james_holiday
07-15-2010, 03:08 PM
FADE IN:
INT. HOUSE PARTY - LOUNGE - NIGHT
The room is filled with an overabundance of glass and mirrors, no one in the room can quite escape their own reflection. The interior design is of extreme and expensive 50's chic. MARLON BRANDO (early 30s) is chewing gum and probing the crowd for attractive women. He's immaculately groomed and dressed in a fashionable suit with matching tie and pocket handkerchief. He swaggers and poses from one side of the room to the next, showing a lot of aimlessness. He's surrounded by an entourage of friends, acquaintances and associates. He sits down by a table in the middle of the room, leaning his head on his hand, with a vacant and lost expression on his face.
CUT TO:
INT. POOL ROOM - NIGHT
The room is suffocating and limiting, and is crowded by false friends and associates. MONTGOMERY CLIFT (mid 30s) puts a cigarette in his mouth by folding his hand over it and placing it on his lower lip. Clift's face is a cultured one, scholarly in its serious expression, with eyes that stare out with a mixture of wonder and fear. His shoulders are hunched, as though he expects to be attacked at any moment. He is in fine physical condition, though one suspect’s he rarely exercises, with a sleepy, melancholic look about him that contradicts his youth. His suit is false and ill-fitting, hanging on him like a contrived accent. Clift moves towards the pool room bar with an androgynous bounce on his toes when he walks. He sits down on a stool and orders a drink. Clift uncomfortably sinks down into his chair, folding in upon himself in fear, his head leans forward, and his knees point up towards his chin, his hands wrapped around his shins --- like a child in his father's chair. His voice is dry and constrained by his bent over body, strangled and parched by feelings of inadequacy. His unblinking gaze suggests his vague restlessness.
Brando enters the room and quickly dominates the vacant space around him, he looks caged and contained. The room is star struck and literally stops as he walks over to sit down by Clift. He has an athlete's bounce to his walk and a lonely look on his face. He locks his eyes on Clift, and gives him a penetrating almost judgmental, intimating glare. They're both lifeless and still in their chairs. Brando raises his eyebrows giving him the impression of someone who could not easily be surprised. There's a long, daunting silence as they size each other, probing and analyzing, chewing up thoughts in their minds. The level of concentration and attention is intense. Brando is relaxed in his posture, Clift is tense in his. Brando talks into his drink.
BRANDO
You know that's the same atrocious tie you wore the last time we met.
Brando doesn't quite speak clearly, yet he has an air of command and power in his voice, with a slight air of impatience and irritation which suggests he's containing a more volatile and unstable nature.
CLIFT
My mother got it for my birth day.
BRANDO
Your mother always buy you clothes?
CLIFT
What you got against mothers.
BRANDO
Nothin'. I just don't like your tie.
Clift blows smoke in Brando's face. Brando crosses his leg and starts picking the leather on his shoe. He takes Clift's drink and pushes it up and down the table.
CLIFT
You always need attention?
BRANDO
You always need silence?
Clift doesn't answer. He sips some drink and scratches his eye. Sullen and brooding looks on both of their faces. Brando pushes his drink back. Clift flicks some of his cigarette ash into an ashtray.
BRANDO
You know way I see it... Someone once told me a story about how the best actors will always hold something back.
CLIFT
That's a real messed up story.
BRANDO
Most stories are. Wanna’ know my idea of a good story. Characters meet, forge ties, fall in love and are all separated by death… all before dawn. It’s Romeo and Juliet. Ya know?
CLIFT scratches his eyebrow. He looks at Marlon unnervingly with an unblinking stare.
CLIFT
You want to know what makes us two so goddamn different.
Brando pretends to sleep, which immediately annoys Clift.
CLIFT
I don't like wasting my time on something I don't believe in... Whereas. You'd happily take the money.
Brando takes the gum out of his mouth and has a swig of Clift's vodka.
BRANDO
Be kind to your body. You'll miss it when it's gone. And you wanna know something. I've never felt more alive. And that's the truth.
