12 First Draft

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FADE IN:
EXT. LEXINGTON AVE. - LATE AFTERNOON
STEAM RISES like the city’s breath against the winter chill.
Pedestrians hurry by on the crosswalk, their faces obscured
by the curling mist. Slowly, as if born of the steam, one
face emerges, piercing eyes framed by a gray hooded
sweatshirt. WHITE MIKE, 18, walks past a construction site,
trailing his too-long Brooks Brothers overcoat with an easy
grace.
SUPERIMPOSE - DECEMBER 27TH
White Mike weaves between PEDESTRIANS on Lexington Ave.,
mothers with Citarella bags, yuppies clutching coffees,
elderly women in mink. A young BUYER, 18, in Northface parka
and iPod, steps from the lobby of a pre-war building and
moves in lock-step with White Mike as the ritual begins.
Buyer’s hand to puffy pocket - White Mike’s hand to Brooks
Brothers pocket - palm to palm - the exchange is made.
Choreographed urban economics, their figures split, White
Mike disappearing into the crowd.
We pick him up, cellular to his ear walking behind a WOMAN in
a white mini-skirt and long cold legs, glancing over his
shoulder as a Boomer, i.e., a tricked out Escalade, slows and
turns the corner. The door opens...
...Gangstarr’s “Work” knocks us back as White Mike sits into
a veil of smoke and TEENAGERS. A girl offers White Mike a
burning joint. He shakes his head “No,” and the door closes,
obscuring our view. The camera rises and glides over the
black roof meeting White Mike as he emerges on the other
side, one hand pocketing the cash, the other hailing a taxi
which stops on cue.
INT. TAXI - MOMENTS LATER - DUSK
WHITE MIKE
129th and Lexington.
White Mike checks his phone, pulls his hood back and looks
out the window.
A group of TEENS bearing HMV BAGS, GOOD GUYS bags etc., pile
their bodies and belongings into a taxi.
Moments later, we cross 96th Street into Harlem. The switch
from yuppie storefronts to urban poverty is abrupt.
2.
INT. HARLEM REC CENTER - SAME TIME
In mid-air trajectory, NANA, 17, short, black, heads for a
dunk. JERRY, 18, black, goatee, gets all ball and a shitload
of body. Nana goes down hard, gets up slow.
NANA
Shit was flagrant bitch.
Nana walks off the court muttering to himself.
PLAYER 1
Nigga, get your ass back in the
game.
Jerry turns to the sidelines where HUNTER, 18, 6’ 2” of wiry
beef, Vassar volleyball t-shirt and the sole white face in
the gym stands a few feet away from ARTURO, 16, a small
Puerto Rican clutching a basketball.
JERRY
Hunter. You’re rolling with us.
Arturo watches the tall white kid join the game, then looks
down at his own short legs.
EXT. MADISON AVE. - SAME TIME - NIGHT
Three pairs of JIMMY CHOO STILETTO KNEE HIGHS step in unison.
SHELLY(O.S.)
Were your parents shocked?
SARAH (O.S.)
My Dad’s crushed. But he’ll just
have to survive without me this
year.
SARA LUDLOW, 17, blond hair. Blue eyes. High cheekbones. We
want to reach out and touch her skin. Just to be sure, she
removes her compact from her Louis Vuitton bag...
SARA
Dr. K says “I have to assert my
independence if I plan to become
self-actualized.”
GABBY 17, voluptuous. SHELLY 17, Asian, rail thin.
GABBY
What does that mean?
3.
SHELLY
It means we’re going to be together
for New Year’s.
SARA
It means we’re going to have the
best New Year’s ever.
The girls lock arms and walk on.
EXT. UNDER THE BRIDGE 129TH AND LEXINGTON - SAME TIME
A Taxi pulls away, leaving White Mike shrouded in darkness.
He hugs his coat tight against the wind and looks up at the
icicles that hang off the bridge. HEADLIGHTS approach,
lighting the hundreds of urban stalactites like fireflies. A
BMW X5 pulls over, passenger door opening like a black wing
extended.
White Mike moves toward it.
Hunter can’t dribble for shit but he’s got ups. He grabs a
rebound and flares a full court pass to Jerry who does a
reverse jam, gives praise to the sky and a slight nod to
Hunter. Respect.
EXT. CHINATOWN RESTAURANT - CANAL STREET - SAME TIME
CLAUDE
How much for the rabbit?
CLAUDE, 18, menacing eyes, muscles defined from fanatical
bench pressing, speaks to a CASHIER and points at the hanging
rabbits behind the glass at this sidewalk Chinese takeout.
A few feet away, standing near the VENDORS along Canal,
TOBIAS, 17, beautiful, borderline effeminate which works
wonders with the chicks, cracks up as Claude pays for the
rabbit then comes toward him, holding it high in mock
victory.
TOBIAS
Groovy. Dinner for the piranhas.
Claude heads east along Canal, paper bagged rabbit in hand.
Tobias hurries to catch-up.
TOBIAS (CONT'D)
City was a wasteland without you.--
Where’d you get this tree? It’s
sick.
4.
CLAUDE
Present from the wilderness guide.
TOBIAS
No way. At Turnabout?
CLAUDE
Hike. Detox. Bond. Get a fucking
Indian name. Sign the pledge. Get
chronic. Go home.
TOBIAS
Claudius you are one true criminal.
CLAUDE
I’m outta here after New Year’s.
TOBIAS
No way.
CLAUDE
Anderson Military.
TOBIAS
Shit, you’ve been in more schools
than my Mom’s had husbands. What is
that now? Fifth in three years?
Claude winces and looks toward Canal.
His POV - A YELLOW TAXI - moving along Canal, the driver’s
window open.
In a flash Claude pulls the rabbit from the bag, reaches back
and throws...
...Rabbit goes flying through the taxi window. Tobias’ eyes
bug out as the taxi SWERVES into oncoming traffic heading
directly for...
INT. SEAN’S RED CUSTOM MINI COOPER - CONTINUOUS
...SEAN, 17, quarterback of the Poly Prep football team, nuff
said, listening to U2 at maximum volume and SINGING at the
top of his lungs...
SEAN
Sunday bloody Sunday-
...a Yellow taxi heading directly for his face. He swerves...
5.
EXT. CANAL STREET - CONTINUOUS -
...Too late. Yellow taxi runs into red Mini Cooper which runs
into green streetlight, bumper car style. The Mini Cooper
crumbles. Sean’s arm is wrapped around the steering wheel,
his screams masked by his HORN stuck on repeat. Driver jumps
out of his taxi, fist raised toward Claude and Tobias...
...Who RUN wildly down the narrow streets wreaking havoc,
passing an outdoor trinket shop, a hanging wind-up bird flaps
its wings and glows red.
EXT. MADISON AVE. - SAME TIME
The girls are lit by the night displays in the passing
boutiques.
SARA
You know who’s a bitch?
SHELLY
Who?
SARA
Layla.
GABBY
She thinks she’s so smart she never
shuts up.
SARA
She’s in my English class.
SHELLY
Boberas’?
SARA
Yeah and she just says anything.
Something about how everyone took
the Holocaust so seriously or
something. She made Jane Grey run
out of the room crying.
SHELLY
Is Jane Jewish?
GABBY
I don’t think so. She used to be
anorexic.
They giggle as they come around the corner and see...
6.
A TOWNHOUSE - Five floors lit up and glowing yellow. On the
stoop, a tall figure in overcoat and hooded sweatshirt. Push
in towards White Mike as we hear...
EXT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S BROWNSTONE - CONTINUOUS
...”50 Cent” playing on the house stereo while a hundred
dollars changes hands at the doorway. White Mike passes a
clear cannister containing one green bud of Super Diesel to
CHRIS, 17, pimples and bling in equal doses.
CHRIS
Wanna come in? Shit’s bumping.
White Mike peers inside and sees a few WHITE KIDS dancing
palms to the sky....
WHITE MIKE
No thanks.
He descends the steps passing the girls, his penetrating eyes
quieting Sara in mid-sentence.
A PLAYER lofts an NBA three pointer. SWISH. Nana grabs it
before it hits the ground. He glares at Hunter.
NANA
I’m playing.
Hunter’s not sure what to do.
PLAYER 2
You gave it up Nana. You got next.
ARTURO
No I got next.
EVERYONE BUT HUNTER
Shut up Arturo.
NANA
(to Hunter)
I said give me my fuckin spot back.
JERRY
Nana get off the court. Hunter’s my
nigga.
HUNTER
Nah, it’s alright.
7.
JERRY
Yo man don’t let him do you like
that.
Nana moves fast and gets up in Hunter’s face.
NANA
What the fuck you slummin for
bitch?
HUNTER
Easy man.
ARTURO
Oh shit. Nigga's gonna fight.
Nana pushes Hunter back.
NANA
Take your white ass back downtown
bitch.
HUNTER
Come on man.
Nana shoves Hunter hard into the wall. Hunter unloads, a
single punch, breaking Nana’s nose. Nana looks down at the
blood flowing on his shirt.
ARTURO
Shit.
Nana kicks Hunter in the balls. They go down in a pile of
fists and feet and blood.
EXT. 5TH AVE. - SAME TIME
White Mike walks along the edge of the Park, dwarfed by the
Pre-Wars, white fortresses against a black sky.
He watches as a WOMAN IN BLACK nods at DOORMAN 1 who opens
the inner door moments before DOORMAN 2 opens the outer door
followed by DOORMAN 3 who holds open a Taxi Door--which
promptly pulls away leaving three Doormen in perfect symmetry
with no doors to open. White Mike walks on.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - SITTING ROOM - SAME TIME
Sara, in Dolce and Gabbana miniskirt and pink Tuleh logo
cashmere tee stands among the PARTIERS, gazing up a soulless
PORTRAIT of Chris, Claude and their parents. She spots Chris
by the fireplace and makes a beeline through the dancers.
8.
SARA
Is this your house?
Chris’ tongue is in his throat.
CHRIS
You’re Sara Ludlow.
SARA
(fake)
How’d you know?
CHRIS
Everyone knows who you are.
SARA
Everyone knows everyone. Give me a
tour Chris.
Sara puts her arm out debutante-style and Chris takes the
bait as Jay-Z’s “Money Ain’t a Thing” kicks in.
THE TOUR -
We glide in Sara’s POV up the stairs, passing tapestries made
by Dead Monks in Normandy, live bodies lying against Ming
vases, a GIRL pressing a cell phone to each ear, abandoned
bottles of Heinekin, mini-DVD players, and impressionist
paintings that frame long legs dangling Prada shoes over the
edge of the mezzanine...
SARA (cont’d)
How long has your family had this
place?
CHRIS
My mom says, “this house has
history.” I guess the Rothschilds
owned it in the early 1900’s and
they sold it to a famous stock
trader who supposedly blew his
brains out in the library when-
SARA
(cutting him off)
How many bedrooms?
Rising levels, they pass little CLUSTERS OF KIDS scattered
about, their mass is swallowed by the expanse of the mansion.
Everyone they pass checks Sara out.
9.
CHRIS
Seven--Then my great grandfather
Claudius Kenton got it. He was
supposedly a real player-
SARA
Kitchens?
CHRIS
Two.
SARA
Keep going.
CHRIS
Then my grandfather, he had land
out the yin yang. He passed it on
to my dad-
SARA
Then you’ll get it?
CHRIS
I guess and my bro Claude-
SARA
And then our children.
Chris looks at Sara. Is she serious? They reach the 4th Floor
Landing, Coldplay’s “A Rush of Blood to the Head“ echoes down
the hallway as...
SARA (cont’d)
How big is the staff Chris?
...The Camera moves off the duo and tracks through a room
where ten KIDS lounge on couches watching 75” Plasma
pornography. KID IN SUNGLASSES rests one hand on the exposed
left breast of GIRL IN BLACK PARTY DRESS, absentmindedly
fingering her mother’s pearls...
...KID in PLAID TIE talks to a KID IN CORONA CAP holding a
supersized bottle of Wolfschmidz Vodka aloft like the liberty
torch.
KID IN PLAID TIE
Kill the artists and somnambulate
the masses with vapid pop. It’s a
conspiracy man. We lost Cobain,
Hendrix, Elliot Smith and got
Nelly, Blink 182 and Britney.
Murder dressed up as suicide man.
10.
KID IN PLAID TIE(cont'd)
The FBI, CIA. MTV. They’re all in
on it...
Corona Cap nods thoughtfully as the camera tracks out the far
door where Chris continues giving Sara the tour...
SARA
You should have invited more
people.
...In the hallway Chris opens a door revealing two bodies
making out, silhouetted against an enormous NEON BLUE FISH
TANK. We leave Sara and Chris behind and move in toward...
INT. PIRANHA ROOM - CONTINUOUS
...the entwined couple, camera holding directly above the
girl, JESSICA, 16, fearless eyes, athletic body. In one swift
move she flips the boy over, sitting astride his chest,
leaving us staring down at...
CHARLIE, 18, handsome. Wild eyes that have lived beyond their
years.
JESSICA
You think my thighs are too big?
Charlie feels one of them, impressed. Shakes his head no.
JESSICA (cont’d)
Two hundred meter breast stroke
1.25 split.
Charlie’s cell RINGS to the tune of “Beethoven’s 5th.”
Jessica jumps up to look at the fish.
CHARLIE
Yo Lionel, I’ve been waiting on
your call--Pardon me.--Just chill--
I haven’t been avoiding you, I’ve
had commitments with--stuff.--See
you there.
Charlie clicks off with a sigh.
CHARLIE (cont’d)
Wanna go to JFK, fly to the Keys
and freak everyone out by
disappearing?
JESSICA
You’re wasted.
11.
CHARLIE
I’m serious. My parents have this
sailboat but they’re in Madagascar
or something so we could just
vanish. You sail, don’t you?
JESSICA
Yes, but I can’t go.
Charlie turns pure innocence.
CHARLIE
Why not?
JESSCIA
I’ve got yearbook and prom
committee, I edit the Dalton
Experience, I tutor kids in Harlem
and I’ve got lunch with my mom this
Sunday.
CHARLIE
I see.--Well then I gotta bounce.
He holds up a small baggie of white powder.
CHARLIE (cont’d)
A gift. Only do it in small doses.
Shit’s powerful.
He hands it to her.
JESSICA
Thanks. What’s your name?
CHARLIE
Charlie. What’s yours?
EXT. YORK AVE. - NIGHT
White Mike watches a group of KIDS, white, 10-12, a rainbow
of North Face Parkas, smoking cigarettes and huddling around
a GARBAGE CAN ON FIRE. White Mike’s cell RINGS.
CALLER ID - Charlie
INT. TAXI LEXINGTON AVE. - SAME TIME
The wind blows Charlie’s hair as he rides uptown.
CHARLIE
Pick up man. Come on Mike. Pick up.
12.
EXT. YORK - SAME TIME
White Mike pockets the phone. The kids stoke the fire with
newspaper.
INT. TAXI ON LEXINGTON - SAME TIME
CHARLIE
(into phone)
I know you’ve got no patience for
this but shit is happening, cousin.
Monstrous, bewildering shit and I
need to see you. So call me back
fast aright?
(beat)
Hey Mike, I saw the Pop Gun Man in
the park today.
Charlie pulls a PEARL-HANDLED GUN from his pocket.
DRIVER
My friend, can you put the window
up? It’s too cold.
Charlie pockets the gun and leaves the window down.
INT. BATHROOM CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - SAME TIME
Jessica checks her behind in the mirror, satisfied with the
way her low rider jeans expose her Calvin Klein underwear. DJ
Dangermouse sampling the “Gettysburg Address” plays over the
house speakers.
HOUSE DUB (O.S.)
That from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to the
cause--
She rolls up a fifty, leans over the marble countertop where
the contents of Charlie’s gift is arranged in one long white
line. She snorts the powder, her eyes opening wide....
HOUSE DUB (cont’d)
To that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion--
She stares at the faucet. It sparkles and looms large. She
sits back on the toilet and begins to say the words along
with the dub.
13.
JESSICA
That we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in
vain vain vain--
A drop of water hangs miraculously off the faucet’s edge.
JESSICA (cont’d)
But in a larger sense, we cannot
dedicate--
The door handle glistens.
JESSICA (cont’d)
We cannot consecrate--
The tiles on the floor are spectacular triangles.
JESSICA (cont’d)
We cannot hallow this ground.
Jessica falls face first, passing out, frozen euphoric grin
toward camera.
EXT. PAPAYA KING 86TH AND 3RD - SAME TIME
Hunter emerges from a taxi, taking the receipt from the
driver. He faces White Mike who waits in the neon glow of the
Papaya King.
WHITE MIKE
Huntergatherer, you’ve been fucking
up again.
HUNTER
This is true Consigliore.
WHITE MIKE
Let’s see the damage.
White Mike checks out the cut on Hunter’s face. Hunter opens
his coat, blood on his t-shirt etc.
WHITE MIKE (cont’d)
You forgot your Henry Clay?
HUNTER
Negotiation was not an option.
WHITE MIKE
Didn’t work so well in the Civil
War either.
14.
EXT. HARLEM - JEFFERSON HOUSING PROJECTS - NIGHT
Nana carries his basketball, passing a sign- “WELCOME TO
JEFFERSON HOUSING.” Hearing VOICES, he peers around the
corner where...
...Charlie, in blue puffy Northface, faces LIONEL, 28,
dangerously confident, wearing a long leather overcoat. They
stand under the yellow streetlight between the jungle gym and
the snow-covered monkey bars.
LIONEL
Gimme the money man.
Charlie fumbles nervously in his pockets.
LIONEL (cont’d)
You better have brought that shit,
you little white junkie ass.
CHARLIE
Okay. You don’t have to insult me
man. I’ve got your money--
Charlie pulls out the PEARL HANDLED REVOLVER, aiming it at
Lionel’s gut.
CHARLIE (cont’d)
Just hand over the shit Lionel.
