The End of the Tour Page #11

87A

I/E. TAXI/HOTEL WHITNEY/VALET AREA - MINNEAPOLIS - 1996 -87A

NIGHT:

The cab pulls up to their hotel. Lipsky is prepared to pay

the fare.

DAVID:

I got it.

LIPSKY:

That’s all right, my expense

account’ll cover it.

DAVID:

So will mine. I got it, I said.

Lipsky relents.

88 INT. HOTEL WHITNEY/ELEVATOR - MINNEAPOLIS - 1996 - NIGHT 88

Lipsky and David ride up in silence. The elevator arrives at

their floor with a ding.

89 INT. HOTEL WHITNEY/CORRIDOR - MINNEAPOLIS - 1996 - CONTINUOUS89

Lipsky goes in one direction; David in the other.

LIPSKY:

Hey. Good night.

David doesn’t respond. Lipsky watches him petulantly go downthe hall to his room.

90 INT. HOTEL WHITNEY/LIPSKY'S ROOM - MINNEAPOLIS - 1996 - NIGHT90

Lipsky, agitated, paces while talking on the phone.

63.

SARAH’S VOICE

(over phone)

Were you flirting?

LIPSKY:

No! Sarah, I swear to you: He just

completely went bonkers on me.

SARAH’S VOICE

You do that, David, you know? You’re

not even aware of it.

LIPSKY:

What do I do?

SARAH’S VOICE

You’re compulsively flirtatious.

LIPSKY:

I can’t believe you’re taking his

side!

SARAH’S VOICE

I am not!

LIPSKY:

Yes you are. Listen, I think I’m just

really tired. I gotta go.

SARAH’S VOICE

David? David...?

He hangs up.

91 I/E. HOTEL WHITNEY/VALET AREA - MINNEAPOLIS - 1996 - MORNING 91

Lipsky and David, unsmiling, emerge from the hotel with their

bags. Patty greets them with a cheery smile.

PATTY:

Good morning! And how are we this

morning?

David climbs into the backseat.

LIPSKY:

I think I’ll ride up front.

David looks a little surprised but says nothing.

PATTY:

Oh. Okay. Here, let me get my junk

out of the way...

64.

She makes room for Lipsky who gets into the passenger seat.

Patty continues yammering but Lipsky tunes her out. The car

pulls away.

92 INT. AIRPLANE - 1996 - DAY 92

Mid-flight. David, his beaten-up Robert Heinlein paperback

on his lap, sleeps soundly with his lips slightly parted and

his bandanna’d head leaning against the window. Lipsky

studies his sunlit face with new objectivity.

93 EXT. O'HARE AIRPORT/LONG TERM PARKING - CHICAGO - 1996 - DUSK93

A fresh layer of snow covers every car in the lot, making

them indistinguishable from one another. David and Lipsky

walk through the rows of cars, David carrying his knapsack.

They continue to walk up and down the rows of cars looking

for the Grand Am. Lipsky repeatedly clicks his key hoping to

have the car announce itself with blinking headlights.

Lipsky clicks the key and locates the car. Finally. They

throw their bags in the trunk and start to get in.

LIPSKY:

What.

DAVID:

You didn’t think to write down where

we parked the car?

Lipsky is cold, feeling vulnerable, fighting tears.

LIPSKY:

No. I didn’t, okay? Sorry! I f***ed

up. I’m a f***-up. Not everyone can

be as brilliant as you.

DAVID:

What is with you?

LIPSKY:

What the f*** is with you?

They get into the car.

94 INT. CAR/OUTSKIRTS - CHICAGO - 1996 - DAY 94

They ride in silence. Lipsky, at the wheel, collects his

thoughts before speaking his mind. This is a more assertive

Lipsky than we’ve seen before.

65.

LIPSKY:

I gotta say... There’s something

basically false about your approach

here.

DAVID:

What do you mean “false?”

LIPSKY:

I think it’s part of your whole social

strategy.

DAVID:

In what way?

LIPSKY:

You still feel you’re smarter than

other people.

DAVID:

Oh, really?

LIPSKY:

Yeah but you act like you’re in the

kids’ softball game, but holding back

your power-hitting, to try to make it

more competitive for the little ones.

DAVID:

When?

LIPSKY:

Here, now, for the past three days,

it’s part of your social strategy.

