Wonder Boys Page #4

GRADY:

You cold, James?

JAMES LEER:

(distant)

A little.

GRADY:

So what are you doing out here?

JAMES LEER:

It's colder in there. -

GRADY:

(laughing)

You're right.

James blinks, startled by Grady's laughter, startled that

he's said something funny. He looks back to the greenhouse

JAMES LEER:

Actually, I saw the greenhouse. So I thought

...I thought I'd come out here and take a look

at it. You don't see one of those every day. It

looks like heaven...

GRADY:

Heaven?

JAMES LEER:

I saw a movie once. Part of it took place in

heaven. Everyone wore white and lived in

crystal houses. Like that. At least that's the

way I remember it...

Abruptly, James glances at his watch.

JAMES LEER:

I should be going.

James turns away, then stops. He stands like this a

moment, then turns back. Holds out his right hand.

JAMES LEER (cont'd)

Goodbye, Professor Tripp.

GRADY hesitates, then shakes James' hand. James moves off

then, leaving the light of the house behind.

GRADY:

James.

(as he stops)

Don't leave just yet. There's something I

think you ought to see.

JAMES LEER:

I'll miss my bus.

GRADY:

This is worth it.

James looks conflicted.

GRADY (cont'd)

Trust me.

15INT. LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

It's quieter now, the party winding down, as GRADY sneaks James past

the departing guests and toward the stairs.

HANNAH GREEN:

Hey, you two.

GRADY stops, sees Hannah slipping on a coat in the foyer.

HANNAH GREEN (cont'd)

Are you riding with me, James?

JAMES LEER:

No, I'm going ho--

GRADY:

He's going with me. You take Crabtree. And his

friend. All right?

HANNAH GREEN:

Ail right. By the way, his friend...?

GRADY:

The answer's yes. I think. Yes. I don't know.

Where are they exactly?

CRABTREE:

Here we are!

CRABTREE appears at the top of the landing with Miss

Sloviak. Her lipstick is blurry.

CRABTREE:

(spying James)

Nell, hello there.

CRABTREE steps down the stairs, hand extended. James

Leer's pale fingers rise as if on a string.

GRADY:

James. This is my editor, Terry Crabtree.

HANNAH GREEN:

James'll know about George Sanders.

JAMES LEER:

George Sanders?

HANNAH GREEN:

Mr. CRABTREE was saying how George Sanders

killed himself, only he couldn't remember how.

JAMES LEER:

Pills. August 25, 1972. In a Costa Brava hotel

room.

The few people within earshot glance oddly at James, but

Crabtree's eyes glitter with intrigue.

CRABTREE:

How comprehensive of you.

HANNAH GREEN:

Oh, James is amazing. He knows all the movie

suicides. Go ahead, James. Tell them who else.

JAMES LEER:

There's so many...

HANNAH GREEN:

Just a few then. The big ones.

James glances at the loose group of people around him,

watching, then...

JAMES LEER:

Pier Angeli, 1971 or '72, also pills. Charles

Boyer, 1978, pills again. Charles Butterworth,

1946, I think. In a car. Supposedly it was an

accident, but, you know. . .

(a trace of irony)

He was distraught. Dorothy Dandridge, she took

pills in, like, 1965. Albert Dekker, 1968, he

hung himself. He wrote his suicide note in

lipstick on his stomach. Alan Ladd, '64, more

pills, Carole Landis, pills again, I forget

when. George Reeves, Superman on TV, shot

himself. Jean Seberg/ pills of course, 1979.

Everett Sioane-- he was good--pills. Margaret

Sullavan, pills, Lupe Velez, a lot of pills.

Gig Young. He shot himself and his wife in

1978. There are more but I don't know if you

would have heard of them. Ross Alexander? Clara

Blandick? Maggie McNamara? Gia Scaia?

HANNAH GREEN:

I haven't heard of half of those.

CRABTREE:

You did them alphabetically.

James turns, finds Crabtree's laser eyes on him. James

blinks, as if he had forgotten about Crabtree, then shrugs

shyly, looks away.

JAMES LEER:

That's just how my brain works, I guess.

CRABTREE:

Fascinating. Listen, why don't you come out

with us after the lecture. There's a place on

the Hill I always get Trip to take me.

JAMES LEER:

Actually. ..I just want to go home.

CRABTREE:

Oh, don't be silly. No one your age just wants

to go home. Besides, faculty will be present.

Just think of it as a field trip.

As he exits, CRABTREE raises an eyebrow to Grady, as if

to say:
"Bring him." MISS SLOVIAK follows, eyeing James

glacially as we CUT TO:

BLACK:

The dull PURR of a COMBINATION LOCK is HEARD, a DOOR

opens, and a triangle of LIGHT falls on a PHOTOGRAPH of

MARILYN MONROES JOE DIMAGGIO on their wedding day.

16INT. CLOSET - GASKELL HOUSE

GRADY and James Leer stand in the doorway. Just below the

photograph of Marilyn and Joe--hanging next to a PIN-

STRIPED JERSEY bearing the number 5--is a SHORT BLACK SATIN

JACKET trimmed with an ERMINE COLLAR.

JAMES LEER:

Is that really it?

GRADY:

That's really it.

JAMES LEER:

The one she wore on her wedding day?

GRADY:

So I'm told.

James, in the presence of the holy grail of suicide

garments, stands speechless.

GRADY:

(cont'd)

Go ahead.

JAMES LEER:

Really?

GRADY:

Really.

James swallows, then'-goes to the jacket. Carefully, he

reaches out his fingers and touches the yellowed collar,

barely making contact, as though it might crumble to dust.

JAMES LEER:

They're glass. The buttons.

GRADY:

Like the lady herself.

GRADY says this airily, ironically, riding his buzz a

bit, but James nods solemnly, eyes transfixed on the

jacket, as if Marilyn herself were inside it.

JAMES LEER:

She was small. Most people don't know that.

The shoulders are small.

(touching the satin)

It looks so perfect. I bet it's the only time

she wore it. That day. She must've felt so

...happy.

GRADY studies James as he takes the fringe of the jacket,

lifts it lightly.

JAMES LEER:

It's feels unreal, like butterfly wings or...

something. It must've cost Dr. Gaskell a lot.

GRADY:

I guess. Walter never tells Sara the truth

about how much he pays for these things.

JAMES LEER:

You're really good friends with the

Chancellor, aren't you?

Grady's eyes slide, paranoid, but James' face remains

unchanged, consumed with the jacket.

GRADY:

(carefully)

Pretty good. I'm friends with Dr. Gaskell,

too.

JAMES LEER:

I guess you must be, if you know the

combination to his closet and he doesn't mind

your being here in their bedroom like this.

GRADY:

Right.

A DOOR SLAMS downstairs and GRADY and James jump. The

CLICK of a woman's HIGH HEELS sends GRADY to the bedroom

window, where he watches Sara slide into a WHITE CITROEN

DS23, turn on the ignition, and motor away.

GRADY:

We, better skedaddle. Close that closet--

James? You ail right?

James is slumped on the Gaskell's white linen bed,

knapsack between his knees, head in hands.

JAMES LEER:

I'm sorry. Professor Tripp. Maybe it's seeing

that jacket that belonged to her. It just

looks...really lonely. Hanging there. In a

closet. Maybe I'm just a little sad.

GRADY:

Maybe. I'm feeling a little sad myself

tonight.

JAMES LEER:

You mean, with your wife leaving you and ail?

(off Grady's look)

Hannah mentioned something about it. About a

note.

GRADY:

Yes. Well. It's complicated, James. I think we

should go now.

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