)
And, of course, I can see.
(Pause.)
I think I should make a little
speech, given our new-found
intimacy.
(Pause.)
I’m very pleased, by the way things
have been going. I think you should
be too. Aren’t you?
No answer.
PAUL (CONT’D)
And…
(Pause)
Ignore Michael.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
75.
PAUL (CONT’D)
(Pause)
Today: another day… another dance
but the same deal.
40 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — MOMENTS LATER
DAVID¤
Ignore Michael: why? ¤
PAUL
Call it professional jealousy, if
you like. We – that’s Michael and
me – we established an agency,
years, too many years ago now. It
had its heyday; we’re pretty much
out of the picture now. Jane’s a
good girl but completely lacking
in… Anyway, I didn’t want to go
in-house for this one. But Michael
found his in. That’s alright, I
don’t mind. He puts in money through
lil’ sis’, Lydia, and thinks it
puts him in the driver’s seat.
People have these little charades.
First they think, they do… they
do make you suffer. They cut you
off… Then they think they’re
saving you… by bringing you
closer. To them.
(Pause)
In truth, I couldn’t go in-house
for this project; not after they
took away my directorship,
effectively cutting me off.
(Pause.)
PAUL (CONT’D)
Michael.
(A beat.)
What they don’t realise is, very
quickly you adjust and when they
turn and say… Come back to bed!
You say, For you? Or for me? And
because they believe everybody has
the same selfish terms of reference
as themselves, they think you’re
being selfish.
(Pause)
How do I do it?
(Pause)
How do we do it, David? How do we
show them the bigger picture?
Silence.
David turns the camera off to say:
DAVID¤
Lydia says that you’re dying.¤
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
76.
PAUL
No. I’m fighting, I’m arguing and
finally I’m negotiating with death.
It’s going well but we still have
some work to do.
(Pause)
Finally the client accepts – not
because of the pitch, not because
you’re a professional and know the
medium better – no chance with
this client – but because you pull
out the trick of understanding.
(Pause)
Confidence, intimacy: it’s the
oldest trick in the book! But
remember what the stakes are, David:
they’re not mine, they’re
everybody’s.
(Pause)
Ultimately the client buys out of
gratitude – that you understand
what he wants better than he does
himself. Then it’s love.
(Pause)
It’s a trap.
41 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — MOMENTS LATER
Tosh stirs in the bed.
PAUL
Look at him.
(A beat)
I could take a knife now and…
David fumbles to close-up on Paul’s hand to check he doesn’t
have a knife.
CLOSE ON PAUL’S HAND.
PAUL (TO DAVID) (CONT’D)
Ever-punctual but always
unscheduled: that’s what he’s like.
David turns the camera off.
BLACK.
David is relieved, recovering.
When he eventually turns the camera on again he’s just
asked:
DAVID¤
What do we do, now? ¤
PAUL
What do we do? We go out.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
77.
42 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — DAY
Karangahape Road. Paul is strolling, conscious of the camera
at some distance from him.
PASSER-BY (O.S.)
Hey! What are you doing?
43 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — LATER
Karangahape road. Looking for Paul. Traveling.
Paul comes out of a shop. Strolling.
Approaching Paul. Stopping.
Paul crosses the Pitt Street intersection. We see Alex.
FULL ON ALEX.
David finds Alex, on camera. Paul is out of shot.
Looking for Paul. We inspect the faces as they pass Paul
by. Traveling.
The back of Alex’s head. And again, random faces.
FAST PAN TO PAUL.
Paul is doubled over in pain.
Looking for Alex.
TRAVEL DOWN KARANGAHAPE.
Traveling. Doubling back.
360 PAN.
At spaghetti junction, on the bridge, near the Howe street
intersection.
At the end of the pan, we catch a glimpse of Alex.
We come back to him, heading for Ponsonby Road.
We follow. We try and catch up but never get any nearer.
David turns the camera off.
BLACK.
David tries running to catch up.
44 EXT. OUTSIDE MAX’S HOUSE — LATER
Max’s street: Alex reaches Max’s door. We linger on the
street long after Alex has gone inside.
David is deciding whether to follow.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
78.
45 EXT. OUTSIDE MAX’S HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER
The front door, framed by the shot, to Max’s suburban villa.
We hear knocking, tentative at first (David keeps his hand
out of sight).
The door opens, slightly, dark behind it.
A momentary cut – removing David’s questioning of the unseen
Max.
The door shuts.
We see the carefully composed shot of the doorframe.
46 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — NIGHT
PULL OUT.
We pull out from the monitor, into David’s room.
The knocking continues, from the monitor.
David has returned to the previous footage (Scene 45)
refilming it: a clock reference and there’s a takeaway
dinner on the table, next to the monitor.
CUT TO:
47 INT. MAX’S KITCHEN — AFTERNOON
Max’s kitchen-table, tea things, Max’s B & H packet.
Max’s hand rests on the table, his finger stroking an
elegant silver lighter; a full ashtray.
Max stares at David, at the eye not pressed to the viewer,
considering, tapping his cigarette, looking away to the
bookcase.
David has just told him everything he knows.
MAX
(Slowly)
I don’t like the way you
calculatingly, determinedly sight
your little gun on me.
(Pause)
‘David’.
(Pause)
But if you’ve told me this much…
and you’ve gone along with all the
events you describe – as their
little Leni – as you’ve said, then
perhaps you do need to shoot me! I
know too much!
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
79.
MAX (CONT’D)
(Pause, pointing
his cigarette at
camera)
About you!
(Pause)
I don’t like it.
Max gets up. Shambles over to the bench.
MAX (CONT’D)
Alex had a friend…
DAVID¤
Tosh. ¤
MAX
It might have been.
(Contemptuously)
All his friends were…
(Changes)
Younger.
(Pause)
This one, he visited once, just
like you – uninvited, on his own –
to tell me… what would happen to
Alex, and, could I stop it?! The
gifted ones always lose out in the
personality stakes! I was jealous;
I didn’t like it: but it was true…
(Pause.)
So, ‘David’, I’ve listened to you…
Max returns to the table, a small glass jug containing
clear liquid in his hand, he pours more tea, spikes his
and David’s.
DAVID¤
What’s that? ¤
MAX
White rum.
(Pause)
It might be true.
(Lighting another B
& H)
Then, it’s not Alex you followed
here. Then – as before – my
uninvited guest
(smiling)
Brings death into my house!
The camera drops from David’s eye to table level.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
80.
AT TABLE LEVEL.
MAX (CONT’D)
(Answering DAVID’s
unasked question)
No, no, no!
(About camera)
I think your ‘friend’ here is a
woman. Because you don’t trust
her!
(Pause)
Your ‘Paul’ – a megalomaniacal ad-
man – goes on a Christ-like mission
to… Hell, to – what? – save us
from Original Sin? From the scourge
of Death! And she follows him. She
sees everything. And nothing.
(Pause)
Be kind to yourself, ‘David’, you
are not she. Distance yourself
from everything she sees. It will
be hard for you…
David lifts the camera back to his eye.
DAVID’S POV.
MAX (CONT’D)
…because you love her. But she
loves him. She’s already given
herself to another.
(Pause)
You think I’m…
(MAX blanches, he
indicates the
bookshelves and
with greater urgency)
The literature is dense with tricks
of the light, with surfaces that
come to life but don’t come to
life with life!
The sound of knocking.
MAX (CONT’D)
If the dead can pass through her
(indicating the
camera)
doorway as Death itself, what other
demons have already passed through?
What other evil is already here?
PULL OUT FROM THE MONITOR. TO:
48 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — LATER
David’s bedroom door is the source of the knocking.
MAX (O.S.)
There is another story…
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
81.
Audio is cut and at the same time a quick cut on camera as
David answers whomever is outside.
BLACK.
The door opens a crack, darkness beyond.
Melissa speaks from outside the door.
MELISSA
St…
The cut is rough, expurgating the name Melissa calls David.
Melissa has a beautiful face but a horrible voice.
She walks in.
