Gattaca Page #7

ANTONIO:

Vincent, you damn fool! You could have killed

Anton with your ridiculous contest! Why should

he risk his life to save yours?! When are you

going to get it through your thick head--you

can't compete with your brother! Why try?!

Maria takes Antonio aside. Anton and Vincent exchange a look.

ANTON:

Why didn't you say anything?

VINCENT:

Why didn't you?

(staring back at his father knowingly)

It's okay. It's the way they want it.

JEROME (VO)

It confirmed everything in the minds of

my parents - that they had taken the right

course with my younger brother and the

wrong course with me. It would have been so

much easier for everyone if I had slipped away

that day. I decided to grant them that wish.

INT. HOME. NIGHT.

ANTON stands at the mantlepiece in the dimly-lit living room.

He gazes at a framed family portrait - Vincent's face has been

torn out of it. He suddenly spies VINCENT exiting the front

gate, carrying a suitcase. Anton goes to shout Vincent's name

but the words don't get out.

EXT. GATTACA. DAWN.

A pick-up truck, packed with a CLEANING CREW, pulls into the

rear of the building. They are no longer strictly the migrant

workers we have come to expect but rather a mixture of

ethnicities - all members of a genetic underclass that does not

discriminate by race.

As VINCENT exits the truck and turns towards the camera, we

discover that he has now matured into the man we have come to

know as JEROME. The only visible differences are the glasses he

wears and his hair, still naturally dark.

JEROME (VO)

Like many others in my situation, I moved

around a lot in the next few years, getting

work where I could. I must have cleaned

half the toilets in the state.

We follow VINCENT through the course of a day. Cleaning

restrooms, toilets, picking up litter, sweeping, washing

windows - gazing at the AEROSPACE WORKERS below. The building

is part of the Gattaca facility, located near a shuttle launch

site. Throughout the day, with the regularity of 747's, Vincent

spies rocket ships in the distance, launching into the sky.

Jerome's is the only head that turns and looks up. Long after

the sun has set, Vincent is still working. Another rocket ship

lights up the darkness. Vincent gazes forlornly into the

heavens.

EXT. GATTACA - GLASS WALL. DAY.

VINCENT cleans a window from the outside, staring in at the

arrogant GATTACA EMPLOYEES entering the security channels -

a smaple taken from their fingertips. Jerome, in a trance,

constantly cleans the same spot of glass. He fails to notice an

Older Janitor, CAESAR, appear beside him.

CAESAR:

When you clean the glass, Vincent, don't

clean it too well.

VINCENT:

(confused)

What do you mean?

CAESAR:

(glancing to the Gattaca workers)

You might get ideas.

VINCENT:

But if the glass is clean, it'll be easier

for you to see me when I'm on the other

side of it.

Caesar smiles at Vincent's cockiness.

INT. GATTACA. DAY.

VINCENT empties garbage into a dumpster adjacent to Gattaca.

His attention is drawn to something in the trash. A discarded

manual on Celestial Mechanics and Navigation. He wipes food

residue off the corner.

INT. ASTRONOMY & TELESCOPE SHOP. DAY.

A forest of telescopes on tripods in an astronomy shop. VINCENT

enters the store with a bucket and squeegee and immediately goes

to clean the storefront window. The STORE OWNER looks up from

his tabloid - "STAR" magazine.

OWNER:

Where's Earl?

JEROME:

He fell. Lucky it was only the second floor.

The owner nods and returns to his magazine. When he looks up

again one of his tripods is missing its telescope and Jerome is

nowhere to be seen.

INT. IN-VALID HOUSING PROJECT. NIGHT.

JEROME returns to his bare apartment. He removes the cloth

covering the bucket to reveal a dumpy-shaped telescope snugly

wedged inside. He starts to pour over his collection of

textbooks. Other tattered space paraphenalia adorns the wall.

JEROME (VO)

Of course the best test score in the world

wasn't going to get me in the front door

unless I had the blood test to go with it.

EXT. GATTACA. NIGHT.

While his fellow WORKERS sit on the steps at the service

entrance to Gattaca, passing around an unlabeled bottle of clear

liquor, VINCENT sits some distance away studying his text book.

In the absence of a computer, he practices typing commands on a

keyboard handdrawn on the flap of a cardboard box.

A tiny, seedy-looking man, GERMAN, forties, appears from

nowhere and takes a seat beside him.

GERMAN:

(offering his hand)

Vincent, I'm German--

(anticipating Vincent's response)

That's my name.

He looks the apprehensive Vincent up and down.

VINCENT:

What do you think?

GERMAN:

(shrugs)

I think I could do something

(glancing to the text book)

provided you know what you're doing

and you can meet the terms.

Vincent pulls a plastic e-money card from his overalls.

GERMAN:

You got a photo of yourself?

Vincent produces a snapshot of himself - torn from the family

portrait. German feeds the snapshot into the pocket-sized

computer he carries. The picture is instantly scanned and

appears on the computer's small color screen. German returns

the photograph and hastily departs.

CAESAR, the elderly janitor, notices German's exit.

CAESAR:

(to Vincent)

I thought I told you not to get any ideas.

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