INTO THE MYSTIC
(WORKING TITLE)
working draft
7/17/2002
TREATMENT
Into The Mystic is the story of middle-aged man who finds himself in the middle of a life he has created and planned. Presently, he finds himself without reason or purpose. He is given the opportunity to relive the moment, early in college, when he changed inertia and became who he became. It is the story of a decision to change the past and relive an uncertain life or try to remember why he made those decisions and make who has become better.
CAST
Tad Mailer
Amir Sini
Cari Garcia
Professor Pearson
Sammy
Dot
Becca
Brian
Anderson
Robinson
TAG LINE
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again.
-Van Morrison
1. FADE IN
interior kitchen
First scene is one camera no edits
We fade in on an impeccably clean darkened kitchen. The music (acoustic instrumental Into The Mystic) grows louder as we move through the house. It is night. We pass a well-kept house through halls full of pictures, shelves full of knick-knacks. We are given only incidental lighting. We move through house until we come across the tv room. The light of the television halos a high back chair. We hear a commercial followed by the muted dialog.
The television switches off. The light source changes from the television to the incidental light from the hall.
TAD (VO)
I've got only one hard rule: The TV goes off when the black & white F-Troop comes on. I don't know why, but it really creeps me out.
We see Tad stand. We can only see his figure. He walks around the chair and into the hall. We follow him. He is mostly in shadows. When he is in the light, we are at a bad angle.
TAD (VO)
I guess I can try to sleep. I do need to get some rest for that excellent job I have to go to tomorrow. It's a perfect job for a head of a family. It bought me this perfect family house. It allowed me to buy that perfect family station wagon. It gives me the opportunity to spend quality time with my perfect family. In fact, that's why I took the job. Problem is... now without a family, it seems sort of silly.
He makes his way into the bathroom. He turns on the light, we see him from behind. He turns on the water and bends down to wash his face.
TAD (VO)
OK, now I can see that he was richer, and better looking, and maybe smarter, but she told me he was funnier.
He stands up straight. We finally see him well lit and in focus. He is looking right at us in the reflection.
TAD
Funny is my secret power.
He is mid forties. Graying, paunchy, and defeated. He looks at his reflection.
TAD (VO)
I can hear her laughing now. She used to laugh at all the wrong times. That doesn't bother me. But thinking of my boys laughing, that just kills me.
We probably stopped loving each other long ago. That was clear. And I don't blame her for going. In fact, I don't miss her... much. I'm glad she went to look for happiness. I'm proud that she had the strength to seek her dreams. We all need to feel alive while we're alive. Damn thing is, when she left to be happy...
TAD
It made me so goddamn sad.
The music fades to silence. He turns the light off and we follow him to his room. In the darkness, our POV is bed level as we see him sit on the bed and takes off his socks.
TAD (VO)
Some nights, I just lay here... trying to sleep, and wonder if there was ever a movie or song or book or poem that could have kept me from this. I wonder if there was a friend who maybe tried to warn me but I didn't listen. Were there signs? Or was this just dumb luck? Is life just days of growing older with less hair and a bad back?
Our POV changes to a close up of a pillow and his head falling into shot. He grimaces in familiar pain.
TAD (VO)
Sleep should be the drug.
(beat)
And it's not.
We relax for a few seconds in the half light and silence. It takes a few moments, but Tad finally appears to fall to sleep. We see his half-lit profile take short breaths. Suddenly there is a banging at a door.
AMIR (OC)
Tad?
Tad stirs. The knocking continues.
AMIR (OC)
Tad, if you're in there, you better get up and out.
Tad half awakens.
TAD
What? Hello? What?
The door opens and gives the room light. We see Tad, much younger. He reacts to the light and opening door.
AMIR
Man, you better not be sleeping. God, If you're late one more time to Pearson's class, you're screwed.
TAD
What?
AMIR
Shit. Get up, man. Let's go.
TAD
Amir? What?
AMIR
I'm not waiting. Get up, let's go. Where's your book?
Amir walks around the room and looks for Tad's books. He throws Tad's pants at him. Tad sits up preparing for pain. There is none. He is in a daze.
AMIR
Here it is. Let's go.
Tad pulls on his pants from habit. He slips on shoes and walks to the door.
2. CAMPUS
exterior
One camera/no cuts
Our POV is just below the second story landing. We see an open door. We slowing raise and push in as Amir walks out door. Tad follows him. He moves to rail. He is in a daze.
Music starts (Love's Theme)
Tad's eyes begin to adjust to the light. His eyes and mouth opens larger as we move to close up. He is now early twenties, full hair and lean.
