The Artist Page #10

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crowd has formed, people recognize him. One woman feels sorry for him, a man runs for help. George is unconscious.

FADE TO BLACK.

DAY 97

We see Peppy on a shoot, sitting in a chair

it, smoking a cigarette. Everyone about her

shot. Suddenly an assistant brings her a telephone. She takes the receiver with a smile and listens. Her expression tightens a little. She hangs up, pensive for a moment. On set,the director gestures to his assistant that the shot is ready and they are good to go. The assistant goes towards Peppy to let her know but, as he gets to where she should be, her seat is

97 INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - PEPPY SET - 1931 -

empty. He looks everywhere for her, but she

98 INT. PEPPY'S CAR (DRIVING) - DAY

In her car, and still in costume, she urges

quick as he can.

99 EXT. HOSPITAL COURTYARD - DAY

The car pulls into the hospital courtyard.

100 INT. HOSPITAL - LOBBY AND STAIRS - DAY

has disappeared.

98

her chauffeur to go

33. 99

100

Peppy bursts into the lobby, talks to a woman at the desk who directs her with a raised hand that Peppy immediately follows.

She bounds up the stairs four at a time and comes into a

corridor,

101 INT. HOSPITAL - CORRIDOR AND GEORGE'S ROOM - DAY 101

and then to a door through the window of which she sees George lying down. His dog is at the foot of the bed, asleep. George is on a drip, unconscious and covered in bandages. A doctor is in the room with a nurse.

Peppy enters. She's anxious but the doctor seems reassuring.

Title card:
He's not in any danger now. He just needs to

rest.

with her name on

is busy preparing a

Peppy goes up to George. She notices that his burnt hands seem to still be clutching something. She's intrigued. In response, the doctor shows her the reel of film that sits in a corner of the room.

Title card:
He was holding that. It was real hard to pry it

away from him.

Peppy picks up the can. The label is too damaged to be able to read the title of the film. She opens it and unrolls some of the film in front of the window. We see random photograms run by. It's the only sequence they ever shot together, years before. Peppy is moved. Without turning round, she asks the doctor:

Title card:
Do you think he could come rest up at my place?

The doctor nods with a kindly glint in his eye.

Title card:
It's probably the very best he could have hoped for.

102 EXT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY 102

An ambulance takes George, still unconscious, to Peppy's house. Jack is with him.

34.

103

It's night time. George is in bed. He opens one eye. Then he wakes up and looks around, not understanding where he is.

Jack wakes up and barks, wags his tail. A nurse who had been dozing in an armchair facing the bed awakes with a start, then goes over to George. She reassures him, motions to him not to get upset, then slowly leaves the room before running off down the corridor. She knocks at a door then goes back to George's room. Peppy is close on her heels. She comes into the room in her nightgown. When he sees her, George smiles and she rushes over to the bed and puts her arms tight around him. She is terribly moved but, when she releases him from her arms to talk to him, she realizes that he has lost consciousness again and so was not sharing the same special moment as she. She pulls a face, afraid she might have done something wrong, glances over at the nurse, then lays George's head back on his pillow.

It's a large, beautiful house, very expensive and very Hollywood. But it's also very inviting.

103 INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - GEORGE'S BEDROOM & CORRIDOR - NIGHT

104 INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - GEORGE'S BEDROOM - DAY 104

The next morning, Peppy brings breakfast into George's room and they eat it together. She laughs, talks, eats, drinks and is as vivacious as he had dreamed she would be all those years before. He looks at her with a smile on his face. Then she looks at her watch and realizes she needs to hurry.

Title card:
I've got to go. I have to be on set for nine o'clock.

George smiles kindly at her. She returns the smile but we can tell that maybe reality has just reminded them that she is working, and he is not. They exchange a last glance before she leaves the room.

George, now alone, gets up with some difficulty. He picks up a pile of folded clothes from an armchair. It's his jacket and pants, both half burned. On the floor, his shoes are in exactly the same state of disrepair.

105 INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY 105

A little later, and alone, he's exploring the house. It's richly and tastefully decorated, highly personal. He goes along a corridor and down a wide stairway. Jack begins sniffing outside of one door, as though he wants to go inside.

35.

106 INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - STOREROOM - DAY 106

George opens the door and goes into the room, it's a kind of storeroom in which everything is covered up with sheets. He closes the door behind him. The room has a ghostly quality to it. Jack sniffs about everywhere. George too seems troubled by the strange pervading atmosphere. His curiosity is spurred by a convoluted object that is covered in a thin cloth. A ray of light surges into the room. The door has opened and, standing against the daylight, is a maid.

Title card:
You should go back to your room, Sir.

George nods with a smile. The maid leaves pretty swiftly, we haven't seen her face, the whole moment seems rather strange. George is intrigued but leaves the room. He has to call Jack to him. Jack is reluctant to go but finally obeys his master.

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