LIONEL
You better be ready to kill me
nigga cuz if you don’t, I’ll find
your ass and kill you twice.
Charlie’s hands, yellow in the streetlight, shake badly.
CHARLIE
Don’t worry man. You’re never gonna
find me. Just give me the shit and
I’m ghost.
LIONEL
Just hold the piece down. I got
what you want.
Lionel reaches into deep pockets, removing baggies filled
with white powder. Charlie takes, lowering his gun...
...Lionel seizes the moment, throwing snow from the monkey
bars into Charlie’s face and pulling his own LASER NINE
MILLI, focusing a red light that captures desperate fear in
Charlie’s eyes a moment before the gun EXPLODES...
15.
...IN SLOW MOTION, Charlie’s body flies back, blood pouring,
mixing with the feathers spilling out of his parka, floating
through the air. The sound of a BASKETBALL BOUNCING ON
CONCRETE breaks us from the trance--PAN to the frightened boy
who dropped the ball. Nana RUNS...
...three steps and Lionel tackles him. The red laser light
finds Nana’s eyes begging Lionel not to do what Lionel does.
Cut to Black: The SHOT REVERBERATES...
EXT. MOLLY’S HIGH-RISE LEXINGTON AVE. - SAME TIME
Come up on a RED FLYING INDEX CARD AIRPLANE lit by the white
Xmas lights above the street.
Leaning her head out from her 32nd Floor Apartment is MOLLY,
17, the kind of eyes that look at you and make you ashamed of
your cynicism. She watches disappointed as her creation dives
and crashes just outside her apartment building.
EXT. LEXINGTON AVE. - SAME TIME
Hunter and White Mike walk down Lex sipping Papayas.
WHITE MIKE
7T23, 8J78, and 3M12.
HUNTER
How do I know you’re not making
them up?
WHITE MIKE
You don’t. Your last taxi was 6Y43.
Hunter reaches for the receipt from the Taxi he rode to the
Papaya King. CLOSE ON - #6Y43. Hunter smiles. They walk in
silence, then...
HUNTER
My father says if I don’t get into
Harvard, I have to go to Dartmouth.
WHITE MIKE
Well shit--
Pointing to a deli on the corner...
Daddy. Isn’t that the McCullough
School of Physics?
Hunter points to Orsay’s Restaurant, red sign lit up...
16.
HUNTER
And on your left, son, McCullough
Dormitories.
White Mike points straight ahead where an NYPD police car
crosses 73rd...
WHITE MIKE
Directly ahead of you, Hunter’s
fucked if he goes to Dartmouth.
HUNTER
Thus, Hunter sent Harvard the
finest application essay in
collegiate history.
WHITE MIKE
No doubt.
HUNTER
You should apply Mike. With your
grades they might even overlook
your entrepreneurial skills in
street economics.
White Mike shrugs.
HUNTER (cont’d)
We’d be the same year.
White Mike’s cell RINGS.
WHITE MIKE
Be there in ten.
(he clicks off)
‘Tis the season.
Hunter looks White Mike straight in the eye.
HUNTER
In the sage words of Headmaster
Wenchler “potential wasted is a
crime that will go punished.”
WHITE MIKE
Good luck at Dartmouth.
HUNTER
Ouch.
WHITE MIKE
Try not to kick any ass on the way
home.
17.
Hunter watches White Mike take a few steps then...
HUNTER
Seen Charlie lately?
This is a bad subject. White Mike shakes his head.
HUNTER (cont’d)
He’s in the city. Called me. Said
he finished that skateboarding film
he’s been making forever. Wanted me
to see it but I think what he
really wanted was cash.
WHITE MIKE
I’ll see you Hunter.
Hunter watches White Mike go.
INT. CHINATOWN TRINKET SHOP - SAME TIME
Claude’s hand taps on the glass, pointing to a knife.
The PROPRIETOR, a small middle-aged Asian Woman, tired eyes,
reaches for an especially long knife...
PROPRIETOR
Look. A butterfly.
She spins her wrist and a metallic SWISH foreshadows the
blades opening out like a butterfly. Light bounces off the
blades and across Claude’s eyes.
CLAUDE
Beautiful. Well done.
Tobias watches as Claude points to another. The Proprietor
puts her hands up, the universal “demonstration over” signal.
TOBIAS
Claudius, let’s move on.
Claude spreads his ostrich-skin wallet wide - Countless
hundreds. Impressed, the Proprietor reaches underneath the
counter.
TOBIAS (cont’d)
I’m bored with Wingwangtown. Come
on. We’ll catch a midnight movie in
the Village.
18.
CLAUDE
Tobias, you’re being rude to this
nice woman.
The demonstration begins. A symphony of Weapons:
NUNKCHAKUS AND THROWING STARS - Which she retrieves from
inside a box of Chinese dolls.
A BOLA WITH BRASS ORBS - She clacks the brass together then
holds the sphere against Claude’s cheek. He smiles.
A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD - She carefully pulls off the cloth and
demonstrates.
Claude applauds. Tobias watches his friend.
EXT. HUNTER’S APARTMENT - SAME TIME
Hunter’s doorman, SAMUEL, 40’s, picks up Molly’s airplane
from the sidewalk then steps over to the trashcan, adding it
to a growing pile of index card airplanes.
Hunter passes on the way in, nodding at Samuel.
EXT. HARLEM - JEFFERSON PROJECTS PLAYGROUND - NIGHT
Crime scene, flashing police lights. DETECTIVE DUMONT, black,
jaded, 40’s, examines an OHIO ID - repeating Buckeye
Hologram, bearing CHARLIE’S PHOTO...
DETECTIVE DUMONT
(sarcastic)
This one’s from Ohio.
DETECTIVE KAMINSKI, 20’s, white, on the verge of jaded...
DETECTIVE KAMINSKI
This one’s from Oregon.
DETECTIVE DUMONT
Great.
OFFICER, female, 20’s, approaches, passes a basketball to
Dumont.
OFFICER
Looks like we found the black kid’s
mom. Says her boy was playing ball
at the Rec Center on 127th.
NANA’s MOTHER, 30’s, hysterical, is held by TWO OFFICERS.
19.
NANA’S MOTHER
No, my baby, not my baby, not my
Nana, NAAANNAAA, Oh lord, not my
boy.
She looks Dumont dead in the eye with a sudden calm.
NANA’S MOTHER (cont’d)
Why my Nana, why my boy, WHY?
Detective Dumont wishes he had the answer.
INT. TAXI PARK AVE. - SAME TIME
White Mike listens to Charlie’s message as he rides.
CHARLIE (V.O.)
So call me back fast aright?--Hey
Mike, I saw the Pop Gun Man in the
park today.
White Mike clicks off and hits #1 on speed dial.
INT. LIONEL’S BLACK BMW X5 - SAME TIME
The Black BMW that pulled up for White Mike under the icicle
bridge. Lionel drives, “Beethoven’s 5th” competing with
Coltrane’s “Ascension.”
Lionel opens the glove box revealing Charlie’s ringing phone
and pearl-handled pistol. Lionel turns the phone off, closes
the glove box and kicks up the Coltrane.
EXT. PARK AVE. - PRESENT TIME
White Mike stands on the corner watching the taxi pull away.
WHITE MIKE
Charlie. It’s your cousin. Hit me
back.
EXTREME CLOSEUP - WHITE MIKE’S EYES - the reflection of the
Taxi # - 3X79.
INT. LIBRARY CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - SAME TIME
Sara sits with Chris and a group of stoned KIDS, bearing
identical been-seen-done-everything-now-what faces, on a deep
leather couch, beneath a thirty foot wall of books. They pass
a joint.
BOLBOCK, 17, trying for Jack Osborne look.
20.
BOLBOCK
You misunderstand me. I’m not
saying we don’t feel these
connections. What I’m saying is we
mistake them for what they are,
momentary chemical reactions.
CHRIS
What about people who meet and
immediately know they were meant to
be together?
Chris puts his hand on Sara’s arm. She lets him.
GIRL 1
I know I have a soul mate.
GIRL 2
You’re all full of shit. All this
crap, this intellectualizing about
connection is something we can do
because we’re PRIVILEGED. The real
world doesn’t have time for
existential crisis.
BOLBOCK
Spoken like a girl with a lifetime
charge account at Bergdorfs.
She blows Bolbock a kiss, follows it up with the finger.
BOY 2
He’s crude but he’s right. We
create these connections to protect
us from the painful truth.--We’re
like islands close enough to see
but too far to apart to touch.
GIRL 3
It’s so tragic.
STONED KID IN BASEBALL CAP
I’m an island that’s gonna inherit
an island in the South Pacific.
Laughter.
GIRL IN BLACK PARTY DRESS
Hey Sara, aren’t you supposed to be
in St. Barths?
Sara ignores her, whispering in Chris’ ear.
21.
SARA
There’s one room I haven’t seen.
Chris smiles.
INT. HUNTER’S APARTMENT - SAME TIME
Track with Hunter as he walks through his hallway, heavy deep
wood tones. Old Money. Passing the library where his father
sits facing away from us before a CRACKLING FIRE...
HUNTER’S FATHER
Hunter. Bring me a glass, I’ll pour
you a scotch.
HUNTER’s FATHER, 55, 6’ 4”, exudes power, guttural voice,
pours his son a Dewar’s. BACH’S FUGUE IN D MINOR “The Little”
plays low on the stereo.
HUNTER
I’m kind of tired, Dad.
Hunter sits in the semi-darkness.
HUNTER’S FATHER
The Linds are having their small
gathering on New Year’s Eve.
HUNTER
Dad, I’ve got plans.
HUNTER’S FATHER
You’ll have ample time to drink
with your friends, Hunter. One of
us has always been there, and your
mother and I will be out of the
country...
HUNTER
Dad-
HUNTER’S FATHER
...And wear the suit we got you for
Christmas, Hunter.
Hunter averts his eyes. The fire CRACKLES.
INT. CHRIS’ BEDROOM - SAME TIME
Posters of Biggie, Wu-Tang on the walls, DMX’s “Where’s the
Hood At” on the flat screen. Chris dims the lights, sits on
the bed. Sara chooses the Herman Miller swivel.
22.
SARA
Your parents are away for a few
more days right?
CHRIS
Until the 2nd.
SARA
We should throw a party.
CHRIS
This is a party.
SARA
I mean a real party. A New Year’s
Party.
CHRIS
I’m not sure it’s such a great
idea.
Sara gets up and sits down close to Chris on the bed.
SARA
Are you kidding? It’s an
inspiration. I could get everyone
to come. Everyone that matters.
CHRIS
I don’t think so.
Sara leans over, kisses Chris, quickly pulling away.
CHRIS (cont’d)
I should really ask my bro Claude.
He’s sort of a freak about stuff
like this.
Sara kisses him deeply, tongue in his mouth. Chris shakes.
SARA
Little Chrissie doesn’t need
permission does he?
CHRIS
I--I--
Hand moving up his leg...
CHRIS (cont’d)
--don’t want it to be too big.
Unsnapping a button on his Diesels...
23.
SARA
Don’t you want to have a big party?
She straddles him, going in for the kill...
SARA (cont’d)
The biggest party ever.--A
legendary party. Page 6, W. The
kind of party people lie and say
they went to.
Chris speaks but no sound emerges.
SARA (cont’d)
Is that a yes?
Chris nods. He reaches out to pull her to the bed but ends up
kissing the covers.
Sara stands over him.
EXT. PARK AVE. - CENTER ISLAND - SAME TIME - INTERCUT
White Mike walks in between the lighted trees along the
center Island on Park Ave. He talks into his cell.
WHITE MIKE
Cut into the flaps?
INT. MOLLY’S APARTMENT - SAME TIME - INTERCUT
Molly in bed, landline to her ear.
MOLLY
And paperclipped the nose and threw
into the wind.
WHITE MIKE
Imperfect science. All we can do is
try to emulate the birds...
Molly lies on her back, her black eyes catch the light.
...One of these times, you’ll catch
an updraft in the Lexington canyon.
MOLLY
Come down to Coney Island with me
this weekend? I was thinking of
taking some photos of the
transvestite hookers.
24.
He lies.
WHITE MIKE
New Year’s weekend. Restaurant’ll
be mobbed. My dad’s starting to
rely on me.
MOLLY
So you’re glad you took the year
off to learn the business?
INT. HUNTER’S APARTMENT - HALLWAY - SAME TIME
Hunter walks through the Hallway, pausing in the foyer. Taped
to the wall - MCCULLOUGH ITINERARY - Air France to Paris,
Shuttle to Chamonix. Beulerat Chateau. We push in on the
words...
INT. HUNTER’S ELEVATOR - MOMENTS LATER
Hunter rides the elevator. He looks up at the ceiling and
gives the finger to the in-house camera.
EXT. 73RD STREET - MOMENTS LATER
Hunter walks along beneath Christmas lights that decorate the
street.
INT. TAXI JESSICA AND CHRIS - LATER - NIGHT
Chris and Jessica, Red Bull in her hands, ride in the back of
a taxi.
JESSICA
I always hated those pussies who
act all wasted. Now I’m one of
them.
CHRIS
Still high?
Jessica shakes her head, sips from the Red Bull.
JESSICA (cont’d)
All I remember is this feeling. It
was like--total clarity.--I could
write the most amazing application
to Wesleyan on this stuff.
CHRIS
Maybe you shouldn’t do it again.
25.
JESSICA
Chris, you gotta promise not to
tell anyone.
CHRIS
Don’t worry, I won’t ruin Jessica
Brayson’s immaculate rep.
Taxi pulls up outside a Pre-War on Park Ave. Jessica puts a
twenty through the glass.
JESSICA
Keep that for the round trip.
Driver nods. Jessica kisses Chris on the cheek.
JESSICA (cont’d)
Thanks for taking me home Chris.
And--thanks for not trying to fuck
me or anything when you found me
passed out. You’re a good friend.
EXT. PARK AVE. - DAWN
White Mike walks along a mostly deserted Park Ave. In the
distance, a lone DOORMAN salts the sidewalk. White Mike
raises his arm to hail a taxi.
INT. TAXI ON PARK AVE. - DAWN
The TAXI DRIVER, Pakistani, talks on the cell. White Mike
looks at the PHOTO OF THE DRIVER’S FAMILY above the meter
then out the window...
THE CENTER ISLAND ALONG PARK AVE. - white lights line the
trees...
YOUNG WHITE MIKE (O.S.)
Don’t leave, tell me a story.
...become jagged constellations reflected in White Mike’s
eyes...
WHITE MIKE’S MOTHER (0.S)
I’ll tell you a story that has no
ending.
INT. YOUNG WHITE MIKE’S BEDROOM - 7 YEARS EARLIER - NIGHT
YOUNG WHITE MIKE 11, gazes up at WHITE MIKE’S MOTHER, 34, her
head balding from chemotherapy, her deep blue eyes a genetic
match for her son’s, sits at the edge of his bed.
26.
WHITE MIKE’S MOTHER
If a butterfly died over a field in
Brazil and fell to the ground and
caused a tiny blade of grass to
bend which caused a mouse to move
which caused an antelope to start
which caused the birds to shout
which caused the trees to shake
which caused the rain to fall then
everything might change even all
the way around the world, even all
the way here.
She playfully touches his nose.
WHITE MIKE’S MOTHER (cont’d)
Did a butterfly do that?
She turns off the light. He waits until she’s by the door
silhouetted against the blue light.
YOUNG WHITE MIKE
Did the butterfly die?
INT. TAXI - PRESENT TIME - DAWN
White Mike speaks to the driver.
WHITE MIKE
Busy tonight?
TAXI DRIVER
Too cold.
WHITE MIKE
You prefer the night shift?
TAXI DRIVER
My brother. He’s got wife and kids.
Drives day.
Silence then...
TAXI DRIVER (cont’d)
You come home from party?
WHITE MIKES
Work.
OUTSIDE THE TAXI - We hold as the taxi moves away from us,
heading north along Park Ave.
27.
TAXI DRIVER
What do you do?
WHITE MIKE
Deliveries.
TAXI DRIVER
At night?
WHITE MIKE
Anytime.
...The camera rises. A RED SKY over the city announces dawn
and the WHITE LIGHTS on the trees lining the avenue TURN OFF.
SUPERIMPOSE : DECEMBER 28TH
EXT. HUNTER’S APARTMENT - DAWN - DAY 2
Hunter, coffee in hand, still in last night’s clothes, passes
his doorman Samuel, and enters his lobby where Detectives
Dumont and Kaminski stand waiting.
KAMINSKI
Hunter McCullogh.
HUNTER
(wary)
Yeah.
Kaminski flashes a BADGE.
KAMINSKI
This is Detective Dumont. I’m
Kaminski. Mind if we ask you a few
questions?
Dumont doesn’t wait for an answer.
DUMONT
What’s that on your sneakers?
Hunter looks down at the dried blood on his KG’s. Before he
knows what's happening, Kaminski and Dumont grab his arms-
HUNTER
What the fuck?
CLICK - A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS - on Hunter’s wrists.
KAMINSKI
You’re under arrest.
28.
HUNTER
For what?
DUMONT
For the murder of two teenagers in
Harlem.
HUNTER
WHAT--I got--in--a fight--WHAT--
The cops pull him toward their car. Hunter shouts to a
receding Samuel...
HUNTER (cont’d)
SAMUEL--call my parents.
SAMUEL
A car took them to JFK hours ago.
BACH’S FUGUE IN D MINOR, “The Little,” heard previously on
Hunter’s father’s stereo comes up as Dumont and Kaminski
place Hunter in the backseat and shut the door.
INT. UNMARKED POLICE CAR - MINUTES LATER
The car pulls away. Hunter looks out the window at the
pristine foyers and doormen at blue attention. For a moment,
we wonder if that’s the hint of a smile on his face.
