The Insider Page #13

They hang up. And he realizes he's talking to a DIAL TONE.

He hangs up. And as he sits in the patch of light from a

street lamp, the gun in his hand on his lap, to be up all

night guarding his family...

INT. THEIR BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT

And past Liane's sleeping form down the hall into the living

room is her husband, his back to her, sitting in the

trapezoid of light. And as we DOLLY along her side, we come

upon her face and discover she's been up all along and her

eyes are pressed shut, her hands over her ears...her reaction

to his raging on the phone. She's far from "OKAY."

INT. A JAPANESE RESTAURANT, WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT

And we see Lowell and Wigand sitting in their stocking feet

at a traditional Japanese table in a private screened room...

A traditionally-dressed Japanese Waitress waiting to take

their order... Wigand conversing with her in Japanese...

The Waitress formally nods, and leaves...

LOWELL:

What did you get us?

WIGAND:

Tempura...

And Wigand drinks some more saki.

WIGAND (cont'd)

The internet said you did graduate work

in Wisconsin, then went to UC La Jolla

with Professor...Marcus?

LOWELL:

Marcuse. Yeah. He was my mentor. He

had a major influence on the New Left in

the late '60s...and on me, personally.

WIGAND:

Next to your father?

LOWELL:

My father? What the hell's that got to

do with my father?

WIGAND:

Is that why you became a journalist?

Then you get to ask all the questions?

LOWELL:

You charge by the hour?

WIGAND:

My father was a mechanical

engineer...most ingenious man I ever

knew.

LOWELL:

Well, my father left us when I was five-

years old. He was not the most ingenious

man I ever knew... Let's get back to

Brown & Williamson. If you decide to go

on "60 Minutes," I got to know everything

about why you got fired.

WIGAND:

Why?

LOWELL:

They're gonna dig up stuff from your

past, they're gonna throw it at you. I

got to know what they're gonna throw.

You understand?

WIGAND:

(concedes)

I drink. A couple of occasions more than

I should have.

(thinks)

I was cited for shoplifting once. But it

was a mistake...

(hesitant, after a beat)

I pushed Liane one time. We were both

stressed out because of the pressure.

She went to her mother's.

(out of the blue)

I got fired because when I get angry I

have difficulty censoring myself. And I

don't like to be pushed around!

LOWELL:

I'm not pushing you around!

(after a beat)

I'm asking you questions.

WIGAND:

I'm just a commodity to you, aren't I? I

could be anything. Right? Anything

worth putting on between commercials...

LOWELL:

(honest)

...to a network, probably, we're all

commodities.

(beat)

To me? You are not a commodity. What

you are is important.

And he's begun to consciously or unconsciously "sell"...

LOWELL (cont'd)

You go public and thirty-million people

hear what you got to say, nothing, I mean

nothing, will ever be the same again.

Wigand doesn't react.

LOWELL (cont'd)

You believe that?

WIGAND:

(skeptical)

No.

LOWELL:

You should. Because when you're done, a

judgment is going to go down in the court

of public opinion, my friend. And that's

the power you have.

WIGAND:

You believe that?

LOWELL:

I believe that? Yes, I believe that.

WIGAND:

You believe that because you get

information out to people...something

happens?

LOWELL:

Yes.

WIGAND:

Maybe that's just what you've been

telling yourself all these years to

justify having a good job? Having

status? And maybe for the audience, it's

just voyeurism? Something to do on a

Sunday night. And maybe it won't change

a f***ing thing. And people like myself

and my family are left hung out to dry.

Used up! Broke, alone!

LOWELL:

Are you talking to me or did somebody

else just walk in here?! I never

abandoned a source!

WIGAND:

I don't think you really understand --

LOWELL:

(running over)

No, don't evade a choice you gotta make

be questioning my reputation or "60

Minutes'" with this cheap skepticism!

WIGAND:

I have to put my family's welfare on the

line here, my friend! And what are you

puttin' up? You're puttin' up words!

LOWELL:

Words! While you've been dickin' around

at f***ing company golf tournaments, I

been out in the world, giving my word and

backing it up with action.

Lowell is getting very close, in spite of the value of

Wigand, to telling Jeff to take his story and stick it up his

ass.

LOWELL (cont'd)

Now, are you going to go do this

thing, or not?

Wigand abruptly rises...

WIGAND:

(surprisingly mild)

I said I'd call the kids before they went

to bed. Onisa...

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