Trumbo Page #4

(to Hedda now)

-- your son was stationed in the

Philippines --

(re:
Robinson)

-- Eddie was in Europe with the

Office of War Information -

(back to Wayne)

-- where’d you serve again?

JOHN WAYNE:

(stops, turns)

You tryin’ to say something?

EDWARD G. ROBINSON

No, Duke, he wasn’t -

HEDDA HOPPER:

Stay out of it, Eddie -

DALTON TRUMBO:

(right in Wayne’s face)

If you’re gonna talk about World

War Two like you personally won it,

let’s be clear where you were

stationed -- on a film set,

shooting blanks, wearing makeup and

if you’re going to hit me, I’d like

to take my glasses off.

Wayne could belt him but camera FLASHBULBS POP.

ROY BREWER:

Duke, let’s get outta here...

He urges the apoplectic Wayne to a doorway.

HEDDA HOPPER:

Thank you, Dalton. My next column

just wrote itself.

She exits. Robinson, Hird and Hunter just stare at Trumbo.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 19.

CONTINUED:
(4)

ARLEN HIRD:

(happy as a clam)

That was... I don’t even know what

to...

IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER

Yes, good thing you don’t want to

demonize anybody or that could’ve

been awkward.

EXT. MGM STUDIOS - DAY

Walking with Robinson, Trumbo crosses the gleaming, BUSY

dream factory at the height of its productivity, stops at a

newsstand to buy cigarettes and is confronted by a strange

and awful sight:

The face of Hedda Hopper on the July 28, 1947 cover of TIME

magazine, the copies all hung in a line, creating two dozen

identical Heddas. Trumbo is quietly amused, Robinson

slightly horrified.

EDWARD G. ROBINSON

Good God.

(reaches for a copy)

Trumbo, you pick your enemies the

way you live -- only the best will

do.

INT. MGM STUDIOS - LOUIS B. MAYER’S OFFICE - DAY

LOUIS B. MAYER, 60, warm-hearted, cold-blooded studio

president, beams affectionately at Trumbo.

LOUIS B. MAYER

Your next deal’s gonna make you the

highest-paid writer in Hollywood,

which’ll make you the highest-paid

writer in the world.

BUDDY ROSS, early 30s, a young, go-getter producer, sits off

to the side, eyes darting anxiously between the studio

president and the writer.

LOUIS B. MAYER (CONT’D)

You earned it. You don’t just

write happy endings, you actually

believe them.

BUDDY ROSS:

That’s what the people pay to see,

that’s why you belong here at MGM,

right, L.B.?

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 20.

CONTINUED:

DALTON TRUMBO:

Look, I hate to make the wooing too

easy for you but: Where do I sign?

LOUIS B. MAYER

Just one thing. If you’re going to

work for me...

(unfolds a newspaper)

...I never, ever want to see

anything like this...

HEDDA HOPPER’S HOLLYWOOD column: a photo of Dalton Trumbo

under the headline, “OUR OWN RED MENACE.”

LOUIS B. MAYER (CONT’D)

...again.

Trumbo and Mayer lock eyes. Buddy is frozen silent.

DALTON TRUMBO:

You won’t. I promise.

Mayer nods, satisfied. Buddy could kiss Trumbo.

DALTON TRUMBO (CONT’D)

Just stop reading Hedda Hopper.

Off Mayer’s fury and Buddy’s panic -

EXT. LAZY-T RANCH - TERRACE - DAY

Overlooking their lake. Trumbo stands at a hot grill,

flipping filet of trout, holding court for his family;

Hunter, his WIFE and CHILDREN; Robinson and his WIFE; Buddy

Ross and a GLAMOROUS INGENUE GIRLFRIEND.

NIKI:

(to Cleo)

Mom, please...?

CLEO:

(to Niki)

Not now, honey.

EDWARD G. ROBINSON

So what’d L.B. say then?

BUDDY ROSS:

Jesus, don’t, I haven’t eaten

since. My job’s not hard enough?

