Edit Yanko Slava[S1] Редакция четверг, 13 июля 2000 г.
FIGHT CLUB
by
Jim Uhls
based on a novel by
Chuck Palahnuik
Этим цветом выделено то, что не попало в фильм
Борщ или The Soup Дремучих Предков
ЗДЕСЬ ЗАКОНЧИЛ РАСЧИСТКУ В ПОСЛЕДНИЙ РАЗ
EXT. STREET NEAR LOU'S TAVERN - LATER
2/16/98
SCREEN
BLACK
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
People were always asking me, did I
know Tyler Durden.
FADE IN:
INT. SOCIAL ROOM - TOP FLOOR OF HIGH RISE -- NIGHT
TYLER has
one arm around Jack's shoulder; the other hand
holds a
HANDGUN with the barrel[S2] lodged in
JACK'S MOUTH.
Tyler is
sitting in Jack's lap[S3].
They are
both sweating and disheveled, both around 30; Tyler
is blond,
handsome; and Jack, brunette, is appealing in a
dry sort
of way. Tyler looks at his watch.
TYLER
3 minutes.
(looking out window)
This is it: ground zero. Would you like to say a
few words, to mark the occasion.
JACK
... i... ann....iinn.. ff....nnyin...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
With a gun barrel between your teeth,
you speak only in vowels.
Jack
tongues the barrel to the side of his mouth.
JACK
(still distorted)
I can't think of anything.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
With my tongue, I can feel the
rifling in the
barrel. For a second,
I totally forgot about Tyler's whole
controlled demolition thing and I
wondered how clean this gun is.
Tyler
checks his watch.
TYLER
It's getting exciting now.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
That old saying, how you always hurt
the one you love, well, it works both
way.
Jack turns
so that he can see down -- 31 STORIES.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
We have front row seats for this
Theater of Mass Destruction. The
Demolitions Committee of Project
Mayhem wrapped the foundation columns
of ten buildings with blasting
gelatin. In two minutes, primary
charges will blow base charges, and
those buildings will be reduced to
smoldering
[S4]rubble[S5]. I know this
because Tyler knows this.
TYLER
2 and ½ Think of everything we've accomplished.
(checks watch)
Thirty seconds.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And suddenly, I realize that all of this -- the
gun, the bombs, the revolution - has got something to do with a girl
named Marla Singer.
PULL BACK
from Jack's face. It's pressed against
TWO LARGE
BREASTS
that belong to...BOB, 45, a moose of a man.
Jack is
engulfed
by Bob in an intense embrace. Bob weeps
openly.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Bob. Bob had bitch-tits.
PULL BACK to wide on...
INT. CHURCH MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Men are
paired off, hugging, talking in emotional tones.
Near the
door, a SIGN on a stand: "REMAINING MEN
TOGETHER."
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This was a support group for men
with
testicular cancer. The big moosy
slobbering all over me that was Bob.
BOB
We're still men.
JACK
Yes.
We're men. Men is what we are.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Six 8 months ago, Bob's testicles were
removed. Then hormone
therapy. He
developed bitch tits because his
testosterone was too high and his
body upped the estrogen. That
was
where my head fit -- into his huge,
sweating tits that hung enormous, the
way we think of God's as big.
BOB
They're gonna have to open my pec's
again to drain the fluid.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
--
into his huge,
sweating tits that hung enormous, the
way we think of God's as big.
Bob hugs
tighter; then looks with empathy into Jack's eyes.
BOB
Okay. You cry now.
Jack looks
at Bob.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Wait. Back up. Let me start earlier.
INSOMNIA
Jack lies
in bed, staring at the ceiling.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
For six months.
Echo.
I couldn't sleep. I
couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep.
Jack,
sleepy, stands over a copy machine. His
Starbucks cup
sits on
the lid[S6],
moving back and forth as the machine copies.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
With insomnia, nothing is real.
Everything's far away. Everything's
Other
people make copies, all with Starbucks cups, sipping[S7].
Jack picks
up his cup and his copies and leaves.
INT. JACK'S OFFICE - SAME
Jack,
sipping, stares blankly at a Starbucks bag on the
floor,
full of newspapers and FAST FOOD GARBAGE.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
When deep space exploration ramps comes
up,
It'll be the corporations that name
everything.
The IBM Stellar Sphere.
The Microsoft Philip Morris Galaxy. Planet
Starbucks.
Jack looks
up as a pudgy[S8] man, Jack's
BOSS, enters, Starbucks
cup in
hand, and slides a stack of reports on Jack's desk.
BOSS
I'm going to need you out-of-town a
little more this week. We've got
some "red-flags" to cover.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
It must've been Tuesday. He was
wearing his "cornflower-blue" tie.
JACK
(listless management speak)
You want me to de-prioritize my
current reports until you advise of
a status upgrade?
BOSS
You need to make these your primary
"action items."
BOSS
Here are your flight coupons.
Call
me from the road if there are any
snags[S9]. Your itinerary[S10]...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
He was full of pep[S11]. Must've had his
grande latte enema.
Jack hides
a yawn[S12],
pretends to listen.
INT. BATHROOM - JACK'S CONDO - NIGHT
Jack sits on
the toilet, CORDLESS PHONE to his ear, flips
through an
IKEA catalog. There's a stack of old
Playboy
magazines
and other catalogs nearby.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Like so many others everyone else, I had become a
slave to the IKEA nesting instinct.
JACK
(into phone)
Yes. I'd like to order the Erika
Pekkari dust ruffles[S13].
slip covers.
Jack drops
the open catalog on the floor.
MOVE IN ON
CATALOG -- ON PHOTO of COFFEETABLE SET...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
If I saw something clever like a little coffee
table in the shape of a yin-yang, I had to have it.
PAN TO
PHOTO of ARMCHAIR...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The
klipske personal office unit, the hovetrekke home exer-bike or the Johanneshov
sofa with a armchair in the Strinne green
stripe pattern...
INT.
LIVING ROOM/DINING AREA/KITCHEN
The
armchair APPEARS. PAN OVER next to
armchair...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Even Or the Rislampa wire lamps of
environmentally-friendly unbleached
paper.
The lamps
APPEAR. PAN OVER to wall...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Even the Vild hall clock of
galvanized steel, resting on the
Klipsk shelving unit.
The clock
APPEARS as the shelving unit APPEARS on the wall.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I'd flip through catalogs and
wonder, "What kind of dining set
defines me as a person?" We used to
read pornography.
Now it was the
Horchow Collection.
A dining room set APPEARS. Jack,
the cordless phone still
glued to his ear, walks INTO FRAME and continues.
JACK
No, I don't want
Cobalt. Oh, that
sounds nice.
Apricot.
Jack opens
a cabinet, takes out a plate.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I had it all. Even the glass
dishes
with tiny bubbles and imperfections:
He
rummages through the refrigerator. It's
practically
empty. Jack takes out a jar of
mustard, opens it and uses
a butter
knife to eat it.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
: proof they were crafted by the
honest, simple, hard-working
indigenous peoples of wherever.
JACK
I
was holding
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
We used to
read pornography.
Now it was the Horchow Collection.
INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE - DAY
Jack, eyes
puffy, face pale, sits before an INTERN, who
studies
him with bemusement.
INTERN
No, you can't die of insomnia.
JACK
What abut
narcolepsy? I nod off.
I wake up in strange places.
I have no idea how I got there.
Maybe I died already. Look at my
face.
INTERN
You need to lighten up.
JACK
Can't you please, just give me something?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Red-and-blue Tuinal, lipstick-red
Seconals.
INTERN
(overlapping w/ above)
No. You need healthy, natural sleep.
Chew valerian root and get some more
exercise.
The Intern
ushes Jack to the door. They step into
the...
INT. HALLWAY
The Intern
walks away from Jack, picks up a chart.
JACK
I'm in pain.
INTERN
(facetious)
You want to see pain? Swing by
First
Methodist Tuesday nights. See
the
guys with testicular cancer.
That's
pain.
The Intern
moves into the other room. Jack stares
after him.
EXT. FIRST METHODIST CHURCH - NIGHT
Jack heads for the front door.
INT. FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Jack
stares at a group of men, including Bob, who are all
listening
to a group member speak at a lectern.
The SPEAKER
has pale
skin and sunken eyes -- he's clearly dying.
SPEAKER
I... wanted three kids. Two boys
and
a girl. Mindy wanted two girls
and
one boy. We never could agree on
anything.
The Speaker
cracks a sad smile. Some men chuckle,
happy to
lighten
the mood.
SPEAKER
Well, she had her first child a month
ago, a girl, with her new husband...
And, Thank God. I'm glad for
her,
because she deserves...
The
speaker breaks down, WEEPS UNCONTROLLABLY.
Jack
watches. A couple of the men go up to
the speaker,
comforting
him, leading him away. A LEADER takes
the stand.
LEADER
Everyone, let's thank Thomas for
sharing himself with us.
Jack,
uncomfortable, joins EVERYONE ELSE:
EVERYONE
(in unison)
Thank you, Thomas.
LEADER
I look around this room and I see a
lot of courage. And it gives me
strength. We give each other
strength.
Jack looks
around. Many of the men are sniffling,
sobbing.
Jack
squirms in his seat.
LEADER
It's time for the one-on-one.
Let's
follow Thomas's example and really open
ourselves up.
Everyone gets out of their chairs and
begins pairing-off.
Jack
stands, uncomfortable.
LEADER
Would you find a partner?
Bob, his
chin down on his chest, starts toward Jack,
shuffling
his feet.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And this is how I met the big moosey. His eyes already
shrink-wrapped in tears. Knees
together, those awkward little steps.
Bob takes
Jack into an embrace.
BOB
My name is Bob.
JACK
Bob!
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Bob had been a champion bodybuilder.
You
know that chest expansion program you
see on TV? That was his idea.
BOB
I was a juicer. You know,using steroids.
Diabonol, Wisterol -- it's for
Racehorses and for Christ sakes.
And now I'm
bankrupt, I'm divorced, my two grown kids
won't even return my phone calls...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Strangers with this kind of honesty
make me go a big rubbery one.
Bob breaks
into sobbing, putting his head on Jack's shoulder
and
completely covering Jack's face. After
a long beat of
crying,
Bob raises up his head, looks at Jack's NAMETAG.
BOB
Go ahead, Cornelius. You can
cry.
They look
at each other. Slowly, Jack's eyes grow
wet.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And then... something happened.
I let go.
BOB
That's
really good.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
:lost in oblivion -- dark and silent
and complete.
Bob pulls
Jack's head back into his chest. Jack
tightens
his arms
around Bob.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I found freedom. Losing all hope
was
freedom.
Jack pulls
away from Bob. On Bob's chest, there's
a WET
MASK of
Jack's face from how he looks weeping.
INT.
JACK'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Jack lies
sound asleep.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Babies don't sleep this well.
INT. SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCH - NIGHT
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I became addicted.
Jack moves
into a "group hug" of sickly people, men and
women. In view is a sign by the
door "Free and Clear."
INT.
OFFICE BUILDING BASEMENT - NIGHT
Jack
stands with a weeping middle-aged WOMAN.
He begins to
cry along
with her. A sign by the door:
"Onward and Upward."
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
If I didn't say anything, people
assumed the worst. They cried
harder. Then I cried harder.
INT.
PUBLIC BUILDING CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT
Everyone,
including Jack, sits back in their seats, EYES
CLOSED. The Leader speaks into a
microphone.
LEADER
Now, we're going to open the
green door -- the heart chakra...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I wasn't really dying, I wasn't host
to cancer or parasites; I was the
warm little center that the life of
this world crowded around.
LEADER
...And you open the door and you
step inside.
We're inside our
hearts.
Now, imaging your pain as a
white ball of healing light. That's
right, the pain itself is a ball of
healing light.
Jack, eyes
closed, is silent...
LEADER
It moves over your body, healing you.
Keep this going remember to breathe and step forward,
through the back door of the room.
Where does it lead? To your
cave.
Step forward into your cave.
INT. CAVE
- JACK'S IMAGINATION
Jack walks
along, moving through an ICE CAVERN...
LEADER'S VOICE
That's right. You're going
deeper
into your cave. And you're going
to
find your power animal...
Jack comes
upon a PENGUIN. The penguin looks at
him, cocks
his head
to signal Jack forward.
PENGUIN
Slide.
The
penguin jumps onto a patch of ICE and slides away.
EXT.
STREET - NIGHT
Jack walks
out a doorway, saying goodbye to people.
He
walks down
the sidewalk, shining with peace.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Every evening I died and every
evening I was born again.
Resurrected.
CUT BACK TO:
INT. FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH MEETING ROOM - RESUMING
Jack's
still in an embrace with Bob.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Bob loved me because he thought
my
testicles were removed too.
Being
there, my face against his tits,
ready to cry -- this was my vacation.
MARLA
SINGER enters. She has short matte
black hair and
big, dark
eyes like a character from japanese animation.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And, she ruined everything.
Marla
looks around, raises a cigarette to her lips.
MARLA
This is cancer, right?
Bob and
Jack stare, dumbfounded.
INT. FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH MEETING ROOM - LATER
Everyone
paired-off. MOVE THROUGH ROOM... FIND
JACK'S FACE
as he
stares... MOVE THROUGH ROOM... FIND MARLA'S FACE.
She's
drinking coffee, smoking a cigarette.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This ... chick ... Marla Singer ...
did not have testicular cancer.
She
was a liar.
INT. SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCH - NIGHT
Marla sits
with the group, smoking, listening intently while
a member
speaks. Jack spies on her.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
She had no diseases at all. I
had
seen her at my melanoma Monday night
group ...
INT.
CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL - NIGHT
Marla sits
at the end of a row, smoking. All the
faces down
the row
are turned toward her, incredulous...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
... and at "Free and
Clear," at my blood
parasites group Thursdays.
Jack leans
out further than the others, scornful.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Then at hope. My bimonthly sicle cell circle
-- And,
again, at "Seize The Day," my
tuberculosis Friday night.
CUT BACK TO:
INT. FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH MEETING ROOM - ANOTHER NIGHT
Jack watches...
Marla's eyes are closed, her head on the
shoulder
of the MAN she's embraced by. She opens
her eyes,
catching
Jack's stare. Jack looks away.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Marla -- the big tourist. Her
lie
reflected my lie.
Marla
rests her chin on the man's shoulder.
Tears roll down
her
cheeks. She wipes at them.
EXT. FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH - NIGHT
Marla
walks out, The support group's
dispersing. Jack
exits
amongst them. He spots Marla walking
away.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And suddenly, I felt nothing. I
couldn't cry. So, once again, I
could not sleep.
Jack
stares after Marla for a long moment.
He walks away.
INT.
BEDROOM - LATER
Jack, in
underwear, is cross-legged on the floor, assembling
IKEA
furniture, CORDLESS PHONE shouldered to his ear.
JACK
(into phone)
No, I just can't believe that card is
declined -- Okay, okay, let me give
you a different card number.
Jack gets his wallet off the floor, pulls out another card
and, MOS over the following, he reads it into the phone.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Next group, after guided meditation,
after we open our chakras, when it's
time to hug, I'm going to grab that
little bitch, Marla Singer, and
scream: pin her
arms against her sides and say...
INT.
MEETING ROOM - NIGHT - JACK'S IMAGINATION
CLOSE ON
JACK as he CLAMPS his arms around Marla.
JACK
Marla, you liar, you big
tourist. I
need this. Now get out.
INT.
LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Jack, in
pajamas, stares at Home Shopping Network on his TV.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I hadn't slept in four days...
When you have insomnia, you're never
really asleep and you're never really awake.
INT. SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCH - NIGHT
Jack walks
in and joins the crowd, looking around.
People
are
chattering with each other.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
-- But, in here, in everyone, there's
the squint of a five-day headache.
Yet they forced themselves to be
positive. They never said
"parasite;" they said "agent." They
always talked about getting better.
LEADER
Okay, everyone.
Everyone
sits in chairs. Jack catches sight of
Marla.
LEADER
To begin tonight's communion, Chloe
would like to say a few words.
Taking the
lectern is CHLOE, a pale, sickly girl whose skin
stretches
yellowish and tight over her bones. She
wears a
head
bondage. She clears her throat.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Ahh, Chloe. Chloe looked the way
Joni Mitchell's skeleton would look
if you made it smile and walk around
a party being extra nice to everyone.
CHLOE
Well, I'm still here -- but I don't
know for how long. That's as
much
certainty as anyone can give me.
but
I've got some good news -- I no
longer have any fear of death.
APPLAUSE
from around the room.
CHLOE
But... I am in a pretty lonely place.
No one will have sex with me. I'm so
close to the end and all I want is to
get laid for the last time. I
have
pornographic movies in my apartment,
and lubricants and amyl nitrate ...
The LEADER
gingerly takes control of the microphone.
LEADER
Thank you, Chloe. Everyone,
let's
thank Chloe.
EVERYONE
Thank you, Chloe.
INT. SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCH - LATER
LEADER
Now let's ready our self for guided meditation,
you're
standing at the entrance
to your cave. You step inside
your
cave and you walk. Keep
walking.
