Gattaca Page #4

Bathed in sweat, Maria gives a final push on the delivery table.

While still attached to his umbilical cord, the heel of the

NEWBORN BABY BOY is immediately pricked by a masked NURSE. A

minute drop of blood is inserted into an analyzing machine.

Even as the baby is put into Maria's arms, page after page of

data begins to appear on a monitor, pulsing warning signals

throughout the spreadsheets.

Two assisting NURSES exchange a look. Antonio senses something

amiss.

ANTONIO:

What's wrong?

JEROME (VO)

Of course, there was nothing wrong with me.

Not so long ago I would have been considered

a perfectly healthy, normal baby. Ten fingers,

ten toes. That was all that used to matter.

But now my immediate well-being was not the

sole concern.

Antonio turns his attention from his baby to the data appearing

on the monitor. We see individual items highlighted amongst the

data - "NERVE CONDITION - PROBABILITY 60%", "MANIC DEPRESSION -

42%", "OBESITY - 66%", "ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER - 89%"--

JEROME (VO)

My destiny was mapped out before me--

all my flaws, predispositions and

susceptibilities - most untreatable to

this day. Only minutes old, the date and

cause of my death was already known.

Antonio focuses on a final highlighted item on the monitor's

screen, "HEART DISORDER - 99% - EARLY FATAL POTENTIAL.".

"LIFE EXPECTANCY - 33 YEARS".

NURSE:

The name?

(typing details into birth certificate)

For the certificate.

MARIA:

Antonio--

ANTONIO:

(correcting her)

--No, Vincent Antonio.

With a computer stylus he signs the nurse's handheld screen.

EXT. TRACT HOME - BACKYARD. DAY.

2-YEAR-OLD JEROME (REFERRED TO BY HIS GIVEN NAME OF "VINCENT"

FOR MOST OF THE FOLLOWING FLASHBACK) running with a toy rocket

falls more in clumsiness than fatigue. MARIA suddenly whisks up

the toddler.

MARIA:

(hysterical)

Oh, Vincent, Vincent, Vincent...I can't let

you out of my sight.

Maria frantically listens to her young son's heartbeat. For

his part, Vincent appears surprised by the attention. Maria

places a portable oxygen mask over Vincent's mouth.

JEROME (VO)

I was born Vincent Antonio Luca. And from

an early age I came to think of myself as

others thought of me - chronically ill.

Every skinned knee and runny nose treated

as if it were life-threatening.

INT. DAY CARE CENTER. DAY.

MARIA and ANTONIO drop off dark-haired 2-YEAR-OLD VINCENT at a

Day Care Center.

JEROME (VO)

And my parents soon realized that wherever

I went, my genetic prophecy preceded me.

While HEALTHY CHILDREN play outside on tricycles, clamber over

jungle-gyms and finger-paint, the PRE-SCHOOL TEACHER shows

Vincent into a room where CHILDREN WITH OBVIOUS DISABILITIES

sleep on mats.

Maria wheels around and marches out of the center with Vincent

in her arms. Antonio follows close behind, pleading with his

wife to see sense.

JEROME (VO)

They put off having any more children

until they could afford not to gamble -

to bring a child into the world in what

has become the "natural" way.

EXT. HOME. DAY.

ANTONIO reluctantly shows off his spotless Buick Riviera to a

prospective BUYER.

JEROME (VO)

It meant selling the beloved Buick.

The two men haggle over the price while MARIA, holding VINCENT

in her arms, looks on. Finally money and a pink slip are

exchanged.

VINCENT (VO)

My father got a good price. After all,

the only accident he'd ever had in that

car was me.

As the BUYER drives away, Antonio shrugs to Maria to hide his

disappointment.

EXT. GENETIC COUNSELLING OFFICE BUILDING. DAY.

ANTONIO, MARIA and 2-YEAR-OLD VINCENT exit a packed commuter

bus and enter a Genetic Counselling office building bearing

the sign - "PRO-CREATION".

INT. GENETIC COUNSELLING OFFICE. DAY.

A GENETICIST stares into a high-powered microscope as ANTONIO,

MARIA and 2-YEAR-OLD VINCENT are shown into the office by a

NURSE. On the counter beside the Geneticist is a glass-doored

industrial refrigerator containing petri dishes arranged on

racks several feet high.

GENETICIST:

(to the nurse, without taking

his eyes from his binocular microscope)

Put up the dish.

While Antonio and Maria take a seat in front of a television

monitor, the Nurse puts a labelled petri dish under a video-

equipped microscope. The Geneticist swings around in his chair

to greet his clients.

Four magnified clusters of cells - eight cells on each cluster

- appear on the television screen.

GENETICIST:

Your extracted eggs...

(noting the couple's names from

data along the edge of the screen)

...Maria, have been fertilized with...

Antonio's sperm and we have performed an

analysis of the resulting pre-embryos.

After screening we're left with two healthy

boys and two healthy girls. Naturally, no

critical pre-dispositions to any of the major

inheritable diseases. All that remains is

to select the most compatible candidate.

Maria and Antonio exchange a nervous smile.

GENETICIST:

First, we may as well decide on gender.

Have you given it any thought?

MARIA:

(referring to the toddler

on her knee)

We would like Vincent to have a brother...

you know, to play with.

The Geneticist nods. He scans the data around the edge of the

screen.

GENETICIST:

You've already specified blue eyes, dark

hair and fair skin. I have taken the liberty

of eradicating any potentially prejudicial

conditions - premature baldness, myopia,

alcoholism and addictive susceptibility,

propensity for violence and obesity--

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