Pi Page #2

MAX:

Thanks.

INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

At the counter, Max stirs cream into his coffee. Then he takes

three pills from the plastic bottle and drops them in his

coffee.

Max flips past a full-page ad in the paper that reads

LANCET-PERCY 86% ACCURACY (ONLY GOD IS PERFECT).

Max flips the page before he or we can absorb it. He compares

stock quotes in the Wall Street Journal against his printout.

MAX (V.O.)

Sixteen, twenty-seven. Results: Euclid

shows tomorrow's Dow closing

up by four points. Anomalies

include PRONET at sixty-fire

and a quarter, a career high.

Possible explanations, either

A, an error in the June fifth

algorithm, or B, Euclid's

main processor is running a

recursion...

Max marks up the paper with lines and diagrams as he ponders

his bits and misses.

Then a puff of cigarette smoke drifts by and succeeds in

bothering Max. He fans it away when—

VOICE FROM OFFSCREEN

Oh sorry, am I bothering you?

Max shrugs and looks over.

The voice belongs to LENNY MEYER—a bearded man in his late 20s

sucking on a cigarette.

On closer inspection, something is off. It seems that Lenny is

an Orthodox Jew. His yarmulke sticks out Slightly from his

wide-brimmed hat and the fringes from his tsi-tsis hang out

from the bottom of his untucked shirt.

LENNY MEYER:

I'll put it out.

(Which he does)

The name's Lenny Meyer

Lenny sticks out his hand. Max responds with a small nod.

LENNY MEYER:

And you are?

MAX:

Max.

LENNY MEYER:

Max?

MAX:

Max Cohen.

LENNY MEYER:

Cohen!

(Judging)

Jewish?

Max shrugs and turns back to his work.

LENNY MEYER:

It's okay.

(Joking)

I'm a Jew, too.

(Serious)

Do you practice?

MAX:

No, I'm not interested

in religion.

LENNY MEYER:

Have you ever

heard of Kabbalah?

MAX:

No.

LENNY MEYER:

Jewish mysticism.

MAX:

I'm sorry, I'm very busy.

LENNY MEYER:

I understand...it's just that

it's a very exciting time in

our history. Right now is a

critical moment in time.

MAX:

(Sarcastic)

Really?

LENNY MEYER:

Yes, it's very exciting.

Have you ever put on Tefillin?

Max has no idea what Lenny's talking about. Lenny pulls a

leather box with black leather straps from his pocket.

LENNY MEYER:

Tefillin. You know Tefillin.

I know it looks strange.

But it's an amazing

tradition that has a

tremendous amount of power.

It's a mitzvah for all

Jewish men to do. Mitzvahs,

good deeds, are spiritual

food for our hearts and our

heads.

And then Max notices that his thumb is twitching He grabs it

self-consciously.

LENNY MEYER:

They purify us and bring us

closer to God. You want to try it?

Just then, Max pays his bill and prepares to leave.

MAX:

I gotta go...

LENNY MEYER:

Are you okay? Max? Max?

MAX:

I'm sorry, bye.

LENNY MEYER:

Well, maybe some other time.

INT. MAX'S BATHROOM - NIGHT

Max splashes water on his face.

MAX:

Please God, Let it be a

small one.

He pulls a metal vaccinating gun out of the medicine cabinet.

Then be loads it with a small bottle of medicine. He rolls up

his sleeve, dabs alcohol on his arm, and fires the gun into

his arm.

MAX (V.O.)

Sixteen thirty-five.

Second headache in under

twenty-four hours. They're

getting more frequent

now...more painful, too. Drugs

don't work, just take the

edge off of it. Just gotta

wait for the nosebleed.

Relief comes from my nose.

Next door, he hears Devi and her boyfriend talking.

FARROUHK (O.S.)

So I gotta make this drop off

in Harlem and on the way down

there's these three kids

hailing me.

Max slaps himself in the face a few times.

DEVI (O.S.)

You stopped?

FARROUHK (O.S.)

I was tight, so...

Max watches his thumb twitch. And then pain shoots through

him. He grabs the right side of his head, massages it, and

pushes it in with his fingers.

In the mirror, he examines the right side of his scalp. He

sees nothing

MAX:

Ahh...

Max walks back into the

MAIN ROOM:

and sits down in a chair. The lamp is blinding so he

snaps it off. Only the bathroom light lights the room. He

takes a few breaths.

MAX:

Leave me alone.

His neighbors conversation begins to build in volume

and distortion.

FARROUHK (O.S.)

So I drop them off in the

Village and they dart.

DEVI (O.S.)

Oh God...

Max gags and rubs his head.

FARROUHK (O.S.)

I get out, grab my bat and

start running. One of the kids,

maybe sixteen, I catch a block

later he's cursing at me, calling

me a Paki bastard. So I whacked him,

right in the head.

DEVI (O.S.)

Farrouhk!

The pain seems to disappear. Max looks at his hand that was

rubbing his bead.

Then he looks at the front door. The doorknob seems to

move.

Something begins knocking on Max's door. The knocking gets

louder and louder then the locks begin to unlock.

FARROUHK's words begin to overpower Max.

FARROUHK (O.S.)

I'm kicking the bastard in the

ribs banging his ass, knocking his

head against the curb, harder

and harder, I f***ing lost

it. A hot dog guy starts

screaming "You're cracking his

skull, you're cracking his

skull." So they pulled me off

of him and calmed me down.

Cops said he had it coming to

him.

Then something starts pounding the door. The doorknob quivers,

the locks unbolt. The chains are the only thing keeping out

the intruder. The door shakes and the chains are strained.

MAX is paralyzed with terror.

MAX:

No! No!

And then the door smashes open. Blinding light fills the room

and we crash into the

BLINDING WHITE VOID

A moment of silence, then we

CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - DAWN

A phone rings incessantly. Max's eyes pop open. He's scrunched

up in a corner of the room, squashed beneath the sink.

His nose is bleeding.

Max, crawls into the

MAIN ROOM:

and picks up the phone. He pinches his nose and tilts his head

back.

MARCY DAWSON:

Mr. Cohen. Marcy

Dawson here again I was just

looking over my schedule and

I realized I'll be in your

neighborhood tomorrow around

three.

Max heads to the

FRONT DOOR:

and checks the locks. He is barely listening to Marcy

MAX:

(Groggy)

Who is...

The locks seem secure.

MARCY DAWSON:

Marcy Dawson from

Lancet-Percy I'm so anxious

to meet you. It will be worth

it—for both of us I promise.

See you at your house at

three, okay?

MAX:

My house...how do...

MARCY DAWSON:

Oh, don't worry,

I got your address from

Columbia. So three it is.

Looking forward to it.

Max tries to stop her but, before he can Marcy hangs up.

A bewildered Max slowly hangs up.

MAX:

Damn.

Max checks the peephole - all clear.

Then, he opens his -

CLOSET:

which is filled with random computer parts and boxes.

He pulls a thick neuroscience book from a shelf in the back of

the closet. He almost knocks over an old dusty brass

microscope on the shelf.

Max flips through the book. It contains old plates

illustrating the brain. Max examines some of the diagrams.

EXT. S0L'S HALLWAY - DAY Max rings the bell on an apartment

door.

A few moments pass, and then SOL ROBESON opens the door.

Sol is a wise-looking man in his early 70's. He walks with

difficulty, leaning out of breath on a wooden cane.

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