Trumbo Page #18

IN THE AUDIENCE:

Amid a sea of clean-cut ’50s FAMILIES WITH KIDS and a FEW

YOUNG CALIFORNIA-CASUAL COUPLES we find:

THE FIVE TRUMBOS

Dalton, Cleo, Niki, Chris and Mitzi, munching popcorn, as:

UP ON THE SCREEN

The writing credits appear and we see:

Original Story by Robert Rich.

CLOSE ON DALTON TRUMBO’S FACE

And that writing credit is reflected in his glasses -- as if

tattooed across his eyes, marking him: Robert Rich.

CLEO:

Looks down and adjusts the pleats of her dress until the

credit passes.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY

Trumbo, stone-frozen with shock, is on the phone:

DALTON TRUMBO:

Who told you?

(beat)

What else did they say?

Cleo appears in the doorway. Sensing something.

DALTON TRUMBO (CONT’D)

You, too. Goodbye, Frank.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 101.

CONTINUED:

He hangs up. Cleo is tense with dread.

CLEO:

What?

DALTON TRUMBO:

The Brave One was nominated for an

Academy Award.

INT. KING BROTHERS - FRANK’S OFFICE - NIGHT

FRANK KING:

No, Hymie, this is nothing like

Roman Holiday.

Frank, Hymie and Trumbo are gathered.

FRANK KING (CONT’D)

Roman Holiday had a guy with a name

and a body they could give the

award to. There is no Robert Rich.

If it wins, who gets the thing?

HYMIE KING:

Well, maybe it won’t. I mean, it’s

not that good.

(to Trumbo)

No offense.

DALTON TRUMBO:

None taken.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Spring, 1957 and another Oscar telecast, on a slightly larger

black & white TV screen. Trumbo, Cleo, Chris, Niki, and

Mitzi are all assembled once again. Tense. Expectant.

ON TV - MOVIE STAR DEBORAH KERR

Sparkling with sexy sophistication (in actual footage of the

telecast) as she takes the card from the envelope --

DEBORAH KERR:

The Brave One! Robert Rich!

INT. MOTION PICTURE ALLIANCE OFFICES - BULLPEN - DAY

An agitated Roy Brewer is pacing, on the phone:

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 102.

CONTINUED:

ROY BREWER:

We’re looking into it, we can’t

find Mr. Rich anywhere, he

apparently doesn’t -

(beat)

No. Don’t print tha --

Suddenly, in the open doorway, a grimly hatted Hedda Hopper.

ROY BREWER (CONT’D)

(hanging up)

I gotta go.

HEDDA HOPPER:

Who the hell is Robert Rich? And

it had better not be who they say.

EXT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - BACK PATIO - DAY

1958. A playful Trumbo holds court before FIVE JOURNALISTS.

JOURNALIST:

Mr. Trumbo, are you Robert Rich?

Did you write The Brave One?

DALTON TRUMBO:

My policy is, never claim credit

for any one movie. That way, it’s

possible I had something to do with

all of them. Except the stinkers,

all written by my enemies.

The Journalists all CHUCKLE and scribble, eating it up.

JOURNALIST:

What’s your position on the

blacklist?

DALTON TRUMBO:

Well, on it. Along with thousands

of others.

JOURNALIST:

Are you using this Robert Rich

controversy to try and end it?

DALTON TRUMBO:

The Brave One’s a nice little

movie. If rumors of my involvement

can sell a few tickets, then good.

He sees Niki exit the house and approach.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 103.

CONTINUED:

DALTON TRUMBO (CONT’D)

And if the strange circumstances of

its authorship can get a few

questions asked, even better.

NIKI:

(whispers)

Dad? Sorry, some crazy guy on the

phone says he’s Kirk Douglas.

INT./EXT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

Opened by Niki, revealing a tan, grinning, dimple-chinned -

KIRK DOUGLAS:

Niki?

(holds out his hand to the

stunned teen)

Kirk.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - STUDY - NIGHT

Trumbo settles into a chair across from Douglas.

DALTON TRUMBO:

Apologies. We’ve had more than our

share of crank calls lately.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

I can’t imagine.

DALTON TRUMBO:

So.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

So. I’m doing a new picture. And

I just got the script.

From a valise he hefts a document the size of a phone book.

DALTON TRUMBO:

That’s about seven hours of

entertainment here.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

And not a single page is

entertaining. But there’s a good

story in there, somewhere. About

one man...

(a knowing smile)

...who tried to take on the whole

world.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 104.

CONTINUED:

DALTON TRUMBO:

You’ve got me so far.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

He was a slave who led a revolt

against the Roman Empire...

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - BATHROOM - DAY

On a nearby stool, we glimpse a water-dappled script cover:

SPARTACUS:

Screenplay by Sam Jackson

Trumbo is in the tub, writing and talking on the phone:

DALTON TRUMBO:

...no, I can’t tell you what I’m

working on now except to say, the

blacklist is alive and well and so

is the black market.

(beat)

Yes, you can quote me. Seeing my

name in the paper drives certain

people out of their minds...

INT. PERINO’S RESTAURANT - NIGHT

Hedda Hopper and Kirk Douglas greet with a kiss.

HEDDA HOPPER:

Kirk, I’d like you to meet a friend

of mine, Bob Stripling...

HUAC Investigator Robert Stripling shakes Douglas’ hand.

HEDDA HOPPER (CONT’D)

...House Un-American Activities

Committee. Drink?

KIRK DOUGLAS:

No, thanks. You said it was

important...

HEDDA HOPPER:

Only if you hired Dalton Trumbo.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

Who I hire is my business.

STRIPLING:

No, Mr. Douglas. It’s ours.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 105.

CONTINUED:

KIRK DOUGLAS:

Why?

STRIPLING:

We have to keep this country safe.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

And how’re you doing that?

STRIPLING:

Why don’t I show you by putting you

on the stand?

KIRK DOUGLAS:

Hedda, is your friend trying to

scare me?

HEDDA HOPPER:

He’s trying to tell you the way

things are.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

Maybe I don’t like the way things

are.

HEDDA HOPPER:

We’ve known each other a long time,

Kirk.

KIRK DOUGLAS:

We have.

HEDDA HOPPER:

When did you become such a bastard?

KIRK DOUGLAS:

(rises)

Oh, I was always a bastard. You

just never noticed.

EXT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - DAY

A lustrous black Rolls Royce passes Trumbo’s t-shirted

Neighbor in his driveway, working on a Ford, staring in mute

disbelief as -

The spectacularly out of place Rolls parks in Trumbo’s drive,

a CHAUFFEUR exits, opens the back door and --

A BALD MAN in Saville Row tailoring emerges. He views this

scrubby neighborhood as he does the world: with utter

superiority.

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 106.

INT./EXT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - DAY

The bell ECHOES, Cleo opens the door and -

THE BALD MAN:

(in a clipped Austro-

Hungarian accent)

I wish to see the man who wrote

this.

He holds up a copy of the screenplay Spartacus.

INT. TRUMBO HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY

Trumbo, in pajamas and robe, sits with a COCKATIEL. The Bald

Man stands, wielding the rolled-up Spartacus script like a

cudgel.

THE BALD MAN:

I am Otto Preminger.

Beat. Trumbo rubs his tired eyes.

OTTO PREMINGER:

(annoyed)

The director.

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