When intro crescendos to verse, the camera spins around as we see what Tad is seeing. He is standing in the dorm apartments of college. It is morning and 1975. We move off second story landing and move through the campus. Young kids, dressed 70's casual, walk down sidewalks and drive by in 70's style cars. Occasionally we see Amir and Tad running to through the shot. We move over lawns and into the campus common area. We take our time scanning the area. We move to the main door of the business building. We see Amir and Tad rush in the door. We move down the outside of the building into classes. We stop at a window and push in to a closed wood door. The door opens and we see Amir and Tad rush in.
The music ends.
CUT TO
3. ECONOMIC CLASS
interior-classroom
Out POV is from the top level of the classroom. We see Tad and Amir standing in the door. The professor is standing behind a lectern. He turns toward the door.
PEARSON
I assume we can now begin class. The prodigal sons have returned.
Tad stands in front of the closed door and gapes at the room and professor.
PEARSON
Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?
Tad smiles a stupid smile.
PEARSON
Oh, I'm sorry.
(bowing)
Mr. Mailer, on behalf of the students of Economics 320, I stand here as your loyal vassal. We welcome you.
The class laughs. The smile disappears from Tad's face. He makes his way to a seat. Amir reaches out and slaps Tad across the back of the head.
AMIR
Behave.
Tad shrugs and shakes his head.
PEARSON
Now if Prince Mishkin and his Arab princess would allow us to continue, we have economics to invent.
Fade out
4. COMMONS
exterior
Fade in on Tad and Amir walking in the commons.
TAD
I forgot how much of dick Pearson could be.
AMIR
Arab Princess! What a bastard.
TAD
This feels so real.
AMIR
Ya, real...
TAD
Oh, Amir, it's so good to see you again. No shit!
AMIR
Long night?
As Amir and Tad walk through the commons, they are recognized and greeted. We slowly dolly back and up while we watch Tad react as if the were at a class reunion. He points and calls out names. They walk into the union building.
Slow fade
CUT TO
5. THE DUNGEON
Fade in on alcove in union building. The alcove (dungeon) comprises of a sofa and two overstuffed chairs surrounding a glass table. Two lamps sit on end tables in the corners. It seems comfortable. Our POV is directly into the alcove. Blurred images pass between the room and us. We hear the shuffle of students moving down the hall. When Amir enters frame we change to slow motion. He is in focus. When he sits, we move back to full speed. When Tad enters frame, we slow down again. When he sits, we return to full speed.
We move to close up Tad. He is gawking at passing students. A smile grows to a breathy giggle.
AMIR
You look hungry.
TAD
What is all this?
AMIR
We call this Tuesday.
Amir goes back to reading. Tad stares out to the hall. Our POV is from the stairs to the dungeon. We watch Tad anticipate the next body to inspect. A slow, but steady flow of students files past. When an attractive woman passes alone, the movement is in slow motion. Tad watches them with hunger. A young man moves past and he is also in slow motion. What we first perceived as lust is merely an awe for their youth.
TAD
Amir?
AMIR
(without looking up from the book)
Yes?
TAD
What are you doing?
AMIR
(still reading)
I am in the final leg of the idilarod. What are you doing here in the tundra?
TAD
Oh, I get it. Pretty funny.
Tad turns away from the hall and faces Amir.
TAD
Amir?
AMIR
Is there anything I can do not to talk to you right now?
TAD
No, I don't think so.
AMIR
(putting the book down)
Yes.
TAD
What were you studying?
AMIR
I'm reading about the effects of the industrial revolution on literature.
TAD
Are you learning anything?
AMIR
Well...I guess so.
TAD
Like what?
AMIR
Well...like the book says that Thoreau's journey to Walden's Pond was a direct result of his need to escape the expanding urbanism and find a place before factories were the only place a man could find a way to feed his family.
TAD
What do you think?
AMIR
I guess it could be true. I believe that before the industrial revolution, the only people who could be poets or writers were those who were not forced to spend all day toiling for food; that the industrial revolution allowed the poor to reflect the world around them.
TAD
Is that your philosophy or did you just read that?
AMIR
No, it's mine.
I mean...before the early nineteenth century, most men, no matter how much his heart filled with poetry, had to spend every waking minute either digging in someone else's dirt or pulling someone else's load in order to make enough to stay alive.
I wonder how many poets died with mud in their fist instead of a pen.
Why?
TAD
What do you think of dreams?
AMIR
You mean night dreams or things you want in the future?
TAD
Night dreams.
AMIR
I don't know...
TAD
Do you think you can have dreams that so life-like that you have a hard time telling the difference?
AMIR
Sure.
TAD
Do you have those kinds of dreams?
AMIR
Sure I do. Everyone does, I think.
TAD
If you were dreaming and I was in your dreams. Do you think I would know I was in your dream?
