Beginners Page #7

CUT TO PRESENT:

10/29/07 37.

INT. ANNA'S HOTEL ROOM - LATER

Anna's sits in her kimono. Oliver's buttoning his shirt.

ANNA:

Can you toss me my camisole.

Oliver throws a sweater.

ANNA (CONT'D)

No, my camisole.

She throws the sweater back at him. Oliver looks around

helplessly. He grabs a flower out of a vase and hands it to

her.

OLIVER:

Camisole?

Anna laughs.

ANNA:

You don’t know what a camisole is?

OLIVER:

I was brought up by these animals

and they didn’t like questions.

They’re both smiling now.

OLIVER:

They were very frowned upon. So I

had to guess.

Anna takes this in.

ANNA:

You can ask me anything.

OLIVER:

Anything?

CUT TO:
Oliver and Anna at the window.

OLIVER:

What’s out there?

She points.

ANNA:

That’s a tree.

OLIVER:

Yeah.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 38.

CONTINUED:

ANNA:

And cars.

OLIVER:

Uh-huh.

ANNA:

Another building like this one.

OLIVER:

Right.

ANNA:

People in the building like us.

Half of them think things will

never work out. The other half

believe in magic. It’s like a war

between them.

Oliver smiles. He moves away from the window.

OLIVER:

How do you know so much about

people?

ANNA:

Oh. Well, you have to learn how to

read their faces.

She climbs onto his lap, straddles him.

ANNA:

For example... here is mad.

Anna passes her hand across her face, and she’s “mad”.

ANNA:

Happy...

Her hand passes again and she’s “happy”.

ANNA:

Sometimes its just nothing.

OLIVER:

Oh yeah?

She points at her blank face.

ANNA:

This is nothing... And they are

good at looking one way and being

another way.

Her playfulness is very meaningful to Oliver, he’s in love.

10/29/07 39.

EXT. FREEWAY PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS

They walk through a caged-in freeway overpass - Oliver is

carrying Arthur while blindfolding Anna with his hands. Over

this we hear the sounds of the quiet hotel room and an

intimate conversation between them.

ANNA (V.O.)

You don’t know me. I like that.

OLIVER (V.O.)

No, that’s not true.

ANNA (V.O.)

Oh yeah?

OLIVER (V.O.)

Yeah, you have blonde hair that

goes down to about here. You smoke

in non-smoking rooms.

Oliver is still covering her eyes, leading her to a certain

point, the busy sound of the freeway fading up...

OLIVER:

Okay, open your eyes...

HIGH ANGLE on huge trucks and traffic racing just beneath

Oliver and Anna’s feet under the overpass. The trucks lay on

their horns as they pass, scaring and thrilling them.

MOMENTS LATER:
they walk alongside the LA river together, arm

in arm, happy. The intimate conversation continues in voice

over.

ANNA (V.O.)

Oh yeah? You drive on the sidewalk.

You were raised by animals.

Sometimes you look very alone, like

you just got here.

They meet up with friends on the banks of the river.

OLIVER (V.O.)

Yeah, you see, you don’t know me at

all.

INT. ANNA’S HOTEL HALLWAY

Oliver and Arthur are leaving, walking down the long hallway

together. Arthur seems to stop and look up at Oliver.

ARTHUR SUBTITLE:

She’s unlike any girl I’ve ever

met.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 40.

CONTINUED:

Oliver stops and looks at Arthur.

OLIVER:

Someone flashy walks into your life

and you’re just gonna fall for it?

ARTHUR SUBTITLE:

Are we married yet?

OLIVER:

No, uh, it doesn’t work like that.

There are other steps, it’s

complicated.

They look at each other a beat and then walk on together.

ARTHUR SUBTITLE:

I hope this feeling lasts.

CUT TO PAST:

INT. HAL'S HOSPITAL BATHROOM - DAY

Oliver is shaving Hal’s face.

HAL:

What happened with Michelle?

OLIVER:

You know... I don’t know.