Jack's
face, eyes closed, is motionless.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
If I did have a tumor[S14],
I'd name it
Marla. Marla...the little
scratch on
the roof of your mouth that would
heal if only you could stop tonguing
it, but you can't.
LEADER
:: deeper into your cave as you walk. You feel the healing of your
energy all around you. Now, find your power animal.
INT. CAVE
- JACK'S IMAGINATION
Jack finds
Marla smoking a cigarette. Marla cocks
her head,
indicating
whe wants him to --
MARLA
It's lie. [Slide.]
INT. SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCH - RESUMING
Jack's
eyes open and turn to Marla, watching her blow smoke
rings with
her eyes closed.
INT. SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCH - LATER
Everyone
stands and mills about, pairing-off.
LEADER
Okey. Now let's partner up. Pick someone special to you tonight.
Jack sees the ghastly spectre of Chloe ambling towards him.
He tries to smile. She smiles
with a twisted, dying mouth.
CHLOE
Hello, Mr. Tayler.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I never gave my real name at support
groups.
JACK
Hi, Chloe.
CHLOE
We've never actually talked.
Chloe's eyes are eerily bright with desperation. Jack, in
a sincere attempt at levity, chokes out:
JACK
You look good.
You ... look ... like
a pirate.
Chloe laughs, a little too much.
Jack squeezes out a laugh.
Then he sees Marla, off by herself.
Someone heads for her.
JACK
Excuse me, I have to...
Jack gives a quick nod to Chloe and darts towards Marla.
Chloe watches him go.
STAY ON
JACK AND MARLA as Jack CLAMPS his arms around her.
He
whispers into her ear.
JACK
Hey. We need to talk.
MARLA
Sure.
JACK
I'm on to you. You're a
faker. You
aren't dying.
MARLA
What?
JACK
You're a faker. You aren't
dying.
MARLA
Sorry?
JACK
In the Tibetan philosophy and Sylvia Plath
sense of the word, I know we're all - we're all dying, all right? But you're not
dying the way Chloe back there is dying.
MARLA
So?
LEADER
Tell the other person how you feel.
JACK
So you're a tourist. OK. I've seen you. I saw you at
Melanoma. I saw you at tuberculosis. I saw you at testicular
cancer.
MARLA
And I saw you practicing this...
JACK
Practicing what?
MARLA
Telling me off. Is it going as
well
as you hoped... ?
(reads his nametag)
"... Rupert. Mr. Taylor."
JACK
MARLA
Go ahead. I'll expose you.
LEADER
All right. Come together. Let yourselves cry.
Marla puts
her head down on Jack's shoulder as if she were
crying. Jack pulls her head back
up. She deadpans at him.
JACK
Oh, God, why are you doing this?
MARLA
It's cheaper than a movie, and
there's free coffee.
JACK
No, look:
this is important, OK? These are my groups.
I've been coming for over a year.
MARLA
A year? How'd you manage that?
JACK
Anyone who might've noticed either
died or recovered and never came back.
LEADER
Let yourself cry.
JACK
I don't know. When people think you're dying, and they
Really, really, really listen, instead of just...
MARLA
-- Instead of just waiting for their
turn to speak.
JACK
Yeah.
Brief
recognition between them, broken as the Leader passes.
LEADER
Share yourselves completely.
JACK
You don't wanna to get into this.
Jack waits
till the Leader's out of earshot.
JACK
(warning)
It becomes an addiction.
MARLA
Really?
Jack
sighs, then pulls back.
JACK
I'm not kidding. I can't cry if there's another faker
present. And I need this. So you got to find somewhere else to go.
MARLA
Candy-stripe a cancer ward. It's
not
my problem.
JACK
Please. Can't we do
something... ?
Marla
starts out of the room. Jack follows
her.
LEADER
Now, the closing prayer.
EXT.
CHURCH - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS
Marla gets
to the sidewalk, moving quickly along.
JACK
Wait, wait. Hold on. I'll tell you.
We're gonna split up the week. OK? You can
have lymphoma, tuberculosis and --
MARLA
You take tuberculosis. My
smoking
doesn't go over at all.
JACK
I think testicular cancer should be
no contest.
MARLA
Well, technically, I have more of a
right to be there than you. You
still have your balls.
JACK
You're kidding.
MARLA
I don't know -- am I?
Jack follow Marla into...
INT.
LAUNDROMAT - CONTINUOUS
Marla
walks with authority up to an unwatched DRYER.
She
takes out
clothes, picks out jeans, pants and shirts.
JACK
What do you want?
MARLA
JACK
You can't have both parasites.
You
can take blood parasites --
MARLA
I want brain parasites.
JACK
Okay. I'll take blood parasites
and
organic brain dementia --
MARLA
I want that.
JACK
You can't have the whole brain!
MARLA
So far, you have four and I only have
two!
JACK
Then, take blood parasites. It's
yours. Now we each have three.
Marla
gathers the chosen garments and heads out past Jack...
EXT.
SIDEWALK - CONTINUOUS
Jack
follows, bewildered.
JACK
Hey. You... left half your clothes.
HONK! Jack starts. Marla's led him into the street with
traffic
barreling down.
Marla
walks on, oblivious as CARS screech to a halt, HORNS
BLARING. Jack dashes,
following...
INT.
THRIFT STORE - CONTINUOUS
Marla drops the pile of clothes on a
counter. An old CLERK
sifts
through the clothes, begins writing on a pad.
JACK
What. You're selling those?
Marla
steps down hard on Jack's foot. He
winces in pain.
MARLA
(for the Clerk to hear)
Yes, I'm selling some chothes.
The Clerk
starts to ring up the assessed amounts.
MARLA
So, we each have three -- that's six.
What about the seventh day? I
want
ascending[S17] bowel[S18]
cancer.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The girl had done her homework.
JACK
No. No. I want ascending bowel cancer.
The Clerk
gives a strange look as he hands money to Marla.
MARLA
That's your favorite, too? Tried
to
slip it by me, eh?
JACK
We'll split it. You get it the
first
and third Sunday of the month.
MARLA
Deal.
They
shake. Jack tries to withdraw his hand;
Marla holds it.
MARLA
Looks like this is goodbye.
JACK
Let's not make a big thing out of it.
She walks
to the door, pocketing money, not looking back.
MARLA
How's this for not making a big thing?
Jack
watches her go. A moment, then he
follows after...
EXT.
SIDEWALK - CONTINUOUS
Jack
hesitates, unsure, then run/walks to catch up to her...
JACK
Um... Marla, should we maybe exchange
numbers?
MARLA
Should we?
JACK
In case we want to switch nights.
MARLA
OK.
Jack takes
out a business card, writes his number on the
back,
hands it to her. She takes the pen,
grabs his hand
and writes
her number on his palm. She walks into
the
street,
causing more SCREECHING and HONKING.
She turns,
holds up
the card.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This is how I met Marla Singer. Marla's philosophy of life that she
might die at any moment. The tragedy, she said, was that she didn't.
MARLA
It doesn't have any name. Who are you?
MARLA
It doesn't have your name. Who are
you? Cornelius? Ruport?
Dr.
Zaius?
Any of the stupid names you
give each night?
Jack
starts to answer, but the traffic noise is too loud.
Marla just
shakes her head, turns, and keeps moving.
A BUS
moves into
view, obscuring her.
Гастроли
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - DAY
The plane
touches down; the cabin BUMPS. Jack's
eyes open.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You wake up at SeaTac...
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - DAY
Jack snaps
awake again, looking around, disoriented.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
S.F. -- L.A.X.
EXT.
HIGHWAY - DUSK
The rear
of a CRASHED CAR sticks up by the side of the road.
Jack
stands, marking on a clipboard. The SUN
SETS behind.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You wake up at O'Hare. Dallas-Fort Worth. B.W.I...
INT.
AIRPORT - NIGHT
Jack
stands at a gate counter. An ATTENDANT
smiles at him.
Jack looks
with blearing eyes at his watch, steps away and
looks at
an overhanging CLOCK.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Pacific, Mountain, Central. Lose
an
hour, gain an hour.
ATTENDANT
Check-in for that flight doesn't
begin for another two hours, Sir.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - DAY
Jack's
eyes snap open as the plane LANDS.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You wake up at Air Harbor
International.
INT.
AIRPORT WALKWAY
Jack stands
on a conveyor belt, briefcase at his feet.
He
watches
PEOPLE MOVING PAST on the opposite conveyor.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
If you wake up at a different time
and in a different place, could you
wake up as a different person?
Jack
misses seeing TYLER on the opposite conveyor belt.
They pass
each other.
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - IN FLIGHT - NIGHT
Jack sits
next to a BUSINESSMAN. As they have
idle
CONVERSATION, we MOVE IN ON Jack's
tray. An ATTENDANT'S
HANDS set
coffee down with a small container of cream.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Everywhere I travel -- tiny life.
Single-serving sugar, single-serving
cream, single pat of butter.
CUT TO:
HANDS
place a dinner tray down.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Microwave Cordon Bleu hobby kit.
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - BATHROOM - NIGHT
Jack
brushes his teeth in the MIRROR.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Shampoo/conditioner combos.
Single-
serving mouthwash, tiny bar of soap.
Jack picks
up an individual, wrapped Q-TIP, looks at it.
He
moves out
of the bathroom into...
MAIN ROOM
Jack sits
on the bed. He turns on the TV. It's tuned to
the
"Sheraton Channel," shows WAITERS serving people in a
large
BANQUET ROOM. Jack stops brushing his
teeth, feels
something
on the bed, lifts it -- a small DINNER MINT.
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - IN FLIGHT - NIGHT
Jack sits
next to a frumpy WOMAN. They chat. Jack turns to
look at
his food, takes a bite. He turns back
and it's...
--a BALD
MAN next to him, talking. Jack takes
another bite,
turns back
and it's...
--a
BUSINESSMAN next to him. Jack takes
another bite, turns
back, and
it's...
--a
BUSINESS WOMAN next to him.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The people I meet on each flight --
they're single-serving friends.
Between take-off and landing, we have
our time together, but that's all we
get.
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - LANDING
Jack's
eyes snap open.
TV
Wellcome
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You wake up at Logan.
INT. WAREHOUSE
- CONTINUOUS
A giant
corrugated METAL DOOR opens.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
On a long enough time line, the
survival rate for everyone drops to
zero.
Two TECHNICIANS
lead Jack to the BURNT-OUT SHELL of a
WRECKED
AUTOMOBILE. Jack sets down his
briefcase, opens it
and starts
to make notes on a CLIPBOARDED FORM.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I was a recall coordinator. My
job is
to apply the formula. It's a
story
problem.
TECHNICIAN #1
Here's where the infant went through
the windshield. Three points.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
A new car built by my company leaves
somewhere traveling at 60 miles per
hour. The rear differential
locks up.
TECHNICIAN #2
The teenager's braces around the
backseat ashtray would make a good
"anti-smoking" ad.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The car crashes and burns with
everyone trapped inside. Now: do
we
initiate a recall?
TECHNICIAN #1
The father must've been huge.
See
how the fat burnt into the driver's
seat with his polyester shirt?
Very
"modern art."
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Take the number of vehicles in the
field, (A), and multiply it by the
probable rate of failure, (B), then
multiply the result by the average
out-of-court settlement, (C). A
times B times C equals X...
CUT TO:
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - MOVING DOWN RUNWAY
Jack is
speaking to the BUSINESSWOMAN next to him.
JACK
If X is less than the cost of a
recall, we don't do one.
BUSISNESS WOMAN
Are there a lot of these kinds of
accidents?
JACK
Oh, you wouldn't believe.
BUSINESS WOMAN
... Which... car company do you work
for?
JACK
A major one.
Turgid
silence. Jack turns to the window. He sees a
PELICAN
get SUCKED into the TURBINE.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Every time the plane banked too
sharply on take-off or landing, I
prayed for a crash, or a mid-air
collision -- anything.
Jack's
face remains bland during the following: the plane
BUCKLES --
the cabin wobbles. People panic. Masks drop.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
No more haircuts.
Nothing matters,
not even bad breath.
The side
of the plane SHEARS OFF! Screaming
PASSENGERS are
sucked out
into the night air, flying past the quivering
wind. Magazines and other objects fly everywhere.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Life insurance pays off triple if you
die on a business trip.
Jack
remains in his same position, same bland expression.
DING! --
the seatbelt light goes OUT. Jack SNAPS
AWAKE.
EVERYTHING
IS NORMAL. Some passengers get out of
their
seats. From
next to Jack, a VOICE we've heard before...
VOICE
There are three ways
to make napalm.
One, mix equal parts of gasoline and
frozen orange juice...
Каватина TYLER'a
Jack turns
to see TYLER. Without turned to Jack,
Tyler
continues:
Tyler grabs
a safety instruction CARD from the seatback,
hands it
to Jack.
TYLER
'If you are seated in an emergency exit row...'
Yeah. 'And you feel you would be unable or
unwilling to perform the duties listed on the safety card.'
'Please ask flight attendant to reseat you.'
Tyler
turns to Jack.
Two, equal parts gasoline and diet
cola.
Three, dissolve kitty-litter
in gasoline until the
mixture is
thick.
JACK
It's a lot of responsibility? Pardon me?
TYLER
Wanna switch seats? Tyler Durden.
JACK
No. I'm not sure I'm the man for the particular job.
TYLER
An exit-door procedure 30,000 feet. Mm-hm. The illusion of safety.
JACK
Yeah. I guess so.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This is how I met --
TYLER
Tyler Durden.
Tyler offers his hand. Jack
takes it.
TYLER
You know why they have oxygen masks
on planes?
JACK
So you can breathe? No, supply oxygen?
TYLER
Oxygen gets you high. In a
catastrophic emergency, we're taking
giant, panicked breaths...
TYLER
Suddenly, we become euphoric and
docile. We accept our fate. It's
all right here.
Tyler
points to passive faces on the drawn figures.
TYLER
Emergency water landing, 600 miles
per hour. Blank faces -- calm as
Hindu cows.
Jack
laughs.
JACK
That's a - - That's an interesting theory.
JACK
What do you do, Tyler?
TYLER
What do you mean? want me to do?
JACK
What do you do for a living.
TYLER
Why? So you can pretend like
you're interesting?
JACK
OK.
TYLER
You have a kind of sick desperation
in your laugh.
Jack
laughs. Tyler reaches under the seat in
front of him
and lifts
a BRIEFCASE.
Jack
points to his own briefcase.
JACK
We have the same briefcase.
Tyler
turns the top of his briefcase toward Jack.
Jack looks
at Tyler, then pops the latches and raises the
lid to
reveal quaintly-wrapped bars of SOAP.
TYLER
Soap -
JACK
Sorry?
TYLER
Soap - I make and sell soap...
the yardstick of civilization.
(reaches in his pocket)
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Na this is how I met:
JACK
'Tyler Durden'
Tyler
hands Jack his card. "THE PAPER
STREET SOAP COMPANY."
TYLER
Did you know if you mixed equal parts
Of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate
you can make napalm?
cola.
Three, dissolve kitty-litter
in gasoline until
the mixture is
thick. If you were to add nitric acid to the
soap-making process, one would get
nitroglycerin.
With enough soap, one
could blow up the world, if one were
so inclined.
JACK
No. I did not that. Is that right?
One can make all kinds of explosives using household items.
TYLER
Really?
JACK
If one were so inclined. No. I did not that. Is that right?
Tyler
SNAPS the briefcase shut. Jack stares.
JACK
Tyler, you are by far the most
interesting "single-serving" friend
I've ever met.
Tyler
stares back. Jack, enjoying his own
chance to be
witty,
leans closer to Tyler.
JACK
You see, obviously, on the plane
everything
is small, self-contained--
TYLER
The spork. I get it. You're very
clever.
JACK
Thank you.
TYLER
How's that working out for you?
JACK
What?
TYLER
Being clever.
JACK
(thrown)
Well, uh... great.
TYLER
Keep it up, then. Keep it right
up.
Tyler
stands, looks towards the aisle.
TYLER
Now a question about etiquette. ... as I pass, As
I squeeze past, do I give you
the ass or the crotch?
Tyler
moves to the aisle, his ass toward jack, walks away...
TYLER
We are defined by the choices we make.
Tyler goes
to the curtain dividing First Class, slaps the
curtain
aside and sits in an empty seat. Jack
watches.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
How I came to live with Tyler is:
airlines have this policy about
vibrating luggage.
INT.
BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA - NIGHT
Utterly
empty of baggage. No people except for
Jack and a
SECURITY
TASK FORCE MAN. The Security TFM,
smirking, holds
a receiver
to his ear from an official phone on the wall.
JACK
Was - was it ticking?
SECURITY TFM
(to Jack)
Actually, throwers don't worry about ticking.
Modern bombs don't tick.
JACK
Sorry. "Throwers?"
SECURITY TFM
Baggage handlers. But when a
suitcase vibrates, the throwers have
to call the police.
JACK
My suitcase was vibrating?
