Trumbo Page #3
DALTON TRUMBO:
No, we have a good government. But
anything good can be better, don’t
you think?
NIKI:
Is Mom a Communist?
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 12.
CONTINUED:
DALTON TRUMBO:
No.
NIKI:
Am I?
DALTON TRUMBO:
Let’s give you the official test.
Mom packs your favorite lunch...
NIKI:
Salami.
DALTON TRUMBO:
...and you see someone at school
with no lunch -- what do you do?
NIKI:
Share?
DALTON TRUMBO:
You don’t tell them to get a job?
NIKI:
(aware she’s being teased)
No.
DALTON TRUMBO:
Offer a loan at six percent?
NIKI:
Dad.
DALTON TRUMBO:
Then just ignore them.
NIKI:
No.
He studies his oldest daughter with great affection.
DALTON TRUMBO:
Well, well. You little Commie.
INT. EDWARD G. ROBINSON’S MANSION - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Elegant, tasteful, its walls glowing colorfully with: Six
spotlit French Impressionist paintings. Seated under a
Renoir, Trumbo is debating with Robinson and a small
gathering of DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, ACTORS and WRITERS.
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 13.
CONTINUED:
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Trumbo, as usual, you only make
sense to you. Let ’em call you a
Communist, me a Democrat -- both
legitimate parties, yours is just
meaner and duller but nothing
illegal about any of it.
DALTON TRUMBO:
Yet.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Hunter, tell your friend to dial
down the paranoia and have a drink.
This to screenwriter IAN McLELLAN HUNTER, 32, quick mind, sad
eyes, sharp wit, always puffing on a pipe:
IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER
I don’t think he’s being paranoid
enough.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Not you, too.
Trumbo pulls several booklets of mimeoed paper from a valise.
DALTON TRUMBO:
I’ve drawn up a little pamphlet.
(passing them out)
Subject:
“Congress Unaware ofLittle Thing Called First
Amendment.”
ARLEN HIRD (O.S.)
They’re aware...
Everyone turns to the man saying:
ARLEN HIRD (CONT’D)
...they just don’t give a sh*t.
ARLEN HIRD is 40s, caustic, dyspeptic; the BUTLER offering
him a canape, which he waves off --
ARLEN HIRD (CONT’D)
All they care about is this nice,
new war of theirs -- these guys
love war -- and this is a great
one, scary, vague and expensive.
Anybody for it’s a hero, anybody
against it’s a traitor.
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 14.
CONTINUED:
(2)DALTON TRUMBO:
And anybody who thinks it’s about
movies is an idiot. Which is why
I’m going to go have a chat with
the other side.
IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER
You don’t mean the Alliance.
DALTON TRUMBO:
I do.
A CHORUS of disbelieving MOANS and startled LAUGHS.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Are you out of your mind -- ?
DALTON TRUMBO:
They’re actors, writers, directors,
just like us --
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
They’re Nazis, they’re just too
cheap to buy the uniforms -
IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER
They invited Congress out here -
DALTON TRUMBO:
(to the room at large)
And are they all Sam Wood and Hedda
Hopper? Let’s not demonize people
we don’t really know.
ARLEN HIRD:
Go for it. Be fun. ’Cause ya know
who you’re gonna be talkin’ to?
JOHN WAYNE (PRE-LAP)
I wanna say one thing about a place
I love. No, not Hollywood...
And WE REVEAL WE’RE -
INT. HOLLYWOOD ROOSEVELT HOTEL - BANQUET ROOM - NIGHT
JOHN WAYNE:
...I like Hollywood...
Alone on stage, John Wayne, six-feet, four inches of bass-
voiced movie icon.
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 15.
CONTINUED:
JOHN WAYNE (CONT’D)
...but I love America!