Brando gets up; he's physically taunting Clift. Their cold mocking sneers dig deep into new levels of detestation. Brando's eyes are wide open, he's not yet defeated. Clift is indifferent. Brando starts to smile benevolently, though always contemplating his next move. Brando gets up and leaves to the bathroom.
Cut to:
INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
The bathroom is carefully arranged of mirrors and a suffocating bright light. JAMES DEAN (mid-20s) is slouching and sulking, his body leaning towards the mirror, staring intensely into his own eyes. He takes off his thick black glasses. His deep tired eyes give him a naturally withdrawn wincing look. His face floating in lonesomeness, with a bitter look that has scorn on the lip. He is wearing grungy, dirty blue jeans, scuffed cowboy boots and a black worn out leather jacket. His hair is greasy and dishevelled. His dress sense is self-consciously sloppy and purposely unkempt. He looks like a human ashtray. Brando swaggers into the bathroom, gives himself a quick look into the mirror, and starts urinating in the urinal. He immediately casts a shadow over Dean. He notices Dean in the corner of his eye.
DEAN
(Hesitant) Excuse me, do you, do you have a light? Can I borrow a lighter for a second?
Brando zips up, and gives Dean a cigarette lighter. Brando crosses his arms and slouches against the wall. Dean places a cigarette in his mouth by folding his hand over it and placing it on his lower lip. Brando realizes that he stole that mannerism from Clift.
BRANDO
I've met you before haven't I?
DEAN
You do look familiar, how do I know you.
Both are acting as a means of getting acquainted. Dean's speech is a secret mumble; he fiddles around with the cigarette with the energy of a restless, impatient teenager.
DEAN
I'm James Dean. I'm an actor.
BRANDO
You don't look too much like an actor. You look more like an immigrant.
Brando smiles playfully. Dean is indifferent. Dean starts to copy and mimic Brando's slouch, his loaded silence and sullen expression. Brando doesn't answer, his mind is elsewhere.
DEAN
Just give me a chance, sir. I can be great. Brando levels himself with Dean, he starts to flicker his eyes. Dean shuffles his feet.
BRANDO
Yeah... I don't want to be great. I just wanna' give the audience something special... Communicate a message... I dunno... Acting seemed a good idea at the time.
Brando starts to manifest the mental stress and self pity of a man half his former self. Brando's pain is deeply felt, and muted in expression. Dean nervously fidgets with his shoe.
BRANDO
Monty's the actor. He's the genius you measure yourself against kid... Clift was first.
DEAN
Don't mean he's better.
BRANDO
Yeah it does... You know what I hate about the best actors... They're constantly deceiving you...You see I'm an actor cause I don't mind bruising my soul.*
DEAN
I'm an actor cause, er, I hate my mother and father. To me, my father's just a man who sent me away with my mother's coffin. He didn't even give me a chance. That's why I wanna show 'em... That I can be ****in' great without them.
BRANDO
Sounds familiar. Hated my dad too.
Dean bounces around him. Brando is absolutely still. He is sullen and depressed looking. His eyes in particular seem sad and devoid of hope.
BRANDO
You remind me of a bee or something. Buzzing around me like that... You always need attention?
Dean is almost looking up to Brando, who towers above him by a couple of inches. Brando's face looks daunt and wide open. Dean is trying to make himself look presentable and immaculate like Brando, pulling and fluffing his shirt and jacket.
BRANDO
It's everyman for himself. Just keep your head above water out here ya' know.*
DEAN
You're not helping me! I dunno what to do.
Dean starts to play with his shirt collar, putting it his mouth. Brando looks at himself in the mirror.
BRANDO
You go against the grain. You gotta live, you gotta be you. You gotta' be James Dean.
DEAN
I am living!
Brando takes a pair of glasses out of Dean's jacket pocket and puts it on. Dean's callow face has flickering uncertainties of adolescence continually passing over it. He then lets loose with a strange, high-pitched giggle. Dean starts to circle Brando and stand straight. He suddenly starts to lose all the Brando mannerisms. Brando smiles at his creation, he's bemused.
BRANDO
Not my fault you can't do it by yourself.
Dean rips his glasses off Brando, puts them on.