MELISSA (TO DAVID) (CONT’D)
Fuckin’ stop it!
CUT TO:
49 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — MOMENTS LATER
Melissa sitting in front of monitor.
Max is in the scene under review.
MAX
… ‘friend’ here is a woman: you
don’t trust her trickery…
MELISSA
What are you doing?
MAX
… not to trust her!
MELISSA
Makin’ fuckin’ intellectual porn!
(To monitor)
Look at this smarmy misogynist
prick!
Melissa cuts audio, punches keys on keyboard. Screen changes
(ie. the light on her face changes).
50 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — MOMENTS LATER
DAVID¤
What are you doing? ¤
MELISSA
Wiping it! What do you think?!
CUT TO:
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
82.
51 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — NIGHT
Melissa sleeps, her limbs tangling and untangling with the
bedclothes.
Streetlights outside, the curtains partially open, and the
cyan glow of the monitor illuminate the room, bathing the
bedsheets and Melissa’s arms and legs in sodium and blue.
Her head is in shadow; we can’t see whether her eyes are
open or shut.
ROVING ON MELISSA.
The camera lingers on Melissa’s sleeping body, rather with
an objective curiosity than with any sensuality.
ON MONITOR.
A new tape has joined the pile, labelled “Melissa: ed”.
Unseen, David works the keys. He is doing an audio edit:
the screen is set up for original footage but with a second
audio line.
The job up is from Scene 20.
On pause, a frozen frame of Paul and Alex at the bar of
the cafe.
The footage plays with the audio from Michael’s viewing-
room:
LUKE (O.S.)
But it’s no one.
PETER (O.S.)
Who is that, Paul? Do you know?
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Is there no audio?
(Pause)
We’re wasting our time…
David plays the Alex and Paul at bar conversation in real-
time, bringing up the cafe audio, Scene 2.
Suddenly David’s room is full of the sounds of a busy cafe.
It is instantly clear that the conversation has moved on
from where it was when we first saw it, as if there’s more
footage there than we’ve previously seen.
Paul is appealing to Alex, gesturing.
The camera, almost immediately, goes to the mini-jack of
David’s cans – not plugged in. David has absentmindedly
not plugged in the cans. The audio fills the room.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
83.
ON MINI-JACK.
MELISSA (O.S.)
(woken up by the
noise)
Hey! What are you doing?!
David unintentionally hits delete.
Monitor audio ceases.
David swings the camera around to Melissa, sitting up in
bed, clenching the sheets over her breasts.
WIDE ON MELISSA.
A slight pause as Melissa registers shock, fury, that David
is filming her.
MELISSA (CONT’D)
I didn’t hear you get up!
(Pause)
How long…?!
(Pause)
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FUCKING
FILMING ME?
DAVID¤
Not long…¤
MELISSA
(Angrier still)
If I see… If I know… I can’t
be here – knowing you’re taking
footage of me – I can’t be here
with you… I WAS ASLEEP, FUCK IT!
(Pause)
If you’ve taken a single frame of
my… body, MY BODY – without even
having the decency … ! I WAS
ASLEEP, S…!
Again, the name she calls him is elided.
DAVID¤
I didn’t… ¤
MELISSA
(Changing tactics,
clenching the sheets
tighter)
Did it satisfy?! Did you get some…
tit!?
(Pause)
She holds the sheets in one fist, bringing down the other
violently between her legs.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
84.
MELISSA (CONT’D)
DID YOU GET SOME OF THIS?!
(Pause)
You’re an arsehole. You’re just
fuckin’ sad…!
52 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — DAY
Paul in Queen Street, window shopping, like a strolling
Warholian. Camera at a distance.
LONG SHOT OF PAUL.
Random faces picked out if they look as though they’re
going to approach Paul.
A feeling of dilapidation and low-end commerce in which
Paul seems out of place.
Up Quay to Albert: fewer faces, boarded-up buildings.
The view up towards the top of College Hill, where something
seems to be missing.
This is an ongoing motivation for David’s shots in this
scene: something seems to be missing, from the skyline,
from the city, from the compositions, from the people.
53 EXT. OUTSIDE DAVID’S FLAT — NIGHT
The street outside David’s place: a cardoor open, Luke
beside it.
Peter sits in the driver’s seat.
LUKE
Of course you should come.
LONG SHOT OF MELISSA.
Melissa stands, backlit in David’s bedroom window – a
parting shot.
54 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — EVENING
Driving with Luke and Peter.
PETER (O.S.)
An offer’s an offer.
55 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — LATE AFTERNOON
Several more tapes on top of “Melissa: ed”. Melissa leans
against door-jamb, arms crossed.
MELISSA
You’re taking my tape?!
DAVID¤
No I’m not. ¤
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
85.
MELISSA
You are.
CLOSE ON TAPES.
In the tape pile – “Melissa: ed.” is missing.
MELISSA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I saw you put it in your bag.
Pause.
PAN TO MELISSA.
MELISSA (CONT’D)
Come on. Let’s watch it. It might
turn us both on!
DAVID¤
You don’t know anything! ¤
MELISSA
Well, teach me!
(Pause)
Fuck it…
The following line is marked out by audio quality.
MELISSA (CONT’D)
I want to see!
TRACKING PAST MELISSA.
David proceeds down the hall.
MELISSA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I hope you don’t expect me to pay
your rent as well as pose for your
friends!
BACK TO:
56 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — AFTERNOON
Paul enters Queen’s Arcade. David avoids the mirrored
escalator.
Paul turns right, into the afternoon, leaving Queen’s
Arcade.
57 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — EVENING
Paul’s kitchen: Lydia on her own – the end of a day, before
David heads home.
LYDIA
I don’t know. I mean, maybe that’s
good. If nothing’s happening. Maybe
he’s taking the pills. I mean, as
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
86.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
long as he’s happy – he’s in charge,
you know – it keeps him happy…
BACK TO:
58 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — AFTERNOON
Paul in Fort Street, at a distance.
A shadow in a doorway captures his attention. He stops.
It might be a woman. David hurries to find out what the
doorway hides.
The shadow in the doorway resolves into a shut door.
Paul turns to David.
He sees something coming towards him.
David turns in time to catch Melissa about to smack him in
the teeth.
CLOSE UP ON THE MOTION-BLURRED SIDE OF MELISSA’S FACE.
CUT TO:
59 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — EVENING
Michael’s patio, with expensive views.
Michael sits with a drink, shirt open to the evening breeze.
Luke, Peter and Jane, partially out of shot in the
background, occupy the rest of the patio-set.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
Is she a problem?
(Pause)
No, I mean, no, seriously: is she
a problem?
CUT TO:
60 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — EVENING
Luke in the back seat, Peter driving – on the way to
Michael’s.
LUKE
Of course I’m right. I’ve been
thinking about it.
PETER
Shit!
LUKE
What?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
87.
Pause.
LUKE (CONT’D)
Well, that’s what this is about.
PETER
Your idea?
LUKE
Yeah.
(Pause)
Michael likes it.
PETER
Sure.
LUKE
It’s not his fault.
Pause.
PETER
Any fault of Michael’s is an
opportunity for Michael…
LUKE
You do his books.
PETER
I’d give him nothing for free,
that’s all.
LUKE
Paul won’t deal with this!
(indicating camera)
PETER
How could a Luddite ever have worked
in advertising!
LUKE
And his stuff’s good.
PETER
Clearly. Nothing for free.
Pause.
LUKE
(Looking out window)
We just plug in and ask some
questions.
(Pause)
That’s all.
PETER
Right, Professor!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
88.
61 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — MOMENTS LATER
PETER
(Driving, turning
to DAVID and turning
back)
That looks sore.
Pause.
PETER (CONT’D)
Have you met her, Luke?
LUKE
No.
(Pause)
Doctor Michael can make it better.
PETER
(Smiling)
Doctor Michael!
(Pause)
Whatever happened to her?
LUKE
Jane didn’t say.
