Gattaca Page #10

JEROME is doing a late-minute cram on a geriatric computer from

the late 1990's. Checking the time, Jerome hurriedly picks up

the shirt that EUGENE has been ironing from a prone position on

the floor.

JEROME:

It's not too late to back out.

EUGENE:

You don't know what a relief it is not to

be me. Are you sure you want the job?

Jerome contemplates the question for a moment.

JEROME:

What about you? What's in this for you, Eugene?

EUGENE:

(referring to the bladder bag he wears)

Listen, I bag this stuff anyway. It may

as well pay my rent.

Jerome hurrise to the bathroom where, with some difficulty, he

inserts his urine device for the first time. The new improved

Jerome emerges into the living room ready for his interview.

INT. GATTACA CORPORATION - TESTING LAB. DAY.

JEROME emerges from a bathroom and hands a TECHNICIAN his

plastic cup full of fraudulent urine and inserts it into the

analyzer.

TECHNICIAN:

(reading off the profile)

Congratulations.

JEROME:

(perplexed)

What about the interview?

TECHNICIAN:

(referring to the cup)

That was it.

EXT. GATTACA. DAY.

JEROME, scarcely able to disguise his delight, exits Gattaca,

trying not to stare at the superb specimens who are now his

"colleagues".

JEROME (VO)

The majority of people are now made-to-order.

What began as a means to rid society of

inheritable diseases has become a way to design

your offspring--the line between health and

enhancement blurred forever. Eyes can always be

brighter, a voice purer, a mind sharper, a body

stronger, a life longer. Everyone seeks to give

their child the best chance but the most skilled

geneticists are only accessible to the priveleged few.

In a nearby park MODEL CHILDREN from MODEL PARENTS play

together.

JEROME (VO)

Anyone who is the product of an altered

DNA is proudly referred to as a "DAN",

"self-made man or woman", "man-child".

INT. HOUSING PROJECT - APARTMENT. NIGHT.

JEROME wheels EUGENE out of their housing project. He takes in

the neighborhood for the last time. We focus on a POOR COUPLE

cradling an INFANT.

JEROME (VO)

Those parents who, for moral or, more likely

economic reasons, refrain from tampering with

their offspring's genetic makeup or who fail

to abort a deprived fetus condemn their children

to a life of routine discrimination.

We glimpse other PEOPLE in the neighborhood. They appear poor

but, for the most part, physically normal. However a pall of

gloom hangs over them.

JEROME (VO)

Officially they are called "In-Valids"*. Also

known as "godchildren", "men-of-god", "faith births",

"blackjack births", "deficients", "defectives",

"genojunk", "ge-gnomes", "the f***ed-up people".

[* "IN-VALID" pronounced as in "an invalid license"]

JEROME (VO)

They are the "healthy ill". They don't

actually have anything yet - they may never.

But since few of the pre-conditions can be

cured or reversed, it is easier to treat them

as if they were already sick.

As they enter a car, driven by GERMAN, Jerome spies a beautiful

young GIRL, 11, sitting on the steps of the housing project,

staring forlornly into space. While there is no outward sign of

any deficiency, she is somehow aware that she is damaged goods.

Jerome glances in the rearview mirror.

JEROME (VO)

By means of a donor I have cheated the

system for the last four years to open doors

that would otherwise be closed to me.

Jerome wheels Eugene into the palatial condominium complex where

the two men now reside.

INT. GATTACA. PRESENT DAY.

We return to JEROME's reflection in the glass. Other GATTACA

EMPLOYEES are gradually gathering behind him.

JEROME (VO)

In the guise of Jerome Morror I have risen

quickly through the ranks of Gattaca. Only one

of the Mission Directors has ever come close

to discovering my true identity.

We now see what Jerome has been gazing at through the window

the whole time - the sight that has brought a hush to the

complex. Through an open office door lies the body of a large

man - the MURDERED DIRECTOR, lying where he has just been

discovered, in a pool of his own blood.

JEROME (VO)

Strange to think, he may have more success

exposing me in death than he did in life.

Jerome wipes his eye and also goes to investigate. We focus on

an extreme close up of his EYELASH. Loosened by Jerome's hand,

it breaks free and floats gently down to the floor where it

comes to rest.

INT. GATTACA AEROSPACE CORPORATION. MORNING.

DETECTIVE HUGO, late-forties, wearing a crime-scene hygenic suit

and gloves and a full clear mask - looking more like a surgeon

or a toxic waste worker than a detective - places a blood-

spattered computer keyboard alongside the Director's shattered

skull. The indentations match the blunt corner of the keyboard.

Hugo detaches the dangling keyboard from its parent computer and

seals the likely murder weapon in a marked, transparent plastic

bag.

A CREW of similarly-suited homicide detectives systematically

vacuum the surrounding office area with metallic, industrial-

looking mini-vacs. Once each work space has been vacuumed, the

transparent plastic vacuum bag is detached, sealed and labelled.

OTHER DETECTIVES video the scene with camcorders. Video prints

spit out of the cameras for instant inspection.

EXT. GATTACA - LANDSCAPED GARDENS. DAY.

A silicon police tape cordons off the crime scene. From the

landscaped garden, a crowd of GATTACA EMPLOYEES view the

proceedings through the glass walls.

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