AMIR
I'm not sure I know...
TAD
I mean, could you have a dream where I could think for myself.
AMIR
Man, you need a vacation.
TAD
Listen, if this were a dream right now, your dream, would I be able to learn or philosophize and know I was learning or philosophizing. I mean, it's your dream, right?
AMIR
I don't know. I don't think I ever had a dream where I didn't know it was a dream.
TAD
Exactly. Dreams feel like dreams; Life feels like life. Even when I was in a real-feeling dream, I always knew it was a dream.
AMIR
OK, same with me.
TAD
Then why does this feel different?
AMIR
What feels different?
TAD
I am dreaming now and I can't feel the difference.
AMIR
You're what?
TAD
I am dreaming now. And I don't want to wake up.
AMIR
You're what? You're dreaming now?
TAD
Yup. I'm dreaming I'm back in college. I'm dreaming I'm here talking to you and you don't know this is a dream. What a trip. I mean it's pretty cool, but it's freaky.
AMIR
Tad, are you ok?
TAD
I guess. Watch this.
Tad stands up, turns around and sits back down.
TAD
I can tell myself what to do and I do it. I've never been able to that before.
AMIR
Maybe we should get you back to your room.
TAD
I don't want to go back to bed. Maybe if I don't go back to sleep, I don't have to wake up. I want to stay here as long as I can. Hey when I wake up, I just have to go to work.
AMIR
(standing up)
Tad, let's get you back to your room.
TAD
(shouting)
I'm not going anywhere. I wish I could make you do what I want. What good is manipulating a dream if you can only make yourself do stupid things?
AMIR
(sitting down)
Tad, this is not a dream. At least it isn't for me. If you feel like you're dreaming, maybe we should get you some help...get you to a doc
TAD
That's just it, I don't feel like I'm dreaming. I feel like this is real life.
AMIR
Then why do you feel this is a dream?
TAD
...because I'm not in college. I'm forty-five years old and divorced and alone and I haven't seen you in twenty years.
AMIR
You're forty-five? When did you turn forty-five? You haven't seen me in twenty years? But you saw me yesterday.
TAD
Do you remember me yesterday?
AMIR
Yes.
TAD
How old was I?
AMIR
Not forty-five.
TAD
How much do you remember from yesterday?
AMIR
All the good parts.
TAD
Do you remember the day before?
AMIR
Yes, and the day before that.
TAD
If this is my dream, then how can you have memories?
AMIR
I don't know. Maybe we should go.
TAD
Maybe this is not a dream. Maybe this is real. Maybe I'm twenty again...or twenty still.
AMIR
Maybe we should get you back...
TAD
(smiling)
...I'm OK. I'm fine. Let's stay here.
Tad relaxes back on the sofa and resumes watching the passing students. Amir watches him for few moments and then goes back to reading.
After a few moments Tad turns to Amir. Tad is smiling a full belly smile. He watches Amir. Amir looks up.
AMIR
You OK, bud?
TAD
(smiling)
Just fine, old friend.
Tad looks around the dungeon. His smile starts to fade. His face turns serious. He pinches himself and reels in pain. He closes his eyes. He begins to look scared.
TAD
Amir?
AMIR
(not taking his eyes from the book)
Yes?
TAD
(thinking for a moment)
Amir?
Amir puts his book down. He leans forward toward Tad.
AMIR
You OK?
TAD
(beat)
I can't wake up.
We push in from a wide shot of the dungeon to a tight shot of Tad and Amir. Amir looks up.
AMIR
I'm glad you're here.
TAD
(looking in shock)
Cari?
Tad jumps up and runs over to Cari. He doesn't touch her. He just stands close enough to grab her but keeps his hands to himself. She reels in shock.
CARI
(to Amir)
What's going on?
Tad stares at Cari and begins to shed tears.
CARI
Tad?
Tad grabs her and hugs her hard enough to cause her to drop her books
TAD
Oh, Cari. I've missed you so much.
AMIR
He's been like this all day.
Tad releases Cari. He picks up her book and leads her to the sofa.
CARI
What's going on?
AMIR
I don't know. I think he's sick.
CARI
What's going on, Tad?
TAD
Nothing. It's so good to see you. I'd forgotten how beautiful you were. How beautiful we are.
AMIR
He thinks he's dreaming.
CARI
I'll take him back to his room.
(to Tad)
Do you feel sick?
TAD
I'm not sure how I feel. Last night I went to bed as a forty-five years old with a bad back and here I am, a twenty year old again.
And here you are, so young, so beautiful. I don't know why I'm confused.
AMIR
See.