62 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — MOMENTS LATER
LUKE (TO DAVID)
Because we only need one tape,
that’s why. One surefire visitation
of the Nameless One. That’s what
I’m thinking. Mr Black.
PETER
(Smiling)
Mr Black!
DAVID¤
I hate in-jokes.¤
David is about to turn the camera off.
LUKE
Keep on filming.
(Pause)
From what I’ve seen, we use the
medium: the medium is the Medium.
(Pause)
We talk. You film.
(Pause)
From what I’ve seen, it’s growing
from the inside.
(Pause)
We could grow a whole movie like
that. From the inside.
(Pause)
One tape.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
89.
63 EXT. MICHAEL’S FRONTAGE — EVENING
Arrival by car at Michael’s, lights on in the porch.
64 EXT. MICHAEL’S FRONTAGE — MOMENTS LATER
Front door opening for Peter: a young Asiatic man, Linn,
in the opening, sees the camera, closes the door; goes for
Michael.
PETER
What did you say to Lydia?
LUKE
She’s torn – what do you expect? –
but she’ll stay with Paul.
(Pause)
David…
Michael throws the door open wide on a modern hallway.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
God! Do you have to do that? It’s
obsessive!
(Letting them in)
You’ll scare away my friends.
PETER (O.S.)
Michael, it wasn’t supposed to be
an open screening!
65 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — MOMENTS LATER
The other side of the house: the patio and patio-set;
several young men dotted around:
Linn – a student;
Damon – an opportunistic artist;
Melvin – a nerd;
Alistair – a sitcom actor;
And Jane.
Among some trees a screen has been rigged, down a short
incline from the patio, the gear under a small marquee.
MICHAEL
You like? I had Sam rig it up.
(A beat)
I call it: The Grotto!
66 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — LATER
Ten minutes have passed.
Luke has split off with Jane. The others in self-conscious
groupings.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
90.
MICHAEL (TO PETER)
I wasn’t going to risk another
lounge-suite, after the last time.
67 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — LATER
JANE
(Mid-conversation)
She won’t self-prescribe!
Linn circulates with a bottle of sweet wine, avoiding David
with the camera.
Pause as Jane refuses Linn (she has vodka) and Luke accepts.
JANE (CONT’D)
(Clearly distressed)
I don’t know what to do!
LUKE
Come on, Jane, how bad can it be?
JANE
She hasn’t gone back to work. She
won’t sleep because she says the
sound of her own heartbeat keeps
her awake. She says she’s going
insane… but… she’s driving me
insane.
68 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — MOMENTS LATER
THREE SHOT: MICHAEL, LINN AND LUKE.
Linn whispers something in Michael’s ear.
MICHAEL
If you don’t like the camera, dear,
go inside.
LUKE (TO LINN)
You’re in one of my classes…
Linn gives Luke a bored look.
LUKE (CONT’D)
No?
Linn flounces off.
LUKE (CONT’D)
Then I must have seen you around…
69 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — LATER
Melvin is under the marquee with the gear.
Peter, Luke, Michael and Jane are seated in the natural
gallery of the patio, overlooking the marquee and screen.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
91.
Damon’s reclined on the ground.
Linn’s unsure where to put himself and covers it with a
show of nonchalance.
Alistair feels at home on a shoot, he occupies the middle
ground, between the gear, the screen and the audience.
ALISTAIR
Why can’t I show my tape first?
MICHAEL
We’re not interested in your out-
takes, piss-takes and up-chucks,
Alice.
ALISTAIR
I’ve got this great scene where
the Maplethorpe sisters are fooling
around with Dr. Morrison – on set!
They think there’s nobody there
but…
MICHAEL
Luke, what are we looking for?
Alistair goes over to Melvin, getting a CD out of his
leather shoulder-bag.
LUKE
I think it’s possible we can
interact with this shadow, with
Paul’s…
PETER
Visitor.
Alistair tries to foist the CD onto Melvin.
MICHAEL (TO ALISTAIR)
Listen, Alice! Otherwise you’ll be
late, Alice!
Linn giggles.
Melvin’s started the tape and he’s inserted the CD.
On the screen, without audio, a door opens onto Paul, in
his bathrobe, backlit by the brightness in his apartment
(Scene 30).
LUKE
I think it’s possible we can
communicate.
JANE
Without Paul?
Melvin brings in a big techno beat, which is completely
out of place with the small domestic scene on screen.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
92.
On screen, Luke sits at the table, dressed for work, he’s
finished breakfast. Lydia, in a robe, is eating hers. Paul
goes to make tea.
Damon laughs raucously.
LUKE
Michael, this was supposed to be
closed!
Linn gives a whinny.
Melvin pulls back on the soundtrack.
MICHAEL (TO JANE)
Whatever Paul has been owed I regard
as paid back in full by the mere
fact that he’s not in a mental
asylum.
JANE
What have you done…?
There’s a hoot as Luke kisses Lydia goodbye on-screen.
MICHAEL
Filth!
(To JANE)
What have I done?! For how long
has Paul not been working?
LUKE
This is different, Michael: your
friends…
Michael finds the audio for the action on screen just as
Lydia smashes the dishes (Scene 38).
Luke is momentarily distracted.
LUKE (CONT’D)
… could jeopardise this experiment
just as much as Paul being here.
LYDIA
SHIT! Now I’m doing it, I’m doing
it too!
(She weeps.)
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
Remind me never to let you film me
in the morning!
LYDIA
I just, I mean, I don’t want to
see him die.
Michael is moved despite himself.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
93.
ALISTAIR
Bummer!
PETER
Michael!
PAUL
David!
MICHAEL (TO ALISTAIR)
Watch carefully, Alice, you might
just learn something.
DAMON
(Putting on a voice)
Why doesn’t she just learn to act!
LYDIA
GO! Go to him.
Pause.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
There’s a change in the quality of the audio.
SLIGHT PULL BACK FROM THE MONITOR IN DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO.
The screen at Michael’s soiree is shown.
We see the action on the monitor on Michael’s screen.
TRAVEL INTO CEILING-LIGHTS IN PAUL’S KITCHEN.
Lydia answers David’s question, not included in the original
version of Scene 38:
LYDIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
What?!
David repeats the question:
LYDIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
What?
(She’s calming down)
What’s a Luddite?
David’s question.
LYDIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
No, no…
PAN DOWN FROM CEILING-LIGHTS IN PAUL’S KITCHEN.
On the tape David swings the camera down from the ceiling-
lights, to close and soft on Lydia’s face.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
94.
CLOSE ON LYDIA.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
There are windows.
On screen, she goes back to the bench
LYDIA (CONT’D)
They’re cleverly hidden…
On screen, she taps at the screens above the bench, trying
to prise out a corner of the window-screens.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
That’s all.
On screen, the camers pans around the room looking for
more hidden windows.
PAN AROUND PAUL’S HOUSE.
PAUL (O.S.)
David!
LYDIA (O.S.)
(Lowering her voice)
It’s been hard for Paul, I mean:
you.
(Voice lower still)
He thinks he’s being watched.
(Speaking voice)
The apartment was refurbished
without windows, about – six months
ago.
DAVID¤
Don’t you think that’s insane? ¤
LYDIA
No – I believe him.
PAUL (O.S.)
David!
On screen, David goes to doorway, whence Paul’s voice.
Lydia pulls David’s arm, David hasn’t time to focus on
her.
LYDIA
You could do worse than believe
him too, David.
On screen, David travels down a short dark hallway to Paul’s
bedroom.
The door swings inwards. The room is lit by a bedside lamp.
Paul sits up in bed, robed, this time no glasses.
Next to him, Melissa’s head is visible, face down.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
95.
Real-time David, filming this off the big screen, hasn’t
noticed yet.
On screen, Paul picks his glasses up off the bedside table.
He puts them on.
DAVID¤
Do you need those? ¤
PAUL
(About the glasses)
These?
On screen, Melissa rolls over, face-up, eyes open.
70 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — NIGHT
Paul’s house: the version we have just seen on the monitor.