EXT. REFRESHMENT AREA - WOHLMAN ICE SKATING RINK CENTRAL PARK
- DAY
ANDREW, 16 black, a chocolate covered raisin in a bowl of
milk stands in the refreshment area checking out the HOLIDAY
CROWD of skaters a few yards away. He talks into his cell.
Queen Latifah on the tinny speakers.
ANDREW
Hunter you flaked.--I’ll be the
black guy on the ice in case you
can’t find me.
Three girls trailing matching CANDY CANE SCARVES glide by.
Jessica skates with tired eyes in-between her friends LAYLA
16, intense, and CLAIRE, 16 bookish. We glide along...
ON THE ICE -
LAYLA
How about “Yesterday’s Tomorrow?”
29.
CLAIRE
Please move to Queens. “Simply
unforgettable?
The words shoot past Jessica’s eyes from either direction.
CLAIRE
“Shades of Perfection.”
LAYLA
“Mad About Plaid.”
CLAIRE
“Becoming.”
LAYLA
“Recorded Live.”
CLAIRE
“Then and Wow.”
LAYLA
“Lasting Impressions.”
CLAIRE (cont’d)
“In the blink of an eye.”
LAYLA
I’ve got it.--The title of the 2005
Dalton Yearbook is “Connected to
the Past-Unleashed into the
Future.”
CLAIRE
I like it.
LAYLA
Jessica?
No answer.
CLAIRE
President of the yearbook staff.
Hello?
Jessica digs her skates into the ice, stopping quickly. Her
friends follow suit.
JESSICA
You guys go ahead. I’m sure you’ll
pick the right one.
Jessica skates off.
CLAIRE
What?
LAYLA
What?
U2’s “New Year’s Day” comes on over the rink speakers as
Jessica begins to weave recklessly between the holiday
skaters, drunk on the speed. We HOLD ON HER FACE, the picture
of youth and vitality but in her eyes...
30.
...Just ahead Andrew reaches to unclip his RINGING CELL. Bad
move. He goes down hard. Jessica swerves. TOO LATE. Her
skates cut his forehead. He SCREAMS, clutching his head.
Blood swirls on the ice. Jessica drops down fast...
JESSICA (cont’d)
Fuck. I’m so sorry.
U2’s music fills Jessica’s head...
RINK SPEAKERS (V.O.)
Everything changes on New Year’s
Day--
Jessica stares transfixed at the PUDDLE OF RED spreading on
the white ice.
INT. WHITE MIKE’S BEDROOM - SAME TIME
White Mike uses an old fashioned silver scale to weigh green
buds, the only sign of color or life in the room. He reaches
for a pair of BINOCULARS that lie next to an INDEX CARD
AIRPLANE.
POV THROUGH THE BINOCULARS - THE HIGH RISE ACROSS THE WAY
THE JOYCE’S - A red-headed MOTHER AND FATHER, and their
equally red-headed, SON, 11, and DAUGHTER, 13, having
breakfast.
White Mike watches as Mrs. Joyce pours orange juice for her
family. The son appears to glance over at White Mike.
A KNOCK at the door.
WHITE MIKE
One sec.
White Mike puts the binoculars down and quickly hides the
weed. WHITE MIKE’S Father, 50, dark complexion, bearing no
resemblance to his pale son, pokes his head in.
WHITE MIKE’S FATHER
Lunch at the restaurant today
stranger?
WHITE MIKE
Sure.
His dad starts to leave then turns back.
31.
And Mike. Binoculars are for
watching birds not chicks.
DUMONT (0.S)
What's the name of the white kid
you killed?
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - PRECINCT 122 - SAME TIME
Hunter sits in the spare fluorescent-lit room. Kaminski sits
across from him. Dumont watches.
HUNTER
I didn’t kill anyone.
DUMONT
Forensic’s got your blood all over
the merry go round Hunter. Why
don’t just give it up and confess
now?
Hunter smiles. He seems to be enjoying this.
HUNTER
That hardly proves your case. I
already told you we fought at the
rec.
KAMINSKI
Where are your parents Hunter?
HUNTER
I don’t know. On holiday.
KAMINSKI
Strange. They don’t leave contact
information?
(off Hunter’s shrug)
Maybe with the help?
HUNTER
Everyone’s off for the New Year’s
holiday.
KAMINSKI
Doorman, nice fellow Samuel, says
you’re a good kid, says you used to
beat off in the elevator. Got “IT”
in on tape.
Hunter turns red.
32.
KAMINSKI (cont’d)
Probably got some nice elevators.
All those mirrors and stuff.
HUNTER
When can I get out of here?
DUM
Samuel says you left the house
around 1:15 A.M. Where’d you go?
EXT. YORK AVE. - THE PREVIOUS NIGHT
Hunter walks along York Ave., late on the previous night. He
passes the same GARBAGE CAN ON FIRE that White Mike saw. The
KIDS stoke the fire.
HUNTER (O.S.)
For a walk.
DUMONT (O.S.)
All night?
HUNTER (0.S)
Is that against the law?
KAMINSKI (O.S.)
Where’d you dump the gun Hunter?
Hunter approaches the fire. He tosses the contents of his
pockets into the can, including his father’s ITINERARY.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - PRESENT TIME
HUNTER
(smiles)
What gun?
DUMONT
Hunter, what does you father do?
HUNTER
Does that matter?
DUMONT
I’m just trying to figure a kid
with holes in his story a mile wide
who waives his rights and looks at
a double murder charge like he’s in
the sack with Jennifer Lopez.
33.
HUNTER
You’ve no witnesses, no weapon, no
motive-
DUMONT
What’s your father do?
HUNTER
He’s an attorney.
INT. - ELEANOR’S COFFEE SHOP - SAME TIME
The sunlight is white light on Molly as she sits, curled up
on a couch, engrossed in E.L Doctorow's " Ragtime," at this
Upper East Side coffeehouse.
At the other end of the couch, Tobias drinks a Mocha Latte
and stares at Molly, barely pretending to read his “Maxim.”
Tobias turns to an article headlined: “3 Steps to Getting HER
Attention.” As he reads, we hear the sexy voice of the Maxim-
Girl that plays in his little mind.
MAXIM GIRL VOICE-OVER
One: Comment on something she’s
wearing. Do not choose something on
her chest.
TOBIAS
Groovy ankle bracelet.
Molly’s hand runs instinctively to the Indian bead bracelet
just above her Nikes. She smiles.
MOLLY
Thanks, seven bucks in the Village.
Two: Make her laugh. Come on you
can think of something.
TOBIAS
Too bad. You could have dropped
seven hundred on Madison.
Molly barely registers a smile and goes back to her reading.
Now: No matter what the result.
Don’t speak. Wait for her to talk
to you. If she doesn’t you’re shit
out of luck.
34.
After a few moments of staring met by silence, Tobias stands,
and walks toward the door, coat draped over his arm.
MOLLY (O.S.)
It's cold out there.
Tobias smiles.
If she does, you’ve got her.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK AMPHITHEATER - SAME TIME - INTERCUT
White Mike sits on the bench across from the Amphitheater
completing a deal with a CUSTOMER, 17 female, in white puffy
Northface. On the stage, a lone SKATEBOARDER prepares for a
stunt, stacking boards. His cell rings.
INT. JESSICA’S ROOM - SAME TIME - INTERCUT
Jessica sit cross-legged on her bed amidst her collection of
FAO SCHWARTZ BEARS.
JESSICA
Is this White Mike?
WHITE MIKE
What do you need?
JESSICA
I did this stuff last night--
It was like ecstacy but not, like
coke but--better.
White Mike hesitates.
WHITE MIKE
It’s called Twelve. But I don’t
handle it.
JESSICA
Do you know who does?
On the stage the skateboarder rolls toward the jump...
WHITE MIKE
I’ll get back to you.
THE SKATEBOARDER - SLOW MOTION - Airborne, baseball cap
pulled tight, eyes closed, lit cigarette dangling, smile on
his face, a teenager at one with the moment. He lands clean,
White Mike on the cell.
35.
WHITE MIKE
Charlie. Trying you again. Hunter
says you’re in the city.--Call me
back.
INT. - LENOX HOSPITAL ROOM 1443 - SAME TIME
Sara, clutching red roses, enters the room and approaches
SEAN, large WHITE CAST on his throwing arm courtesy of one
totaled Mini Cooper in Chinatown. She kisses him on the
forehead and deposits the flowers onto the table.
SARA
You made the papers but no photo.
Just something about a backup on
the Williamsburg.--Told ya you
should’ve asked for an SUV.
Andrew, fifty stitches from the cut made by Jessica’s skates,
watches from the next bed.
Sean has slits for eyes. He speaks with a heavy Morphine
accent.
SEAN
Weren’t you supposed to be in St.
Barths?
(off her nervous look)
Your parents bailed again, didn’t
they?
SARA
Did not.
(sees Andrew watching)
I just couldn’t imagine enjoying
myself on the beach while my
boyfriend was back here suffering.
Dr. K calls it Jewish New York
Collective Guilt.
SEAN
You’re not Jewish.
SARA
That’s why it’s collective,
Einstein.
Andrew laughs. Sara notices.
SARA (cont’d)
Where are your parents?
36.
SEAN
Came and went. Glenda’s here.
Sara gives the evil eye to Sean’s nanny GLENDA, black, 50’s,
who sits in the corner pretending to read “People.”
When she turns back, Sean has drifted off to morphine-land.
SARA
Seanniee.
Andrew seizes the opportunity.
ANDREW
You’re Sara Ludlow.
SARA
You know me?
ANDREW
My sister’s friends with this girl
Vanessa who goes to Sacred Heart
who knows-
SARA
Everyone knows everyone.
(beat)
What happened to you?
ANDREW
Hockey accident.
SARA
You don’t look like a hockey
player.
ANDREW
You don’t look like someone who’d
pass up a trip to St. Barths.
That hurts. No one ever calls her on anything.
ANDREW (cont’d)
Shit. Sorry. My mom says I gotta
learn to control my vicious streak.
SARA
(smiles)
My shrink says the same thing.
She hears the music from his headphones.
37.
SARA (cont’d)
Is that Coldplay? I love that disc.
Sara sits on Andrew’s bed, hands out. He gives her the
headphones then adjusts the covers to hide his erection.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - SAME TIME
White Mike buys a pretzel from the ubiquitous PRETZEL MAN,
and his SILVER CART and walks away.
He tears off a piece and tosses it to the PIGEONS. WINGS FLAP
in hungry unision.
ABOVE WHITE MIKE’S HEAD - A Red Tail hawk swooping down from
the sky heading for the pigeons. It attacks - a pigeon’s
feathers shoot off it’s dying body. The Hawk takes off
carrying its bounty against the backdrop of the Midtown
Skyline.
White Mike smiles, watching the Hawk until it veers out of
sight.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - STAIRWAY - SAME TIME
Molly trails Tobias through the hallway at Chris and Claude’s
townhouse.
HER POV -
CHRIS, through the library door, shadowboxing, boxing gloves
cartoonish on his skinny arms. The COACH in Camo Pants...
COACH
On your toes Chris.
CLAUDE through his door lit only by the flat screen playing
the HISTORY CHANNEL something in his hands we can’t see...
TOBIAS
Claudius, I’m introducing Molly to
our flesh-eating friends.
Claude speaks without turning around.
CLAUDE
Tobias brings all his ladies to see
the Piranhas. He thinks the
violence turns them on.
Tobias rolls his eyes and motions Molly down the hallway.
Camera moves toward Claude who stands and approaches his
closet...
38.
...opening the doors revealing a SHRINE OF WEAPONS, swords,
daggers, a helmet, the necessities of a young Samurai. He
takes a handful of Brooks Brother’s slacks and tosses them to
the floor making room for the GLISTENING SWORD in his hands.
PIRHANA ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Molly sits tentatively at the edge of the bed, her face is
bathed in the phosphorescent blue of the TANK. Tobias, fills
a one-hitter engraved with a gold leaf.
TOBIAS
Temperature controlled, light
regulated, a diet of pate, filet
mignon, the occasional hydroponic.
Life is good for these children.
(offering the one hitter)
Smoke?
Molly, shakes her head. Tobias shrugs and lights.
MOLLY
Are you going to school next year?
TOBIAS
My dad wants me to go to Princeton
because he donates beaucoup cash
but I’d rather keep modeling and
you know--just go with the flow.
Tobias, pulls off his shoes and socks, getting comfortable.
Molly looks at his PAINTED TOES.
TOBIAS (cont’d)
Besides, why should I feel guilty I
get a rush when I see myself in
print?
MOLLY
(sarcastic)
I like your toes. They’re pretty.
Maybe I'll take some photos of you.
--So you can get a rush.
TOBIAS
Right on.
Tobias jumps up.
TOBIAS (cont’d)
..Politic with the fish. I wanna
show you something.
39.
Tobias leaves. Molly leans close to the aquarium.
HER EYES THROUGH THE GLASS - We hear a loud SPLASH and
we’re...
EXT. THE OCEAN - THE BAHAMAS - 3 YEARS EARLIER
...in the ocean 3 years earlier. Molly, kicking her feet over
the edge of the boat.
White Mike in the water. He pulls off his mask and snorkel.
MOLLY
Go ahead. I’m not feeling so well.
WHITE MIKE
Having a shitty time doesn’t get
you revenge against your father for
blowing you off.
Molly considers. SPLASH.
MOLLY AND WHITE MIKE IN THE WATER - Their faces are wet and
close together.
Concentrate on what you see
underwater. Always makes me feel
better.
He dives. She dives.
UNDERWATER - His peaceful eyes watch the fish. Molly watches
White Mike, his strong lean body, moving effortlessly...
TOBIAS (O.S.)
Watch this.
PIRAHNA ROOM - PRESENT TIME
Tobias’ voice snaps Molly back to reality. He releases a
small cooked QUAIL into the tank then clicks a button on his
digital watch.
ONE - The piranhas rip at the flesh. TWO - The hunks of meat
disappear - THREE - The fish ram the corpse into the glass.
Molly jumps back. Tobias smiles.
TOBIAS
A record.
40.
INT. KITCHEN - WHITE MIKE’S FATHER RESTAURANT - SAME TIME
Ecuadorian COOKS, Mexican DISHWASHERS, greet White Mike with
much love, high-fives, the slap of a towel etc., as he passes
through this bustling kitchen, stopping at the swinging doors
that lead to the dining room.
POV THROUGH THE GLASS - the restaurant of the moment,
beautiful CUSTOMERS laughing, eating. At the corner booth,
White Mike’s father, seated with two MEN, 30’s, one white,
one black, wearing the fabric of success.
CUT TO:
INT. KITCHEN - WHITE MIKE’S FATHER RESTAURANT - MINUTES LATER
Steam pouring off the burner. WAITER’s, shouting food orders.
White Mike standing, eating a plate of pasta at the steel
counter. His father approaches.
I thought you stood me up.
WHITE MIKE
You looked busy.
Not at all. I’m sitting with two
execs at “Bad Boy,” P Diddy’s
company. They’re telling outrageous
tales, adventures in “sin” Tropez
and all that nonsense. Come on.
It’s a kick.
WHITE MIKE
I thought you wanted to catch up.
Yeah. We will.--I just wanted to
show my son off. People are
starting to think I invented you.
WHITE MIKE
I’m alright here. Ramon took care
of me.
Sure I can’t tempt you? Got a table
of “Uvesi” jean girls getting
smashed on Dom. The Brazilian-
White Mike interrupts.
41.
WHITE MIKE
I saw a red tail kill a pigeon in
the park today.
Yeah?
WHITE MIKE
Mom would’ve loved it.
Uncomfortable silence.
I should get back. --I’ll try to
get home early. Okay?
His father starts to walk off.
WHITE MIKE
It’s “Evisu” dad.
White Mike puts on his long coat and walks out, palming a
cannister to few of the Ecuadorian cooks without waiting for
payment.
LINE COOKS
Gracias Blanca Miguel!
White Mike walks out the door.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK EAST - LATER - DAY
White Mike walks along looking up at the cornices and
parapets above the Pre-Wars.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK ZOO - LATER -DAY
White Mike walks toward the entrance to the zoo. He talks on
the cell.
WHITE MIKE
Hunter. Checking in. Lemme know if
you hear from Charlie. Goddamn
kid’s vanished again.
THREE BOYS, 11, rush by. White Mike watches as one of the
boys, slips and falls, his RED PARKA sharp against the white
of the snow and we are...
EXT. CENTRAL PARK ZOO - EIGHT YEARS EARLIER - SPRING - DAY
...MOVING FAST, hovering above YOUNG HUNTER, 11, YOUNG
CHARLIE, 10, AND YOUNG WHITE MIKE who run in prep school
42.
uniforms, ties flapping against their young chests. The
BRIGHT COLORS OF SPRING rush by.
DORRINE, 30’s, Haitian Nanny - wears a GOLD RING on every
finger.
DORRINE
(West Indian accent)
Hunter, Charlie, Michael, It’s past
time to go.
The POP GUN MAN, 50’s, big fat mustache, pushes his SILVER
CART into frame and the camera rushes to greet him. He towers
above the trio bearing colored balloons, swords and...
POPGUN
Little men, I’ve got big guns.
DORRINE
This is the last time.
THREE PAIRS OF YOUNG HANDS - Reach for their POP GUNS,
rudimentary weapons with corks for bullets.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK RESERVOIR - LATER -DAY
Barren trees, the desolate beauty of Central Park in Winter.
SILENCE. White Mike walks alone.
Out of this vista, Molly appears, her red scarf exploding
against the grey sky. White Mike smiles.
MOLLY
I need to induct someone into the
hypocrites club.
WHITE MIKE
Who?
MOLLY
Me.
WHITE MIKE
It’s not that easy to make the cut.
MOLLY
I met this guy, a “model,” today at
Eleanor’s. He asked me to go with
him to his friend’s house to see
their killer fish. And I went.
WHITE MIKE
Killer fish aren’t hypocrites.
43.
