COMPLEX

FADE IN:

INT. BARE ROOM - DAY

A TV flicks from channel to channel. Endless variations on a

theme of trashy chat show.

Idents in the bottom corner of the screen reveal the subject

matter of each show - "My partner doesn't know I'm HIV",
"Mom, why am I black?", "My dog is gay" etc.

Long-lost siblings hug each other. Tearful women confess to

infidelity. Rival lovers throw punches.

The audience whoops and hollers and laps it up.

Sitting on a couch in front of the TV is ED KANE. He's 22

and has the blonde hair and defined bones of a once-handsome
man. Now he's unshaven and unkempt, lounging in shorts and a
dressing gown. The room around him is a pit.

Bars cover the windows.

He stares at the screen with a blank expression. Looking

closer, we realize it could only be a blank expression.

Because his eyes aren't there.

In their place are two semi-healed-over holes, seeping blood.

When it finally begins, the voice-over is the weary sermon of

a man who has seen too much.

ED V.O.
"I could a tale unfold...

We MOVE IN closer as the flickering of the TV screen reflects

across his face.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
...whose lightest word / Would harrow up
thy soul, freeze thy young blood...

Ed brings his hands up to his face.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
...Make thy two eyes, like stars, start
from their spheres, / Thy knotted and
combined locks to part / And each
particular hair to stand on end..."

A single tear escapes from behind the mess that used to be

his eyes, and rolls down his cheek.

DISSOLVE TO:
 2.

INT. HOSPITAL RECEPTION - EVENING

It's Christmas Eve, and the hospital reception is festively

decked out with holly, tinsel and a garishly lit tree in the
corner of the waiting area.

The clothing, hairstyles and demeanor of the patients and

nurses in the waiting area signal that we're stuck somewhere
in New York in the early 90s.

ANGLE ON:

JOANNA REGAN, young even for a 19 year-old. She's heavily

pregnant and walks with difficulty towards the reception
area, carrying an overnight bag.

She looks lost and a little scared. A kindly faced black

RECEPTIONIST looks up.

RECEPTIONIST
Can I help you ma'am?

JOANNA
Yes, I'm er...here for a birth.

A male nurse suddenly lets off a party popper behind the

receptionist. She jumps at the BANG, and turns around to
SMACK the culprit whilst giving directions to Joanna.

RECEPTIONIST
You carry on down to the end, honey. A
nurse will show you where to go.

Joanna walks off unsteadily down the corridor. The

receptionist scolds the popper-offender.

RECEPTIONIST (CONT'D)
What you doing frightening me and the
young lady like that for? We don't want
her having her baby in my nice clean
reception, do we?

INT. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD - EVENING

Joanna sits on her bed and slowly unpacks her few belongings
into a small bed-side unit. Wash bag, a single good-luck
card, a raggedy old teddy bear.

In the bed next to her lies a dark-haired woman, her already-

greying husband holding her hand. Both look anxious.

Joanna smiles at them. The husband smiles back at her.

HUSBAND
I'd hold your hand as well if I could,
but I'm booked up over here I'm afraid.

Joanna LAUGHS.

(CONTINUED)
 3.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA
That's alright. I've brought moral
support.

She holds up the teddy bear and waves it at the couple, who
LAUGH obligingly.

Perched on the edge of her bed, Joanna puts her hands over
her large stomach and feels the life inside her. The other
woman looks over at her.

WIFE
What are your dilations coming in at?

JOANNA
Twenty minutes.
(beat)
You?

WIFE
Same. Getting close.

JOANNA
Yeah, race you.

Another beat as they all think of something to say.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
(finally)
Joanna. Joanna Regan.

HUSBAND
Oh, excuse me. I'm Lionel Kane. This
brave lady is my wife. Another Joanna.

Just then, both Joannas GASP as they are hit by another

dilation at exactly the same time. They hold their breath
until the moment passes, then turn to look at each other and
LAUGH.

As Joanna Kane lets out her breath she WHEEZES a little and
COUGHS. She takes out an asthma inhaler and has a few puffs,
soon getting over it.

Our Joanna pivots herself around into a lying position and

waits for something to happen.

INT. HOSPITAL DELIVERY ROOM - EVENING

Our Joanna is lying on her back. The delivery team hover

around her, making sure that everything is running smoothly.
Joanna SCREAMS in pain.

The handsome young DOCTOR ROBERTS encourages Joanna.

DOCTOR ROBERTS
That's fantastic Joanna. Keep screaming
like that and the little one...
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 4.
CONTINUED:
DOCTOR ROBERTS (CONT'D)
(noticing something)
...little guy will be out before ... you
... know ... it!

With a final movement, her baby boy is BORN to the world. A

completely drained Joanna takes gulping deep breaths as she
lies on the table.

The baby is brought to its mother, wrapped in fresh blankets.

Joanna bursts into tears of joy when she sees the adoring
face and huge blue eyes staring back at her. She holds him
close and tight to her chest.

INT. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD - NIGHT

Our Joanna is wheeled down the aisle in a wheelchair,

cradling her newborn babe in her arms. She arrives at her
bed and is soon tucked comfortably under the covers.

NURSE
I'll be back in about twenty minutes to
put the little boy to bed. You might
like to try feeding him, he looks a
little hungry to me.

The nurse walks off.

Joanna starts to breast feed her baby. She looks over to the
bed next to hers. Joanna Kane is doing exactly the same, as
her adoring husband looks on.

All three BEAM at each other. Joanna Kane waves her baby's
hand at our Joanna.

JOANNA KANE
Edward Arthur Lionel Kane, say hello to
Joanna and...?

JOANNA
Julius. Beautiful Julius. After his
dad.

JOANNA KANE
And where is the proud father?

JOANNA
With his wife.

The Kings look at each other and let this pass.

JOANNA KANE
It was worth it, though, wasn't it?

JOANNA
Oh yes.

Lionel Kane takes his wife's hand and whispers in her ear.

(CONTINUED)
 5.
CONTINUED:

LIONEL
Look at his big brown eyes.
(beat)
I'm so proud of you. I love you so much.
This is only the beginning.

The Kings kiss and enjoy a moment of marital bliss.

Joanna stares down at young Julius, who stares back at her.

The unity of mother and child has never seemed more complete.

Joanna snaps out of her trance and notices Lionel standing by

her bed.

LIONEL (CONT'D)
Would you mind taking our photograph?

JOANNA
Not at all.

Lionel hands Joanna an early prototype Polaroid camera and

the Kings POSE for a minute with their baby as Joanna takes
the shot. The camera SPITS OUT the photograph.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Do you think you could possibly return
the favor?

LIONEL
Of course.

Joanna poses with her boy. The image is frozen as the photo
gets taken - a smiling Joanna and her child, alone in the
world but with each other to live for.

INT. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD - LATER

Joanna holds her child to her breast. She's sitting up in

bed, stroking his blonde hair across his brow.

INT. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD - LATER

Two young night nurses come down the aisle in deep

conversation. One of them bursts into giggles. They arrive
at the beds to pick up the babies.

Joanna gives her son a long loving stare before she lets the
night nurse take him away from her.

The baby immediately starts screaming noisily as the two

night nurses walk off down the hallway. Joanna Kane smiles
at our Joanna.

JOANNA KANE
He misses you.

(CONTINUED)
 6.
CONTINUED:

The noise of the night nurses' giggling becomes fainter.

Lionel Kane whispers something into his wife's ear, kisses
her on the forehead and follows the nurses out.

Our Joanna closes her eyes with a blissful smile on her face.

INT. HOSPITAL RECEPTION - NIGHT

The two night nurses, SUE and ROXANNE, spill out of the
maternity ward into the reception area, where a noisy
Christmas party is in full swing. Lionel Kane walks through
reception and out into the night.

An orderly wearing a Santa Claus beard comes up to the two

nurses with a couple of plastic beakers full of mulled wine.
One nurse turns to the other.

SUE
Roxie, I'll look after your drink if you
put these two to bed?

ROXANNE
(good-naturedly annoyed)
Jesus Sue, why do I always have to...

Sue presses her child into Roxanne's arms.

SUE
Relax Roxie, it's Christmas! Hurry up
and get back here as quick as you can.

She turns her back on Roxanne and begins to flirt cheekily

with the orderly.

SUE (CONT'D)
Wanna see me dress up in my nurse's
outfit?

Roxanne gathers the new child into her arms and scampers off
down the corridor with her two bundles.

INT. INFANT DORM - NIGHT

Roxanne HURRIES into the room and goes over to the two cots.
Each has a name on a board at the end of it. She's just
about to put one baby into one cot when a moment of doubt
crosses her mind.

She starts to put the baby in the other cot instead, but
again stops herself. She frowns.

The nurse tries to find the boys' wrist tags. To her dismay,
they are both wearing just festive Christmas ribbons, each
saying "Joanna's little helper".

ROXANNE
Oh shit.

(CONTINUED)
 7.
CONTINUED:

She glances anxiously over her shoulder towards the door,

behind which the sound of a raucous party is heard.

She stares at the two screaming bundles. Then at the two

cots. Then again at the two bundles.

She quickly deposits one baby in each cot and then hurries
out of the door, switching off the light as she leaves.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. INFANT DORM - NIGHT

All is quiet in the hospital.

We move slowly in on the two cots, side by side. One baby

sleeps soundly. The other stirs, then begins to COUGH and
SPLUTTER, first softly and then with increasing fervor until
the noise becomes a high-pitched, unnatural SCREAM.

The lights to the infant dorm are flicked on by a bleary-eyed

Roxanne, a piece of streamer in her hair. She rubs her eyes
for a minute and takes in the situation.

Seeing the state of the screaming child, she rushes over and
quickly studies its condition.

ROXANNE
Oh no. This is not happening.

She picks up the child and speeds out of the door. We hold
for a minute on the other child, sleeping soundly.

INT. TRAUMA - NIGHT

Roxanne rushes into the ER reception area, a mess in the

aftermath of the party. A doctor and a nurse make out in a
dark corner. Other revellers lie asleep on the couches.

ROXANNE
(at the top of her voice)
Okay everyone. I've got a newborn's just
gone hypo, he's starting to defibrillate.

Groans of complaint from the waking medics.

ROXANNE (CONT'D)
I need saline and I need CPR and I need
it quick.

The Emergency Room soon mobilizes into action.

Roxanne and a hastily-assembled team move quickly and noisily

into surgery.

FADE TO BLACK.
 8.

INT. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD - MORNING

Joanna slowly wakes from a deep, blissful sleep. The morning

sun shafts across her bed as she stretches the sleep out of
her bones.

Somewhere in the ward a radio plays "Jingle Bells".

Roxanne hovers nearby, looking absolutely terrible. She

spots that Joanna is waking and walks quickly away down the
aisle.

Joanna glances over at the bed where Joanna Kane lay. She's
no longer there. New sheets are tightly tucked into the
mattress.

Roxanne returns, walking behind a severe-looking Doctor

Roberts. They reach Joanna's bed.

JOANNA
Merry Christmas, Doc.

DOCTOR ROBERTS
Er, yes indeed Miss Regan.

Beat. Joanna looks at Roberts curiously.

DOCTOR ROBERTS (CONT'D)

Miss Regan, I'm afraid I have some
terrible news.

Joanna instinctively knows what he's about to say and all the
life drains out of her body. She looks like she's just been
punched in the stomach.

JOANNA
No. No, don't say that.

DOCTOR ROBERTS
During the night, your child developed
severe asthmatic complications...

JOANNA
(breaking up)
No...

DOCTOR ROBERTS
We steadied his breathing on a respirator
for some time. But every time we took
him off the machine he would stop
breathing and would enter into
progressively deeper and deeper comas.

Joanna is still shaking her head, still trying to deny what

she's hearing. Roberts pauses for a while before speaking
again.

(CONTINUED)
 9.
CONTINUED:

DOCTOR ROBERTS (CONT'D)

At five thirty this morning we had no
choice but to turn off the life support.
We chose not to wake you.
(beat)
I'm so sorry.

Roberts rest his hands on Joanna's. Words fail him and would
be useless anyway.

The doctor walks slowly away with Roxanne. As he walks down

the aisle, he speaks in a low voice to Roxanne.

DOCTOR ROBERTS (CONT'D)

Get a nurse to sit with her until someone
comes to pick her up. And for Christ's
sake try and find out why there was no
history of asthma recorded on that kid's
file. Information like that would have
come in rather useful last night.
(beat)
Keep this quiet. I'm not getting sued
for fucking negligence on Christmas Day.

He strides off down the corridor. Behind him, still bathed

in glorious sunlight, lies Joanna, crumpled and sobbing
uncontrollably.

Her WAILS echo painfully in our ears as we leave the

maternity ward with Roxanne.

INT. STATION WAGON - DAY

Lionel and Joanna Kane drive through the traffic-less streets

of Westchester, singing along to the carols that play over
the radio.

The baby in Joanna's arms is CRYING loudly. Joanna is

beginning to panic.

JOANNA KANE
I think something's the matter. I think
we should take him back to the hospital.

LIONEL
Nothing's the matter, alright? He's just
never been in a car before.

They drive on in silence for a short while.

JOANNA KANE
Are you sure?

Lionel is trying to keep his patience.

LIONEL
Remember what you were like when I tried
to take you sailing?

(CONTINUED)
 10.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA KANE
That was different.

LIONEL
You bawled more than he did. He's just
taking after his mom.

Beat.

JOANNA KANE
Got your hair, though. Hope he's not
grey by the time we get him home.

Joanna giggles cheekily and continues to study the baby for a

while.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

He looks so different in the daylight.
After he's been washed off and had a good
night's sleep. His eyes look so much
brighter.

LIONEL
Are you sure we've got the right baby?
Quick, I'll go back to the hospital and
trade him in for a new one.

Joanna slaps her husband's arm.

JOANNA KANE
Stop that. I like this one just fine.
Now come on, I want to get home, get
little Edward tucked up in his new bed.

With both parents happy, notwithstanding the ruckus coming

from the heap of blankets in Joanna's arms, they drive on.

INT. DOCTOR ROBERTS' OFFICE - DAY

Roxanne nervously hands two medical files over to Doctor

Roberts, who's seated behind a desk. He looks them over.

One reads "Julius Regan" at the top. He scans down it.

Under "Parents' Medical History" there is a blank column.

His face darkening, he scans the entries on the other file,

marked "Edward Arthur Lionel Kane".

And there he sees it.

"Mother and maternal grandmother prescribed Ventilin VS6

inhaler for asthma treatment...".

Roberts looks up from the file and stares at the scared

figure of Roxanne.

DOCTOR ROBERTS
Bury it.
 11.

INT. CAR - DAY

CLOSE-UP on the baby, finally sleeping sound in Joanna's

arms.

EXT. KANE HOUSEHOLD - DAY

The car pulls up the driveway to an idyllic domestic scene.

The front lawn is evenly blanketed with fresh snow, which
covers the overhanging willows that surround the garden.

The front door is proudly adorned with a large wreath and the
welcoming glow of a Christmas tree shines out from behind the
curtains of the front room. It's not much, but it's home.

Lionel and Joanna gently carry their precious cargo from the
car and in through the front door. We pull back, as if to
leave them to enjoy their happy time in peace.