HAL:

She seemed great.

OLIVER:

She was great.

HAL:

Maybe you should take out a

personal ad, where you explain your

situation?

OLIVER:

My situation?

HAL:

Yeah, I mean, you want to be in a

relationship but you can't stay in

one.

OLIVER:

That's your fatherly advice?

Personal ads?

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 41.

CONTINUED:

HAL:

Well, a lot of people use them... I

did.

OLIVER:

What?

HAL:

If Andy wasn’t going to be

monogamous, why should I be?

OLIVER:

Jesus, Pop.

HAL:

Jesus yourself.

INT. HAL FIELD’S HOUSE- DAY

Hal’s friends hold up a hand-made "WELCOME HOME" sign in the

living room. Oliver helps Hal walk to his crew, Andy at the

center holding Arthur.

HAL:

Hello house (Answers back in deep

voice) Hello Hal.

Andy holds Arthur. Hal and Arthur kiss. They’ve clearly

missed each other.

JUMP CUTS:
Oliver takes bottles of pills and syrups and

inhalers out of a Sav-On bag. He makes a chart of the

medicine, the dosage, and puts the pills in a dish. It's

emotional job for him.

INT. HAL'S DINING/KITCHEN

Oliver watches as Andy sneaks up behind Hal with his hands

cupped closed. Hal turns and smiles.

HAL:

Oh God, what have you got this

time?

ANDY:

It’s a green caterpillar.

HAL:

No, no, no, you don’t have a green

caterpillar.

ANDY:

Oh yeah I do.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 42.

CONTINUED:

Andy opens his hands to reveal he actually does have a green

caterpillar.

HAL:

Oh my God. Gross! Oh, Jesus...

(laughing)

Andy puts the caterpillar down on the saucer of Hal’s tea

cup, gives him a big kiss, and starts to leave...

HAL:

Hey, you going?

ANDY:

Yeah, Michael’s in town.

HAL:

Oh. Right.

Andy waves goodbye and leaves. Hal is sad but covering it

up. He catches Oliver watching.

OLIVER:

I thought he was your boyfriend?

HAL:

Well, at least I'm the number one

boyfriend.

Hal grimaces in pain, doubles over.

OLIVER:

Pop.

HAL:

Oh, my stomach.

OLIVER:

Alright, come on. Come on.

Oliver tries to clear the couch of books and dogs for Hal to

sit down.

OLIVER:

Arthur, down.

HAL:

Well, let’s say, when you were

little, you always dreamed of some

day getting a lion?

Oliver eases Hal down onto the couch.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 43.

CONTINUED:

HAL:

And you wait and you wait and you

wait and you wait and the lion

doesn’t come. Then along comes a

giraffe.

Oliver helps Hal get his feet up.

HAL:

You can be alone or you can be with

the giraffe.

OLIVER:

I’d wait for the lion.

Oliver grabs the oxygen tubes and puts them on Hal’s face.

HAL:

That’s why I worry about you.

Hal looks at Oliver with love and concern.

CUT TO PRESENT:

INT. OLIVER'S OFFICE - DAY

CU on Oliver’s hands as he writes “THE HISTORY OF SADNESS”.

CUT TO him drawing an explosion with the caption: “EARTH

BEGINS (SADNESS NOT YET INVENTED)”. He draws a man and a

woman with the caption: “FIRST COUPLE TO MARRY FOR WRONG

REASONS.” He draws a spilled glass - “INVENTION OF ALCOHOL,

ANCIENT EGYPT.” He draws a man’s face and torso: “FIRST GAY

MAN ACCUSED OF BEING MENTALLY ILL.” He draws a man labelled

“PRESENT” having been crushed by a giant boulder labelled

“PAST.”

Oliver stops drawing, thinking of a conversation with his

father. CUT TO:
Hal on his couch (previous scene) talking to

Oliver.

HAL:

You want me to be with someone like

me. I like Andy cause he's not like

me... he's fun.

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