The Insider Page #9

WIGAND:

(skeptical)

You came all the way down here to tell me

that?

LOWELL:

No. I did not. Big Tobacco is a big

story. And you got something important

to say. I can tell.

(a beat, personal)

But, yes. I did.

I came all the way down here to tell you:

story, no story, f*** your story, I don't

burn people.

It starts to rain harder. They look at each other. Jeffrey,

without saying a word, gets in the Car. He backs out.

Lowell, left standing in the driveway with Liane in the rain.

Liane goes back into the house. And Lowell starts back

across the street to his car. There's a sound. He turns.

Jeffrey's car, having gone around the corner, has come back

and stopped in the street.

WIGAND:

(after a beat)

Ride with me while I take the girls to

school...

Lowell hesitates, then gets into the car in the back seat.

INT. WIGAND'S CAR - MORNING

They drive away. Lowell, incongruously sitting in the back

seat with Barbara. Jeffrey and Deborah in the front seat.

And it's quiet, just the sound of the wipers on the window.

And as Lowell rides with them...

EXT. A RIVERSIDE PARKING LOT IN LOUISVILLE - WIDE REAR SHOT

- MORNING

We see the Car's parked in a weed-strewn empty lot. Rain,

pounding on it and the surface of the river beyond...

WIGAND'S VOICE (OVER)

...and my little girl has acute asthma...

Deborah. My eldest daughter.

INT. WIGAND'S CAR, LOUISVILLE - REAR TWO SHOT - MORNING

The Girls are gone. We enter mid-scene. Lowell's still in

the back seat...

WIGAND (CONT'D)

And, I'm unemployed. So I have to

protect my medical coverage.

(the bottom line; turning to

look at Lowell in the rear

seat)

...so I left them a message this morning.

Their expanded confidentiality agreement?

I will sign it.

LOWELL:

They're afraid of you, aren't they?

WIGAND:

They should be.

The sound of the rain...

LOWELL:

(after a beat, trying to make

it easier for him)

Talk to me outside the zone of your

agreement?

WIGAND:

(guarded)

Like what?

LOWELL:

Like where'd you work before Brown &

Williamson?

WIGAND:

(a beat)

Johnson & Johnson. Union Carbide in

Japan. I was general manager and

director of new products. I speak

Japanese. I was a director of corporate

development at Pfizer. All health-

related.

(wry)

What else? Outside the "zone"...?

LOWELL:

I don't know...you think the Knicks are

gonna make it through the semi-finals?

Wigand smiles...as their eyes meet in the rear view mirror.

A subtle connection... It passes...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. WIGAND'S CAR - WIDE FRONTAL - DAY

Jeff's car in the field, the giant Colgate-Palmolive clock

behind. The rain stopped. Steam rises from the weed strewn

empty lot. Lowell's in the front seat. And we get the

feeling they've been talking for hours...

LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)

Just give me an example...

WIGAND:

For example. James Burke, the CEO of

Johnson & Johnson...when he found out

that some lunatic had put poison in

Tylenol bottles, he didn't argue with the

FDA... He didn't even wait for the FDA

to tell him. He just pulled Tylenol off

every shelf of every store right across

America. Instantly. And then he

developed the safety cap... Because,

look, as a CEO, sure, he's gotta be a

great businessman, right? But he's also

a man of science. He's not going to

allow his company...to put on the

shelf...a product that might hurt people.

(sarcastic)

Not like the Seven Dwarfs...

LOWELL:

Seven dwarfs?

WIGAND:

The seven CEOs of Big Tobacco...they got

up in front of Congress that time...it

was on television...

LOWELL:

...and swore under oath that they know

nothing about addiction, disease...

WIGAND:

It was on C-SPAN. Yeah.

LOWELL:

Okay, so, here you are...you go to work

for tobacco.

(after beat)

You come from corporate cultures where

research, really, creative thinking,

these are core values. You go to

tobacco... Tobacco is a sales culture.

Market and sell enormous volume. Go to a

lot of golf tournaments. The hell with

everything else.

(beat)

What are you doing? Why are you working

for "tobacco" in the first place?

WIGAND:

(deadly honest)

I can't talk about it. The work I was

supposed to do...might have had some

positive effect. I don't know...it could

have been beneficial.

(bitterness there)

Mostly, I got paid a lot. I took the

money. My wife was happy. My kids had

good medical. Good schools. Got a

great house.

(simply)

I mean, what the hell is wrong with

that...?

He looks at Lowell, as if needing validation...

LOWELL:

Nothing's wrong with that. That's it;

you're making money...you're providing

for your family? What could be wrong

with that?

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