American Splendor Page #16

CUT TO:

INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - 1980’S - DAY

Close on Harvey’s face as he’s getting pushed down the hall

in a wheelchair.

CUT TO:

M.R.I. COMIC PANEL

A panel of Harvey entering the M.R.I. machine.

CUT TO:

INT. HARVEY’S APARTMENT - 1980’S - DAY

We see Harvey, Joyce and Fred sitting around a table. Joyce

fights to keep Harvey focused on the project.

BACK TO MORE COMIC PANELS:

1) An enraged Harvey throws things around the house.

2) Joyce on the bed crying, a cat licking her back.

CUT TO:

INT. HARVEY’S SHOWER - 1980’S - DAY

A balding Harvey depressed in the shower. He holds a clump

of hair in his hand.

CUT TO:

COMIC PANEL OF THE ABOVE SCENE

Harvey in the shower. The balloon above his head reveals his

inner turmoil over losing his hair and his face swelling.

MORE COMIC PANELS FOLLOW

91.

Harvey in agony. Various positions of him in bed, on all

fours, covered with a case of shingles. “I feel like I’m on

fire” appears over his head.

CUT TO:

INT. HARVEY’S KITCHEN - 1980’S - DAY

Joyce and Fred go over some more comic art. Joyce carries

the idea over to Harvey (wearing a baseball cap), who can’t

get out of the couch. He looks it over and nods. Danielle

brings Harvey a glass of water.

.

CUT TO:

MORE COMIC PANELS:

Harvey crawling up the steps. “I’m so weak I can’t make it,”

he thinks ...

Harvey and Joyce in a hospital waiting room. He’s slumped

over, she has her hand on him.

A delirious Harvey surrounded by nurses and Joyce. “She’s

torturing me, she won’t let me die, I wanna die ...”

CUT TO:

INT. HARVEY’S BATHROOM - 1980’S - DAY

A balding Harvey lies on his bathroom floor. His cat walks

all over him.

HARVEY:

I wanna die ... just let me die ...

CUT TO:

MORE COMIC PANELS:

Joyce attempts to wake Harvey up. She curses at him. She

slaps him. “Why are you doing this to me!”

A drawing of Joyce, doubled over, crying. “I can’t talk this

anymore ...”

THE MONTAGE ENDS WITH A SCENE IN HARVEY’S BEDROOM

CUT TO:

92.

INT. HARVEY’S BEDROOM - 1980’S - NIGHT

A repeat of the opening scene ... Like a ghost, a naked

HARVEY stands over his bed staring down at a sleeping JOYCE.

In the eerie light, he’s almost translucent.

HARVEY:

(faintly)

Joyce ... Joyce?

Joyce springs up, alarmed.

JOYCE:

What’s wrong, Harvey? What are you

doing up?

Harvey just stands there for a moment saying nothing.

JOYCE (cont’d)

What is it?

HARVEY:

(delirious, out of breath)

Tell me the truth. Am I some guy

who writes about himself in a comic

book? Or am I just --just a

character in that book?

JOYCE:

Harvey ...

HARVEY:

When I die, will ‘dat character

keep goin’? Or will he just fade

away.

Joyce just stares at him, unsure how to answer. Finally

Harvey collapses.

Joyce leaps from the bed, nervous, hysterical. She gets down

on the floor and shakes him.

JOYCE:

Omigod, Harvey! Harvey, wake up!

CLOSE ON HARVEY’S FACE

His eyes remain closed, his expression far, far away. The

sound of Joyce’s voice fades until it seems like a distant

echo.

93.

Then PANELS from Harvey’s comics begin to float over his

head, his life literally passing before his eyes in comic

book form.

Slowly, the comic images and the unconscious Harvey

evaporate, giving way to:

GREEN SCREEN:

A SURREAL DREAM SEQUENCE

We are now in a large, empty room similar to a blank comic

book panel.

A healthy, fully dressed Harvey appears in the corner of the

frame. He is very far away, barely recognizable. We slowly

dolly towards him as he delivers a formal soliloquy to the

camera:

HARVEY:

My name is Harvey Pekar. It’s an

unusual name -- Harvey Pekar...

As Harvey speaks, one-dimensional comic book images from his

life pass over the screen once again. This time in front of

him, behind him, everywhere. We dolly in towards him.

HARVEY (cont’d)

1960 was the year I got my first

apartment and my first telephone

book. Imagine my surprise when I

looked up my name and saw that, in

addition to me, another Harvey

Pekar was listed!

Images of Harvey’s childhood float by, followed by his young

adult years.

HARVEY (cont’d)

I was listed as Harvey L. Pekar...

My middle name is Lawrence... He

was listed as Harvey Pekar -- no

middle initial... Therefore, his

was a purer listing.

We see Harvey age in the images: he’s hanging on the street

corner with friends, collecting records, hanging with Crumb.

HARVEY (cont’d)

Then, in the seventies, I noticed

that a third Harvey Pekar was

listed in the phone book! This

filled me with curiosity.

94.

HARVEY(cont'd)

How could there be three people

with such an unusual name in the

world, let alone in one city?!

Now, numerous images of Harvey’s many years at the V.A.

Hospital float by: Harvey filing, Harvey arguing with his

boss, Harvey and Toby, etc.

HARVEY (cont’d)

Then one day, a person I worked

with expressed her sympathy to me

concerning what she thought was the

death of my father. She pointed

out an obituary notice in the

newspaper for a man named Harvey

Pekar. One of his sons was named

Harvey. These were the other

Harvey Pekars.

The comic images fade out. Harvey is once again alone in the

empty room.

HARVEY (cont’d)

Six months later, Harvey Pekar Jr.

died. Although I’d met neither

man, I was filled with sadness.

“What were they like,” I thought.

It seemed that our lives had been

linked in some indefinable way.

We slowly move in on his face. Extremely close. As close as

the camera can get.

HARVEY (cont’d)

But the story does not end there.

For two years later another Harvey

Pekar appeared in the directory.

What kind of people are these?

Where do they come from, what do

they do? What’s in a name?

END DREAM SEQUENCE

INT. HARVEY’S BEDROOM - 1980’S - DAY

BACK TO BEDROOM:

We are close on HARVEY’S face as he lays passed out and

delirious on the floor. Over this WE HEAR...

HARVEY:

Who is Harvey Pekar?

95.

His face slowly fades to black.

A MOMENT OF BLACK, AND THEN ...

INT. TOWER BOOKS - 1980’S - DAY

FADE IN:

CLOSE UP:
A GLOSSY, FULL-COLOR, NOVEL-SIZED COMIC COVER.

Scrawled across the top in yellow and red it read, “Our

Cancer Year.” The drawling depicts Harvey doubled over on

the front lawn, groceries in the snow, with Joyce attempting

to help him up.

.

A hand flips the book open and signs the inside leaf.

JOYCE and a healthy-looking HARVEY sit at a table signing

copies of their opus. About fifteen or so people mill about

with copies.

REAL HARVEY (V.O.)

Here’s our man a year later.

Somehow I made it through the

treatments, an’ the doctors are

optimistic. I guess Joyce was

right about doin’ the big comic

book. We published the thing as a

graphic novel -- our first

collaboration -- and ended up with

rave reviews. We even won the

American Book Award. Go figure ...

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