5B DUNGEON
6. TAD'S ROOM
interior
Trying to explain to Cari
The door opens revealing the same room we left that morning. Tad sits on the bed. Cari sits next to him. He sits with his hands on his lap. He has a stupid grin on his face. Cari smiles and strokes his forehead.
CARI
You OK?
TAD
I'm fine, Cari. It is so good to see you again. God, I've missed you.
CARI
Amir says that you think you're sick. ...says you feel like your dreaming. How long have you felt this way?
TAD
Since this morning...or last night.
Cari looks at him concerned. She strokes his cheek. He turns to her and smiles. He reaches up and puts his hand over hers on his cheek.
TAD
God, I've missed you. I've thought about you so often over the years, and quite a lot over the past few months. I guess it makes sense that if I were to escape, this is where I would come.
CARI
Years? Escape? I don't know what you're talking about.
TAD
(laughing)
I don't know what I'm talking about either. I guess it could be worse. I guess I could have woken up the day I got fired or the day Cheryl told me she wanted a divorce. God, I would hate to relive those days. Cari, what did you do last night just before you went to bed?
CARI
Why?
TAD
Humor me.
CARI
I was reading Descante... Entremeses. Why?
TAD
I didn't know that.
CARI
OK.
TAD
How could you know that and I not know that? I bet if you wanted to, you could remember what you did before bed every night for the past...say, month.
CARI
What are you getting at?
TAD
I could probably remember back that far as well. But mine are my memories and yours are yours.
CARI
So?
TAD
So, if this is just some weird dream, then why would I stockpile your memories? Huh?
CARI
I'm sure I don't know. And I'm sure that I'm bordering on not caring. Listen, I've got to go to class. Why don't you get some sleep. I'll come back later to check on you.
TAD
I don't want to sleep. I can't sleep. And I don't want you to go to class. Please stay with me.
CARI
I can't. Tad, I can't.
TAD
Please.
CARI
(standing)
No...I'll be back.
TAD
Cari, I don't know what's going on right now. I'm confused. And I'm scared.
(silence)
Please stay.
CARI
(resigning)
Alright, I'll stay. God, I'm an idiot. You owe me now.
TAD
(to himself)
Where to start, where to start.
(laying back in bed)
OK, there. For the past ten years, every time I lay down, I've had this back pain. Now, it's gone.
CARI
You're acting crazy because your back feels better.
TAD
No, you don't understand.
CARI
Help me understand.
TAD
I hurt my back playing softball ten years ago...ten years ago when I was thirty. Or ten years from now. That's why my back doesn't hurt, I haven't hurt it yet.
CARI
Yet?
TAD
How old are you right now?
CARI
You know.
TAD
How old?
CARI
Twenty.
TAD
How old am I?
CARI
Twenty.
TAD
If I look in the mirror, or try to lay back in bed, I'd agree that I was twenty. But last night when I went to bed, I was forty-five.
(silence)
And I have the memory of hurting my back when I was thirty. As sure as you remember reading Cervantes, I remember that I tried to slide for line drive and got caught on damp grass. I remember our uniforms were gray with dark green letters. We were sponsored by local paper. The line drive, it was hit by a guy named Scooch. I remember the sky was a dark blue. I remember it was pretty cool for the summer. And I remember how much I hated Scooch. He was a dick. I mean a serious dick. Even now, when I think on him, I get all wired. And that was ten years ago.
And here I am trying to figure out how that softball game will not be played for another ten years.
Scooch is some where right now, probably pissing someone off. If I'm twenty, if I am back in school, then I have a real hatred for a man I've never met or have even heard of before.
Does than make sense?
CARI
I'm...I...I've...
TAD
This must be a dream. But it doesn't feel like a dream. It feels real. But it can't be real. Can it?
CARI
(shakes her head)
I don't know.
TAD
Let me ask you something. And let me look at you when you answer. Are you real? Are you just someone in my crazy dream? Or are you an overpowering memory from a desperately defeated old man?
CARI
I'm just me, Tad. I don't know about you, but I know I'm real. I don't know what you think I am, but I'm just me.
TAD
I knew that. Then who am I?
CARI
I can't answer that.
TAD
I can't either. I'm still confused. Why am I here?
CARI
I don't know.
TAD
Why do feel this way?
CARI
I don't know. All I know is that you're here right now. And I know I'm here.
TAD
Yes, you are. Yes you are.
(reaching out)
Here you are, so young, so beautiful. And here I am. Young, damn handsome, and with you.
CARI
And with a good back.
TAD
...with a good back. Would you mind it if I held you?
CARI
You don't have to ask.
They embrace. Tad gasps and allows himself to be enveloped by Cari. She rocks him.
CARI
Everything will be all right. Everything will work out.