White Mike is completely relaxed around Molly, almost a
different person. They walk around the reservoir.
MOLLY
What about the fact that he’s a
vapid model who stands for
everything we despise and I still
went along with him. Plastic
chicks, Prada bags, treating the
maid badly, the mansion of greed,
the whole thing.--So I’m already
having an out of body experience
and then he tries to get me stoned.
WHITE MIKE
(alarmed)
You smoked?
MOLLY
No. This guy I know says we’re born
with hardly enough brain cells to
obliterate the few we’ve got.
WHITE MIKE
Smart fellow.
White Mike should be president of the hypocrites club.
MOLLY
Well, do I get into the dreaded
club?
WHITE MIKE
I don’t think so.
MOLLY
Why not?
WHITE MIKE
You’re attracted to beauty and
repelled by superficiality. That’s
complexity not hypocrisy.
MOLLY
You make my shallowness sound so
appealing.
WHITE MIKE
You’re not going to see this loser
again are you?
MOLLY
Michael are you jealous?
44.
WHITE MIKE
Come on. We’re friends.
That hurts.
MOLLY
He asked me to come and “chill” at
his house later.
WHITE MIKE
What’d you say?
MOLLY
I said maybe.--He said I need to
learn to live in the moment--and he
paints his toes.
WHITE MIKE
He paints his toes?
MOLLY
Blue.
White Mike’s cell RINGS. CALLER ID - Lionel
WHITE MIKE
That’s my Dad. I really should be
getting back to the restaurant.
MOLLY
So I should tell this guy to fuck
off right?
White Mike can’t make eye contact.
WHITE MIKE
Gotta go your own way..
Molly is crushed.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY
Through the glass of an interrogation room we see but cannot
hear ARTURO, the kid from the rec who egged on the fight,
talking animatedly to Dumont and Kaminski. Camera moves left
finding Hunter...
HUNTER’S INTERROGATION ROOM -
...exhaustion setting in, Hunter stares vacantly at the
graffiti on the table. He looks up when hears the DOOR
OPENING. Kaminski and Dumont enter wearing grave faces.
45.
DUMONT
Arturo Barrera? Know him?
HUNTER
Arturo? From the rec?
DUMONT
Arturo can place you at the
Jefferson Projects a few minutes
before the neighbors heard the
shots.
For the first time Hunter shows fear.
HUNTER
He’s lying.
KAMINSKI
Why would he lie?
HUNTER
Maybe because he never gets into
the game.
Kaminski laughs.
DUMONT
Arturo says you told him on a few
occasions that you were “gonna kill
that nigga Nana”.--Blood, witness
and motive Hunter. You want to
confess now?
HUNTER
I want an attorney.
Camera pushing in on Hunter...
DUMONT (0.S)
Forensics found a substance similar
to cocaine in the dead white kid’s
blood. Only it’s not cocaine. What
were you selling Hunter? You want
to tell us the name of the white
kid you killed? His ID says he’s
Maurice Charles from Ohio but
Hunter, there is no Maurice Charles
from Ohio.
Camera reaches Hunter, imagining the worst.
46.
EXT. LEXINGTON AND 91ST - DUSK
Lionel commands the pavement in his leather overcoat and
swagger. White Mike walks with him.
LIONEL
See ya man over there. He’s holdin.
Got that shit inside his boots.
A WHITE DEALER, 25, black boots, walks up Lexington.
LIONEL (cont’d)
Watch this.
Lionel WHISTLES.
Dealer turns his head. Lionel raises his cell to his ear in
mock conversation. Spooked, the dealer speeds up, making a
sharp right at the corner.
Lionel laughs a deep baritone.
WHITE MIKE
What was the giveaway?
LIONEL
Dealers can see their own.
White Mike catches a glimpse of his own reflection in the
passing window, wondering if it’s that obvious.
WHITE MIKE
You seen my cousin?
LIONEL
Who?
WHITE MIKE
Charlie. You know. Guy who
introduced us.
Lionel doesn’t hesitate.
LIONEL
Nope.
IN THE DISTANCE - Jessica in wrap-around Oakleys, sipping a
Papaya and pacing. She sees White Mike and Lionel approaching
and tosses the juice in the garbage.
EXT. THE PAPAYA KING - MOMENT LATER
Lionel towers over Jessica. White Mike is next to him.
47.
LIONEL
How much?
JESSICA
A thousand.
JESSICA’S SHAKING HANDS - pull many hundreds from her pocket.
LIONEL
Get that shit down. What the fuck’s
wrong with you?
Jessica pockets the money. She looks close to tears.
WHITE MIKE
It’s okay. Let’s walk.
They walk, White Mike brokering in the middle.
Just relax. No one will see.--Roll
it up in the palm of your hand.
(she rolls)
Pass it to me.
THE ASSEMBLY LINE - In Jessica’s eyes - White Mike passes
CASH to Lionel who sends five white BAGGIES back to Jessica.
She stops, looks Lionel square in the eyes. She’s not shaking
anymore.
JESSICA
Can I get your number Lionel?
Because you know--it might be
easier if it’s direct next time.
White Mike cringes. Jessica passes her cell to Lionel who
punches in his number.
Jessica walks away.
WHITE MIKE
Girl looks too clean for that shit.
LIONEL
Clean ain’t got shit to do with it.
INT. SARA’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Sara, Gabby and Shelly are on the carpet, leaning over a
tattered LIFE MAGAZINE. Sara’s sister CYNTHIA, 15, glasses,
on the bed. Sara turns the pages and we see...
48.
PHOTOS - An off-the-hook party of the Young and Beautiful
circa 1940. Black and white decadence.
SARA
They called it “the party of the
century.”
GABBY
Like the Great Gatsby.
SHELLY
It was such a simple time.
CYNTHIA
Oh please, there was rampant
racism, massive hypocrisy, the
women had like no rights-
SARA
Shut up, Cynthia.
(she turns the page)
And this is my grandmother. Wasn’t
she just breathtaking?
Camera pushes in toward a photo of SARA’S GRANDMOTHER at 17,
a dead ringer for her granddaughter. She wears a stunning
BLACK DIOR.
GABBY
She’s you.
SARA
Check this girls. My mother was
born October 7, 1960.
She stands up for the punch line.
SARA (cont’d)
Exactly 9 months after the party.
CYNTHIA
Oh my God, Grandma was a ho.
SARA
No Cynthia. Grandma was smart.
Sara closes the magazine. On the cover, PARTY OF THE CENTURY.
SARA (cont’d)
Between the three of us. How many
people do we know?
49.
SHELLY
Um. Everybody.
SARA
Exactly. Everyone.
She lifts her Nokia, Shelly and Gabby do likewise and the
SOUND OF DIGITAL PHONE KEYS takes us to...
INT. THE PARTY VIRUS - SAME TIME
A GIRL 16, at the PAPAYA KING reaches for her ringing cell
and listens, PAN to two BOY’s 17, outside the window pressing
their T-Mobile sidekicks, PAN across the street where a GROUP
of TEENS exits the BEST BUY, cells to their ears...
MALE AND FEMALE VOICES (V.O.)
New Year’s bash, 2 East Madison,
Chez Kenton, Sara Ludlow, Sacred
hotties, gonna be fly, be there
when the ball drops...
...TEENS outside BERGDORFS, riding in TAXIS, on the steps of
the GUGGENHEIM....
INT. JESSICA’S ROOM - SAME TIME
...Jessica, drenched in sweat, hand outstretched, reaches for
the FLASHING LIGHT ON HER MOTOROLA, giving up, she pulls
herself back to the bed, leaning over the mirror between her
legs and snorting two waiting lines of TWELVE in rapid
succession, then falling straight back into the waiting arms
of her FAO SCHWARTZ BEARS, frozen euphoric grin on her face.
INT. TAXI - SAME TIME
White Mike reads the name and number of the TAXI DRIVER,
Indian, 50’s. A small PAPIER MACHE BIRD hangs from the rear
view mirror.
WHITE MIKE
How do you pronounce your name?
TAXI DRIVER
Snakar Munaim. Sane-car-moon-eyeeem.
Is hard no?
WHITE MIKE
Yeah. I always try to get the names
right.
TAXI DRIVER
You know any Indian people?
50.
WHITE MIKE
No is the truth.
TAXI DRIVER
What is your name?
White Mike’s cell VIBRATES - TEXT MESSAGE - NY EVE 2 E. 90th
Ludlow.
WHITE MIKE
White Mike.
TAXI DRIVER
Is that Irish?
WHITE MIKE
Yeah.
Silence.
WHITE MIKE
You like birds?
Driver reaches out and touches the bird hanging off the rear
view.
TAXI DRIVER
Oh. No, my son made in school.
WHITE MIKE
I saw a hawk kill a pigeon in the
park today.
TAXI DRIVER
Poor pigeon.
OUT THE WINDOW - GIRLS, 20, group-hugging.
WHITE MIKE
Hard to have sympathy for them.
They move in packs and they’re
spoiled, too lazy to fly. Hawks are
still predators, even in the city.
TAXI DRIVER
Why hawks in New York?
WHITE MIKE
The canyons between the buildings
remind them of the mountains.
White Mike opens his window. He leans his head way out and
points straight up...
51.
LOOKING UP FROM A MOVING TAXI - BUILDINGS leading to a dark
sky.
Look. It’s like living in a canyon.
Trapped air between the buildings
creates lift and floats em. Makes
it easy to fly.
REVERSE ANGLE - looking down on White Mike’s face staring up.
Lights of the city wash across his face.
White Mike pulls his head in and rolls the window up.
EXT. 73RD STREET - MORNING
HIGH ABOVE 73RD STREET - A lock down camera. The soft early
morning light hits the conspicuously barren street. A “John
Philip Sousa March” accompanies as...
...A DOORMAN holds open the door and a NANNY emerges onto the
street, pushing her Graco XLT stroller. A few moments later
another NANNY pushing her stroller...
...NANNIES pushing strollers emerge from every door and every
building on the street until...
...The block, once empty, is filled with the procession of
the Nannies, heading east.
SUPERIMPOSE - DECEMBER 29TH
INT. JESSICA’S BEDROOM - DAY 3
Jessica stares at her tired, hungover reflection in the
mirror. She pulls on a pair of Nike shorts and picks up her
JUMP ROPE.
JESSICA
One hundred, ninety-nine, ninetyeight...
She decides to torture herself and stick on ninety-eight...
JESSICA (cont’d)
Ninety-eight, ninety-eight, ninetyeight....
INT. HALLWAY CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - MORNING
Claude walks through the hallway, pausing outside Chris’
doorway where...
52.
CHRIS
Yes I tipped everyone Mom. How was
the helicopter ride?...
...Chris, back to Claude, flexes in the mirror, headset phone
on his ears. Claude listens.
CHRIS (cont’d)
...I’m having a couple of people
over.--Nothing big.--When are you
coming home?...
Chris catches a glimpse of Claude in the reflection. As Chris
speaks we hold on CLAUDE’S FACE.
CHRIS (0.S) (cont’d)
...Claude’ll be up in Connecticut
by then.--You wanna talk to him?
He’s right here. I’m sure he--
alright, okay, have fun, bye.
Chris clicks off then turns to face his brother. A moment of
eye contact then Claude walks away.
INT. WHITE MIKE’S BEDROOM - SAME TIME
POV THROUGH THE BINOCULARS - The red-haired boy across the
way, standing by the window, staring at White Mike.
White Mike puts the binoculars down and opens his window. He
picks up an INDEX CARD AIRPLANE, leans way out and throws -
the plane swirls, does a “three sixty” and dives toward the
taxis below.
The boy smiles. White Mike’s phone VIBRATES.
INT. WHITE MIKE’S FATHER’S RESTAURANT - DAY
JESSICA’s MOM, 30’s, gorgeous, fastidious, sits across from
her daughter in a booth at White Mike’s father’s restaurant.
JESSCIA
I just got a few B’s, Mom. Let’s
not make it into a media circus.
JESSICA’S MOM
Did you study hard?
JESSCIA
Yes Mom.
JESSICA’S MOM
Did you work with the tutor?
53.
JESSICA
Yes Mom.
JESSICA’S MOM
Maybe you should cut down on your
extracurriculars, coaching the kids-
JESSICA
(frustrated)
No way.
She looks down then reaches out.
JESSICA (cont’d)
What do you really know about me
Mom?
JESSICA’S MOM
I know you’re very busy. You’re
editing the yearbook and writing
for the school paper and that
you’re planning to go to Wesleyan-
JESSICA
That’s not me. That’s what I do.
JESSICA’S MOM
You’ll get back on track.
JESSICA
Can we just please talk about
something real?
JESSICA’S MOM
Well, what would you like to talk
about?
JESSICA
For instance, how you feel about
Dad going off to Hong Kong all the
time?
JESSICA’S MOM
His business is more and more
overseas. The economy is global.
JESSICA
Get a clue Mom. You don’t think
he’s flying forty hours roundtrip
every month just for business do
you?
54.
JESSICA’S MOM
He’s flying there so we can live
comfortable lives. And for that
matter--so you can have that nice
straight nose on your face.
Jessica looks down. A few uncomfortable moments then...
JESSICA’S MOM (cont’d)
Finish up Jessica. I was thinking
we’d stop at Bergdorfs on the way
home and pick you up that Blue
Parka, the one you so subtly stared
while we were Christmas shopping.
--If that’s alright with you?
Jessica looks up, the good daughter again.
JESSICA
Thanks mom.
EXT. MADISON AVE. - SAME TIME
White Mike walks among the SHOPPERS on Madison. An off-screen
phone RINGS to the tune of “Beethoven’s 5th.” White Mike
quickly scans the crowd for the source-
A TEEN IN A PUFFY PARKA - reaching for his cell. White Mike
moves fast weaving past shoppers, grabbing the kid’s arm. The
TEEN, 17 turns to face White Mike. It’s not Charlie.
TEEN IN PUFFY PARKA
What the fuck man?
White Mike stares at the kid with those penetrating eyes. The
kid backs down, walking away as Sara comes toward us,
shopping bag on each arm. She enters a boutique.
INT. HUNTER’S CELL - PRECINCT 122 SAME TIME
Hunter alone in his holding cell. He looks around at the
spare windowless room, bunk beds, graffiti on the walls. He
lays down on the lower bunk, grimacing. He reaches under the
covers and removes the culprit, a tiny piece of the brick
wall, broken off by a previous angry occupant. Hunter takes
the WRITING TOOL and begins to cut into the wall...
He chisels an “M’ then an “A”...Off-screen, a CLANG echoes...
INT. HALLWAY TOBIAS’ MADISON AVE. APARTMENT - SAME TIME
...White Mike RINGS the bell of a door at the end of the
majestic hallway. A NANNY, 60’s, opens the door.
55.
WHITE MIKE
I’m here to see Tobias.
Nanny motions White Mike into the foyer.
NANNY
(into an intercom)
Tobias, a young man to see you.
Tobias walks toward White Mike in shorts and flip flops.
TOBIAS
Ah, the medicine man. I’m Tobias.
White Mike reaches in his pocket, catching a glimpse of
Tobias’ BLUE TOES. The color draining fast from White Mike’s
face...
MOLLY
Michael. What are you doing here?
White Mike looks up at Molly’s huge and vanishing smile.
TOBIAS
(to Molly)
You guys know each other? And you
said you’d never smoked herb.
MOLLY
You’re--delivering--the weed?
Molly’s black eyes burn a hole through White Mike.
MOLLY (cont’d)
Michael you are the biggest
hypocrite that ever lived.
White Mike stares back at her unable to speak. A long moment
of crushing truths.
White Mike turns ice. He hands a cannister to Tobias and
walks out the door.
EXT. CITY STREETS - MINUTES LATER
White Mike walks, his coat flowing behind him.
The gargoyles watch him from above. He disappears down the
steps of the Subway.
INT. SUBWAY - MINUTES LATER
White Mike moves down a steep stairway inside the station.
56.
INT. SUBWAY STATION - MINUTES LATER
The train comes, the RATTLING is deafening, mirroring the
sounds inside of White Mike’s head.
INT. MADISON AVE. BOUTIQUE - DAY
Tobias on the PLASMA SCREEN walking the runway. Flashbulbs
popping. Pull back to reveal Sara throwing a tantrum at
SALESGIRL, 20’s.
SARA
I had it on hold. You fucked up,
now it’s your responsibility.
SALESGIRL
Actually, you didn’t put it on
hold. You said you’d be back.
SARA
Find me another one.
CUSTOMERS are watching.
SALESGIRL
I’ve already called our other
boutiques.
(beat)
Let me show you the new Zac Posens.
They’ll be perfect with your figure-
SARA
Don’t patronize me. I know what I
want. That was the perfect dress
for New Year’s Eve.
EXT. MADISON AVE. - MOMENTS LATER
Sara storms out of the boutique carrying two shopping bags,
one from CHANEL and one from BERGDORFS.
She stops at a window, looking at her reflection, trying to
regain her composure.
An OLD WOMAN, 80’s, in mink, appears in Sara’s reflection.
The woman is grotesque, deep sunken eyes, balding, skin
pulled back from layers of plastic surgery.
Sara turns to face the woman. The woman is holding one bag
from BERGDORFS and one from CHANEL.
Sara sees her future. The woman sees her past.
57.
Sara starts to cry. She walks away from the old woman,
pulling her headphones on. Coldplay comes up, Andrew’s CD.
Sara punches her cell...
SARA
You’re home from the hospital?
ANDREW (O.S.)
Who’s this?
SARA
Me, Sara.
ANDREW (O.S.)
Sara Ludlow?
SARA
I was just listening to your CD.
(beat)
Wanna to get something to eat?
EXT. CONEY ISLAND - SAME TIME
White Mike, in his long coat and gray sweatshirt, blends
seamlessly with the ghosts of Coney Island, the skeletal
silhouette of the Parachute Tower, the Wheel of Wonder.
