Sunset Boulevard Page #30

GILLIS:

He was trying to spare your feelings.

The studio wanted to rent your car.

NORMA:

Wanted what?

GILLIS:

De Mille didn't have the heart

to tell you. None of us has had

the heart.

NORMA:

That's a lie! They want me, they

want me! I get letters every day!

GILLIS:

You tell her, Max. Come on, do

her that favor. Tell her there

isn't going to be any picture --

there aren't any fan letters,

except the ones you write yourself.

NORMA:

That isn't true! Max?

MAX:

Madame is the greatest star of

them all... I will take Mr.

Gillis' bags.

He leaves.

NORMA:

You heard him. I'm a star!

GILLIS:

Norma, grow up. You're a woman

of fifty. There's nothing tragic

about being fifty - not unless

you try to be twenty-five.

NORMA:

I'm the greatest star of them

all.

GILLIS:

Goodbye. Norma.

NORMA:

No one leaves a star. That

makes one a star.

Gillis picks up the typewriter and leaves.

NORMA:

You're not leaving me!

E-40 STAIRCASE

Gillis descending with the typewriter.

NORMA'S VOICE

Joe! ...Joe!

There is the SOUND OF A SHOT. The glass of the front

door is shattered. Gillis at the door opens it and

walks out, without looking back.

Down the staircase rushes Norma. a disordered wild-

ness in the way she moves.

NORMA:

You're not leaving me!

She hurries after Gillis.

E-41 PATIO (NIGHT)

Dark except for lights from the house and the

luminousness of the lit pool.

Gillis is crossing the patio towards the garage. He

is carrying the typewriter. He doesn't accelerate

his step, although he has heard the shot. Behind

him Norma comes from the lighted house.

NORMA:

You're not leaving me!

She shoots twice in rapid succession. Gillis drops

the typewriter. The shots have swung him around. He

is now facing Norma. She shoots him. This shot

hits him in the belly. He doubles up, instinctively

backs away from her, plummets into the lit pool.

Up the stone steps from the garage rushes Max.

He sees the situation, hurries towards Norma, who

stands exultant in the strange light from the pool.

NORMA:

Stars are ageless, aren't they?

DISSOLVE TO:

E-42 THE PATIO

Dawn is breaking. At the edge of the pool

stand policemen, detectives and police photographers.

Motorcycle policemen are holding off the mob which

is trying to storm the house.

A lietuenant from the Homicide Bureau leaves the

crowd around the pool and goes into

E-43 THE LOWER HALL, DESMOND HOUSE

It is filled with a pandemonium of police officers,

newspaper people, etc. who are kept from the upper

floor by two policemen at the head of the stairs.

The lieutenant from the Homicide Bureau goes

through the crowd to the telephone at the foot of

the stairs, picks up the phone and dials.

LIEUTENANT:

Coroner's office? ... I want to

speak to the Coroner ... Who's

on this phone?

E-44 THE WHITE TELEPHONE IN NORMA'S BEDROOM

Standing talking into it is Hedda Hopper.

MISS HOPPER:

I am! Now get off, this is more

important ... Times City Desk?

Hedda Hopper speaking. I'm talking

from the bedroom of Norma Desmond.

Don't bother with a rewrite man, take

this direct. Ready? -- As day breaks

over the murder house, Norma Desmond,

famed star of yesteryear, is in

a state of complete mental shock ...

THE CAMERA PANS TO ANOTHER PART OF THE BEDROOM, where

Norma sits at a mirror, staring at herself blankly.

Firing questions at her are the Captain of the Holmby

Hills Division and the L.A. Homicide Squad. Max

stands by faithfully.

HOLMBY HILLS CAPTAIN

You do not deny having killed

this man, Miss Desmond?

HEAD OF HOMICIDE

Did you intend to kill him?

Just answer me that.

HOLMBY HILLS CAPTAIN

Was it a sudden quarrel? Had there

been any trouble between you before?

HEAD OF HOMICIDE

If it was a quarrel, how come you

had the gun right there?

HOLMBY HILLS CAPTAIN

This guy -- where did you meet him

for the first time? Where did he

come from? Who is he?

HEAD OF HOMICIDE

Did he have a wife? Did he had a

girl friend? Did you know them?

HOLMBY HILLS CAPTAIN

Had he been trying to blackmail you?

E-45 PATIO - (DAWN) GILLIS' VOICE

The body of Gillis Well, this is where you came.

being fished from Here's that pool again,the one

the pool, put on a I always wanted. They must have

stretcher, covered photographed me a hundred times.

with an army blanket.Then they got a couple of prun-

Two men from the ing hooks from the garden and

Coroner's office fished me out ever so gently.

carry it towards Funny how gentle people get with

the Coroner's you once you're dead. They

hearse, CAMERA beached me, like a harpooned

PANNING with them. baby whale, and started to check

the damage, just for the record

... By this time the whole joint

was jumping -- cops,reporters,

neighbors, passersby -- as much

hoopdedoo as we get in Los

Angeles when they open a Super

Market. Even the newsreel guys

came roaring in. Here was an

item everybody could have some

fun with, the heartless so-and-

so's. What would they do to her?

Even if she got away with it in

court- crime of passion - tempo-

rary insanity - those headlines

would kill her:
Forgotten Star

a Slayer--Aging Actress--

Yesterday's Glamour Queen...

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