DAVID:

You’re a tough room, you know that?

LIPSKY:

You make a point of holding back -

there’s something obvious about you

holding back your intelligence, to be

with people who are younger or maybe

not as agile as you are...

DAVID:

That would make me a real a**hole,

wouldn’t it? I don’t think writers

are any smarter than other people. I

think they may be more compelling in

their stupidity, or in their

confusion.

66.

But I think one of the true ways that

I have gotten smarter is, I’ve

realized that I’m not much smarter

than other people.

LIPSKY:

Yeah, right.

DAVID:

There are ways in which other people

are a lot smarter than me. Like, I

don’t know, it makes me feel kinda

lonely...

LIPSKY:

What.

DAVID:

There’s certain stuff I’ve told you

that’s really true and, frankly, I

think it’s been brave of me.

LIPSKY:

Absolutely.

DAVID:

I’ve written enough of these “pieces”

to know that you could present this in

a hundred different ways. Ninety of

which I’m really gonna come off as a

monumental a**hole. But it seems like

your read of this is, “Huh: what an

interesting persona Dave is adopting

for the purposes of this interview.”

LIPSKY:

That’s not what I’m saying.

DAVID:

If we’d done this interview through

the mail? And I had access to a

library, and could look stuff up?

My dream would be for you to write

this up, send it to me, and I get to

rewrite all my quotes - which of

course you’ll never do. When I’m in a

room by myself, alone, and have enough

time, I can be really really smart.

Don’t get me wrong: I think I’m

bright; I think I’m talented. I don’t

mean to sound disingenuous.

LIPSKY:

(amused) Oh, no?!

67.

DAVID:

I am not an idiot. I mean, you know,

I can talk intelligently with you

about stuff. But I can’t quite keep

up with you.

LIPSKY:

That is such bullshit.

DAVID:

Believe me:
I’m not just “Aw-shucks,

I’m just in from the country, I’m not

a real writer, I’m just a regular

guy.” I’m not trying to lay some kind

of sh*t. And I’m

LIPSKY:

You just did it again! You flatter

me, but are you just being

patronizing?

DAVID:

I just think to look across the room

and automatically assume that somebody

else is less aware than me, or that

somehow their interior life is less

rich, and complicated, and acutely

perceived than mine, makes me not as

good a writer.

LIPSKY:

Why?

DAVID:

Because that means I'm going to be

performing for a faceless audience,

instead of trying to have a

conversation with a person. If you

think that's faux, then you think what

you want. I've got a serious fear of

being a certain way. And a set I think

of like, real convictions about why

I'm continuing to do this, why it's

worthwhile. Why it's not just an

exercise in basically getting my dick

sucked. And, you know what?, this is a

very clever tactic of yours:

LIPSKY:

Tactic, what tactic?

DAVID:

Get me a little pissed off, a little

less guarded, I’m gonna reveal more.

68.

Yes, it's true:
I treasure my regularguy-

ness; I've started to think it'smy biggest asset as a writer, that I'mpretty much just like everybody else.

(A beat.)

You know what? I’m not doing any kind

of faux thing with you; I'm not gonnasay it again.

LIPSKY:

Okay, but the faux thing - what youjust said - is an example of the faux

thing. You don't want to take the

risk of giving the full you.

DAVID:

Look, I don’t know if you’re a very

nice man or not. It’s very clear that

you don’t believe a word I’ve said.

LIPSKY:

All your protesting... “I’m just a

regular guy.” You don’t crack open a

thousand-page book ‘cause you heardthe author’s a regular guy. You read

it because the author is brilliant.

Because you want him to be brilliant.

So who the f*** are you kidding?

DAVID:

I don’t have the brain cells left to

play any kind of “faux” games with

you.

Fine.

LIPSKY:

David presses stop on the tape recorder.

95 EXT. HIGHWAY/GAS STATION - CENTRAL ILLINOIS - 1996 -

AFTERNOON:

95

In nasty weather, Lipsky fills the tank, leaving the cap onthe roof. David runs around to the other side of the car to

take over driving duty from Lipsky. They drive away.

96 I/E. CAR/OUTSKIRTS - BLOOMINGTON - 1996 - AFTERNOON 96

Closer to home. Lipsky glances over at David, at the wheel,

who seems faraway and depressed.

LIPSKY:

What are you thinking?

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