| THE MOON ABOVE THE WHEELER BUILDING LATE AT NIGHT (EXT.)
TITLE: "One-thirty a.m."
CUT TO:
ANDREW AT WORK IN THE FIRM'S LIBRARY (INT./NIGHT) ...
Andrew's fingers FLY across the keys of a notebook computer.
Needing a reference, he shoves his rolling chair away from the
computer... opens a reference book... grabs a carton of Chinese
food... (NOTE: The library may be equipped with a computer terminal
which Andrew uses for reference, rather than a book.)
Andrew eats sauteed string beans with chopsticks, finding a relevant
citation:
ANDREW
Ah hah! Yes!
(chewing a string bean)
Rentworth v. Pennsylvania... court of appeals affirms jury award
of punitive damages for
wrongful interference with prospective economic
relations...
A SHADOW falls across Andrew. He IGNORES IT.
ANGLE: TWO MEN IN SILHOUETTE. WALTER KENTON says:
KENTON
Look at this fucking guy. He's an animal.
Andrew's hands DO NOT LEAVE the keyboard.
ANDREW Walter.
The SECOND MAN steps forward, a silhouette becoming visible This
is BOB SEIDMAN. He and Kenton wear tuxedos.
SEIDMAN
Are we interrupting, Andy?
ANDREW
In a word, Bob...
SEIDMAN
Charles is right behind me.
ANOTHER SILHOUETTED FIGURE APPEARS. This image has a
horror-film feeling to it.
Andrew WHIPS AROUND to face them.
ANDREW
I was just about to take a break. Good evening, Charles.
CHARLES WHEELER, also in tuxedo, remains in shadow.
WHEELER
Andy? Could you step into my office for a sec?
(deadpan)
I feel like firing someone tonight.
Andrew throws an arm over Seidman's shoulder.
ANDREW
We're gonna miss you around here, Bob...
CUT ON LAUGHTER TO:
THE RECEPTION AREA (INT./NIGHT): A DOMINO'S PIZZA DELIVERY
MAN, waiting for clearance from a SECURITY GUARD, on
Andrew's dim and quiet floor, WATCHES AS...
Seidman, Kenton and Andrew follow Charles Wheeler up a wide, carpeted
staircase. Wheeler finishes a story and everyone LAUGHS...
CUT TO:
A BOX OF CIGARS BEING HANDED AROUND (INT./NIGHT) ...
SEIDMAN
Andy's expressed a keen interest in the Kronos Inc. situation, Charles.
Is that correct, Andy?
The lawyers have gathered in Wheeler's spacious office, with its
floor-to-ceiling view of the Philadelphia skyline.
ANDREW
The fate of the participants interests me, yes sir.
Wheeler, Kenton and Seidman proceed with the male ritual of preparing
cigars to be smoked: snipping the ends with a brass clip, rolling
them over their tongues to wet them, sliding the cigars in and out
of their rounded mouths.
Andrew, holding a cigar but NOT preparing to light it, watches
with a not completely concealed twinkle in his eye.
Wheeler leans back in his chair, swirling a brandy snifter. He
exhales cigar smoke with a great deal of pleasure.
KENTON
It's good to be King, hey Charles?
WHEELER
Kings are out of fashion. I'd rather be thought of as a benevolent
tyrant.
(prompting Andrew)
It's an anti-trust action.
ANDREW
It is, and it isn't, Charles. Macrosystem's new software copies
all the best-known elements of Kronos' spreadsheet program. If they're
allowed to
sell it, Kronos will get undersold right out of business. For me,
the legal principle, involved is
copyright infringement.
WHEELER
Bearing in mind that Bill Wright, the chairman of
MacroSystems, is a close, personal friend of mine... which side
of this mess would you desire to be
on, Andy? And don't allow my very tight, personal relationship with
Bill to influence your answer in
any way.
Andrew knows this is a test. And he loves it.
ANDREW
Sorry, Charles, but...
Andrew is distracted -- BY A LIGHT FALLING ACROSS HIS FACE.
ANDREW (CONT.)
I'd like to see Kronos win.
Walter Kenton has shifted a lamp, so that its LIGHT FALLS ACROSS
ANDREW'S FACE, REVEALING: a faint purple blotch about the size of
a quarter, much like the blotches we saw on the HISPANIC PATIENT
in Andrew's doctor's office.
KENTON
Why, Beckett?
ANDREW
Because they deserve to, Walter.
Andrew lifts his hand, finding that his hair has been pushed back,
revealing the blotch.
He stands, nonchalantly running a hand through his hair to cover
the blotch.
ANDREW (CONT.)
If MacroSystems wins, an energetic, young company will be destroyed,
five thousand Americans will be
out of work. Moreover, the laws of copyright and anti-trust were
enacted to prevent exactly the
kind of bullshit Macrosystems is trying to pull.
SEIDMAN
Andy, do you know who reps Kronos Inc.?
ANDREW
Bailey, Brackman.
