One Summer in Austin: The Story of Filming 'A Scanner Darkly'

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I looked them up.

They're aphids.

They're in my hair, on my skin,

in my lungs.

And the pain, Barris, it's unreasonable.

They're all over the place.

- They've completely gotten Millie too.

- Okay, okay, wait, wait, wait.

Listen, you gotta get out of there.

I'll meet you over at Joe's Cafe at 3.

Calm down, everything's gonna be fine.

Put a couple of them in a jar

so I can get them examined.

I'm sure they're aphids,

but you never know.

Just in case, okay? Just do it.

Relax, relax.

Gentlemen of the Anaheim 709th chapter

of the Brown Bear Lodge...

...we have a wonderful opportunity

this afternoon.

The county of Orange has provided us

with a chance...

...to hear from and put questions to...

...an undercover narcotics agent

who is out there on our behalf...

...fighting this awful

Substance D epidemic.

It's no secret we're living

in a culture of addiction.

Nearly 20 percent of the population

can now be classified as addicts.

And as far as anyone can tell,

there is but one company...

...that is working and helping

this situation.

That company is our sponsor, New Path.

You will notice

you can barely see this man...

...because he is wearing

what is called a "scramble suit."

The exact same suit he wears

and, in fact, must wear...

...during certain parts,

in fact, most parts...

...of his daily activities

of law enforcement.

This man, whom we will call Fred

because that is the code name...

...under which he reports

information he gathers...

...once within the scramble suit,

cannot be detected...

...by even the latest in

voice- and facial-recognition technology.

The scramble suit itself

is purportedly made up...

...of approximately a million and a half

fraction-representations...

...of men, women, and children

in every variant...

...making the wearer of a scramble suit

the ultimate Everyman.

This is terrible.

He looks, does he not,

like a constantly shifting, vague blur...

...and nothing more, am I right?

Let's hear it for the vague blur.

If you saw me on the street

without this suit on, you'd say:

"There goes a total dope fiend."

You'd feel aversion and walk away.

I don't look like you. I can't afford to.

My life depends on it.

I'm not going to tell you first

what I do as an undercover officer...

...tracking down dealers and the source

of their illegal drugs...

...in the streets of our cities

and corridors of our schools...

...here in Orange County.

I'm going to tell you what I'm afraid of.

What I fear, night and day,

is that our children...

...your children and my children...

I have two little ones, very little...

...but not too little to be addicted.

Calculatedly addicted to Substance D

for profit by drug terrorists.

As many of you know,

our military and their associates...

...are actively engaged in countries...

...where it is believed

the organic component of Substance D...

...a small, highly toxic flower, originates.

And while our troops are down there

fighting for us...

...it is up to each and every

one of us here...

...to do our part in eliminating

the demand for this drug.

It's important you as citizens

continue to report...

...all suspicious activity and individuals...

...for, simply put, if there were

no demand in our society...

...there would be no market

for these leeches to exploit.

Each day, this disease

takes its toll on us.

And each day, the flow of profits

and where they go...

Well, it isn't about the profits anyhow,

it's something else.

What'd you see happen?

If you were a diabetic

and you didn't have money for insulin...

...would you steal to get the money

or just die?

I think you better go back to the,

you know, prepared text there, Fred.

I forgot it.

I think I have a block against this sh*t.

Repeat after me,

but make it sound casual.

"Where the profits flow,

we will s...

- and then

retribution will swiftly follow.

At that moment, I would not

want to be in their shoes. " Got it?

You know why I've got a block

against this bullshit?

Because this is what gets people

on drugs.

It's all so disgusting you want to

lurch off and become a user.

Come on, Fred, just say this sh*t

and get it over with.

Anyway...

Substance D.

D.

D is for dumbness and despair

and desertion.

The desertion of your friends from you,

you from your friends.

Everyone from everyone.

Isolation and Ioneliness...

...and hating and suspecting each other.

D is, finally, death.

Slow death.

From the head down.

Well, that's it.

Okay, let's eat.

All right, what's your name?

My name...

You don't know your name?

Well, that's interesting.

Probable cause. Out of the car, sir.

Now, you have the right

to remain silent until...

And... And anything you say can and

will be used against you when you...

When what?

You know, f*** this sh*t.

- Hello?

- Hey, how you doing?

Oh, I'm all right.

Anything wrong?

Just this f***er stole 50 bucks' worth

of sh*t from us today.

My boss said it was somehow my fault,

and it's coming out of my paycheck...

... which I don 't even think is legal.

I mean, can he legally do that?

Yeah, they can 't do that.

At least, they used to not

be able to do that. I'll check.

Hey, Donna,

can I get anything from you?

Yeah, how much?

- Ten.

- Ten?

Yeah, I'm hurting really bad.

I'll pay you back later.

- Yeah, okay. Say, day after tomorrow?

- Any sooner?

I'll come by later, like around 8?

Yeah. I'll see you later.

- Okay. All right, bye.

- Okay, bye.

You see, all symptoms are purposeful,

be they positive or negative.

You see?

I wouldn't feel strangely about it.

Just the idea of turning yourself

over for rehabilitation...

...is only naturally gonna make you

a little apprehensive.

But that's just a manifestation

of the fear.

It's just the:

That's the D talking.

You know, the first thing I hear,

that when you go into the New Path...

...what they do to you,

they cut your pecker off.

They could never get away with that.

You kidding? That's a myth.

It's actually the spleen

that's remanded to their custody.

- The what?

- Hey, how is everything?

Everything is super good.

Not with me.

I got a lot of problems nobody else has.

No, no, come on.

More people than you'd think.

And more people each day. This is

a world getting progressively worse.

Can we not agree on that?

- What's on the dessert menu?

- Would you like to order some dessert?

Like what?

Well, we have fresh strawberry pie...

...and fresh peach pie

that we make here ourselves.

- No, we don't want any dessert.

- All right.

F***ing fruit pies are for old ladies.

- What do you think about New Path?

- While it doesn't matter...

...what I think, I kind of

have to tip my hat to any entity...

...that can bring

so much integrity to evil.

I mean, imagine this:

A seemingly voluntary, privatized gulag...

...managed to eliminate the middlemen

of public accountability and free will.

Wrapped it up in a bow

and gave it like a gift.

I mean, come on, this is:

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