MATCH CUT TO:

EXT. KANE HOUSEHOLD - DAY

The snow is gone. The years have passed. And they haven't
been kind.

The house looks older, almost dilapidated. The lawn is cut

too short and is scorched. The flower beds are overgrown.

As though someone cared about it once but soon got bored and
gave up.

Suddenly a seventeen year-old kid on a noisy motorbike SHOOTS

out of the front door, JUMPS the three steps down to the
drive, SCREECHES across the front lawn and JUMPS AGAIN down
onto the sidewalk.

He MOTORS away down the road, a canvas knapsack bouncing

around on his back. At the corner he meets up with a load of
other kids on motorbikes. They POWER OFF as a group.

Joanna Kane appears at the front door. Time has passed for
her as well. And hasn't taken much care of her, either.

She shouts after Edward.

JOANNA KANE
Edward! Edward there's oil all over my
kitchen floor. Come back here and help
me mop it up goddamnit!

The bikes disappear around the bend.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

Come back here!
 12.

INT. KANE HOUSEHOLD - DAY

Joanna, looking sad and tired, walks slowly and stiffly back
into the house. She studies the damage wrought to her
kitchen floor. A gruff-looking Lionel walks into the room
behind her.

They stand in silence for a moment. Joanna Kane weeps with

frustration.

JOANNA KANE
What is it with that kid, Lionel? Did we
do something wrong?

Lionel walks over to a cupboard and pulls out a liquor

bottle.

LIONEL
Boy thinks he can rule the world.

He pours himself a shot, then sits at the kitchen table.

Joanna gets out a mop and begins to fill a bucket with water.

JOANNA KANE
I know he's different. I keep trying to
think that's not such a bad thing.
(beat)
Maybe you should let him go.

Lionel watches his wife mop. He drinks deeply from his glass
and takes his time before replying.

LIONEL
You think I can find ten thousand dollars
so that boy can spend four years leaping
about a stage in a jump-suit trying to
act? Even if I could, I wouldn't.

JOANNA KANE
So what do we do? Do we try to make him
like us? Do we force him?

A pause. Joanna looks up at her husband.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

He's the only one we've got left, Lionel.
Let's not lose him as well.

Lionel continues to drink with a set look on his face.

EXT. FREEWAY OVERPASS - NIGHT

Ed and the group of six other kids drive up and stop in the
middle of the overpass. They get off and lay their bikes up
against the crash barriers.

(CONTINUED)
 13.
CONTINUED:

One kid, BOBBY, who's bigger than the rest of them and
clearly the leader, peers over the side of the overpass and
sees the headlights of the cars rushing towards and
underneath him.

Ed stands on the edge of the group. Now that we get a decent

look at him, we see he is a handsome young man, an eager
soldier in stark contrast to the shell we saw at the start.

Bobby turns to face the group.

BOBBY
We ready?

They mutter their agreement with varying degrees of

enthusiasm. Ed turns away in disgust.

ED
C'mon Bobby, man, this is a stupid idea.

BOBBY
Hey yo, if you don't wanna be here, man,
you run on home to your papa. See if
he'll let you in on a cut of his liquor.

ED
Fuck you, asshole.

Ed turns away, not wanting to be a part of this. He goes

over to his bike and tinkers with the engine.

Bobby addresses the rest of the group.

BOBBY
So. Who's gonna go do it?

No-one.

BOBBY (CONT'D)
Always me. Every time. Jesus you guys
are such pussies.

Bobby pushes past them all and walks over to the entrance to
the overpass, where he pulls a large rock out of the
undergrowth. He goes back to the middle of the overpass and
rests the rock on the ledge.

Everyone around watches excitedly.

KID
Go for a Jap car. I hate Jap cars.

ANOTHER KID
Nah man, make it a BMW. I love seein'
'em rich guys get it in the face.

Bobby picks out a vehicle approaching them at speed.

(CONTINUED)
 14.
CONTINUED: (2)

BOBBY
Better still...

The convertible sports car gets nearer...

BOBBY (CONT'D)
The King Kong...

... and nearer...

BOBBY (CONT'D)
The hot rod, the pussy wagon...

Bobby rocks the rock backwards and forwards on the edge of

the ledge, Ed watching with distaste but watching
nonetheless.

BOBBY (CONT'D)
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Until, with surgical timing, he lets the rock topple forward,

out of his hands.

BOBBY (CONT'D)
The Corvette 3 liter G8...

The rock SMASHES through the windscreen of the oncoming

car...

BOBBY (CONT'D)
Turbocharge engine...

...sending the car SCREECHING across the road, hitting

another car alongside it, before disappearing under the
overpass.

BOBBY (CONT'D)
Alloy wheels...

The kids run across to the other side, where they see the two
cars reemerge and plough into the side railings.

BOBBY (CONT'D)
And twin air bags...

The cars come to a halt with a sickening SMASH.

BOBBY (CONT'D)
An essential safety feature in this day
of high-risk motoring.

The kids SCREAM with delight and high five each other. Bobby
surveys his handiwork.

Suddenly, flashlights from the entrance to the overpass sear

their faces. A voice shouts out from behind the lights.

(CONTINUED)
 15.
CONTINUED: (3)

VOICE
Police! Move to the side of the road.

BOBBY
Aw fuck!

The kids look around in terror. Headlights approach from the

other end of the overpass trying to block off the exit.

VOICE
I said MOVE!

Ed is the first to react. He kicks his bike into action.

ED
(to the other kids)
This is your shit, you clean it up.

Ed SQUEALS his bike around and CHARGES towards the lights

that are approaching the other side of the overpass.

Ed gets there first and FLIES over the road, down a dirt
track on the other side. His headlights reach only a few
feet in front of him so he's basically riding on instinct.

He eventually SHOOTS OUT onto a main road at the bottom of

the dirt track. Another police car is already in pursuit and
almost rams into Ed's bike.

Ed SKIDS around it and POWERS OFF down the road. The police
car gives chase but soon gets caught up in traffic while Ed
weaves in and out of the cars with skill, increasing his lead
over them.

He is soon in the clear.

INT. KANE HOUSEHOLD - NIGHT

Ed, breathing hard and carrying his knapsack, lets himself in

noiselessly and tiptoes across the hallway through the pitch
black. Just as he reaches the foot of the stairs, he is
HURLED against the wall by a figure coming out of the
darkness.

ED
Jesus!

He STRUGGLES, but the assailant has him held tight. In the

half-light we make out the angular silhouette of Lionel.

LIONEL
Think this is a fucking guest house?

ED
Fuck, Dad!

LIONEL
You and I gotta have a talk my boy.

(CONTINUED)
 16.
CONTINUED:

ED
This is not a good time.

LIONEL
Not a good time? Well excuse me! Won't
you let me know when a good time does
arise for me to give you the ass-whooping
you've been asking for?

Ed finally pushes the old man off of him.

ED
Dad you're drunk. If you've got
something to say, say it in the morning,
okay?

Lionel grabs hold of Ed's arm.

LIONEL
You wait here you little turd. I got
summin' to say alright.

A light comes on from upstairs.

JOANNA KANE (O.S.)

Lionel? What's going on down there?

LIONEL
Just sorting things out with our son,
honey. You go on back to bed now.
(to Ed, with menace)
You listen to me and you listen good.
Starting tomorrow things are gonna be
done differently. You're gonna start
treating me and treating your mother with
some respect. You're gonna get these
stupid ideas of acting school outta your
head. You're gonna get a job and start
paying your way around here.

Ed walks off up the stairs.

LIONEL (CONT'D)
(after him)
You're gonna grow up, boy!

Ed carries on walking.

LIONEL (CONT'D)
D'y hear me?

Ed goes into his room and slams the door shut behind him.
Lionel runs up the stairs and starts pounding away at Ed's
door, but it's locked from the inside.

Joanna comes out of their bedroom in her dressing gown.

 17.

INT. ED'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Ed wearily sits on his bed, trying to block out the commotion

going on outside his door. His room is covered with movie
posters, African art, a world map.

JOANNA KANE (O.S.)

Lionel, let it be.

LIONEL (O.S.)
You stay out of this. This is between me
and him. He's gonna look me in the eye
and tell me what I wanna hear.

Ed reaches out to his bedside table and picks up a book,

which he starts to read.

JOANNA KANE (O.S.)

Lionel, please...

LIONEL (O.S.)
(shouting even louder)
Stay out I said! Stop taking his side
for Chrissakes!

JOANNA KANE (O.S.)

(beginning to cry)
He's all I've got, Lionel. He's all I've
got left. Please don't do this.

LIONEL (O.S.)
That boy's making no fucking use of his
life now. May as well be dead like all
the rest of 'em!

JOANNA KANE (O.S.)

(hysterically)
Don't say that! You can't say that!

LIONEL (O.S.)
Will you shut up goddamnit!

A loud SMACK of hand on cheek. In an instant Ed's out of his

room...

INT. KANE HOUSEHOLD - NIGHT

...PLOUGHING into Lionel, who was turning back to face the

door having silenced Joanna.

Ed KNOCKS Lionel to the ground and holds him there by his

shirt.

ED
Don't you ever touch her again. EVER!
Do you hear me, you piece of shit?

(CONTINUED)
 18.
CONTINUED:

There is an intense beat between the two of them, neither one

prepared to give ground.

LIONEL
Get out. Get out of this house. Now.

Ed gets up, stares at Joanna briefly and goes into his room.
He grabs his knapsack and walks back out onto the hallway.

His eyes BORE into Lionel's face.

ED
You're right, dad. I don't respect you.
I don't respect what you've done with
your fucked up life, I don't respect what
you've done to mom's life and I don't
respect what you're trying to do to mine.
(beat)
My life, dad. I'm not your punch bag,
you can't get mad at me every time you
realize how bad you screwed your own life
up. I'm your second chance. You just
can't see it.
(beat)
So fuck you. Is that what you wanted to
hear?

With a final look at Joanna he jogs down the stairs. Lionel

shouts after him with an impotent rage.

LIONEL
Go on! Live your little dream. Join the
fucking circus. Try it. I dare you!
(beat)
I'll see you back here when it all comes
tumbling down!

JOANNA KANE
(weakly)
Don't go. Edward.

Ed walks out of the house. We hear him kick his bike into
action O.S. and gun off down the street. The noise finally
dies away. Joanna stares off into space.

Lionel slowly picks himself up off the ground and studies his
broken spectacles. He goes to help Joanna up.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

Don't touch me.

Lionel shrugs his shoulders and walks off into his bedroom.

EXT. PARK - NIGHT

Ed sits on the roundabout, staring without emotion at the

lights of the town as he goes round and around. He pulls his
jacket tighter around him.
 19.

EXT. PARK - DAWN

Ed has nodded off, but the roundabout stills moves him slowly
around. He wakes with a start as a dog sniffs his jeans. He
shudders with the cold and kicks the dog away.

The dog's owner, an attractive woman on her early morning

jog, looks at the dishevelled Ed with some distaste as she
runs by, before calling her dog after her.

Ed stretches the sleep out of his body and looks around,

wondering what to do. He opens his wallet and pulls out of
photograph of his parents and him as a young boy. Happier
days.

Ed stares at the photo for a long while.

EXT. STREET - DAY

Ed rides home. As he rounds the bend to his parents' house,

he sees a squad car parked in front and a police officer
speaking to Lionel and Joanna in their porch. His face
falls.

ANGLE ON :

Joanna, whose eye is caught by Ed as he rides on slowly past

the house. The policeman and Lionel are in deep conversation
and don't notice him.

POLICEMAN
So if he does return, please be sure to
let us know at once.

LIONEL
You can count on it officer. When you're
done with him, I have some business to
finish up with him myself.

Ed looks at his mother, then drives on. Joanna follows him

with sad eyes.

EXT. STREETS - EVENING

Ed rides off, out of the city.

ED V.O.
Part of me wanted to stay. Part of me
wanted to go. In the end, the decision
was pretty much made for me.

INT. GAS STATION - EARLY MORNING.

Ed sits at a plastic table, cradling a cup of black coffee as

a series of eighteen-wheelers thunder past.

(CONTINUED)
 20.
CONTINUED:

ED V.O.
I said to myself this was the kind of
opportunity a guy on the cusp of manhood
should take. And make the most of.

EXT. ATM MACHINE - DAY

Ed pounds his fists against the machine, clearly fresh out of

luck. He turns away from the machine and looks at his
motorbike.

EXT. GARAGE FORECOURT - DAY

A dealer gives Ed a bunch of cash in return for the bike.

ED V.O.
So I took the advice of Horace Greely,
and went west.

EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY

Ed walks along by the side of the road, hitch-hiking. An

eighteen-wheeler lumbers past him and pulls to a halt. Ed
jogs up and gets in.

INT. TRUCK CAB - DAY

Ed talks amiably with a gap-toothed HISPANIC TRUCK DRIVER.

TRUCK DRIVER
¿Cual es su nombre?

ED
I'm more a Knicks man actually.

Beat.

Neither of them can understand a word of what the other is

saying. All the same, they seem to enjoy each other's
company.

The driver drinks from a bottle of scotch, then offers it to

Ed, who also drinks. They look at each other and LAUGH.

EXT. WORK SITE, SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA - DAY

The truck pulls into a vast industrial complex and pulls to a

halt by the entrance. Ed gets down from the cab and bids the
driver farewell. The truck kicks up a cloud of dust into
Ed's face as it drives on into the worksite.

Ed stands there and looks around. He checks his watch and

begins to walk.
 21.

EXT. DRAMA SCHOOL - DAY

Edward looks at two large stone reliefs of the masks of

Comedy and Tragedy that adorn the entrance to this fine old
building. He walks in.

INT. DRAMA SCHOOL - DAY

Ed stares at the snooty ADMISSIONS TUTOR in disbelief.

ED
How much?

He slowly turns on his heels and heads for the door.

EXT. WORK SITE, SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA - DAY

The work site is now a bustle of industry. Forklifts criss-

cross as they stack pallets of tiles onto trucks.

Ed, his torso already showing signs of broadening, strains as

he lugs stacks of tiles onto the pallets.

ED V.O.
I worked my way around the place, finally
starting to live a little.

Ed stops to rest and speak with a fellow-worker.

INT. BAR - NIGHT

Ed now works behind the bar at a crowded, young, rocking

club. He rings in some change and then turns to face the
customers.

ED
Who's next?

Ed scans the room and makes eye contact with a BEAUTIFUL GIRL
at the end of the bar. He flashes her a smile and walks
towards her.

ED V.O.
Live a lot, actually.

INT. BAR - LATER THAT NIGHT.

Ed and the beautiful girl are the only two left in the bar.
They chase tequilas down the bar. Ed wins and immediately
takes the tequila bottle and refills all the glasses.

ED V.O.
I took each new day pretty much as it
came. Every morning was a blank page.

The girl laughs giddily.

 22.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

In a large, stylish bedroom with the windows flung open

looking out over a sleeping city, Ed undresses the girl and
leads her to bed.

ED V.O.
I'd spend the day doodling all over it.

EXT. BUS STATION - DAY

Ed, his knapsack slung over his shoulder, squeezes the hand
of the beautiful girl, who is weeping quietly.