DEAN
Funny thing is. I'm not pretending to be someone else. And you are. Don't ever tell me what I can't do! I'll show ya. I'll be great. Just watch me.
Dean shuffles out the bathroom.
CUT TO:
INT. LOUNGE - NIGHT
Clift starts to realize that he is the centre of countless observing eyes and patiently listening ears. A group next to him mutter and huddle together. He is like the prisoner in the centre of an armed camp. He brings a glass to his lips. It's empty. Brando approaches Clift, who is by himself on the same stool, starting to look drunk. Clift pauses and savours a long sip of his Vodka Martini, eyeballing Brando over the rim of the cup.
CLIFT
You'll want lots of these chin wags I take it.
BRANDO
Just talked to Elia Kazan, he's doing this new film, and he said to me to tell you, that he wants us to make James Dean feel like ****... He idolizes us. He's a huge fan of our work. So just tell him to **** off or something.
Clift stares into nothing, chewing up thoughts on Dean. Brando begins pacing like it was his own living room.
BRANDO
He just needs help. He's good. I've seen him act. He's just some lonely confused kid and he needs our help. He's just like us. He doesn't want it easy.
CLIFT
Why exactly do you want him to hate you? --
Suddenly, he coughs into the glass; he pulls out a handkerchief and coughs into it.
BRANDO
Cause sometimes, the only way to truly save someone is by suffering a little yourself. And there's another reason...I think you'd enjoy the challenge... You wanna' see who the better actor is... Prove it. Or do you not have what it takes?
Brando picks up Clift's drink and holds it as bait. CLIFT mind churns. He finally looks up at Brando and smiles.
CUT TO:
INT. POOL ROOM - NIGHT
Clift's shoulders are hunched and pinched. His voice on the verge of breaking, his face is immobile, and he is glassy-eyed. He takes a pool stick and starts to set up the pool table. Clift chews his gum, throws thoughts around in his mind. He makes himself more suitable, his hair becoming more tussled and leaving his jacket mostly off. James Dean is on the other side of the room, like a shadowy, fugitive figure, shoulders hunched, slouching along the wall with a drink in his hand. He notices and moves over to him.
DEAN
Hey, um, Mr. Clift. I'm an actor. I'm James Dean. I wanna be like you guys... You and Brando. You guys are the best. And I'm ambitious... I wanna' get there real fast.
Clift stops, at first profoundly ill at ease, he is at a loss for something to say. He offers Dean a cigarette.
DEAN
That's real kind of you, sir...But I need to know something. Do you think I have what it takes to be a great actor?
Clift pauses; Dean is looking up, plaintively and adoringly, with impatient eyes.
CLIFT
Everyone has more than one thing they're good at...What else do you do.
DEAN
Well truth is sir, I don't have much else.
Clift scratches his head. Dean is cooling down his head with cold water, he doesn't answer. He just looks at him with upward-turned fidgeting eyes. His body huddled against the pool table as if against the cold.
CLIFT
Neither do I… Actor’s life is to maintain his image --
Dean starts to lean against the wall, with his hand clasped and tangled round his head.
DEAN (interrupts)
It's about communicating a message... Brando affects me, but I'm more moved by your work, sir. He's too obvious, but you got more class.
CLIFT
You can't go around saying that about Brando. He's the best.
Dean watches him, absorbing every mannerism and movement.
CLIFT
Stop doing that... You may not like James Dean, but he's all you got. Gotta' make your own way kid...
Several moments pass as Dean's reaction sits pregnantly between them.
DEAN
Who the hell are you to judge me? Hows about you look at yourself in the mirror for a second and write down what you see...
INT. LOUNGE - NIGHT
Curtains on the window choke out the daylight. Clift has a certain calmness about his enduring anguish. He enters the room in a dazed lurch. He sits down next to Brando. Both are drunk, studying people. Brando is cracking and eating some peanuts.
CLIFT
He was so close to being normal.
BRANDO
He didn't wanna be normal. He wanted to be great... I gotta tell ya’… Kazan never called me.
Clift gives Brando a knowing look, as if he already did know.
CLIFT
I never really wanted to reject him. But somehow he just got me to do it.
