Gold Page #21

Laughter around the room. A few big firms have tables. And

lots of smaller players. It’s everyone’s night.

MC (CONT’D)

They do accept gold for bar tabs...

(laughter)

Now we come to our last honor, the

1988 Golden Pickaxe for “Prospector Of

The Year,” which goes to our own Kenny

Wells! Get up here, Kenny--!

Wells rises and makes his way, showered with applause and

FLASHING cameras. The crowd rises, saluting Wells, saluting

that part of themselves that hangs on, refuses to give up.

Wells cradles the Golden Pickaxe statue, which is exactly as

it sounds, a golden pickaxe. He stares out, savoring his

moment. Then holds it up as flashbulbs flash.

Pulls his speech from his pocket. Looks out at faces, laughing

faces, no one taking this quite so seriously.

110.

WELLS:

Every last one of us who calls the

great state of Nevada home arrived

here with a dream.

VOICE (O.S.)

(yelling out)

Drinks on Kenny.

Laughter. And AT WELLS'S TABLE -

BURNS:

Great state of Nevada?

He sees Kay. He smiles. Realizes it’s not her.

WELLS:

...That was my great granddad who came

out here on a wagon. Had a horse and

two mules when they finally stopped

moving and said this was the place, he

was only about forty miles from right

here.

At the back of the room, ACOSTA IS LEAVING. He pauses and

turns to Wells. A nod of respect and congratulations passes

unspoken between them. And then ACOSTA IS GONE.

Wells looks at the statue.

WELLS (CONT’D)

What is a prospector?

(the crowd groans)

No, I’m serious. It’s someone who

believes it’s out there. Who wakes up

every morning and somehow believes.

Again and again. It’s not there.

Standing at the edge of a desert,

watching the sun rise and something in

him says, “it’s that way, just walk.”

FLASH, FLASH, FLASH! Wells walks the center aisle, drowned in

flashing light and glorious adoration. Everyone’s reaching out

to shake his hand.

WELLS (V.O.)(CONT’D)

And the sun is higher and it’s getting

hot and nobody else sees anything. And

everyone else wants to turn back...

And then IT’S LATER and EVERYONE’S CROWDED AT THE BAR.

Champagne corks are popping. POP POP POP.

111.

WELLS (V.O.) (CONT’D)

And everyone else has turned back. And

now he’s alone. And it’s burning hot.

And there is no water...

And ON THE CASINO FLOOR Wells is PLAYING ROULETTE. The WHEEL

IS SPINNING. STACKS OF MONEY are moving. SHOW GIRLS ARE

FLOCKING.

Then IT’S EVEN LATER. WELLS IS SPORTING DRINKS ALL AROUND.

Champagne. POP POP POP.

WELLS (V.O.)(CONT’D)

It’s out there... It’s out there...

It’s out there...

TIGHTER ON THE FACE OF KENNY WELLS as he sits back at his

table, accepting the congratulations of his friends. As people

call his name and cheer and FLASHBULBS POP -- POP POP POP -

BACK AT THE PODIUM. Tight on Wells as he takes in all of the

listening faces.

WELLS (CONT’D)

And it doesn’t matter whether he finds

it or not. It doesn’t matter. That’s a

prospector.

He basks in it, the words vibrating for everyone in the room.

INT. PROSPECTOR SUITE - MORNING

Tracking across the detritus of a huge night to find Wells in

bed, sound asleep. The phone starts to RING -- Wells doesn’t

move. Then finally he moans, rolls toward the phone -

WELLS:

Hello..? What..? What?

Wells is instantly awake. Hear the INDONESIAN FOREMAN saying

something FRANTIC over the and over-

WELLS (CONT’D)

I’m sorry I can’t understand you. No

go? I don’t understand. Slowly. Speak

more slowly.

AT THE WASHOE SITE: THE FOREMAN YELLING INTO A SATELLITE

PHONE THE SIZE OF A SUITCASE.

112.

FOREMAN:

(slowly)

No gold. There is NO GOLD.

The window behind Wells reveals sun just catching the peaks,

flaming morning gold. Wells grips the phone like a lifeline.

EXT. WASHOE HEADQUARTERS - DAY

A mob scene outside. As Wells pulls up in his car, the crowd

converges on him. He can barely get his car door open. He

squeezes out and pushes through the furious crowd -

WELLS:

I don’t know any more than you do

right now!

...But nobody’s hearing him -- PEOPLE shout out: “You f***ing

thief!” “I’m gonna kill you!” “Where’s our money?!”

WELLS (CONT’D)

I will get to the bottom of this!

I promise!

Suddenly, out of nowhere -- A FIST -- WHAM -- right across

Wells's face! It staggers him. The crowd lets out a roar of

approval. This is getting real ugly, real fast.

A PAIR OF HANDS GRABS WELLS. He turns, panic in his eyes --

but it’s Connie Wright. Bobby Burns is with him. They pull

Wells through the mob to the building’s side entrance.

CONNIE:

Total sh*t storm, Kenny.

Wells is still dazed.

WELLS:

I know... I know...

They fight the last few feet to the door and as they force

their way inside, WE FOLLOW THEM...

INT. WASHOE HEADQUARTERS - DAY

They’re out of breath, adrenaline pumping. Wells turns to

face his friends’ haunted expressions...

WELLS:

What happened? How did this happen?

BURNS:

The independent assayer... they

couldn’t reproduce Mike’s findings.

113.

Wells trying to take it in.

CONNIE:

There’s no gold, Kenny. There’s no

goddamn gold. There never was.

WELLS:

That’s not possible.

SEQUENCE OF SCENES -

CNN NEWS CENTER -- A professorial looking MINING EXPERT

explains to a NEWS ANCHOR...

MINING EXPERT:

It’s called “salting” and it literally

means, when someone sprinkles gold

dust into a sample of rock, like you’d

add salt to a steak.

GOLD DUST -- pours onto a DIGITAL SCALE.

MINING EXPERT (CONT’D)

By all appearances, Washoe’s security

protocols were iron-clad. But if the

person administering security is

fraudulent, the system breaks down.

Then, the gold dust sprinkles into a GROUND SAMPLE OF ROCKS -

MINING EXPERT (CONT’D)

...It’s the oldest trick in the book.

NEWS ANCHOR:

“Oldest trick in the book.” And yet

major mining corporations, investment

banks, auditors, everyone was fooled.

MINING EXPERT:

We weren’t fooled; we didn’t look.

TIGHT ON:
A MAGNIFIED IMAGE -- TWO GOLD SAMPLES, side by

side. The one on the LEFT has smoothly rounded edges; the one

on the RIGHT is angular and jagged.

GEOLOGIST (O.S.)

The image on the left is the type of

gold found in the Washoe samples.

This is river gold - notice how the

edges are rounded, worn smooth by the

erosion of the water.

WE PULL BACK to -

114.

A FINANCIAL SHOW -- The GEOLOGIST is seated across from a Jim

Cramer-type financial HOST.

GEOLOGIST (CONT’D)

...What we should have found is flake

gold - the sample on the right, pulled

directly from the rock, rough edged

and angular.

The Host is nearly apoplectic -

HOST:

That seems like a pretty big freakin’

detail to overlook!

GEOLOGIST:

It’s a big detail. But you have to

understand, everything else about the

Washoe samples was right...

HOST:

...But the gold was wrong! It’s right

there, that’s what you’re saying?!

GEOLOGIST:

Yes.

INT. WASHOE HEADQUARTERS - WELLS'S OFFICE - DAY

The guys are hard at work, going over financial documents.

Wells is on a phone at the center of it all --

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