A lone TRANSVESTITE HOOKER limps along then, seeing White
Mike, remembers her style and flaunts it for a moment before
giving it up.
INT. TOBIAS’ PARK AVENUE APARTMENT - SAME TIME
Molly, eyes swollen, her small figure disappearing into the
giant white couch, drains a glass of cranberry juice in one
long drink.
TOBIAS (0.S)
You feel better?
Tobias sits close to her, opening his model “portfolio” to
photos of himself.
TOBIAS (cont’d)
I thought we could edit my book and
it might take your mind off things.
Molly starts to cry again.
TOBIAS (cont’d)
Oh shit58.
MOLLY
I don’t know why I’m so upset. I
mean, he’s just a drug dealer not a
criminal.
(she laughs)
I mean not in the real fucked up
sense...
EXT. CONEY ISLAND BOARDWALK - SAME TIME
White Mike sits and looks out at the ocean. A few birds dive
and swoop for dinner.
MOLLY (O.S.)
...And the truth is we never really
had anything between us...
Bring up the sound of CRASHING WAVES and we are...
EXT. THE HAMPTONS BEACH - 3 YEARS EARLIER - WINTER - DAY
...A deserted beach in the Hamptons, turbulent ocean. Molly
and White Mike in parkas and scarves. Molly waving her arms
wildly as she speaks.
MOLLY
He disappears for a week and then
like nothing happened he calmly
sits at the dinner table and tells
us he went off and got married to
this Laura, this lady who works at
the library shelving books for
Chrissakes, he’s going on and on
about how they share this passion
for existentialism and how they’re
going to have a love child, he said
love child, my father, and then he
just starts to cry and my mom is
throwing shit at him-
Molly takes off her scarf and throws it. The wind catches it.
White Mike picks it off the surf...
MOLLY (cont’d)
And the thing is he really believes
all of that shit happened. But we
found out he was sleeping at the
library, alone in the stacks,
surrounded by all these books and
it’s all so FUCKED.--He won’t take
his medicine and he’ll never get
better. He’s never going to be my
father again.
59.
Molly tears off her coat, throwing it to the sand. White Mike
reaches for it as Molly sprints ahead...
WHITE MIKE
Molly.
...pulling off her sweater, her shirt. White Mike runs after
her...
...She runs into the freezing ocean in bra and panties,
diving underwater. White Mike follows, diving under, parka
and all.
They emerge together, White Mike holding her tight and
guiding her back to the shore.
Molly this world is one fucked up
cruel place.
MOLLY
(quietly)
And cold.
They laugh. He picks her Parka up off the sand and wraps it
around her. And they kiss, an awkward teenage wet and frozen
kiss.
EXT. CONEY ISLAND - PRESENT TIME
White Mike stares out at the ocean remembering.
MOLLY (O.S.)
We didn’t see each other for a
while after that. And when we did,
neither of us said anything about
it.
Tobias’ hand is on Molly’s leg.
TOBIAS
That’s a real drag Molly.
We realize that Molly and White Mike were having the same
memory, at the same time.
MOLLY
Why couldn’t he tell me who he was?
60.
TOBIAS
He figured you were too pure to get
him.
Sometimes even a vapid model gets it right. Molly smiles.
MOLLY
Let’s get stoned.
EXT. CONEY ISLAND ARCADE - SAME TIME
White Mike walks along the boardwalk, checking his phone-
22 MISSED CALLS.
He enters the arcade.
INT. CONEY ISLAND ARCADE - CONTINUOUS
PAN past chirping video games and rolling skeeballs finding
HIPPIE GIRL, ethnic, 14, flared pants, large stone-laden
cross, waiting beneath the flashing white lights of the selftitled
game-DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION. A Techno Samba comes up.
She moves her feet, following the lit arrows.
A short LATINO BOY, 15, holding her jacket, stands watching
next to White Mike.
The Samba speeds up. The girl’s chain swings wildly off her
chest, her feet fly out from under her. She closes her eyes,
hitting every arrow. She puts her hands down on the machine
and does cartwheels, a teenager at one with the moment.
Music stops. She gets off the machine, and looks White Mike
in the eyes.
INT. SKYLINE DINER - SAME TIME
Sara pounds her burger. Andrew sits across from her in the
booth, fingers the bandage on his head.
SARA
Do you have any weed?
ANDREW
(he lies)
Yeah. Little bit.
SARA
Bring then, okay? Everyone’s
bringing something. It’s going to
be a famous party. Like that
concert in the sixties.
61.
ANDREW
Woodstock.
SARA
Whatever. So you’re coming?
ANDREW
So that’s what you want--to be
famous?
SARA
Yeah but not in the cheap Paris
Hilton way. More subtle like
Caroline Kennedy.
ANDREW
Seems like an awful lot of work for
nothing. I mean everyone’s
forgotten eventually.-- Except
maybe Kurt Cobain.
Something about Andrew allows Sara to let go.
SARA
I think if I met myself, I’d hate
me.
ANDREW
Why do you say that?
SARA
Because I’m a narcissistic shallow
bitch who manipulates everyone for
everything and freaks out royally
when I don’t get what I want.
(off his look)
I mean you wouldn’t even like me if
I wasn’t hot right?
ANDREW
Who said I like you?
Sara reaches out and pulls his hand off his bandage.
SARA
Don’t pick.
ANDREW
Thanks. I keep forgetting.
62.
SARA
Sometimes I think I’d like to get
away from the city. Somewhere where
I didn’t have to try so hard.
ANDREW
Where would you go?
SARA
Maybe Senegal.
ANDREW
Senegal?
SARA
I don’t know. We used to have this
driver from Senegal. Ramsey. He was
always inviting me to come live
with his family. Said I’d be debitched
in no time.
ANDREW
Hard to picture you in Senegal.
She smiles.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOME - SAME TIME
Chris stands just outside Claude’s door. Claude sits on the
floor, back to his brother, History Channel on the plasma.
CHRIS
You know I’m having an open house
New Year’s?
No answer.
CHRIS (cont’d)
Should be dope Claude, like those
parties you used to have.
Nothing.
CHRIS (cont’d)
There’s gonna be a shitload of
pussy here. Sara Ludlow is doing
the invites.
Claude faces Chris.
CLAUDE
You know that bitch is using you.
63.
Chris leaves.
Tobias and Molly lie on the floor paging through Tobias’
portfolio, one hitter and cannister of herb on the table.
TOBIAS
Here, give me your hand.
Tobias pulls her hand down toward the base of his back, just
above his ass.
TOBIAS (cont’d)
I was thinking of getting a tattoo
of my initials here, you know at my
center of gravity.
Molly draws his initials on his skin. Tobias leans over to
kiss her. She kisses him back.
EXT. 59TH AND 5TH - DAY
White Mike emerges from the subway, stepping through the
steam from a construction site. He checks his phone -
29 MISSED CALLS.
INT. JESSICA’S BEDROOM - SAME TIME
Jessica is on her bed surrounded by her collection of bears,
a mirror between her legs.
She puts her head down and does a big line coming face to
face with the Teddy Bear.
TEDDY BEAR
So there’s a lotta shit that goes
down in her school huh?
Jessica’s eyes widen in disbelief. The Pink Bear chimes in.
PINK BEAR
Yeah, they all have bad taste in
music and they’re all assholes.
TEDDY BEAR
What about her friends?
PINK BEAR
Especially her friends.
64.
GIANT PANDA BEAR
Who would you kill first if you had
to kill someone there?
Jessica’s got the answer.
JESSICA
I think I’d have to kill that
Jessica bitch first. You know I’d
take out the nine milli and be like
pop pop. Right in the back of her
head.
PINK BEAR
Make her kneel like she does for
the blow jobs she gives to all
those football assholes.
Jessica smiles.
JESSICA
And I’d be dead and I’d never get
to be an honor student at Wesleyan.
TEDDY BEAR
Or even a bad parent and a shitty
wife.
GIANT PANDA BEAR
Everyone would cry and say what a
lovely, lovely girl she was.
TINY BEAR
So much potential wasted.
JESSICA
Could we have a moment of silence
please for dear sweet Jessica.
RAPID CLOSE-UPS - the silent bears.
INT. CHARLIE’S APARTMENT - SAME TIME
CLOSE ON - A hand wearing five gold rings opening a door.
DORRINE, Charlie’s nanny, eight years older than in the
" Popgun memory," faces White Mike. They hug, her tiny figure
disappearing inside his long coat.
DORRINE
Michael, so nice to see you.
65.
WHITE MIKE
How are you Dorrine?
DORRINE
Charlie’s not here. I think he
stayed up at Andover for New Years.
White Mike tries to hide his disappointment.
WHITE MIKE
I know.--I left a few books here.
Mind if I have a look in his room?
DORRINE
Go ahead.
Dorrine watches White Mike take a few steps then...
DORRINE
Michael. You never forget anything.
She’s got him.
DORRINE
Is he alright?
WHITE MIKE
He’s fine Dorrine. He’s just being
Charlie.
INT. CHARLIE’S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Charlie’s walls are covered with old movie posters,
Ghostbusters, Scarface...
White Mike searches through the drawers of Charlie’s desk,
finding rolling papers, empty vials, the usual paraphernalia.
Frustrated, he rifles through papers on the desk that lie
scattered next to the requisite iMac.
THE IMAC - ON THE DESKTOP - A Movie Titled: “The Triple
Threat.”
White Mike CLICKS on the film.
EXT. THE HAMPTONS - CHARLIE’S MOVIE - DAY
The film opens with a long tracking shot of FEET ON A
SKATEBOARD. AT THE DRIVE IN'S " One Armed Scissor" kicks off
Charlie’s soundtrack.
66.
The images in the film are grainy, often the framing cuts the
person’s head off. Film student artistic but it carries a
deep melancholy.
Charlie is on the skateboard.
CHARLIE (V.O.)
This is a film about the worst
skateboarders alive.
Charlie tries a small jump and wipes out. He looks up at the
camera, smiling, as alive as you can get...
CHARLIE’S (V.O.)
That’s me Charlie. And this
neanderthal is Hunter.
Hunter is in a moving car, a big cigar in his mouth, as far
away from prison as you can get...
CHARLIE
And this is my cuz, my hero
Michael.
White Mike through the windshield of the car, his face
explodes into a full frame pixilated smile, happy as you can
get...
Shots of the trio attempting skateboarding jumps and wiping
out everytime as the sun sets on the beach.
EXT. THE HAMPTON’S - CHARLIE’S MOVIE - NIGHT
A BONFIRE on the beach. A group of TEENS, Molly among them.
Molly and White Mike sitting together by the fire, the light
explodes in their eyes. Molly, tan, laughing...
CHARLIE (V.0.)
That’s White Mike’s best “friend”
Molly.
Charlie turns the camera on himself and makes one-handed
quotation marks as he says “friend.”
WHITE MIKE
Turn the camera off, Charlie. Turn
the fucking camera off or I’m going
to feed you to the fire-
White Mike makes a half-hearted attempt to stand, then sits
back down laughing.
67.
INT. CHARLIE’S BEDROOM - PRESENT TIME
White Mike at Charlie’s desk, concentrating on every frame,
seeing himself BEFORE HE BECAME WHITE MIKE.
INT. THE HAMPTONS - CHARLIE’S MOVIE - NIGHT
White Mike, Hunter and Charlie on the porch at night. Offscreen,
the sound of WAVES BREAKING. Charlie pulls on a
joint, offers to White Mike who declines.
HUNTER
How come you won’t smoke weed?
CHARLIE
I think he likes the power it gives
him because everyone around him is
fucked up while he’s sober.
Hunter grabs the camera and ZOOMS on a silent White Mike.
CHARLIE (V.O.) (cont’d)
Then Mike had to go back to the
city because his father was all
drunk and shit because his mom was
in the hospital.
Shots of Hunter and Charlie bored. Hunter and Charlie
listless. Trying to skateboard. Laying on their backs.
We were the triple threat--
INSERT - A STILL PHOTO OF THE TRIO, Charlie in the middle
holding up THREE FINGERS...
Now we were two. Frankly, it sucked
shit. Fuck it. What else was there
to do?
HUNTER
We’re going to New York City.
Camera moving toward the New York City skyline, dark and
foreboding.
HUNTER'S FATHER (O.S.)
Hunter can you hear me?
68.
INT. VISITING ROOM - PRECINCT 122 - INTERCUT
Hunter sits in a small fluorescent-lit room, talking on a
landline.
HUNTER'S FATHER
I hear you Dad.
INT. HUNTER’S FATHER’S HOTEL ROOM - INTERCUT
Hunter’s Father sits on the bed of his hotel room. Snow falls
out the window behind him.
HUNTER’S FATHER
We left our itinerary you know.
HUNTER
I know Dad.
Silence.
HUNTER’S FATHER
As luck would have it, we’ve been
hit by a huge snowstorm.
Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow.
Silence.
HUNTER’S FATHER (cont’d)
I’ve retained the finest criminal
attorney in the city Hunter. Worst
case, he’ll take you through the
arraignment.
HUNTER
They asked me a lot of questions
Dad.
HUNTER’S FATHER
You knew not to answer?
Hold on Hunter’s face. This is revenge.
Of course you knew not to answer
their questions.--Hunter?--Can you
hear me Hunter?
Hunter’s father realizes his son is not going to answer this
question. The snow falls.
69.
EXT. 5TH AVENUE - SAME TIME
Andrew and Sara walk along 5th Ave.
SARA
I remember all my firsts. First
period, first time I got drunk,
first trip to Biarritz-
ANDREW
First kiss?
SARA
In the bathroom at Wild Goose.
After archery. He was a counselor.
You?
ANDREW
My cousin Alicia. On a sailboat in
the keys.
SARA
Your cousin?
ANDREW
Practice.--First blowjob?
Sara smiles.
SARA
After archery. In the bathroom at
Wild Goose.
(they laugh)
First sex?
Sara looks at Andrew. Andrew looks at Sara. Shakes his head.
SARA (cont’d)
Me either.
The virgins smile as they come around the corner...
SEAN - being helped from a TAXI into a wheelchair by his
nanny Glenda.
Sara does a Jekyll-Hyde thing. Runs up to Sean give him huge
hug, maneuvering around his ELEPHANTINE CAST.
SARA (cont’d)
Seanniie. Your home early.
Andrew watches then averts his eyes. PAN across the steet
finding White Mike hailing a taxi. He gets in.
70.
We hold as it pulls into a sea of yellow.
MESSAGE 1 (V.O.)
Rothko gave me the number said to
ask for White Mike, I’m at
9175432117. Name is Tang.
INT. TAXI MONTAGE - NIGHT
White Mike sits, phone to ear.
MESSAGE 2 (V.O.)
Hey dude you were supposed to be
here hours ago, 885 Park Ave.
SUPERIMPOSE a series of TAXI NUMBERS over WHITE MIKE’S FACE -
Various TAXI DRIVERS in the foreground.
POVS OF THE CITY - Construction sites, A COUPLE in evening
clothes, A HOMELESS WOMAN with torn gloves, a CROWD in front
of White Mike’s father’s restaurant.
MESSAGE 3 (V.O.)
I’m dying, man, dry, the middle of
the desert, can’t breath, waterr-
MESSAGE 4 (V.O.)
White Mike. Bolbock here, looking
to score some of this new stuff
Twelve.
TAXIS - Crossing intersections, changing lanes...
INT. TAXI ON LEXINGTON - LATER - NIGHT
TAXI DRIVER, 40’s African. His POV -
WHITE MIKE IN REAR VIEW MIRROR - on the phone.
WHITE MIKE
Ten minutes.
White Mike clicks off.
TAXI DRIVER
You got a lot of friends man?
WHITE MIKE
Not really.
TAXI DRIVER
(smiles)
No? Maybe you got what people want?
71.
WHITE MIKE
Nobody’s got what people want.
Silence.
TAXI DRIVER (cont’d)
Life been cruel to you man?
WHITE MIKE
Not especially.
TAXI DRIVER
You got a girl. You a handsome guy.
WHITE MIKE
No.
TAXI DRIVER
You should get one.
WHITE MIKE
(sarcastic)
Oh yea. Love is the way out.
TAXI DRIVER
Maybe not. But it eases the pain
along the way.
WHITE MIKE
You married?
TAXI DRIVER
I was, my wife she died two years
ago.
WHITE MIKE
Sorry.
TAXI DRIVER
Why man?
WHITE MIKE
Because you lost someone you love.
TAXI DRIVER
I got my memories.
THE TUNNEL AT PARK AND 40TH - Taxi entering the tunnel, the
light fades off White Mike’s face moving into darkness.
HOLD ON BLACK FOR FEW MOMENTS THEN...
72.
INT. WHITE MIKE’S APARTMENT - LATER
CLICK. The light comes on revealing White Mike in his
apartment. He walks through the kitchen into the darkened
hallway...
...He passes his FATHER’s room, door cracked open. His father
asleep...
That you Mike?
WHITE MIKE
Yeah.
Long beat.
G’night Mike.
WHITE MIKE
Goodnight Dad.
White Mike continues down the hallway entering...
INT. WHITE MIKE’S MOTHER’S STUDY - CONTINUOUS
...his mother’s old study. The room is basically unchanged
since her death. A bunch of half-packed boxes scattered
around the room, a mostly empty bookcase.
White Mike pulls PHOTOGRAPHS from a box...A TRIO OF HAWKS
FLYING AGAINST A GRAY SKY...A HAWK PERCHED ON THE CORNICE OF
A PRE-WAR...
...HIS MOTHER IN CENTRAL PARK, BINOCULARS PRESSED TO HER
EYES, looking skyward. The photo is inscribed: “For Michael” -
“Always live the best life you can.”
White Mike puts the photographs down.
He lays down on the floor and closes his eyes.
EXT. LEXINGTON AVE. - MORNING
Looking up from the canyons between the buildings at a grey
sky.
