Magnolia Page #16

CHAD:

I'm here, I'm listening.

PHIL:

OK. See:
Frank TJ Macky is Earl

Partridge's son....

CUT TO:

INT. HOLIDAY INN SUITE - THAT MOMENT

Frank and Gwenovier doing the interview;

GWEN:

Where are you from originally?

FRANK:

Around here.

GWEN:

the valley?

FRANK:

Hollywood, mainly.

GWEN:

And what did your parents do?

FRANK:

My father worked in televison.

My mother -- this is gonna sound

silly to you -- she was a librarian.

GWEN:

Why does that sound silly?

FRANK:

Well I guess it doesn't.

GWEN:

Does you mother still work?

FRANK:

She's retired.

GWEN:

Are you close?

FRANK:

She's my mother.

GWEN:

What does she say about, "Seduce

and Destroy."

FRANK:

"Go Get 'Em, Honey."

GWEN:

And your father?

FRANK:

He passed away.

GWEN:

I'm sorry.

FRANK:

people die.

GWEN:

I wouldn'tve asked --

FRANK:

Not a problem.

GWEN:

And you ended up at UC Berkely --

FRANK:

From '84 to '89.

GWEN:

Psychology major?

FRANK:

Right.

GWEN:

Do you have your masters?

FRANK:

...this close...

GWEN:

In five years?

He winks and clicks his teeth.

FRANK:

Muffy, can I get another ciggy?

CUT TO:

INT. PHARMACY - THAT MOMENT

The YOUNG PHARMACY KID is stacking some stuff away while waiting

for the PHARMACIST to finish filling the perscription.

YOUNG PHARMACY KID

Cats and Dogs out there, huh?

LINDA:

mmmhmm.

YOUNG PHARMACY KID

Must have alot goin' on for all that

stuff you got back there, eh? You could

have quite a party all that stuff....

Linda looks down. HOLD. BEAT. THEN:

YOUNG PHARMACY KID

You been on Prozac long? Dexadrine?

LINDA:

...I don't....

YOUNG PHARAMCY KID

Interesting drugs. Dexadrine's basically

speed in a pill. Y'know? But I guess

a lot of doctors are balancing out

the prozac with the dexadrine, eh?

That Liquid Morphine'll knock you down,

out, around, up and down someone's

not careful.....can't mix those up, y'know...

...Must have a lot goin' on in your life for

all that stuff there.

The Older Pharamacist DINGS his bell and the Young Pharmacy Kid

gets the bag and starts to ring it up. SLOW ZOOM IN ON LINDA as

he babbles away;

YOUNG PHARAMCY KID (OC)

Strong, strong stuff here, boy...wow....

What exactly you have wrong, you need this stuff?

LINDA snaps. She starts to tremble and cry and build --

LINDA:

You motherf***er...you motherf***er....

YOU F***ING A**HOLE, WHO THE F*** ARE YOU?

WHO THE F*** DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

YOUNG PHARMACY KID

-- what-what-what, ma'am -- I --

LINDA:

I COME IN HERE - YOU DON'T KNOW,

YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE F*** I AM

OR WHAT MY LIFE IS AND YOU HAVE THE

F***ING BALLS, THE INDECENCY TO ASK

ME A QUESTION ABOUT MY LIFE --

Linda PUSHES a large DISPLAY over on it's side, SMASHES things on the

counter, throws things around, basically goes nuts. The Older

Pharamacist comes rushing to the front to try and calm things --

OLDER PHARMACIST

Please, lady, why don't you just calm down --

LINDA:

And F*** YOU TOO. Don't you call me "lady."

I come in with these things, I give it

over to you, you doubt, you make your

phone calls, check on me, look suspicious,

ask questions, "I'm sick." I HAVE SICKNESS

ALL AROUND ME AND YOU F***ING ASK ME MY LIFE?

WHAT'S WRONG? HAVE YOU SEEN DEATH IN YOUR BED

IN YOUR HOUSE? And where is your f***ing

decency? That I'm asked questions "WHAT'S WRONG?"

You suck my dick, that's what's wrong and you,

you f***ing call me "lady." You SHAME ON YOU.

SHAME ON YOU. SHAME ON BOTH OF YOU.

