The End of the Tour Page #10

56.

DAVID:

I think if there is sort of a sadness

for people under forty-five or

something, it has to do with pleasure

and achievement and entertainment.

And a kind of emptiness at heart of

what they thought was going on, that

maybe I can hope that parts of the

book will speak to their nerve endings

a little bit.

He presses stop on the tape recorder, surprising Lipsky.

DAVID (CONT’D)

By the way, if you quote any of this,

you’d do me a favor if you’d say that

I’m talking about what I hope for the

book, or what the book is tryin’ to

do, I don’t pretend that it has. Okay?

LIPSKY:

That’s fine.

Lipsky presses play.

LIPSKY:

So:
the Walter Kirn review, in New

York Magazine

DAVID:

Didn’t read it. I mean, I heard.

LIPSKY:

“Next year’s book awards have been

decided” kind of thing? How’d it feel?

DAVID:

I applauded his taste and discernment.

What do you want me to say? How would

you feel about it?

LIPSKY:

How would I feel? That I’d known all

along it was good, and here was

someone validating that.

DAVID:

All I know is, this is absolutely the

best I could do between like 1992 and

1995. And if everybody hated it, I

wouldn’t be thrilled, but I don’t

think I’d be devastated, either.

57.

It’s like, if you’re used to doing

heavy-duty literary stuff that doesn’t

sell well, being human animals with

egos, we find a way to accommodate

that fact by the following equation:

If it sells really well and gets a lot

of attention, it must be sh*t. Then,

of course, the ultimate irony is: if

your thing gets a lot of attention and

sells really well, then the very

mechanism you’ve used to shore

yourself up when your stuff didn’t

sell well is now part of the Darkness

Nexus when it does, so you’re screwed.

You can’t win.

Lipsky is laughing.

81 INT. MALL OF AMERICA/MULTIPLEX - MINNESOTA - 1996 - DAY 81

David and Lipsky stand outside. Julie and Betsy arrive. Adlibbed

greetings all around.

BETSY:

Oh, my God, this place is insane!

JULIE:

I can’t believe we actually found you!

81A INT. MALL OF AMERICA/MULTIPLEX - MINNESOTA - 1996 - LATER 81A

The foursome look over movie titles on the electronic board.

BETSY:

What’s The Juror?

LIPSKY:

Demi Moore. John Grisham.

BETSY:

Oh, right. Happy Gilmore?

JULIE:

No, that’s Adam Sandler.

DAVID:

Ooo, Broken Arrow! Perfect dumb boy

movie. Things that blow up!

LIPSKY:

I’ve already seen it, but...

58.

DAVID:

You’ve already seen it? Boy, you are

a man from my own heart, aren’t you.

LIPSKY:

I don’t mind, I’ll see it again...

BETSY:

I’ll see anything.

DAVID:

We can see something else...

82

INT. MULTIPLEX/THEATER - MINNESOTA - 1996 - DAY 82

A loud, explosive action scene from Broken Arrow with John

Travolta and Christian Slater fills the screen.

Seated up close, their heads craned looking up at the screen,

Julie and Betsy sit together and Lipsky monitors David’s

reactions. David is an ideal spectator, totally engaged with

a child-like guilelessness that Lipsky finds endearing.

DAVID:

Oh boy... oh wow, oh jeez...!

83

INT. MULTIPLEX/HALLWAY - MINNESOTA - 1996 - NIGHT 83

Julie, Betsy, David and Lipsky file out after the movie.

Improv post-movie discussion.

DAVID:

Wasn’t that a cool shot at the end,

when Travolta gets impaled by the

thing?

JULIE:

What do we do now?

DAVID:

Do you have a T.V.?

JULIE:

Uh huh. I do.

84

INT. JULIE'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN - ST PAUL - 1996 -84

NIGHT:

On TV:
John Michael Higgins in The Late Shift. They sit

around snacking on fresh popcorn and soda.

DAVID:

I know that guy.

59.

LIPSKY:

The guy playing Leno?

DAVID:

No, the guy playing Letterman.

JULIE:

How do you know him?

DAVID:

Went to Amherst with him.

LIPSKY:

Friend of yours?

DAVID:

I hated his guts.

Laughter. Lipsky gets up to go to the kitchen which is

visible from the living room.

LIPSKY:

Does anyone want drinks or anything?

JULIE:

(calls) There’s also beer.

LIPSKY:

Soda’s fine, thank you.

JULIE:

(to David) Why did you hate him?

DAVID:

He was just very cool and popular and

I was not, that was the basic offense.

Betsy gets something out of her bag and joins Lipsky in the

kitchen.

BETSY:

Hey.

LIPSKY:

Hey!

BETSY:

I brought you something.

LIPSKY:

You brought me something?

She gives him a copy of the Kenyon Review.

60.

LIPSKY:

Oh, great! This has your poem in it!

Thank you!

In the living room, David shows Julie the TV listings.

DAVID:

Look what’s on next. Algiers.

Starring Hedy Lamarr. Have you seen

it?

JULIE:

Uh, no.

DAVID:

It’s one of the greats. And Hedy

Lamarr is fascinating. She invented

frequency hopping.

David sees Lipsky and Betsy talking and doesn’t like it.

Back to the kitchen.

LIPSKY:

Hey, when I get back to New York, you

mind if I e-mailed you with questions

about what Dave was like in grad

school and stuff?

BETSY:

Sure, if it’s okay with Dave.

LIPSKY:

I’m sure it’s fine with Dave. Can I

have your e-mail address?

BETSY:

Sure.

She looks for something to write on, scribbles her address

and gives it to Lipsky before going back to the living room.

A moment later, David gets up, walks over to Lipsky, and

backs him up against the fridge.

DAVID:

(whispers)

What are you doing?

Lipsky initially thinks David is joking.

LIPSKY:

(smiling)

What?

61.

DAVID:

I saw you hitting on Betsy.

LIPSKY:

Hitting on...? I was talking to her.

DAVID:

David, I saw you! You got her to give

you her address.

LIPSKY:

Her e-mail address. In case I had

questions, about the piece I am

writing about you.

DAVID:

Well, I don’t want her talking to you.

LIPSKY:

Fine! I won’t contact her.

DAVID:

I told you she and I dated when we

were in grad school... The least you

can do is show me the respect of not

coming on to her right in front of me.

LIPSKY:

Dave, I’m sorry if it looked that way.

That was not my intention. Besides,

why would I want to get involved with

somebody who lives in St. Paul?

DAVID:

You’re already involved with somebody

who lives in Los Angeles...

David is glaring at him when we hear:

JULIE (O.S.)

Are you okay?

DAVID:

(calls)

Everything’s fine. Thank you.

(to Lipsky)

Just stay away from her. Okay? Be a

good guy.

David goes back to the women.

DAVID (O.S.)

What’d I miss?

62.

Once he catches his breath, Lipsky, breaking solidarity with

David’s abstinence, gets a beer out of the fridge and

pointedly, while making eye contact with David, pops open the

can and defiantly takes a slug.

86 INT. JULIE'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - ST PAUL - 1996 - LATER 86

Algiers is on television. David watches; Betsy is gone;

Julie has fallen asleep. Lipsky, now wary of David, sitssome distance away, struggling to stay awake.

87 I/E. TAXI/DOWNTOWN - MINNEAPOLIS - 1996 - NIGHT 87

Lipsky and David ride in the backseat in silence, avoidingeach other, looking out their respective windows.

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