Trumbo Page #15

DALTON TRUMBO:

(calming)

Arlen...

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 83.

CONTINUED:

ARLEN HIRD:

I know what I’m fighting for. You

want another lake. And you know

what? You’re gonna get it.

Hird is gone. Trumbo is alone in the sudden quiet.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - STUDY - DAY

Trumbo sits, still and silent, smoke curling off the

cigarette in his fingers, staring at a blank typewriter page.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - BATHROOM - NIGHT

The tub is full of hot water, Trumbo is in there, writing at

about half-speed, pausing every few words to smoke and rub

his head.

INT. KING BROTHERS - OUTER OFFICE - DAY

Cleo drops off a script to the Secretary, gets the cash

envelope.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - BATHROOM - NIGHT

Trumbo in the tub again, writing at top speed as WE RACK

FOCUS TO that pill bottle we saw in his office. And REVEAL

here it’s Benzedrine. From downstairs, he can just barely

hear CHEERFUL FAMILY VOICES -

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Niki, just turning 16 now, blows out the candles on her

birthday cake. APPLAUSE from Cleo, Chris and Mitzi, all

hugging her.

MITZI:

You sure we shouldn’t go knock?

CLEO:

I’m sure.

Niki stares at her smoking candles, angry.

NIKI:

He can’t take five minutes -- ?

CLEO:

No.

NIKI:

(testing)

Two minutes. One minute.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 84.

CONTINUED:

CLEO:

Chris. Get the good plates.

NIKI:

I’ll do it.

She exits and -

INT. TRUMBO HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

-- parks herself outside the closed bathroom door. She

hesitates, then KNOCKS. The typing STOPS.

NIKI:

Dad? We’re having birthday cake.

The door flies open and there’s Trumbo, soaked, half-in his

robe, enraged.

DALTON TRUMBO:

When I’m working, you don’t knock!

NIKI:

But it’s my -

DALTON TRUMBO:

You don’t knock! Ever!

NIKI:

So the house is on fire, you don’t

want to know?

DALTON TRUMBO:

I work in a BATHTUB! Surrounded by

WATER! So even if the whole WORLD

catches fire -

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - HALL - CONTINUOUS

DALTON TRUMBO:

(raging at Niki)

-- I can still be this family’s

personal goddamn SLAVE and all I

ask is not to be interrupted for

every f***ing slice of F***ING CAKE

you see fit to -- !

Cleo appears, slicing a look into Trumbo that shames him into

silence. He takes a breath, all is still, then he SLAMS the

door and is gone. Niki, terrified and humiliated, runs down

the hall, crying.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 85.

CONTINUED:

Cleo stands, unsure what to do. She lifts her hand to knock

on the bathroom door, again hears TYPING and thinks better of

it. She then follows the sound of her daughter’s SOBS.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - HALL - NIGHT

A bone-tired Trumbo heads for the master bedroom. Through

the open door, he sees the bluish flicker of a black & white

TV and some familiar words from long ago...

EDWARD G. ROBINSON/”MANNY” (V.O.,

O.S.)

What do you want? What we all

want.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - MASTER BDRM - CONTINUOUS

Trumbo enters, sees Cleo watching an old movie on TV. It’s

the one from MGM, 1947. Trumbo is transfixed.

ON TV - WE FINALLY GET TO SEE THE WHOLE SCENE

Smoothly acted, shot and cut together under lush MUSIC:

EDWARD G. ROBINSON/“MANNY” (ON TV)

To not die young, poor or alone.

“ROCCO” (ON TV)

Manny, these guys... I don’t give

’em what they’re after, they’ll

kill me.

“Rocco” starts to go.

EDWARD G. ROBINSON/“MANNY” (ON TV)

Hold it, Rocco.

“Manny” takes out his revolver -- and aims it at “Rocco,” who

freezes.

EDWARD G. ROBINSON/“MANNY” (ON TV)

(CONT’D)

If we don’t fight these guys,

sure, maybe you get that long,

happy life we all want... but your

eyes never really close again...

’cause you spend that life scared

of every noise in the dark. We

both do.

(beat)

I can’t let you do this, Rocco...

so I just have to convince you I’m

right.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 86.

CONTINUED:

Then -- “Manny” TWIRLS the gun with practiced .lan, so he’s

now holding the barrel as he HANDS it to “Rocco,” butt-first.

“Rocco,” thrown and relieved, takes it.

EDWARD G. ROBINSON/“MANNY” (ON TV)

(CONT’D)

(grins)

After all, kid, what’re friends

for?

TRUMBO AND CLEO BOTH WATCH, NEVER LOOKING AT EACH OTHER

As she’s taken back to that simpler time a decade ago.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - NIKI’S ROOM - NEXT DAY

She is still enraged. Her mother KNOCKS.

NIKI:

Don’t defend him, okay? He knows

he’s wrong, he just doesn’t like

that I saw it before he did.

CLEO:

I think he was just surprised. To

see another adult in the house.

NIKI:

He has to be right, all the time.

How do you stand it?

CLEO:

Well, there are times... especially

lately...

(beat)

C’mon.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - CLEO’S DARK ROOM - DAY

Cleo and Niki stand at that speed bag, hanging from the

ceiling.

Cleo JABS it once, it bounces, she JABS again, it bounces

faster, then again and again and again and again and to her

daughter’s amazement, Cleo is as expert as a pro.

NIKI:

Do you imagine that’s his head?

CLEO:

No.

Cleo stops. Offers Niki a chance.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 87.

CONTINUED:

CLEO (CONT’D)

But you can.

Niki hesitates, then crosses over, lifts her fist and -

INT. ROSS INTERNATIONAL - BUDDY’S OUTER OFFICE - DAY

Niki crosses past SECRETARIES and CREW in a whirl of preproduction.

She delivers the script to Buddy. He takes it,

kisses it with a LOUD SMACK. He holds his hand out to shake

hers but she’s already turned to exit, stone-faced.

INT./EXT. AN OLD APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY

Trumbo KNOCKS on a peeling door, soon opened by an earnest

YOUNG MAN.

DALTON TRUMBO:

I’d like to see Arlen Hird?

YOUNG MAN:

I’m Andrew, his son...

DALTON TRUMBO:

(shakes hands)

Dalton Trumbo. I’m certain your

father’s said awful things about

me, I assure you they’re all true

but I’ve opted for early senility

and forgotten everything, so...

ANDREW HIRD:

Mr. Trumbo...

The young man pauses, unsure how to go on.

INT. FUNERAL HOME - DAY

A cheap closed casket.

His son Andrew sits in the front row. Next to him, a YOUNGER

BROTHER. Both wearing yarmulkes. And behind them, row after

row, all empty. And in the very back, Trumbo sits with Ian

McLellan Hunter.

INT. FUNERAL HOME - HALL - DAY

Hunter and Trumbo shake hands with the two Hird boys. Andrew

reaches into his coat.

ANDREW HIRD:

Dad left something for you.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 88.

CONTINUED:

He hands a small ledger to Trumbo.

ANDREW HIRD (CONT’D)

A record... money he owed you, some

other people. I’m sorry, I wish we

could pay you back.

Trumbo is moved, shakes his head, lays a hand on the boy’s

shoulder.

DALTON TRUMBO:

No, Andrew... no. I owed him. The

debts are all mine.

INT. EDWARD G. ROBINSON’S MANSION - LIVING ROOM - DAY

Trumbo waits alone, admiring Robinson’s magnificent and huge

collection of French Impressionists. Where before there were

five or six paintings here, now:

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