SECURITY TFM
Nine time out of ten, it's an
electric razor. But, every once
in
a while ...
(whispers)
...it's a dildo. It's airline
policy
not to imply ownership in the event
of a dildo. We use the
indefinite
article: "A dildo."
Never "Your
dildo."
JACK
I don't own a -- .
Jack sees,
through the window, Tyler, at the curb, throwing
his
briefcase into the back of a shiny, red CONVERTIBLE.
Tyler leaps
over the door into the driver's seat and PEELS
OUT. Jack turns away, looks at the Security TFM.
In the
background, a HARRIED MAN dashes after Tyler and the
convertible, SCREAMING.
SECURITY TFM
(into phone)
Yeah, uh huh... yeah?
(pause, still on phone)
Oh...
JACK
(to Security TFM)
I had everything in that suitcase. My
C.K. shirts... my D.K.N.Y. on my shoes...me EX ties. Never mind.
EXT. EMPTY RUNWAY
A lone SUITCASE sits on the concrete.
SECURITY PERSONNEL
keep their distance.
KABOOM! The suitcase explodes.
INT. BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA - RESUMING
The Security TFM, shakes his head, hangs up.
SECURITY TFM
I'm terribly sorry.
The Security TFM hands Jack a claim form. Jack snatches it,
disgusted, takes out a pen, starts filling out the form.
SECURITY TFM
You know the industry slang for
"Flight Attendant?" "Air Mattress."
INT. TAXI
- MOVING - NIGHT
Along a
residential street. Jack looks ahead,
sees a tall,
grey,
bland BUILDING on the corner.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Home was a condo on the fifteenth
floor of a filing cabinet for widows
and young professionals. The
walls
were solid concrete. A foot of
concrete is important when your next-
door neighbor lets her hearing aid go
and has to watch game shows at full
volume...
The taxi
turns a corner and Jack sees the front of the
building. A diffuse CLOUD of
SMOKE wafts away from a BLOWN-
OUT
SECTION of the fifteenth floor.
FIRETRUCKS, POLICE CARS
and a MOB
are all crowded around the lobby area.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
-- Or when a volcanic blast of debris
that used to be your furniture and
personal effects blows out your floor-
to-ceiling windows and sails flaming
into the night.
EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF BUILDING
Jack,
gaping at the sight above him, absently gives the
Cabbie
money. The taxi pulls away. Jack starts toward the
building. He pushes through the
fray of people, into the...
INT. LOBBY
The
DOORMAN sees Jack enter, gives a sad smile, shakes his
head. Jack starts for the elevator.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I suppose these things happened.
DOORMAN
There's nothing up there.
Jack
presses the button. The Doorman moves
next to him.
DOORMAN
You can't go into the unit.
Police
orders.
The
elevator doors open. Jack
hesitates. The doors close.
Jack heads
out the lobby doors. The Doorman
follows...
EXT. CONDO
BUILDING - CONTINUOUS
Jack walks
past SMOKING, CHARRED DEBRIS -- a flash of ORANGE
from the
Yang table, a CLOCK FACE from the hall clock, part
of an arm
from the GREEN ARMCHAIR. His feet
CRUNCH glass.
DOORMAN
Do you have somebody you can call?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
How embarrassing. A house full condiments[S19]and
no food.
Jack comes
to his REFRIGERATOR lying on its side.
He
reaches
down and takes a note: "MARLA --" and a phone
number,
from under a BANANA MAGNET.
CLOSE SHOT
- JACK'S STOVE
Hissing.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The police would later tell me that
the pilot light might have gone
out... letting out just a little bit
of gas.
EXT.
PAYPHONE - RESUMING
Jack gets
to a PAYPHONE. The Doorman follows,
watching him.
DOORMAN
Lots of young people try to impress
the world and buy too many things.
Jack picks
up the receiver, puts in a quarter. He
looks at
Marla's
number a long moment.
CLOSE SHOT
- JACK'S ENTIRE CONDO - KITCHEN AND LIVING ROOM
The SOUND
of the HISS...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The gas could have slowly filled the
condo. Seventeen-hundred square feet
with high ceilings, for days and days.
EXT.
PAYPHONE - RESUMING
Jack
replaces the receiver. He pockets
Marla's number, digs
out a
small FILOFAX. He
flips through the pages for phone
numbers and addresses. Most of
the pages are blank.
DOORMAN
Many young people feel trapped and
desperate.
INSERT -
CLOSE ON THE BASE OF JACK'S REFRIGERATOR.
JACK calls
Marla. It RINGS... and RINGS and RINGS.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Then, the refrigerator's compressor
could have clicked on...
MARLA (phone)
Yeah?
Click. KABOOM! SCREEN GOES WHITE.
MARLA (phone)
I can hear you breathing. You --
EXT.
PAYPHONE - RESUMING
Jack looks at the Doorman.
Tyler's BUSINESS CARD falls from
the Filofax. Jack catches it.
DOORMAN
If you don't know what you want, you
end up with a lot you don't.
The Doorman walks away. Jack sighs and hangs up the
phone.
Jack takes Tyler's card out from his pocket.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
If you asked me now, I couldn't tell
you why I called him.
Jack
re-deposits the quarter, dials Tyler's number.
It
RINGS...
and RINGS and RINGS. Jack sighs and
hangs up the
phone. A moment, then the phone
RINGS.
JACK
Hello?
TYLER'S VOICE
Who's this?
JACK
Tyler?
TYLER'S VOICE
Who's this?
[potato chips crunching]
JACK
Uh... I'm sorry. We met on the
plane. We had the same
briefcase.
I'm... you know, the clever
guy.
TYLER'S VOICE
Oh, yeah.
JACK
I just called a second ago.
There
was no answer. I'm at a
payphone.
TYLER'S VOICE
I star-sixty-nined you. I never
pick
up my phone. What's up?
JACK
Well... You're not gonna believe this. Let
me see... here's the
thing...
EXT. LOU'S
TAVERN - NIGHT
A small
building in the middle of a concrete parking lot.
INT. LOU'S
TAVERN - SAME
Jack and
Tyler sit in the back, with a pitcher of BEER.
JACK
You buy furniture. You tell
yourself: this is the last sofa I'll
ever need.
No matter what else
happens, I've got the sofa issue
handled.
Then, the right set of
dishes.
The right dinette.
TYLER
This is how we fill up our lives.
Tyler lights a cigarette.
JACK
I guess so.
TYLER
And, now it's gone.
JACK
All gone.
Tyler
offers cigarettes. Jack declines.
TYLER
You know, man, it's could be worse.
A woman could cut
off your penis while you're sleeping
and toss it out the window of a
moving car.
JACK
There's always that. I don't know, it's just when you buy furniture you
tell yourself that's it. That's last sofa I'm gonna need. Whatever else
happens, I've got that sofa problem handled. I had it all. I had a stereo that
was very decent, a wardrobe that was getting very respectable. I was close to
being complete.
TYLER
Shit, man, now it's all gone.
JACK
All gone.
TYLER
Hmm. All gone. Do you know what a duvet[S20] is?
JACK
Comforter.
TYLER
It's blanket. It's just a blanket. No. Why do guys like you and I know
what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival in the hunter-gatherer sense
of the world? No. What are we, then?
JACK
We're, uh, you know ... consumers.
TYLER
Right, we're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession.
Murder, crime, poverty - these things don't concern me. What concern me are
celebrity magazine, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my
underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.
TYLER
Martha Stewart.
TYLER
Fuck Martha Stewart.
Martha's polishing the brass on the TITANIC.
It's all going down, man.
So fuck off with your sofa units
and spring green stripe patterns.
I say, never be complete.
I say, stop being perfect.
I say, let's --, let's evolve[S21].
Let the chips fall where they may.
But that's me, and I could be wrong.
Maybe it's a terrible tragedy.
JACK
No. It's just stuff. It's not a tragedy, but ...
TYLER
Well, you did lose a lot of versatile solutions for modern living.
JACK
Fuck, you're right. No. I don't smoke.
My insurance is probable gonna cover it, so ...
JACK
What?
JACK
The things you own end up owning you. But do what you like, man.
I mean, you did lose a lot of nice,
neat little shit.
The trendy paper
lamps, the Euro-trash shelving unit,
am I right?
Jack laughs, nods. He shakes his
head, drinks.
TYLER
But maybe, just maybe, you've been
delivered.
JACK
(toasts)
Delivered from Swedish furniture.
TYLER
Delivered from armchairs in obscure
green stripe patterns.
JACK
Delivered from
Martha Stewart.
TYLER
Delivered from bullshit colors like
"Cobalt," "Ebony," and
"Fuchsia."
They laugh together. Then,
silence. They drink.
JACK
Insurance'll cover it.
TYLER
Oh, yeah, you gotta start making the
list.
JACK
What list?
TYLER
The "now I get to go out and buy the
exact same stuff all over again"
list. That
list.
JACK
I don't... think so.
TYLER
This time maybe get a widescreen TV.
You'll be occupied for weeks.
JACK
Well, I have to file a claim...
TYLER
The things you own, they end up
owning you.
JACK
Don't I?
TYLER
Do what you like.
Street.
JACK
(looks at watch)
God, it's late. Hey, thanks for the beer.
TYLER
Yeah, man. A hotel?
JACK
I should find a hotel...
TYLER
What?
JACK
What?
TYLER
A hotel?
JACK
Yeah.
TYLER
So, you
called me up, because you
just wanted to have a drink before
you... go find a hotel?
JACK
I don't follow...
TYLER
We're on our third pitcher of beer.
Just ask me.
JACK
What are you talking about?
TYLER
Oh, God. Three peaches of beer, and you still can't ask me.
JACK
What?
TYLER
You called me 'cause you needed a place to stay.
JACK
Oh, hey, no, no, no ...
TYLER
Yes. You did. So just ask. Cut the foreplay and just ask, man.
JACK
Would that be a problem?
TYLER
Is it a problem for you to ask?
JACK
Can I stay at your place?
TYLER
Yeah.
JACK
Thanks.
TYLER
You're
welcome. But, I want you to
do me a favor.
JACK
Yeah. Sure.
TYLER
I want you to hit me as hard as you
can.
JACK
What?
TYLER
I want you to hit me as hard as you
can.
Freeze picture.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Let me tell you a little bit about
Tyler Durden.
EXTREME
CLOSE-UP - FILM FRAME
-- And we
see it's PORNOGRAPHY.
INT.
PROJECTIONIST ROOM - THEATRE - NIGHT
Презентация Tyler'a
Jack, in
the foreground, FACES CAMERA. In the
BACKGROUND,
Tyler sits
at a bench, looking at individual FRAMES cut from
movies. Near him, a PROJECTOR
rolls film.
JACK
Tyler was a night person.
While the rest of us are sleeping, he worked.
He had one-part job as a projectionist.
See, a movie doesn't come in one big reel,
It comes on a few. So someone
has to be there to switch the In old theaters, two
projectors are used, so someone has
to change projectors
at the exact
moment second when one reel ends and
the next
one another reel begins. If you look for it, Sometimes
you can see these little two dots on screen in come into the
upper right hand corner of the screen...
Tyler
points to the side of OUR FRAME and the TWO DOTS
briefly
APPEAR ONSCREEN.
TYLER
In industry we're called them "cigarette burns."
JACK
It's called
That's the cue for a "changeover[S22]."
The movie goes on,
The movie keeps right on going and nobody in the
audience has any idea.
TYLER
Why would anyone want this shitty
job?
JACK
Because it affords him other interesting
opportunities.
TYLER
-- Like splicing single frames of
pornography movies into family films.
JACK
So when the snooty cat and the courageous[S24] dog with
celebrity voices --
eat out of a garbage can, there's the flash
meet for the first time in reel three,
that's when you'll caught the
flash --
of Tyler's contribution to the film.
In the
AUDIENCE, CHILDREN suddenly start squirming,
confused,
looking at each other.
A WOMAN
abruptly stops sucking her soda straw, feeling
vaguely
terrible. Her uncomfortable HUSBAND
slowly leans
back in
his seat.
Jack and
Tyler watch from the projection booth window.
TYLER
One-forty-eighth of a second. That's
how long it's up there.
JACK
Nobody knows that they saw it.
No one really knows that they've seen it.
But they did.
TYLER
A nice big cock.
JACK
Even Only a hummingbird[S25]
couldn't caught
Tyler at work.
INT. LARGE
BANQUET HALL - NIGHT
Tyler
moves around one of many tables, setting down SOUP
BOWLS. Jack stands in the same position, FACING
CAMERA.
JACK
Tyler also works sometimes as banquet waiter
at the luxurious Pressman Hotel.
The GUESTS
command the WAITERS with snaps of fingers.
INT.
SERVICE ELEVATOR - NIGHT
Jack turns
and WE PAN to Tyler, standing by a CART with a
giant SOUP
TUREEN. His hands are at his open fly
and he's
in position to piss
into the soup.
JACK
He was the guerrilla[S26]
terrorist of the
food service industry.
TYLER
Do not watch. I cannot go when
you watch.
Jack
waits. The
SOUND of a STREAM of LIQUID is HEARD.
TYLER
... Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
JACK
Apart from seasoning the lobster bisque,
He farted[S27]
on meringue[S28],
sneezed[S29]
on
braised[S30] endive[S31].
And, with cream of
mushroom soup, well...
TYLER (O.S.)
Go ahead. Say it. Tell 'em.
JACK
You get the idea.
EXT.
PARKING LOT OF TAVERN - RESUMING[S32]
Tyler and
Jack come out the back door.
JACK
What do you want me to do?
You just want me to hit you?
I don't know about this.
TYLER
Come on. Do me this one favor.
I don't know, either. I want to find
out. I've
never been hit, have you?
JACK
Why? No.
But that's a good thing, isn't it?
TYLER
Why? I don't know why. I don't know.
I've never been in a fight, have you?
JACK
No. But that's a good thing, isn't it?
TYLER
No. I don't know.
How much can you really know
about yourself if you've never been
in a fight? I don't want to die
without any
scars. Come on... you're the
only person I've ever asked.
hit me before I lose my nerve.
JACK
Oh. God! Me?
Jack stares at him.
TYLER
Why not you?
I'm letting you go
first. Do
it.
JACK
This is crazy.
TYLER
So go crazy. Alright, go crazy. Let it rip.
JACK
I don't know about this.
Where do you want it? In the face?
TYLER
I don't, either. But who gives a shit?
No one's watching, what do you care?
JACK
Wait. This is crazy. You want me to hit you? Surprise
me.
TYLER
That's right.
JACK
What, like in the face?
TYLER
Surprise me.
JACK
This is so fucking stupid.
Jack
swings a wide, clumsy roundhouse -- hits Tyler's
neck --
makes a dull, flat sound.
TYLER
Ohh. Motherfucker! You hit me in the ear! Shit. Sorry.
That didn't count.
JACK
Well, Jesus, I'm sorry. Like hell. That counted.
TYLER
OW! Christ! Why the ear, man?
JACK
Ow, I fucked it up. Well, Jesus, I'm sorry. Like
hell. That
counted.
TYLER
No. That was perfect!
Tyler
shoots out a straight punch to Jack's chest.
Jack
falls back
against a car. His eyes tear up.
TYLER
You al right? How do you feel?
JACK
That really huts. Strange.
TYLER
Right. But a good strange.
JACK
Hit me again. Is it?
TYLER
No. You hit me. We've crossed the
threshold. You
want to
call it off?
JACK
Come on! Call what off?
TYLER
The fight.
JACK
What fight?
TYLER
This fight, pussy.
Jack
swings another roundhouse that slams right under
Tyler's
ear. Tyler punches Jack in the
stomach. Tyler and
Jack move
clumsily, throwing punches. They
breathe heavier,
drooling
saliva and blood, growing dizzier from every impact.
EXT.
CURBSIDE - LATER
Jack and
Tyler sit on the curb, watching sparse headlights
on the
nearby freeway. Their eyes are glazed
with endorphin-
induced
serenity. They look at each other,
laugh. Look away.
JACK
We should do this again sometime.
TYLER
If you could fight anyone... one on
one, whoever you wanted, who would
you fight?
JACK
Anyone?
TYLER
Anyone.
Jack thinks.
JACK
My boss, probably.
(pause)
Who would you fight?
TYLER
My dad. No
question.
A long pause as Jack studies Tyler's face.
JACK
Oh, yeah.
(nodding)
I didn't know my dad. Well, I knew
him, till I was six. He went and
married another woman, had more kids.
Every six years or so he'd do it
again -- new city, new family.
TYLER
He was setting up franchises. My
father never went to college, so it
was really important that I go.
JACK
I know that.
TYLER
After I graduated, I called him long
distance and asked, "Now what?" He
said, "Get a job." When I turned
twenty-five, I called him and asked,
"Now
what?" He said, "I don't
know.
Get married."
JACK
Same here.
TYLER
A generation of men raised by women.
I'm wondering if another woman is the
answer we really need.
Another pause. Jack feels his
bleeding lip, smiles.
JACK
We should do this again sometime.
