Michael Clayton Page #6

Later that morning. KAREN and her boss, DON JEFFRIES, a 60year-

old Corporate titan, on one side of the table. Facingthem, A SMALL VIDEO CREW: CAMERAMAN, SOUND, and INTERVIEWER.

The filming part of some in-house promotional puffery --

KAREN:

...right now we’ve got seventy-fivethousand employees in over sixtycountries around the planet.

INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/BATHROOM -- DAY

Twelve minutes later. Make-up at the mirror -

KAREN:

...so the volume...the quantity of

legal issues is just overwhelming...

(reset)

...just enormous.

(trying it folksy)

You can imagine, the volume of legalissues...it’s just enormous...it’s...

INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY

Video camera rolling and --

KAREN:

...it’s quite substantial. As generalcounsel, what I do -- our in-house

department -- we analyze the dimensionsof the problem or the opportunity, wedetermine the jurisdiction, and wefarm our business to the firms and

talent we think can help us the most.

INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/DESK AREA -- DAY

KAREN glancing at a list of questions -

KAREN:

Balance?

(smiling for the imaginary

camera--)

I think everyone has to find theirown mix. I like work. I enjoy my job.

(try again)

I find I feel most alive when I’m...

(f***)

I realized a long time ago, that...

(hating this, and--)

INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY

INTERVIEWER:

So how do you keep a balance betweenwork and life?

INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/BEDROOM

KAREN pulling on her stockings and --

KAREN:

Balance?

(trying to pretend the

question surprises her--)

Honestly? I think all this concern

about “balance” actually creates morestress than...

INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY

KAREN:

...your priorities change, you makenew plans. But my goal -- right now,

today -- is to be the second best

General Counsel this company has ever

seen.

DON JEFFRIES, THE INTERVIEWER, everyone smiling at this --

KAREN:

Don brought me in here twelve years

ago...

(big smile for Don)

Trusted me. Mentored me.

INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/KITCHEN -- DAY

KAREN:

(having a lonely egg)

...and when Don moved up to theboardroom, I never really thoughtI’d have the opportunity to move intohis place...

(reset)

...his position...his office...his...

INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY

KAREN:

...because if you’re ultimately notcomfortable with the responsibility,

you’re in the wrong place. It’s yourdepartment. It’s your ability to maketough decisions in real time and-

(stopping because--)

A SECRETARY has nervously entered the room -

DON JEFFRIES:

We’re in the middle of an interview...

SECRETARY:

They said it was urgent.

INT. BARRY GRISSOM’S OFFICE -- DAY

New York power office. BARRY GRISSOM -- the senior partnerwe met in the opening scene -- he’s on the phone, listeningto some very shitty news. THREE OTHER ATTORNEYS perchedphones around the room. Some major crisis -

BARRY:

...Jesus...Jesus...Jesus...

(listening)

...this was...oh, Jesus...Jesus...

(each pause more painful)

...Jesus...oh, Jesus...

(looking up and--)

...hang on -(

a savior)

-- there you are!

MICHAEL in the doorway. All eyes rushing to him --

MICHAEL:

What’s up?

BARRY:

Arthur Edens just stripped down nakedin a deposition room in Milwaukee.

EXT. TETERBORO AIRPORT -- DAY

Fifty one minutes later. MICHAEL crossing the tarmac towarda private jet, as we begin to hear the familiar express trainchatter of --

ARTHUR EDENS (V.O.)

...even this, Michael -- even now --

that you’re here -- there’s a reason,

a reason it’s you -- every reason --

surely you can sense that -- how itpulls together -- how it gathers --

Nurse Michael -- Secret Hero -- Keeperof the Hidden Sins -- tell me you cansee that, Michael, for God’s sake...

(continuing, as--)

EXT. MILWAUKEE ATRIUM HOTEL -- DAY

The big one out near the airport. And it’s SNOWING. Hard.

Starting to really come down --

ARTHUR EDENS (V.O.)

...and yes -- I mean, okay, the nudity-- the parking lot -- I admit it --

mistake! It was wrong. It was lame.

It was obvious. And frankly, for me,

(MORE)

ARTHUR EDENS (V.O.) (cont'd)

therapeutically, it was useless,

because Michael, I swear, if I stood

there and peeled off my f***ing skinI couldn’t get down to where thisthing is living...

A LUXURY VAN whipping up to the entrance. KAREN and her two

assistants, MAUDE and TODD, exiting the vehicle. This a

well-practiced, military drill: MAUDE rushing for an assaulton the front desk. TODD flanking with the luggage and gear.

ARTHUR EDENS (V.O.)

...Six years, Michael! Six yearsI’ve absorbed this poison! Six years --

four hundred depositions -- a hundredmotions -- five changes of venue -eighty-

four thousand documents indiscovery!

KAREN wasting not a moment, working a cell phone and a callsheet -- a tightened jaw her only surrender to the urgencyand crisis of the moment --

ARTHUR EDENS (V.O.)

...Six years I’ve steered this beast,

Michael -- six years of stalling andscreaming and scheming and...

INT. MILWAUKEE JAIL HOLDING CELL -- NIGHT

A shabby, ugly pisshole. Two chairs. No air. ARTHUR EDENS

in the flesh. Late fifties. Brilliance and grace amidst themanic shambles.

ARTHUR:

Look at me, Michael. Twelve percentof my life has been spent protectingthe reputation of a deadly weedkiller!

MICHAEL:

(sitting there)

We had an agreement, Arthur.

ARTHUR:

(oblivious)

-- one night, right? -- I look upand Marty’s standing in my officewith a bottle of champagne --

MICHAEL:

Do you remember our agreement?

ARTHUR:

-- I know, just let me -- just -

(he simply can’t stop)

-- he tells me we’ve just hit thirty-

thousand billable hours on U/Northand he wants to celebrate. An hour

later, I’m in a whorehouse in Chelsea

and two Lithuanian redheads are takingturns sucking my dick. I’m layingthere, I’m trying not to come, I’mtrying to make it last, right? So I

start doing the math -- thirty thousandhours -- what is that? -- twenty-fourtimes thirty -- seven-hundred twentyhours in a month -- eight-thousandseven-

hundred and sixty hours per

year...

MICHAEL:

Arthur.

Wait!

ARTHUR:

(on his feet now, pacing,

faster and faster--)

Because it’s years -- it’s lives -

and the numbers are making me dizzy,

and now, now I’m not just trying not

to come, I’m trying not to think!

But I can’t stop! Is that me? Am I

just some freak organism that’s been

put here to eat and sleep and spend

my days defending this one horrific

chain of carcinogenic molecules?

Is that my destiny? Is this is my

place?

MICHAEL:

You promised me, Arthur.

ARTHUR:

Is that it, Michael?

(edgy suddenly)

Is that my grail? Two Lithuanian

mouths on my cock? Is that the correct

answer to the multiple choice of me?

MICHAEL grabs him -- hard -- pulling him close --

MICHAEL:

You want to go off your medication?

Fine. But you call me first.

(face-to-face)

That was our agreement.

ARTHUR staring back. Eyes wild. Euphoric.

ARTHUR:

Sue me.

CRACK! -- MICHAEL startled -- behind him -- A MILWAUKEE JAIL

GUARD rapping on the bars -

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