American Hustle Page #16

ROSALYN ROSENFELD

Oh stop.

DICK HELSING:

Gorgeous.

PETE MUSANE:

I love her hair, so I know I’m

gonna love how she’d do the room -

He touches the front of her huge Farrah overhang bangs.

Richie, Irving, Carmine, and the Sheik walk up to them.

RICHIE DIMASO:

How do you do?

PETE MUSANE:

(to Richie)

I’m sorry is she your wife?

IRVING ROSENFELD

No, she's my wife. She's my wife.

CARMINE POLITO:

Look at these fine gentleman.

PETE MUSANE:

Carmine, there you are.

CARMINE POLITO:

How you doing?

Irving takes the glass of prosecco out of Rosalyn’s hand and

puts it on table.

PETE MUSANE AND GUYS

Ohhhh, heyyyyy! Come onnn!

ROSALYN:

It's because he's a party pooper.

He’s so boring.

Irving stares fuming at Rosalyn and the guys, he nods and

forces a smile good naturedly as they put prosecco glass in

his hand. He knows how to fake it.

90.

PETE MUSANE:

You have a very beautiful wife.

DICK HELSING, ROSALYN ROSENFELD, OTHER

GUYS:

Salud.

THE MADE GUYS LAUGH. SYD ROLLS HER EYES. IRVING, CARMINE

STARE WITH TENSION.

THEY ALL LAUGH. RICHIE GUIDES SHEIK with ONE BODY GUARD.

RICHIE DIMASO:

May I present Sheik Abdullah,

gentlemen, from Abu Dhabi. Sheik,

these men are professionals, they

run the best casinos in the United

States.

The Sheik acknowledges them with a nod. Irv is extremely

uncomfortable.

PETE MUSANE:

Mr. Sheik, as a sign of our

seriousness, Mr. Tallegio came from

Miami to meet you tonight.

HEAVY PAUSE.

CARMINE POLITO:

Mr. Tallegio? Why didn’t you tell

me Mr. Tallegio was here?

PETE MUSANE:

He’s in the back room.

IRVING ROSENFELD

It's a sign of disrespect to do

business on the first meeting.

RICHIE DIMASO:

That’s not true. I don’t know what

your talking about. (to Musane)

He’s got it all wrong.

DICK HELSING:

Well, don't leave him back there in

the back room waiting. Come on,

let's go.

Rosalyn reaches to have her glass refilled by Dick Helsing

when one of the other guys NUDGES her hip in her tight dress

and she drops into Pete Musane’s lap.

91.

ROSALYN ROSENFELD

Hey Irving, I’m going to be having

fun. Maybe it will be contagious.

Irving turns and heads with dread towards the back door with

Carmine, Richie, and the Sheik. Sydney, worried about Rosalyn

with Musane, decides to hang back.

125 INT. CASINO BACK ROOM -- NIGHT 125

SLOW PUSH IN ON POWERFUL LOOKING: BALD MAN IN SUNGLASSES,

LIGHT GRAY SUIT, DARK TIE -- STANDING BY HIMSELF.

CARMINE, RICHIE, SHEIK, IRVING ENTER A HALF FINISHED BACK

ROOM. PUSH IN ON IRVING.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

Carmine!

IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)

Victor Tellegio was from Miami. He

was Meyer Lansky's right-hand man.

In his prior reputation as an

enforcer from twenty years ago, he

was known to never bury a body

because he felt it sent a stronger

message to leave it in the street.

FLASH BACK TO:

125A EXT. STREET - NIGHT 125A

YOUNGER TELLEGIO WALKS LAUGHING WITH A COLLEAGUE, LETS

COLLEAGUE GET AHEAD AND TELLEGIO SUDDENLY PULLS PISTOL, FIRES

THREE BULLETS WITH MUZZLE FLASH INTO MAN’S HEAD, MAN GOES TO

GROUND, TELLEGIO FIRES ONCE MORE, DROPS CLIP FROM GUN AND

SPITS ON BODY, WALKS DIRECTLY TO CAMERA MENACING. NOW BACK

TO:

IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)

This is the guy we now had to deal

with.