David reacts to seeing Melissa in Tosh’s stead: he turns
the camera from the monitor to the unmade bed behind him,
the night-window, the door ajar, the tapes missing from
the table.
On the monitor, Paul continues:
PAUL (O.S.)
It’s a bit like smoking. It helps
me think.
(Pause)
Don’t worry about him. He’s asleep.
TO MONITOR.
PAUL (CONT’D)
(About glasses)
And, of course, I can see.
TRAVEL INTO MONITOR.
71 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
The head next to Paul: it’s Alex, face down.
There’s a barely noticeable change in the audio coming off
the footage under review.
LINN (O.S.)
Who’s he in bed with?
PETER (O.S.)
What’s his name, Michael?
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Melvin.
ON PETER.
PETER
Melvin!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
96.
ON MELVIN, REACTION.
WIDE ON PETER.
PETER (CONT’D)
Melvin, can you frame forward?
LUKE
That’s our man!
The screen audio ceases but Melvin fucks up.
PETER
No… no. Now back… Christ! No.
Frame!
MICHAEL
Alistair, darling, can you help
him?
WIDE ON ALISTAIR.
ALISTAIR
Can I put my tape on now?
DAMON
I don’t know about you but I’d
like to see it.
MICHAEL
(Resoundingly)
NO!
All react apart from:
DAMON
Have you got something I can take
for the boredom then?
MICHAEL
Oh fuck off inside!
Damon leaves, making his leaving felt. Linn follows him
into Michael’s house.
Michael stands.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
(Aside)
You’d think on a hundred bucks an
hour he could find a fucking button
to press.
(To MELVIN)
JUST PLAY…
Melvin plays the tape from where he’s stopped it, Scene
40. Alistair stands down by the screen looking up at the
huge images.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
97.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
PETER (TO LUKE) (O.S.)
(quietly)
I wanted to see if he turned over.
PAUL
… picture now. Jane’s a good
girl but completely lacking in…
JANE (O.S.)
Lacking in what?!
Melvin skips the tape forward.
JANE (O.S.) (CONT’D)
What am I lacking in? God, Tosh is
a poisonous little shit!
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Mel, dear…
Melvin skips the tape forward, still Scene 40.
PAUL
… Michael. What they don’t realise
is…
Linn has reentered behind Michael, out of shot.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
(over PAUL’s audio)
Keep playing, caro…
PAUL
… and when they turn and say,
Come back to bed! You say, For
you? Or for me?…
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Caro, Mel!
PAUL
… has the same selfish terms of
reference as themselves…
LINN (O.S.)
Bitch!
PAUL
… you’re being selfish.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Tendentious old queen!
There’s a cut in the on-screen action.
Alistair’s laughing over the cut.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
98.
Melvin’s skipped forward and paused on Alex, now turned
face-up in bed with slight motion blur.
TRAVEL INTO SCREEN: CLOSE ON ALEX.
The shadow noted before, around Alex’s head, here seems a
natural effect of the off-lighting in the bedroom.
Alex is smiling, his eyes are closed.
72 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — NIGHT
Paul’s house: the version we’ve just seen plays on the
monitor.
Alex’s face is in close-up on the monitor.
PAN FROM THE MONITOR TO DAVID’S BEDSIDE TABLE.
The camera goes to David’s bedside table: an unmarked bottle
of pills, lid off.
CUT TO:
73 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — DAY
Scenic drive in the Waitakeres. Peter’s at the wheel.
PETER
How many did she take?
DAVID¤
I don’t know. The bottle was
empty… ¤
PETER
And she took the tapes?!
DAVID¤
Yes. ¤
Peter slams the steering-wheel with his palms.
PETER
Fuck! Fuck!
PAN TO BACKSEAT: LUKE, LYDIA, PAUL.
CUT TO:
74 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
CLOSE ON ALEX’S UPTURNED FACE, EYES OPEN.
The tape of Alex plays from the still.
ALEX
(In TOSH’s voice,
imperfectly synced)
It’s not my fault.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
99.
PULL OUT FROM SCREEN.
ALISTAIR
(To screen)
Oh, that’s bad!
(About the sync.)
MICHAEL (O.S.)
MEL!
MELVIN
(Whining)
I didn’t touch anything!
TO PATIO.
MICHAEL
This is your idea, Luke…
LUKE
(Nodding towards
screen)
It’s your movie, Michael.
Melvin has managed to kill the screen audio again, the
techno beat’s back.
Alistair is dancing in front of the screen and laughing.
Behind the screen, his shadow larger than life, Damon is
taking a piss.
On-screen, Paul is mouthing.
WIDE ON SCREEN AND SURROUNDS.
MEDIUM ON MICHAEL.
MICHAEL
What the fuck are you doing, Damon?!
DAMON (O.S.)
(Behind screen)
What does it look like I’m doing?
I’m taking the piss!
ALISTAIR (O.S.)
No, you’re taking a piss: I’m taking
the piss!
MICHAEL
Linn, get them out of here before
I fucking kill them myself!
FOLLOWING LINN TO THE SCREEN.
David follows Linn down towards the screen. There’s a sudden
flash from the screen.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
100.
75 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — VISUALLY CONTINUOUS BUT
LATER
Paul’s house: the version we’ve just seen plays on the
monitor without audio.
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
On-screen, Paul’s arm descends as if stabbing.
The flash is from light catching metal but no metal is to
be seen. It happens in an instant.
76 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — CONTINUOUS
Paul’s house: the same version is played again to see if
it changes.
Paul’s arm descends as if stabbing.
The flash is from light catching metal but no metal is to
be seen. It happens in an instant.
77 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — CONTINUOUS
Paul’s house: the same version replays.
Paul’s arm descends as if stabbing.
The flash is from light catching metal but no metal is to
be seen. It happens in an instant.
CUT TO:
78 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
Same scene: new generation.
JANE
Who’s Alice? Michael?
Damon laughs, he’s back reclined on the grass.
MICHAEL
No, I did know an Alistair, once.
I called him Alice: it was a
fashionable thing at the time to
call men by women’s names.
PETER (TO LUKE)
It’s too unstable.
LUKE
No. We should try again.
DAMON
Again! Encore!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
101.
ON SCREEN.
Melvin’s reset the tape.
On screen, a still of Paul in bed with Tosh beside him.
JANE (O.S.)
What happened to him?
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Who?
JANE (O.S.)
Alice?
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Oh. He died. In a park. It was a
fluke thing. He was probably
recognised from TV. And some
arsehole stabbed him. It could’ve
been a gay thing.
On-screen, tape plays (Scene 42):
PASSER-BY (TO DAVID) (O.S.)
Ever-punctual but always
unscheduled: that’s what he’s like.
CUT TO:
79 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — DAY
A new version of Scene 42:
Karangahape road. Paul is strolling, conscious of David at
some distance from him.
Techno-beat plays, until:
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
Hey! What are you doing?
David quick-cuts to her.
ON CHANTILLE.
The light readjustment of the camera is slow, so that she
stays in partial shadow.
David tries to fix it, the shadow resolves into a dark
frame around her.
80 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
JANE (O.S.)
Chantille?
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
102.
WIDE ON JANE.
JANE (CONT’D)
David, what?
81 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
WIDE ON JANE.
JANE
David, what?
82 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
WIDE ON JANE.
JANE
David, what?
83 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
WIDE ON JANE.
JANE
David, what?
CUT TO:
84 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
WIDE ON SCREEN SHOWING SURROUNDS.
On screen, Jane, filmed in front of Chantille on Karangahape
Road, from Scene 79.
Little Jane, with large Chantille, in a frame of shadow,
on Karangahape Road.
Jane is also in shot hunched up with grief below the screen.
CHANTILLE
I haven’t done anything wrong.
JANE
Haven’t you?
CHANTILLE
No.
JANE
You haven’t?
CUT TO:
85 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — MOMENTS LATER
Next version of same footage:
Hunched-up-with-grief Jane is also on screen with Chantille
and the previous Jane.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
103.
JANE (TO DAVID)
(Hunched-up-with-
grief)
I CAN’T…!