BRANDO
You wanna’ know something…From the very start of my career; the only actor in this place who interests me is you. And in some strange way I hate you with a passion, I really do, because I want to be better than you. But deep down I know you're better than me. You're my challenge, and my rival, and I want you and me to continue challenging each other. So you gotta’ get it together and clean yourself up.
CLIFT
I gotta’ tell you something. I have spent thirty years trying to get my mother off my back, and I don't need you to take her place. I don’t need you to tell me what to do. So how about you start worrying about your own life and stop trying to save mine...
They drink in silence for several moments. Clift looks at him as if expecting him to speak.
CUT TO:
EXT. OUTSIDE OF THE POOL ROOM - DAWN
Jimmy is looking in on the 'family' he's never allowed to be with. He rubs the tears brimming from his eyes, unsure of where to go; he looks out at the painted dawn sky. His eyes stare out into the distance at the emptiness and hopelessness.
BRANDO (O.S.)
My mother died about a year ago, she was an alcoholic, and on her death bed, she said to me to get along with people, not fight with them. After she passed away…I wandered out of the hospital into the cold dawn. I’d lost the only person who I’d ever truly loved and adored. I lost my muse and my inspiration. And I couldn't cry for her. I couldn’t cry for this divine and girlish, lost heavenly creature. I loved her so much. As a kid I was left alone a lot, abandoned even. I always thought if she loved me enough, and trusted me enough I thought I could rescue her from that whore ****er lazy excuse for a father. I thought if I could save her, somewhere in that process I’d save myself. I dunno. I don't want to be an actor anymore. I want to stop acting. I wanna be something else.
CUT TO:
INT. LOUNGE -- moments later
CLIFT
My ma' was real cold, real obsessive. God that woman hated me. Ma' was more interested in me doing well than being happy... And with her in my life I never knew the joy of being right. She made me feel guilty for everything. I’ve always thought the only way to get away from her was by pretending to be someone else. You wanna' save yourself so badly Marlon, call up your father, forgive him for everything.
BRANDO
That’s my dilemma. Deep down inside, I know I can't ever do that. Not because I hate the bastard. But deep down inside I know that all that pain and all that hatred fuels my talent. Makes me who I am… Makes me Marlon Brando. And the second all that is gone, I won’t have any –
CLIFT (interrupts)
Do you want to be a great actor or do your want to be happy?
They share the look for a moment, appreciating the situation and each other. They both know the answer to his question. Both Brando's and Clift’s eyes are liquid. Their voices are weak and their eyes are slits, but they smile nonetheless.
CLIFT
Good luck Marlon.
MARLON
Yeah. You too...
Hands in his pockets, Brando disappears through the door, Clift stares at the empty doorway for several moments, trying to not look at the empty chair at the opposite end of the table. He takes off his tie.
CUT TO:
INT - BATHROOM - DAWN
Clift is left by himself deep in silence, looking into the mirror. He looks ashamed of himself. He stops looking at the mirror and accidentally drops his glass of drink. His face registers with a mixture of pain, sensitivity, and isolation.
TEXT CARD: Montgomery Clift died in 1966. Having been insecure in his private life and uncertain about his sexual identity, he resorted to drink and drugs and died prematurely at the age of 46. After a car accident disfigured his face, his post-accident career has often been referred to as the "longest suicide in Hollywood history".*
CUT TO:
INT - POOL ROOM - DAWN
Brando is by himself, in a chair, by a phone which is left off the hook. His hand holds an empty glass. He's deep in thought.*
TEXT CARD: Despite making a tremendous comeback in the 1970s, Marlon Brando increasingly devoted himself to political causes, and never hid his contempt for his profession. Towards the end of his life, his notoriety, traumatic family life, and obesity attracted more attention than his late acting career. Although reclusive in his declining years, Brando remained by nature a casual and friendly man until his death in 2004.
CUT TO:
EXT. OUTSIDE OF HOUSE - ROAD - DAWN
Dean is embraced by the cold air. He stumbles*down a foggy and mysterious road.
TEXT CARD: James Dean was killed in a road accident at the age of 24. He made only three films, yet he is now a cult object of timeless fascination.