Tad huffs little breaths
CARI
You're here with me now. It will be all right.
TAD
Cari?
CARI
Yes.
TAD
I love you.
CARI
I know you do.
TAD
I am happy you are here with me. You don't know how often I've thought of you and...
CARI
...shhhh
TAD
I just...
CARI
...shhhhh. Relax now. Relax. You got to try and sleep.
TAD
If I sleep, then I may wake up forty-five again. And you'll be gone, and I'll be alone, and my back will hurt again.
CARI
But maybe you'll wake up and realize you'll twenty and you're where you belong. And that this feeling you have about being older and a bad back will turn out to be a bad dream.
TAD
It felt so real.
CARI
Sometimes dreams do.
TAD
But it took so long to live.
CARI
Who knows how long life takes to live? And who knows how long dreams take to have? Try and sleep now.
TAD
I'm scared. I don't want to sleep.
CARI
You'll have too eventually. And if this is a dream, you need to be back where you belong. If you belong here, you may wake up knowing that. If you belong twenty-five years from now, then you should know that. I don't like seeing you like this. So, I'll go to class, you go to sleep, and if, when you wake up, you're still here, I'll be back to get on with our life. If you wake up in the future, then...well, it's where you should be. And
TAD
Then do you believe me?
CARI
I believe you're scared. I can see how troubled you are right now. That is enough.
TAD
Promise you'll stay until I'm asleep.
CARI
I promise.
TAD
Cari, I love you. I should have fought to keep you.
CARI
What?
TAD
If I'm twenty, then I want you to know that you are the most important thing to me and my life. If I'm forty, then I want to know that you are sweetest memory I have of a long life. Thank you for all you give me or I want to thank you for all you gave me.
CARI
Just relax now.
TAD
I love you.
CARI
I love you too. Now relax.
Pull back to overhead shot of bed. Cari is rocking Tad as if he were a child.
Fade to black
7b.
7. TAD'S CAR
exterior
music and pissing
Fade in on mountain road. It is beginning dusk. A car passes. It is filled with three couples. Tad is driving.
CUT TO
8. LAKE AT NIGHT
exterior
around fire
fade in on glow of fire on trees. We push in to a circle of friends around the fire. There are three couples huddled in three piles arranged as a triangle. We hear laughter.
SAMMY (VO)
No, really, I went all day just hanging free. I never felt so alive. There's just nothing like a brisk walk in corduroy pants.
We end our push in POV behind Sammy. We see Dot reclined on Amir's lap. On the other side of the fire, we see Tad is on his back resting his head on Cari's lap.
AMIR
... Without underwear?
SAMMY
That's the best part. Any circumcised man, or boy, who has ever experience the gentle stroking of loose corduroy on his little soldier, would know what I'm talking about.
DOT
(laughing)
You're sick!
SAMMY
Then when I started running...
(interrupts the laughter)
I'm serious. Who needs a girl when you have corduroy?
BECCA
I hope you brought your corduroy for tonight?
SAMMY
(reaching down to kiss Becca)
Oh, baby, you're my corduroy.
AMIR
(singing)
Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Can you dig it?
TAD
(singing suddenly remembering)
It's a groovy situation, a splendid combination.
TAD & AMIR
(singing)
That we should meet at a time like this.
CARI
See what you've done, Amir? Now you got him singing. What have you done with my boring old Tad?
AMIR
I turned him into Peter Frampton.
TAD
(singing)
Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Can you dig it?
TAD
Peter Frampton?
BECCA
What's wrong with Peter Frampton?
TAD
Well... he didn't age too well.
CARI
That's right. Tad is from the future. He is only visiting our time. Isn't that right Tad?
TAD
(nervous laughter)
That's right. I'm the terminator...
SAMMY
The future, huh? When?
CARI
2001.
SAMMY
Ha! That proves you're screwed. The world ends at midnight New Years Eve 1999. ... or sometime early the next morning 2000.
TAD
You're right. That's why I'm here.
(his voice turns ominous)
I am here to warn you to repent or die an ugly burning death or live an even uglier survivor's life.
DOT
I wouldn't want to survive the end of the world. I mean, I'd be almost fifty.
TAD
That's not so old.
SAMMY
Fifty is old, man.
TAD
Tell me that when you get there.
AMIR
Tad, what' you like at fifty?
TAD
Bitter and alone. What do you think you'll be like in 2001?
AMIR
Rich beyond my wildest desires, teenage girls falling over me...
DOT
... divorced.
TAD
Do you think you'll be old?
AMIR
No... I'm never growing old.
SAMMY
... Me neither, brother. I'll be a fifty-year-old sex god.
TAD
I hope so.
BECCA
If we make it that far.
