The Player

Quiet on the set.

Scene one, take ten. Marker.

And action!

Joel Levison's office.

l'm sorry, he's not in yet. May l take a message?

- Mr. Levy, l'll tell him you called. - Never say that.

He's either in conference, in a meeting. He's always in.

- Who was that? - Larry Levy.

Was there anything in the trades this morning?

- l don't know. The mail's late. - Go get them. Now!

l want them back here before he arrives.

Griffin, hi. Adam Simon.

We weren't supposed to meet until next week, but--

- l didn't know we were. - l wanted to plant a seed in your head.

- l'm booked up. - Picture this.

lt's a planet in the far future with two suns.

- Who plays the sons? - No, suns. Large solar disks.

Run this idea by Bonnie Sherow.

The pictures they make these days are all MTV. Cut, cut, cut.

The opening shot of Touch of Evil was six and a half minutes long.

- Six and a half minutes? - Three or four, anyway.

He set up the whole picture with that one tracking shot.

My father was key grip on that shoot.

What about Absolute Beginners? That was an extraordinary shot.

- Never heard of it. - lt's an English film.

- A Peligrino, please. - l've got Calistoga.

- Buck, how are you? - Good. How you doin'?

- Good. What have you got for me? - Okay, here it is.

- The Graduate, Part ll. - Oh, good.

Listen, the three principals are still with us.

Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, 25 years later.

And so are the characters, Ben, Elaine and Mrs. Robinson.

Ben and Elaine are married, still.

They live in a big, spooky house up in northern California somewhere.

And Mrs. Robinson lives with them...

her aging mother who's had a stroke...

so she can't talk.

- Will it be funny? - lt'll be funny. Dark, weird and funny.

And with a stroke. Maybe it's not a stroke.

l don't know what it is. lt's a malady of some sort.

She's up in the bedroom listening to everything that happens.

They've got a daughter who's just graduated from college.

Twenty-two, twenty-three-year-old, like a Julia Roberts.

Excuse me. What should l do with these scripts?

They go to Bonnie. And find out from security how Adam Simon got on the lot.

- l want to know. - Adam Simon? Okay.

Julia Roberts comes home, their daughter, the graduate.

The new graduate.

Griffin loved it. He wanted me to run it by you.

- lt's a band of human survivors. - Write this down for me.

l can't process this. Write it down for me.

lt's not about words. You have to visualize.

Jimmy, are you okay? What happened?

- Are you all right? - My name's Jimmy Chase.

He came out of nowhere, ran right in front of the cart. l never saw him.

- That's Adam Simon. - How you doin', kid?

Rebecca DeMornay. Actually, you're better looking.

- No, l'm not Rebecca DeMornay. - You're a dead ringer.

Thank you very much.

Do you know where Joel Levison's office is?

The head of the studio?

lt's moving. lt'll rip your heart out.

This is the area where we make decisions to give a green light to a picture.

We're going to go 17 stories high. We'll continue to use all Sony products.

Domo arigato to the Sony products.

lf you need someone to eat sashimi with you, give me a ring.

The traffic from Malibu was impossible.

- Good morning, Joel. - Sandy, park the car, please.

Good morning Marty, Annie.

- What are the Japs doing here? - What's this talk about heads rolling?

The bank's putting screws to us. Goldman's son is coming out from Boston.

l don't like it.

Reggie Goldman's a pipsqueak. You can't be serious.

Some changes are going on here. That's always the way.

lt happened at Paramount three years ago.

Columbia's going through it now.

l hear we're looking to replace Griffin.

Griffin? l don't believe it. With whom?

Burke or Patrick. Maybe Larry Levy.

l want to know why the security is lax.

l'll talk to you later. l'm in the middle of a pitch.

Listen, go ahead.

- lt's a TV star who goes on a safari. - A TV star in a motion picture?

- A TV star played by a movie star. - A movie star playing a TV star.

- Michelle, Bette, Lily. - Dolly Parton would be good.

- l like Goldie. - Great, because we have a relationship.

Goldie goes to Africa.

- She's found by this tribe. - Of small people.

She's found and they worship her.

lt's like The Gods Must Be Crazy except the coke bottle is an actress.

Right. lt's Out of Africa meets Pretty Woman.

She has to decide whether to stay with the TV show...

or save the tribe.

- Where's Griffin Mill's office? - Right here.

- You're Martin Scorsese! - No, but l know Harvey Keitel.

l know you do. l loved Cape Fear.

My old man worked for Hitchcock.

Rope. lt was a masterpiece.

