Birdman Page #12

RIGGAN (CONT'D)

What's up?

JAKEUm... Well. Two hours to curtain. Why don’t

you rest a little bit?

RIGGANYeah. Sure.

JAKELast preview, buddy. We’re almost there.

RIGGANOkay.

JAKEHow ya doin?

RIGGANGood. Great.

JAKEGood. That's good.

(A beat.)

The, uh, money came through. I just have to

transfer it to the account.

RIGGANOh, that's terrific...

JAKEOkay. Well, I'm gonna do that.

(He stares at Riggan who

seems about to collapse.)

You know I’m proud of you, right? This took

balls. And you did it.

Riggan nods. An exhausted sadness in his eyes.

RIGGANI can’t do this anymore, Jake.

JAKEWhat?

RIGGANI think I’m gonna cancel the

preview. I’m exhausted.

JAKEIt’s a joke, right? (He forces a

laugh.) Good one, Riggan.

10/29/14 / 73.

(CONTINUED)

RIGGANI’m starting to believe that this is not

for me. The applause is... lukewarm. I

think they’re laughing at me.

JAKEWhat are you--? Listen. There’s a three

block line of people waiting to see you.

We are sold out. It’s a full house.

RIGGANReally?

JAKEYes. And the French embassador is

coming. And the prince of Saudi Arabia,

with one of his wives. And... I wasn’t

going to tell you this, but-- Martin

Scorsese. He’s casting for his new

film. But don’t tell anyone, okay? This

is between you and me.

RIGGANOkay. I’ll be ready.

Riggan smiles. He has forgotten about his existential doubts.

A worried Jake closes the door. He walks a few steps and

finds Laura and Lesley. They’ve been listening to his

conversation with Riggan.

LESLEYHow is he?

JAKEHe’ll be okay.

LESLEYPoor creature.

LAURAIs it true? Scorsese?

JAKEYes. And the new Pope too.

(Beat.)

They both understand.

LAURAYou’re an a**hole, Jake.

JAKEI’m the one keeping this boat afloat.

10/29/14 / 74.

(CONTINUED)

LESLEYSo there is no line of people out there?

JAKEI don’t know. Now go and get ready.

That’s your job.

(He begins to walk.)

I’ll better invest in a taco truck, or

a strip joint near the airport.

Laura leaves. We follow Lesley up to Riggan’s dressing room.

She knocks on the door. Nothing. Silence. She half-opens the

door and, from behind her, we see Riggan examining his right

hand. He has blood falling from the palm to the wrist.

LESLEYAre you okay?

RIGGAN(Smiles.)

Yeah, I-- This is nothing. Shaving.

He cleans his hand against his trousers.

LESLEYI just want to say I'm sorry.

RIGGANFor what?

LESLEYI knew what Mike was capable of,

and I brought him in, anyway.

RIGGANYou did good.

Lesley nods. A beat.

LESLEYTomorrow's my first opening night

on Broadway.

RIGGANMine too.

LESLEYAnd I want you to know that,

whatever happens, I'll always be

grateful to you for that.

RIGGANMe too. It’s going to be great. Full

house.

10/29/14 / 75.

(CONTINUED)

She looks at him with tender eyes. Then we follow her along

the corridor until she passes by Mike’s dressing room. Mike

half-opens the door and sees Lesley walking by. He has a

black eye. He waits for Lesley to be completely gone, and

then he comes out of his dressing room and we follow him up

the stairs to...

EXT. ROOFTOP - THEATER - DUSK3838...the rooftop. He finds Sam standing on the cornice, looking

at the street.

MIKEFor f***'s sake, just jump already.

Sam stares out, a smile creeping over her face.

SAMHow did you know I'd be up here?

MIKEI didn't. I was just hoping.

Silence. Mike walks up next to her and stares out as well.

SAMWhere's Lesley?

MIKEMoving on.

SAMSmart girl...

MIKEI appreciate that.

A beat.

SAMReady for the last preview?

(Noticing his black eye.)

Who did that to you?

Mike smiles. No answer.

SAM (CONT’D)

Could have been anybody, I guess.

(After a beat.)

I’m sort of hoping it was Lesley.

He barely says no, smiling, and lights a cigarette. She

understands.

10/29/14 / 76.

(CONTINUED)

SAM (CONT’D)

Oh, don’t tell me...

Silence.

