The Italian Job Page #5

EXT. STREETS -DAY

Stella's Mini passes, weaves, tucks in between cars. She

drives like a madman.

INT. MINI (SPEEDING)

Charlie feels like he's inside a video game.

CHARLIE:

I see Drive Defensively is your motto.

STELLA:

Don't worry. Jack Daniels never let me

down.

She slaps the dashboard of her car.

CHARLIE:

By the way you drive, I'm not surprised

you named your car after a bottle of

whiskey. Left.

STELLA:

Jack Daniels was chief engineer of the

Mini. And I drive it exactly the way it

was meant to be driven.

She whips down the avenue. . .

CHARLIE:

Another left.

She hangs a left.

STELLA:

We're going in circles. Who's tailing

you this week?

CHARLIE:

The possibilities are endless.

EXT. STADIUM PARKING LOT -DAY

The Mini parks in the middle of the huge, empty lot that

surrounds Veterans Field, home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

INT. MINI

She looks around...

STELLA:

Where are they?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

CHARLIE:

We're a little early. I didn't expect us

to get here quite that fast. There...

A Vespa pulls into the lot, headed their way. It's Lyle.

Charlie starts the introductions. . .

CHARLIE:

That's Lyle. Gearhead. He's who really

invented Napster...

QUICK CUT TO:

INT. DORM ROOM -NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY -1999 -NIGHT

Below a Metallica poster, Lyle has fallen asleep on his desk.

His roommate, Napster creator SHAWN FANNING, recognizable in

his trademark baseball cap, sneaks a peek at Lyle's computer.

CHARLIE (V.O.)

At least that's how Lyle tells it.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. MINI -DAY

And now they see a monster pick-up truck bouncing into the

lot, MUSIC THUMPING from its Alpine at ear-bleeding levels.

CHARLIE:

Half-Ear. Explosives. He lost fifty

percent of his hearing in the fifth

grade.

QUICK CUT TO:

INT. GRAMMAR SCHOOL BATHROOM -1990 -DAY

A 10 year old boy stands in front of a toilet in the stall.

BOOM! Water geysers out of the bowl and soaks him.

CHARLIE (V.O.)

One M-80 in the toilet bowl too many.

Some kids in the bathroom saw the whole thing.

KID:

That was rad!

HALF-EAR

Wha' ?

CUT BACK TO:

INT. MINI -DAY

And now a RUMBLING in the distance. Stella looks. Sees a

car streaking their way, almost like a mirage in the heat

waves coming off the pavement. Closer. Faster.

Mustang. Its engine rumbles like a jackhammer.

some serious custom work done to it.

A classic

It's had

CHARLIE:

Handsome Rob. Premier wheel man. He

once drove all the way to L.A. just so he

could set the record for longest freeway

chase.

QUICK CUT TO:

EXT. L.A. FREEWAY -1999 -DAY

Handsome Rob's behind the wheel, flicks a cigarette butt out

his open window —

We watch it hit the pavement, ashes spark, and then behind

the fallen butt we see that every lane of the 405. is filled

with cop cars in pursuit.

CHARLIE (V.O.)

Smashed the mark by twelve minutes.

We now see Handsome Rob through the lens of a TV news

helicopter camera.

CHARLIE (V.O.)

He got a hundred and ten love letters

sent to his jail cell from women who saw

him on TV.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. MINI -DAY

As the cars converge in the parking lot.. .

STELLA:

And what about you?

CHARLIE:

I've been a thief since I had baby teeth.

QUICK CUT TO:

INT. GRAMMAR SCHOOL PLAYGROUND -DAY

SEVEN YEAR OLD CHARLIE is shoved against a chain link fence

by a SIXTH GRADE BULLY.

BULLY:

Cough it up, Charlie!

Charlie hands the bully a dollar bill.. The bully puts it in

a wallet that is over-stuffed with cash and saunters off,

laughing it up with his bully pals. Charlie turns to his 2nd

grade classmate who sports a fresh black eye.

CLASSMATE:

So much for lunch.

SEVEN YEAR OLD CHARLIE

You need a dollar?

CLASSMATE:

I thought he took your last one.

SEVEN YEAR OLD CHARLIE

He did.

Charlie holds up the over-stuffed wallet that he pickpocketed

from the bully.

SEVEN YEAR OLD CHARLIE (CONT' D)

But I got lots -more now.

CUT BACK TO:

EXT. PARKING LOT -DAY

Doors open simultaneously. Everyone out. The crew eyes

Stella. Charlie gets right down to business.

CHARLIE:

This is Stella. She's working with us on

this one. IDs?

Handsome Rob hands out fake driver's licenses.

LYLE:

(reading his)

Melvin lisp? Could I — just once —

have a cool name?

HALF-EAR

(also complaining)

220 pounds? Try 180.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

HANDSOME ROB:

Try xDeal A Meal'.

LYLE:

I don't even have a cool nickname.

CHARLIE:

Enough of this sewing-circle sh*t.

. Phones.

Half-Ear hands out new cell phone to everyone and takes their

old phones.

HALF-EAR

Philly Steak says these are clean as a

whistle. He also got us four dozen

internal chips with different numbers.

Change out the chips twice a day.

As Charlie hands out airline tickets —

CHARLIE:

We travel to L.A. separately.

LYLE:

You still haven't told us the most'

important thing. What exactly is the

job, Charlie? And who exactly is she?

Lyle and Half-Ear have been kept in the dark until now.

CHARLIE:

This is Stella Bridger. And we're

finishing the job that we started in

Italy.

They're a little stunned at first.

HALF-EAR

Holy sh*t. It's about time.

CUT TO:

A MONTAGE -LAX -NIGHT

The crew deplane from five different airplanes, different air

carriers.

They disperse in separate vehicles. See Charlie at Avis,

renting a car.

See Handsome Rob renting a U-Haul panel truck.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

See Stella on a hotel shuttle bus.

See Half-Ear on the underground Metro Rail, taking the Red

Line.

See Lyle in a taxi, headed south on Figueroa Street. He

notices a YOUNG WOMAN HITCHHIKING. For a moment, their eyes

connect. She is a beautiful waif and the. feeling sweeps

through Lyle:
if only... But the taxi passes by.

Charlie checks into Shutters, with its Victorian beach house

feel and oceanfront view.

Stella's at the Peninsula in Beverly Hills with its opulent

lobby.

Handsome Rob's at the Standard, with its kitschy decor and

ironic style. He stares at a huge empty aquarium behind the

front desk where a performance artist writhes and a DJ spins

out rhythmic throbs. Very L.A.

Half-Ear's at the new Renaissance Hollywood Hotel adjacent to

the dramatic Babylon Gate and the Kodak Theatre.

And Lyle's at the Downtown Bonaventure, riding up the glass

elevator. Perfect gearhead hotel.

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