125B INT. CASINO BACK ROOM - CONTINUOUS 125B

RESUME PUSH IN ON TELLEGIO AS A COUPLE OF BUSBOYS SET UP AN

IMPROMPTU TABLE AND CHAIRS. Carmine greets him.

92.

CARMINE POLITO:

You sure you don't want to go into

the Ocean Bar? It's really, it's

beautiful in there.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

I'm very happy I don't have to go

there. I like it here. There's an

exit. I'm like a ghost. Nobody

knows I'm here.

Busboys whip open a white table cloth for the table.

Everyone sits down. Tellegio looks at the Sheik, then over to

Richie.

VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT’D)

Tell him I speak for our friends in

Florida. We're very excited. It's

been our lifelong dream to build

casino resorts on the East Coast.

Richie pretends to translate in the Sheik’s ear.

VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT’D)

You told him that? They didn't want

the Jews to make money, they didn't

want the Italians to make money,

definitely don't want the blacks to

make money. After the oil embargo --

the gasoline crisis -- the

hijackings, the Olympics, they

don't want to see Arabs make money,

trust me, not on our soil. You can

tell him this in your own way: I've

been in the casino business forty

years. It's scrutinized more

carefully than any other business.

Carmine made this legal, but we

must be careful or they'll take it

away.

CARMINE POLITO:

So, Mister Tellegio, how do you

think we should approach this? What

do you want to do?

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

If you want to get the gaming

license and keep it we have to make

our principal investor here, the

Sheik, an American citizen.

93.

Irving and Richie both look at Victor intensely not sure

where this is going.

CARMINE POLITO:

To expedite citizenship -- well,

that requires very special

treatment.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

You would know the right people to

do that, Carmine.

RICHIE DIMASO:

Carmine knows everybody.

IRVING ROSENFELD

What are we talking about?

CARMINE POLITO:

U.S. Senators. Congressmen.

RICHIE DIMASO:

Wow, that’s fantastic.

IRVING ROSENFELD

I say stay away from that. That's

bad. That's trouble. No, that's not

good.

RICHIE DIMASO:

Irving please.

IRVING ROSENFELD

That’s trouble.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

Who is this guy? (to Irving) What

are you, a farmer?

Richie and Tellegio both laugh.

CARMINE POLITO:

Mr. Tellegio, I'm sorry, this is

Irving. New York businessman.

Irving Rosenfeld.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

Irving, Irving. What’s the matter,

Irving? What’s the problem?

IRVING ROSENFELD

Nothing. No problem.

94.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

Don't get your balls in an uproar.

Everything's fine, everything's

good. It’s all good. It’s all good.

I just hope the other part of this

is all good. And real. Because

we’re real. You know that. You deal

with us. We’re a real organization.

We deal with you, we don’t know

what we’re dealing with.

Everyone stares increasingly tense at Tellegio in silence.

This could go wrong at any minute. Tellegio looks over to

Richie and points to the Sheik.

Irving watches in horror as -

VICTOR TALLEGIO:

Where’s he from?

RICHIE DIMASO:

(winging it)

Abu Dhabi.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

Oh, he's from the Emirates.

RICHIE DIMASO:

Yeah.

VICTOR TELLEGIO:

(in subtitled Arabic)

(Can I count on you? You gotta be

honest about this. Do you

understand me? Good means good. No

bullshit.)

PUSH IN ON IRV AND CARMINE FEELING THIS IMMENSE PRESSURE.

WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON HERE?

VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT’D)

(to Sheik)

(Did you hear what I said? Do you

want me to repeat it?)

Irving looks ill, as does everyone else at the table.

VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT’D)

(What do you think now? Tell me.

Tell me.)

RICHIE DIMASO:

Uh, I think, I think what he’s -

Rate this script:3.7 / 3 votes