SUPERIMPOSE – DECEMBTH
EXT. SKYLINE DINER - DAY 4
White Mike stands across from the Skyline Diner.
73.
HIS POV - Molly and Tobias having breakfast at a window
booth.
Molly notices White Mike but turns back to Tobias, continuing
her conversation.
PAN across the street to the ATM where...
EXT. LEXINGTON AVE. ATM - DAY
Jessica stands nervously waiting.
THE ATM SCREEN - Funds unavailable.
Jessica quickly presses $300, screws up. Presses the buttons
again. Carefully.
THE ATM MACHINE - Funds unavailable.
She presses the keys again.
The machine spits out three twenties. Shit.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - MEZZANINE - SAME TIME
Sara climbs the stairs barking orders, a HOUSEKEEPER, Gabby
and Shelly, with notepad and active pen in tow.
SARA
We’ll have the candles everywhere.
The pillows will be delivered and
the liquor. I want one bar on each
floor. Gabby will handle the food.
Make a note, I need to know where
the central house switch is. The
sound systems. Chris are you
handling that?--CHRIS
Chris comes into the hallway holding up two equally GAUDY
VERSACE SHIRTS.
Sara’s Nokia rings.
SARA (cont’d)
Sara.--Oh hi Jessica.--Can’t hear
you?
She sticks her finger in her throat and mouths “Jessica
Brayson” to her friends.
74.
EXT. LEXINGTON AVE. - SAME TIME - INTERCUT
Jessica on the street near a CONSTRUCTION SITE. She shouts
over the din.
JESSICA
(into the phone)
I was thinking if you want your
party to really go off, you should
have some Twelve there, you know,
for the guests.
SARA
That’s an awesome idea Jessica.--Uh
huh.--Absolutely.
As Sara listens she takes the first shirt from Chris and
shakes her head “no.” The second shirt she drops off the
Mezzanine.
JESSICA ON THE STREET - Jessica clicks off. She jumps up and
down, “Yes.” PASSERBY’s look at her.
INT. WHITE MIKE’S FATHER’S RESTAURANT - SAME TIME
Before lunch, a few BUSBOYS setting tables. White Mike sits
across from his father at a corner booth.
WHITE MIKE
He called a few days ago, said it
was urgent. Now I can’t find him.
So what’s news about that?--
Charlie’s like your Aunt Patty,
vanishing’s in their genes.
White Mike isn’t convinced.
Remember when he pawned her Fabrege
egg and disappeared. Turned out he
was living down in the Dominican.
WHITE MIKE
Mom had to fly down to bring him
back.
How about when she forced him to go
to church? Now how’s that for an
oxymoron? Charlie in church.
75.
They both smile at the memory.
WHITE MIKE
What do you do when someone has
complete faith in you and they find
out you’re a fraud?
For a moment his father wonders if White Mike is referring to
him. In the background the MANAGER, Indian, 40’s motioning to
White Mike’s father and shaking his head “no.”
Shit.--Three hundred reserved,
Ramons’s getting married and the
replacement sous-chef bailed. What
am I gonna do?
WHITE MIKE
Why don’t you take over?
Silence. A flash of anger from White Mike.
When was the last time you cooked
Dad?
We’ve got a table from Vanity Fair
and some rapper with a big party,
Chingy. I should be out on the
floor.
WHITE MIKE
What happened to you?
I worked my heart out to get to
this place. It’s not a crime for me
to enjoy this moment.
White Mike has no answer.
INT. HUNTER’S CELL - PRECINCT 122 - SAME TIME
Hunter watches from the bottom bunk as an OFFICER deposits a
black kid, GREGG, 19, wild bloodshot eyes, muttering to
himself.
GREGG
Get the fuck up. Dude going through
withdrawal gets the bottom bunk.
76.
Hunter stands. Gregg sits on the bottom bunk, begins to
writhe around, kicking the wall saying “fuckshit
motherfucker.” Then...
GREGG (cont’d)
You know we’re gonna be up in here
when the ball drops. Fuckshit
blows.
He kicks the wall. Hunter nods.
GREGG (cont’d)
They pick you up for peddling?
HUNTER
Double homicide.
Gregg whistles.
GREGG
What we got here is a tripping
negro and a white killer.
INT. CHRIS’ PARENTS’ BEDROOM - CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOME -
SAME TIME
Pan along a wall of SUPERSIZED PHOTOS of the Kenton family...
...A young Chris and Claude dressed as GHOSTBUSTERS FOR
HALLOWEEN...A FAT NANNY, deep soulful eyes, engulfing the
smiling brothers in her huge arms...the same Nanny, pushing
the brothers up a SNOW COVERED HILL in Central Park...
...Pan continues finding Sara checking her reflection in the
mirror. In the background, Chris digs through the drawers of
his parents’ bureau.
CHRIS
Four hundred right?
He comes toward her.
SARA
Make it seven hundred. You have to
put in for the “Twelve” fund.
CHRIS
I’m not sure that’s a good idea.
People might get crazy.
SARA
That’s the idea stupid.
77.
Sara puts her arms around him and kisses him deeply, eyes
open. After a few moments, she pulls away smiling.
Chris hands her seven hundred dollars.
CHRIS
I know you’re using me.--But it’s
okay.
Camera moves toward a PHOTO of THE YOUNG CLAUDE on the BEACH
IN THE HAMPTONS, gazing up at the FAT NANNY. He looks so
innocent.
BRING UP THE SOUNDS OF RUSHING WATER...
INT. CLAUDE’S BATHROOM - SAME TIME
Claude stands under the waterfall that pours from the
showerhead. He turns the side-jets on. His body is in flooded
with water from every conceivable angle.
He turns the TEMPERATURE HANDLE all the way to the right.
SCALDING HOT. He endures as long as he can then turns the
handle all the way left. FREEZING COLD water shoots at his
body until he shakes uncontrollably. Back to hot. HIS SKIN
TURNS RED, his face contorted from the pain...
THROUGH THE SHOWER GLASS - STEAM ENVELOPS Claude’s body until
we can only see white.
INT. LIONEL’S BMW - HARLEM - SAME TIME
White Mike rides with Lionel. Out the window KIDS, black, 10
take running jumps over a mailbox.
LIONEL
Length of high is in inverse
proportion to the profit man. X,
shrooms, oxy, they cruise for ten
sometimes fifteen hours. The
serious green comes when the shit
peaks out on the first hit and
chases tail for the rest of the
night. Crack was like that. Had
people fucking over their mother to
get some. But number Twelve, this
is the ultimate shit. Know why?--
Because it’s acceptable to your
folks and that means clean, no
heroin trackmarks, no image of
darky scum ho in the ghetto corner
bending over a crackpipe fire. I
78.
LIONEL(cont'd)
got orders off the rack coming out
of your hood man.
WHITE MIKE
That girl we sold to the other day,
she call you for more?
LIONEL
What girl?
WHITE MIKE
Come on man, the other day on
Lexington, white chick, like
sixteen, took your number.
LIONEL
Word. Said she was buying for some
New year’s jump off.
WHITE MIKE
Where?
LIONEL
White Mike just poppin full of
questions ain’t he? You want some
tree or not?
White Mike holds up THREE FINGERS. The triple threat.
EXT. 73RD ST. - LATER - DAY
Molly walks along 73rd. She approaches her apartment lobby.
She stops. White Mike stands just outside.
EXT. 73RD STREET - MINUTES LATER
White Mike and Molly walk along 73rd, passing a black grate
fence.
MOLLY
The person I thought was the least
fucked up rich kid turned out to be
the worst.
She laughs to cover the hurt.
MOLLY (CONT’D)
Why’d you lie to me?
WHITE MIKE
Didn’t want to lose you as a
friend.
79.
MOLLY
All those things we talked about.
We were going to live by a code.
Isn’t that what we said?
Molly turns her sincere eyes up to White Mike. If he could
die right there on 73rd he would.
MOLLY (cont’d)
At least tell me why you do it?
White Mike plays with the snow on the gate.
MOLLY (cont’d)
Answer me.
WHITE MIKE
The idea that we can change
anything is a child’s illusion.
MOLLY
That’s the most depressing thing
I’ve ever heard.
Molly’s eyes drop to the ground. When she looks back up,
she’s close to tears.
MOLLY (cont’d)
I guess I’m just as massive a fraud
as you because I liked getting
stoned and I even like Tobias...
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - LATER - DAY
White Mike walks through the north end of the Park, his eyes
burning.
MOLLY (V.O.)
...Tomorrow he’s taking me to this
New Year’s party that’s supposed to
be awesome. I’m going and I’m going
to have a good time even it kills
me.
White Mike looks up at the trees, the branches skeletons
against the sky. Off-screen, a branch CRACKS. White Mike
turns quickly he sees...
Young Charlie hiding behind a tree aiming a POPGUN...
80.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK 8 YEARS EARLIER - SPRING - DAY
Young White Mike RUNS across the grass. Dorrine the nanny
watches them play.
Young Charlie aims his gun at young White Mike-
A GUNSHOT RINGS OUT
EXT. THE BEACH THE HAMPTONS - TWO YEARS EARLIER - NIGHT
We are moving fast toward Charlie shooting bullets out into
the black ocean. SHOTS RING OUT over the roar of the surf. A
half-drunk bottle of Jim Beam lies at Charlie’s feet.
White Mike stops breathless.
WHITE MIKE
What the fuck are you doing
Charlie?
CHARLIE
(drunk)
Target practice Mike.
He raises the gun. It’s the PEARL HANDLED REVOLVER.
WHITE MIKE
Gimme the gun Charlie.
CHARLIE
What are the Hamptons for if not to
do what you please?
White Mike reaches for the gun. Charlie pulls away.
CHARLIE
Somewhere out there’s my Mom and
that fat-assed husband of hers. I'm
gonna hit their sailboat.
Charlie FIRES.
WHITE MIKE
Come on. The cops are going to be
down here any minute.
CHARLIE
(laughs)
And we don’t want a mark on
Michael’s perfect record do we?
81.
White Mike dives at Charlie knocking the gun out of his hand.
It falls to the sand. White Mike grabs it.
CHARLIE (cont’d)
I used to think you hung around me
because we were bros but then I
realized something. You’re jealous.
You’re fucking jealous because I
can do anything I want. No one’s
got any expectations of me. You
fucking live vicariously through me
without taking the risk. That’s
some cowardly shit man.
WHITE MIKE
You’re drunk off your ass.
CHARLIE
Perfect Michael. Brilliant. Sober.
On the unending path that leads to
Harvard and the false sense of
power over the rest of us schmucks.
White Mike raises the gun toward Charlie.
WHITE MIKE
I should shoot you right now.
CHARLIE
Go ahead man. Do it.
White Mike aims, the gun shaking in his hand.
CHARLIE (cont’d)
Shoot me man. Shoot Charlie the
fuck up. For once in your life do
something that isn’t perfect.
White Mike pulls the trigger. THE SHOT RINGS OUT - He misses
badly.
A long beat of silence as Charlie and White Mike stare at
each other. Brother’s forever.
Silence is broken when Charlie laughs. White Mike laughs.
Charlie hugs White Mike jumping up and down.
CHARLIE (cont’d)
He did it. Mike did it. He did it.
He did it. Didit. Dididitiitiit.
The spin around and around and fall to the ground laughing.
82.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - PRESENT TIME
EXTREME LONGSHOT - White Mike, tiny in the distance buying a
pretzel from the PRETZEL MAN. Over this image we hear...
WHITE MIKE
(into the cell)
Enough of this game. Hit me back
already.
He’s about to click off when...
Hey Charlie, I saw the Popgun Man
in the park today.
INT. LIONEL’S BMW - DUSK
Jessica unzips her parka. Lionel drives. Coltrane plays.
JESSICA
How should we do this?
LIONEL
Lemme see the cash.
Jessica pulls out an envelope stuffed with hundreds,
twenties, everything.
JESSICA
It’s three thousand.

LIONEL
Open the console and drop in the
cash.
Jessica hesitates.
JESSICA (cont’d)
Show me the stuff first.
LIONEL
Pullin my chain right?
JESSICA
No. Show me the stuff.
Lionel flips open the glove box, purposefully touching her
thigh as he does.
A BIG BAG OF WHITE POWDER - Jessica’s eyes bug out.
83.
LIONEL
That’s a lot of shit for a little
girl like you.
JESSICA
It’s not for me alone. It’s for a
New Year’s party.
LIONEL
Best hide it from yourself or
they’ll be none left for the kids.
Jessica gets defensive.
JESSICA
I wouldn’t do that.
LIONEL
You got no control.
JESSICA
I’m not an addict. I’m just--on
vacation.
Jessica smiles at Lionel and stuffs the Twelve down her
pants.
INT. HALLWAY CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT
We are moving through Chris and Claude’s hallway searching
for the LAUGHTER that emanates from...
CLAUDE’s ROOM -
....Claude in boxers stands in his room in front of his
mirror. He holds a SWORD out like a sharp silver penis.
Chris lays back on Claude’s bed, the joint in his hand, a red
point of burning light.
CLAUDE
The best were Mom’s costume balls,
“friends of the manatee.”
CHRIS
Did you really fuck Cinderella in
the wrapping room?
CLAUDE
She kept her glass slippers on.
They laugh.
84.
CHRIS
Shit. Can’t remember the last time
we got blunted together.
Chris stands and passes the joint to Claude who puts the
sword down as he pulls. Chris picks up the sword, running his
hand along the edge.
CHRIS (cont’d)
This is mad sharp.
Chris plays with the sword.
CHRIS (cont’d)
How about when you got thrown out
of Andover and tried to burn down
the house? Mom’s been scared
shitless of you ever since.
CLAUDE
Alright man, enough. I hate fucking
nostalgia.
CHRIS
How many schools you been in anyway
bro? Five? Six?
Claude’s smile quickly fades. He jumps up, grabbing the SWORD
out of Chris’ hands, pushing him to the ground.
CLAUDE
I said ENOUGH.
CHRIS
Chill Claude.
Claude stands over him, aiming the sword at Chris’ chest.
CHRIS (cont’d)
Stop fucking around. Lemme up.
Claude brings the sword closer. Tears well in Chris’ eyes.
Claude touches the blade to Chris’ chest. A small spot of
BLOOD SPREADS ON CHRIS’ WHITE T-SHIRT.
Claude releases. Chris runs out of the room.
EXT. THE AMPHITHEATER CENTRAL PARK - NIGHT
From behind, White Mike’s billowing coat gives him the
appearance of a man about to take flight off the STAGE. A
light SNOW falls.
85.
ANDREW (O.S.)
You’re White Mike?
White Mike turns to face Andrew. He nods.
ANDREW’S SHAKING HANDS - he reaches in his pocket pulling out
five twenties.
WHITE MIKE
This your first time?
ANDREW
That obvious?
WHITE MIKE
Have you ever even smoked weed?
ANDREW
This girl I know wanted some for
her party.
WHITE MIKE
Can’t she buy it for herself?
ANDREW
Yeah. I don’t know--Can we just do
the deal?
Andrew holds the money out. White Mike ignores it.
WHITE MIKE
Where do you go to school Andrew?
ANDREW
Riverdale.
WHITE MIKE
I went to Riverdale. Recognize me?
(off his look)
Do you have Bobera?
ANDREW
English 4.
WHITE MIKE
Do Camus for the final essay and
she’ll love you.
Andrew’s getting frustrated.
ANDREW
Thanks for the advice but can we
just do the deal?
86.
WHITE MIKE
I’m not going to sell to you.
ANDREW
Why not?
WHITE MIKE
I changed my mind.
Andrew is pissed.
ANDREW
You got me all the way out here in
the park in the freezing cold.
WHITE MIKE
For a hundred bucks you can buy her
some perfume or an ankle bracelet
or something.--It will last longer.
ANDREW
You really won’t sell me the weed?
WHITE MIKE
No.
ANDREW
Well.--Nice to meet you. I guess.
Andrew awkwardly offers his hand. White Mike takes it. They
walk off the stage.
WHITE MIKE
You know Hunter McCullough? He’s a
year ahead of you.
ANDREW
I know Hunter. He’s in jail.
White Mike laughs.
WHITE MIKE
You’ve must have the wrong Hunter.
Tall white kid. Plays ball.
ANDREW
Yea Hunter McCullough. His dad and
mine are in the same law firm. We
were supposed-
Camera moving toward White Mike.
87.
WHITE MIKE
What was he arrested for?
ANDREW (O.S.)
You’re not going to believe this.
WHITE MIKE
What?
ANDREW (0.S)
Murder.

EXT. 73RD ST. - MINUTES LATER - NIGHT
White Mike walks fast, white lights lining the street above
his head.
EXT. LEXINGTON AVE - NIGHT
White Mike walks down a deserted Lexington Ave.
A virtually empty bus passes with TOBIAS’ SHIRTLESS IMAGE on
its side, advertising for Calvin. As the bus turns the
corner, Tobias’ image appears to stare White Mike in the
eyes.
EXT. CHINATOWN - NIGHT
Claude in sunglasses at night, exits the subway and heads
down a narrow street. He brushes past a DVD stand knocking a
few bootleg Samurai films to the ground. Claude keeps
walking.
Jessica places the BAG OF TWELVE inside a Ghostbuster’s lunch
box.
She stands on a chair at the edge of her closet and places
the box amidst GAMES and old TOYS. A moment passes. She
pushes the box deeper into the closet until it’s out of
reach.
She moves the chair back to her desk.
INT. CHINATOWN TRINKET SHOP - SAME TIME
Claude waits at the glass counter of the trinket shop where
he bought the weapons.
After a few moments, the Proprietor emerges from the back.
She places a cloth covered object on the counter.
Claude unveils a black, worn, oiled, UZI. He grips it.
INT. HUNTER’S JAIL CELL - SAME TIME
Hunter on the top bunk staring at the ceiling. Gregg on the
bottom bunk staring up at the top bunk.
GREGG
You going to college and shit?
89.
HUNTER
I’m applying.
