The Stunt Man Page #19

CAMERON:

(wearily)

Okay...okay. I just want to sit a

couple of seconds without having to

say a word. Because if I start

trying to say, "I'm sorry I caught

you and Raymond f***ing," I'll start

laughing and when I laugh too hard,

I get the hiccups and they can last

for days.

NINA:

(after a long beat;

softly)

Don't get hiccups.

CAMERON:

(quietly)

Isn't anything what it seems to

be?...

NINA:

(quietly)

No...

148

148A

149

150

- 101

CAMERON:

(quietly)

Don't you think that's kind of

lousy?

NINA:

(quietly)

Yes...

They sit there unable to leave each other, unable to move to each

other. They just sit there.

INT. BASEMENT SCREENING ROOM - MORNING

Dailies are in progress. Eli watches, surrounded by a few crew

members. Cameron sits in the back row with Nina's MOTHER, FATHER

and SISTER. Nina is not present. On the PORTABLE SCREEN is a shot

of Nina as a wild, radiant eighteen-year old Austrian girl running

pell-mell along a willow-lined VILLAGE STREET, dodging children and

bicycles. She collides with an OLD MAN, her basket falls, its

contents scattering; his momentary anger vanishing as he is infected

with her joy of life. He helps her refill the basket and she

rewards him with a sausage and a kiss. The old man watches her

wistfully as she runs away.

ANGLE ON PARENTS

There's a tear of pride in Nina's mother's eye. Father gently puts

his hand on top of hers as the room lights come on.

ELI'S VOICE

You okay back there?

FATHER:

Happy as clams.

ANOTHER ANGLE INCLUDING ELI

MOTHER:

(brightly)

She's so beautiful. Isn't it

amazing how they put it all together

and...

But Eli is already involved in the SCRIPT GIRL's notes.

151

152

153

154

155

- 102

ELI:

...132 through 40 next? Sam should

see this. I think I left in a line

of his dialogue.

(yelling to

projectionist)

Go ahead.

ANGLE ON PORTABLE SCREEN

The room dims and the film starts. We see a slate board reading

"150A Take 1." The clapper claps and the board is removed,

revealing an ATTIC. Nina sprawled on her stomach, stark naked, atop

Raymond's naked body, her breasts resting on his chest, her legs

apart, interlocked with his. They look directly at the CAMERA

awaiting their cue with the calm resignation of two people waiting

for the Wilshire bus. The MAKEUP GIRL appears in the shot spraying

Nina's back and ass with glycerin sweat from an aerosol can. She

disappears as Eli's voice on the sound track calls, "ACTION." The

ANGLE TIGHTENS into a less revealing, more artistic composition.

Their mouths meet. Their bodies writhe.

CLOSE ON NINA'S PARENTS

They stare at the screen in open-mouthed shock and horror. Their

once gentle hands grip each other like iron claws, trying to squeeze

away the nightmare.

ANGLE ON CAMERON

In shock and anger, leaning forward on the edge of his chair,

looking from Eli to the parents, not knowing what to do to stop

this.

ANGLE ON NANCY:

She sinks down in her seat, her surprise becoming malicious pleasure

at the reaction of her parents.

ANGLE ON ELI:

ELI:

(upset)

Sweet Christ! I told 'em to hold

that...

SCRIPT GIRL:

(starting to leave her

seat)

I'll stop it.

156

157

158

159

160

- 103

ELI:

(restraining her,

resigned)

Too late now...only make it worse.

We hear the passionate murmurings from the screen as Eli scrunches

down in his seat.

ANGLE ON PORTABLE SCREEN

The lovers convulse with erotic abandon as they approach orgasm.

ANGLE ON NINA'S PARENTS

Like a Charles Addams' rendering of a Brady tintype. Their faces

wear the stiff frozen smiles of the hopelessly insane.

EXT. MOVIE SET - CLOSE ON NINA

She's now made up to look like a woman in her forties. Everything

about her tells us these have been brutal years, filled with pain

and loss. She is reacting in anguish to something O.S. But, even

though she manages a few tears, it doesn't quite ring true. Eli

steps into the shot.

ELI:

(to the crew, O.S.)

All right, save it.

ANGLE TO INCLUDE CAMERON

On the sidelines, as he coldly watches Eli put his arm around Nina

and stroll her away from the crew so they are out of earshot.

ANGLE ON ELI AND NINA - MOVING

ELI:

Nina. The shame of it...the shame!

You've lost your son, your lover.

You want to tear his throat out...

but you stand meek...your guts

burning with the shame of it.

NINA:

God, I don't know what's wrong with

me.

She has looked up at her parents, who stand off to one side like

zombies, watching.

NINA (CONT'D)

- 104

Maybe it's them...I feel like I'm in

a zoo. Let me say bye-bye and get

'em on their way. It might help.

She starts to move towards her parents but Eli puts a restraining

hand on her.

ELI:

(upset)

Honey...you better know this...don't

get all shook up now...

Nina looks at him with foreboding.

ELI (CONT'D)

Something got screwed up...the

dailies...

NINA:

What?

ELI:

The attic scene. The bare-ass attic

scene... I'm sorry... I don't know

how... it was too late to stop it...

your parents...

161

CLOSE ON NINA:

She has not blinked, not turned her heard, for fear that her

father's eyes might meet hers. She is like a statue trembling in an

earthquake, about to shatter. The sick, loathesome shame that fills

her, brims over and the statue’s blind eyes flow tears.

162

CLOSE ON ELI:

Tense, barely breathing.

ELI:

(an urgent whisper)

...Roll film.

He eases back out of view. The ANGLE SLOWLY TIGHTENS.

- 105

163

CLOSE ON NINA:

As she falls apart before our eyes, and an O.S. VOICE on a PLAYBACK

TAPE insinuates into our consciousness, echoing as though heard

through many loudspeakers.

VOICE:

I envy you the pride you must feel

today. A young hero has fallen

gloriously on the field of battle.

Hands reach in and drape a sash around Nina's throat. From it

dangles a SWASTIKA. For Nina, there is still no voice, no camera,

only the obliterating shame for that image of her naked body burned

into her father's memory. And yet, that shame is so similar to the

shame she should be feeling as the woman in Eli's film at this

mockery of her son's death.

VOICE (CONT'D)

A nation has lost a son! A mother

has lost a son!

The sound has now grown to a proportion reminiscent of those German

newsreels of Hitler victory rallies.

VOICE (CONT'D)

This sacrifice in blood brings

closer man's noblest dream...a

thousand years of peace!

The THUNDEROUS SOUND of ten thousand voices shouting: "Sieg Heil!

Sieg Heil!" has shattered Nina's isolation. She is now aware that

her personal despair has been used to accomplish an acting trick,

and it only adds to her degradation and sense of shame, ironically

making her performance even more poignant. The crowd on the

playback roars with fanatic zeal.

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