Fight Club Page #17

Jack takes a step away, keeps scrubbing. Marla blows smoke

in his face. Jack takes her cigarette and throws it in the

sink. Marla backs away, fed up, storms out, going UPSTAIRS.

TYLER (O.S.)

Get rid of her.

Jack turns to see Tyler in the doorway.

JACK:

You get rid of her.

TYLER:

(pointing at Jack)

Don't mention me.

Marla's FOOTSTEPS are coming DOWNSTAIRS. Jack looks to the

archway, then back at -- Tyler's GONE. Marla enters, shoes

and balled up clothing under one arm, looking for something

on the junk strewn table.

JACK (V.O.)

I'm six years old again, passing

messages between my parents.

JACK:

I, uh... think you should go now.

Marla ignores, still searching the table, tossing things,

pushing other things off to the floor.

JACK:

It's time for you to leave.

MARLA:

Don't worry, I'm leaving.

Marla finds what she wanted, a pack of cigarettes. She

moves up into Jack's face.

MARLA:

You're such a nutcase, I can't even

begin to keep up.

JACK:

Goodbye.

She laughs, spins on her heels. As she exits the back door,

she sings "This Merry-Go-Round" from "Valley of the Dolls."

Jack watches her through the kitchen window.

TYLER (O.S.)

Nice work.

Jack turns. Tyler's right behind him. Through the window,

Marla can be seen walking away. Tyler picks up the remnant

of SOAP Jack's been using, holds it up to Jack.

TYLER:

To make soap, first we have to render

fat.

Jack looks at Tyler.

CLOSE UP - SIGN:
"DANGER - BIOHAZARD."

EXT. FENCED-IN BIOHAZARD WASTE DUMP SITE - NIGHT

Tyler stands inside the fence. Jack's atop the fence,

struggling to cross BARBED WIRE. He wobbles, gets over,

snags his shirt. Jack falls, RIPPPPP. Tyler helps.

FOOTSTEPS. A FLASHLIGHT BEAM. Tyler pulls Jack behind a

DUMPSTER, one of DOZENS. A silhouette of a SECURITY GUARD

moves along the perimeter, flashlight first. He walks away.

MOVE BACK to Tyler and Jack, who emerge from hiding. Tyler

eagerly grabs the lid of the closest dumpster.

TYLER:

The best fat for making soap --

because the salt balance is just

right -- comes form human bodies...

Tyler lifts the lid -- it CREAKS.

JACK:

What is this place?

TYLER:

A liposuction clinic.

From the dumpster, Tyler pulls out an industrial-sized,

thick plastic bag full of PINK GOO.

TYLER:

Paydirt. From society's richest

asses and thighs.

TIME CUT:
Tyler and Jack climb back over the fence, carrying

BAGS of fat. One of Jack's bags RIPS, spilling the goo down

the chain-link fench. Jack slips and slides. Tyler laughs.

Tyler tries to scoop the running fat back into the bag.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Jack and Tyler each stir a boiling pot.

TYLER:

As the fat renders, the tallow floats

to the surface. Remember the crap

they taught you in Boy Scouts.

JACK:

Hard to imagine you in Boy Scouts.

TYLER:

This clear layer in glycerin. We'll

mix it back in when we make the soap.

Tyler sticks a spoon into a pot, lifts up a scoop of the

glycerin layer. Then, he crabs a can, opens it.

TYLER:

Lye -- the crucial ingredient.

(adding lye to mix)

Ancient peoples found their clothes

got cleaner if they washed them at a

certain spot in the river. Why?

Because, human sacrifices were once

made on the hills above this river.

Year after year, bodies burnt. Rain

feel. Water seeped through the wood

ashes to become lye. The lye

combined with the melted fat of the

bodies, till a thick white soapy

discharge crept into the river.

Tyler licks his lips until they're gleaming wet. He takes

Jack's hands and KISSES the back of it.

TYLER:

The first soap was made from the

ashes of heroes. Like the first

monkeys shot into space.

The saliva shines in the shape of the kiss. Tyler pours a

bit of the flaked lye onto Jack's hand.

TYLER:

Without sacrifice, without death, we

would have nothing.

Jack's whole body JERKS. Tyler holds tight to Jack's hand

and arm. Tears well in Jack's eyes; his face tightens.

TYLER:

This is a chemical burn. It will

hurt more than you've ever been

burned and you will have a scar.

Jack looks -- the burn is swollen, glossy, in the shape of

Tyler's kiss. Jack's face spasms.

JACK (V.O.)

Tyler's kiss was a bonfire on the

back of my hand.

TYLER:

Look at your hand.

JACK (V.O.)

Guided meditation worked for cancer,

it could work for this.

SHOT OF A GREEN MAPLE LEAF, GLISTENING WITH DEW. RESUME:

Tyler looks at Jack's glazed and detached eyes.

TYLER:

Come back to the pain. Don't shut

this out.

Jack, snapping back, tries to jerk his hand away. Tyler

keeps hold of it and their arms KNOCK UTENSILS off the table.

JACK (V.O.)

I tried not to think of the words

"searing" or "flesh." I imagined my

pain as a ball of healing white light.

SHOT OF A FOREST, IN GENTLE SPRING RAINFALL. RESUME:

Tyler JERKS Jack's hand, getting Jack's attention...

TYLER:

Stop it. This is your pain -- your

burning hand. It's right here. Look

at it.

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