ED V.O.
The next morning I'd rip it out and start
a new one.

With a kiss on the cheek, Ed boards the bus and takes a seat
as it begins to drive away.

INT. PHONE BOOTH - DAY

Ed has the yellow pages in his hands as he speaks on the

phone. A load of entries are circled in black. Most have
crosses through them.

ED
No, I don't have any prior dramatic
training. That's why I'm calling you.
(beat)
Hello? Hello?

He slams the phone back on the hook.

EXT. THEATRE - EVENING

Ed looks at a sign hanging outside a dingy-looking theatre,

which reads "Auditions for Much Ado About My Thing, a
powerful contemporary gay adaptation of Shakespeare's play.
Next Tuesday, 6pm."

Ed thinks about this one for a while then walks off, looking
despondent.

EXT. VENICE BEACH - DAY

Ed, older now, with hair down to his shoulder and a string of
beads around his neck, is juggling in front of an
appreciative crowd. People toss coins into a top hat that
he's put at his feet.

He smiles at a LITTLE GIRL watching him, who grins back.

ED V.O.
Eventually, like all the trash, I ended
up at the ocean.

(CONTINUED)
 23.
CONTINUED:

Still juggling, he looks over and smiles at a COOL BEACH

CHICK who's painting the face of a YOUNG BOY into a tiger.
She smiles back at Ed.

A BODYBUILDER comes up to her and tries to put his arm around

her shoulder, but she shakes him off and tries to continue
with the face-painting.

The bodybuilder keep on hassling the girl. The situation

soon begins to get pretty ugly.

Ed stops his juggling and makes his way over to the beach
chick and the bodybuilder.

He taps the guy on the shoulder. As he turns around, Ed puts

the guy on the tarmac with one punch. But he's immediately
SET UPON from the side by another bodybuilder and himself
thrown to the ground.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
I'd get myself into trouble now and then.
Usually had something to do with women.

Ed is outnumbered and ends up being given a good working-

over. When they're finished, one of the bodybuilders walks
over to where Ed was juggling and takes all the cash out of
his top hat. The guy walks off, sticking his tongue out at
the bewildered little girl.

INT. BAR - EVENING

Ed, cut lip, black eye and cradling his ribs, sits at the bar
with a stiff drink. The girl from the beach sits beside him,
but he pretty much ignores her.

ED V.O.
Actually, it always had something to do
with women. Story of my life.

Ed drains his drink and asks for another. The BARMAN leaves
him the bottle.

INT. BAR - NIGHT

Ed, alone now, grimly sees off his last drink. The barman
switches off the last of the lights and helps Ed to the door.

EXT. BAR - NIGHT

Ed sways on the doorstep, wearily hoists his knapsack over

his shoulders and walks off down the street again.

ED V.O.
And after a while, instead of just
floating along...
 24.

EXT. DESERTED ROAD, UTAH - DAY

Gradual fade up on a high view of a vast expanse of desert,

interrupted only by two endless straight roads, that cross
each other in the middle of nowhere.

ED V.O.
...I began to sink.

Ed hobbles down one of those roads, towards the intersection

many miles ahead of him. He's older now, about 22, and looks
more like a vagrant than the tanned surf-god of just a short
while ago.

His eyes are almost closed in a permanent squint from the

harsh sunlight. He carries his knapsack limply in his hand.

A sleek black SUV approaches Ed from behind. Ed turns around

and sticks out his thumb. To his delight, the SUV slows down
and pulls to a halt a few metres past him.

Ed jogs up to the passenger door but is confused to find it

locked. He knocks on the tinted window.

The driver electrically lowers the window a few inches. A

glimpse of a baseball cap and shades.

DRIVER
Son, is there a shiny little box on the
roof here that says TAXI?

ED
What?

DRIVER
Didn't think so.

SUV screeches off.

Ed lets his knapsack fall from his fingers in disbelief.

EXT. DESERTED ROAD, UTAH - DUSK

Ed walks on. Slowly. But surely.

ED V.O.
And at the bottom of the ocean, I came to
Utah.

The sun sets.

EXT. CROSSROADS, UTAH - DUSK

At the crossroads is a small gas station and diner. It's

almost dark.

Ed stumbles into the car park, a wild look in his eyes from
lack of food and sleep.

(CONTINUED)
 25.
CONTINUED:

There's only one vehicle parked in the lot. A sleek black

SUV, with tinted windows.

Ed stops briefly to gather his breath as he studies the

parked car.

He walks slowly up to it and runs his hand along the hood.

He cups his hands up against the windows and looks inside,
where he can just make out a blinking red LED. Ed curses
under his breath.

Ed moves over to the diner. Indistinct guitar music diffuses

from within. He peers through a yellowing window and sees
the BARMAN and one PATRON.

The patron wears baseball hat and shades. He puts a couple

of pills in his mouth and washes them down with some water.

Ed pulls back from the window and into the shadows.

EXT. CROSSROADS, UTAH - LATER

The owner of the SUV walks out of the diner and up to his
car. He looks oldish, about sixty, with a wave of grey hair
sticking out from underneath his baseball cap.

Ed looks into through the diner window again, quickly, and

sees the barman taking the driver's plates into the back to
be washed up.

He waits for the driver to disable the alarm system and open
the door before making his move.

ED
I think I'll take that lift now.

Ed turns the driver around and throws a PUNCH. But the old
guy moves surprisingly quickly and DODGES the punch,
returning with one of his own.

He PUSHES at Ed and scrambles into the driver's seat. Ed is

caught off-guard and stumbles backwards.

ED (CONT'D)
Goddamnit.

The driver manages somehow to start the engine and begins to

pull away. He pulls the door shut behind him as Ed recovers
and makes chase.

Ed leaps onto the step of the vehicle and RATTLES the handle
of the locked door.

In a rage, Ed wings his left arm, SMASH, right through the

driver's side window and connects full-on with the man's jaw
on the inside. The SUV skids and screeches across the lot as
the man tries to keep control while Ed leans in through
what's left of the window and continues to beat at him.

(CONTINUED)
 26.
CONTINUED:

Ed's fist is a mess of blood and shards of glass and flaps of

skin, but he's feeling no pain at the moment.

The SUV skids to a halt and Ed HAULS the driver out and
THROWS him to the ground.

ED (CONT'D)
Think you're funny? Huh? Huh? Think
THIS is funny?

Ed starts LAYING INTO the man's face with his barely covered
feet. The man raises his hands to protect his face, at which
point Ed drops to his knees and starts to POUND his ribs with
his one good hand.

MAN
(groaning)
Jesus Christ no.

ED
What's that? Got something to say? Got
another joke for me?

The BLOWS keep on raining down on the old man, who suddenly
looks very frail.

MAN
Please...

ED
Man leaves a beggar by the side of the
road, he's in no place to be making
requests later on.

The man soon lies prone at Ed's feet, unmoving. Ed circles

him, his eyes ablaze and his breathing quick.

ED (CONT'D)
Had to make it tough, didn't you, you
stupid fucker?

He steps over the body and gets into the cab of the still
running SUV. Without casting a second glance back at the
man, Ed speeds away.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Ed drives, groggy. He looks down at his mess of a hand.

EXT. DINER - NIGHT

The barman stands at the doorway of the diner, looking out

into the dark, perplexed. He suddenly catches sight of a
pair of feet poking out from behind one of the gas pumps. He
runs towards it.
 27.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Ed keeps on driving. The road up ahead bends gradually

around to the left. But Ed's eyes are closing fast and his
head droops. When the road finally turns, the SUV doesn't.

It PLUNGES over the side and rolls down a steep rocky

embankment. It is brought to an abrupt stop at the bottom
with a sickening CRUNCH. Ed's head canons off the steering
wheel, and all is still.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. CAR - DAY

The sound of an eighteen-wheeler passing by far above him is

enough to wake Ed. The harsh morning sunlight glares through
the windscreen. In front of the car is a breathtaking desert
wilderness, but Ed's not interested in the view.

He's wondering why he's lying in a smashed up car, someone

else's car, in the middle of the desert. He looks around,
bewildered.

Ed slowly brings his hands up to his head. He feels blood on

his forehead, then notices the blood all over his hand.

In a moment of revelation, Ed realizes what he has done.

Suddenly and violently he throws up all over himself and the
dashboard of the SUV.

He clambers out of the car and groggily wipes his mouth with
his one good hand.

EXT. ROADSIDE - DAY

Ed stumbles up the side of the embankment.

ED V.O.
I'm not a bad man.

Ed reaches the top of the slope. A truck approaches him from

a good distance away through the haze. He sits down to wait
for it to draw closer.

As he waits, Ed bandages up his tattered hand with a

handkerchief and blots the blood off his forehead.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
But I'd done a bad thing.

Ed sticks out his thumb and watches as the old pick-up truck
slows down to pick him up.

EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY

The pick-up truck, with Ed inside, motors down the highway.

 28.

INT. PICK-UP TRUCK - DAY

The driver, a good ol' boy in a baseball cap, looks over at

Ed.

DRIVER
Y'in a accident?

Ed is silent.

EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY

The truck powers along the highway, heading East.

They pass the diner again, at speed. Ed sneaks a glimpse at

the goings-on in the forecourt, where a police officer is
interviewing the barman. A body lies motionless under a
rough tarpaulin.

Ed sinks back into his seat and the car drives on.

INT. GAS STATION, KANSAS - NIGHT

Ed nurses a small cup of coffee and studies his gruesomely

lacerated hand.

ED V.O.
So I ran away from Utah, ran away from
the man I'd become.

EXT. GAS STATION, KANSAS - NIGHT

Ed talks to a burly truck driver.

EXT. BROOKLYN BRIDGE, NEW YORK - DAY

A truck carrying Ed moves slowly across the bridge with all

the other traffic.

EXT. BUS-STOP, THE BRONX - EVENING

Ed bids farewell to the driver. Ed sits in a plastic chair

inside the plastic bus stop and lets his head drop.

EXT. BUS-STOP, THE BRONX - NIGHT

Ed is spread across three seats and sleeps, using his old

knapsack as a pillow.

FADE TO BLACK.

EXT. DINER, UTAH - DAY

Detective JACKSON DEWITT, 50s, heavy set and already pissed

with this case, squints at the sun and mops his forehead with
a handkerchief. He takes a deep draw on a cigarette.

(CONTINUED)
 29.
CONTINUED:

He slides on a pair of shades and looks down at the ground by

the petrol pump where a small patch of sandy earth is stained
red. He walks slowly over to the diner.

INT. DINER, UTAH - DAY

Dewitt walks into the smoky diner. Sunlight filters lazily

through the windows. The barman washes up.

DEWITT
Pete.

BARMAN
Jackson.

Beat.

DEWITT
D'you get a look at him?

BARMAN
Nope.

Beat.

DEWITT
Shit.

Dewitt turns and walks out of the bar.

CUT TO:

EXT. BUS-STOP, THE BRONX - MORNING

Ed is startled awake by the doors of a school bus noisily

opening in his face. He looks up at the bus windows. Faces
of school children look down on him with curiosity.

EXT. FIFTH AVENUE - DAY

Ed walks along, looking around at the hustle and bustle of

New York life. His matted hair, tattered clothing and still-
seeping hand wound attract glances from passers-by.

A small 5-piece Salvation Army brass band is playing in a

small park, and parents and children stand around to listen.
A kind-faced, middle-aged female SALVATION ARMY OFFICER walks
amongst them with a bucket, into which they drop coins. The
officer reaches Ed and looks him over.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER

Giving or receiving?

Ed smiles back.
 30.

EXT. HIGHWAY, UTAH - DAY

Dewitt stands by the side of the road looking over the side,
down a steep embankment. At the bottom he can just make out
the rear end of a black SUV.

He puts his shades on and begins to slide down the bank.

INT. SALVATION ARMY HOSTEL - DAY

The Salvation Army officer leads Ed into a bare reception

area with a small office and a few garishly colored couches
clustered around an old TV. They walk through this and down
a long, sterile corridor.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER

You get to stay here for free your first
week. After that you pay, $5 a night.

Ed nods in understanding.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER (CONT'D)

No drugs or booze allowed inside that
aren't already in your bloodstream.

EXT. ROADSIDE, UTAH - DAY

Dewitt examines the wreck of the SUV. He fingers the edges

of the smashed glass in the driver's side window.

INT. DORMITORY - DAY

The officer and Ed walk into a small dormitory with two bunk
beds.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER

In by midnight. Out from eight to six.

Three of the four beds are occupied by indistinguishable

bundles of clothes, blankets and body hair. Ed wrinkles his
nose as the smell hits him.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER (CONT'D)

These are your new best friends, Ed.
Make yourself at home.

With a last saintly smile, she turns on her heel and leaves
the room.

Ed looks around at the room, and at the rise and fall of the
three land masses as they continue to sleep soundly. He
steps up onto the vacant top bunk, causing a momentary
reaction from the guy in the bed below.

Ed lies back. Stares at the ceiling. Shuts his eyes for a

moment. Then opens them again.
 31.

EXT. STREETS - EVENING

Ed walks, hands tucked into his jacket.

EXT. LYCEUM THEATRE - NIGHT

Ed stands in front of the worn facade of New York's oldest

theatre. Former glories are all that this place can claim
ownership to now.

A banner, hung between columns flanking the entry, reads

"Open Auditions for Fall Hamlet. Prepare a piece. Life
experience preferred."

Ed stares at the banner for a long while.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed stands nervously alone in the middle of the huge stage.

The director, THORBURN KNIGHT, 50s, sits behind a desk set up

in the stalls, a small lamp ghoulishly lighting up his face
from beneath. He speaks with an English accent.

THORBURN
Name?

ED
Ed. Kane.

Beat.

THORBURN
Well, Ed. Off you go.

ED
Ok. It's Macbeth.

THORBURN
Very good.
(beat)
Speak the truth, Ed. I want reality.

ED
Right.

BEGIN MONTAGE.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed starts to speak. His voice is charged with emotion.

ED
"Methought I heard a voice cry...

INT. SALVATION ARMY HOSTEL DORMITORY - NIGHT

Ed, pale white, lies in his bed, staring at the ceiling.

(CONTINUED)
 32.
CONTINUED:

ED V.O.
'Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder
sleep'.

EXT. GAS STATION, KANSAS - DAY

Dewitt speaks to a TRUCKER. The trucker shakes his head but

points over to ANOTHER TRUCKER who's walking back over to his
rig.

ED V.O.
The innocent sleep, / Sleep that knits up
the ravell'd sleeve of care,

FLASHBACK

EXT. DINER - NIGHT

A blurred, distorted, darkened version of the events that

took place at the diner.

Ed pulls the man from the moving car. He kicks the man as he
lies on the floor, trying to shield himself.

ED V.O.
The death of each day's life, sore
labour's bath, / Balm of hurt minds,
great nature's second course,

END FLASHBACK

EXT. GAS STATION, KANSAS - DAY

Dewitt shows a rough sketch of a face that might be Ed's,

might not be Ed's, to a trucker in his rig. The guy looks at
the image for a minute, before nodding his head slowly.
Dewitt asks him a question and the trucker points down the
road.

