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TITLES EXPLODE TO WHITE

SLOW FADE TO:

EXTREME CLOSE-UP of MAXIMILIAN COHEN'S eyes popping open.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT -CHINATOWN FLAT – NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT

Max jolts his head from his desk and tries to orient him-self

in the darkness. He has intelligent eyes set in an exhausted,

good-looking face.

Then he notices the blood dripping from his nose. Max wipes

it.

Max's voiceover begins:

MAX (V.O.)

Monday, September first.

Six-fifteen.

INT. BATHROOM - DAWN

A pull-string light flips on. Max examines his bloody nose in

the mirror.

MAX (V.O.)

The alchemist awakes.

(Imitating)

"Turn lead into gold, Max,

lead into gold." Today, I find it.

TIGHT ON:

Max's hand as three unmarked, circular pills hit his palm.

Then, he slams the pills into the back of his mouth.

Max replaces the cap on a plastic bottle of unmarked

prescription drugs. He drinks from the sink and splashes a

generous amount of water onto his head and face, cleaning his

nose.

He wipes his nose and examines the last remnants of blood on

his fingertip. Then, he dips his finger under the tap.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - MAIN ROOM - DAY

Max's room is constantly dark because the windows are blacked

out. He flips on his desk lamp.

A tiny ANT crawls across his desk. He looks at it for a moment

before getting angry and squashing it.

Sitting on the desk are three computer monitors, which Max

flips on.

Then he pops on more lights and more switches. We pull back

revealing that Max's apartment looks more like the inside of a

computer than a human's home.

The room is knee-high in computer parts of all shapes and

sizes. The walls are covered with circuit boards. Cables hang

from the ceiling like vines in a Brazilian rain forest. They

all seem to be wired together forming a monstrous homemade

computer.

This is EUCLID, Max's creation. The computer is alive with

sounds and lights.

Max works on Euclid with his solder and drill. He cares for

the machine as if it were his dream car

MAX (V.O.)

Heat's been getting

to Euclid. Feel it most in

the afternoon when I run the

set. Have to keep the fans on

all night from now on.

Otherwise, everything is

running topnotch. The stack

of 286's is now faster than

Columbia's computer science

department. I spent a couple

hundred dollars. Columbia's

cost? Half a million?

(Small snicker)

Ha...

Max checks the peephole on His front door. No one is there. He

unbolts the five lock and slides into the hall.

INT. APARTMENJ HALLWAY - DAY

As he secures his apartment, a Young girl named JENNA runs up

to him. Her MOM, down the hall, looks apologetic.

Jenna's eyes light up and she pulls out her Fisher Price

calculator.

JENNA:

Max, Max! Can we do one?

MOM:

(Over and over again)

Jenna! Jenna!

MAX:

Oh, no.

JENNA:

What's three hundred

and twenty-two times four

hundred and ninety-one.

Jenna types it into her calculator. Max finishes locking his

door.

MAX:

(instantly)

One hundred fifty-eight thousand,

a hundred two. Right?

JENNA:

(Eyes light up)

Right.

Max heads down the staircase.

MOM:

Jenna...

Jenna screams after him.

JENNA:

Okay, seventy-three

divided by twenty-two.

MAX:

(instantly again)

Three point three one eight one

eight one eight...

EXT. CHINATOWN - DAY

Max watches people bustle through the busy intersections of

Chinatown. The streets are clogged with people.

MAX (V.O.)

Somewhere in there.

Somewhere. I know it's right

in front of me. The pattern.

They say it's chaos, it can't

be understood, too much

complexity.

EXT. ELECTRONIC MEGADUMP - DAY

Max scavenges electronic parts as he carefully navigates an

endless dump for old and rotting computers.

MAX (V.O.)

History it's there.

Lurking, shaping.

structuring, hiding, right

beneath the surface.

He unscrews a random IBM Board from a keyboard and slides it

into his pocket.

EXT PLAYGROUND – DAY

MOVE IN:

on Max looking up at something as he reclines on a public

bench.

MAX (V.0.)

The cycling of disease epidemics,

the wax and wane of Caribou populations

in the Arctic, sunspot cycles,

the rise and fall of the

Nile and yes! the New York Stock

Exchange, they are all the

same.

MOVE IN:

on a tree branch - shaking gently in the wind.

SLOW DISSOLVE TO EXTREME CLOSE-UP OF STOCK TICKER

Bright stock quotes drift across the screen.

MAX (V.O.)

I'll find this structure,

this order, this perfection.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max stares intensely at the ticker on the small TV that sits

next to his monitors.

MAX (V.O.)

Turn lead into gold.

The first. Right here. Right

here. With math. The numbers

of the stock market are my

lead. When I find the

pattern, then I will find

gold.

Max watches the right edge of the screen where the numbers

appear. He wants to see what's before that edge...

Max slaps the RETURN button on his computer.

The phone starts ringing.

Max eyes it suspiciously.

Just then, Euclid starts printing results on an old dot-

matrix printer.

Max suspiciously answers The phone.

MAX:

Hello?

WOMAN'S VOICE

Maximilian Cohen, please.

MAX:

Yeah?

WOMAN'S VOICE

Mr. Cohen?

MAX:

Who's this?

WOMAN'S VOICE

Hi. my name is Marcy Dawson.

I'm a partner with the predictive

strategy firm Lancet-Percy. Can I

speak with Mr. Cohen, please?

MAX:

I told you...

The printer finishes printing.

MARCY DAWSON:

Mr. Cohen! How

are you? It's been a long

time. Sorry I haven't been in

touch. But I was hoping you

would allow me to take you to

lunch tomorrow, say one

o'clock?

MAX:

Sorry, I can't.

MARCY DAWSON:

We're very anxious to talk

with you, sir

MAX:

I can't.

MARCY DAWSON:

I'm prepared to

make you a generous...

Max hurries to wrap up the conversation.

MAX:

I don't take offers for

my research. You know that.

Sorry, I Couldn't help you.

MARCY DAWSON:

Mr. Cohen, give

me a moment...

But before Marcy finishes, Max hangs up. He rips off the

printout and heads to the front door.

He checks the peephole, His landlady. MRS. OVADIA, is sweeping

the hallway stairs humming a turn-of-the century (the last

one, not this one) tune.

Max waits a moment. He tousles his hair. Then he checks again.

She's gone. He opens his locks and releases several bolts.

INT.MAX'S BUILDING HALLWAY - DAY

Max locks his front door. Meanwhile, his next-door neighbor,

DEVI MINSTRY, a sexy young Indian woman, is just getting home.

Max looks away and tries to get his door locked.

She's weighted down by a bunch of bags filled with food.

DEVI:

Max, good!

MAX:

Hi, Devi.

DEV1

I grabbed you some

somosas.

MAX:

Great.

Devi heads over to Max with her bags of food. She looks up at

Max.

DEVI:

Your hair.

Devi hands the bags to Max. Then she goes to pat down his

Hair. Max retreats.

MAX:

What are you doing?

DEVI:

Your hair, you can't go

out like that. Don't worry.

MAX:

It's fine. It's fine.

Devi pats down his hair. Max is humiliated.

DEVI:

You need a mom.

Max hands back the bags and heads quickly for the stairs.

MAX:

I have to go.

DEVI:

Your somosas!

An embarrassed Max takes the bag.

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