INT. HOUSE PARTY - LOUNGE - NIGHT
The room is filled with an overabundance of glass and mirrors, no one in the room can quite escape their own reflection. The interior design is of extreme and expensive 50's chic. MARLON BRANDO (early 30s) is chewing gum and probing the crowd for attractive women. He's immaculately groomed and dressed in a fashionable suit with matching tie and pocket handkerchief. He swaggers and poses from one side of the room to the next, showing a lot of aimlessness. He's surrounded by an entourage of friends, acquaintances and associates. He sits down by a table in the middle of the room, leaning his head on his hand, with a vacant and lost expression on his face.
CUT TO:
INT. POOL ROOM - NIGHT
The room is suffocating and limiting, and is crowded by false friends and associates. MONTGOMERY CLIFT (mid 30s) puts a cigarette in his mouth by folding his hand over it and placing it on his lower lip. Clift's face is a cultured one, scholarly in its serious expression, with eyes that stare out with a mixture of wonder and fear. His shoulders are hunched, as though he expects to be attacked at any moment. He is in fine physical condition, though one suspect’s he rarely exercises, with a sleepy, melancholic look about him that contradicts his youth. His suit is false and ill-fitting, hanging on him like a contrived accent. Clift moves towards the pool room bar with an androgynous bounce on his toes when he walks. He sits down on a stool and orders a drink. Clift uncomfortably sinks down into his chair, folding in upon himself in fear, his head leans forward, and his knees point up towards his chin, his hands wrapped around his shins --- like a child in his father's chair. His voice is dry and constrained by his bent over body, strangled and parched by feelings of inadequacy. His unblinking gaze suggests his vague restlessness.
Brando enters the room and quickly dominates the vacant space around him, he looks caged and contained. The room is star struck and literally stops as he walks over to sit down by Clift. He has an athlete's bounce to his walk and a lonely look on his face. He locks his eyes on Clift, and gives him a penetrating almost judgmental, intimating glare. They're both lifeless and still in their chairs. Brando raises his eyebrows giving him the impression of someone who could not easily be surprised. There's a long, daunting silence as they size each other, probing and analyzing, chewing up thoughts in their minds. The level of concentration and attention is intense. Brando is relaxed in his posture, Clift is tense in his. Brando talks into his drink.
BRANDO
You know that's the same atrocious tie you wore the last time we met.
Brando doesn't quite speak clearly, yet he has an air of command and power in his voice, with a slight air of impatience and irritation which suggests he's containing a more volatile and unstable nature.
CLIFT
My mother got it for my birth day.
BRANDO
Your mother always buy you clothes?
CLIFT
What you got against mothers.
BRANDO
Nothin'. I just don't like your tie.
Clift blows smoke in Brando's face. Brando crosses his leg and starts picking the leather on his shoe. He takes Clift's drink and pushes it up and down the table.
CLIFT
You always need attention?
BRANDO
You always need silence?
Clift doesn't answer. He sips some drink and scratches his eye. Sullen and brooding looks on both of their faces. Brando pushes his drink back. Clift flicks some of his cigarette ash into an ashtray.
BRANDO
You know way I see it... Someone once told me a story about how the best actors will always hold something back.
CLIFT
That's a real messed up story.
BRANDO
Most stories are. Wanna’ know my idea of a good story. Characters meet, forge ties, fall in love and are all separated by death… all before dawn. It’s Romeo and Juliet. Ya know?
CLIFT scratches his eyebrow. He looks at Marlon unnervingly with an unblinking stare.
CLIFT
You want to know what makes us two so goddamn different.
Brando pretends to sleep, which immediately annoys Clift.
CLIFT
I don't like wasting my time on something I don't believe in... Whereas. You'd happily take the money.
Brando takes the gum out of his mouth and has a swig of Clift's vodka.
BRANDO
Be kind to your body. You'll miss it when it's gone. And you wanna know something. I've never felt more alive. And that's the truth.
Brando gets up; he's physically taunting Clift. Their cold mocking sneers dig deep into new levels of detestation. Brando's eyes are wide open, he's not yet defeated. Clift is indifferent. Brando starts to smile benevolently, though always contemplating his next move. Brando gets up and leaves to the bathroom.