ED V.O.
Chief nourisher in life's feast. / Still
it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the
house:

FLASHBACK

EXT. DINER - NIGHT

Ed punches the face of the man on the ground, deliberately,

repeatedly.

ED V.O.
'Glamis hath murder'd sleep,

END FLASHBACK
 33.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Dewitt drives east, his face set in determination.

ED V.O.
And therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no
more;

INT. SALVATION ARMY HOSTEL DORMITORY - NIGHT

Ed lies in his bed, rubbing his eyes with his hands as if

trying to force them closed if they won't shut of their own
accord. One of his hands is still in its bloodied bandage.

ED V.O.
Macbeth shall sleep no more.'"

END MONTAGE.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - CONTINUOUS

Ed is silent. Thorburn looks intently at the young man on

stage in front of him.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BAR - DAY

Thorburn and Ed sit at a table, a coffee in front of each of

them. Thorburn appear intrigued.

THORBURN
No schooling, no experience?

ED
School of life.

THORBURN
Right. That explains a lot about your
performance. Very raw. Very... real.
So rare these days.

Ed looks slightly embarrassed, not good at taking

compliments.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
What about your personal life? Where's
home?

ED
I'm currently residing in this fine old
pair of fake Nike Airs.

Thorburn raises an eyebrow.

ED (CONT'D)
I ran away from home a few years ago.
Parental issues.

(CONTINUED)
 34.
CONTINUED:

THORBURN
Oh, this just keeps getting better.

EXT. LYCEUM THEATRE - NIGHT

Thorburn shakes Ed's good hand vigorously and walks away.

Ed stands there, slightly dazed.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed stands center stage, all alone again. He looks at his

watch, which reads five after nine.

ED
(to the darkened auditorium)
Anyone there?

WOMAN'S VOICE
(from the wings)
Can I help?

Joanna Regan steps onto the stage and into the light.

She's now about 40 but is as beautiful and elegant as she

ever was. Every inch the Queen of Broadway.

A yummy mummy.

But the old vulnerability is still evident in her eyes and in

her gentle smile. She has a melancholy look.

Ed stares at her. Joanna speaks again.

JOANNA
Can I help you?

ED
Oh I'm sorry. I'm Ed.

JOANNA
Not really the question I asked, but
interesting information anyway.

ED
Oh, it's just, I'm just waiting for the
rest of the cast to get here for the read
through. Of Hamlet. They all seem to be
a little late.

JOANNA
That'd be you that's a little late, Ed.
And me with you.
(beat)
We don't get on the stage for a couple of
weeks yet. They've got to build us a set
first. We're in the rehearsal room,
backstage. Here, I'll show you.

(CONTINUED)
 35.
CONTINUED:

Joanna walks off. Ed follows her.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BACKSTAGE - DAY

Ed and Joanna weave their way backstage, through a darkened

maze of huge flats that reach high into the fly-tower back-
stage.

JOANNA
I'm Joanna. Joanna Regan.

ED
I know. Actually I think I'm your son.

They turn down a long, garishly-lit corridor with rooms

coming off on either side.

JOANNA
Excuse me?

Past a costume room where old ladies sit, sewing and

chattering to each other.

ED
In the play. I think I'm playing Hamlet.

JOANNA
You think? Isn't that something you
might like to clarify before we start
rehearsing?

Past the company offices with big plans of the theatre pinned
to the wall.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Sure you're not playing Hamlet's young
half-brother? The one with slightly
fewer lines?

ED
No, no, he definitely said Hamlet.

JOANNA
He?

ED
Mr Knight.

Past the master carpenter's workshop and the screech of the

power saw.

JOANNA
Well, good luck. Thorburn's a great one
for making actors get right to the heart
of their roles. If you're playing
Hamlet, you're odds-on to end up in
prison or in an asylum.

(CONTINUED)
 36.
CONTINUED:

Ed remains silent. Joanna notices his bandaged hand.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
You should get that seen to, you know.

ED
(sarcastically)
Thanks, mom.

Joanna laughs as she quietly continues to size up this

intense young man.

They arrive at the end of the corridor, where they reach a

plain white door. Joanna pushes through.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE REHEARSAL ROOM - DAY

Inside, seated on plastic chairs in a large circle, the cast

of Hamlet is joined. Thorburn is standing in the middle,
reading to them from a magazine.

THORBURN
...a moribund shadow of the force it once
was." Aha, good morning Joanna, good
morning Ed.
(ironic)
I see you've been putting in some early
character work and are in fact not late
for rehearsals.

JOANNA
Special delivery, one lead male with a
slight identity complex.

THORBURN
Have a seat, Ed.

Ed sits next to a young, WAIF-LIKE BEAUTY who fails to return

his friendly smile.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
Edward here is one of the people I'm
putting a lot of faith in, and my
reputation on the line for, to ensure
that the Lyceum has seen the last of
reviews like this.

Thorburn looks around at the faces surrounding him.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
People say, some critics even are saying
now, "Who wants to see yet another dreary
Hamlet?" I agree. It is dreary when
bored actors stand on stage and grind out
lines they spoken a thousand times
before.
(beat)
(MORE)

(CONTINUED)
 37.
CONTINUED:
THORBURN (CONT'D)
Which is why I have assembled this unique
cast I have in front of me now. Edward
here as Hamlet. Never been to drama
school, am I right?

Ed nods, catching Joanna's eye . The girl next to him looks

over disdainfully.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
Joanna, who's amazingly never before
played Queen Gertrude, though her Ophelia
is obviously the stuff of legend to you
all. Isabella...

He points to the unsmiling waif next to Ed.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
...is also a newcomer to this piece and
hot off the fifth season of her very
popular daytime drama. She will play our
Ophelia. And all the rest of you, all
newcomers either to the play or to this
theatre.

Thorburn is getting deeply caught up in his opening speech.

It's like a mantra.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
Search for the truth. Always search for
the truth.
(beat)
This will be the production where, at
last, every word of this great play will
make sense, every action will be
understood, every scene will be real.
Because YOU... you will be real. Your
relationships with one another will be
real. It will all be real.

A silence falls on the room as Thorburn's exhortation comes

to an end. ROGER, a burly man in his 50s, with a scarf
wrapped about his thick neck, pipes up.

ROGER
But... everybody dies, Thorburn.

The group laughs quietly. Thorburn looks annoyed.

THORBURN
Thank you Roger.

Ed looks around the room and catches Joanna's eye again. She
smiles at Ed. He looks away, embarrassed.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - LATER

Ed stands opposite GIOVANNI (22), long-hair and attitude.

(CONTINUED)
 38.
CONTINUED:

ED
Hi, I'm Ed. Hamlet.

GIOVANNI
Giovanni. Horatio.

Thorburn walks up to the two of them.

THORBURN
Best friends. Oldest friends. Find
something to talk about for a few minutes
while I get myself in order.

Thorburn goes back to his chair and fiddles about in his

briefcase.

GIOVANNI
Couple of likely lads like Hamlet and
Horatio. Only gotta have women on their
mind.

ED
A good subject my friend. And whither
dost thine eye wander?

GIOVANNI
Right over to that Isabella. She's a ho-
ney.

ED
Ophelia. Yeah. I know I know her from
somewhere. What's she been in?

GIOVANNI
She was the kid sister ugly duckling with
the retainer in that 'My Life So Far' TV
show. That was years ago. She's now the
grown up graceful swan with a nose job in
'My Life So Far'. Good for getting
audiences, but does she sure think her
shit smells sweet as roses.

ED
What about The Queen? Joanna.

GIOVANNI
Serious?

ED
Why not?

GIOVANNI
She's still hot I know but ... there's
history there, man.

Ed looks at Giovanni curiously. Thorburn walks back up to

the two of them.

(CONTINUED)
 39.
CONTINUED: (2)

THORBURN
Ready? Act I, scene iv. Horatio shows
Hamlet the ghost of his dead father.
Ever seen a ghost, Edward?

Ed stares at Thorburn. Smiles weakly.

ED
Not yet.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE REHEARSAL ROOM - ANOTHER DAY

Ed now stands across from ISABELLA, the waif playing Ophelia

who we've just been hearing about. They are completely
silent. Ed looks around the room, Isabella is staring at the
floor.

Some of the cast members sit at the back of the room

watching. Joanna reads a book and occasionally looks up.

Thorburn walks up to Ed and Isabella and watches for a

minute.

THORBURN
Good, good, excellent. You're really
catching the essential breakdown of
communication that is at the heart of
these two characters' tragedy.

Ed turns on Thorburn, angry.

ED
What are you talking about? She won't
say a thing to me. I've tried favorite
colors, pets, tattoos, everything. She's
just not playing.

Isabella raises her eyes in disgust.

ISABELLA
I don't want to play games. I came here
to act. That is what I am, isn't it
Thorburn? I am an act-ress, aren't I?
Let me know if I'm wrong here.

THORBURN
(conciliatory)
Okay kids, come on now. Let's get this
off on the right foot shall we? You are
supposed to be lovers, after all. Let's
just go from the top of your scene
together, shall we?

Isabella begrudgingly nods. Thorburn pats Ed on the back and

whispers in his ear.

(CONTINUED)
 40.
CONTINUED:

THORBURN (CONT'D)
Keep on at her like that. I'm still
holding out hope for something resembling
a reaction from her.

The two smile at each other. Isabella begins the scene.

ISABELLA
(bland)
"My lord, I have remembrances of yours, /
That I have longed long to re-deliver; /
I pray you, now receive them."

ED
(vehement)
"No, not I; / I never gave you aught."

Isabella's words begin to run tonelessly into each other.

ISABELLA
"My honour'd lord, you know right well
you did...

Ed steps away. Isabella looks confused, but carries on in

her monotone.

ISABELLA (CONT'D)
And, with them, words of so sweet breath
composed / As made the things more rich:
their perfume lost."

Ed takes a drink of water from an Evian bottle and remains

pointedly silent. Isabella stares at him.

ISABELLA (CONT'D)
It's your line.

ED
This isn't going to work.
(beat)
She doesn't know what she's talking
about.

ISABELLA
How dare you?

THORBURN
Yes, these are early days, Edward.

ED
That's not the point! She's not putting
any experience, into it, you can tell.
How real is that, Thorburn?

THORBURN
Edward...

(CONTINUED)
 41.
CONTINUED: (2)

The back of the room begin to take an interest in this

confrontation, Joanna in particular.

ISABELLA
Experience? I've been acting
professionally for almost six years now,
six years more than you have. I've read
extensively about 14th Century Denmark in
preparation for this role and...

ED
Woah, woah, hold on there kitten. I'm
not talking about 'preparation'. I'm
talking about things you draw on to make
your character more believable. Real
things. "Life experience"?

ISABELLA
Oh I see. Have I ever gone steady with a
guy who killed my father then made me
attempt suicide? Gee, let me think about
that one for a minute. Umm, hang on. Oh
yeah, got it. No!

ED
That's not what I mean.
(beat)
You ever gone out with a guy your parents
didn't approve of?

ISABELLA
Yes. Relevance?

THORBURN
Give him a chance, Isabella.

ED
What was this guy like?

ISABELLA
He was the drummer from Axe. Heavy metal
band. He was cool, really... intense.

ED
And?

ISABELLA
And what?

ED
What happened?

ISABELLA
Oh. We fell out of touch. You know,
schedules and that kind of thing.

Ed looks at her, disbelievingly. Sniggers from the back of

the room. Isabella starts to blush.

(CONTINUED)
 42.
CONTINUED: (3)

ISABELLA (CONT'D)
It's true! I have a very busy schedule
and he just felt that he couldn't... We
couldn't... It wasn't...

She trails off. Ed lets the silence sit between them for a
minute before picking up again.

ED
So, to recap, you had a relationship with
a really intense guy...?

Ed looks for encouragement. Isabella nods her head.

ED (CONT'D)
Who your parents didn't get on with and
who ended up breaking your heart. Am I
close?

Isabella is about to protest but in the end remains silent,

looking miserable. Ed tries to be positive.

ED (CONT'D)
That's great! That's perfect Ophelia.
Hamlet : "No, not I; / I never gave you
aught." Ophelia : "My honour'd lord, you
know right well you did;". Same shit.
Different country. You know how it
feels. Just show us!

Ed tries to catch her eye to encourage her. Isabella

continues to look at the ground. Then she looks up at him,
furious.

ISABELLA
Don't tell me how to fucking act, you
asshole! Don't even try it!

Isabella storms out of the room. One of the girls from the
cast follows her. Everyone else looks at Ed. Joanna smiles
at him and carries on reading her book.

THORBURN
Okay people, I guess that's a wrap.

The group puts their coats on and head for the door.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
I shall be in the bar immediately
following, and your first martinis are on
me.
(to Ed)
Joining us, Edward?

ED
Uh, sure. Just gimme a minute.

(CONTINUED)
 43.
CONTINUED: (4)

Thorburn heads out the door back into the theatre. Some
follow him, some leave by another door that gives out onto
the street. Ed puts on his coat and hangs around by his
chair.

Joanna says goodbye to one of the older actors and heads

towards the street exit. Ed moves to intercept her.

ED (CONT'D)
Joanna?

Joanna turns and smiles at him.

ED (CONT'D)
Do you want to get a drink? I know we
haven't had a chance to do much together
yet but it'd be nice to, you know, find
out the real you and all that. I'm sure
Thorburn'd approve.

JOANNA
Another time, maybe. I have a date with
a hungry cat that I'm already late for.

ED
Oh, okay then.

JOANNA
Good night.

ED
Good night.

Joanna walks out. Ed stands there for a minute, looking

after her. Giovanni clocks this and comes over to Ed,
swinging an arm around him shoulder and pulling him away.

GIOVANNI
Talk time.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BAR - EVENING

The bar is smoky, noisy and filled with cast members and pre-
show theatregoers. Thorburn holds court at one table, with a
small group of actors gathered around him. Empty Martini
glasses crowd the table.

THORBURN
...and of course you don't just go up to
Sir John Gielgud and say "please take off
all your clothes and dance with this
hatstand", do you? So, you see, I had to
come at it from a character angle...

Ed and Giovanni are sat apart from this group, drinking beers
and hunched in conversation together.

(CONTINUED)
 44.
CONTINUED:

GIOVANNI
Whether she's a nice person or not is not
my point, my friend. All I'm saying is
that, if a chick's boy dies one week, you
don't go knocking on her door the next
week. Ain't cool.

ED
Man, that's rough. How long were they
married for?

GIOVANNI
Oh, she wasn't married to him. I guess
you could say she was his mistress. For
like twenty years.

ED
Maybe she needs a shoulder to cry on.

GIOVANNI
And a dick to sit on, right?

He LAUGHS loudly, Ed less heartily.

GIOVANNI (CONT'D)
Anyway, man, what're you doing speccing
after someone like her? She's old enough
to be your mother!

ED
I dunno. I always wanted to act and I
think I always looked up to her. You
know, how she started out so young and
had to deal with all that shit about her
baby dying and everything.

GIOVANNI
I never heard about that.

ED
I'm sure it's not her favorite topic of
conversation. I think I read about it in
some magazine years ago. I really loved
to come and watch her when I was a kid.
(beat)
I guess I've always had a bit of a thing
for her.

