Swordfish

FADE IN:

INT. STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP - MORNING

Three men sit at a window booth drinking coffee and

talking. Two of the men sit on one side of the table;

STANLEY is in his early thirties, AGENT ROBERTS, early

forties. Both wear suits, the younger's is fairly

expensive and well cut, the other's is polyester, enough

said. The MAN across, however, is quite different. He

is what they used to call a "cool-cat."

GABRIEL (MAN)

Take Dog Day Afternoon for

example. Arguably Pacino's

greatest performance, excepting

The Godfather, Part I, and

Scarface, of course. A

masterpiece of directing, easily

Lumet's best. The acting, the

script, cinematography, all top

notch. But, they didn't push the

envelope. What if in Dog Day,

Sonny really wanted to get away

with it? What if, and here's

where it gets tricky. What if

they'd started killing hostages?

No mercy, no quarter, meet our

demands or the cute blonde in the

bell bottoms gets one in the back

of the head, bam, splatter. What?

Still no bus?

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

2.

1 CONTINUED:
1

GABRIEL (CONT'D)

How many innocent victims would

they let get sprayed across the

windows before the city reversed

its policy on hostage situations?

And this was 1976. No C.N.N., no

C.N.B.C., no M.T.V. No Internet.

Fast forward to the present, same

situation. Can you imagine the

feeding frenzy of the modern

media? In hours it would be the

top story from Boston to Budapest.

All caught in 150 millimeter zoom,

computer enhanced, and color

corrected. You would practically

taste the brain matter. Six

hostages die. Ten. Twelve.

Twenty. Thirty. Relentless. One

after another. All over a bus, a

plane, and a couple of million

dollars that were federally

insured.

He sits, letting the pictures sink in, then:

GABRIEL:

Just a thought. I mean it's not

really within the realm of

conventional cinema, but what

if...?

ROBERTS:

You know, this movie of yours, I

don't think it would have worked.

GABRIEL:

Really? How come?

ROBERTS:

(shrugs)

Audiences love happy endings.

GABRIEL:

Pacino escapes. With the money.

Boyfriend gets the sex change

operation. They live happily ever

after.

Stanley shakes his head.

GABRIEL:

No?

(CONTINUED)

3.

1 CONTINUED:
(2) 1

STANLEY:

No.

GABRIEL:

Homophobia?

Stanley shakes his head.

STANLEY:

Bad guy can't win. It's a

morality tale. One way or the

other, he's gotta go down.

GABRIEL:

Oh, well. Life does tend to be

stranger than fiction.

(looking at watch)

Well, guys, gotta jet. This place

is kinda dead.

CAMERA PANS AROUND the coffee shop. Not a soul in the

place. We CONTINUE TO PAN AROUND 270 DEGREES TO the

front door, which is open. Outside the open doorway are

crouched a squad of heavily body-armored SWAT members,

packed together, and aiming automatic weapons inside.

ANGLE ON GABRIEL

GABRIEL:

Thanks for the coffee.

He gets up. In his left hand, which has been hidden by

the table until now, he is holding a strange-looking

spring-loaded grip. Gabriel is looking back at them.

Smiles.

GABRIEL:

Rene Descartes is sitting in some

bar in Paris. Bartender says,

'Hey, you want another drink?'

Descartes says, 'I think not.'

And disappears.

He smiles at his own joke, then turns and walks over to

the front door.

GABRIEL:

Move.

No one even twitches.

GABRIEL:

I won't ask again.

(CONTINUED)

4.

1 CONTINUED:
(3)

He lifts up the device in his left hand.

1

ANGLE ON ROBERTS

who nods his head. The SWAT team moves back, lettingGabriel out of the coffee shop.

GABRIEL:

Thank you.

Gabriel looks back at Stan sitting in the booth.

GABRIEL:

Stanley... you coming?

Stan slides from the booth as Gabriel exits the coffee

shop -2

EXT. STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP - DAY 2

SILENCE -- no sounds on the SOUNDTRACK.

Gabriel and Stanley stop just outside the doorway.

Gabriel dons a pair of hip little shades, then continuesacross the sidewalk and into the street.

He nonchalantly looks up. Suddenly the THUMP ofHELICOPTERS and the WAIL of SIRENS dominates the

soundtrack.

Pandemonium. HELICOPTERS RIP the sky, L.A. County PD anda bunch of news vultures. Squad cars block off both endsof the street while SWAT trucks, news vans, and lookyloos

are packed together into the distance.

Sharpshooters lean out of windows and snipers arepositioned on every open rooftop. Hundreds of weaponsare pointed at this man who saunters across the street asif he's on his way to Sunday service, without a care inthe world.

Slowly, Stanley follows Gabriel into the street.

Gabriel steps up on the far sidewalk, a huge armored busblocks most of the windows. He walks beside the bus,

under a huge "WORLD BANC" sign, and through the glassfront door, which shuts IN OUR FACE.

3 INT. BANK - CLOSEUP - GABRIEL - DAY 3

He turns away from the window and we FOLLOW him.

(CONTINUED)

5.

3 CONTINUED:
3

The interior of the bank looks like New Orleans on Fat

Tuesday. Three Hummers sit in the middle of the floor,

surrounded by broken glass. Between them rests a brightred Ferrari F50 (Gabriel's).

All but one of the front windows of the bank, the one

with the door in it, has been welded over with 3/4 inchplate steel.

Over two dozen hostages lie face down on the floor, armscable-tied behind their backs. Something has been duct-

taped around their chests and each is wearing whatappears to be a dog collar.

The other occupants of the room are nine men. All of

whom would look as if they were attending the fashionevent of the year were it not for the automatic weaponseach one carries.

How we doin'?

GABRIEL:

One of the ARMED MEN finishes putting a collar on ayoung, normally good-looking-but-now-covered-in-mascara,

whimpering blonde girl.

MARCO (ARMED MAN)

Done.

Good.

GABRIEL:

Take her out.

SUPERIMPOSE:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18 8:41:22...

The front door opens and one of the suited men drags outthe pretty blonde from earlier. She is sobbing and is insuch grief she can't even walk.

4 EXT. BANK - DAY 4

On the sidewalk, the suited man, his automatic weaponslung, holds her up for everyone to see.

5 INT. BANK - DAY 5

Gabriel grabs his cell and dials.

6 INT. STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP - DAY 6

Roberts sits in the Starbucks which has been transformed

into a high-tech command center reading a newspaper.

(CONTINUED)

6.

6 CONTINUED:
6

We cannot see the headlines. Federal and state officers

scramble around handling problems. The PHONE RINGS.

Assistant Director Bill Joy (A.D. JOY), an older-looking

guy who looks more like an accountant than an assistant

director of the FBI, is handed the phone.

A.D. JOY

Is everyone in position?

SWAT LEADER:

Almost, sir.

ROBERTS:

(looks up from

paper)

What are you doing?

We PAN AROUND.

A.D. JOY

(to SWAT LEADER)

Get her at your first opportunity.

SWAT LEADER:

(into mike)

High ground one and two. You

have a green light.

ROBERTS:

I've seen what this man is capable

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