Cut to:
INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
The bathroom is carefully arranged of mirrors and a suffocating bright light. JAMES DEAN (mid-20s) is slouching and sulking, his body leaning towards the mirror, staring intensely into his own eyes. He takes off his thick black glasses. His deep tired eyes give him a naturally withdrawn wincing look. His face floating in lonesomeness, with a bitter look that has scorn on the lip. He is wearing grungy, dirty blue jeans, scuffed cowboy boots and a black worn out leather jacket. His hair is greasy and dishevelled. His dress sense is self-consciously sloppy and purposely unkempt. He looks like a human ashtray. Brando swaggers into the bathroom, gives himself a quick look into the mirror, and starts urinating in the urinal. He immediately casts a shadow over Dean. He notices Dean in the corner of his eye.
DEAN
(Hesitant) Excuse me, do you, do you have a light? Can I borrow a lighter for a second?
Brando zips up, and gives Dean a cigarette lighter. Brando crosses his arms and slouches against the wall. Dean places a cigarette in his mouth by folding his hand over it and placing it on his lower lip. Brando realizes that he stole that mannerism from Clift.
BRANDO
I've met you before haven't I?
DEAN
You do look familiar, how do I know you.
Both are acting as a means of getting acquainted. Dean's speech is a secret mumble; he fiddles around with the cigarette with the energy of a restless, impatient teenager.
DEAN
I'm James Dean. I'm an actor.
BRANDO
You don't look too much like an actor. You look more like an immigrant.
Brando smiles playfully. Dean is indifferent. Dean starts to copy and mimic Brando's slouch, his loaded silence and sullen expression. Brando doesn't answer, his mind is elsewhere.
DEAN
Just give me a chance, sir. I can be great. Brando levels himself with Dean, he starts to flicker his eyes. Dean shuffles his feet.
BRANDO
Yeah... I don't want to be great. I just wanna' give the audience something special... Communicate a message... I dunno... Acting seemed a good idea at the time.
Brando starts to manifest the mental stress and self pity of a man half his former self. Brando's pain is deeply felt, and muted in expression. Dean nervously fidgets with his shoe.
BRANDO
Monty's the actor. He's the genius you measure yourself against kid... Clift was first.
DEAN
Don't mean he's better.
BRANDO
Yeah it does... You know what I hate about the best actors... They're constantly deceiving you...You see I'm an actor cause I don't mind bruising my soul.*
DEAN
I'm an actor cause, er, I hate my mother and father. To me, my father's just a man who sent me away with my mother's coffin. He didn't even give me a chance. That's why I wanna show 'em... That I can be ****in' great without them.
BRANDO
Sounds familiar. Hated my dad too.
Dean bounces around him. Brando is absolutely still. He is sullen and depressed looking. His eyes in particular seem sad and devoid of hope.
BRANDO
You remind me of a bee or something. Buzzing around me like that... You always need attention?
Dean is almost looking up to Brando, who towers above him by a couple of inches. Brando's face looks daunt and wide open. Dean is trying to make himself look presentable and immaculate like Brando, pulling and fluffing his shirt and jacket.
BRANDO
It's everyman for himself. Just keep your head above water out here ya' know.*
DEAN
You're not helping me! I dunno what to do.
Dean starts to play with his shirt collar, putting it his mouth. Brando looks at himself in the mirror.
BRANDO
You go against the grain. You gotta live, you gotta be you. You gotta' be James Dean.
DEAN
I am living!
Brando takes a pair of glasses out of Dean's jacket pocket and puts it on. Dean's callow face has flickering uncertainties of adolescence continually passing over it. He then lets loose with a strange, high-pitched giggle. Dean starts to circle Brando and stand straight. He suddenly starts to lose all the Brando mannerisms. Brando smiles at his creation, he's bemused.
BRANDO
Not my fault you can't do it by yourself.
Dean rips his glasses off Brando, puts them on.
DEAN
Funny thing is. I'm not pretending to be someone else. And you are. Don't ever tell me what I can't do! I'll show ya. I'll be great. Just watch me.