GIOVANNI
Yeah, and now she's playing your mother,
man. That's just too weird.
(calling out to the bar)
Is there a psychiatrist in the house?

Ed waves and smiles as people look around at them.

ED
Asshole. Teach me to tell you anything.

(CONTINUED)
 45.
CONTINUED: (2)

GIOVANNI
Still, at least you know a bit about her.
Could help break the ice.

ED
What? "Hi, I've been idolizing you since
I was six, wanna go back to your place
and get it on?" Get real.

Ed drains his drink.

ED (CONT'D)
I've gotta be going.

GIOVANNI
Where you living at?

ED
I'm staying in a hostel at the moment.

GIOVANNI
No way.

ED
True.

GIOVANNI
Why don't you move out man? Get yourself
a decent place.

Ed smiles to himself.

ED
Nah. You never know how long a gig like
this could last. Don't want to move all
my shit out and then be asking for my old
room back in a week's time.

Giovanni gives him a look.

GIOVANNI
You're an odd one.

ED
Believe it. Night.

GIOVANNI
Hey, just take my card anyway bro'. For
emergencies.

He gives Ed a card.

ED
Thanks.

Ed buttons up his coat and steps out into the night.

 46.

EXT. LYCEUM THEATRE - NIGHT

Ed tucks his hands into his pockets and pulls on a baseball

cap before turning and walking away.

EXT. SALVATION ARMY HOSTEL - NIGHT

Ed walks in through the front door of the hostel and notices

a MAN standing by the door to the office. Ed walks through
reception and is almost out the other side when he's stopped
by a voice from the man.

VOICE
Excuse me?

Ed stops and turns around and finds himself face to face with
a grim-set Detective Jackson Dewitt.

ED
Yes?

DEWITT
You wouldn't happen to know where I could
find the warden, would you son?

ED
No sir. Probably on his rounds.

DEWITT
Jesus shit. You wouldn't believe how
many of these fucking places I've been to
in the past two days.

ED
Putting together some kind of a guide?

DEWITT
Cute. Utah police. Detective Dewitt.

He shows Ed his badge. Ed's eyes betray the first signs of

alarm.

ED
Long way from home, officer.

DEWITT
Some vagrant beat an old man to death in
a gas station forecourt. I tracked the
son of a bitch out here.

Ed goes very still. His eyes dart around the room.

DEWITT (CONT'D)
I kinda thought he'd put up in one of
these places. I've tried all over town
and haven't come up with shit yet.

Ed stays silent.

(CONTINUED)
 47.
CONTINUED:

DEWITT (CONT'D)
I don't think I can stand another minute
in this fucking city, no disrespect
intended. Gonna head back home tomorrow
I reckon. Nothing more to be done here.
(beat)
Say, you don't think I could give this to
you to give to someone in the morning, do
you?

Dewitt pulls out an artist's impression of a face that now

looks very much like Ed's.

Dewitt holds out the sheet. Ed stands there, not moving.

DEWITT (CONT'D)
Son?

ED
Uh, sure.

Ed reaches for the piece of paper with his right hand, still
covered in a moldy, bloodied bandage.

As he grips the piece of paper, Dewitt notices the state of

his hand and holds onto the sheet for a beat before letting
it go.

Ed sticks the sheet and his hand back into his jacket pocket.
Beat. The two men look at each other.

DEWITT
Something happen to your hand there?

ED
Uh no. I had a...uh...an accident on my
bike a few weeks ago.

Dewitt is now studying Ed's face closely for the first time.
Ed tries to avoid eye contact by dipping his cap so the brim
obscures most of his face.

DEWITT
Uh huh.
(beat)
You been here long?

ED
Just a...uh...yeah, a few months.

Ed moves towards the corridor.

ED (CONT'D)
Okay then, I'll be sure to get this to
the right person.

(CONTINUED)
 48.
CONTINUED: (2)

DEWITT
Son, could I ask you please to take off
your baseball cap?

ED
Excuse me?

DEWITT
Take off your cap.

ED
Uh, sure.

Ed starts to take off his cap.

Suddenly he DARTS out of the front door of the hostel and out
onto the street. Dewitt gives immediate chase.

EXT. SALVATION ARMY HOSTEL - NIGHT

Ed SPRINTS down the sidewalk, crowded with late-night

shoppers. Dewitt hurries after him but the older man is no
match for Ed and he begins to lose ground.

Ed CUTS across the street, causing taxis to screech to a

halt, HORNS blazing. Ed BOUNCES over the hood of one car
that doesn't stop in time.

He eventually gets safely to the far side and SHOOTS OFF into
a back street. Dewitt, stranded puffing on the other side of
the street, watches Ed disappear before turning around and
kicking the curb in anger.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

A door is opened. Giovanni's on the inside. Ed, breathing

heavily, is on the outside in the hallway. Giovanni smiles
broadly at this mess of a man on his doorstep.

GIOVANNI
Couldn't resist me, huh?

He beckons Ed in.

INT. LYCEUM THEATER REHEARSAL ROOM - MORNING

Ed, looking even more unshaven and unkempt than usual, sits
in the middle of the room with Joanna and Thorburn.

THORBURN
I've called just the two of you in this
morning.
(beat)
Your relationship, guilty mother and
volatile son, is the dynamite that's
going to really blow this production up
into something special.
(MORE)

(CONTINUED)
 49.
CONTINUED:
THORBURN (CONT'D)
I want to concentrate some of your time
into working on that before we actually
get up on stage.

He looks at the two for some reaction. Joanna and Ed just

look at each other.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
You were cast for the same reason. You
both have this tremendous ability to
transform real emotion into powerful,
believable performances. I want you to
share that emotion with each other, share
your experiences, happy ones, especially
the sad ones.
(beat)
I'm going to leave you now and work with
the rest of the cast. Do what you will
for the day. I'll be giving out
tomorrow's call at five this evening, so
try to be back by then. Apart from that,
the day is yours.

Thorburn walks out of the room. The two continue to stare at

each other.

ED
Want to get that drink now?

Joanna smiles at him.

INT. DINER - DAY

Ed and Joanna sit opposite each other, drinking coffee out of

cheap china in a very unglamorous diner.

ED
What do you make of all this sharing of
innermost secrets, then?

JOANNA
Oh, Thorburn's always been a great one
for throwing cast members together early
on. He's just looking for some gossip.
Probably wants us to sleep with each
other, now that I'm single.

Joanna looks down at her coffee. Ed's taken aback by her

bluntness.

ED
I heard about your loss. I'm sorry.

Joanna plays with her coffee spoon.

JOANNA
You should send lilies to his wife.

(CONTINUED)
 50.
CONTINUED:

ED
Yes, I know.

Joanna shakes her head.

JOANNA
Yep. Twenty-six year time share with Mrs
Julius Hobbs. A woman who affected my
life more than anyone else and who I've
never spoken a single word to. Not even
at the funeral. Funny.
(beat)
He and I had such a bad relationship. So
unhealthy. Never really enjoying my time
with him but never able to get him out of
my mind. Like emotional nicotine. I was
addicted for 20 years. All of a sudden
it's cold turkey. But it doesn't feel
too bad. Not as bad as it should,
anyway.

She looks into her coffee and then up at Edward.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Your turn.

ED
Ran away from home five years ago and
haven't heard from my parents since. Life
on the streets ever since. Basic scum of
the earth story.

JOANNA
What brought you to New York?

ED
Circumstances.
(beat)
Look, since we're getting all this out on
the table, do you think we should talk
about your son?

Joanna's face falls.

JOANNA
How did you know about that?

ED
I think I read about it somewhere.

JOANNA
You thought I'd want to talk about it?

ED
I'm sorry. I thought that maybe after
twenty years...

Joanna's eyes grow red.

(CONTINUED)
 51.
CONTINUED: (2)

JOANNA
What? After twenty two years I'd have
forgotten about him? Twenty two
Christmases without my baby, playing a
fucking walk-on role in the life of the
man I loved?
(beat)
No. I haven't forgotten.

There is an extremely long and awkward silence between the

two of them. Joanna is clearly shaken.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Let's go.

ED
Where?

JOANNA
Somewhere else. I need air.

Joanna gets up and Ed follows her out.

INT. SALVATION ARMY HOSTEL DORMITORY - DAY

A Salvation Army officer opens the door to Ed's room, and

shows in Dewitt. The three sleeping figures are there, as
always.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER

And this is where he slept, while he was
here.

DEWITT
I'd like to interview his roommates, if
that's possible.

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER

Good luck.

Dewitt glances at the sleeping figures, annoyed.

He goes over to Ed's bed, where his few remaining possessions

lie in the now-abandoned knapsack. He picks through the
contents.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK - DAY

Ed and Joanna walk side by side.

ED
I walked up to him and said - shit, I
still can't believe I did this - I said
to this massive great black dude "I think
the lady just wants to drink on her own."

(CONTINUED)
 52.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA
(smiling along)
Very gallant.

ED
Turns out the guy was her boyfriend. And
my nose has never been completely
straight since... I think it's a problem
of mine, actually. Not good at walking
away from a situation. Always gotta butt
into things that it'd be better if I kept
out of.

They walk on in silence.

JOANNA
I'm sorry about earlier.

They get to a bench, overlooking the boating lake, and sit.

ED
Oh no. All me. Putting my foot right in
it again. Case in point.

JOANNA
No, no. It's just that I've tried not to
think about it...him...for so long, on
purpose, you know, that it caught me kind
of off-guard to hear him mentioned like
that.

Ed stays quiet.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
It always reminds me just what a shit
Julius was. Julius, my...er... whatever
you want to call him.
(beat)
He wasn't even there when his son was
born. Had to go to his wife's parents'
house for Christmas. You believe that?
Turned and ran, just like that.
(beat)
So I went to the hospital on my own,
Christmas Eve, to have this baby and have
something special in my life, show
everyone I could do it. Maybe I even
thought it would make Julius leave his
wife.

Joanna shakes her head slowly.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
God, so stupid. He didn't even try to
act upset when I called him and told him
what had happened. He actually got angry
that I'd tracked him down and called him
up on Christmas Day.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 53.
CONTINUED: (2)
JOANNA (CONT'D)
He could be such a senseless bastard when
he wanted to, not that it made me love
him any less.
(breaking up at the memory)
I was so alone. I didn't even have my
baby.

Joanna sniffs into a tissue.

ED
(softly)
What did happen?

Joanna dries her eyes and takes a deep breath before

continuing.

JOANNA
To the baby? Breathing complications, I
think, but I don't really know. Didn't
make any difference. He was gone, that
was that.

ED
I understand how you feel.

JOANNA
Unlikely.

ED
No really. For what it's worth.
(beat)
I'm my mom's first kid. Healthy and
happy, no problems. In the next five
years she had three more children, none
of which survived for more than a week.
She had really bad asthma, my mom, and I
guess I was just a lucky little sperm
that escaped it or something.
(beat)
So my mom was always in and out of
clinics treating her depression. And my
dad got this real resentment thing going
against me, like I should have died and
one of the others should have lived.
Like I had some kind of a debt to pay
back. To them.

A pause, as the two of them stare at each other.

JOANNA
I haven't had a good talk like this for
years.

ED
Me neither. Thought I'd just end up
depressing everyone. Actually feels
kinda good.

(CONTINUED)
 54.
CONTINUED: (3)

JOANNA
Talking or listening?

ED
Both.

They continue to stare at each other, a chemistry and a

meeting of minds clear to see. They hold the stare for a
moment longer than normal, and at the same time begin to move
together to kiss.

Ed, flustered, pulls away before their lips meet and quickly
stands up.

ED (CONT'D)
Thorburn will be pleased with how far
we've come in such a short time.

JOANNA
Yes, we're his star students.
(pause)
We've still got a bit of time before
we're needed back at the theater. I live
quite close to here. Fancy something hot
and strong?

ED
Sure?

Joanna nods.

ED (CONT'D)
Sure.

Joanna gets up and they walk away together.

INT. JOANNA'S APARTMENT - DAY

Joanna's got a seriously nice place. High ceilings, big open-

plan pine floors, views of the park. The works. A well-
groomed Persian cat skits across the floor as Joanna and Ed
enter.

They dump their coats on the couch and walk over to the
brightly lit kitchen area.

JOANNA
Coffee alright?

ED
A bit cliche, but fine.

Joanna smiles and pulls a pair of mugs down from a cupboard,

marked 'Mine' and 'His'. Ed studies 'his'.

ED (CONT'D)
'His'?

(CONTINUED)
 55.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA
Yours.

She smiles sweetly back at him.

Ed walks back towards the main room, with its commanding

Manhattan skyline views. As he passes through the double-
doorway, he looks down and notices a Tony award propping the
doors open. He picks it up and examines it.

ED
Don't have a trophy cabinet then?

JOANNA
What's that?

ED
Your Tony. Hardly showing it off.

JOANNA
May as well put it to good use.

Ed wanders up to the windows and looks out.

ED
It was for Cleopatra, wasn't it? '81?

Joanna's head appears around the doorway.

JOANNA
Who's been doing their homework then?

ED
You know how it is. You read things.

JOANNA
I'm flattered.

Ed wants to get off the subject.

ED
Yeah, well...

Joanna gets back to the coffee. Ed moves from the window

over to the mantelpiece, where a load of framed silver
photographs stand. He looks at them in turn.

Joanna with her parents, young Joanna on a pony, Joanna with

her arms around some guy, Joanna and her friends...

Ed freezes in his tracks. Backtracks and picks up the photo

of Joanna and the guy, a handsome fifty year-old wearing a
baseball cap and dark glasses. They're by the sea and Joanna
hangs off his arm, clearly in love.

FLASHBACK.
 56.

EXT. DESERTED ROAD, UTAH - DUSK

The driver of the SUV lowers the window a few inches. We get
a glimpse of a baseball cap and shades.

BACK TO SCENE.

Ed's hands tremble as he recognizes the man in the photo.

FLASHBACK.

EXT. DINER, UTAH - NIGHT

Ed is LAYING INTO the man's face with his feet.

ED
Think THIS is funny?

MAN
(groaning)
Jesus Christ no.

BACK TO SCENE.

Ed clenches his fists and raises them to his head, in

complete disbelief at this latest turn of events.

Suddenly, Joanna is there at his shoulders with two cups of

coffee and a friendly smile. She hands him a cup.

JOANNA
There you go.

Ed accepts the cup and replaces the photo on the mantelpiece.

He struggles to maintain his composure as he points at the
photograph.

ED
Is that him? Julius?

JOANNA
Yes. On one of our annual weekends
together.

ED
(his voice almost breaking)
What...um...what actually happened to
him?

Joanna sadly picks up the photograph and runs her fingers

over the glass.

JOANNA
Just one of those stupid things. I
haven't been able to get the full story
of course, not being close family,
whatever that means.
(MORE)

(CONTINUED)
 57.
CONTINUED:
JOANNA (CONT'D)
Got into an argument with some bum at a
gas station in Utah. He was getting old,
had a bad heart. Wouldn't have taken
much...
(beat, looks at Ed)
I should really take this down, get on
with things. Should've taken it down and
gotten on with things long before he
died, come to think of it.

