Daily Dialogue — October 10, 2013
INT. UNION OYSTER HOUSE, BOSTON
Barris, dressed in a suit, sits with Patricia Watson. He smiles across the table at her.
PATRICIA: I can’t believe you finally left your two-hundred-dollar-a-night cave to see me. I’m honored.
BARRIS: Y’know, I got a visit this morning from Penny. She’s wanted to marry me forever. But she doesn’t know who I am, what I’ve,what I’m capable of. And she can’t ever know. So what does she really love? A lie. And I started thinking, Treesh, you are the only woman in the world who truly knows me. I know I’ve screwed you over in the past, and I’m really sorry. I just want you to know that you’re the one I want to be with. I love you, Treesh.
Patricia looks at him. Her hard-as-nails demeanor softens. She smiles. Barris smiles and reaches across the table for her hand.
EXT. WHARF — NIGHT
Barris and Patricia stand looking out at the harbor.
BARRIS: I hate myself for how I’ve lived, Treesh.
PATRICIA: Neitzsche said, “Whoever despises oneself still respects oneself as one who despises.”
BARRIS: I never thought of that. Jesus, I can’t even despise myself with any insight.
PATRICIA: Insane asylums are filled with people who think they’re Jesus or Satan. Very few have delusions of being the guy down the block who works at an insurance company. Wonder what that means.
BARRIS: Y’know, I wanted to be a writer once. I wanted to write something that someday some lesser person would quote. But I never did. I’m the lesser person, Treesh. I never said anything meaningful that wasn’t said by somebody else first. I am disposable. I disposed of people and I am disposable.(beat) You look cold.
Barris drapes his jacket over Patricia’s shoulders.
PATRICIA: Chuck, what’s gotten into you? You’re actually acting like a gentleman.
Barris kisses her. She lets him.
PATRICIA: Well, it’s late. I should get going.
BARRIS: I suppose you still won’t tell me where you’re staying.
PATRICIA: No. But I’ll show you. She takes his hand. They walk off.
INT. PATRICIA’S HOTEL ROOM — NIGHT
Patricia enters followed by Barris. She turns on the light.
PATRICIA: Drink?
BARRIS: Sure. Bourbon.
Patricia pours some drinks. There are a couple of chairs near the window. Barris sits in one.
PATRICIA: I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately, Chuck.
BARRIS: Yeah?
Patricia approaches Barris with the drinks, hands him one.
PATRICIA: I’ve missed you.
BARRIS: You could’ve fooled me.
PATRICIA: Well, I’ve mellowed.
Patricia takes Barris by the hand, leads him to the window.
PATRICIA: Look. Boston’s a beautiful city. We could start over here. A normal person’s life. Together. Selling insurance.
BARRIS: That sounds right.
Patricia flops down in the chair that Barris had been sitting in. Barris sits in the chair across from her. Patricia raises her glass.
PATRICIA: To life.
BARRIS: To life.
Patricia casually slides her hand under the chair cushion. In one swift move, Barris pulls a gun from his ankle and shoots Patricia three times, twice in the head, once in the heart. The force of the bullets has tipped the chair over. Patricia lies sprawled on the floor.
BARRIS: (bitterly) L’Chaim.
Barris stands and looks at Patricia’s body. She holds a gun.
— Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, book by Chuck Barris
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is assassination suggested by Aarthi Ramanathan. Today’s suggestion by Despina.
Trivia: Scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman felt dissatisfied with the way George Clooney treated his script. He commented: “I spent a lot of time working on the script, but Clooney wasn’t interested in the things I was interested in. I’ve moved on, and I’ve no animosity towards him, but its a film I don’t really relate to.” Clooney acknowledged he made changes, because there were ‘funky scenes’ that never would have got the greenlight for a studio film.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary from Despina: “The scene in the movie plays out much differently than is written in the screenplay, but I really liked how the filmed version turned out. Both are assassins and one is the mole who’s been picking off fellow assassins until it comes down to the last one: Chuck Barris. This is a battle of wits and they’re both duping each other: one is groveling while the other is painting a peaceful *life* together. Patricia even thinks she’s outsmarted Chuck as she has with the others who, on first impression, come across as much more astute than he… but it is he who has the last laugh. The scene starts out with him being the poor schlub who can’t even self deprecate correctly until he bests his own assassin (with a final NO LOVE in the filmed version). He even lets her think she’s won until the bitter end.”
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