CHANTILLE
No.
JANE (1)
You haven’t?
JANE (2) (CONT’D)
You were depressed; you couldn’t
sleep; you threatened… When I
left, you threatened…
CHANTILLE
I don’t like being filmed without
being asked. Jane, Jane, tell him
to get that camera out of my face!
Luke cues Jane (3), in front of screen.
LUKE
“What do you want?”
JANE (3)
(Standing in front
of the screen)
No, Luke.
(Pause)
Jane looks up at the screen, exhausted.
JANE (3) (CONT’D)
What do you want?
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Swap the tapes, Mel.
CUT TO:
86 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — MOMENTS LATER
The tapes are swapped between scenes.
Next version of the same: on-screen there are now three
Janes.
CHANTILLE
… Jane, tell him to get that
camera out of my face!
JANE (3)
What do you want?
CHANTILLE
What do I want?! I want you to
stop following me. I want some
damn peace!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
104.
Chantille draws the outline of the dark frame around her.
CHANTILLE (CONT’D)
You know what this is?
ON JANE(3).
Jane reacts to Chantille on-screen. Luke turns to her.
DAMON
(Shouting)
The suicide box!
MICHAEL
Cosmic twink!
LUKE
Go home, Jane.
JANE (3)
I can’t see, I can’t face…
87 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — MOMENTS LATER
WIDE ON SCREEN.
Melvin’s reset the tape: A still of Paul in bed with Tosh
beside him.
The audio from Scene 86 continues:
CHANTILLE (O.S.)
This is my personal space! When
you invade that space, when you
stick your eyes in – I don’t care
how you do it – but you don’t just
invade my privacy, you invade me!
PAN AROUND TO PATIO.
Linn is stroking Jane’s head.
CHANTILLE (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Don’t forget, I’ve seen you before.
I know who you are!
LUKE
We’re talking to the dead in the
place of talking to death.
PETER
We need Paul.
MICHAEL
No we don’t! This is fine!
Pause.
JANE
Luke, tell me it’s a trick.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
105.
LUKE
It’s a trick, Jane.
Pause.
MICHAEL (TO LUKE)
At least you have the satisfaction
of being right.
88 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — NIGHT
The sound of knocking.
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
Max is on the monitor screen, Scene 47.
MAX
If the dead can pass through her
doorway as Death itself, what other
demons have already passed through?
What other evil is already here?
PULL OUT FROM SCREEN.
ON DAVID’S BEDROOM DOOR.
The door is the source of the knocking.
MAX (O.S.) (CONT’D)
There is another story… She sees
everything.
The door opens – darkness beyond – but the knocking
continues as if from a different version of the scene.
MAX (O.S.) (CONT’D)
And nothing. She is everybody. And
nobody.
89 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — LATER
The knocking continues and the view of an open door,
darkness beyond, from Scene 88.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID) (O.S.)
He said what to you?
(A beat)
The old lush!
(A beat)
Old queens like that fill me with
a sense of repugnance.
(A beat)
“Your eyes are the windows to your
soul”!
MICHAEL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
(A beat)
Wipe him, David! Erase him! I don’t
want him in my movie.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
106.
90 INT. JANE’S HOUSE — NIGHT
The knocking ceases.
We enter the darkness.
We proceed slowly down a completely black hallway.
Pause.
The sound of bodies progressing in the dark.
LUKE
This is where you live, Jane?
PETER
(A cut-off sarcastic
laugh)
Tuh!
JANE
If this is another trick, Luke,
I’ll…
Pause.
JANE (CONT’D)
O God… O God… … no … no.
Pause.
PETER
Can’t we turn on the l….?
PAUL (O.S.)
(Not too distant)
In here!
Pause.
A doorway, barely visible, lit only by streetlights coming
in through the bedroom window.
They draw near.
JANE
O God, no… no…
91 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — NIGHT
We see the footage of Melissa here, Scene 51.
The audio from Scene 90, continuous from the previous scene,
continues.
Melissa’s arms and legs in sodium and ice-blue. Her head
is in shadow. The camera lingers on her body without
prurience.
We hear:
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
107.
Jane’s sharp intakes of breath, swallowing sobs.
PAUL (O.S.)
She was dead when I got here.
JANE (O.S.)
What are you doing here?
PAUL (O.S.)
I don’t know.
(Pause)
Just sitting. Waiting I suppose…
Pause.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Your phone, Jane. You left your
phone. I don’t have a phone. It
rang and rang.
JANE (O.S.)
Did she say… Did she say…
anything?
The following sound-bite, from Scene 55, is dropped in:
MELISSA
I hope you don’t expect me to pay
your rent as well as pose for your
friends!
PROFILE ON PAUL
On the monitor, Paul is backlit, sitting in front of the
bedroom window.
PAUL
Before the call even came, Tosh
knew. I swear he’s psychic, that
boy.
PETER
How did you get in?
PAUL
He was here.
PETER
Who?
(Pause)
Tosh?
CUT TO:
92 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — EVENING
The audio from Scene 91 continues, is continuous.
Michael’s patio, with expensive views.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
108.
Michael sits with a drink, shirt open to the evening breeze.
Luke, Peter and Jane, are partially out of shot in the
background. They occupy the rest of the patio-set.
PAUL (O.S.)
If I knew his name, I’d say his
name!
DAMON (O.S.)
Damon.
Audio cuts to the visual scene, Scene 92.
A sound-bite is dropped in, from Scene 51:
MELISSA (O.S.)
Hey! What are you doing?!
Michael, Jane, Luke, Peter watching Scene 51 on the big
screen in the grotto.
MELISSA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I didn’t hear you get up!
(Pause)
How long…?!
(Pause)
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FUCKING
FILMING ME?
JANE (TO DAVID)
(Turning)
You don’t have to show us this,
David.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
On screen, Melissa is in bed.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
No, no, let him go.
Screen footage cuts to:
On screen, Melissa holds the sheets in one fist, bringing
down the other violently between her legs.
MELISSA
DID YOU GET SOME OF THIS?!
In Melissa’s on-screen pause:
JANE (O.S.)
Stop it, Michael.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
I think so.
JANE (O.S.)
MELVIN!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
109.
MEDIUM ON JANE.
Jane cuts her head off with her finger – the internationally
recognised sign.
Slight pause as David refocuses on patio, with Michael
foreground.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
Is she a problem?
(Pause)
No, I mean, no, seriously: is she
a problem?
(Pause)
David… listen to me: first you
go and visit some dried up old
fruit in his piss-stinking suburban
mausoleum, NOW THIS!
(A beat)
WHO’S PAYING YOU?!
DAVID¤
Paul. ¤
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
No!
(Composing himself)
Maxa-fucking-thanks-a-million you
edit. This little…
CUT TO:
93 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — AFTERNOON
A brief still of the motion-blurred side of Melissa’s face
as she’s gone to smack David in the teeth, Scene 58.
BACK TO:
94 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — EVENING
Michael holds out an unmarked bottle of pills to David.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
Turn the fucking camera off!
WIDE ON DAMON.
Damon approaches from Michael’s house.
MICHAEL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Damon will go with you.
95 INT. JANE’S HOUSE — NIGHT
Jane’s bedroom.
Streetlight coming through the window cuts Paul out in
silhouette, in profile, sitting.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
110.
LUKE
How did she…?
DAMON
The old-fashioned way.
CLOSE ON BED.
There’s a slick black patch on the white bed linen.
JANE
Where… where is she?
PAUL
We’ve been sitting here for a while.
Silence.
JANE
I’ve got to go to her!
PAUL
(Cutting her off)
Wait!
(indicating DAMON)
He told me everything.
(A beat)
You betrayed me.
(A beat)
All of you!
A pause.
JANE
And exactly what am I lacking,
Paul?!
PAUL
Imagination, Jane: this wouldn’t
have happened, couldn’t have
happened, if you’d trusted me… I
COULD’VE SAVED HER.
DAMON
No.
PAUL
You could’ve saved her, Jane!
PETER
If anybody’s to blame, Michael is.