She THROWS a crumpled STACK OF MONEY at them both, grabs the

PERSCRIPTION and heads for the door --

CUT TO:

INT. LINDA'S MERCEDS - MOMENTS LATER

She slams the door. She's shaking and crying.

CU - Pharmacy bag ripped open.

CU - Bottle cap of Dexadrine popped off.

CU - Linda's mouth as she swallows back the pills.

CUT TO:

EXT. PHARMACY/STREET - THAT MOMENT

CAMERA BOOMS down on her Mercedes as it peel out and off --

CUT TO:

INT. EARL'S HOUSE/VAN NUYS OFFICE SPACE - THAT MOMENT

Continue w/intercut between Phil and Chad on the phone. BEAT, THEN:

CHAD:

Why don't they have the same last name?

They don't have the same last name.

PHIL:

I know -- and I can't really explain that,

but I have a feeling there's something,

some situation between them, like they don't

really know each other much or well, something

like they don't talk much anymore --

CHAD:

Uh-huh.

PHIL:

Does this sound weird?

CHAD:

Well I'm not sure why you're calling me.

PHIL:

There's no number for Frank in any

of Earl's stuff and he's pretty out

of it -- I mean, like I said, he's

dying, y'know. Dying of Cancer.

CHAD:

What kind of Cancer?

PHIL:

Brain and Lung.

CHAD:

My mother had breast cancer.

PHIL:

It's rough. I'm sorry, did she make it?

CHAD:

Oh, she's fine.

PHIL:

Oh that's good.

CHAD:

It was scary though.

PHIL:

It's a helluva disease.

CHAD:

Sure is. So why call me?

CAMERA pushes in on Earl, asleep in the bed, breathing becomes

a bit irregular. HOLD on him. 30fps.

PHIL:

I know this all seems silly.

I know that maybe I sound ridiculous,

like maybe this is the scene of the

movie where the guy is trying to get

ahold of the long-lost son, but this

is that scene. Y'know? I think they

have those scenes in movies because they're

true, because they really happen.

And you gotta believe me: This is really

happening. I mean, I can give you my

phone number and you can call me back

if you wanna check with whoever you can check

this with, but don't leave me hanging on this --

please -- please. See: See:

See this is the scene of the movie where

you help me out --

CUT TO:

INT. HOLIDAY INN SUITE - THAT MOMENT

Frank and Gwenovier doing the interview, CAMERA DOLLIES IN SLOW ON EACH:

GWENOVIER:

-- see, I thought you grew up here

in the valley --

FRANK:

Like I said, yeah --

GWEN:

And you went to Van Nuys High, right?

FRANK:

I don't how much I went -- but I was

enrolled. I was such a loser back then.

I was -- misguided, pathetic -- I was very fat.

Not even close to what I am today.

Not the Frank TJ Mackey you're eager to talk

to because I was swimming in what was as

opposed to I wanted.

GWEN:

Where does that name come from?

FRANK:

What name? My name?

GWEN:

It's not your given name, right?

FRANK:

My mother's name, actually.

Good question. You've done you're research.

GWEN:

And "Frank?"

FRANK:

"Frank" was my mother's father.

GWEN:

Ok. That's why. I had trouble locating

your school records at Berkely and UCLA.

Your name change -- they had no official

enrollment --

FRANK:

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. They wouldn't --

GWEN:

They wouldn't?

FRANK:

no, no, no. Certainly not. I wasn't

officialy enrolled, that's right.

Was that unclear?

GWEN:

Kind of.

FRANK:

I wouldn't want that to be misunderstood:

My enrollment was totally unoffical because

I was, sadly, unable to afford tuition up

there. But there were three wonderful men

who were kind enough to let me sit in on

their classes, and they're names are:

Macready, Horn and Langtree among others.

I was completely independent financially,

and like I said:
One Sad Sack A Sh*t.

So what we're looking at here is a true

rags to riches story and I think that's

what most people respond to in "Seduce,"

And At The End Of The Day? Hey -- it may not

even be about picking up chicks and sticking your

cock in it -- it's about finding What You Can Be

In This World. Defining It. Controling It and

saying:
I will take what is mine. You just happen

to get a blow job out of it, then hey-what-the-f***-

why-not? he.he.he.

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