Ed looks at Joanna, then back at the photograph. He puts his

coffee down on a nearby table and heads for the door.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Ed?

ED
I have to... I forgot I've got to...

JOANNA
Where are you going?

ED
I'll see you later. I'm sorry, I can't
stay.

Ed walks out of the front door. Joanna looks equal measures

confused and pissed off.

EXT. JOANNA'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY

Ed rushes out of the smart front door of Joanna's apartment

block. He walks quickly away down the sidewalk, taking
strangled, frantic gulps of air.

Passers-by pass him by.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE REHEARSAL ROOM - DAY

Thorburn and Joanna stand in the middle of the rehearsal

room. Thorburn looks at his watch, then at Joanna. She
shrugs her shoulders glumly.

THORBURN
Well, I guess we'd better press on
without him for the time being.

They begin to prepare for rehearsals.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK - EVENING

Ed sits hunched on the same park bench that he and Joanna sat
on during their tell-all conversation of a few days ago. He
stares blankly and breathes out mists of cold air.

ED V.O.
It was like someone was playing a game
with me.
 58.

INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Dewitt stares at the artist's impression of Edward as he sits

at a desk in a drab motel room.

The TV plays noiselessly in the background.

ED V.O.
Like I'd get so close to what I wanted.
Whatever that was. Happiness. Success,
maybe. It'd be like a feather floating
in front of my eyes.

Dewitt rubs his eyes and puts the picture down. He goes into
the bathroom, flicking the light on as he pushes the door
shut behind him.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK - EVENING

Ed carries on walking as night closes in around him.

ED V.O.
Every time I'd stretch out my hand to
grasp hold of it, it would just drift
gently out of reach again. Like it was a
game of tag I couldn't win.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE REHEARSAL ROOM - DAY

Thorburn and Joanna wait. Joanna looks really worried.

Thorburn pulls a cellphone out of his pocket and dials.

THORBURN
(into the phone)
Where is he? ... Well find him for fuck's
sake. ... No, I know it isn't. ... Okay,
if you do see him, alright, will you
please tell him that we're all looking
for him and that if he doesn't show his
sorry little arse up at rehearsal
tomorrow morning he can consider himself
uncast. Clear?

Thorburn snaps the phone shut.

THORBURN (CONT'D)
Jesus. Serves me right for not working
with pros.

Joanna looks miserable.

INT. GIOVANNI'S APARTMENT - DAY

Giovanni hangs up the phone. He turns to face Ed, who's

sitting on the floor in a corner of the room, his back
against the wall. Looking like shit.

(CONTINUED)
 59.
CONTINUED:

GIOVANNI
You gotta do it, man.

No response from Ed.

GIOVANNI (CONT'D)
You don't wanna lose it now, do you?

Ed runs his hands through his hair in frustration.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - NEXT DAY

Thorburn, Joanna and some of the other cast members walk into
the auditorium, chattering away. As they all unpack their
stuff, Joanna stands motionless, looking at Ed, who's
standing in the middle of the stage, dressed all in black and
with a long, black overcoat.

Even his blonde hair and stubble seem dark. He keeps his
eyes on the ground.

Gradually the other members of the room realize that the

prodigal Hamlet has turned up. Thorburn looks relieved.

THORBURN
Right. Act III. Scene one.

Joanna walks up onto the stage until she's facing Ed. She
stares at him. He looks up at her with anguished eyes. Ed's
voice-over begins between them.

ED V.O.
"To be, or not to be: that is the
question:

BEGIN MONTAGE

The Lyceum production develops - costumes, props, scenery all

coming together - as the montage progresses.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed stands on-stage, a far-off look in his eyes. Set-builders

move about in the shadows behind him.

ED
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
/ The slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune,

EXT. LYCEUM THEATRE REHEARSAL ROOM - EVENING

Ed walks out of the theatre and strides off down the street.
A few moments later, Joanna bursts out of the door and looks
both ways. She sees Ed, but he's crossing the street and
walking too fast for her to catch up. She throws her hands
up in exasperation.

(CONTINUED)
 60.
CONTINUED:

ED V.O.
Or to take arms against a sea of
troubles, / And by opposing end them?

INT. BUS - NIGHT

Ed rest his head against the window of a bus as the lights of

the city flash by him.

ED V.O.
To die: to sleep; / No more; and by a
sleep to say we end / The heart-ache and
the thousand natural shocks / That flesh
is heir to, 'tis a consummation /
Devoutly to be wish'd.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Ed sits at the end of his bed in Giovanni's apartment,

looking out of the window.

ED V.O.
To die, to sleep; / To sleep: perchance
to dream: ay, there's the rub; / For in
that sleep of death what dreams may come
/ When we have shuffled off this mortal
coil, / Must give us pause.

Electric sparks thrown up by a subway train illuminate Ed's

face.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed, now in costume, continues to speak. He's watched by a

crowd in the auditorium, in particular by Thorburn and, next
to him, an anxious-looking Joanna.

ED
There's the respect / That makes calamity
of so long life; / For who would bear the
whips and scorns of time,

Thorburn leans over and whispers into Joanna's ear.

ED (CONT'D)
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's
contumely, / The pangs of despised love,

Joanna nods, never taking her eyes off Ed.

INT. DINER - DAY

Dewitt sits at a Formica table, eating a fried breakfast.

ED V.O.
The law's delay, / The insolence of
office and the spurns / That patient
merit of the unworthy takes.
 61.

EXT. STREETS - EVENING

Ed walks on. He passes a young girl as she pulls at her

mother's coat and he stares at the sight.

ED V.O.
But that the dread of something after
death, / The undiscover'd country from
whose bourn / No traveller returns,

EXT. STREETS - DAY

Dewitt stands in a traffic island in the middle of the

street, surrounded on all sides by the towering structures of
Manhattan's skyscrapers, going on seemingly for ever.

ED V.O.
Puzzles the will / And makes us rather
bear those ills we have / Than fly to
others that we know not of?

Dewitt looks around and around and around.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BAR - MORNING

The cast and crew are having a coffee break. Ed sits apart
from everyone, staring blankly ahead and smoking a cigarette.

ED V.O.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us
all;

Joanna is in conversation with another actress, but her gaze

rests on the sad figure in the corner.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
And thus the native hue of resolution /
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of
thought, / And enterprises of great pith
and moment.

Ed looks up and finally meets Joanna's stare.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
With this regard their currents turn
awry, / And lose the name of action."

Joanna smiles at Ed, but he looks away once more.

END MONTAGE.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed finishes his soliloquy. The auditorium is silent.

 62.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - EVENING

The entire cast are assembled on the stage. Thorburn

addresses them.

THORBURN
No big speeches. No final notes. We're
there and we're ready. Tomorrow night
you're going to show this town what
they've been waiting for.
(beat, stares at Ed)
The real thing.

EXT. LYCEUM THEATRE - NIGHT

Ed comes out of the door into the snowy night, but is

intercepted by Joanna, who has been waiting for him.

JOANNA
Talk to me.

Ed walks away.

ED
I can't.

Joanna grabs him by the hand.

JOANNA
Talk to me, goddamnit! What is the
matter with you? We both finally find
someone we can speak to and the next
minute you're out the door.
(beat)
The only words you say now are written
for you.

Ed turns on her.

ED
You want to know the truth? You want
that?

Joanna stares back at him.

ED (CONT'D)
Yes, I felt it too. Yes, I want to be
with you too. But I can't. I can't do
it. And that's what's killing me. And I
can't apologize because you won't
understand and I can't tell you
because... I can't. I'm stuck.

JOANNA
Is it about Julius?

Ed remains silent. Joanna's eyes blaze.

(CONTINUED)
 63.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Is it because I still had his picture up
in my apartment? Forget about him. He's
gone. I loved him but he's dead. You're
not. We're not.

ED
(anguished)
I can't...

JOANNA
You can...

They stare at each other. Joanna gently strokes Ed's cheek.

Ed screws up his eyes.

ED
I can't.

He walks away. Joanna lets her hand fall to her side.

EXT. STREETS - NIGHT

Ed rounds a corner and SCREAMS in anger and anguish. He

stops and buries his head in his hands.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - EVENING

A PAN around the auditorium reveals that it is packed with

the great and the good and the otherwise wealthy of
Manhattan. Joanna is on-stage with an actor playing LORD
POLONIUS. We hear Ed's call from off-stage.

ED (O.S.)
"Mother, mother, mother!"

JOANNA
(to Lord Polonius)
"I'll warrant you, / Fear me not:
withdraw, I hear him coming."

Lord Polonius withdraws, Ed enters. This is the first time

that we have seen them act opposite each other. The
exchanges between them are quick and highly charged.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
"Why, how now, Hamlet?"

ED
"What's the matter now?"

JOANNA
"Have you forgot me?"

ED
"No, by the rood, not so: / You are the
queen, your husband's brother's wife;
(MORE)

(CONTINUED)
 64.
CONTINUED:
ED (CONT'D)
/ And--would it were not so!--you are my
mother."

The audience is spellbound by the performance.

JOANNA
(in tears, shouting at Hamlet)
"What have I done, that thou darest wag
thy tongue / In noise so rude against
me?"

ED
"Such an act / That blurs the grace and
blush of modesty, / Calls virtue
hypocrite,

Ed comes nose-to-nose with Joanna and strokes her cheek

gently.

ED (CONT'D)
(tenderly)
Takes off the rose / From the fair
forehead of an innocent love,

He suddenly GRASPS her jaw in his grip, causing Joanna to

scream involuntarily.

ED (CONT'D)
(shouting)
And sets a blister there!"

Cast members, including Isabella and Giovanni, gather off-

stage to watch this compelling performance.

Joanna tears herself away from Ed's grip, looking at him with
wild eyes.

JOANNA
"No more! Hamlet, thou hast thy father
much offended."

ED
"Mother, you have my father much
offended. A King of shreds and patches,-

An actor playing the GHOST OF HAMLET'S FATHER enters.

Ed stares up at him and, from his POV, we see instead the

pale figure of JULIUS HOBBS, dressed as he was that night in
Utah, caked in mud and blood.

The ghost points at Ed. Ed falls to his knees in terror.

ED (CONT'D)
"Save me, and hover o'er me with your
wings, / You heavenly guards!
(beat)
What would your gracious figure?"

(CONTINUED)
 65.
CONTINUED: (2)

JOANNA
"Alas, he's mad!"

Ed frantically scrambles away from the figure as it

approaches him across the stage. We cut back and forth from
seeing the actor to seeing the figure of Hobbs.

ED
"Do you not come your tardy son to
chide."

Joanna holds Ed in her arms.

JOANNA
"To whom do you speak this?"

Ed points at the ghost.

ED
"Do you see nothing there?"

JOANNA
"Nothing at all; yet all that is I see."

ED
"Nor did you nothing hear?"

JOANNA
"No, nothing but ourselves."

ED
"Why, look you there! look, how it steals
away!"

The ghost walks slowly backwards off-stage, staring at Ed all

the while.

ED (CONT'D)
"My father, in his habit as he lived! /
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the
portal!"

The ghost exits. Joanna holds Ed's face in her hands, real
worry again evident in her stare.

JOANNA
"This is the very coinage of your brain."

DISSOLVE TO:

LATER IN THE SAME SCENE

Ed is dragging a body off-stage.

ED
"Indeed this counsellor / Is now most
still, most secret and most grave, / Who
was in life a foolish prating knave.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 66.
CONTINUED:
ED (CONT'D)
/ Come, sir, to draw toward an end with
you."

He stops and looks at Joanna one last time.

ED (CONT'D)
"Good night, mother."

He exits. Joanna falls to her knees. The curtain comes

down. A ROAR of applause begins from the audience.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BAR - EVENING

The bar area has been grandly decorated in commemoration of

this first night, and the post-show party is well under way.

Ed is pinned into a corner by an exultant Thorburn and a

radiant Isabella. He stands underneath a larger-than-life-
sized promotional cardboard cut-out of him holding Joanna's
jaw, as we saw him do earlier.

He looks utterly drained and hardly hears the words being

spoken to him as he sips his champagne.

THORBURN
What a night! What a show! They're
already calling you the savior of
Broadway! Edward Kane! My boy! I don't
know what awful kind of shit you had to
summon up to give us that performance
tonight, but whatever it was, I want it
every night.

ISABELLA
You know, Ed, we didn't really get off on
the right foot at the beginning.
(taking his hand)
I'd love to spend some time working with
you on some of our scenes. Why don't we
get together tomorrow?

THORBURN
Edward will be far too busy with me
tomorrow, Isabella darling.

Ed sees Joanna emerge from the back-stage door. Their eyes

meet. She smiles weakly at him.

Ed pushes past Thorburn and Isabella towards Joanna, leaving

the two of them standing there, open-mouthed.

Ed speaks quietly to Joanna.

ED
Let's go.

They walk out of the bar together.

 67.

EXT. ELLIS PARK - NIGHT

Joanna sits on a grassy bank, looking out over the Hudson,

the Statue of Liberty and the lights of the city beyond. Ed
stands at a distance, fidgeting.

He takes a while to find his words. Finally, he speaks.

ED
You ever notice how, in movies, a girl
and a guy will get together and
everything's cool and they're really in
love. Properly in love. But then the
girl finds out that someone actually bet
the guy to date her in the first place,
or the guy finds out that the girl slept
with his brother when she was drunk once?
And then, even though they still love
each other and even though nothing has
actually physically changed between them,
everything goes to shit?

They sit in silence for a beat.

ED (CONT'D)
And you can never understand why they
don't tell them, because it's just making
things worse?

A long beat. Joanna looks at Ed.

ED (CONT'D)
I've got something to tell you. I don't
want to, but if I don't I lose my mind.
So I have no choice.

JOANNA
Ed, what's the matter?

ED
Try to remember, after I've told you,
that nothing has changed between us.
Nothing.

JOANNA
Get to the point.

Beat. Ed looks deep into Joanna's eyes.

ED
I killed Julius.

JOANNA
You...?

ED
In Utah, before I got here. It was me.

(CONTINUED)
 68.
CONTINUED:

Joanna shakes her head, still looking into his eyes.

JOANNA
No, I don't believe you.

ED
It's the truth.

Joanna looks at Ed and waits for him to explain himself. He

doesn't.

JOANNA
Why are you doing this?

ED
(his voice breaking)
Because I love you.

Joanna begins to cry. Ed tries to hug her. She pushes him

away.

JOANNA
Go.

ED
Joanna.

JOANNA
Go. Now.

Ed stares at Joanna as he gets to his feet. He walks away.

Joanna is left alone, destroyed.

INT. JOANNA'S BEDROOM - MORNING

Joanna lies in bed, asleep. She is gradually awakened by a

knocking at the door. Opens her eyes.

The knocking becomes more insistent. Joanna leaps up and out

of her bed, putting on her dressing gown as she hurries
towards the door.

JOANNA
I'm coming, I'm coming.

She reaches the door and flings it open.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Ed...?

She catches the name in her mouth as she realizes the man at
the door is not Ed.

It's Detective Jackson Dewitt.

DEWITT
Miss Regan?

(CONTINUED)
 69.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA
(disoriented)
Um, yes. Can I help you?