As the dialog continues, the light from the fire begins to dim until it ends with a light blue glow.
AMIR
What do you mean?
BECCA
If the Russians don't blow us up first?
TAD
(smiling)
You don't have to worry about the Russians.
SAMMY
Cubans?
TAD
No, not Cuban.
AMIR
So you're saying that America will be a Utopian society; that we will all be benevolent and charitable and decent...
SAMMY
We'll all be hippies?
TAD
No, in fact, the world will be a more frightening place.
SAMMY
Aliens?
TAD
No.
SAMMY
... mutant clones?
TAD
close, but no.
CARI
Then what?
AMIR
What else is there to be frightened of?
SAMMY
(suddenly serious)
I think the world will blow itself up? I don't think the Russians will kill us, I think we will kill us.
CARI
I'm afraid that technology will become too important and it we eventually lose our humanity.
DOT
Big Brother, that's who we should fear. You know, 1984.
BECCA
I still think one day the Russians will just decide to take over some country we will decide to save. Then boom, it will be over.
SAMMY
Then it will be Soylent Green.
We begin a slow push in to Tad.
BECCA
Then it won't matter.
CARI
Then it won't matter.
AMIR
... A new ice age, melting ice caps...
CARI
A comet... Ya, a comet will smash into Chicago and then... that's it.
CARI
(to Tad)
Is that it? A comet? You're the only one of us that's been there. What will we be afraid of in 2001?
We are now at close up on Tad. The glow from the fire is a faint blue. It bounces off his face. He stares at the flame. He waits to answer.
TAD
Cells.
AMIR
Cells?
TAD
(slowly)
Yes... Cancer cells... virus cells... and terrorist cells.
No one understands. There is a loud silence. We stay on the close up.
TAD
We will all live in an overwhelming fear of corporate downsizing, political correctness, and getting to know your feminine side
(slowly)
... and kids
(begins nodding)
... gangs of kids.
He nods to himself. Slow fade to black.
8C IN TENT WITH CARI
exterior
We fade into a long shot of campground. It is late night. The fire has faded. The glow of the dying fire reflects off the two-man tent. Push in to the side of the tent. The tent side canvas shuffles in a way it would when two are sharing one sleeping bag.
CARI (VO)
Where are you going?
TAD (VO)
I've got to get something... I forgot something.
CARI (VO)
What's wrong, Tad? Why are you so nervous?
TAD (VO)
I'm not nervous... I just can't get comfortable... Oh shit...
CARI (VO)
Tad, just relax.
The tent seems to settle down.
TAD (VO)
It's just that... it's just that it's been a long time.
CARI (VO)
... a long time since what?
TAD (VO)
Oh, Cari... I'm sorry.
(pause)
I just forgot how much I love you.
CARI (VO)
You what?
TAD (VO)
I just forgot how overwhelming these emotions can be.
CARI (VO)
So you forgot Saturday night?
TAD (VO)
(nervous laugh)
Saturday?
(pause)
Cari, listen. I'm sorry. Look, I love you. I always will. I know I always will. I am just so crazy right now.
Dissolve to darkened interior of tent. In the half-light we see Tad moving.
TAD
Here is what I was looking for.
We hear the sound of breaking plastic and the interior of the tent illuminates in the green of the glow stick.
CARI
(sitting up)
Look, I don't know what you have in mind, but it better not hurt?
TAD
(confused)
No... I... we...
(regains composure)
I just wanted to see you... and I wanted you to see me. I want you to remember me looking like this.
Cari looks confused. Tad reaches out and pulls her head toward his. They kiss. He is filled with passion he had forgotten he had. When they pull away. She is out of breath. He drops the glow stick and lunges at Cari. They make love in and out of the green glow that is randomly covered up and exposed. The noise of lovemaking fades to a silence as we slowly fade to black.
9. LAKE AT MORNING
exterior
Music - Chicago/Dialog
Slow fade in to Tad squatting on a rock outside of camp. Our POV is from behind Tad. He is facing the beginning of sunrise. He is wearing only his underwear and boots. In a slow push in and silence, the sun beginnings to come through the trees. We see a ribbon of light moves toward Tad. We hear the intro to Dialog by Chicago. Tad slowly rises. He is erect when the high hat begins and the ribbon of light reaches him. He howls in joy and jumps from the rock and begins running. The music grows in volume.
CUT TO
We see the tents flaps open. Amir and Dot, Sammy and Becca peak out. They come out of the tents in different states of undress. Cari crawls out of her tent.
CUT TO
Tad is running up the hills and down to the lake. He is still howling. He reaches the top of small hill and looks back at the tents.
CUT TO
close up of Tad. He smiles and howls.