As WE REVEAL a sign near the stage announcing this is:
THE MOTION PICTURE ALLIANCE FOR THE PRESERVATION
OF AMERICAN IDEALS
WE SEE the HUGE CROWD of movie pros, from below-the-line crew
to above-the-line stars, all CHEERING and APPLAUDING Wayne.
JOHN WAYNE (CONT’D)
And when we talk about America I’m
talking about freedom! The kinda
freedom we just fought a world war
to save! You wanna be a Commie, go
be a Commie... but some friends of
mine in Washington think you got
some questions to answer!
Trumbo, Hird, Hunter and Edward G. Robinson all stand,
studying Wayne, awed and disturbed by his power.
IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER
I never knew he was this good.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
’Cause he’s not acting, that’s him.
UP ON STAGE:
Wayne’s voice RISES with the MOB’S CHEERS.
JOHN WAYNE:
Still wanna be a Commie? Be a
Commie! In Russia! But off ya go
’n’ enjoy the Bolshoi Ballet!
INT. HOLLYWOOD ROOSEVELT HOTEL - LOBBY - LATER THAT NIGHT
Trumbo, Hird, Robinson and Hunter offer copies of Trumbo’s
pamphlet to THOSE who ignore or shoot them dirty looks. Or
put on their hats and throw smug smiles. Including --
SAM WOOD:
(as he accepts a pamphlet)
Do svidaniya.
Russian for “goodbye,” as he tears it to shreds.
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 16.
CONTINUED:
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
This? Is a nightmare.
IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER
If it were, I’d be in bed.
An elegantly turned out, in-the-flesh Hedda Hopper
approaches.
HEDDA HOPPER:
Hello, Dalton.
DALTON TRUMBO:
Hedda, here you are, of course.
Good evening to you.
HEDDA HOPPER:
Eddie, darling.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Hedda. New hat?
HEDDA HOPPER:
Daily, dear, daily.
(to Trumbo)
Been to the movies lately?
(before he can answer)
Duke!
John Wayne has crossed the room with IATSE Union Leader ROY
BREWER, 40, jowly, jovial and shrewd.
HEDDA HOPPER (CONT’D)
Wasn’t he? Mag. Nificent.
JOHN WAYNE:
Just sayin’ what needs sayin’.
(then)
Hiya, Eddie.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Duke.
JOHN WAYNE:
Hear you ’n’ your pals got a
“pamphlet.” Any takers?
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Not yet...
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 17.
CONTINUED:
(2)ARLEN HIRD:
(offers one to Wayne)
Would you like one? We’re
Communists.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON
(shrugs)
He’s a writer.
JOHN WAYNE:
(to Robinson)
Ya won’t get any takers. Not here.
DALTON TRUMBO:
Why not?
Wayne now turns and regards an affable Trumbo.
DALTON TRUMBO (CONT’D)
All it says is, Congress has no
right to investigate how we vote,
where we pray, what we think, say
or make movies about.
(holds out the pamphlet)
Hello, I’m Dalton Trumbo.
JOHN WAYNE:
(takes the pamphlet)
Congress has the right to go after
anything they think is a threat.
DALTON TRUMBO:
We disagree. That’s the point --
we both have the right to be wrong.
A LOOSE, CURIOUS GROUP has begun to gather, sensing trouble.
JOHN WAYNE:
You wanna talk about rights, first
show me whose side you’re on.
Russia’s no friend, not anymore.
You better wake up.
(then)
’Cause it’s a new day. A new day.
DALTON TRUMBO:
And?
JOHN WAYNE:
Maybe it’s not for your kind.
DALTON TRUMBO:
My kind, what kind is that?
(CONTINUED)
TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 18.
CONTINUED:
(3)JOHN WAYNE:
Kind that has no idea why we just
won a war.
Wayne crumples Trumbo’s pamphlet, tosses it and starts off.
DALTON TRUMBO:
That’s the second time you’ve
brought that up. I was a war
correspondent in Okinawa -
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"Trumbo" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/trumbo_578>.
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