Excerpt: William
Goldman's Adventures
in the Screen Trade.
p.182
CUT TO
HARPER, out of bed now. He goes to the blank
tv set, turns it of f. Now he moves to the window,
lets the shade fly up. WE CAN SEE his of ice
more clearly now--it doesn ' t look a bit better.
CUT TO
HARPER, still in his underwear, running water
in the sink, splashing it on his face, coming
to life.
CUT TO
THE TINY KITCHEN AREA. He's shaved now, wears
pants and a short-sleeved shirt not tucked in.
A tie is draped around his neck. There is a hot
plate, water is boiling. Beside the water is
a Chemex-type coffee maker. He takes a paper
filter, folds it in half , folds it one more
time, puts it into the Chemex. Then he takes
a coffee can, pours coffee into the filter-
-- only the can's empty. No coffee left. Unhappily
he stands there a moment, looks down-
CUT TO
A WASTEBASKET. He lifts the lid. Inside is yesterday's
coffee filter, the used grounds still there.
CUT TO
HARPER. He hesitates a moment, then reaches
into the wastebasket, takes out the used filter
and old coffee grounds, puts them into the Chemex,
and as he starts to pour boiling water in-
CUT TO
A FILLED CUP OF BLACK COFFEE. HARPER stands
beside it, shirt tucked in now, tie tied. He
picks up the cup, takes a swallow--and then the
horrendous taste of the stuff registers; it is
like something you might drink in the Black Hole
of Calcutta. He puts the cup down, walks past
a framed photograph of a pretty smiling woman
close to his age, kind of salutes the picture
as he moves round a corner. |