CUT TO
POV is from the tent. Tad is howling and starts running toward the lake. He doesn't slow down and jumps face first into the water.
CUT TO
close up of Cari. She is confused but smiling. Sam comes up behind her. He nudges her.
SAM
Whatever you did to him last night, could you teach it to Becca?
fade out.
10. PEARSONS CLASSROOM
interior
Fade in to wide shot of classroom. We have Tad's POV. We see Professor Pearson standing behind a lectern. The word Oligopoly is written very neatly behind him in chalk on a blackboard. We begin to dolly around room until we are behind Pearson. We see the class is half full. Amir and Tad sit near the back of the class on the top row. Amir appears disinterested. Tad is sitting forward absorbing Pearson's every word.
PEARSON
In the example, the only bank in a small town is planning a new building. They have the choice to construct a prefab, but choose instead to build from granite and marble. While this is nearly ten times the construction cost, and would not show fiscal prudence, the decision was made as part from using the existing advertising budget. They are the only bank in town. There is no competition. So why would they have an advertising budget? And why would they blatantly show their customer base such a disregard for fiscal prudence? Anyone? Why would a monopoly care to advertise?
Waits for an answer that does not come
PEARSON
We discussed this yesterday. Did any of you read chapter 22? Do any of you read?
(huffing)
I pity the monetary system when we release you to your charges.
(pointing)
You, Anderson, give us the benefit of your vast intellect.
ANDERSON
I'm not sure, Professor...
PEARSON
(interrupting)
... Of course you're not sure. I'll make it easy on you. I'm looking for one word...
ANDERSON
One word?
PEARSON
One simple little word... and for your benefit, Mr. Anderson... not more than three syllables.
ANDERSON
... three syllables?
PEARSON
Did you read the chapter, Mr. Anderson? Do you read, Mr. Anderson?
(to another student)
Miss Robinson?
ROBINSON
Yes.
PEARSON
Yes what?
ROBINSON
I read the chapter.
PEARSON
So your answer is...
There is no answer. Pearson goes from being rude to mean.
PEASON
You disappoint me. You all disappoint me.
He begins pointing to each student one by one.
PEASTON
Stupid... stupid... stupid... stupid...
(pointing to Anderson)
Why did you even take this class? Why are you even in college? Isn't there some farm job you are better suited for?
TAD
(loudly)
Perception.
PEARSON
Mr. Mailer responds. Could you please repeat your riposte?
TAD
Perception... one word... three syllables.
AMIR
Behave, friend.
PEARSON
Explain.
TAD
The bank wants the people to believe that their money is so secure and the business is so successful that it can afford to waste money on granite.
PEARSON
Mr. Mailer, you've finally added to my class. Are you sure you're just not mouthing the words of the Arab Princess.
TAD
Oh, Arab princess. That's funny.
PEARSON
Mind yourself, young man. Perhaps you could further impress us with your economics knowledge by defining for us an Oligopoly.
TAD
(smiling)
Sure. An oligopoly is where a monopoly exists in a non-competitive market; where a small group can effect change without fear of new competition.
Pearson stares at Tad. We exchange close ups of the two.
TAD
Kinda like economics professors.
PEARSON
Pardon?
TAD
You know the type, Professor, the ones who exploit their power and abuse their students without fear of retribution.
PEARSON
I want you to get out of my classroom.
TAD
I'm not going to do that, Professor. In fact I'm going to sit here and write out the basis of my lawsuit.
PEARSON
Lawsuit?
TAD
Yes. I'm thinking of suing this university. When I signed up for this class, I was promised instruction by the great Professor LeRoy Pearson. You were famous, Professor. Did you know that? I was looking forward to hearing him lecture. Instead I got a bitter old man who reflects his disappointments in life back to his students. That is unfair.
PEARSON
Get out of my class.
TAD
(standing)
Like hell I will. This isn't your class, old man. This is my class and this is Amir's class, and Anderson's and all of us. We pay you to teach us. You work for us. We are giving this university plenty of money to learn and they are giving you plenty of money to teach. Some of us are rich and daddy pays, and some of us are smart and scholarships pay, but most of us struggle to continue coming to this class. Most of us have to live in one-room dorms or apartments and eat macaroni and cheese most nights just to come here and be berated by a hate-filled old man.
PEARSON
I will not take being spoken to with that disrespect.
TAD
Then why should we? You don't know any of us well enough to talk to us that way. Who the hell are you? Why are we scared of you? You mean so little to what we are going to face for the rest of our lives. In my life, I will only use this bullshit you preach at tax time or over beers trying to understand recessions and unemployment and tax shelters. You are insignificant to the real world.
PEARSON
Get out!