Tyler cracks a smile, give a sidelong glance to Jack.
EXT. PAPER
STREET - NIGHT
A street
sign: "PAPER STREET." A PAPER
MILL stis on one
side,
facing a lone HOUSE on the other. The
rest of the
land is
grass and weeds. It's a grand, old
three-story,
long abandoned. Tyler leads Jack toward it.
JACK
Where's your car?
TYLER
What car?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I don't know how Tyler found the
house, but he'd been there for half
a year.
INT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - ENTRANCE -- NIGHT
Tyler
leads Jack through the FRONT DOOR...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
It looked like it was waiting to be
torn down. Most of the windows
were
boarded up.
INT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - MOMENT LATER
Tyler and
Jack climb CREAKY STAIRS to the 2ND FLOOR LANDING.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
There was no lock on the front door from when the police
or whoever kicked it in.
None of the doors locked.
The stairs were ready to collapse.
I didn't know if he owned it or he was
squatting.
Tyler
opens the door to a ROOM...
INT. ROOM
- CONTINUOUS
Jack
enters, stis on the creaky BED. Dust
drifts upwards.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Neither would have surprised me.
TYLER
Yep.
That's you.
That's me.
That's the toilet.
Good?
JACK
Yeah.
INT.
SHOWER - MORNING
Jack turns
on the water. LOUD VIBRATIONS from the
walls.
Water
spits in starts.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
What a shithole?
Nothing worked. The rusty plumbing
leaked. Turning on a light meant
another light in the house went out.
EXT. LOU'S
TAVERN PARKING LOT - NIGHT
All the
tavern's lights are off. Tyler and Jack
FIGHT.
FIVE GUYS
stand around watching.
INT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING
Jack, his
face showing NEW BRUISES AND CUTS, makes coffee
with a
wire-mesh strainer. Tyler shuffles in,
wearing a
flannel
bathrobe. He spears pieces of bread on
a fork,
starts
roasting them over a burner.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
There were no neighbors. Just
warehouses and the paper mill.
The
fart smell of steam, the hamster cage
smell of wood chips.
EXT. PAPER ST. HOUSE - NIGHT
Jack sits watching as Tyler SWINGS an old GOLF CLUB --
THWACK -- sends a golf ball soaring down the desolate street.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
At night, Tyler and I were alone for
half a mile in every direction.
EXT. LOU'S
TAVERN PARKING LOT - NIGHT
All the
lights are off. TEN GUYS YELL, standing
around Jack
and Tyler,
who FIGHT. THREE CARS are parked in the
lot.
INT.
Туалет на месте работы.
Босc и Джек ссут в писсуары. У Джека
вся рожа разбита. Шеф странно на него поглядывает.
INT. BASEMENT - DAY
Jack sits
on basement stairs, watching as Tyler, knee-deep
in water,
works at an open FUSEBOX, flipping breakers in a
certain
order, showing Jack how it's done.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Every time it rained, we had to kill the
power. By the end of the first
month, I didn't miss TV.
I didn't even mind the warm, stale
refrigerator.
EXT. LOU'S
TAVERN PARKING LOT - NIGHT
Народу уже больше. Кто-то с кем-то
дерется. Один из участников драки падает на асфальт.
Третий стоящий позади подымает руку и
спрашивает:
Man
Can I be next?
TYLER
All right, man. Lose the tie.
EXT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - NIGHT
Jack and
Tyler SWING an old GOLF CLUB --
THWACK --
sends a golf ball soaring down the desolate street.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
At night, Tyler and I were alone for
half a mile in every direction.
INT.
READING ROOM - NIGHT
CANDLES
BURN. Tyler and Jack are seated across
from each
other on
the buckled floor, reading MAGAZINES.
Rain DRIPS
from the
ceiling. No furniture. THOUSANDS of MAGAZINES.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Rain trickled down through the plaster
and the light fixtures.
Everything wooden swelled and shrank.
Everywhere were rusted nails to snag your elbow on.
The previous occupant had been a bit of a shut-in.
TYLER
(of magazine)
Hum.
JACK
What?
TYLER
Oh, a new riot control grenade...
(reading)
"...the successful combination of
concussive, 3000 foot-candle flash-
blasts and simultaneous high-velocity
disbursement of...blah, blah, blah..."
Tyler begins RIPPING the ARTICLE from his magazine.
JACK
("Reader's Digest")
"I am Joe's Lungs." It's written in
first person.
"Without me, Joe could
not take in oxygen to feed his red
blood cells." There's a whole
series -- "I am Joe's Prostate."
TYLER
"I get cancer, and I kill Joe."
НЕПРОЦЕЖЕНО
Tyler tosses his article in a pile
of other articles,
chooses another magazine.
JACK on bicycle.
Hey, man! What are you
reading?
TYLER
Soldier of Fortune. Business Week.
New Republic.
JACK
Show-off.
INT. Джек на работе. Вытирает рот
носовым платком.
RUPERT
= JACK (V.O.)
After fighting everything else in your life
got the volume turned down.
JACK
What?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You could deal with anything.
Boss
Have you finished those reports?
INT. Дома. В ванной комнате.
TYLER в ванной моется. JACK сидит на полу чего-то опять стирает с лица платком.
TYLER
If you could fight anyone... one on
one, whoever you wanted,
who
would you fight?
JACK
Anyone?
TYLER
Anyone.
Jack thinks.
JACK
I'd fight my boss, probably.
TYLER
Really?
JACK
Yeah.
Why, who would you fight?
TYLER
I'd fight my dad.
My dad. No question.
A long pause as Jack studies Tyler's face.
JACK
I don't know my dad. Well, I knew
him, but he left when I was, like, six-years old. He went and
married other woman and had some other kids.
He, like, did this every 6 years.
He goes to a new city and starts a new family.
TYLER
Fucker should open up franchises. He was
setting up franchises.
My Dad never went to college, so it
was really important that I go.
JACK
That's sound familiar. I know that.
TYLER
After I graduated, I called him
up long
distance and asked, "Dad, now what?"
He says, "Get a job."
JACK
Same here.
TYLER
Now I'm 25.
I make my yearly call again.
I say "Dad, now what?"
He says, "I don't know. Get married."
JACK
Yeah. I mean: You can't get married. I'm 30 year-old boy.
TYLER
A generation of men raised by women.
I'm wondering if another woman is the
answer we really need.
Another pause. Jack feels his
bleeding lip, smiles.
JACK
We should do this again sometime.
Tyler cracks a smile, give a sidelong glance to Jack.
EXT. LOU'S TAVERN PARKING LOT - NIGHT
All the lights are off. Jack and
Tyler stand amidst FIFTEEN
GUYS around TWO GUYS FIGHTING.
The crowd YELLS MORE WILDLY
than before. In the background
are EIGHT PARKED CARS.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I should have been haggling with my
insurance
company. I should have
been looking for a new condo...
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
Jack walks along. He stops,
looking at a CHURCH with
SUPPORT-GROUP-PEOPLE milling around the entrance, drinking
coffee and sodas. Marla's there,
amongst them, smoking.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
.... I should have been upset about
my nice, neat, flaming little shit.
Jack's face shows no reaction.
He continues to walk.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
But I wasn't.
INT.
KITCHEN - MORNING
Jack, in
work clothes, interlocks his fingers and POPS his
knuckles,
picks up a saucepan with coffee and sips.
Tyler,
in waiter's
uniform, comes to have Jack straighten his tie.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Most of the week, we were Ozzie and
Harriet.
Jack picks
up his briefcase and walks out the door.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
But every Saturday night: , Wednesday night, ever Wednesday
night...
EXT. LOU'S
TAVERN PARKING LOT - NIGHT
All the
lights are off. No one around, but
there are at
least
TWENTY-FIVE CARS parked in the full lot.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
... we were finding something out: we
were finding out, more and more, that
we were not alone.
EXT. STREET
- NIGHT
Jack walks
along. He stops, looking at a CHURCH
with
SUPPORT-GROUP-PEOPLE milling around the entrance, drinking
coffee and
sodas. Marla's there, amongst them,
smoking.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
It used to be that when I came home
angry and depressed
I just cleaned my condo,
polish my Scandinavian furniture.
I should've been looking for a new condo...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I should've been haggling with my
insurance company.
.... I should've been upset about
my nice, neat, flaming little shit.
But I wasn't.
INT. CONFERENCE
ROOM - DAY
A SLIDE
SHOW progresses, run by a chipper salesman, WALTER.
Jack sits,
deadpan, with a PUFFY LIP and a BRUISED cheek.
WALTER
The basic premise of cyber-netting
your office is -- make things more
efficient.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Monday Thursday mornings, all I could
do was
think about next week.
Boss gives
Jack a dubious look. Walter's next
SLIDE: a
COMPUTER
SCREEN.
BOSS
Can I get the icon in cornflower blue?
WALTER
Absolutely.
Efficiency is priority number one, people,
because waste is a thief.
Walter
continues, his sales pitch drowned out by Jack's V.O.:
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Walter, the Microsoft account exec.
Walter, with his smooth, soft hands.
Maybe he was thinking about the free-
range potluck he'd been to last
weekend, or his church-group car-wash
fund-raiser.
Or, probably not.
Walter
moves to Jack and slaps him in the shoulder.
WALTER
I showed this already to my man here.
You liked it, didn't you?
Jack
smiles. His teeth are RED with
BLOOD. They GLOW
eerily in
the dim light.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You can swallow a pint of blood
before you get sick.
WALTER
Jesus, I'd hate to see what happened
to the other guy.
Jack keeps
the smile frozen on his face.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Screw Walter.
His candy-ass wouldn't
last a second Wednesday night.
EXT. LOU'S TAVERN - NIGHT
Out of silent darkness, HEADLIGHTS appear from all
directions. CARS PULL UP and
park in the already-packed
lot. YOUNG MEN get out and march
into the tavern...
INT. LOU'S
TAVERN - SAME
The men,
including Jack and Tyler, enter and stand against
the back
wall, waiting. The bartender, IRVINE,
calls out:
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
It was right in everyone's face.
Tyler and I just made it visible.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
It was on the tip of everyone's
tongue. Tyler and I just gave it
a
name.
Irvine
flicks on the LIGHTS. Drunken customers
squint and
get the
message. They plop down money, leaving.
Irvine hits a button and the JUKEBOX loses power. Members
of the waiting army begins to share secret looks. Finally,
one buy locks the door. Two
other guys close the blinds.
IRVINE
Come on people it's time to go home. Drink
up people. We're closing.
INT.
TAVERN BASEMENT - SAME
A
BOMB-SHELTER. Concrete walls. One BARE BULB above, Tyler
standing
directly beneath it.
TYLER
Welcome to fight club.
The guys
mill around, finding partners. Everyone
brims with
eagerness,
but tries to act cool. CHATTER gets
LOUDER.
Everyone
spreads out, forming a circle, Tyler at center.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Every week, Tyler gave the rules that
he and I decided.
PEAKING
CHATTER, till Tyler raises his arms and the CHATTER
DIES. A couple of COUGHS, FEET SHUFFLING, then,
SILENCE.
Fight Club и эти RULES
TYLER
Gentlemen, welcome to fight club.
TYLER
The first rule of fight club is --
you don't talk about fight club.
The second rule of fight club is -
you don't talk about fight club.
The third rule of fight club is --
when someone yells "stop!" goes limp, taps out, the fight is
over.
Fourth rule is - only two guys to a fight.
Fifth rule -- one fight at a time. Fellas.
Sixth rule -- no shirts, no shoes.
Seventh rule -- fights will go on as long as they have to.
And the eighth and final rule --
if this is your first night
at fight club... you have to
fight.
Tyler
steps back. A short guy, RICKY, and a
GOATEED MAN
take off
shirts and shoes and step to the center.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This kid from work, Ricky -- supply clerk
--
couldn't remember whether you ordered
pens with blue ink or black ...
The two
fighters circle, then begin throwing PUNCHES...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
But Ricky was a god for ten minutes
last week when he trounced maintre 'D
of a local fool court.
an actuary twice his size.
Harder,
faster PUNCHES between the two. SWEAT
flies.
SHOUTS
become DEAFENING. Ricky's getting the
best of
Goateed
Man, POUNDING him...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Sometimes all you could hear were
flat, hard packing sounds over the
yelling, or the wet choke when
someone caught their breath and
sprayed...
GOATEED MAN
(spittle-lipped)
Ssssstop... !
INT.
PHOTOCOPY ROOM - DAY
Jack
stands over a copy machine, hit by flashes of light.
He glances
over his shoulder, watches Ricky, wearing an
apron,
push a supply cart. Ricks nods at Jack.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You weren't alive anywhere like you
were there. But fight club only
exists in the hours between when
fight club starts and when fight club
ends.
INT.
OFFICE PARK RESTAURANT - DAY
Jack,
eating lunch, watches the BROKEN-NOSED WAITER with a
GOATEE --
from the above fight -- converse with a MAITRE D'.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Even if I could tell someone they had
a good fight, I wouldn't be talking
to the same man.
The
Goateed Waiter approaches Jack and sets a refill soda
down on
the table. The two of them briefly make
eye contact.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Who you were in fight club is not who
you were in the rest of the world.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
A guy came to fight club for the
first time, his ass was a wad of
cookie dough. After a few weeks,
he
was carved out of wood.
INT. JACK'S OFFICE - DAY
Jack, playing SOLITAIRE on his computer, daubs blood from
his mouth with a handkerchief.
Boss, passing by the
doorway, looks in at Jack, irritated.
BOSS
What are you getting yourself into
every week?
Jack keeps playing Solitaire.
Boss enters, folds his arms.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
After fight club, everything else in
your life gets the volume turned
down. You
can deal with anything.
BOSS
Have you
finished those reports?
JACK
(handing him reports)
Yes.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The people who had power over you
have less
and less.
Jack looks at Boss. Reflexively,
Jack's tongue plays with
his teeth.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
By this point, I could wiggle most of
the teeth in my jaw.
EXT.
STREET - DUSK
Tyler and
Jack walk, both smoking cigarettes.
JACK
If you could fight any celebrity,
who would you fight?
TYLER
Alive or dead?
JACK
Doesn't matter. Who'd be tough.
TYLER
Hemingway. You?
JACK
Shatner. William Shatner.
They reach
a BUS STOP as a BUS arrives, tossing their
cigarettes, getting on board...
INT. BUS -
DUSK
The bus is
crowded. As Tyler and Jack walk toward
the back,
Jack
studies the faces of OTHER PASSENGERS...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
We all started seeing things differently.
Wherever we went, we were sizing thing up.
They hold
hand grips. Jack looks up at an
ADVERTISEMENT; a
CALVIN
KLEIN ad featuring a tan, bare-chested MUSCLE STUD.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I felt sorry for all the guys packing
into gyms, trying to look like what
Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger said
they should.
Tyler
looks at Jack, looks at the C.K. advertisement.
JACK
Is that what a man looks like?
TYLER
Self-improvement is masturbation.
And Self-destruction. is the answer.
BIG MAN pass through
Excuse me.
A MAN in a suit KNOCKS Tyler's shoulder as he passes. The
Man takes a handle, close by.
Jack's pissed, staring at the
man, who stares back.
JACK
(to Tyler, so the
Man can hear)
You could take him.
Tyler looks to Jack, glances over his shoulder at the Man.
Tyler casually picks a small scab off Jack's nostril.
TYLER
The trick is not to care.
Tyler stares forward.
INT.
TAVERN BASEMENT - NIGHT
Tyler HITS
the floor, stomach first. HIS OPPONENT
lands on
top of
him, grappling, trying for a CHOKE HOLD.
The
surrounding CROWD, Jack included, SCREAMS at them...
Tyler and
the Opponent wrestle desperately, and Tyler flips
his
attacker, gets on top, sprawling to pin him.
Tyler
turns --
starts reining PUNCHES into the Opponent's GROIN...
CUT TO:
Jack lands
a couple of BLOWS to HIS OPPONENT'S stomach --
brings up
a left uppercut that smashes the Opponent's jaw.
Tiny
spatters of BLOOD adorn the walls, along with sweat.
Jack
catches sight of a swollen-faced Tyler, watching
appreciatively, a smile growing slowly on his face.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Fight club wasn't about winning or
losing. It wasn't about words.
The
Opponent recovers, throws a headlock on Jack.
Jack
snakes his
arm into a counter headlock. They
wrestle like
wild
animals. The crowd CHEERS maniacally.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
They hysterical shouting was in
tongues, like at a Pentecostal church.
Onlookers
kneel to stay with the fight, cheering LOUDER.
The
Opponent SMASHES Jack's head to the floor, over and over.
JACK
... stop...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
When the fight was over, nothing was
solved, but nothing mattered.
Everyone
moves in as the Opponent steps away.
Tyler pushes
through
the crowd. Others lift Jack up. They turn their
attention
to the floor, to a BLOOD MASK of Jack's face --
similar to
the TEAR MASK on BOB'S SHIRT.
TYLER
Cool.
Everyone
helps Jack walk. He's sweating,
bleeding, smiling.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Afterwards, we all felt saved.