WHEELER
Get with the program, Andy. As of this evening, about 8:05 this
evening, right after the soup
course... Kronos Incorporated is represented by Wyant Wheeler Hellerman
Tetlow and Brown. Or,
more specifically, senior associate Andrew Beckett.
A moment before it sinks in, then: Andrew clenches his fist in
a victory salute.
ANDREW
Yes!
SEIDMAN
You'll have to get right on it, Andy, we're up against the statute
of limitations.
An ASSOCIATE LAWYER in shirtsleeves taps on the office door.ASSOCIATE
LAWYER Tokyo on four, Bob.
SEIDMAN
Great. Excuse me, fellas.
(picking up a phone, speaking Japanese)
Connichiwa. Itsumo osewa ni nari mashita. Arigato gozaimasu.
Andrew offers his hand to Walter Kenton.
ANDREW
Thanks, Walter.
KENTON
What's that on your forehead, pal?
ANDREW
Whacked with a racquetball.
(taking Wheeler's hand)
I appreciate your faith in my abilities.
WHEELER
Faith, Andy, is the belief in something for which we have no evidence.
It doesn't apply to this situation.
(slapping his shoulder)
Go home. I mean, get back to work.
Andrew and Wheeler are eye-to-eye, an intimate moment.
ANDREW
(warmly, softly)
Thanks, Charles.
WHEELER
(with a father's affection)
No sweat, buddy.
Smiling, Andrew exits the office.
CLOSE ON WALTER KENTON, THINKING...
CONTINUOUS CUT TO:
ANDREW STEPPING INTO THE EMPTY CORRIDOR, TAKING A FEW STEPS away
from Wheeler's office (INT./NIGHT), then...... DOING a JOYFUL END
ZONE DANCE, running in place the way football players do when then
score a touch down, saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!" to himself,
soundlessly.
The SOUND OF CLANGING METAL interrupts Andrew: HELENA, a maintenance
worker is emptying a trash can. She's seen his little dance and
starts to laugh.
Smiling, Andrew puts the unlit cigar into his mouth, WINKS at Helena
and says:
ANDREW
(in a funny, kind of medieval way)
It's good to be King.
CUT TO:
ESTABLISHING: ANDREW'S LOFT BUILDING (EXT. DAY)
TITLE: "Ten days later."
CUT TO:
CLOSE ON ANDREW'S FACE MARKED WITH FOUR BLOTCHES (WE'RE IN Andrew's
loft -- INT./DAY)
It's a mirror image. The BLOTCHES vary from the size of a dime,
to the size of a half-dollar. He looks awful.
A YOUNG, BLACK WOMAN'S FINGER applies makeup to Andrew's face,
trying to cover the blotches. This is his friend CHANDRA.
CHANDRA (O.S.)
You want to apply the foundation as evenly as you can, Andy. You
don't want to look like you've
thrown it on with a spoon.
ANDREW (O.S.)
Uh huh.
CAMERA PULLS BACK REVEALING Andrew sitting at a table in his loft,
a towel around his neck, protecting his shirt from makeup. Chandra
applies the makeup gently, supervised by another friend
named ALAN. (Andrew's loft has been turned into a lawyer's command
post: stacks of books, documents, etc.). A third friend, BRUNO,
sits in the corner, flipping through channels on the TV.
CHANDRA
Okay. You try.
Andrew tries applying makeup to his face.
ANDREW
Chandra? Don't you think this color's a little... orange for me?
CHANDRA
Tahitian Bronze works best on lesions.
ALAN
Think of it as the "I just back from Aruba" look.
IN THE BACKGROUND: Andrew's fax machine receives a fax in Andrew's
"work area": desk, personal computer, etc.).
BRUNO
I got it.
Bruno removes the fax from the machine, walking it over to Andrew,
handing Andrew the fax, while munching an apple.
ANDREW
(giving the fax a quick scan)
Thanks, Bruno.
(to Alan and Chandra)
I've been out of the office four days. I don't want them to think
I've been to the beach.
(searching for something)
Okay. Check this out.
Andrew puts on a pair of big glasses with tortoise shell frames,
meant to help conceal the blotches.
ANDREW (CONT.)
Hides everything, right? What do you think?
CHANDRA
You know who you look like, Andy? That actor, in that movie. Not
the one where he was autistic, the one where he dressed up like
a lady on a soap
opera...
ALAN
Dustin Hoffman.
ANDREW
(horrified)
Tootsie!
BRUNO
Right.
CHANDRA
You want to try Light Egyptian?
Suddenly, Andrew winces, gripping his gut.
CHANDRA (CONT.)
What?
ANDREW
(clearly in pain)
Excuse me a sec...
Andrew starts out of the room -- suddenly HAVING TO RUN.
CHANDRA
Just like my cousin Fredo.
CAMERA HOLDS ON Chandra, Alan and Bruno. SOUND OF BATHROOM DOOR
slamming shut.
Bruno saunters across the room and knocks on the bathroom door.
BRUNO
You okay, Andy?
CONTINUOUS CUT TO:
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