The Devil's Advocate Page #7

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MILTON (CONT'D)

Guy like Moyez living in that subterranean shithole all the

time he's running around with fifteen million dollars in the

bank.

KEVIN:

You gotta be kidding.

MILTON:

What do you think? We're giving you away? He's paying us in goat's blood? I'm billing you out at four hundred an hour, myfriend. I don't see a whole lot

of pro bono work in your immediate future.

(buzzing here)

Seriously, what I like, you got in there with him. Inside the cage.

That's instinct. Can't be taught.

You gotta hear that on your own.

It's gotta be in your blood. It's

molecular. I bet I've got five thousand lawyers working around the planet. I couldn't name

ten -- couldn't name three -I'd

trust with Moyez.

KEVIN:

So what the hell are they doing?

MILTON:

What are they doing? They're corporate lawyers, what do you think they're doing? They're busy reducing life and death to the proper position of a semicolon.

They're doing needlepoint.

Push button battles. Push button

wars. Armies that get so f***ing far away from each other they need satellites to tell them

who won. No pain. No sound.

No smell. One big, multinational circle jerk. You, on the other

hand, you're on the slaughterhouse floor. You can't help but smell your clients.

KEVIN:

I figure you came to court to make sure I didn't f*** this up.

(CONTINUED)

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MILTON:

Maybe I did. But don't get too

cocky. No matter how good you

are. Don't let them see you

coming. That's the gaff, my

friend -- make yourself small.

Be the hick. The cripple. The

nerd. The leper. The sh*t

kicking surfer. Look at me -

I've been underestimated from

day one. Do I look like a

master of the universe? That's

your only weakness as far as I

can tell.

KEVIN:

What's that?

MILTON:

The look. The Florida stud thing.

'Scuse me, ma'am, did I leave my

boots under your bed?'

KEVIN:

Never worked a jury didn't have a

woman.

MILTON:

You know what you're missing?

What I have? This beautiful girl

she's just f***ed me every way

she knows how -- we're done -

she's walking to the bathroom -

she turns back -- and there I am.

It's me. And she smiles -- it's

like a veil coming down across

her face -- and that smile, that's

a question mark, because she's

looking at me, she's wondering,

how did that happen? And see,

right there, from that moment on,

she's got a secret. I'm the hand

up Mona Lisa's skirt. I'm the

whisper in Nefertitti's ear.

I'm a surprise. They never see

me coming. That's what you're

missing.

Milton escaping across the street.

KEVIN:

So why did you come down today?

(CONTINUED)

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MILTON:

Because I knew it was gonna be

good. Because I knew I was gonna

like it. That you would shine -

that we would take this walk -

that we'd really talk. Why I

came down? You want the truth?

I'm an aging, hipster plutocrat.

I came up from nothing. From

dirt. I'm warming my hands on

your talent -

(distracted then -- )

Where's the chicken?

KEVIN:

What?

A CHINESE MAN sits in a doorway -

MILTON:

(perfect Cantonese)

Where's the chicken? The chicken

that plays tic-tac-toe. He used

to be right here.

CHINESE MAN:

(Cantonese)

No, you passed it. Back that way.

MILTON:

(back to Kevin, as

they walk)

There's a chicken, he's famous, he

plays tic-tac-toe. He never

loses.

(suddenly)

Hey. Like you. Right?

(catching himself)

Look, I'm rambling because I'm

excited. You're in the part of

the game I like best. The realm

of the True Believers. You are

a believer, aren't you?

KEVIN:

I believe in the presumption of

innocence.

MILTON:

Better a hundred guilty men go

free than a single innocent be

executed.

(CONTINUED)

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KEVIN:

Something like that.

MILTON:

No. Exactly like that. It's

faith. You're either in or out.

You can't believe a little bit.

KEVIN:

I was kidding.

MILTON:

You're not here to amuse me.

See, that's why people hate lawyers.

So many of us have lost our faith.

Don't let that happen to you.

Token?

KEVIN:

Excuse me?

Milton offering a token.

Canal Street station -Behind

him, the entrance to the

MILTON:

Learn the subways, Kevin. Use

them. Stay in the trenches.

Kevin taking the token, as we -CUT

TO:

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OMITTED 54

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55

56 INT. LOMAX APARTMENT - NIGHT 56

Kevin just coming in from work. The apartment is starting to come together. Still not enough furniture,

but the sparseness reads as elegance.

KEVIN:

(walking through)

Mare... Mare...?

MARY ANN (O.S.)

(from the bedroom)

You're late...

(CONTINUED)

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He stops. In the hallway -- a wall is missing -sheetrock

stacked on the floor -- tools piled around -- a renovation project halted for the night.

KEVIN:

What's all this?

MARY ANN (O.S.)

All what?

Mary Ann up the hall in the bedroom door.

Finishing her makeup for a night out.

MARY ANN:

Oh, that...

(smiles)

It was gonna be a nursery, but then I remembered you'd have to be home long enough to knock me up,

so now I'm thinking of building a law library.

Kevin smiles. Drops his briefcase. Drops his pants.

MARY ANN:

Save the thought. We were due up there fifteen minutes ago.

She blows him a kiss. Ducking back into bedroom.

CUT TO:

57 INT. LOMAX APARTMENT BUILDING - ELEVATOR - NIGHT 57

Kevin and Mary Ann in their go-to-meeting clothes.

Going up. Nervous.

MARY ANN:

Tell me I can handle this.

KEVIN:

You can handle this.

MARY ANN:

Say something nice.

KEVIN:

Something nice.

MARY ANN:

Promise me you won't leave me alone in there.

(CONTINUED)

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KEVIN:

Promise.

MARY ANN:

How the hell did we get here?

KEVIN:

Instinct.

58 INT. BARZOON APARTMENT - NIGHT 58

The door opens. DIANA BARZOON, tonight's hostess,

standing there.

DIANA:

There you are!

(to Kevin)

Diana Barzoon, Eddie's wife.

(an air kiss for Mary Ann)

Come on, you two. Everyone can't wait to meet you.

59 INT. BARZOON APARTMENT - NIGHT 59

Twice the size of Kevin's place. Decorated and furnished

to the max. Seventy-five guests and ten in staff. The

crowd is very smart, sleek, and experienced at these sorts of things. Mary Ann's hand squeezing Kevin's just a bit more tightly as Diana leads them into the throng, and we begin -60

INT. BARZOON APARTMENT - NIGHT 60

SERIES OF SHOTS - PARTY

Faces -- some of them strangers.

Some of them familiar from the conference room scene.

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