Jack
limply shakes his Opponent's hand.
OPPONENT
Hey, man, how about next week?
JACK
Look at me. How about next month?
OPPONENT
I hear you.
TYLER
Irwin, you're in the middle.
New guy, you, too.
INT.
HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT
A NURSE
tends to Jack while Tyler watches.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Sometimes Tyler spoke for me.
TYLER
He fell down some stairs.
The Nurse
doesn't look at Tyler, just keeps tending to Jack.
JACK
I fell down some stairs.
INT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - BATHROOM - MORNING
Tyler and
Jack share the cracked MIRROR. Tyler's
clipping
at his
hair with blunt, ill-suited SCISSORS.
Jack's
brushing
his teeth, spitting out pink foam.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Fight club became the reason to cut
your hair short and trim your
fingernails.
TYLER
OK. Any historical figure.
JACK
I'd fight ... Gandhi.
TYLER
Good answer.
JACK
Haw about you?
TYLER
Lincoln.
JACK
Lincoln?
TYLER
Big guy. Big reach.
Skinny guys fight till they're burger.
Jack
reaches in his mouth, exploring, pulls -- yanks a
TOOTH. Jack looks at it. Tyler puts scissors down, done.
TYLER
Hey. Remember, even the Mona Lisa's
falling apart.
Jack drops
the tooth in the sink with Tyler's hair.
INT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - KITCHEN - LATE AFTERNOON
Jack
enters, buttoning his shirt. The PHONE
RINGS.
JACK
Hello?
INTERCUT
WITH...
INT.
MARLA'S BUILDING, HALLWAY - SAME
Marla's in
the HALL, on the PAYPHONE, twisting the phone
cord around
her neck.
MARLA
Where have you been the last 8 weeks?
JACK
Marla?
Jack looks
through the archway and sees Tyler, in his gummy
flannel
bathrobe, doing sit-ups. Jack leans,
cups the phone.
JACK
(quietly)
How'did you find me?
MARLA
You left that forwarding number.
I haven't
seen you in any support groups.
JACK
We split them up. That was the idea, remember?
MARLA
You haven't been going to yours.
JACK
How do you know?
MARLA
I cheated.
JACK
I found a new one.
MARLA
Really?
JACK
It's for men only.
MARLA
Like testicular thing cancer?
JACK
Look, this is a bad time...
MARLA
I've been going to debtor's
anonymous. You want to see some
truly fucked up people?
JACK
I'm just on my way out...
MARLA
Me too. I got a stomach full of
Xanax. I took what was left of a
bottle. It might have been too
much.
Jack looks
exasperated, turns TO LOOK INTO THE CAMERA.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Just picture yourself watching Marla
Singer throw herself around her
crummy apartment.
MARLA
This isn't a for-real suicide thing.
This is probably one of those cry-for-
help things.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
This could go on for hours.
JACK
So you're staying in tonight?
MARLA
Do you want to wait to hear me
describe death?
Jack puts
the handset on top of the phone, still off the
hook,
walks out the back door.
MARLA'S VOICE
Do you want to listen and see if my
spirit can use the telephone?
Have you ever heard a death rattle before?
Thru the
archway: Tyler leans to look in, curious.
INT.
BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT
GRUNTS of PLEASURE and EXERTION. Glimpses of TORSOS, ASSES,
LEGS,
ARMS, BREASTS, and FEMALE HAIR, all DRENCHED in SWEAT.
Sheets
RIP. Bodies hit the FLOOR. Insane GRUNTING and
LAUGHING. A flash of MARLA'S
FACE.
CUT TO:
INT.
JACK'S BEDROOM - SUNRISE
Jack sits
up in bed, looks around the room.
INT. 2ND
FLOOR LANDING
Jack steps
out of his room. The neighboring door
is closed.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Tyler's door was closed. I'd
been
living here two months, and Tyler's
door was never closed.
INT.
BATHROOM - SAME
Jack
stares into the TOILER, looking at SIX USED CONDOMS.
INT. KITCHEN - MORNING
Jack sits
at the table, sips coffee, read Reader's Digest.
He hears
FOOTSTEPS approaching.
JACK
You're not going to believe what I
dreamt last night.
Marla
walks in, straightening her dress, looks like she's
been raped
by a hurricane. Jack's jaw drops.
MARLA
I can hardly believe anything about
last night.
Marla goes
to pour coffee. She takes a swig,
GARGLES and
SPITS it
in the sink. She gives Jack a
lascivious smile.
JACK
What are you doing here?
MARLA
What...?
JACK
This is my house. What are you doing in my house?
Marla
stares at him a beat, then drops the cup in the sink.
MARLA
Fuck you.
Marla
shoves open the door to the backyard and walks out.
Jack gets
up, watches her stomp away.
Jack turns
and -- Tyler is at his shoulder, staring after
Marla. He's in his usual
sweatpants. He grins at Jack,
then moves
away, pours himself coffee. Jack,
smoldering,
slumps at the table and picks up Reader's
Digest. Tyler
puts his
foot on a countertop, does stretching exercises.
TYLER
Ha! Ha! OHH.
You got some fucked-up friends. I'm telling you.
Remember, though... Silly
Kooks.
So. I'm coming in last night.
Phone's off the hook.
She's a piece of work. Get this --
I come in here last night, the
phone's off the hook...
Jack
pretends to read, quickly glances at Tyler.
TYLER'S
VOICE
FADES...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I already knew the story before he
told it to me.
INT. KITCHEN
- LATE AFTERNOON (FLASHBACK)
Tyler
enters, gently lifts the handset and listens.
MARLA'S VOICE
(from handset)
Do you think it'll live up to its name?
Or will it just be a death... hairball? Hair... to evacuate soul.
I'll tell you when I'm floating out of my body.
Tyler
smiles.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Now. How could Tyler, off all people, think
it was a bad thing that Marla Singer
was about to die?
INT.
MARLA'S - 8TH FLOOR LANDING - LATE AFTERNOON (FLASHBACK)
Tyler, a
wry smile on his face, ambles up the stiars,
looking at
the rotting walls. He reaches the top
of the
stairs and
heads for Marla's room. Before he can
knock,
Marla's
hand shoots out and grabs him...
MARLA (on phone)
9, 8, ... 5, 4, 3, hang on, ...
INT. MARLA'S
ROOM - CONTINUOUS (FLASHBACK)
Marla
pulls Tyler inside and shuts the door.
Her drugged
eyes look
him over.
MARLA
You got here fast.
Did I call you? Huh?
She
staggers and sits on the bed. She
slides off, along
with the
blanket and sheets, to the floor.
MARLA
The mattresses are all sealed in
slippery plastic.
She tries
to focus her eyes on Tyler.
Tyler
studies her with cynical curiosity, looks at a DILDO
lying atop
a dresser. Marla follows his gaze.
MARLA
Don't worry. It's not a threat
to you.
SIRENS and
vehicles SCREECHING outside can be HEARD; doors
opening
and SLAMMING; running FOOTFALLS.
MARLA
Oh, fuck! Somebody called the
cops...
She gets
to her feet, grabs Tyler, pulls him out the door.
INT.
HALLWAY (FLASHBACK)
Marla LOCKS her door, then pulls Tyler
toward the STAIRCASE.
COPS and
PARAMEDICS charge up with oxygen and medical kits.
Marla and
Tyler flatten against the wall to let them pass.
COP
513! Where's 513?
MARLA
(pointing)
End of the hall.
The
rescuers keep running.
MARLA
(calling after)
You know the girl who lives there used to be
a charming, lovely girl, but she's
lost faith in herself...
COP
Miss Singer, let us help you!
You
have every reason to live!
Marla
yanks Tyler's arm, heading down the stairs.
MARLA
She's a monster! Infectious
human
waste! Good luck trying to save
her!
INT.
KITCHEN - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
Tyler
makes coffee. Marla slouches against
the refrigerator.
MARLA
If I fall asleep, I'm done for.
You're gonna have to keep me up all
night.
INT.
KITCHEN - MORNING (RESUMING)
Tyler chuckles,
shakes his head.
TYLER
Oh, fuckin' weird. Unbelievable, huh?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
He was obviously able to handle it.
Tyler
stands across from Jack, gets a cigarette from a pack.
TYLER
You know what I mean. You fucked her.
JACK
No. I didn't.
TYLER
Never?
JACK
No.
TYLER
I mean, this girl... uh,
you're not into her, are you? or anything... ?
JACK
No. God, not at all.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I am Jack's Raging Bile Duct.
Tyler
lights his cigarette.
TYLER
You're sure? You can tell me.
JACK
Believe me, I'm sure.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Put the gun to my head and paint the walls with my brains.
TYLER
That's good, 'cause she's a predator.
Posing as a house pet.
Stay away from that one.
And the shit that came out from this woman's mouth I've never heard.
Good. This
chick was up on the table
with her legs in the stirrups before
the doctor even walked in the room.
The things that she said... I've
never heard a woman talk like that...
INT.
TYLER'S ROOM - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
Tyler
smokes, post-coital. Marla puts her
lips to his ear.
MARLA
(whispering)
I want to have your abortion.
My God. I haven't been fucked like that since Grade School.
INT.
KITCHEN - MORNING (RESUMING)
Tyler
laughs, shakes his head. Jack's
gripping his Reader's
Digest
just a little too tight.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
How could Tyler not go for that?
Night before last, he was splicing
sex organs into Cinderella. "Little
Mermaid."
Tyler
sits, studies Jack's face.
JACK
Marla doesn't need a lover. She needs a fucking caseworker.
TYLER
She needs a wash.
And she's in love with sport fuckin'.
You're okay with this?
Tyler
smokes.
TYLER
She is a wild, twisted bitch. Stay
away from that one.
JACK
Oh, and my pace is more librarians.
TYLER
Hey... don't knock librarians.
JACK
Marla doesn't need a
lover. She
needs a case worker.
TYLER
She needs an exorcist. This isn't
love. This
is sport-fucking.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
She invaded my support groups, now
she'd invaded my home.
TYLER
Hey. Hey. Sit down. Listen... do me a
favor... sit here
a minute...
Tyler
pulls out a closer chair, motions to it.
Jack puts
down his
Reader's Digest and moves to that chair.
JACK
What?
TYLER
Now. Listen.
Can't have you talking to her about me?
JACK
What would I talk to her?
TYLER
You've gotta understand something
about me.
I have a little rule,
okay?
Don't ever talk to her about
me.
Ever. I can't stand that kind
of shit.
Tyler
fixes Jack with a friendly, but firm stare.
TYLER
If you ever say anything about me or what
goes on in this house,
to her or anyone - we're done.
Now. Promise me.
I will find out.
And you'll never see me again.
JACK
Okay.
TYLER
You promise?
JACK
Yes, I promise.
TYLER
Promise?
JACK
I just said I promise!
TYLER
That was three times you promised.
Tyler
smiles, gets up and leaves. Jack sits
smoldering.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
If only I had wasted a couple of
minutes and gone to watch Marla die,
none of this would've happened.
INT.
LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Jack
watches TV at HIGH VOLUME. SOUNDS of SEX
from upstairs.
INT.
JACK'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Jack lies
calmly on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
Sounds
of THUMPS
and CRASHES from beyond the wall.
MARLA'S VOICE
(muffled through wall)
Oh. Harder. Harder. Miserable fucking discharge!
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I could've moved to another room, one
on the third floor -- so I wouldn't
have heard them. But I didn't.
INT.
BASEMENT - NIGHT
SOUNDS of
RAIN. Jack flips FUSES off, then walks
upstairs.
INT. 2ND
FLOOR LANDING - SAME
Jack
walks, HEARS Marla SCREAM in orgasm. He
reaches the
landing. Tyler's door is
ajar. Jack peeks in...
Marla's
legs are sprawled on the bed. The door
PUSHES OPEN
WIDER --
Tyler, naked, stands CLOSE TO CAMERA.
TYLER
What are you doing?
Jack steps
back.
JACK
I... uh... just going to bed.
Tyler
scratches his head, wears a RUBBER GLOVE.
TYLER
You want to finish her off?
JACK
No. Tank you.
MARLA
Can I have a cigarette?
Who are you talking to?
TYLER
Shut up!
Jack
continues toward his room.
INT.
BATHROOM - NIGHT
Jack brushes
his teeth.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I became the calm, little center of
the world. I was the Zen master.
CLOSE UP -
COMPUTER MONITOR
Haiku is
BEING TYPED in a trendy, italicized font.
"Worker bees can leave
Even drones can fly away
The queen is their slave"
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I wrote little haiku poems.
INT.
JACK'S OFFICE - DAY
Jack's
clothes are PERMANENTLY STAINED with BLOOD.
He sits
in Zen
pose, cigarette in mouth, finishes typing Haiku.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I E-mailed them to everyone.
I faxed them around to everyone.
He hits
"SEND," gets the "ERROR CHIME" SOUND. He presses
this key
over and over. Boss enters.
BOSS
Is that your blood?
JACK
Some of it, yes.
BOSS
You can't smoke in here.
Boss
stares at Jack like he's from Mars.
BOSS
Take the rest of the day off.
Come
back Monday tomorrow with clean clothes.
Get yourself together.
INT.
HALLWAY - SAME
Jack's
leaving, looks like a war casualty, passing COWORKERS
who coldly
stare at him. His face is totally
passive.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I got right in everyone's hostile
little face. Yes, these are
bruises
from fighting. I'm comfortable
with
them. I... am enlightened.
EXT. PAPER
STREET - SUNSET
Jack walks
toward the HOUSE.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
You give up the condo life, give up
all your flaming worldly possessions,
go live in a dilapidated house in the
toxic waste part of town...
INT.
TYLER'S KITCHEN - SUNSET
Jack walks
in. SOUNDS of VIOLENT SEX and a
POLAROID CAMERA
from
upstairs. Pieces of PLASTER fall from
the ceiling.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
... and you come home to this.
TYLER'S VOICE
(laughing)
MARLA'S VOICE
Thank you, sir, may I have another!
Thank you sir, may I have another... !
Jack rolls
his eyes, takes off his pants. He runs
water in
the sink,
finds a tiny bit of SOAP and scrubs at the blood
stains. The PHONE RINGS. He answers it.
JACK
Hello? Yeah. Speaking.
INTERCUT
WITH...
INT.
POLICE STATION - OFFICE
A cop,
DETECTIVE STERN, refers to a file.
DETECTIVE STERN
Yes. This is Detective Stern with the
arson unit. We have some new
information about the "incident" at
your former condo.
JACK
Yes?
DETECTIVE STERN
I don't know if you're aware but ... your
front door -- it
seems someone
sprayed freon into your front door lock, then
tapped it with a chisel to shatter
the cylinder.
JACK
No, I wasn't aware that at all...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I am Jack's Cold Sweat.
DETECTIVE STERN
Does this sound strange to you?
JACK
Yes, sire, strange. Very
strange.
Jack
starts to sweat, scrubs his pants obsessively.
DETECTIVE STERN
The dynamite...
JACK
Dynamite?
DETECTIVE STERN
Yes. It left a residue of
ammonium
oxalate and potassium perchloride.
Do you know what that means?
JACK
No. What does that mean?
DETECTIVE STERN
It means it was homemade.
JACK
I'm sorry, This is just coming ... as quite a shock to me, sir...
DETECTIVE STERN
Whoever set this homemade dynamite
could've blown out the pilot light
days before the actual explosion. The gas,
it seems, was just a detonator.
JACK
Who would go and do such a thing?
DETECTIVE STERN
I'll ask the questions, son.
TYLER
(whispering in Jack's ear)
Tell him...tell him the Liberator[S35]
who
destroyed my property,
has realigned[S36]
my perception[S37].
Jack
almost leaps out his skin, startled; looks to see Tyler
standing
right next to him.
JACK
Huh?
TYLER
(overlap w/below)
"The liberator who destroyed my
property has re-aligned my paradigm
of perception[S38]."
DETECTIVE STERN
Excuse me, are you there?
JACK
Shhhhhh!
(into phone,
overlap w/above)
No. I am listening. It's just a little hard to know what to make of all
this.
I don't know what to make of this,
sir, I really don't...
DETECTIVE STERN
Have you recently made enemies
with anyone who might have access to homemade dynamite?
Do you know anyone who'd have the
expertise or motive to do something
like this?
JACK
(into phone)
Enemies?
TYLER
"I reject the basic assumptions[S39] of
civilization, including material
DETECTIVE STERN
Son, this is serious.
Jack
pushes Tyler away, cups the receiving.
JACK
(into phone)
Yes. I know it's serious.
DETECTIVE STERN
I mean that.
JACK
JACK
(into phone)
Yes. It's very serious.
(into phone)
No. No, sir. I loved that condo.
Look. Nobody takes this more seriously than me.
That condo was my life. OK?
I loved every stick of furniture in that place.
That was not just a bunch of stuff that got destroyed.
It was me!
The lamps, the chairs, the rugs, were
me. The
dishes were me. The plants
were...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I'd like to thank the academy...
DETECTIVE STERN
Is this not a good time for you?