GREGG
And you gave the Po’s a pass on
your rights?
HUNTER
I never imagined they’d actually
put me in jail.
GREGG
You stupid or insane?
HUNTER
Apparently both.
Silence then.
HUNTER (cont’d)
Still high?
GREGG
If you count that fading afterglow
shit. I just hope I can sleep.
HUNTER
I know what you mean.
GREGG
What’s the worst you done, green
bud in the boys room?
(laughs and talks white)
“Hey Barry. I’ve got the munchies.”
HUNTER
I’ve done some stuff.
GREGG
Like what?
HUNTER
One time, I took these magic
mushrooms that we got up in Long
Island--
INT. TEDDY LEWIS’ TAXI - PARK AND 96TH ST. - SAME TIME
White Mike rides in a taxi down Park. He leans forward and
stares quizzically at the driver, TEDDY LEWIS, 50.
TEDDY LEWIS
Want somethin?
90.
WHITE MIKE
No. Nothing. Sorry.
White Mike sits back. Stares out at the CENTER ISLAND ALONG
PARK AVE.
INT. HUNTER’S JAIL CELL - SAME TIME
HUNTER
It was around three a.m. so there
was no one around, and we decided,
my friend Mike and I, to walk down
the center, the island you know-
GREGG
Yeah. I know Park Avenue man.
HUNTER
And I was tripping pretty bad.
EXT. PARK AVE. - CENTER ISLAND - HUNTER’S MEMORY - NIGHT
Hunter weaves between the trees as he walks down the deserted
center island. White Mike walks beside him.
HUNTER’S POV - Trails of light coming off the trees - The Met
Life Building towers over him, the BIG CROSS illuminated and
glowing.
A taxi passes. We hear a loud CRASH of THUNDER. Hunter covers
his ears.
WHITE MIKE
Just a car passing Hunter.
HUNTER
The moon, man. It’s blasting a hole
through the clouds.
WHITE MIKE
I can see Hunter.
A truck rolls by. Another CRACK of THUNDER.
HUNTER
Fuck, it’s raining man.
WHITE MIKE
No Hunter, it’s just your mind
playing games.
HUNTER
The water will put out the flames.
91.
WHITE MIKE
Easy Hunter. Let’s keep moving.
Hunter turns around.
HUNTER
Oh my fucking god, that’s the
biggest wave I’ve ever seen man...
HIGH ABOVE PARK AVE. - We look down on White Mike and Hunter,
small among the lit trees.
HUNTER (CONT’D) (cont’d)
...Higher than on the north shore.
Ten times higher. It’s coming Mike.
It’s coming toward us--
Hunter starts to YELL, covering his ears. White Mike flags a
TAXI.
WHITE MIKE
Easy Hunter, there’s a boat, get
into the boat.
HUNTER
A sailboat on Park Avenue. Cool.
INT. TAXI - HUNTER’S MEMORY - CONTINUOUS
White Mike guides Hunter into the Taxi.
WHITE MIKE
73rd and Lexington.
Taxi pulls away. Hunter starts to YELL.
The driver turns back toward Hunter. The driver is Teddy
Lewis, the same guy that just picked up White Mike.
TEDDY LEWIS
Don’t need this fare.
Teddy starts to pull over. White Mike throws a hundred
through the partition...
WHITE MIKE
Keep driving.
Hunter calms down.
HUNTER
Thanks for coming to get me Mike.
92.
INT. TEDDY LEWIS’ TAXI - PRESENT TIME
Teddy has stopped. White Mike, oblivious, stares out at the
CENTER ISLAND.
TEDDY LEWIS
Seven fifty kid.--You owe me seven
fifty.
White Mike snaps out of his memory, the same memory Hunter
was telling Gregg.
White Mike pulls out a hundred and hands it to Teddy.
WHITE MIKE
Keep it.
TEDDY LEWIS
Thanks.
EXT. PARK AVE. - NIGHT
White Mike walks. Steam rises.
EXT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - MORNING
The door opens revealing Chris in shorts, boxing gloves on
his hands.
He faces a UPS Driver.
UPS DRIVER
For Janice Kenton.
Chris tries to pull off a glove. Thinks better of it and
holds the pen with his teeth to sign.
UPS DRIVER 1
Five more in the truck.
CHRIS
You can put them in the wrapping
room.
UPS DRIVER
Lemme guess. Wrapping room next to
the boxing ring?
CHRIS
Ha Ha. Down the hall, take your 2nd
left.
93.
INT. VISITING ROOM - PRECINCT 122
Hunter walks in looking wrecked by the experience. White Mike
sits waiting for him on the opposite side of the glass.
HUNTER
So much for the ivy league.
WHITE MIKE
Bullshit. Your extracurriculars
just went off the charts.
Hunter smiles but barely.
You holding up okay?
HUNTER
(nervous)
Charlie must be getting a big
chuckle out of this one.
WHITE MIKE
Fuckup hasn’t surfaced.
Hunter closes his eyes.
HUNTER
I knew it.
White Mike gets nervous.
WHITE MIKE
Knew what?
Hunter opens his eyes and leans close to the glass, his voice
quivering..
HUNTER
There’s something I have to tell
you.
Hunter tries to speak but the words won’t come out. White
Mike leans close, their faces separated by only the thin
piece of glass.
WHITE MIKE
Hunter tell me.
HUNTER
They say I shot Nana on his way
home from the game. And some white
kid they couldn’t ID because
94.
HUNTER(cont'd)
apparently I blew his head off.--
He only had a “fake" on him-
White Mike is shaking.
WHITE MIKE
Maurice Charles.
White Mike pushes his chair back, almost falls when he tries
to stand. He walks past the guards and out of the room.
INT. KITCHEN - WHITE MIKE’S FATHER’S RESTAURANT - LATER - DAY
White Mike bursts into a mostly empty kitchen. A few
PREPCOOKS working in the back. His father is at the stove,
steam pouring out of the pans.
White Mike’s father sees him.
WHITE MIKE'S FATHER
Just in time for lunch. Lemon steak
Mike?
WHITE MIKE
Dad. Charlie-
WHITE MIKE'S FATHER
Charlie’s dead. The police were
here.
White Mike moves toward his dad and throws his arms around
him looking for consolation. His dad hugs him for a moment
then pulls away.
You know who loved my lemon steaks?
--Your mom.
WHITE MIKE
Don’t Dad.
Tears well in White Mike’s father’s eyes.
WHITE MIKE'S FATHER
Now someone’s got to call Patty and
she’s in fucking Madagascar. I
can’t do it Mike. I just can’t tell
her that her son’s dead.
White Mike’s father sits down on a stool, devastated. White
Mike approaches him, putting his arm around his shoulder.
All we’ve got is each other Mike.
95.
WHITE MIKE
I’ll call her.
HOLD on WHITE MIKE’S FACE AND...Bring up a MUSIC QUE here,
with a slow building intro i.e. Radiohead’s “Karma Police”
that will continue throughout the following sequences...
EXT. CENTRAL PARK EAST - LATE AFTERNOON
White Mike crosses 5th and enters the park. Snow starts to
fall.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - MOMENTS LATER
EXTREME HIGH ANGLE - Through the falling snow we see White
Mike’s lonely figure walking below.
SUPERIMPOSE: NEW YEAR’S EVE
Jessica in Nike shorts, picks up her jump rope. As the jump
rope slaps the floor she begins the countdown...
JESSICA
One hundred, ninety-nine, ninetyeight...
JESSICA’S VOICE and sound of the JUMPING ROPE continues as we
are...
INT. SARA’S BEDROOM - SAME TIME
Sara searches through her closet, a forest of Prada, Chloe,
and Marc Jacobs, finding her GRANDMOTHER’S DIOR, the one she
wore in the “Life Magazine” photo.
INT. TATTOO SHOP - SAME TIME
Tobias enters a tattoo shop. A TATTOO ARTIST, 40’s, inking a
butterfly on a GIRL’S BELLY, looks up.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - WRAPPING ROOM - SAME TIME
In the wrapping room, Chris opens a box, removing a BRASS
BELL engraved: “Happy New Year, Jeff and Janice.”
He removes another bell, smaller, same engraving: “Happy New
Year...”
Chris shakes the first bell.
96.
The RINGING BELL joins the JUMPING ROPE joins Jessica’s VOICE
and we are...
EXT. SHABAZZ PLAZA 113TH ST.- HARLEM - SAME TIME
Andrew walks down 113th St. in Harlem. Numerous shops,
clothing, sculptures...
He enters a small AFRICAN JEWELRY SHOP. We stay outside.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - CLAUDE’S ROOM - SAME TIME
Claude, surrounded by his weapons, picks up the BOLA WITH THE
BRASS ORBS, holds the rope of the bola and clacks the balls
together.
The CLACKS join the BELLS, join the ROPE, join JESSICA’S
VOICE...
INT. MOLLY’S HIGH-RISE APARTMENT - MOLLY’S BEDROOM - SAME
TIME
Molly picks up a RED INDEX CARD AIRPLANE and lets it fly out
the window.
An upward draft of snow between the buildings catches the
plane, pulling it higher...
EXT. HARLEM STREET - SUNSET
White Mike exits the park and walks along a Harlem street.
The snow falls.
INT. TATTOO SHOP - SAME TIME
Tobias lies on the table. The Tattoo Artist presses the gun
to the small of his back.
INT. SEAN’S BEDROOM - SAME TIME
Sean’s nanny Glenda holds up a suit, reaches for a scissors
and cuts the arm off.
Sean smiles as the fabric falls to the floor.
MONTAGE - ALL LOCATIONS- ALL CHARACTERS - INTERCUT -SAME TIME
Jewelry Salesman shows Andrew a variety of necklaces.
Jessica jumps rope, beads of sweat on her brow.
Chris plays the bells, six different sizes before him.
97.
The red plane flies.
Snow accumulates on White Mike’s coat.
Sara holding the Dior in front of the mirror - Tobias’
initials forming - Snow falling in Molly’s eyes - White
Mike’s coat flowing - Plane flying - Bells ringing - Orbs
clacking - Rope spinning - CHURCH BELLS RING out as...
White Mike approaches the Gothic mass of St. John the Divine.
Andrew points to a necklace with an amber pendant.
The Tattoo Artist holds up a mirror, showing Tobias his work.
The airplane clears Lexington and soars out of sight.
Sean in the one-armed suit.
Sara’s dress fits perfectly.
Jessica drops the rope. Dripping with sweat.
White Mike walks up the steps to St. John the Divine.
End Montage. End Music Cue.
Silence.
INT. ST JOHN THE DIVINE - NIGHT
White Mike’s FOOTSTEPS echo across the floor in the vast
space of St. John the Divine.
He take a seat in the middle of the mostly deserted
cathedral.
He looks up at the ceiling then at an OLD WOMAN sitting a few
rows away, her head bowed in prayer.
White Mike removes his overcoat and bows his head.
FROM THE ALTAR - White Mike small and distant. The camera
moves, flying past row after row moving toward his lowered
head. Just as we reach him he looks up and we...
EXT. CEMETERY - 3 YEARS EARLIER - WINTER - DAY
White Mike’s mother’s casket is lowered into the ground.
A smhall CROWD dressed in black on a cold winter’s day. The
city like a black skeleton in the background.
98.
White Mike’s father is crying. Charlie stands next to him
crying. Molly, tears flowing, looks at...
...White Mike standing a few yards away. He is not crying. He
looks up and sees a LONE HAWK flying against the gray sky.
INT. ST. JOHN THE DIVINE - PRESENT TIME - NIGHT
White Mike walks out of the church, carrying his coat.
EXT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE- THE PARTY BEGINS - SAME
TIME
Sara walks up the steps of the Townhouse. She picks up
Molly’s airplane and tosses it into the bushes.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE PARTY - NIGHT
The bar is stocked. The pillows arranged. Candles everywhere.
At the base of the staircase, Sara fixes Chris’ black Gucci
shirt collar.
SARA
This is where we’ll stand when they
enter. It’s crucial that we make
everyone feel welcome.
They stare at the door. Nothing.
JUMP CUT TO:
Chris sits on the steps downing Cristal. Sara has her Nokia
to her ear.
SARA (cont’d)
Fuck you Gabby Canable, you
promised you wouldn’t pre-game. And
tell that cheap Lucy Liu knock off
by New Years her Prada shoes will
be floating in the east river
connected to her legs because
she’ll be DEAD.
She whips the phone across the room.
JUMP CUT TO:
Sara seated on the steps, downing Cristal. Chris consoles.
SARA (cont’d)
If the photographer from W shows,
I’m ruined.
99.
EXT. 5TH AVE. - SAME TIME
A lone COUPLE walks up 5th, champagne bottle in hand. Camera
rises. Two KIDS, then four, then eight flood the frame.
Continue rising revealing EVERY PRIVATE SCHOOL KID in the
city converging on the yellow lit townhouse.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE PARTY - NIGHT
Sara’s in her element, greeting, air kissing. GUYS pass
Chris, giving him props. TEENS flood through the doorway.
Among them Claire, Bolbock, Gabby...
Andrew stands sheepishly to the side, crowd rushing past.
Sara sees him, breaking her grip on Chris.
A SMALL WRAPPED BOX - From Andrew’s hand to Sara.
ANDREW
I couldn’t get the weed but I got
you something. I mean it’s nothing
really but it’s from Senegal.
Sara kisses him lightly.
SARA
Meet you inside later. I have to
play hostess.
Jessica enters, enlarged pupils taking in the party.
CUT TO:
IN THE CORNER - Sara and Jessica huddle. Sara, small bag of
white powder in hand, suggestively RUBS HER NOSE.
SARA (cont’d)
Where’s the rest?
JESSICA
I’m not even going to acknowledge
your accusation Sara. This stuff is
potent. One small hit might
actually turn you into a decent
person.
Sean enters, pushed by the offensive line of the Poly Prep
football team. They lift Sara onto Sean’s lap, wheeling the
duo into the crowd as Sean kisses her.
PAN from Andrew to Chris watching.
100.
THE SITTING ROOM - KID in PLAID TIE indoctrinating another
disciple...
KID IN PLAID TIE
Elliot Smith, stabbed through the
chest three times with a carving
knife. Official cause of death.
Suicide. Suicide?--Eleven letters
in Jimmy Hendrix, eleven in “Voodoo
Child.” Coincidence. You tell me.-
You see VH1’s top 100 countdown
last night? Aerosmith’s on it but
not Sublime. I rest my case.
EXT. HARLEM - JEFFERSON HOUSING PROJECTS - SAME TIME
Distant sounds of revelers and old school Hip Hop as White
Mike approaches the playground, cordoned off by yellow tape.
He sees the chalk outlines of Charlie and Nana’s bodies, like
snow angels in the freshly fallen snow. He stops.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE PARTY - SAME TIME
Camera soars through the party passing achingly beautiful
girls, euphoric boys, dancing, drinking, touching, a girl
removing her bra tossing it to the crowd...
Camera lands on Sara, atop the Mezzanine, pleased with her
creation.
CLAUDE’S ROOM -
Claude arranges his weapons on the floor. The History Channel
plays. The SOUNDS OF THE PARTY come through the door. Claude
turns the television higher drowning it out.
THE DOORWAY -
Tobias enters followed by Molly in a red dress. The power of
her sexuality is alarming. Heads turn.
ON THE MEZZANINE - Sara waves wildly toward them or so we
think. PAN to reveal the source of her inspiration, BRUCE,
gay, 30’s, in tuxedo top and Levis, large LEICA DIGITAL
CAMERA in hand.
SARA
Bruuuuccce. I’m so glad you could
make it.
He looks up at her and shoots his first photo. FREEZE ON
SARA.
101.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE LIBRARY - NIGHT
Ten TEENS navigate a mirror covered in white lines around the
coffee table. Tobias sits close to Molly on the couch.
Jessica keeps an eye on the mirror like a designated
scorekeeper.
BOLBOCK
And this vaunted rest of the world
you refer to as “real.” They go on
television and expose their
pathetic lives for profit.
A GIRL IN TUBE TOP, does a line.
GIRL IN TUBE TOP
I’m so happy I could cry forever.
SHELLY
I know one kid at our school who
knows about the real world. Hunter.
MOLLY
I know Hunter and he didn’t kill
anyone.
BOLBOCK
The irony is overwhelming. At this
moment, Hunter is in prison getting
butt rodded by some spectacularly
well hung African man while Harvard
mulls over his application.
JESSICA
You should die a slow and painful
death.
BOLBOCK
We’re all going there dear Jessica.
But before I die, I’m going have
two wives, five mistresses, three
colonoscopies, a nervous breakdown
and perhaps, don’t be shocked, one
homosexual affair with someone as
cute as Tobias.
(he stands)
But for now, my immediate need is
to drain my own fat instrument and
find some young girl with
restricted eyesight who will hold
me as the new year comes. So I’ll
bid you drug addicted privileged
heathens adieu.
102.
He bows and leaves.
JESSICA
You guys know that kid who goes to
Andover that was killed supposedly
by Hunter?
Everyone goes deathly quiet.
JESSICA (cont’d)
I haven’t told anyone this but I
was making out with him a few days
ago and the thing is, I played it
cool and stuff but I thought we had
a real connection. And now he’s
dead.
No one knows what to say. After a few moments, the door
bursts open. PANIC BOY leans his head in.
PANIC BOY
Ten minutes until the end of the
world...
KID IN PLAID TIE
One line left. Who wants the
honors?
Jessica reaches for the mirror. Molly gets to it first.
MOLLY
I’ll try it.
All eyes turn to Molly.
MOLLY (cont’d)
If no one else wants it.
Everyone wanted it stupid.
Molly leans over, snorts half, then quickly devours the rest.
Falling back on the couch...
MOLLY (cont’d)
Ohhhhhh.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - SAME TIME
White Mike exits a Taxi and enters the Park. He walks down
the dark path disappearing from sight.
103.