DALTON TRUMBO:

Your job’s not hard at all.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 21.

CONTINUED:

BUDDY ROSS:

You think getting Mayer to sign you

after those headlines was easy?

You have a record-breaking, three-

year contract -- to make sh*t up.

You’re welcome.

CHRIS:

C’mon, Mom!

EXT. A NARROW DIRT ROAD - DAY

A solitary black sedan churns up a plume of dust.

EXT. LAZY-T RANCH - TERRACE - DAY

Trumbo and the other adults LAUGH and drink away a dazzling

summer afternoon.

NIKI:

(to Robinson)

She really can! Ask her!

IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER

(chuckling)

Cleo? Is this true?

CLEO:

I... had a very unusual mother.

DALTON TRUMBO:

Which means “Stage Mother.”

He picks up a glass, a twinkle in his eye.

CLEO:

(knows what’s coming,

laughs, embarrassed)

Trumbo, no...

He hands Niki the glass, who tosses it to Cleo, which she

catches easily, then another, which she catches in her other

hand, beginning to lightly JUGGLE the two, causing the

children to finally SQUEAL with delight as -

EXT. ANOTHER DIRT ROAD - DAY

-- that black sedan takes a gravel-popping turn and --

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 22.

EXT. LAZY-T RANCH - TERRACE - DAY

-- Robinson and his Wife stare in amazement, watching Cleo

expertly JUGGLE two glasses, flipping and catching one behind

her back as Trumbo beams.

DALTON TRUMBO:

The misspent youth of a child

acrobat.

EDWARD G. ROBINSON

My God, how long were you in show

business?

CLEO:

(juggling away)

Till I was 15. And it was more

“show-forced-labor.”

Niki tosses her mother a third glass, which Cleo catches, now

pinwheeling all three easily.

NIKI:

She never drops one, ever.

CLEO:

Mom had a little saying. “Drop it,

you lose your next meal.”

DALTON TRUMBO:

(to Robinson)

And “Mom” wasn’t kidding. Woman

was a Dickensian harridan.

CLEO:

(laughs)

No one even knows what that means.

EXT. LAZY-T RANCH - DRIVEWAY - DAY

The black sedan closes in --

EXT. LAZY-T RANCH - TERRACE - DAY

-- as Cleo does over-hand grabs, then switches to a circular

pattern, the spool of tumblers catching sunlight in dazzling

prisms.

AND THROUGH CLEO’S GLASSY WHIRL OF COLOR - WE SEE THAT SEDAN

Pull to a stop and Trumbo sees THREE MEN in suits get out.

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 23.

EXT. LAZY-T RANCH - DRIVEWAY - A FEW MOMENTS LATER

Family and friends watching, Trumbo greets the three men,

among whom we recognize: HUAC Investigator Robert Stripling.

STRIPLING:

Mr. Dalton Trumbo?

Stripling hands Trumbo a pink document.

INT. U.S. CAPITOL - ROTUNDA - DAY

Congressman J. Parnell Thomas stands before REPORTERS:

CONGRESSMAN THOMAS

Nineteen subpoenas have been issued

to those we believe have knowledge

of the ongoing Communist threat in

Hollywood.

This announcement is greeted with a resounding... pause.

REPORTER 1

Uh, what kind of threat is that?

CONGRESSMAN THOMAS

A conspiracy to corrupt democratic

values and bring about the

overthrow of this nation.

REPORTER 2

Using... movies.

The CHUCKLING Reporters clearly think this is horseshit.

REPORTER 1

Any movie in particular or...?

CONGRESSMAN THOMAS

(cutting him off)

Movies are the most powerful form

of influence ever created and they

are infested with hidden traitors

who will be dragged into the light,

for all to see and all to judge.

CUT TO:

HEDDA HOPPER’S HOLLYWOOD NEWSREEL

Her talking face again appears alongside her column.

(CONTINUED)

TRUMBO - JOHN MCNAMARA 24.

CONTINUED:

HEDDA HOPPER:

(to camera)

We travel now...

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