DEWITT
(showing his badge)
Jackson Dewitt, Utah Police.

Joanna looks at him with searching eyes.

JOANNA
Yes, what's the matter?

DEWITT
Ma'am, I'm investigating the murder of
Julius Hobbs, who I believe you were
acquainted with. Can I come in?

JOANNA
Um, no, sorry, I have someone here.

DEWITT
Okay. That's okay. I'm following up a
few leads and I noticed that no-one's
actually taken a statement from you. So
I thought I would stop by and ask you a
few questions, but if now is a bad
time...

JOANNA
What do you think I could know? I only
saw him occasionally.

DEWITT
Well, that's all part of the process.
Lots of little pieces might come together
to give us the full picture. Your
testimony may be the missing piece, it
may not.

JOANNA
I'm sorry, I don't think that there's any
way I can help you. Try his wife.

DEWITT
Okay. You're probably right.

He pulls out the hand-drawn picture of Ed.

DEWITT (CONT'D)
You might also be interested and...
reassured to know that we do have a
suspect in this case. Young guy, 'bout a
hundred sixty pounds.

Joanna looks hard at the image staring back at her from the
paper.

(CONTINUED)
 70.
CONTINUED: (2)

DEWITT (CONT'D)
Some things happen for a reason. We
don't know yet if there was a reason for
what this guy did to your friend Mr
Hobbs. But we're gonna keep looking.
And if you do think of anything we should
know about, please gimme a call.

He gives Joanna his card. Joanna looks at it.

JOANNA
Sure.

Dewitt touches his hat good-bye and walks off down the
corridor. Joanna shuts the door quickly behind him.

She looks at his card, then looks away from it. Looks at it
again, then purposefully walks over to her writing table,
where she rips it up and throws it into the trash.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - EVENING

Mid-show again. Another full-house. The court is assembled.

Ed walks on-stage, avoiding eye contact with Joanna.

THE King addresses Hamlet.

KANE
"How is it that the clouds still hang on
you?"

ED
"Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the
sun."

Joanna walks up to Ed and looks him straight in the eye.

Then she smiles softly at him.

JOANNA
"Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour
off. / Thou know'st 'tis common; all that
lives must die, / Passing through nature
to eternity."

Ed realizes what she's telling him. Their eyes meet in each

other's souls. Ed smiles back at Joanna.

ED
"Ay, madam, it is common."

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BACK-STAGE - LATER

The characters file off. Ed grabs Joanna and pulls her

behind a piece of scenery. The next scene can be heard
starting over their whispered exchange.

ED
Did you mean that?

(CONTINUED)
 71.
CONTINUED:

JOANNA
I let him screw up my life when he was
alive. I'm not going to let him carry on
doing it now he's dead.

They hold each other close.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
Nobody's perfect.

They pull apart and study each other for a moment. And then,
as all around them goes quiet, they move towards each other.

And kiss.

Tenderly at first.

Then with passion.

INT. JOANNA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Joanna and Ed kiss in the middle of the room, the city lights
twinkling behind them through the window.

INT. JOANNA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

They make love on the large bed, two bodies in harmony.

Complete understanding, complete love.

We move up their bodies. Joanna's BREATHING becomes more

erratic, more frantic. Her hands grab Ed's back tightly.
She shudders with delight as Ed kisses her harder.

LATER

Ed and Joanna lie facing each other on their sides, staring

into each other's eyes in silence.

LATER

Ed lies, asleep at last, his head in Joanna's breast. He has

an angelic look. Joanna is stroking his hair across his
brow, echoing her actions with the baby in the maternity
ward.

FADE TO BLACK.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK - TWILIGHT

Joanna and Ed walk hand in hand through the trees.

Ed, clean shaven for the first time in a while, looks better
rested, more healthy and more full of life than we have seen
him before.

JOANNA
How old are you?

(CONTINUED)
 72.
CONTINUED:

ED
Does it matter?

JOANNA
Not really. Just curious how much of a
toyboy you're actually being.

ED
You're a beautiful woman. I'm powerless
before you.

JOANNA
My God. If your mother could see you
now. Flaunting yourself in public with
an old maid.

Ed smiles wryly.

ED
My mother ...

Joanna notices Ed's change of mood and pulls him tighter

towards her.

JOANNA
Hey. That's all past now. You've got to
look forward. Look forward with me.
Their loss. My gain.

She looks at him with loving eyes. They kiss again.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - DAY

Ed acts opposite Lord Polonius. Hamlet is in high spirits

and making fun of the old man. Ed is on a roll and the
audience laps it up.

LORD POLONIUS
"My lord, the queen would speak with you,
/ and presently."

ED
"Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in
shape of a / camel?"

LORD POLONIUS
"By the mass, and 'tis like a camel,
indeed."

ED
"Methinks it is like a weasel."

The audience LAUGHS as Ed toys with the old man.

LORD POLONIUS
"It is backed like a weasel."

(CONTINUED)
 73.
CONTINUED:

ED
"Or like a whale?"

LORD POLONIUS
"Very like a whale."

ED
"Then I will come to my mother by and by.
They fool / me to the top of my bent. I
will come by and by."

LORD POLONIUS
"I will say so."

ED
"By and by is easily said."

The audience loves it and APPLAUDS.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BACK-STAGE - LATER

Ed bursts off stage, into the arms of the waiting Joanna.

They kiss each other sweetly.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Dewitt drives over the Brooklyn bridge, leaving the lights of

Manhattan behind him. His expression is grim.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE MAIN STAGE - EVENING

Another audience stands to an ovation as yet another

performance comes to an end.

The cast, headed by Ed and Joanna, take the bows.

EXT. LYCEUM THEATER - DAY

A large poster advertising the production has a white banner

pasted across the top of it : "Run extended due to
overwhelming demand."

INT. JOANNA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Ed and Joanna lie in their customary position, on their

sides, eyes open, their faces almost meeting.

JOANNA
I love your eyes. Like the sea. Big and
blue. Calm on the surface. But you're
never sure what they're hiding down
below. What was that line? "Know the
eyes, know the man."
(beat)
I know the man.

She closes her own eyes and pulls Ed closer to her.

 74.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BAR - EVENING

The cast enjoy drinks after the show. Ed and Joanna talk
sweetly to each other, slightly set apart from the others,
which include a sour-looking Thorburn and Isabella.

THORBURN
Look at them carrying on like that.

ISABELLA
I think it's unnatural, if you ask me.

Giovanni arrives, carrying some more drinks.

GIOVANNI
Will you two shut up for chrissakes?
Look at them. They were made for each
other, it's obvious. You're jealous.

THORBURN
Oh don't be so ridiculous.

ISABELLA
Yes, please give me some credit. I'd
like to think I could beat a forty-two
year old woman if I wanted to.

Giovanni takes a sip of his drink and shrugs his shoulders.

GIOVANNI
If you say so. Wish I was as happy as
those two, I can say that.

All three look over at the couple wistfully.

INT. JOANNA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Joanna looks through her bag and emerges with a yellowing

envelope, folded in half. She opens it and pulls out the
faded old Polaroid taken of Joanna and her son. Ed lies in
bed, watching her.

JOANNA
Here it is.

She gives the Polaroid to Ed.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
I could never throw it away, but it's
hardly mantelpiece material.

She runs her hands over the Polaroid.

JOANNA (CONT'D)
It's all I have left of him.

Ed stares into the face of the baby.

 75.

LATER

They lie in bed, almost asleep. Ed strokes Joanna's hair.

ED
Do you feel it?

JOANNA
What?

ED
This was meant to be.

JOANNA
I know.

She kisses his nose and closes her eyes.

EXT. STREET - DAY

Ed and Joanna walk past a jeweller's shop. Ed tries to pull

inside. Joanna laughs but shakes her head. Ed finally wins
the day and pulls her in.

INT. JEWELLER'S SHOP - DAY

Ed picks out a pair of brooches for Joanna, the masks of

Comedy and Tragedy. He pins the Comedy mask onto Joanna's
shirt. She takes the Tragedy mask and puts it in her bag,
still in its box.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BACK-STAGE - EVENING

Joanna is visible on-stage, talking to the Lord Polonius

character. Ed is hopping gently on the spot, warming himself
up. He hears a couple of voices whispering on the other side
of a back-stage flat.

VOICE 1 (O.S.)
Did you hear about Joanna?

VOICE 2 (O.S.)
No.

VOICE 1 (O.S.)
Vicki in wardrobe was up all last night
taking her costumes out an inch around
the waist.

Ed turns to the flat in surprise.

VOICE 2 (O.S.)
Oh my God, you think she's...?

VOICE 1 (O.S.)
Well, I don't see her eating any cream
cakes, do you?

(CONTINUED)
 76.
CONTINUED:

Smiling goofily, Ed gets a sharp prod in the back from the

STAGE MANAGER, indicating that it's his cue.

ED
"Mother, mother mother!"

MAIN STAGE - CONTINUOUS

Joanna responds in character to Ed's line off-stage.

JOANNA
"I'll warrant you, / Fear me not:
withdraw, I hear him coming."

Polonius withdraws, Ed leaps on-stage, barely disguising his

delight.

He runs up to Joanna and kisses her full and deep.

The audience is amazed. Much peering over glasses, nudging

one another etc.

BACK-STAGE - CONTINUOUS

The stage-manager frantically flips through his stage

directions binder to see if he can figure out what's going on
on-stage.

MAIN STAGE - CONTINUOUS

Ed finally lets go of Joanna, who's had to do everything she

can not to melt into Ed's arms.

JOANNA
"Why, how now, Hamlet?"

Joanna smiles back, knowing he knows and sharing his

happiness.

INT. CHURCH - DAY

Ed and Joanna stand at the altar, a priest in between them.

Giovanni is Ed's best man, one of the girls from the cast is
Joanna's maid of honor. Thorburn and Isabella and a few
other cast members make up the small congregation.

Joanna wears the comedy brooch on her pure white wedding

dress. The first hint of a bulge is evident.

Ed kisses the bride.

EXT. CHURCH - DAY

As Ed and Joanna leave the church, they are surprised to see

twelve of the extras from the production dressed up in their
costumes as Danish soldiers.

(CONTINUED)
 77.
CONTINUED:

They all raise their pikes and form a tunnel, through which
Ed and Joanna, LAUGHING, pass.

At the other end of the tunnel, light bulbs POP as a few

photographers snap the happy couple on their big day. Ed
looks back at Thorburn, with a "Was this you?" expression.

Thorburn opens his palms and shrugs his shoulders, returning

with a "Well, what can you do?" gesture.

The bride and groom kiss for the cameras.

INT. JOANNA'S APARTMENT - DAY

Ed carries Joanna across the threshold and they collapse in a

giggling bundle on the couch.

ED
How was the first day of the rest of your
life, Mrs. Kane?

JOANNA
Better than all the days of the start of
my life put together, Mr. Kane.

Ed lays a gentle hand on his wife's stomach.

ED
We should make the most of our time alone
together. Three is a crowd.

They smile and disappear from sight behind the back of the
couch.

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Joanna, Ed and a KIND-FACED DOCTOR sit in a sparsely-

appointed office. Joanna is now noticeably pregnant.

JOANNA
And so this time I want to be as sure as
possible that the baby's going to be
alright.

The doctor studies some charts.

DOCTOR
To be honest with you, Mrs. Kane, we
can't find anything in you or, I'm happy
to say, in the baby to indicate any
hereditary breathing problems that might
complicate the situation at birth.
(beat)
Obviously, given your age, we do want to
make sure that the run-up to the due date
is as smooth as possible to ensure that
everything goes according to plan. So...
(to Ed)
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 78.
CONTINUED:
DOCTOR (CONT'D)
...no surprises for your wife please, Mr
Kane. Haha.

The doctor gets up and extends his hand. Joanna, then Ed,
shake it and leave the room.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE BAR - MORNING

A DELIVERY-BOY drops off a packed-together bundle of the New

York Times. SOMEONE scurries over and picks them up.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE GREEN ROOM - LATER

One of the CAST hands copies of the paper around to other

actors and actresses who are lounging about back-stage. They
all reach for the culture section and there, on the front
page, is a picture of Joanna and Ed on their wedding day.
The caption reads "Love on the boards".

Joanna and Ed walk into the Green Room and are greeted with
WOLF-WHISTLES and good-natured APPLAUSE.

INT. DINER, SALT LAKE CITY - EVENING

Dewitt sits on a stool at the bar, pensive. An OLD GUY reads

a copy of the same newspaper at the other end of the bar.

Dewitt stares at the photofit of Ed as he holds up his glass

for a refill.

His eye is suddenly drawn to the cover of the paper, showing

a picture of a man and a woman in wedding clothes. He looks
closer.

He stares intently at the front cover.

DEWITT
Son of a bitch.

INT. KANE HOUSHOLD - DAY

An old, tired, lonely Joanna Kane trembles as she sets down a

copy of the same newspaper. Her eyes brim with tears as she
knocks back a measure of gin.

Composing herself, she walks over to a worn wooden dresser,

unlocks it and pulls out a crinkled letter in an envelope.

She reads, as she's clearly done so many times before, the

tidily written words on the faded page. We catch fragments :
"My confession..."; "a terrible mistake"; "your son..."; "can
no longer bear the guilt of my silence..."

The letter is signed Dr. William Roberts.

Joanna Kane folds the letter up. Takes another drink.

 79.

INT. JOANNA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Joanna sits on the edge of the bed and puts her hands on her
stomach, again mirroring her actions from the hospital at the
beginning.

This time Ed comes up to her and puts his hands over her
hands. They kiss gently.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. LYCEUM THEATRE DRESSING ROOMS - EVENING

Joanna is now very heavily pregnant. Ed is busy taking make-

up off in front of a row of mirrors.

Joanna reads from the same National Enquirer. On the front

page is a wedding picture of Ed and Joanna with the title
"SHE'S HIS MOM - AND SHE'S PREGNANT WITH HIS BABY!":

JOANNA
(quoting)
"In what is fast becoming a record-
breaking run for a Shakespearian
production on Broadway, the main talking
point is still the off-stage relationship
between Edward Kane, who plays Hamlet,
and Joanna Regan who, in a perverse
twist, plays Hamlet's mother, Queen
Gertrude."

She maneuvers herself unsteadily to a chair, one hand

supporting her back. Ed looks up from the mirror.

ED
You alright?

JOANNA
Yeah, yeah I'm fine. This little guy's
just impatient.
(she continues to read)
"Kane and Regan married four months ago
and are expecting their first child blah
blah blah."
(she glances at Ed)
Here we go. "While some found it
distracting, not to say disturbing, to
know that characters playing mother and
son are in fact somewhat closer than the
bounds of filial morality would dictate,
other simply responded saying that the
sexual charge is between the two
characters is indicated by Shakespeare in
the script and that it's refreshing to
see this complex Oedipal emotion finally
brought to the stage in such a realistic
fashion." Thorburn will be pleased.

(CONTINUED)
 80.
CONTINUED:

There's a KNOCK at the door. The stage manager pokes his

head around the door.

STAGE MANAGER
Hi Ed. Oh, hi there Joanna.

JOANNA
Hi Nick.

STAGE MANAGER
Ah, Ed, someone here to see you. Says
it's really important.