Well, if any ideas come to you, give
me a
call. In the meantime, don't
leave town.
I may need to bring you
in for questioning.
END
INTERCUT
Jack hangs
up. Tyler shrugs.
TYLER
Just tell him you fuckin' did it.
JACK
Shhh.
TYLER
Tell him you blew it all up.
That what he wants to hear.
Could be worse.
You could be cursed
with the three terrible Karmas. You
could be beautiful, rich and famous.
DETECTIVE STERN
Are you still there?
TYLER
Wait. Are you saying that I'm a suspect?
DETECTIVE STERN
No. No. I may need to talk to you a little further
so how you lettin' me know if you gonna leave town?
Ok?
TYLER
OK.
Jack turns
away, continues to scrub his pants.
Marla's
FOOTSTEPS
can be HEARD coming downstairs...
Jack
really grinds the soap against the pants, splashing
water. He turns, sees Marla
enter. Tyler is GONE. Marla
lights a
cigarette.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Except for their humping, Tyler and
Marla were never in the same room.
My parents pulled this exact same act for years.
MARLA
The condom is the glass slipper of our generation.
You slip on one when you meet a stranger.
You ... dance all night. Then you throw it away.
The condom I mean, not the stranger.
JACK
(keeps scrubbing)
What?
MARLA
I got this dress at a thrift store
for one dollar.
JACK
(keeps scrubbing)
It was worth every penny.
Marla
begins a slow, exotic dance, moving very close to
Jack. She lifts her dress dangerously high, dancing
close
to Jack's
body, almost touching.
MARLA
(seductive)
It's a bridesmaid's dress.
Someone loved it intensely
for one day,
then tossed it.
Like a Christmas tree --
so special, then, bam --
it's abandoned on the side of the
road,
tinsel[S41]
still clinging[S42]
to it...
Jack
becomes very aware of having no pants on, presses
against
the counter. Marla pulls her hemline
further up.
MARLA
Like a sex crime victim,
underwear inside-out,
bound with electrical tape.
JACK
(coldly)
Well. Then it suits you.
She leans
in very close to Jack's ear, whispers hoarsely:
MARLA
You can borrow it sometime.
Jack takes
a step away, keeps scrubbing. Marla
blows smoke
in his
face. Jack takes her cigarette and
throws it in the
sink. Marla backs away, fed up, storms out, going
UPSTAIRS.
TYLER (O.S.)
Get rid of her.
Jack turns
to see Tyler in the doorway.
JACK
Why can't you get rid of her.
TYLER
(pointing at Jack)
Don't mention me.
Marla's
FOOTSTEPS are coming DOWNSTAIRS. Jack
looks to the
archway,
then back at -- Tyler's GONE. Marla
enters, shoes
and balled
up clothing under one arm, looking for something
on the
junk strewn table.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I'm six years old again, passing
messages between my parents.
JACK
No, uh... I really think it's time you got out of here.
Marla
ignores, still searching the table, tossing things,
pushing
other things off to the floor.
MARLA
Don't worry, I'm leaving.
Marla
finds what she wanted, a pack of cigarettes.
She
moves up
into Jack's face.
JACK
Not that we don't love your little visits.
MARLA
You are such a nut case, I can't even
begin to keep up.
(sing)
Gotta get off. Gotta get off this Merry-Go-Round.
JACK
Thanks. Bye.
She
laughs, spins on her heels. As she
exits the back door,
she sings
"This Merry-Go-Round" from "Valley of the Dolls."
Jack
watches her through the kitchen window.
TYLER (O.S.)
You're kids. Nice work.
JACK
Why do you still waste time with her?
Jack
turns. Tyler's right behind him. Through the window,
Marla can
be seen walking away. Tyler picks up
the remnant
of SOAP
Jack's been using, holds it up to Jack.
TYLER
I'll say this about Marla -
at least she still tryin' to hit bottom.
JACK
What. And I'm not?
TYLER
Stickin' feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
JACK
What are we doing tonight?
TYLER
Tonight? We make soap.
JACK
Really?
TYLER
To make soup, first we have to render fat.
Jack looks
at Tyler.
Борщ или The Soup Дремучих
Предков
CLOSE UP - SIGN: "DANGER -
BIOHAZARD."
EXT.
FENCED-IN BIOHAZARD WASTE DUMP SITE - NIGHT
Tyler
stands inside the fence. Jack's atop the
fence,
struggling
to cross BARBED WIRE. He wobbles, gets
over,
snags his
shirt. Jack falls, RIPPPPP. Tyler helps.
FOOTSTEPS. A FLASHLIGHT
BEAM. Tyler pulls Jack behind a
DUMPSTER,
one of DOZENS. A silhouette of a
SECURITY GUARD
moves
along the perimeter, flashlight first.
He walks away.
MOVE BACK
to Tyler and Jack, who emerge from hiding.
Tyler
eagerly
grabs the lid of the closest dumpster.
TYLER
The salt bonds has to be just right
-- So the best fat for making soap --
because -- comes from humans bodies...
Tyler
lifts the lid -- it CREAKS.
JACK
Wait. What is this place?
TYLER
A liposuction[S43]
clinic.
From the
dumpster, Tyler pulls out an industrial-sized,
thick
plastic bag full of PINK GOO.
TYLER
Aha. Pay dirt. The richest.
Creamiest fat in the world.
From society's richest asses and thighs.
Fat of the land.
TIME CUT:
Tyler and Jack climb back over the fence, carrying
BAGS of
fat. One of Jack's bags RIPS, spilling
the goo down
the
chain-link fench. Jack slips and
slides. Tyler laughs.
Tyler
tries to scoop the running fat back into the bag.
TYLER
Get another one.
INT.
KITCHEN - NIGHT
Jack and Tyler
each stir a boiling pot.
TYLER
As the fat renders, the tallow floats
to the surface. Remember the crap
they taught you in like in
Boy Scouts.
JACK
I can't Hard to imagine you as a Boy
Scouts.
TYLER
Keep stirrin'. Once a tallow hardens we skim off a layer of
glycerin.
If you were to add nitric acid, you got nitroglycerin.
If you were then to add sodium nitrate and a dish of sawdust, you got
dynamite.
Yeah. With enough soup we can blow up just about anything.
This clear layer
in glycerin.
We'll mix it back in when we make the soap.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Tyler was full of useful information.
Tyler
sticks a spoon into a pot, lifts up a scoop of the
glycerin
layer. Then, he crabs a can, opens it.
TYLER
(adding lye to mix)
Now. Ancient peoples found their clothes
got clean when they washed them at a
certain spot in the river. You
know why?
JACK
No.
TYLER
Because, human sacrifices were once
made on the hills above this river.
Year after year, bodies burnt.
Rain feel.
Water seeped through the wood
ashes to create lye[S44].
This is lye.
The crucial ingredient.
Once it mixed with the melted fat of
bodies.
combined with the melted fat of the
bodies, till
a thick white soapy discharge crept into the river.
May I see your hand please?
Tyler
licks his lips until they're gleaming wet.
He takes
Jack's
hands and KISSES the back of it.
JACK
What is this?
TYLER
This is chemical burn.
The first soap was made from the ashes of
heroes.
Like the first monkeys shot into space.
The saliva
shines in the shape of the kiss. Tyler
pours a
bit of the
flaked lye onto Jack's hand.
JACK
Ah. Ah. Ah.
TYLER
It'll hurt more than you've ever been burned
and you will have a scar[S45].
Jack's
whole body JERKS. Tyler holds tight to
Jack's hand
and
arm. Tears well in Jack's eyes; his
face tightens.
JACK
What are you doing?
Jack looks
-- the burn is swollen, glossy, in the shape of
Tyler's
kiss. Jack's face spasms.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Tyler's kiss was a bonfire on the
back of my hand.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Guided meditation worked for cancer,
it could work for this.
SHOT OF A
GREEN MAPLE LEAF, GLISTENING WITH DEW.
RESUME:
Tyler
looks at Jack's glazed and detached eyes.
TYLER
Stay with Come back to the pain.
Don't shove to center. Don't shut this out.
JACK
No. No. Oh, God!
TYLER
Look at your hand.
The first soap was made from the ashes of heroes.
Like the first monkeys shot into space.
Without pain, without sacrifice, without
death, we would have nothing.
Jack,
snapping back, tries to jerk his hand away.
Tyler
keeps hold
of it and their arms KNOCK UTENSILS off the table.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I tried not to think of the words
"searing[S46]"
or "flesh[S47]."
I imagined my pain as a ball of healing white light.
SHOT OF A
FOREST, IN GENTLE SPRING RAINFALL.
RESUME:
Tyler
JERKS Jack's hand, getting Jack's attention...
JACK
Stop it!
TYLER
Stop it.
This is your pain - This is your burning hand.
It's right here. Look at it.
JACK
I'm going to my cave!
I'm going to my cave and find my [CC:valium] power animal.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I was going to my cave to find my
power animal.
SHOT OF
THE INSIDE OF JACK'S FROZEN ICE CAVE.
RESUME:
Tyler
JERKS Jack's hand again. Jack
re-focuses on Tyler...
TYLER
No. Don't deal with this duenos those
dead people do. Come on! Deal
with it the way
a living person does.
SHOT OF
INSIDE THE ICE CAVE - ON MARLA, LYING NAKED UNDER A
FUR COAT,
TURNING HER HEAD TO LOOK TOWARDS US.
RESUME:
Jack tries
to pull his hand free. Tyler won't let
go.
Jack's
eyes glaze over again. Jack speaks,
whiny from pain:
JACK
I get the point. OK! Please!
I... I think I understand. I think
I get it...
TYLER
No, what you're feeling is premature[S48]
SHOT OF A
GREEN FOREST WITHOUT RAIN. RESUME:
Tyler
SLAPS Jack's face, regaining his attention...
TYLER
This is the greatest moment of your
Life, man. And you're off somewhere, missing it.
JACK
No, I'm not...
SHOT OF
TREES ENGULFED BY A FOREST FIRE.
RESUME:
TYLER
Shut up. Our fathers were our
models
for God. And, if our fathers bailed[S50],
what does that tell you about God?
JACK
I don't know...
SHOT OF
EMBERS POURING FROM THE HELLISH FOREST FIRE.
RESUME:
Tyler
SLAPS Jack's face again...
TYLER
Listen to me. You have to
consider
the possibility that God doesn't like
you, he never wanted you.
In all probability, He hates you.
This is not the worst thing that can happen...
JACK
It isn't... ?
TYLER
We don't need him...
JACK
We don't... ? I agree...
SHOT OF
INSIDE ICE CAVE - NAKED MARLA PULLS JACK DOWN ON TOP
OF HER -
JACK KISSES HER - CIGARETTE SMOKE COMES FROM HER
MOUTH -
JACK COUGHS. RESUME:
Jack is a
wide-eyed zombie...
JACK
... Marla ... ?
TYLER
Fuck damnation[S51]. Fuck redemption[S52].
We are God's unwanted children,
with no special place
and no special attention,
and so be it.
Jack looks
at Tyler -- they lock eyes. Jack does
his best
to stifle
his spasms of pain, his body a quivering, coiled
knot. He bolts toward the sink, but Tyler holds
on.
TYLER
You can go to the sink and run water
over your hand. Look at me. Or you
can use vinegar to neutralize the
burn, but first you have to give up.
First, you have to know, not fear, that someday,
you are going to die. Until you
know
that, you will be useless.
Jack
spasms with a shiver of pain...
JACK
You ... you don't know how this feels!
like, Tyler.
Tyler
shows Jack a LYE-BURNED KISS SCAR on his own hand.
TYLER
It's only we've lost of everything
that we'll free to do anything.
JACK
OK.
Tears
begin to drip from Jack's eyes. Tyler
grabs a bottle
of VINEGAR
-- pours it over Jack's wound.
Jack
closes his eyes, holds his hand... slumps to the floor.
TYLER
Congratulations.
You're a step closer to hitting bottom.
INT.
BARNEY'S - DAY
Jack and
Tyler, in trench coats, looking like deaht-warmed-
over, wait
as a BUYER fills out forms.
There are
bars of "The Paper Street Soap Company" soap on
the
counter. Jack looks like he's
half-expecting to get
arrested. His hand is BANDAGED.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Tyler sold the soap to department
stores at twenty bucks a Ear.
God knows what they charged.
It was beautiful. How ironic.
We were selling rich women their own
fat asses back to them.
INT.
JACK'S OFFICE - DAY
Jack sits
at his desk, playing a game on his computer,
smoking a
cigarette. Boss enters.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
He was wearing a yellow tie. It must
be Thursday.
I didn't even wear a tie
to work anymore.
Boss slaps
a piece of PAPER down on Jack's desk.
BOSS
"The first rule of fight club is you
don't talk about fight club."
Jack
snuffs his cigarette in an ashtray, stares up stoically.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I must've left the original in the
copy machine.
BOSS
"The second rule of fight club...
Is this yours?
JACK
Hmm?
BOSS
You don't get paid to abuse the copy
machine.
JACK
"Abuse" the copy machine. There's an
image.
BOSS
Pretend you're me. You find
this.
What would you do?
Jack rises
slowly, walks to his door, shuts it.
ЗДЕСЬ ЗАКОНЧИЛ РАСЧИСТКУ В ПОСЛЕДНИЙ РАЗ
JACK
Well. I gotta tell ya...
Me? I'd be very very careful who I
talked
to about this. It sounds like
someone dangerous wrote it... someone
who might snap at any moment,
stalking from office to office with
an Armalite AR-10 Carbine-gas
semiautomatic, bitterly pumping round
after round into colleagues and co-
workers.
Jack moves
very close to Boss, picks up the PAPER and starts
tearing it
into pieces.
JACK
Might be someone you've known for
years... somebody very close to you.
Or, maybe you shouldn't be bringing
me every little piece of trash you
pick up.
Jack puts
the PAPER in his trash. Bass stares
with a tinge
of
outrage, a tinge of fear. PHONE
RINGS. Jack answers it.
JACK
Compliance and Liability.
MARLA'S VOICE
My tit's going to rot off.
JACK
Just a second.
(to Boss; smiles)
Could you excuse me? I need to
take
this call.
Boss goes
to the door, stares at Jack a beat, then leaves.
JACK
(into phone)
What are you talking about?
INTERCUT
WITH - CLOSE UP OF MARLA...
MARLA
Would you do something for me? I
need you to check and see if there's
a lump in my breast. I can't afford
to throw money away on a doctor.
JACK
I don't know ...
MARLA
Please.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
She didn't call Tyler. I'm
neutral
in her book.
EXT.
MARLA'S HOTEL - SUNSET
Jack walks
down the sidewalk, seeing Marla take two BOXES
from a VAN
with the sign "MEALS ON WHEELS."
INT.
MARLA'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Marla
leads Jack inside.
JACK
This is a sweet side of you.
Picking
these up for ...
(reads the boxes:)
"Mrs. Haniver" and... "Mrs. Raines."
Where are they?
MARLA
Tragically, they're dead. I'm
alive
and I'm in poverty. You want
any?
JACK
No, thanks.
MARLA
Good.
He stares
at her while she eats.
MARLA
What happened to your hand?
Jack
awkwardly puts his bandaged hand behind his back.
JACK
Nothing.
INT.
MARLA'S ROOM - NIGHT
Marla
stands facing a MIRROR with her shirt open.
Jack
stands
behind her with his hand on the bottom side of her
breast. Marla's hand guides his.
JACK
Where? Here?
MARLA
Here.
JACK
There?
MARLA
Here.
JACK
Here.
MARLA
Feel anything?
JACK
No.
Jack's
head is behind Marla's. They speak
softer, slower.
MARLA
Make sure.
JACK
Okay. Okay, I'm sure.
MARLA
You feel nothing?
JACK
Nothing.
Marla
turns around and faces him, begins to button her shirt.
MARLA
Well, that's a relief. Thank
you.
JACK
No... no problem.
MARLA
I wish I could return the favor.
Jack
touches his own chest, shakes his head.
JACK
I think everything's okay here.
MARLA
I could check your prostate.
JACK
Uh ... nah.
MARLA
(pause)
Well... thanks, anyway.
Marla
leans to kiss him -- lingers for a bit longer than
just friendly. Jack pulls away.
JACK
So.... are we done?
Marla
sighs.
MARLA
Yeah, we're done. See you
around.
EXT. HOTEL
- MOMENTS LATER
Jack
emerges from the lobby. He looks up at
Marla's window,
watches
her silhouette. He walks away, right
into -- Big
BOB, the
moose, eating a donut and drinking orange juice.
BOB
Cornelius! How are you?
JACK
Bob. I'm okay. How are you?
BOB
Better than I've ever been in my life.
JACK
Really? Great. Still "Remaining Men
Together?"
An intense
look of born-again fervor comes over Bob's face.
BOB
No. I found something new.
JACK
Really, what's that?
BOB
(quietly)
The first rule is... you aren't
supposed to talk about it...
JACK
Oh.
BOB
And the second rule about it
is...
you're not supposed to talk about it.
