Sunset Boulevard Page #13

QUICK DISSOLVE TO:

C-3 A BEDROOM IN TIiE MAIN HOUSE

It is obviously a man's room -- heavy Spanish

furniture -- one wall nothing but a closet with

shelves and drawers for shirts and shoes. Max is

hanging up the suits. Gillis throws the shirts on

a big chair, tosses the slippers at the foot of the

bed, places the typewriter and manuscript on a desk

at the window.

GILLIS:

Whose room was this?

MAX:

It was the room of the husband.

Or of the husbands, I should say.

Madame has been married three

times.

Slightly embarrassed, Gillis picks up his toilet

kit with razor, toothbrushes, soap, etc., and starts

towards the bathroom, pausing en route at a rain-

splattered window.

GILLIS:

I guess this is the one you

can see Catalina from. Only

this isn't the day.

He proceeds towards the half-opened door leading

to the bathroom. Something strikes his attention

and he stops. As in the door to the room above

the garage, this lock, too, has been gouged out.

GILLIS:

Hey, what's this with the

door? There isn't any lock.

MAX:

There are no locks anywhere

in this house.

He points to the entrance door of the room, and to

another door.

GILLIS:

How come?

MAX:

The doctor suggested it.

GILLIS:

What doctor?

MAX:

Madame's doctor. She has moments

of melancholy. There have been

some suicide attempts.

GILLIS:

Uh-huh?

MAX:

We have to be very careful. No

sleeping pills, no razor blades.

We shut off the gas in her bed-

room.

GILLIS:

Why? Her career? She got enough

out of it. She's not forgotten.

She still gets those fan letters.

MAX:

I wouldn't look too closely at the

postmarks.

GILLIS:

You send them. Is that it, Max?

MAX:

I'd better press your evening

clothes, sir. You have not for-

gotten Madame's New Year's party.

GILLIS:

No, I haven't. I suppose all

the waxworks are coming?

MAX:

I don't know, sir. Madame made

the arrangements.

Max leaves. Gillis comes out of the bathroom, picks

up his shirts, goes over to a closet, opens it. As

he does so one of the doors without a lock swings

slightly open. Gillis looks through the half-open

door and sees.

C-4 NORMA DESMOND'S ROOM

It is empty. The rainy GILLIS' VOICE

day does nothing to There it was again - that

help its gloom. room of hers, all satin and

ruffles, and that bed like

a gilded rowboat. The per-

fect setting for a silent

movie queen. Poor devil,

still waving proudly to a

parade which had long since

passed her by.

He pushes the door shut

and walks back into the

room.

DISSOLVE TO:

C-5 STAIRCASE OF DESMOND

HOUSE (NIGHT)

Gillis is coming down the GILLIS' VOICE

stairs in his tailcoat It was at her New Year's

adjusting the handkerchief party that I found out

in his pocket. He obviously how she felt about me.

feels a little uneasy in Maybe I'd been an idiot

this outfit. From below not to have sensed it

comes a tango of the Twen- was coming - that sad,

ties. played by a small embarrassing revelation.

orchestra. Gillis stops

in the archway leading to

the big room and looks

around.

C-6 THE BIG ROOM has been deco-

rated for the occasion with

laurel garlands. Dozens of

candles in all the sconces

and candelabra are ablaze.

Their flickering flames are

reflected in the waxed sur=

face of the tile floor.

There is a buffet, with

buckets of champagne and

caviar on ice. In one corner

on a little platform banked

with palms. a four-piece

orchestra is playing.

At the buffet are Max and Norma. She is drinking

a glass of champagne. She is wearing a diamonte

evening dress. very high style. with long black

gloves and a headdress of paradise feathers. Her

eyes fall on Gillis. She puts down the glass of

champagne. picks up a gardenia boutonniere and

moves toward him.

NORMA:

Joe, you look absolutely

divine. Turn around!

GILLIS:

(Embarrassed}

Please.

NORMA:

Come on!

Gillis makes a slow 36O-degree turn.

NORMA:

Perfect. Wonderful shoulders.

And I love that line.

She indicates the V from his shoulders to his hips.

GILLIS:

All padding. Don't let it fool

you.

NORMA:

Come here!

She puts the gardenia on his lapel.

GILLIS:

You know, to me dressing up

was always just putting on

my dark blue suit.

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