PAUL
Everything that man does is a
circus!
(Turning to DAVID)
If you’d listened to me, David!
DAMON
No, Paul.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
111.
Silence.
96 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — DAY
The audio continues, is continuous, from Scene 95.
We are traveling, as for chasing Alex, Scene 43.
PAUL (O.S.)
I went to her once. In her office.
I told her someone was watching
me.
David is at top of Max’s street and, slowing down,
approaches Max’s villa.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Well, actually, I said it was Death!
LUKE (O.S.)
And it wasn’t?
A figure is visible standing at Max’s front door.
PAUL (O.S.)
That’s not important now.
It is Linn, standing stock still, aware of David’s approach.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I was adamant. So she goes to the
window, to humour me or dismiss my
paranoia. And… Somebody’s there.
Looking straight at her. Under the
trees. Over the river.
Linn turns, the lens of the camera he’s holding flashes in
the sunlight.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Filming her.
Max’s door opens, darkness beyond: Linn steps quickly
inside. The door shuts.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
I’m sorry, Jane.
97 EXT. OUTSIDE MAX’S HOUSE — AFTERNOON
We see Max’s door, David’s contrivedly composed shot, as
at Scene 31.
98 INT. OUTSIDE DAVID’S BEDROOM — AFTERNOON
We see the dense black of David’s hallway.
The sound of fabric rustling beyond his door.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
112.
The door is slightly ajar: a sliver of light, enlarging as
David pushes the door open.
The sheets on his bed are caught up in the limbs of two
people fucking doggy style, facing him: Damon and Melissa.
Sunlight through the curtain.
As Melissa looks straight at him, David swiftly retreats,
pulling the door to.
The rhythmic rustling of bed linen continues.
Blackness apart from the sliver of light around the door.
99 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
ON CEILING-LIGHTS.
As at Scene 69, David looks straight up at the lights on
Paul’s ceiling.
David is lying on Paul’s sofa, having woken up there.
100 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — DAY
Scenic drive in the Waitakeres.
Peter’s at the wheel: the stretch of road between
Bethell’s’s and Kare Kare: scrubland, gorse and clay.
BACK TO:
101 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
ON CEILING-LIGHTS.
The lights in Paul’s ceiling.
As at Scene 69, the sound of somebody in the kitchen,
rustling and the clinking of china.
Out of shot, Lydia pulling out a kitchen chair from the
table, sitting.
LYDIA (O.S.)
Look at you! You’re awake! I mean,
you’re awake a matter of minutes
and already your camera’s pointed
at the ceiling!
Pause.
LYDIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
It’s alright. I mean, it’s not
alright: Paul could be very upset
with you but seeing how upset you
were last night…
(Pause, quietly)
I understand why you did it.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
113.
BLACK.
102 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — EVENING
CLOSE ON MONITOR.
On the monitor screen: arrival at Michael’s but a different
version to Scene 64.
On screen, Michael opens the front door (not Linn). The
porch light is on.
PETER
What did you say to Lydia?
LUKE
She’s torn – what do you expect? –
but she’ll stay with Paul.
(Pause)
D…
PULL OUT FROM SCREEN.
David pulls all the way out, further out than he needs to.
FULL ON MELISSA.
Melissa, stands in the darkened doorway, waiting: the shot
makes her look small and far away.
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
The new version of Scene 64 continues.
MICHAEL (TO DAVID)
God! Do you have to do that? It’s
obsessive!
On screen, Michael lets Peter, Luke and David in.
PETER (O.S.)
Michael, it wasn’t supposed to be
an open screening!
On screen, Michael leads them down the brilliantly lit
hallway.
MICHAEL
It’s not! It’s not! – I’m the soul
of discretion!
On screen, they reach the other side of the house: the
patio, the vista.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
Just open-air!
On screen, David lingers on the view, the screen rig.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
114.
On screen, Jane is there, Melvin – a shadow under the
marquee.
MELISSA (O.S.)
What do you mean. Don’t I have
something to say to you?!
(Pause)
Don’t you have something to say to
me? “David”?!
MICHAEL
You like? I had Sam rig it up.
(A beat)
I call it: The Grotto!
Pause.
PETER
(Gesturing to the
marquee)
What about…?
MELISSA (O.S.)
If you can’t find anything to say
to me…
MEDIUM ON MELISSA.
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Melvin? Mel’s our stevo: he’s one
of our mechs.
(A beat)
Of course he’s alright: he’s paid
to be alright!
MELISSA
I want this shit out of here! All
this shit! Especially…!
(points at camera)
Why are you filming?
David stops the camera and closes the files on the monitor.
Camera on: Melissa turns to go into the dark hallway.
MELISSA (CONT’D)
I don’t fucking care!
(Parting shot)
And I want my car back!
David throws the car-keys after her. David keeps them in
shot, following their flight to where they land just outside
the door.
We see Damon, outside the door, partially in shadow, bend
down to pick up the keys.
103 INT. OUTSIDE DAVID’S BEDROOM — CONTINUOUS
In the darkness of the hallway, we see Melissa’s face.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
115.
She’s struggling against the arm that holds her head and
the hand that’s filling her mouth with pills, which she
tries to spit out – Damon’s.
104 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
ON CEILING-LIGHTS.
The lights buzz.
105 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — EVENING
CLOSE ON THE EMPTY PILL-BOTTLE.
The pill-bottle sits on the bedside table, Melissa’s side
of the bed.
ROVING OVER DAVID’S STUDIO-TABLE.
The tapes are missing from David’s studio-table.
106 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
We see Paul’s breakfast table, a new teapot. Lydia dressed,
Paul robed, as at Scene 69.
Paul busies himself with breakfast.
PAUL
You were, as they say, in a
distressed and highly agitated
state.
DAVID¤
Was I? ¤
PAUL
Don’t you remember?
(Pause)
Tosh…
CLOSE ON PAUL’S LEFT HAND.
David cuts away to the hand we saw come down on Tosh as if
stabbing him. On Paul’s wrist, he wears a watch with a
reflective face, glinting under the lights.
DAVID¤
What have you done with him? ¤
PAUL
What?
(A beat)
Second sight, like I say. Perhaps
it’s to do with how much he sleeps.
(aside, to LYDIA)
He never seems to get enough sleep!
(To DAVID)
Tosh found you. He brought you
back here last night.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
116.
David cuts away from the table. This time to the doorway
to the hall, leading to Paul’s bedroom.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Where’s your car?
107 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — LATER
At the breakfast table: Paul looks at David, considering,
carefully, the consequences of what David has told him.
PAUL
So, in effect, you have nowhere to
live.
Lydia leaves the table.
108 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — LATER
After David’s further explanations.
PAUL
But you filmed all the tapes: you
re-filmed all the action?!
Paul stands, he starts pacing, becoming more agitated.
CLOSE ON TAPE.
The “Melissa: ed.” tape lies on the table. Lydia is out of
focus in the background.
PAUL (CONT’D)
When was this?!
DAVID¤
I’m not sure. Last night. ¤
PAUL
Last night!… But you’re not
sure…
DAVID¤
No. ¤
PAUL
I DON’T UNDERSTAND, David!
DAVID¤
It was last night… ¤
PAUL
LAST NIGHT!!
DAVID¤
Damon was there. ¤
PAUL
He went with her?!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
117.
DAVID¤
It was Michael’s idea.¤
PAUL
It was Michael’s idea!!?
DAVID¤
Michael gave me the pills. ¤
Paul pacing, Lydia background.
LYDIA
What pills?
DAVID¤
I thought you knew, afterall, you
and he were partners. ¤
PAUL
What makes you think I’d be in
contact with him?!
DAVID¤
I’m not sure if Damon’s for real…¤
PAUL
(Turning on DAVID,
incredulous)
You’re not sure if he’s for real!
I’M NOT SURE IF YOU’RE FOR REAL,
DAVID!
Paul makes a snap decision, heads purposefully for the
door to the hall leading to his bedroom.