MIKEWhat's the worst thing he ever did to

you?

Sam is surprised by the question. She thinks for a moment.

SAMHe was never around, so...

MIKEThat was--?

SAMNo. That was-- Who gives a sh*t. It

was the way he tried to make up for

it by constantly trying to convince

me I was special. (A beat.) What

about you?

MIKEMy dad?

SAMYeah.

MIKEHe pretended I was his son.

She stares him down. Silence.

SAMSo, what happens now?

MIKEI have no idea...

SAMYeah...

A beat.

MIKEHe was right, though.

SAMAbout what?

MIKEAbout your being special. You’re hanging

around here trying to make yourself

10/29/14 / 77.

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(CONTINUED)

invisible behind that fragile little f***

up routine. But you can’t. You’re

anything but invisible. You’re big. And

you’re sort of this really great mess, a

candle burning at both ends, and no

amount of booze or pills is gonna hide

that.

Sam tosses Mike’s cigarette over the balcony, and kisses him.

He leans into the kiss.

MAN'S VOICE

(From below.)

Jesus F***!

She suddenly pulls away.

SAMIt's a good thing you're an actor and not a

writer cause that little speech was just

like, Oprah... Hallmark... R. Kelly bad.

She kisses him lightly one more time and then walks away. When

she gets to the door she stops and leans on the frame.

SAM (CONT’D)

Truth or dare?

MIKETruth.

SAMNo.

MIKETruth.

SAMNo. Truth or dare?

The slightest smile as she exits through the door, and after a

short pause, Mike follows...

INT. HALLWAYS - THEATRE - CONTINUOUS3939...along a darkened hallway. They reach a tiny wooden door and

Sam leads the way through it.

MIKEDo you have any idea where you're going?

SAMAbsolutely not.

10/29/14 / 78.

MIKE (CONT'D)

(CONTINUED)

She continues on until she gets to...

INT. ABOVE STAGE - THEATER - CONTINUOUS4040...the "grid" above stage where the lights are located. We can

see, below us, the empty seats of the auditorium and the

kitchen set.

MIKEWhat now...?

Mike reaches up to kiss her. She stops him.

SAMHow do you do it?

MIKEWhat?

SAMHow do you go out there and pretend to be

someone else in front of all those people?

MIKEI don't pretend. Not out there. Just about

every place else, but never out there.

SAMGood to know.

They stare at one another...

MIKEWhat are we doing here?

SAMWhat do you mean?

MIKEI mean, what are we doing here?

She moves in.

SAMAdrenaline...

They kiss. The camera begins to drift down toward the stage...

RIGGAN (O.S.)

F***ing teenager.

As the camera continues down from the grid, we discover an

auditorium full of people staring at the actors on stage.

10/29/14 / 79.

(CONTINUED)

RIGGAN (O.S) (CONT’D)

By the time I got to the hospital, the

kid was dead. He was off in a corner

laid out on a gurney. We took the old

couple up to the O.R.. They were a

mess. We worked like hell on them for

most of the night...

We pan along the auditorium back to the stage to find Riggan,

Mike, Lesley and Laura in the kitchen.

RIGGAN (CONT'D)

When we were done, we wrapped them in

full body casts. The husband was

depressed. Even when I told him his

wife was gonna pull through, he was

still depressed. So, I got up to his

mouth hole and asked him, and he told

me it was because he couldn't see her

through the eye holes. Can you imagine?

I’m telling you, the man's heart was

breaking because he couldn't turn his

goddamn head and see his goddamn wife.

LESLEY:

(In genuine tears.)

That's terrible. (Beat.) Perfect.

And terrible.

She is crushed. Laura holds Lesley, trying to control her own

emotion.

RIGGAN(Taking this in.)

Yeah. So I guess what we have to

ask ourselves is... What do we talk

about when we talk about love?

The lights go to a blackout and the audience applauds as some

scene change music plays. As we follow Riggan off stage, the

lights are turned on again, but now they have an orange mood.

Lesley is the only one on stage, doing a monologue.

LESLEYMel and I have been together five

years, been married for four. But

it was Ed who taught me something

no one else could... He taught me

what it felt like to really feel

loved. And the terrible thing is

that if something happened to Mel

or myself, if something happened to

either one of us tomorrow, I think

the other one would grieve for a

while, you know, but then would go

10/29/14 / 80.

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(CONTINUED)

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