And the third rule...
JACK
Bob, Bob... I'm a member.
BOB
You are?!
JACK
Look at my face.
Bob
roughly slaps Jack's shoulder.
BOB
That's a fucking great, man!
Fucking
great! Congratulations.
JACK
Yeah, both of us.
BOB
You know about the guy who invented
it? I hear all kinds of things.
Supposedly, he was born in a mental
institution. They say he only
sleeps
one hour a night. You know about
this guy? Tyler Durden?
INT.
BASEMENT - ELECTRONICS WKREHOUSE - NIGHT
The CROWD
SCREAMS insanely as Bob and Jack go at it in the
circle of
light. Bob's eyes are wild with glee.
EXT.
BASEMENT DOOR - ELECTRONICS WAREHOUSE - LATER
Everyone
sneaks out of this new location - we've seen none
of these
guys before - it's a new chapter. Jack
and Bob
Stagger out last, Jack being in worse
shape. They both grin
with
religious serenity. Bob hugs Jack.
BOB
Thank you. Thank you.
Bob
relaxes the hug and Jack drops to the ground like a
sack, completely
enervated from the beating he took.
JACK
You're welcome.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Fight club -- this was mine and
Tyler's gift... our gift to the world.
INT.
KITCHEN -- MORNING
Jack has
his briefcase on the table, looks at PAPERWORK.
Tyler
wanders in, carries a dirty pot to the sink.
Jack
takes out
a cigarette, lights up. He offers the
pack...
TYLER
No thanks, I quit.
JACK
You quit?
TYLER
Yeah. Where you headed?
JACK
Work. Going to work.
Tyler
scratches his chin absently.
JACK
What... ?
TYLER
Nothing. Do what you like.
Tyler
walks out the way he came.
INT.
JACK'S OFFICE - DAY
Jack sits
staring at his SCREEN SAVER.
INT.
BOSS'S OFFICE - DAY
Jack steps
into the open doorway, knocks on the doorframe.
Boss looks
up from his large, expensive desk.
JACK
We need to talk.
BOSS
Okay. Where to begin? With your
constant absenteeism? With your
unpresentable appearance? You're
up
for review...
JACK
I Am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise.
Boss sits
up in his seat, becoming enraged.
JACK
Let's pretend. You're the
Department
of Transportation, and you discover
that our company intentionally did
nothing about leather seats cured in
third world countries with chemicals
we know cause birth defects?
Brake
linings that fail after a thousand
miles. Fuel injectors that burn
people alive.
BOSS
Just who the fuck do you think you
are?! Get out! You're fired!
JACK
What about this? Keep me on
payroll
as an outside consultant. In
exchange for my salary, I'll keep my
mouth shut. I won't need to come
to
the office. I can do this job
from
home.
Boss
stands, moves around his desk, glaring with rage.
BOSS
You little fucker! I oughta...
Jack
PUNCHES HIMSELF in the nose. Blood
starts to trickle.
He punches
himself in the jaw, throws himself back as if by
the force
of the punch, SLAMS against a framed picture and
SHATTERS
the glass. He falls to the floor.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I Am Jack's Smirking Revenge.
Jack gets
back to his feet.
JACK
Please... don't hit me again, please.
I'm your responsibility...
He PUNCHES
himself in the stomach, then in the jaw again.
He reels backwards,
pulls down a hanging shelf, its contents
flying. He hits the floor.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
For some reason, I thought of my
first fight -- with Tyler.
Jack
crawls toward Boss, dripping blood, grabs Boss's leg.
JACK
Please... give me the paychecks like
I asked for. I won't be any
trouble.
You won't see me again.
Jack
climbs up Boss's leg while Boss tries to shake him off.
Boss
stumbles back into his desk, knocking off belongings.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Under and behind and inside
everything this man took for granted,
something horrible had been
growing.
Jack
crawls high enough to grab Boss's belt, hoisting
himself
up. He dribbles blood an Boss's
clothing, SMUDGES
blood from
his face onto the knuckles of Boss's hand.
JACK
Please... please...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And right then, at our most excellent
moment together...
Two
SECURITY GUARDS enter and gape at the sight.
Behind
them stand CURIOUS WORKERS, looking in.
JACK
(gurgling blood)
Please don't hit me again.
INT.
TYLER'S HOUSE - ENTRANCE FOYER - DAY
Jack holds
a CHECK in front of Tyler's face.
JACK
Six months advance pay. Six
months!
TYLER
Fucking sweet.
JACK
Okay, and... and...
Jack digs
in his pocket, takes out a thick bundle of CARDS.
JACK
Forty-eight airline flight coupons.
Plus... hold on... just a minute...
Jack holds
up a finger, going to open the front door.
He
drags an
unwieldy SHOPPING CART in behind him; filled with
his
COMPUTER, PHONE, FAX and other office equipment.
JACK
I am now officially self-employed.
Jack looks
at the cart, then back at Tyler, proud.
TYLER
Good for you.
INT. LOU'S
TAVERN - BASEMENT - NIGHT
LOUD. An enormous CROWD of guys, including Jack
and Bob,
stands
around Tyler, who's in the center of the circle,
holding up
his hands to quiet them...
TYLER
I look around... I look around and
see a lot of new faces.
An
enthusiastic RUMBLE from the crowd.
TYLER
Shut up! Which means a lot of
you
have been breaking the first two
rules of fight club.
A glum
silence falls. Guys look at each other.
TYLER
I see in fight club the strongest and
smartest men who have ever lived --
an entire generation pumping gas and
waiting tables; or they're slaves
with white collars.
(more)
TYLER (cont)
Advertisements have them chasing cars
and clothes, working jobs they hate
so they can buy shit they don't need.
We are the middle children of
history, with no purpose or place.
We have no great war, or great
depression. The great war is a
spiritual war. The great
depression
is our lives. We were raised by
television to believe that we'd be
millionaires and movie gods and rock
stars -- but we won't. And we're
learning that fact. And we're
very,
very pissed-off.
The crowd
erupts into a DEAFENING CHORUS of agreement.
Jack
looks at
the blazing excitement in the eyes of the crowd.
TYLER
We are the quiet young men who listen
until it's time to decide.
A fat,
MIDDLE-AGED MAN stomps down the stairs, pushing into
the crowd,
followed by a TALL, HEFTY THUG who holds a GUM.
TYLER
Who are you?
FAT MAN (LOU)
Who am I?! There's a sign on the
front that says "Lou's Tavern." I'm
fucking Lou. Who the fuck are
you?!
TYLER
Tyler Durden.
Tyler
extends his hand for a shake, but Lou SLAPS it away.
LOU
Who told you motherfuckers you could
use my place?
TYLER
We have a deal worked out with Irvine.
LOU
Irvine? Irvine's at home with a
broken collarbone.
Everyone
glances guiltily at each other.
LOU
He don't own this place, I do.
How
much money's he getting for this?
TYLER
There is no money.
LOU
Really?
TYLER
It's free to all.
LOU
Ain't that something?
TYLER
Yes, it is.
LOU
Look, stupid fuck, I want everyone
outta here now!
TYLER
You're welcome to join our club.
LOU
Did you hear what I just said?!
TYLER
You and your friend.
Lou SLUGS
Tyler in the stomach, doubles him over.
LOU
You hear me now?
Tyler
gains his breath, determined. He looks
up, turns his
head,
looking to Jack. Jack watches,
wide-eyed.
Tyler
straightens, facing Lou.
TYLER
No, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.
Lou
PUNCHES Tyler in the face. Some of the
guys move
forward,
but the Thug points his gun. Jack-runs
forward
anyway --
Lou PUNCHES him in the face.
More guys
move forward, but Tyler waves them off, facing Lou.
TYLER
We really need to use this place.
Lou
proceeds to beat the shit out of Tyler, PUNCHING his
face, his
stomach. Tyler collapses to the
floor. Lou
starts
KICKING his. Tyler bleeds from the
mouth and face.
TYLER
That's it.... that's good. Get
it
all out. You'll feel better.
Lou
flushes red with exasperation, KICKS more.
Finally,
sweating,
bewildered, Lou stops. He looks to the
Thug, who
is just as
bewildered.
Suddenly,
Tyler SPRINGS UP, grabs onto Lou...
TYLER
Yes, I am shit and crazy, to you and
this whole fucking world...
Tyler's
blood spatters on Lou. Lou tries to
shake Tyler
off, but
Tyler BITES Lou's NECKTIE. The Thug
grabs Tyler
and pulls,
the necktie tightening and strangling Lou.
Lou
slaps at
Tyler's face, but recoils from the blood.
Tyler
spits and
shouts through clenched teeth...
TYLER
You don't know where I've been.
Tyler bear
hugs Lou, pulls him to the floor. Tyler
rubs his
bloody
face into Lou's face. The Thug lifts
Tyler. Tyler
clings to
Lou's belt, dragging Lou as he is dragged...
TYLER
We need this place. We need it.
Please let us keep it, please...
Blood
dribbles out of Tyler's mouth, spattering Lou.
LOU
What are you doing?!
TYLER
Pleeeeeease!
LOU
Okay! Okay, fuck it! Use the
basement! Get off me!
TYLER
We need some towels, Lou. We
need
replacement light bulbs.
LOU
Alright, Christ! Fucking let me
go!
TYLER
Thank you. Thank you, sir...
LOU
Let go of me!!
Tyler lets
go of Lou's belt. Lou scrambles
away. The Thug
drops
Tyler, trying to keep clear of the blood.
Lou gets to
his feet, looks at Tyler, then at the rest
of the guys. He
and the
Thug back away... slamming the door behind.
Fight club
surrounds Tyler. They help him up, move
him to
a
crate. Tyler sits slumped for a long
moment, his
breathing
labored... then, he sits back, crossing his legs
and
looking to the group, his demeanor businesslike.
TYLER
This week, each of you has a homework
assignment. You're going to go
out
and start a fight with a total
stranger...
(pause, drooling blood)
You're going to start a fight... and
you're going to lose.
Jack beams
in appreciation.
EXT.
STREET - DAY
Ricky
trips a passing YUPPIE. The Yuppie
falls.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Not as easy as it sounds.
People'll
do just about anything to avoid a
fight.
The Yuppies gets up, angry, and Ricky PUNCHES
him...
YUPPIE
Hey! Wha... What the hell...
what
are you doing?! Who are you?!!
The Yuppie
backs away. Ricky follows...
YUPPIE
Get away from me! Keep away!
NO... !
Ricky
TACKLES the Yuppie. The Yuppie
struggles spastically.
YUPPIE
Who are you!? Why are you
attacking
me... ?!
Having no
recourse, the Yuppie begins trading blows.
EXT. AUTO
SHOP - DAY
A MECHANIC
WITH A BATTERED FACE uses a hose to wash the
sidewalk. As MEN pass, he jerks
the hose up and SPRAYS them.
FIRST MAN
Hey... hey...
SECOND MAN
Watch out, jackass!
These men
continue on their way.
The
Mechanic sprays a third man, a SEMINARY STUDENT, who
looks
down, stunned.
SEMINARIAN
You... you did that on purpose!
The
Mechanic DOUSES the Seminarian. The
Seminarian grabs
the hose,
wrestling the Mechanic for it. The
Mechanic
shoves the
Seminarian, who responds with a half-assed PUNCH.
The
Mechanic purposely takes it. The
Seminarian starts to
run
away. The Mechanic sprints after him,
PUNCHING the
Seminarian
in the back of the neck. They fight.
INT.
RECORD STORE STOCKROOM - NIGHT
A FIST
smashes a JAW. Guys CHEER. An arm snakes around a
neck and
squeezes, blood and sweat dripping.
It's the
YUPPIE and
the SEMINARIAN fighting. Tyler walks
around the
perimeter
of the circle.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Now nobody was the center of fight
club except the two men fighting.
The leader walked around in the
crowd, out in the darkness.
Tyler
hands ENVELOPES out to the crowd.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Everyone took a homework assignment.
EXT.
STREET - LATE NIGHT
Ricky and
another FIGHT CLUBBER paste up a BILLBOARD which
reads:
"DID YOU KNOW? YOU CAN USE YOUR OLD MOTOR OIL TO
FERTILIZE YOUR LAWN! -- ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY."
INT. PAPER
STREET HOUSE
HANDS use
a MARKER, writing on a FILE: "Disinformation."
EXT. LARGE
PARKING LOT - DAY
Jack and
Tyler, in work gloves, armed with TOOLS, work
together
to lift the entire METAL PLATE of EXIT SPIKES from
the
ground. They reverse it, then replace
it.
MOMENTS
LATER
Jack and
Tyler walk away, each carrying a 4x4 plank of WOOD.
JACK
There's fight club in Delaware City.
TYLER
I heard. Local 15, Monday
nights.
As they
pass PARKED CARS, they SWING the planks against
front
bumpers -- activating ALARMS and INFLATING AIR BAGS...
JACK
Local 8 just started in Penns Grove.
And, Bob said he was at fight club in
Newcastle last week.
TYLER
Newcastle? Did you start that one?
JACK
I thought you did.
In the
background, a CAR quickly EXITS the parking lot --
front
tires EXPLODING, wheel rims throwing sparks.
INT.
FAMILY HOUSEHOLD -- NIGHT
FATHER,
MOTHER, YOUNG DAUGHTER and SON, eat dinner, watching
TELEVISION. Suddenly, the TV
IMAGE turns to SNOW and static.
Family
members stop eating. Father picks up
the REMOTE,
points it
-- all channels are SNOW.
Father
turns the TV OFF. He and his family
members look at
each
other, utensils in hand, uncomfortable.
EXT. CITY
ROOFTOPS - NIGHT
The Yuppie
SWINGS a BASEBALL BAT -- DESTROYS a digital
SATELLITE
DISH. The Yuppie and the Seminarian
move on,
climbing
to a neighboring rooftop. They come
upon another
DISH. The Seminarian takes the bat, takes a
SWING...
INT. PAPER
STREET HOUSE
HANDS
place NEWS CLIPPINGS into a FILE: "Mischief."
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - ON GROUND - DAY
Two
AIRPLANE MAINTENANCE,MEN, with bruised faces, rip open
a box from
a PRINT SHOP. They dig up AIRPLANE
SAFETY
INSTRUCTION CARDS and begin inserting them into each
seatback. We SEE a CARD - it
shows passengers SCREAMING
and
FLAILING ABOUT IN TERROR.
INT. BUSINESS OFFICE - NIGHT
Huge
office. Rows and rows of desks. FIGHT CLUB MEMBERS
work: one
guy moving from COMPUTER MONITOR to COMPUTER
MONITOR,
using a DRILL to drill a hole into the top of each.
Other guys
follow behind, with FUNNELS and CANS of GASOLINE,
filling
each monitor with gasoline.
INT. PAPER
STREET HOUSE
Files and
newspaper clippings are piled up. HANDS
write on
a new FILE
FOLDER: "Arson."
EXT.
ROOFTOP -- DAY
The Yuppie
crumbles a loaf of stale bread into a bucket,
stirring
it with a big spoon, mixing in a BOTTLE of EX-LAX.
Nearby,
Rob throws handfuls of wet BREADCRUMBS to PIGEONS...
HUNDREDS
of PIGEONS -- a rooftop feeding-frenzy.
EXT.
CONVENIENCE STORE - NIGHT
Tyler and
Jack cross the parking lot, towards the
convenience store. Jack wears a
BACKPACK.
TYLER
Let me have that a minute...
Tyler
takes the BACKPACK, unzips it, searching the contents.
JACK
What are we doing?
TYLER
Homework assignment.
JACK
What is it?
Tyler
takes out a HANDGUN, hands the backpack back.
TYLER
Human Sacrifice.
Jack turns
white, staring at the gun.
EXT.
BEHIND THE CONVENIENCE STORE - MOMENTS LATER
The BACK
DOOR opens and Tyler brings the store's CLERK out
at gunpoint,
forces him to his knees. Jack follows,
freaked. Tyler points the gun at
the Clerk.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
On a long enough time line, the
survival rate for everyone drops to
zero.
CLERK
Please... don't...
TYLER
Give me your wallet.
The Clerk
fumbles his wallet out of his pocket and Tyler
snatches
it. Tyler pulls out the DRIVER'S
LICENCE.
TYLER
Raymond K. Hessel. 1320 SE Benning,
apartment A. A small, cramped
basement apartment.
RAYMOND
How'd you know?
TYLER
They give basement apartments letters
instead of numbers. Raymond,
you're
going to die.
Tyler
rummages through the wallet.
TYLER
Is this a picture of Mom and Dad?
RAYMOND
Yesssss...
TYLER
Your mom and dad will have to call
kindly doctor so-and-so to dig up
your dental records, because there
won't be much left of your face.
RAYMOND
Please, God, no...
Raymond
begins to weep, shoulders heaving.
JACK
Tyler...
TYLER
An expired community college student
ID card. What did you used to
study,
Raymond K. Hessel?
RAYMOND
S-S-Stuff.
TYLER
"Stuff." Were the
mid-terms hard?