The story wasn't any good. He shot the whole thing without cuts.

l hate all this 'Cut, cut, cut!'

What about Bertolucci, the great shot with Winger in Sheltering Sky?

l didn't see it.

- l've been here since 8:00. - l took a chance getting you this job.

- Who were you with? - l was with Alan Rudolph.

- What were you doing with him? - He asked me to have coffee.

You're my assistant. You don't get involved with writers.

l wasn't getting involved. l was listening to this amazing idea he had.

That's interesting. What's your pitch?

- Does political scare you? - Political doesn't scare me.

Radical political scares me. Political political scares me.

This is politely politically radical, but it's funny.

- lt's a funny political thing. - And it's a thriller, too, all at once.

-What's the story? -l want Bruce Willis. l can talk to him.

lt's a story about a bad-guy senator.

He's traveling around the country on the country's dime, like Sununu did.

lt's a cynical, political thriller comedy.

But it's got heart in the right spot. Anyway, he has an accident.

And he becomes clairvoyant, like a psychic.

So it's a psychic, political, thriller comedy with a heart.

With a heart, not unlike Ghost meets Manchurian Candidate.

- Go on, l'm listening. - He starts reading people's minds.

And when he gets to the President's mind it's completely blank.

- Can l get you anything? - l'd like a beer, please.

- We don't have beer. - Red wine, please.

Someone gets killed at the end. They always do in political thrillers.

- Griffin Mill's office. - Can you put him on?

- May l ask who's calling? - l'd like to speak to Griffin Mill.

He's in a meeting right now. l can take your name and have him get back to you.

- Excuse me? - He'll get back to me?

- Do you know how often l've heard this? - Who is this?

- lf he doesn't get back to me-- - Who was that?

- l don't know. He didn't say. - What do you mean?

l don't know how you'll cast it. The lead is a 50-year-old circus performer.

Let me read the coverage.

Are we still having lunch with Aaron Camp?

- What time? - l made it for 1:00.

- Bad day? - He's having writer's block.

You have a meeting with Hutter and Frank South this afternoon at 3:00.

l'll be here. Put this morning's meetings on the computer. Thanks.

- Are you going now? - l'm going to see Levison.

Order me a Caesar salad and a Crystal Geyser.

About 5:00? Thanks, Sandy.

Hi, Sandy.

You can't go in there! He's in a meeting.

lt's all right, Celia.

l don't think you've met Reg Goldman. You know his father Harvey.

Yes, of course. Hi, Reg. From the bank in Boston.

- Reg is out here for a few weeks. - Great. Business or pleasure?

A little of both, l hope.

Reg is thinking of producing.

Really?

Yeah. Beats work, doesn't it, Griffin?

l'd like to play some tennis. Do you play tennis?

Tennis? No.

- l'm too busy. - l was asking Walter.

Do you know Meg Ryan?

ls she seeing somebody?

Yeah, Reg. She's married.

Shit.

What about Winona Ryder?

You know, actually, Walter is the guy to talk to.

Walter's got everybody's number.

- Was there anything? - No. You're real busy.

l want that number, goddamn it. l want that number.

Oh, boy. What about this one? Has she done anything?

Celia.

Griffin, don't ask.

Don't ask, you don't know? Or don't ask, l don't want to know?

Just don't ask.

lf it's Reggie Goldman you're concerned about, forget it.

But be nice to him. He represents a lot of money to this company.

lt's not Reggie Goldman l'm worried about.

- lt's Larry Levy. - Larry Levy?

Larry Levy's at Fox, isn't he?

Come on, Celia.

There's a call for Celia on line one.

- Should l be looking for a job? - Celia, are you there?

Joel Levison's office. Oh, Brad. Yeah.

What?

No, we couldn't sign Angelica Huston for that. She's booked for two years.

Like a ghost story, but it's not like Ghost.

lt's a supernatural thing.

Joel, Griffin Mill. A friend of Jennifer's.

No. You're Griffin Mill? Really?

Good to see you. l'm a big fan of yours.

- l have that tie. - You do?

Did you order for me?

Hi. Lunching with the enemy.

Oh, come on.

So what's this we hear about Larry Levy?

Larry Levy? lf he had half a brain, he'd be dangerous.

Aaron says he's coming to the studio.

Aaron says? Why would you believe anything he says?

He said it with authority.

He's over there with Angelica Huston and John Cusack.

He's in over his head. He's gonna drown over there.

He's the golden boy at Fox these days.

Did you see that thing on him in Variety last week?

Two pages.

Angelica, Griffin Mill. Good to see you. You're looking great.