PAUL (TO DAVID) (CONT’D)
You know how I said the cheque’s’s
in the mail? Cancel that. You’re
USELESS.
Paul goes to leave.
PAUL (TO DAVID) (CONT’D)
You’re just as selfish as all the
others!
(To LYDIA, from the
doorway)
Call Peter, tell him to bring the
car.
LYDIA
But…
PAUL
Tell him, if it’s a question of
loyalty, he can prove it now.
LYDIA
But…
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
118.
PAUL
Tell him, Geronimo’s’s mad again!
Because I am, I’m standing on the
brink! Tell him anything, we just
need the car!
LYDIA
But my phone’s down, I mean,
what…?
PAUL
For God’s sake! Use Jane’s: she’s
not going to need it in her dark
hole.
Paul retreats into the dark hallway, David follows to the
doorway.
PAUL (CONT’D)
I mean grief! Christ! I mean grief,
alright?!
(To DAVID, from the
dark)
No, you’re not going to follow me!
DAVID¤
Tosh can find her. Tosh is good at
finding people. ¤
PAUL
(Sarcasm)
Yes, he is good at finding people
but if you don’t know where to
find her, if you don’t know where
to look for her – in your heart! –
she was just a root, wasn’t she!
WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU?
Paul enters his bedroom off the hallway, closing the door
behind him: darkness.
David turns to the open door into the living-space, Lydia
is framed by the doorway, leaning back against the sink, a
cellphone in her hand.
LYDIA
(Distant)
What have you done, David?
109 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — AFTERNOON
We look through the doorway into David’s room, where Melissa
and Damon are fucking.
Melissa looks down the barrel of the camera.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
119.
EXTREME CLOSE ON MELISSA.
David travels into Melissa’s face: through the travel, her
expression becomes fearful, terrified. We see her lips
moving before she says the words:
MELISSA
Who are you?
CUT TO:
110 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — DAY
Peter’s driving, Lydia, Paul, Luke in the backseat. Peter
slams his palm against the wheel, as in Scene 73.
PETER
Fuck! Fuck!
111 EXT. TRAVELING BY CAR — DAY
We see the first glimpse of the sea, from the car, behind
the dunes, between the hills.
The car is descending towards the coast.
112 EXT. DUNES — LATER
A carpark: Peter’s the only car.
We leave the car. We climb the dunes. We see the sea.
David is out in front. He turns to get a shot of the others
following.
We cover some ground: sand and tussock, over dunes.
A strangely unhurried pace is set, the movement is up and
down, crossing the dunes.
We reach the top of a dune, we see a car down below, in
another carpark.
We see that the driver’s door is open.
The scene of the crime is pristine.
Hardly noticeable but there, nonetheless, a single set of
tracks leaves the car from the driver’s side and snakes
off over the dunes on the far side of the carpark.
David waits at the top of the dune above the carpark for
the others to overtake him.
Paul leads the group down, followed by Peter, then Lydia
and Luke.
Paul reaches the bottom before David begins his descent.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
120.
We are waiting to see what sort of reaction the scene
elicits from the first to enter it.
Paul goes to the driver’s side, he leans into the car.
Although we can’t see what he’s doing, he’s checking
Melissa’s pulse, at her neck. He’s also putting his glasses
on.
Sunlight flashes off his glasses: white burnouts.
David starts running down the dune not caring where the
camera’s pointed: a rush of textures and a blur of movement.
113 INT. DUNES — MOMENTS LATER
David’s coming around the front of the car trying to see
in the windscreen.
Paul steps aside as David clears the open driver’s door.
Paul, out of shot, notices the tracks leading away from
the car and follows them.
Lydia has covered her face with her hands and slumps into
Luke’s shoulder.
Luke has his phone out and turns away from the car to speak
to the authorities.
Peter looks from Luke to the car. He gets out a cigarette,
hesitates, putting it to his lips and withdrawing it a
couple of times, but finally lighting it.
We see Melissa where she’s been placed in the driver’s
seat, her head back, her mouth open, her lips blue.
David passes over her to the passenger seat and floor,
strewn with tapes, many.
We can see Luke, Lydia, Peter, out the passenger-side
window.
David brings the camera back to Melissa. It shakes as David
reaches out his hand and holds it cupped a short distance
from Melissa’s mouth, to see if she’s breathing.
His hand is shaking too but it is important that we see it
is the same hand that thrust the pills into the mouth:
Damon’s.
114 EXT. DUNES — MOMENTS LATER
David looks over the roof of the car: Lydia has turned
from Luke and shouts to Paul, her voice weak:
LYDIA
PAUL!
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
121.
David notices the trail of footprints Paul is following.
He tracks the tracks.
Paul disappears over the dunes as the others start
following. Lydia is out in front.
When David catches up, in a hollow in the dunes, the others
are standing out several meters from Paul, who holds his
glasses in the hand he is pointing at the ground with.
His other hand he presses into his abdomen.
David tracks Damon’s tracks: the trail Paul has followed.
They stop a short distance from Paul.
We track past them, back to them, looking for a continuation
or an explanation: the tracks simply stop.
Paul doubles up in pain, his glasses catching the light.
He falls forward.
Lydia runs to him, kneels at his side.
Paul’s cheek rests on the sand.
DISSOLVE
TO:
115 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
ON CEILING-LIGHTS.
AFTER A PAUSE, THE AUDIO FROM SCENE 114 CONTINUES.
PETER (O.S.)
Let’s get out of here.
BACK TO:
116 EXT. DUNES — DAY
MEDIUM ON LUKE.
LUKE
But we’ve got…!
Luke points at the camera.
PETER (O.S.)
LET’S. GET OUT. OF HERE!
Luke turns from David.
Peter approaches him, takes something from him.
CLOSE ON PAUL’S HAND.
Peter puts the cellphone in Paul’s hand.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
122.
LYDIA (O.S.)
No!
CLOSE ON PAUL’S EYES.
Paul’s eyes are open, blank.
Peter puts Paul’s glasses on him.
117 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — MORNING
ON CEILING-LIGHTS.
An irritating scratching noise commences in the background.
It crosses with the following audio, continuing from Scene
115, and fades out.
The following audio is of a different quality to that in
Scene 116.
LUKE (O.S.)
Peter’s right: we can’t be here
when the authorities arrive.
PETER (O.S.)
Come on, Lydia! Paul was clear
about this from the beginning. He
knew the risks…
LYDIA (O.S.)
David! We can’t leave him here! I
mean, we can’t just…
PETER (O.S.)
Backwards! Cover as much of your
footprints as you can!
The audio track cuts out for a second.
PETER (O.S.) (CONT’D)
What tapes?
(A beat)
Of course we take the tapes! I’ve
said so from the beginning: we’re
all implicated here!
BACK TO:
118 EXT. DUNES — DAY
CLOSE ON PAUL’S FACE.
Paul has his glasses on, his cheek in the sand.
David has retreated some way off. He slowly pulls back,
Paul’s face centre.
We see a lens flash.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
123.
Another crew films from the far dunes.
They are small in the frame, distant, but recognisable:
Linn on camera; Melvin on boom, wearing cans; Damon
directing the shot. Further off again, Alex and Alistair,
drink bottled water, looking on.
119 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
David continues the pull – from Scene 118 – until we see
the edges of Michael’s outdoor screen.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
PETER (O.S.)
Damn you, Paul!
On-screen, the now tiny figure, Paul, in the centre of the
shot, gets up. He turns and faces Linn’s crew, his back to
us. He lifts his arms.
On screen, we circle Paul and as we do, Alistair comes
into shot, brushes the sand from Paul’s face, then the
sleeves on his upheld arms, brushing him down to the cuffs
at his ankles.
On screen, we spiral in to Paul’s face, which fills the
screen.
On screen, Alistair has taken the glasses and the cellphone.
On screen, Paul blinks in the sunlight.
120 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — DAY
ON CEILING-LIGHTS.
A loud irritating scratching.
WIDE ON LYDIA.
Lydia is trying to remove the board covering the window
above Paul’s sink with a screw-driver, hence the scraping,
scratching.
