Concussion Page #21

OVER BENNET’S SHOULDER as he walks slowly through the autopsy

chamber. Past Sullivan. Gracie. His hands shake. Knees soft.

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Sound and light as if from the bottom of a pool. Muffled.

Slow. Prismed. Up the stairs into his-

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160 INT. BENNET’S OFFICE - COUNTY CORONER - DAY

Bennet enters. Wecht trails in after him.

WECHT:

I said make us both come out okay,

not professional ruination.

And takes in, maybe for the first time, Bennet’s little

shitbox of an office. The shitty high-school microscope.

WECHT (CONT’D)

This is a terrible goddamn chair.

(looks around; the

computer)

You had to buy that, too?

BENNET:

Everything.

WECHT:

I didn’t do good enough by you.

BENNET:

They won’t make me say one word

against you.

WECHT:

What’s there to say? Cyril Wecht’s

a loud-mouth a**hole? Yeah, well. I

don’t care. I’m tired. My balls are

low-

Then. Why he’s really here-

WECHT (CONT’D)

Look. Whoever - whatever - takes my

place - everything is up for grabs

now.

(Bennet isn’t reading him)

The CTE material - Webster, Long,

Strzelczyk, Waters--

BENNET:

And?

WECHT:

And maybe the Allegheny County

Medical Examiner suddenly develops

a storage problem. And certain

brain matter is suddenly taking up

too much space. I won’t be able to

protect it. Or you.

(then)

(MORE)

CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 108A.

WECHT (CONT'D)

So I asked Sullivan where it all

was. He had no idea.

CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 109.

BENNET:

Because it’s in my coat closet.

Wecht stares at him a beat.

WECHT:

You’re a goddamn renegade, you know

that?

(then)

What if they get a warrant?

BENNET:

On suspicion of what, science?

Wecht laughs. Then, the bottom line-

WECHT:

We got screwed. You don’t deserve

it.

(--)

Know what the worst part is? How

easy it was.

BENNET:

(look at me--)

I can’t go back to Nigeria. All I

am is here. My child is going to be

born American.

WECHT:

(don’t worry so much--)

I’ll get you a job. You can work in

the prison laundry with me.

(starts to leave, then,

f*** it)

Call the surgeon. We need a goddamn

drink.

161 INT. CHINATOWN INN - PITTSBURGH - A LITTLE LATER

We’re following Bennet wobbling slightly through the narrow

passage from men’s room to the bar.

It’s lunch-time. Bailes and Wecht lean waiting for him. Our

guys are drunk. Bennet stares at the fish--

BAILES:

I’m telling you there’s only one

thing they’re thinking about now:

how many more years of clean profit

they can squeeze out of

professional football.

CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 110.

WECHT BENNET:

Before they have to put a (and mimics)

warning label on the sport. “The Surgeon General Has

Determined that Playing

Football is Dangerous to Your

Health.”

(his glass)

Johnny Walker-

BAILES:

Before people stop buying team

jerseys. The NFL’s already gaming

this out, the merchandise, the

cable deals, endorsement deals,

advertising, when all that will

start to skid sideways, then slide.

(then)

Did you know Tagliabue was law

partner at Covington & Burling, the

firm that represented the seven Big

Tobacco companies?

WECHT:

Of course he was.

BAILES:

The law firm that now represents

the National Football League.

WECHT:

Of course it does.

BAILES:

In my last year with the Steelers,

the League moved a game from a

Sunday to a Tuesday because of a

blizzard. The League said it wasn’t

worried about TV ratings because

the NFL is immune even from acts of

God.

Wecht is starting to give Bailes a dark look.

BENNET:

(drinking)

And now here comes this Omalu, mere

pathologist and foreigner of

questionable background.

WECHT:

Now highly deportable pathologist

and foreigner.

CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 111.

BAILES:

And then there is the National

Football League-

BENNET:

Immune from acts of god -

BAILES:

--And its 25 years of expert brain

research. Bennet Omalu vs.

football. Bennet Omalu vs. America.

That’s their playbook.

Pause. They’re actually quite drunk. Wecht up-ends his

bourbon. After a beat-

WECHT:

Know how many people cigarettes

killed since the warning label went

on? 200-million. 5-million a year.

But there are more smokers now than

ever. People want what they want.

Pause.

BENNET:

(dawning even on him)

Maybe this all makes football

bigger. Maybe all this somehow

means more, more money, more of

everything.

Pause. Sobering-

WECHT:

Because it’s the goddamn Roman

Coliseum, right? And the people

can’t get enough of the car crash

of it all.

They drink. Contemplating that.

Wecht is staring at Bailes, as if at a traitor. Bailes can’t

hold his look, turns away, as Bennet, under his breath-

BENNET:

Until someone dies people give a

damn about.

(then cut to--)

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152 EXT. ALLEGHENY COUNTY CORONER - PITTSBURGH - DAY

Bennet at the cross-walk waiting for the light to change,

returning from the bar.

A Police cruiser - sirens piercing - smashes by. Bennet turns

to stare at it. Suddenly nervous. And instinctively turns. A

pick-up truck has stopped alongside. The DRIVER - no one

special - looks at him. Eyes meet. Bennet looks away. As the

signal changes. And the car moves off-

Gracie’s broken away from the building, running to him,

waving, as in a bad f***ing dream-

GRACIE:

Bennet!!

(now smash to--)

153 INT. EMERGENCY - PRESBYTERIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL - DAY

Bennet in a scrum of EMTs and NURSES running Prema in.

DOCTORS converging. Prema pale, weeping, as, on the run--

PARAMEDIC:

30-year old female, G-1, P-zero, 18

weeks EGA pregnancy, heavy

bleeding, suspected miscarriage-

154 INT. O.R. - PRESBYTERIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL - DAY

Bennet’s hands on Prema’s face. DOCTOR searching with the

ultrasound wand. As all eyes on the image. The space where

the heart is - dark. A NURSE places a hand on Prema’s arm. A

doctor says, Sorry. We SEE his mouth moving, but we’re in

Bennet’s POV and he’s hearing nothing. He moves to Prema’s

face, and holds it. Both of them crying.

BENNET:

(to the room)

Will you please excuse us?

(and when they are alone)

I’m sorry I’m sorry. I made a

mistake. This is my fault I’m sorry-

PREMA:

This isn’t your fault-(

and then we--)

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155 INT. RECOVERY ROOM - PRESBYTERIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Bennet enters amidst the bouquets. “Your friends at the

Coroner’s office”. He bends over Prema. Presses his forehead

to hers. Sits. Takes in where they are. (All the places they

are.)

BENNET:

I wish I never met Mike Webster.

PREMA:

Your work was beautiful. You are

beautiful.

BENNET:

But they destroyed us. I don’t

understand why this is happening

this way. What else do I have to

do?

PREMA:

Bennet. Look at me-(

and he does)

Do you know what I chose to fake?

(--)

You.

By now he is crying.

BENNET:

We will have this family.

PREMA:

Yes, we will.

(--)

Just not here.

(--)

(It’s time to let go. And let God.)

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