The Insider Page #28

Charlie starts looking through the Palladino/

Sutherland/Lowell work product. Meanwhile...

CHARLIE PHILLIPS

I'll push it for a week. Let Milo and

Suein go through it.

INT. WIGANDS' HOUSE #2, KITCHEN - DAY

LIANE:

What do you want to buy him for a gift?

BARBARA:

He's into kind of little cars, that...

LIANE:

That remote control thing?

BARBARA:

Yeah.

LIANE:

Alright, we'll do that tomorrow.

BARBARA:

Mom.

LIANE:

Yes, baby?

BARBARA:

There's Dad, on TV.

INT. A BAR, LOUISVILLE - DAY

And we see Jeffrey in a quiet Bar. The television's on, the

sound low, the midday news. As Jeffrey looks up and sees his

photograph on TELEVISION. In his LOCAL WORLD the impact is:

LOCAL NEWSCASTER

And in local news, WLKO Louisville has

gained access to a five-hundred-page

dossier on former Brown & Williamson

research head Jeffrey Wigand detailing

charges of spousal abuse, shoplifting...

And Jeffrey looks as if something just detonated inside of

him.

WE'RE LOOKING AT MIKE WALLACE SITTING IN FRONT OF A BACKDROP

ON "60 MINUTES," ON A TELEVISION...

INT. HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

And Jeffrey sitting alone in the hotel, watching the show...

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"...thousands of documents from inside

the tobacco industry have surfaced over

the past year, documents that appear to

confirm what a former..."

And as we look at Jeffrey's face, set in stone...

INT. THE CARIBBEAN BUNGALOW - DAY/NIGHT

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"...US Surgeon General and the current

head of the Food and Drug Administration

have been saying. We learned of..."

INT. DON HEWITT'S HOUSE, THE HAMPTONS - NIGHT

And Don Hewitt in his house in the Hamptons, alone in his

bedroom, watching the show...

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"...a tobacco insider who could tell us

whether or not the tobacco industry has

been leveling with the public..."

INT. MIKE WALLACE'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK - NIGHT

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"...that insider was formerly a highly-

placed executive with a tobacco

company..."

INT. HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"...but we cannot broadcast what critical

information about tobacco, addiction and

public health he might be able to offer.

Why? Because he had to sign a

confidentiality agreement with the

tobacco company he worked for..."

INT. MIKE WALLACE'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK - NIGHT

Mike Wallace is in his study, watching the show alone. As we

slowly move in on Mike, seeing himself on television...

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"The management of CBS has told us that

knowing he had that agreement..."

And the look on his face says: HE DOES NOT LIKE THIS.

INT. THE CARIBBEAN BUNGALOW - DAY/NIGHT

Lowell silently watching the broadcast...

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"...if were to broadcast an interview

with him, CBS could be faced with a

multibillion-dollar lawsuit..."

INT. HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

Jeffrey, watching the show...

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes," from the

interview with Wigand...)

"The fact is, we are not allowed even to

mention his name or the name of the

company he worked for and, of course, we

cannot show you his face... '...and your

confidentiality agreement with...(blip)

is still in force?'"

And all we can hear is an ELECTRONICALLY-ALTERED VOICE and

the BLANKED-OUT image of a man...

WIGAND'S VOICE (OVER)

"Yes, it is."

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"So, what are they gonna do? Sue you for

making this appearance?"

WIGAND:

"I would bet on it."

MIKE WALLACE:

(on "60 Minutes")

"The former executive has reason to bet

on being sued, for major cigarette

manufacturers..."

Jeffrey, motionless... A man, no longer with a face or a

voice... And as he gets up, and quietly turns off the

television...

INT. MIKE WALLACE'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK - NIGHT, LATER

Wallace, hasn't moved, still in his chair. He stares,

ignoring the CBS programming, on the phone, making a call...

EXT. THE CARIBBEAN BEACH - NIGHT

Lowell, walking up the sand, his cell phone rings.

LOWELL:

Yeah.

MIKE WALLACE:

You disappeared on me. How long you

staying?

LOWELL:

(absurd)

I disappeared on you?

MIKE WALLACE:

(meaning the show)

Alright. What did you think?

LOWELL:

(after a beat)

I think it was a disgrace.

The look on Wallace's face says he thinks so, too. It's

obvious. He hangs up the phone.

EXT. LOWELL'S BUNGALOW, THE CARIBBEAN - NIGHT

Lowell is on the phone, now. The moon lights the water, the

empty beach. He listens as a phone, through STATIC, RINGS

and RINGS and RINGS.

INT. WIGAND'S HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

And we hear the phone RINGING. We slowly PAN across the

hotel room. We see on the floor a pair of men's tasseled

loafers... A discarded sport jacket... And we see Jeffrey,

barefoot, sitting in a chair in the center of the room. He's

looking out the window at B&W. The curtains are blowing...

And he's still... The sound of the phone RINGING and

RINGING...

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