David approaches her.
LYDIA
(in mid-speech)
Don’t tell me don’t!
The board comes away.
There is very bright light behind it, which the camera
adjusts to, making the surroundings dark. It looks like a
door opening onto light.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
124.
121 INT. OUTSIDE DAVID’S BEDROOM — AFTERNOON
David’s bedroom door opening onto light: Melissa and Damon
fucking on the bed.
On the far side of the bed from the sunlit window a figure
in shadow: Alistair is filming this little porno scene
with a handicam.
CUT TO:
122 INT. LINN’S BEDROOM STUDIO AT MICHAEL’S — DAY
A door opens onto a small room: a single bed, a home-editing
studio on a table, racks of tapes.
Michael enters and opens the curtain.
MICHAEL
You can work in here.
(Pause)
I had to set it up for somebody,
somebody else. But you can use it
now. You won’t be disturbed. I’m
out at the agency most days. I’ve
taken the liberty of shelving the
tapes. I think you’ll find
everything you need.
Pause.
David pans around the room.
Max’s sound-bites are dropped into the scene.
MAX (O.S.)
It would be a shame to see it go
to waste….
David swings around just missing Michael (or Max) leaving.
MAX (O.S.) (CONT’D)
As I said, I don’t do shrines.
CUT TO:
123 EXT. MICHAEL’S FRONTAGE — AFTERNOON
Pulling up in Peter’s car outside Michael’s in the daylight.
124 EXT. MICHAEL’S FRONTAGE — MOMENTS LATER
Michael reluctantly embraces a distraught Lydia on the
porch in the daylight.
MICHAEL
(Over Lydia’s
shoulder)
WHY DID YOU COME HERE?
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
125.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
DON’T COME HERE! DON’T COME HERE
FIRST! ARE YOU COMPLETELY MAD?
CUT TO:
125 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE — DAY
The sound of scraping and scratching, Lydia at the window.
LYDIA
(in mid-speech)
Don’t tell me don’t!
The board comes away. Bright light.
David turns away, heads out the door to Paul’s bedroom.
LYDIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Where are you going, David? Please
don’t… HE’S NOT THERE!
126 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — MOMENTS LATER
David enters the bedroom.
Light is entering through a window that had formerly been
covered.
The covers are pulled back. David investigates the dark
stain on Tosh’s side.
LYDIA (O.S.)
(Behind DAVID)
We had to protect him. Tosh would’ve
been the death of this project.
David, Paul was showing so much
promise! Michael said…
David turns to her.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
I mean, our personal lives , they
just fuck everything up, don’t
they? I mean, you too, you and
that stupid girl. If we’d had only
technology, I mean, if we’d only
had this,
(points at camera)
Paul might still be alive: we might
all still be alive.
Pause: David keeps the camera on Lydia.
LYDIA (CONT’D)
You know?
127 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — NIGHT
Michael’s party in the grotto.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
126.
Luke, Peter, Jane, Michael and Linn, Alistair, Damon,
Melvin, grouped as in Scene 65.
David pans around the scene.
David films Melvin. Melvin stands, cans on, at the gear,
in the marquee.
David films the screen.
On screen, the same night scene without people – just the
patio furniture, the vista: neither the screen, the marquee
or the gear are there.
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
The edges of the screen disappear.
128 INT. LINN’S BEDROOM STUDIO AT MICHAEL’S — CONTINUOUS
The shot pulls out of the empty exterior of Michael’s,
Scene 127, from the monitor in David’s room at Michael’s.
129 INT. VIEWING-ROOM AT MICHAEL’S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS
The shot pulls out again: the monitor is inside the screen
in Michael’s viewing room.
The shot pans the immaculate minimally appointed viewing-
room.
WIDE ON SCREEN.
It returns to the screen on which Paul and Alex are sitting
at the bar of the cafe from Scene 2. (We’ve seen this
conversation in still frames already, Scene 20.)
The edges of the screen disappear.
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
130 INT. CAFE — CONTINUOUS
We are looking at the two of them in the mirror on the far
side of the bar so we see their faces, David has positioned
the camera behind them to the left and unseen.
The audio pick-up is not clean of cafe noise.
PAUL
I appreciate your talking to me.
ALEX
Don’t play with me, Paul.
PAUL
Let me make you an offer.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
127.
ALEX
Another offer! Your courtesy knows
no bounds but what have you got
left to offer?
Paul indicates his reflection in the mirror.
PAUL
Just this.
ALEX
A reflection!
PAUL
It seems silly, I know, but all
you can take from me is nothing
compared to it.
ALEX
What?
PAUL
Image. Look!
Alex swivels to face David and the camera.
PAN FROM MIRROR TO ALEX.
The camera comes off the mirror, to Alex, a frame of shadow
around him.
PAUL (O.S.) (CONT’D)
But if you look through the image,
if you go beyond it, this is your
kingdom.
ALEX (TO DAVID)
What do you want in return?
PAUL (O.S.)
My kingdom.
ALEX (TO PAUL)
You scare me, Paul.
(A beat)
Of course, every courtesy you pay
me, when time comes, I intend to
repay in full.
CUT TO:
131 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — AFTERNOON
Paul’s bed: Alex on Tosh’s side of the bed.
CLOSE ON ALEX.
Alex’s face, his eyes are open.
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
128.
The shadow noted before, around Alex’s head, here, seems a
natural effect of the off-lighting in the bedroom.
ALEX
But you knew all along, didn’t you
“David”, you bastard! You’ve known
all along, haven’t you!
(Pause)
It’s a shame I can’t show you the
bigger picture. I can just say,
nobody dies. Nobody dies.
(Pause)
But nobody truly returns, either.
(Pause)
Not complete: flashes of light!
Shadows. Mere dreams: dreams and
images…
(Pause)
Try explaining that to the
authorities!
132 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — CONTINUOUS
Tosh is lying face down in the bed.
TOSH
It’s not my fault.
133 EXT. MICHAEL’S PATIO — CONTINUOUS
David pulls out from scene 131, on-screen.
Alistair is standing, a tiny figure, against the outdoor
screen.
ALISTAIR
(To screen)
Oh, that’s bad!
CLOSE ON SCREEN.
BACK TO:
134 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — CONTINUOUS
Paul sits in bed next to a sleeping Tosh.
He raises his left hand.
There’s a sudden flash of light and the arm descends as if
stabbing.
135 INT. PAUL’S BEDROOM — CONTINUOUS
Paul raises his left hand. There’s a sudden flash of light.
CUT TO:
(CONTINUED)
—————————————————————————————————–
129.
136 INT. DAVID’S BEDROOM STUDIO — AFTERNOON
A shadow (it is Damon but of that we are only subliminally
aware) stands quickly leaving behind an empty chair.
It is the chair on which David had been sitting for Scene
1.
We pull back, through the screen in the viewing-room,
through the monitor.
Then we travel in, through these screens, almost too quickly
to register and before we reach the chair full-frame:
CUT TO:
137 EXT. PAUL STROLLING — AFTERNOON
A brief still of the motion-blurred side of Melissa’s face
as she’s gone to smack David in the teeth, Scenes 58 and
93. However this is a different version.
Frame by frame, she very gradually turns to look directly
at David, through the camera. And through David, at us.
NB: the audio and image quality, unless otherwise indicated,
do not degrade as they would in the real world when filmed
off a screen. The reason for this is to place the eye of
the viewer consistently between the camera and what is
being shot, whether it be on screen or not.
The same rule applies equally to the recording of sound as
to the filming of the visual scenario. In situations where
David could not possibly have picked up the audio with
only a camera-mic, or captured on video images that require
extra light and multiple viewpoints, the viewer sees and
hears as if he or she were David, not his camera. This,
afterall, is a fantasy and what it loses in real context,
I hope it makes up for in immediacy. A further reason for
this immediacy or non-mediated reality is that interposing
its viewpoint between David’s experience of the world of
this film and ours, there is an other. In the thematics of
this movie, that other is Death.