Dean shuffles out the bathroom.
CUT TO:
INT. LOUNGE - NIGHT
Clift starts to realize that he is the centre of countless observing eyes and patiently listening ears. A group next to him mutter and huddle together. He is like the prisoner in the centre of an armed camp. He brings a glass to his lips. It's empty. Brando approaches Clift, who is by himself on the same stool, starting to look drunk. Clift pauses and savours a long sip of his Vodka Martini, eyeballing Brando over the rim of the cup.
CLIFT
You'll want lots of these chin wags I take it.
BRANDO
Just talked to Elia Kazan, he's doing this new film, and he said to me to tell you, that he wants us to make James Dean feel like ****... He idolizes us. He's a huge fan of our work. So just tell him to **** off or something.
Clift stares into nothing, chewing up thoughts on Dean. Brando begins pacing like it was his own living room.
BRANDO
He just needs help. He's good. I've seen him act. He's just some lonely confused kid and he needs our help. He's just like us. He doesn't want it easy.
CLIFT
Why exactly do you want him to hate you? --
Suddenly, he coughs into the glass; he pulls out a handkerchief and coughs into it.
BRANDO
Cause sometimes, the only way to truly save someone is by suffering a little yourself. And there's another reason...I think you'd enjoy the challenge... You wanna' see who the better actor is... Prove it. Or do you not have what it takes?
Brando picks up Clift's drink and holds it as bait. CLIFT mind churns. He finally looks up at Brando and smiles.
CUT TO:
INT. POOL ROOM - NIGHT
Clift's shoulders are hunched and pinched. His voice on the verge of breaking, his face is immobile, and he is glassy-eyed. He takes a pool stick and starts to set up the pool table. Clift chews his gum, throws thoughts around in his mind. He makes himself more suitable, his hair becoming more tussled and leaving his jacket mostly off. James Dean is on the other side of the room, like a shadowy, fugitive figure, shoulders hunched, slouching along the wall with a drink in his hand. He notices and moves over to him.
DEAN
Hey, um, Mr. Clift. I'm an actor. I'm James Dean. I wanna be like you guys... You and Brando. You guys are the best. And I'm ambitious... I wanna' get there real fast.
Clift stops, at first profoundly ill at ease, he is at a loss for something to say. He offers Dean a cigarette.
DEAN
That's real kind of you, sir...But I need to know something. Do you think I have what it takes to be a great actor?
Clift pauses; Dean is looking up, plaintively and adoringly, with impatient eyes.
CLIFT
Everyone has more than one thing they're good at...What else do you do.
DEAN
Well truth is sir, I don't have much else.
Clift scratches his head. Dean is cooling down his head with cold water, he doesn't answer. He just looks at him with upward-turned fidgeting eyes. His body huddled against the pool table as if against the cold.
CLIFT
Neither do I… Actor’s life is to maintain his image --
Dean starts to lean against the wall, with his hand clasped and tangled round his head.
DEAN (interrupts)
It's about communicating a message... Brando affects me, but I'm more moved by your work, sir. He's too obvious, but you got more class.
CLIFT
You can't go around saying that about Brando. He's the best.
Dean watches him, absorbing every mannerism and movement.
CLIFT
Stop doing that... You may not like James Dean, but he's all you got. Gotta' make your own way kid...
Several moments pass as Dean's reaction sits pregnantly between them.
DEAN
Who the hell are you to judge me? Hows about you look at yourself in the mirror for a second and write down what you see...
INT. LOUNGE - NIGHT
Curtains on the window choke out the daylight. Clift has a certain calmness about his enduring anguish. He enters the room in a dazed lurch. He sits down next to Brando. Both are drunk, studying people. Brando is cracking and eating some peanuts.
CLIFT
He was so close to being normal.
BRANDO
He didn't wanna be normal. He wanted to be great... I gotta tell ya’… Kazan never called me.
Clift gives Brando a knowing look, as if he already did know.
CLIFT
I never really wanted to reject him. But somehow he just got me to do it.