ED
Can't it wait?

STAGE MANAGER
She says she's your mother.

Ed looks up. Looks at Joanna in the mirror.

INT. RESTAURANT - EVENING

Ed and Joanna sit, holding hands on the table. Joanna Kane

sits opposite them.

Her eyes are puffy from age and crying and her skin is drawn.
Unrecognizable from the young woman she was in the hospital
twenty-five years ago.

There's a silence around the table. Joanna Kane drinks

deeply from her wine glass.

ED
(finally)
When?

JOANNA KANE
Three years ago.

ED
What was the... What happened?

Joanna drinks some more.

JOANNA KANE
He had one attack. Then they thought he
was getting better and the day before he
was due to check out he had another one.
Dropped down dead right there. I held
his hand when he went.

Ed looks stony-faced.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

Aren't you sorry?

(CONTINUED)
 81.
CONTINUED:

ED
There's a lot of things I'm sorry about.
This isn't one of them. I'm sorry for
you. I'm not sorry for him.

Beat.

JOANNA KANE
Didn't invite your own mother to your
wedding?

ED
Mom, I'm not going to apologize, if
that's what you've come here for.

Joanna Kane collects herself. She finally speaks with the

voice of a lonely old lady.

JOANNA KANE
So you've really done it. You proved him
wrong and you're happy now. Even if you
couldn't do it with us, or even let us
know what you were up to, I'm glad my
boy's happy.
(beat)
My boy...

She trails off. Ed squeezes his mom's hand and looks over at
Joanna, who looks back at him sympathetically.

ED
Mom are you okay? Let's find you
somewhere to stay for the night.

Joanna Kane fixes Ed with a brave smile. She digs in her

purse for something.

JOANNA KANE
You'll always be my boy...

She breaks down as she hands over Dr. Roberts' letter of

confession to Ed.

ED
What's this? Mom?

Ed's not getting anything out of her. Bemused, he opens the

letter. His face is a conflict of emotions as he reads its
shattering contents.

He finally looks up. The letter slips from his fingers.

ED (CONT'D)
Mom?

Joanna looks up, smiles weakly.

(CONTINUED)
 82.
CONTINUED: (2)

JOANNA KANE
Better find a new name for me.

JOANNA
Ed? What's going on?

ED
I need air.

He gets up and walks out of the restaurant. Joanna looks at

Joanna Kane with a blend of curiosity and concern.

JOANNA
Should I leave?

JOANNA KANE
No. Stay with me.

Joanna Kane pours them both another drink. She continues to

rifle through her purse until she brings out another photo -
THE PHOTO JOANNA TOOK OF HER IN THE HOSPITAL. Joanna doesn't
see it yet.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

On his deathbed, some crackpot doctor
writes to me, telling me there was a mix-
up at the hospital where Ed was born.
That a baby died. My baby. Like all my
others. And that I went home with the
wrong one. Someone else's baby.
(beat)
I try to tell myself nothing's changed,
but it has, hasn't it?

Joanna stares at her sympathetically. Joanna Kane fiddles

with the photo.

JOANNA KANE (CONT'D)

I kept this little picture of him with me
wherever I went. Now I find out I was
carrying a stranger around with me. You
might as well have it now. You're more
family to him than I am.

She slides the photo across the table to Joanna. Joanna

smiles understandingly at her namesake and turns over the
photo.

She looks at the picture for a moment, a strange look on her

face.

Suddenly, her body begins to deflate, her face drain of

color, her composure flee.

Disbelief. Comprehension. Horror.

JOANNA
Oh my God...

(CONTINUED)
 83.
CONTINUED: (3)

Joanna suddenly grasps her stomach and lurches forward onto

the table. Joanna Kane gets to her feet.

JOANNA KANE
Edward! Somebody? Help!

INT. HOSPITAL DELIVERY ROOM - LATER

CRASH! Swing doors fly open as Joanna is wheeled down a

corridor by a team of doctors and nurses. Ed jogs alongside
her, holding her hand.

ED
(short of breath)
You doing alright?

Joanna doesn't reply. A doctor inspects her on the move.

DOCTOR
Okay, she's going into the turn, we're
gonna have to do this quickly.

They push Joanna through another set of doors into the

delivery room and pull up alongside an operating table.

DOCTOR (CONT'D)
Ready everybody? One, two three...

The doors slam shut in Ed's face. He looks through the

perspex circles into the delivery room as the doctors lift
Joanna onto the delivery table.

Joanna tilts her head to face Ed and opens her eyes a crack.
They stare at each other.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - NIGHT

Ed paces up and down the waiting room, frantic with worry.

LATER

Ed sits on a chair, his head in his hands, almost asleep.

The doctor from the delivery room walks in and taps him on
the shoulder.

DOCTOR
Mr Kane?

ED
(looking up)
Yes? What?

The doctor smiles gently.

(CONTINUED)
 84.
CONTINUED:

DOCTOR
Congratulations. You have a baby
daughter.

ED
My wife? What about my wife?

The doctor's expression becomes more serious.

DOCTOR
Due to Mrs Kane's age and the early
delivery date there were some
complications in the delivery.

Ed stares at the doctor with anguished eyes.

DOCTOR (CONT'D)
It's alright. It'll be alright. She's
going to be okay.

Ed relaxes fractionally.

DOCTOR (CONT'D)
She lost a lot of blood during the
procedure and so we have to keep her in
overnight while we readminister body
fluids. She's in intensive care, but
she's stable.

Ed's relief is palpable and he allows himself a smile.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT

Ed holds a baby girl in his arms as he walks slowly down the

hospital corridor.

Ed coos at the child adoringly.

They arrive at the door to the intensive care ward. Through

a glass window in the door Ed can see Joanna lying in her
bed, unmoving and attached to a number of machines.

ED
There's mommy. There's your mommy. What
a clever girl she's been.

Ed looks at his wife, looking pale but beautiful.

ED (CONT'D)
She's gonna be the best mommy you could
wish for.

The doctor comes up behind Ed and places a reassuring hand on

his shoulder.

(CONTINUED)
 85.
CONTINUED:

DOCTOR
Mr Kane, we should take the baby in for
observation now, just to be sure all the
fingers and toes are there, that kind of
thing. Why don't you go on home and get
some rest. We'll call you at home as
soon as there are any developments.

Ed nods and hands the baby over to the doctor. He takes a

final look at his wife and walks away down the corridor.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - MORNING

An ELDERLY NURSE flings back the curtains, letting sunlight

shaft in across the ward. Joanna's steady HEART BEAT can be
heard from one of the machines.

The nurse checks on Joanna, who appears to be still

unconscious, and then walks away.

JOANNA
Can I see my baby?

The nurse turns around to see Joanna's eyes open.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - LATER

Joanna holds the baby close to her. She weeps

uncontrollably.

INT. JOANNA'S APARTMENT - DAY

A fully-clothed Ed sits, sound-asleep, in an armchair. He is

awakened by the ringing of a telephone. He sleeps through it
for a beat but then comes to his senses and grabs the
receiver.

ED
(into the receiver)
Hello? This is Ed. ... Okay. ... That's
great, I'll be right over.

He grabs his jacket and runs out the door.

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE JOANNA'S APARTMENT - DAY

Ed runs down the corridor and heads for the grand, winding
staircase.

Taking the steps three at a time, he's almost at the bottom

when he rounds another corner and SMASHES straight into a man
rushing up the stairs. He sends the man flying.

Ed rushes to pick him up. He pants breathlessly as he

speaks.

(CONTINUED)
 86.
CONTINUED:

ED
I'm so sorry. My wife's just had a baby
and I'm off to the hospital.

The man dusts himself on the floor briefly before looking up

at Ed. It is then that we, and Ed, recognize the man.

It's Detective Jackson Dewitt, out of breath as well.

DEWITT
That's alr...

His eyes narrow as he in turn recognizes Ed. They hold each

other's stare for a split second. In a flash, Ed LEAPS over
Dewitt and sprints for the door.

Dewitt is quickly on his feet and charges out of the building

after Ed.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - DAY

Joanna holds the two Polaroids, taken twenty-five years ago,

in her hand. The Kings with their child. Joanna with hers.

EXT. JOANNA'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY

Dewitt comes out in time to see Ed, on the other side of the
street, getting into a car parked on a meter and driving
away. Dewitt hails a passing cab and gets into it, following
Ed's car.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - DAY

Joanna stares at the Polaroids. Her eyes dart from one to

the other, willing the truth away.

EXT. STREET - DAY

Ed drives like a madman, running a red light and causing

chaos in the streets. He looks in his rear-view mirror -
Dewitt's cab is still following him.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - DAY

Joanna has a look of death on her face. It speaks of

ultimate weariness. Too much heartache. Too many tears.

She puts the two Polaroids down on her bed. She opens her
purse, which sits on a table next to her bed, and pulls out a
small jewelry box and a pen.

She looks over at her heart meter, still BEEPING away with a
regular, if faint, pulse. A last, single tear rolls down her
cheek and she looks away.
 87.

EXT. STREET - DAY

Ed's car screeches into the hospital car park. He leaps out
and sprints into the hospital. A few moments later, Dewitt's
taxi pulls up.

INT. HOSPITAL RECEPTION - DAY

Ed charges through reception, startling the NURSE in charge.

NURSE
Excuse me, sir!

Ed runs off, ignoring her protests.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Ed sprints down the corridor towards the intensive care unit.

He gets to the door and knocks on it for someone to let him
in.

The old nurse's face appears at the window. She recognizes

Ed and unlocks the door.

NURSE
Mr. Kane, I'm afraid I can't let you in
for the time being.

Ed pushes past her roughly.

ED
I don't have time.

NURSE
(vainly)
She's resting...

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - CONTINUOUS

Ed runs up to Joanna's bed, where she lies motionless. The

nurse chases after him. A soft, continuous SOUND rings in
the air.

Ed shakes Joanna gently.

ED
Joanna. Jo, it's Ed.

Joanna doesn't respond. Ed shakes her harder.

ED (CONT'D)
Jo?

He notices the two Polaroids and the tragedy mask brooch

lying on her stomach. He picks them up.

(CONTINUED)
 88.
CONTINUED:

The nurse arrives at the bed. She immediately senses

something's wrong. She hears the SOUND. She looks to the
heart meter.

Flat.

She pushes Ed aside and looks at Joanna's arm. The tube from
the IV. drip has been pulled out.

The nurse shouts an order to another nurse.

NURSE
Get a doctor in here, quickly!

Ed reels back as the other nurse runs off.

ED
What's going on?

The nurse is frantically trying to find a pulse from Joanna's

neck.

NURSE
Sir, you'll have to get back.

A resuscitation team RUSHES into the ward.

ED
What do you mean?

The nurse tries to guide Ed away from the bed.

NURSE
Come on now...

ED
No!

He rushes back to Joanna's bedside.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Dewitt jogs down the corridor towards the Intensive Care

ward.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - CONTINUOUS

Ed hugs his wife with all his strength. The nurse and the
CPR team pull Ed away from Joanna and he eventually lets go,
completely defeated.

The CPR team take over. A DOCTOR coordinates their efforts.

DOCTOR
Time?

NURSE
Five seconds.

(CONTINUED)
 89.
CONTINUED:

DOCTOR
Give me room.

The nurses clear an area around the bed as a nurse readies

the defibrillators.

Ed staggers back until he lands on the bed next to Joanna's.

He sits there and blankly watches the efforts of the doctors
to bring his wife back to life.

DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT'D)

Ready?

NURSE (O.S.)
Ready.

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Clear.

The Doctor fires twelve thousand volts into Joanna's body.

Her chest hugs the defibrillator pads for an instant, before
being released to fall back lifelessly onto the bed.

Her pulse remains flat.

Ed looks down into his hands and looks at the Polaroid of

Joanna with her baby. He numbly flips it over. There is a
message written in a weak scrawl on the back of it.

DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT'D)

Give it to me again.

NURSE (O.S.)
Five seconds.

Ed reads the note on the back of the Polaroid.

"Know the eyes, know the man".

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Dewitt gets to the Intensive Care ward door, now wide open.
He sees the commotion going on by Joanna's bed and walks
deliberately towards them.

INT. INTENSIVE CARE WARD - CONTINUOUS

Ed turns the Polaroid over and looks closely at the picture

again.

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Ready again?

NURSE (O.S.)
Ready.

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Clear.

(CONTINUED)
 90.
CONTINUED:

More voltage. The line stays flat.

Ed stares at the other Polaroid of Joanna Kane and her child,

then at the original again.

He looks closely at the eyes of the babies in the two

pictures.

DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT'D)

(with increasing desperation)
Ready again?

NURSE (O.S.)
Ready.

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Clear.

Flatline.

Close-up of the eyes in the one Polaroid. Brown. Close-up

of the eyes in the other. Blue. Like the sea.

ED
No.

A wave of realization sweeps over Ed and he gasps for breath.

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Again. Clear.

Flatline.

Ed picks up the small tragedy mask at stares at it. He rolls

it around in his hand.

The gaping eyes and downturned mouth stare back at him like a
ghoul.

DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT'D)

That's enough.

Dewitt appears behind Ed.

DEWITT
Edward Kane?

Edward looks up at Dewitt blankly.

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Record time of death, nine thirty four in
the morning...

Ed squeezes his shaking hand around the brooch. His eyes are
closed, his head shaking slowly from side to side.

(CONTINUED)
 91.
CONTINUED: (2)

DEWITT
Edward Kane, I'm arresting you for the
murder of Mr. Julius Hobbs in the State
of Utah on the thirteenth of August 1999.

Ed opens his eyes again and looks at the brooch once more.
He turns it over.

DEWITT (CONT'D)
You have the right to stay silent. You
have the right to an attorney.

The Doctor begins slowly to pack away his resuscitation

equipment.

The pin of the brooch glints in the morning sunlight.

DEWITT (CONT'D)
Anything you do say can and will be used
as evidence against you in a court of
law.

ED
(ashen, to himself)
"Hamlet, thou hast thy father much
offended."

Beat.

Dewitt lays his hands on Ed's shoulder. Ed looks at the

prone figure of Joanna one last time as a nurse covers her
face with a white sheet.

DEWITT
(softly)
Do you understand these rights as I
have...

As Dewitt speaks, Ed, in one movement, flicks open the pin on

the back of the brooch and then PLUNGES the pin straight into
his left eye and then, SCREAMING, into his right eye.

Dewitt reels back. A nurse screams. Ed collapses to the

floor in agony.

The doctor is the first react and he pushes forward and

kneels down beside Ed's shuddering body.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. BARE ROOM - DAY

Ed sits as before, staring at the TV screen. Images continue

to light up his face and reveal the holes where his eyes used
to be.

His face as blank as ever.

(CONTINUED)
 92.
CONTINUED:

ED V.O.
(softly)
So that's me.

We slowly pull back from his face.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
The original motherfucker.

Beat.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
They've kept my daughter away from me.

Pull further back.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
Just as well. Wouldn't want to end up
fucking her, too.

Beat.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
To be or not to be?

Further back.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
After this?

Fading out.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
Not to be.

Beat.

ED V.O. (CONT'D)
Definitely.

FADE OUT.