TAD
Is that what you want? Because when I leave here, I am going right to the Dean's office. And I'm going to stay there until he sees me. I am going to fill out a formal complaint about you. And I am telling everyone here to do the same. If the Dean get only one complaint, mine, he could believe that I am just a pissed off student angry about a grade. But if a half dozen or a dozen or fifty or a hundred complaints are filled, then it becomes your problem. I refuse to let you win. So I'm going to sit down and get back to economics. And I'm telling you, not asking you... I'm telling you, goddamn it, teach me.
Pearson is stunned. We pull back from a close up to a wide shot of the classroom. Tad sits. Everyone is either watching him or Pearson. No one moves.
TAD
One more thing, if I ever hear you call my friend Amir an Arab Princess again, I will personally kick your ass right in front of this class.
TAD
(relaxed)
So, was I right about oligopoly?
We push in to a close up of Pearson. He stands slouched against the lectern. His eyes move from student to student.
Fade out
CUT TO
Fade In on same classroom forty minutes later. Pearson is standing behind the lectern. Class is over. All of the students are standing at the door waiting for Tad. He is being heralded as a hero. We cut to close up Pearson. He is staring at the door. Our POV changes. We are now behind Pearson who is looking at the scene at the door. Tad turns with a small smile and walks out the door. Pearson turns around and erases Oligopoly off the board.
Fade out
11 DUNGEON
interior
12. CARI'S ROOM
interior
Fade in on Cari's room. It is night. Cari and Dot are sitting on their beds doing homework. They are dressed for bed.
DOT
What's up with Tad? He's acting even stranger than usual.
CARI
I don't know. Something's got him scared. Maybe it's school. Maybe it's me.
DOT
What's all this about the future? Cell? Gangs of kids? He's kinda scary.
CARI
No, he's harmless.
DOT
Did you hear what he did to Pearson?
CARI
Sometimes he is just high strung. I bet Amir made up most what happened.
DOT
Have you told him about ASU? I'd be afraid to tell him?
CARI
No, I haven't told him, but I'm not afraid.
DOT
Do you love him?
CARI
Of course I do.
DOT
Do you want him to follow you?
CARI
I don't know... Yes... sure... no... I don't know. I'm twenty-one, I don't know what I want. He's good to me. He loves me, He don't seem to be the criminal type. What more do I need? Right? He may be wound a bit too tight, but that isn't a fatal flaw. I just wish he were more fun... you know, more spontaneous... everything he does has too be logical, or planned out... I just wish he would loosen up some. I mean, I wish he were a bad boy sometimes... not all the time, just sometimes.
We hear the strains of a guitar coming from outside. It takes the attention from the conversation. The guitar gets louder. We hear someone singing apparently outside Cari's door.
TAD (OS)
(singing)
Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance
Between the parted pages and were pressed,
In love's hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants
Cari gets off bed and opens curtain.
CARI
Oh, my God, it's Tad.
(loudly)
Tad! What are you doing?
(to Dot)
It's Tad.
TAD (OS)
(singing)
I recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground around your knees
The birds, like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing checkers by the trees
CUT TO
13. CARI'S ROOM
exterior
In the dark, Tad is standing facing the closed door in a black tuxedo. Brian sis standing behind him, also dressed in a tuxedo, strumming a guitar. Tad has a group of long stem roses in his hand. The door opens. Cari opens the door.
CARI
Tad? What are you doing?
TAD
(singing)
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down...
CARI
You crazy, nut. Have you lost your mind?
TAD
(singing)
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
Cari steps toward Tad. He gives her the roses and kisses her.
CARI
What are you doing?
Tad gets down on one knee and takes her hand.
TAD
(singing)
There will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You'll still be the one.
Cari pulls him up to his feet. She wraps her arms around his neck. She is crying.
CARI
You're a nut. You know that, right?
TAD
(half singing into Cari's ear)
I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky.
TAD
(whispering into Cari's ear)
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
I'll be thinking of you
And wondering why.
LONG FADE INTO
14. COMMONS NIGHT WITH CARI
exterior
We still hear the guitar playing from the previous scene. It is minutes later. We transition fade into a long shot of Cari and Tad walking in an empty commons area towards us. Cari is now dressed and Tad is still in his tuxedo. The music fades as we wait for the two to catch up to us. They are in each other's arms.
CARI
I can't believe you did that. You're crazy.
TAD
Kinda dangerous, huh?
CARI
No, a nut.
TAD
But you love me, don't you?
CARI
I couldn't love a nut.
TAD
You're under oath, remember?
CARI
OK, Ok, I love you.
TAD
I knew it.
15. WALK AROUND CAMPUS
16. TAD'S ROOM