BRANDO
You wanna’ know something…From the very start of my career; the only actor in this place who interests me is you. And in some strange way I hate you with a passion, I really do, because I want to be better than you. But deep down I know you're better than me. You're my challenge, and my rival, and I want you and me to continue challenging each other. So you gotta’ get it together and clean yourself up.
CLIFT
I gotta’ tell you something. I have spent thirty years trying to get my mother off my back, and I don't need you to take her place. I don’t need you to tell me what to do. So how about you start worrying about your own life and stop trying to save mine...
They drink in silence for several moments. Clift looks at him as if expecting him to speak.
CUT TO:
EXT. OUTSIDE OF THE POOL ROOM - DAWN
Jimmy is looking in on the 'family' he's never allowed to be with. He rubs the tears brimming from his eyes, unsure of where to go; he looks out at the painted dawn sky. His eyes stare out into the distance at the emptiness and hopelessness.
BRANDO (O.S.)
My mother died about a year ago, she was an alcoholic, and on her death bed, she said to me to get along with people, not fight with them. After she passed away…I wandered out of the hospital into the cold dawn. I’d lost the only person who I’d ever truly loved and adored. I lost my muse and my inspiration. And I couldn't cry for her. I couldn’t cry for this divine and girlish, lost heavenly creature. I loved her so much. As a kid I was left alone a lot, abandoned even. I always thought if she loved me enough, and trusted me enough I thought I could rescue her from that whore ****er lazy excuse for a father. I thought if I could save her, somewhere in that process I’d save myself. I dunno. I don't want to be an actor anymore. I want to stop acting. I wanna be something else.
CUT TO:
INT. LOUNGE -- moments later
CLIFT
My ma' was real cold, real obsessive. God that woman hated me. Ma' was more interested in me doing well than being happy... And with her in my life I never knew the joy of being right. She made me feel guilty for everything. I’ve always thought the only way to get away from her was by pretending to be someone else. You wanna' save yourself so badly Marlon, call up your father, forgive him for everything.
BRANDO
That’s my dilemma. Deep down inside, I know I can't ever do that. Not because I hate the bastard. But deep down inside I know that all that pain and all that hatred fuels my talent. Makes me who I am… Makes me Marlon Brando. And the second all that is gone, I won’t have any –
CLIFT (interrupts)
Do you want to be a great actor or do your want to be happy?
They share the look for a moment, appreciating the situation and each other. They both know the answer to his question. Both Brando's and Clift’s eyes are liquid. Their voices are weak and their eyes are slits, but they smile nonetheless.
CLIFT
Good luck Marlon.
MARLON
Yeah. You too...
Hands in his pockets, Brando disappears through the door, Clift stares at the empty doorway for several moments, trying to not look at the empty chair at the opposite end of the table. He takes off his tie.
CUT TO:
INT - BATHROOM - DAWN
Clift is left by himself deep in silence, looking into the mirror. He looks ashamed of himself. He stops looking at the mirror and accidentally drops his glass of drink. His face registers with a mixture of pain, sensitivity, and isolation.
TEXT CARD: Montgomery Clift died in 1966. Having been insecure in his private life and uncertain about his sexual identity, he resorted to drink and drugs and died prematurely at the age of 46. After a car accident disfigured his face, his post-accident career has often been referred to as the "longest suicide in Hollywood history".*
CUT TO:
INT - POOL ROOM - DAWN
Brando is by himself, in a chair, by a phone which is left off the hook. His hand holds an empty glass. He's deep in thought.*
TEXT CARD: Despite making a tremendous comeback in the 1970s, Marlon Brando increasingly devoted himself to political causes, and never hid his contempt for his profession. Towards the end of his life, his notoriety, traumatic family life, and obesity attracted more attention than his late acting career. Although reclusive in his declining years, Brando remained by nature a casual and friendly man until his death in 2004.
CUT TO:
EXT. OUTSIDE OF HOUSE - ROAD - DAWN
Dean is embraced by the cold air. He stumbles*down a foggy and mysterious road.
TEXT CARD: James Dean was killed in a road accident at the age of 24. He made only three films, yet he is now a cult object of timeless fascination.