INT. HUNTER’S JAIL CELL HARLEM NIGHT
Hunter and Gregg on their bunks. A guard approaches, keys to
the door.
GUARD
Hunter McCullough.
Hunter drops down eagerly. Gregg raises his head slightly.
GUARD (cont’d)
You’re getting released.
Hunter moves toward the open door then turns back.

HUNTER
Hope you get out soon man.
GREGG
I’m cool.
Guard closes the door. The CLANG Reverberates.
GREGG (cont’d)
Happy New Year.
HUNTER
Happy New Year.
Gregg watches Hunter exit frame and lays his head back down.
He turns to face the wall. Hunter’s GRAFFITI. HE READS -
MAURICE CHARLES RIP
INT. HARLEM CITY JAIL - ENTRANCE AREA - SAME TIME
Hunter’s father stands facing the doors. A black MOTHER,
40’s, sits on a bench behind him.
Hunter comes through wearing his prison orange and approaches
his father.
HUNTER’S FATHER
Hunter.
He grabs Hunter and hugs his son tight. Hunter is surprised
at first, then he closes his eyes and hugs his dad with all
his might.
I’m sorry I took so long Hunter.
104.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK SOUTH - SAME TIME
White Mike approaches Central Park South where REVELERS are
pressed against police barricades.
White Mike looks up at a TREE at the edge of the Park. He
stares.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE PARTY - SAME TIME
THE BALL - is ready to drop. The plasma screen is tuned to
the Times Square celebration.
ARMS, LIPS, HANDS TO THE SKY. No room to move. The party has
become a single ENTITY.
Jessica struggles to squeeze through the mass.
THE BATHROOM -
Sara opens Andrew’s present.
She removes a small NECKLACE, a leather strap with an amber
pendant. It has a distinctly African feel.
Sara puts it on. It fits perfect. A KNOCK at the door.
Sara opens the door and Jessica enters. They exchange
glances.
SARA
You look awful.
Sara walks out.
THE BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER
One pathetic line on the counter, next to an empty baggie.
Jessica, cell to her ear, eyes in the mirror. She does look
awful.
JESSICA
Lionel...
THE HALLWAY -
Andrew searches the faces, passing a A BOY looking for his
pants. Andrew approaches TWO DANCING GIRLS.
ANDREW
Have you seen Sara?
105.
DANCING GIRLS
(in unison)
No.--You’re cute.
Andrew opens a door. Three black HOUSEKEEPERS smoking a joint
look up.
Andrew opens another door. TWO KIDS having sex look up.
THE HALLWAY - OUTSIDE CLAUDE’S ROOM
Chris knocks on the door.
CHRIS
Claude. It’s almost New Year’s.
Come on out.--Claude.
CLAUDE’S ROOM - Claude sits, surrounded by candles, UZI in
his hands.
HALLWAY - Sara Approaches.
SARA
Chris, five minutes.
THE TERRACE - Tobias and Molly squeezed among the CROWD on
the 5th Floor Terrace. Tobias is all over her.
A STONED BLONDE in blue lipstick...
STONED BLONDE
(shouts)
Anybody got a connection for weed
in this city?
Molly hands the blonde her cell.
MOLLY
Hit number one.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK SOUTH NIGHT
PAN up from a Police Barricade pressed against the TREE to
find White Mike perched on a branch, high above Central Park.
WHITE MIKE’S POV -
Looking down Seventh Ave. A surreal image where almost
everything for miles appears as COLORS AND HAZE.
Revelers SHOUT off-screen as the New Year approaches.
106.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE TERRACE - SAME TIME
STONED BLONDE
Leave a message my ass Busta
Rhymes. I want chronic NOW.
Molly grabs her phone.
MOLLY
Michael. Michael. Why aren’t you
picking up? I’m sooooo goood right
now Michael. I think I could fly.
Do you think I can fly Michael?
Molly leans over the edge of the terrace. Tobias pulls her
back.
LOOKING DOWN FROM THE TERRACE - LIONEL’s BMW X5 pulls up at
the party and double parks at the front of the house. Lionel
gets out.
THE MEZZANINE - Jessica stands on the Mezzanine, eyes trained
on the doorway.
Lionel walks in. His eyes scan the room, the kids, the
riches, the vases, finding Jessica waiting.
She smiles and motions Lionel up the stairs.
A BEDROOM - Tobias and Molly on the bed.
TOBIAS
I want to show you something.
He lays on the bed, pulling his shirt up, revealing the
completed tattoo.
THE HALLWAY - Lionel follows Jessica through the insanity.
They pass a group of girls holding each other tight, and
singing “Bye Bye Miss American Pie...”.
SINGING GIRLS
And this’ll be the day that I die.
Lionel shakes his head.
Bruce shoots a photo of Lionel. Lionel glares at him.
THE HOUSE LIGHTS GO DOWN. GIRLS SEND OUT SMALL SCREAMS.
CANDLES ILLUMINATE THE HOUSE...
Jessica pulls Lionel into the Piranha room.
107.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK SOUTH - THE TREE - SAME TIME
White Mike huddled in the tree, waiting.
The countdown begins.
VOICES EVERYWHERE
TEN, NINE, EIGHT...
INT. EXT. ALL LOCATIONS AND CHARACTERS INTERCUT
SARA - To her right Chris, to her left, Sean, both ready to
get what’s theirs...
VOICES EVERYWHERE
SEVEN, SIX...
CLAUDE - Watches the glittering ball, UZI in his hands.
VOICES EVERYWHERE (cont’d)
FIVE...
MOLLY AND TOBIAS - he pulls the strap off her dress.
WHITE MIKE - Up in the tree, hood pulled tight, looking down
Seventh Ave.
FOUR...
SARA - Andrew enters the room. She sees him. Their eyes meet.
THREE...TWO...ONE...
WHITE MIKE’S POV - THE BALL DROPS. In his eyes A SHIMMERING
SILVER METEOR SPLITTING THE FRAME. White Mike grins.
Happy New Year.
SARA - walks past Chris and Sean approaching Andrew. She
looks him in the eyes then leans in for a kiss.
MOLLY - pushes off Tobias and stands.
THE PARTY - Champagne corks popping, girls kiss, boys kiss,
groups kiss, glazed eyes. Bruce takes photos.
SARA AND ANDREW - Kissing passionately, oblivious to the
chaos around them.
108.
WHITE MIKE - Cell pressed to his ear. He listens to Molly’s
message.
MOLLY (V.O.)
I’m so good. I think I could fly.
Do you think I could fly--?
Beneath White Mike. Champagne Corks shoot through the air
like POPGUNS.
A couple kisses beneath the tree.
White Mike JUMPS from the tree, his long coat catches on a
branch and RIPS.
He walks fast moving east. Picks up his pace. He RUNS.
Through the park. Crossing traffic on 5th. Taxis HONKING. One
almost hits him. He keeps running.
Moving toward the glowing house. He flings himself at Chris’
door and enters the party.
HIS POV - Madness
THE PIRHANA ROOM -
Pirhanas swim around A MANOLO BLAHNIK HIGH HEEL lying at the
bottom of the tank. Jessica sits on the bed, lit by the blue
light. Lionel stands, pulls out the bag of Twelve.
LIONEL
I brought you a thousand bag.
She reaches for it.
LIONEL (cont’d)
Lemme see the money.
JESSICA
I don’t have any.
(off his look)
I mean I don’t have any on me. I
can get it later.
Lionel shakes his head.
THE HALLWAY - White Mike pushes through the crowd. He hits
the stairs and runs up, frantically searching the faces.
On the second level he sees Chris. Grabs him by the shirt.
109.
WHITE MIKE
Where’s Molly?
Chris is stunned.
Where’s Molly? Where the fuck is
she? Tell me where she is.
CHRIS
I don’t know. Upstairs maybe.
White Mike throws Chris against the wall and runs up the
stairs.
THE PIRANHA ROOM - Lionel is about to leave.
JESSICA
Wait. You have to give me that bag.
LIONEL
Not without the cash.
JESSICA
I can give you something else.
LIONEL
What?
JESSICA
I’ll give you a blow job.
Lionel laughs.
LIONEL
Thousand dollars is an expensive
blow job.
JESSICA
I’ll fuck you.
LIONEL
No way.
Jessica pulls her sweater off, her pale breasts blue in the
light.
JESSICA
I’m a virgin.
THE HALLWAY - White Mike throws open doors, finding kids,
smoking, sleeping, fucking. No Molly.
110.
THE STAIRS - He bolts down the stairs jumping over the heads
of passed out bodies.
He opens the door to the...
THE PIRANHA ROOM - White Mike bursts in the room and sees...
Lionel, shirtless, pants halfway down. Jessica on the bed.
WHITE MIKE
What the fuck are you doing man?
Lionel startled, pulls out his gun.
LIONEL
Back outta here.--Shit man, it’s
you.
Lionel lowers the gun.
THE PEARL HANDLED GUN - White Mike’s face contorts.
WHITE MIKE
Where’d you get that gun?
LIONEL
What the fuck you talking about?
WHITE MIKE
That’s Charlie’s gun.
White Mike stares at Lionel, his face twisting in pain.
Lionel stares back. A long beat of recognition then...
LIONEL
He was out of control man-
White Mike rushes Lionel.
WHITE MIKE
I’ll fucking kill you-
Lionel SHOOTS, hitting White Mike in the shoulder. White Mike
comes down on Lionel hard jarring the gun out his hand. It
hits the floor. White Mike dives for it...
CLAUDE’S ROOM - Claude hears the gunshot. He bursts out of
his room, holding the UZI...
PIRANHA ROOM - White Mike grabs the gun. Holds it on Lionel.
White Mike’s shoulder is bloody. Jessica runs out of the
room.
111.
CLAUDE - runs through the hallway. He sprays the CEILING with
bullets. KIDS run for their lives.
WHITE MIKE - startled by the sound of the bullets turns to
face the door. Lionel quickly grabs his coat and pulls out
his laser nine milli shooting at White Mike who dives. The
bullet misses, exploding the Piranha Tank, WATER, FISH,
POURING OUT. Lionel runs out of the room. White Mike lays on
the floor, bleeding.
CLAUDE - Runs down the stairs. Kids SCREAM and dive behind
couches. Claude jumps up on the coffee table and begins to
FIRE at the objects in the room. VASES explode, SCULPTURES
shatter, TAPESTRIES are shredded. Chris watches with horror
from beneath the dining room table.
White Mike appears at the top of the Mezzanine. His POV -
Claude shooting, kids crying, covering their faces as the
pieces fly, a BOY bleeding but alive, Molly in the corner.
White Mike starts down the stairs, struggling to walk.
Claude FIRES, destroying MOULDINGS, SCONCES, a STAINED GLASS
WINDOW. He stops to reload. SIRENS in the distance. Claude
takes aim the centerpiece of the house, the eight-foot tall
PORTRAIT OF HIS FAMILY. He riddles the painting with bullets.
A RED LASER LIGHT IN CLAUDE’S EYE. Confused, he searches for
the source, finding Lionel, gun raised from behind the couch.
Claude dies.
Kids flood out the door, Lionel among them. White Mike, blood
pouring from his shoulder, reaches Molly.
Gabby stands in the hallway screaming hysterically.
GABBY
SARA’S BEEN HIT. HELP. HELP.

Andrew runs toward her. Sara is lying on the ground, her
Grandmother’s Dior drenched in blood.
ANDREW
Sara.
She looks up at him, barely alive.
SARA
Andrew-
ANDREW
Don’t try to talk, we’re getting
you an ambulance.--Sara.--Don’t.--
Sara dies. Andrew collapses and weeps over her body.
112.
The house is practically empty now.
THE SITTING ROOM -
White Mike leans against the wall, holding his shoulder.
MOLLY
Come on Mike let’s go.
WHITE MIKE
Do you remember the Pop Gun Man?
MOLLY
Michael, you’re bleeding.
WHITE MIKE
Do you remember? He used to sell
pop guns in the park?
MOLLY
Maybe. Sort of.
WHITE MIKE
Charlie loved the Pop Gun Man.
MOLLY
Oh Michael.
WHITE MIKE
The guy was always there. He had
this one spot, just outside the
tunnel at the Zoo. And then one day
he was gone. Vanished. Don’t know
where he lived or where he went. We
never saw him again.
Molly looks at him. White Mike is tearing up.
Charlie never forgot him though.
Every once in a while he’d say,
“Hey Mike, I saw the Pop Gun Man in
the park today.” But he didn’t
really, it was just his way of
remembering how things were--before-
Molly takes White Mike’s hand. Outside the SIRENS wail.
He called me the night he got
killed. I didn’t answer the phone
because I knew he wanted money. I
should have known Charlie would do
113.
WHITE MIKE(cont'd)
something fucked like this. I get
so many calls every day, and this
one time, I don’t pick up-
The house is quiet. Even the sirens seem to fade. Nobody
speaks for a few moments.
I wasn’t with my mother when she
died Molly...
EXT. WHITE MIKE’S APARTMENT - 3 YEARS EARLIER - DAY
White Mike stands at front of the building.
His father helps his mother into a taxi. She looks back at
White Mike. He looks away.
WHITE MIKE (O.S.)
...I wouldn’t go along to the
hospital. I just stayed outside and
watched the taxi take her away.
The taxi door closes. It starts to pull away.
White Mike watches. His mother faces him through the rear
taxi window.
He runs toward the taxi as it pulls into traffic. His mother
getting smaller, the taxi further away...Just before the taxi
disappears from sight he sees the taxi number- 7Y66.
WHITE MIKE (O.S.) (cont’d)
I’ve been memorizing the stupid
numbers ever since.
INT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - THE LIBRARY - PRESENT
TIME
Tears in Molly’s eyes.
You're the only one I know who
wasn't compromised.--I'm sorry I
hurt you.
Molly reaches out for him. They hold each other as the SIRENS
wail.
EXT. CHRIS AND CLAUDE’S TOWNHOUSE - SAME TIME
In front of the house KIDS, crying, hugging. The lights from
the police cars and the ambulances reflect off the snow,
tinting it red and blue.
114.
COPS place a handcuffed Lionel into the backseat of a police
car.
PARAMEDICS carry Sara and Claude’s bodies across the snow. We
CRANE UP, high above the street, and watch through the
falling snow.
FADE TO BLACK:
HOLD ON BLACK FOR A FEW BEATS AND COME UP ON:
EXT. CENTRAL PARK AMPITHEATER - THREE MONTHS LATER - SPRING
Bright colors. A CROWD of people enjoying a spring day in the
park. Numerous TEENS on skateboards performing tricks.
(White) Mike, looking younger and more innocent without his
trademark long coat, sits on a bench across from the stage.
Molly approaches. They kiss lightly and walk down the path.
MOLLY
Was it hard to get off work?
MIKE
Turns out I’ve got some pull.
Molly smiles.
MIKE
My dad says he wants to get me
started working the grill.
MOLLY
He’s training you to be a chef?
Before he can reply, a BUZZING sound captures their
attention. A MODEL AIRPLANE flying low, blows a leaf into
Molly’s hair. Mike wipes it away. They turn in unison, their
eyes following the trajectory of the plane revealing the
pilot is the red-haired boy. He stands in a field working the
controls next to his mom, Mrs. Joyce.
Mike stares. The boy sees Mike watching and waves.
MOLLY
You know him?
MIKE
Not really.
They walk in silence for a few beats then...
115.
MIKE
My father’s going to have to find
another grill man.
Molly looks up at him.
MIKE
I’m thinking maybe it’s time I
applied to school.
MOLLY
Michael. I’m stunned.
MIKE
Think it’s a bad idea.
MOLLY
NO.
MIKE
Turns out we’d be the same year.
Molly takes his hand.
MOLLY
What changed your mind?
He thinks on that for a few moments.
MIKE
I don’t really know.--Maybe a
butterfly died in Brazil.
MOLLY
What does that mean?
Mike smiles.
MIKE
It’s a story that has no ending.
MOLLY
Tell me the beginning then.
Molly and Mike walk off, slowly disappearing into the crowd.
MIKE
If a butterfly dies in a field in
Brazil and causes a single blade of
grass to bend...
A TEEN GIRL approaches clutching a “W” magazine. She sits on
a bench. ON THE COVER - PARTY OF THE CENTURY: “Tragedy on the
116.
Upper East Side.” The girl opens the magazine and leans over
with expectant eyes...
A SERIES OF STILL PHOTOS FILL THE FRAME -
PLAY THIS SILENTLY. THE ONLY SOUND IS THE CLICK IN-BETWEEN
PHOTOS.
THE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY BRUCE, THE PHOTOGRAPHER AT THE
PARTY, THEY PAINT A PICTURE THAT IS AT ONCE THE POWER AND
BEAUTY OF YOUTH AND THE BOREDOM AND EMPTINESS OF THE LIVES OF
THE PRIVILEGED. ALL OF THE PICTURES WERE TAKEN BEFORE CLAUDE
BURST OUT OF HIS ROOM, AT THE HEIGHT OF CELEBRATION.
DANCERS - Arms raised to the sky.
KIDS - Kissing, dancing, drugged out eyes, exposed body
parts.
A GIRL - Bent over the toilet, still clutching her thousand
dollar hand bag.
ANDREW - Smiling, clearly gazing at an off-camera Sara.
SEAN - Surrounded by his football buddies.
JESSICA - Waiting for Lionel.
CHRIS - Greeting guests.
MOLLY - Devastating in her Red Dress
TOBIAS - Leaning back, the epitome of cool.
LIONEL - Trapped in the crowd on his way up the stairs.
A GIRL - With too much makeup and too little clothes,
sleeping, curled like a child.
SARA - Standing at the top of Mezzanine. This is the first
photo that Bruce took. The only one we saw in the film. It
was for Sara, a moment of glory.
WHITE MIKE - From behind. His long coat ripped, arms out,
running up the stairs.
FADE OUT:

12 First Draft

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