Tyler rams
the gun barrel against Raymond's temple.
TYLER
I asked you what you studied.
JACK
Tell him!
RAYMOND
Biology, mostly.
TYLER
Why?
RAYMOND
I... I don't know...
TYLER
What did you want to be, Raymond K.
Hessel?
Raymond
weeps and says nothing. Tyler COCKS the
gun.
Raymond
GASPS.
TYLER
The question, Raymond, was
"what did
you want to be?"
A beat.
JACK
Answer him!
RAYMOND
A veterinarian!
TYLER
Animals.
RAYMOND
Yeah ... animals and s-s-s ---
TYLER
Stuff. That means you have to
get
more schooling.
RAYMOND
Too much school.
Tyler
shoves Raymond's wallet back into Raymond's pocket.
TYLER
Would you rather be dead?
RAYMOND
No, please, no, God, no!
Tyler
moves the gun right between Raymond's eyes.
RAYMOND
NOOOOO!
Tyler
UNCOCKS the gun, lowers it.
TYLER
I'm keeping your license. I know
where you live. I'm going to
check
on you. If you aren't back in
school
and on your way to being a
veterinarian in six weeks, you will
be dead. Get the hell out of
here.
Raymond
staggers to his feet, heads down an alleyway.
Jack
and Tyler
watch Raymond flee, then Tyler looks at Jack.
JACK
I feel sick.
TYLER
Imagine how he feels.
Tyler
brings the gun to his own head, pulls the trigger --
CLICK. Empty.
JACK
I don't care, that was horrible.
Tyler
walks away.
TYLER
Tomorrow will be the most beautiful
day of Raymond K. Hessell's life.
Jack
watches Tyler go.
TYLER
His breakfast will taste better than
any meal he has ever eaten.
Jack turns
to look the direction Raymond ran. He
finally
turns
back, following after Tyler.
INT.
BUSINESS OFFICE - NIGHT
SLOW
MOTION: in the deserted office, gasoline filled
COMPUTER
MONITORS begin to EXPLODE...BOOM...BOOM...BOOM... !
EXT. CITY
STREETS -- MORNING
Luxury
AUTOMOBILES are parked, splattered with BIRD SHIT.
EXT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE - BACKYARD - DAWN
VIEWED OUT
3RD STORY WINDOW: Tyler uses a RAKE, dragging it
across
rocks and dirt. He stops a moment, rake
on his
shoulder,
staring off. Then, back to work...
TYLER
(muttering quietly)
... You are not how much money you
have in the bank. You are not
the
shoes you wear.
Tyler's
marking a large SQUARE in the weeds and rubble of
the
backyard, kicking rocks away, dragging the rake...
TYLER
You are not the contents of your
wallet...
INT. CITY
BUS - NIGHT
The DRIVER
has a broken nose. The bus is empty,
except for
Jack, in
the very last seat, sleepy.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
He had a plan. Maybe you just
didn't
see it till it hit you between the
eyes.
(pause)
But, it started to make sense... in
a Tyler sort of way. No
fear. No
distractions. The ability to let
that which does not matter truly
slide.
EXT. PAPER
STREET - NIGHT
Jack gets
off the bus. As the bus pulls away, we
see it
dropped
Jack off right in front of the house.
INT.
KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER
Jack
enters. Tyler, dressed in FATIGUES and
splattered with
PAINT,
grabs BEERS from the refrigerator.
JACK
Hey.
TYLER
Hey.
Jack
notices ROPE and RAPPELLING TOOLS on the table. Tyler
comes to
hand Jack a bunch of beers, nod to the living room.
TYLER
Go on in. We're celebrating.
INT.
LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Jack,
bewildered, enters carrying beers.
Tyler does NOT
follow. BOB, RICKY and several
other fight club guys sit in
front at
the TV, chanting not too loudly, all also dressed
in
FATIGUES and splattered with PAINT.
RICKY
You are not your job.
OTHERS TOGETHER
You are not your job.
RICKY
You are not how much money you have
in the bank.
BOB
Shhhh, wait... they're back to it...
Bob goes
to turn up the TV. One guy, sixteen
years old with
an angelic
face, ANGEL FACE, gets up to take beer from Jack.
ANGEL FACE
(to Jack)
Great, thanks.
Angel face
starts distributing beer amongst his cohorts.
BOB
Shhhhh! Watch!
Jack looks
to the TV -- it shows a LIVE shot of the "PARKER
MORRIS
BUILDING." The building has a
GIANT, GRINNING FACE
PAINTED on
it -- two BROKEN WINDOWS for EYES, with flames
pouring
out... FIRETRUCKS spray water.
REPORTER (V.O.)
Police Commissioner Jacobs has just
arrived... just a second... excuse
me, Commissioner, could you tell us
what you think has happened?
COMMISSIONER JACOBS, a wrinkled official, turns to camera.
COMMISSIONER JACOBS
(V.O.)
We believe this is related to the
recent acts of vandalism around the
city. It's some kind of
organized
group, and we are coordinating a
rigorous investigation.
Jack
turns, sees Tyler in the archway, watching him. Tyler
tips his
beer to toast, pulls back, out of sight.
JACK
What did you guys do?
They all
BURST INTO LAUGHTER. They look at Jack
and shake
their
heads. Jack doesn't get it. Suddenly, the guys'
faces turn
to stone. Bob sits rigid.
BOB
The first rule of Project Mayhem
is... you do not ask questions.
Jack
stares at them.
CUT TO:
INT. HOTEL
BALLROOM - NIGHT
A
luxurious BANQUET. Commissioner Jacobs
guzzles champagne.
He rises
and starts out of the room. Jack, in a
WAITER'S
UNIFORM,
looks apprehensively to OTHER WAITERS: BOB...
RICKY...
ANGEL FACE -- who all give each other a look.
INT.
HALLWAY
Jacobs
saunters down an empty hall. He stops
to check his
tie in a
mirror. He pushes open the door of the
MEN'S
BATHROOM
-- face to face with TYLER.
INT.
BATHROOM
Tyler
GRABS Commissioner Jacobs, pulling him into the
bathroom. He slaps a piece of
tape over Jacobs' mouth. The
OTHER
"WAITERS" rush in. Jack stays
back to keep the door
shut. Tyler and the others hold Jacobs, pulling
down his
pants. Bob snaps a rubber band
-- reaches to Jacob s crotch.
TYLER
Wrap it around the top of his hackie-
sack.
BOB
Man, his balls are ice cold.
Ricky
produces a KNIFE, moves it down to Jacob's testicles.
Jacobs is
bug-eyed. Jack, red-faced, keeps his
distance.
TYLER
You're not going to continue your
"rigorous investigation."
You will
publicly state that there is no
underground group. Or --
imagine,
the rest of your life with your
scrotum flapping empty.
JACOBS
(mouth taped)
... no... please, no...
TYLER
We'll send one to the New York Times
and one to the Los Angeles
Times.
Press release style. Your nuts
will
be bicoastal. Understood? The
people you're after are everyone you
depend on.
(more)
TYLER (cont)
We do your laundry, cook your food
and serve you dinner. We guard
you
while you sleep. We drive your
ambulances. Do not fuck with us.
Ricky
makes a dramatic cut with the knife, causing Jacobs to
JUMP --
Ricky holds up the severed RUBBER BAND.
EXT. HOTEL
- LATER
Jack,
Tyler and the others file quickly out the back SERVICE
ENTRANCE. Tyler gives Angel Face
a hearty slap on the back.
Angel Face
smiles at Tyler, nods, grinning.
Jack sees
this, his eyes narrowing, stops walking.
INT.
TAVERN BASEMENT - NIGHT
Fight club
in full swing. Jack battles Angel Face,
BEATING
the shit
out of him with unprecedented viciousness.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I felt like putting a bullet between
the eyes of every Panda that wouldn't
screw to save its species.
The crowd
shouts maniacally, save Tyler, who watches with an
inscrutable stone face.
Angel Face
tries to speak, but Jack POUNDS too hard.
Blood
flies. The crowd begins to grow
QUIETER.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I wanted to open the dump valves on
oil tankers and smother all the
French beaches I'd never see.
Finally,
Angel Face lies still, unconscious.
Jack stops,
stares
down, numb. Jack walks away -- the
crowd parts to
let him
pass. Jack scans faces... finds Tyler.
TYLER
Where did you go, Psycho-Boy?
JACK
I felt like destroying something
beautiful.
EXT. STREET NEAR LOU'S TAVERN - LATER
RAINING. Tyler and Jack walk
through pools of streetlight.
A idling
car HONKS. Tyler leads Jack toward
it. A bruised-
faced
VALET PARKER thrown keys to Tyler, but Jack intercepts.
VALET
There you are, Mr. Durden.
Airport
parking, long term.
JACK
(motions to car)
After you, Mr. Durden...
TYLER
No... after you.
INT.
STOLEN CAR
Tyler gets
in the driver's seat. Jack gets into
the front
passenger
seat. Ricky and the mechanic are in
back.
EXT.
STREET
Tyler
pulls the stolen car away from the curb.
It has two
bumperstickers: "RECYCLE YOUR ANIMALS" and "MAKE MINE
VEAL."
INT.
STOLEN CAR - MOVING - LATER
RAIN
GUSHES down. Jack stews, silent. The car moves down
a HIGHWAY,
intermittently illuminated by oncoming headlights.
TYLER
Something on your mind?
JACK
No.
Tyler
shrugs; turns on the RADIO, ignores Jack.
JACK
Why wasn't I told about "Project
Mayhem?"
TYLER
What should I have told you?
JACK
Why wasn't I involved from the
beginning? You and I started
fight
club together.
TYLER
Fight club was the beginning.
Now
it's out of the basements and there's a
name for it -- Project Mayhem.
RICKY AND MECHANIC
(together)
The first rule of Project Mayhem is
you do not ask questions.
JACK
This is as much mine as yours.
TYLER
Is this a needlepoint
club? Is it
about you and me?
JACK
You know what I mean.
TYLER
What do you want? A statement of
purpose... ?
JACK
Look...
TYLER
Should I E-mail you? Should I
put
this on your "action item list?"
JACK
I want to know --
TYLER
What do you want to know about
Project Mayhem?
RICKY AND MECHANIC
(together)
The first rule of Project Mayhem --
JACK
(to Ricky and Mechanic)
Shut up!!
(to Tyler)
I want to know what's going on.
Tyler
steers the car into the opposite lane, accelerates...
Opposing
HEADLIGHTS get closer fast...
TYLER
This does not belong to us. We
are
not the leaders. We are not
special.
JACK
What are you doing?!
TYLER
We are the all-singing, all-dancing
crap of the world. We are all
part
of the same compost heap...
JACK
Tyler...
Tyler
steers back into the proper lane. The
other CAR flies
past, HORN
SOUNDING...
JACK
What the hell ... ?!
TYLER
You choose your level of involvement.
I won't make decisions for you.
JACK
I'm not asking you to.
TYLER
You're asking questions that don't
have answers. You know just as much
about Project Mayhem as anybody else.
JACK
I don't think that's true.
Tyler
again steers into the oncoming lane, speeding up.
Through
the windshield: oncoming headlights -- a TRUCK.
JACK
Tyler... what is this... !
Jack
fights to turn the wheel, but Tyler uses
both hands.
TYLER
What will you wish you'd done before
you died?
RICKY
Paint a self-portrait.
MECHANIC
Build a house.
TYLER
(to Jack)
And you?
JACK
I don't know! Nothing!
TYLER
If you died right now, how would you
feel about your life?
JACK
I would feel nothing about my life?
Is that what you want to hear?!
The
oncoming truck HONKS and FLASHES its LIGHTS.
It moves
to the
other side of the road. Tyler steers
there, too.
TYLER
I want to hear the truth.
JACK
Fuck my life. Fuck fight
club. Fuck
you and fuck Marla. I'm sick of
all your shit.
TYLER
OK, OK
JACK
Quick screwing around
take the weel.
TYLER
Look at you
JACK
Take the weel
TYLER
Look at you.
You're a fucking pathetic.
JACK
Why? Why?
What are you talking about?
TYLER
Why do you think I blew up
your condo?
JACK
What?
TYLER
Hitting bottom isn't a weekend
retreat! It's not a
seminar! You
have to forget everything you know,
everything you think you know --
about life, about friendship, about
you and me.
Nearing
impact with the oncoming truck, Tyler takes his
hands off
the wheel -- Jack keeps his grip, turns the
wheel...
the car swerves...
The truck
ROARS past, spraying water, HORN BLASTING.
Tyler
looks at Jack, his hands in the air.
Jack looks at
Tyler with
dead eyes.
Stop trying to control
everything
Just let go
Let go
JACK
Okay, okay... fine...
Jack takes
his hands off the wheel, holds them in the air.
Tyler
studies Jack face, impressed. Tyler makes
no move to
take the
wheel.
THROUGH
THR WINDSHIELD: a STALLED CAR ahead on the side of
the road,
surrounded by flares.
Jack and
Tyler's eyes stay locked as the car drifts onto the
shoulder... heading for the stalled car. Their faces are
illuminated by the light of the flares.
Tyler smiles.
They SMASH
into the stalled car -- AIRBAGS INFLATE!
The
back of
their car whips around and carries it into a ass-
over-tea-kettle ROLL down a hill...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I'd never been in a car accident.
This must've been what all those
statistics felt like before I filed
them into my reports.
The car
finally hits the bottom, lying on its roof.
EXT.
OVERTURNED CAR
Tyler
crawls from the passenger side. He
walks around...
opens the
driver's side door and drags Jack out into the
mud. Ricky and the Mechanic climb out the broken
rear
window. Tyler sits beside the
stunned, wounded Jack.
TYLER
We just had a near-life experience.
INT.
JACK'S BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT
Jack lies
in bed, traumatized, eyes empty, staring at the
ceiling. Tyler sits in a nearby
chair.
TYLER
In the world I see -- you're stalking
elk through the damp canyon forests
around the ruins of Rockefeller
Center. You will wear leather
clothes that last you the rest of
your life. You will climb the
wrist-
thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears
Tower. You will see tiny figures
pounding corn and laying-strips of
venison on the empty car pool lane of
the ruins of a superhighway.
Tyler
stands, gives Jack's head a pat.
TYLER
(leaving)
Feel better, champ.
INT.
KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER
Jack sits
at the table, sips coffee. He's pale,
dazed,
seems
broken. He hears the faint SOUND of
SAWING and
HAMMERING,
unsure of where it's coming from.
Marla
walks into the kitchen and goes straight to the
counter. Her back is to Jack as
he looks at her. She pours
ccffee and
lights a cigarette. A beat of silence,
then:
MARLA
I'll be out of your way in a sec.
She seems
to be as weak as Jack.
JACK
You... don't have to... leave.
MARLA
Whatever.
JACK
Really... I mean it.
(pause)
Have you been going to your groups?
MARLA
Chloe's dead.
JACK
When?
MARLA
Do you care?
JACK
I don't know.
MARLA
It was the smart move on her part.
Marla
turns to face Jack, a grim expression on her face.
There's a
BRUISE on her ARM. Jack gets up, moves
closer.
JACK
Why are we both... caught up like
this... with... ?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I came so close to saying Tyler's
name, I could feel it vibrate
inside
my mouth.
Marla
looks a him, waiting.
JACK
I don't understand. Why does a
weak
person have to go out and find a
strong person... to hang onto?
MARLA
What do you get out of it?
Faint
SOUND of SAWING and HAMMERING. Jack
can't quite
figure
where it's coming from.
JACK
You hear that?
MARLA
Hear what?
JACK
That... sawing and hammering.
MARLA
Have we been talking too long?
Must
we change the subject?
Jack turns
-- through the crack of the open basement door,
Tyler's
staring at Jack from the bottom of the stairs.
TYLER
(harsh whisper)
You're not talking about me, are
you?
Jack
reacts, turns back to Marla.
JACK
(to Marla and Tyler)
No.
MARLA
That day you came over to my place to
play doctor... what was going on
there?
TYLER
(still a whisper)
What are you talking about?
JACK
(to Marla and Tyler)
Nothing.
MARLA
Nothing? I don't think so.
TYLER
(whisper)
This conversation...
JACK
This conversation...
TYLER
... is over.
JACK
... is over.
Marla
comes to touch Jack's hair. Jack closes
the basement
door. Marla sees the kiss-scar on Jack's hand,
grabs his
hand. Jack tries to pull it back, but Marla keeps
a grip.
MARLA
What is this? Who did this?
JACK
... A person.
MARLA
Guy or girl?
JACK
Why would you ask if it's a guy or a
girl?!
MARLA
Why would you get bent if I asked?
JACK
Let go of me...
(pulls his hand free)
Leave me alone.
MARLA
You're afraid to say.
Marla
backs away, closes her eyes, struggling with
frustration. She leaves out the
back door, not looking back.
Jack leans
against the wall. After a moment, he
opens the
basement
door, heads downstairs...
INT.
BASEMENT STAIRCASE
Tyler
walks upstairs, passing as Jack continues down...
INT.
BASEMENT - CONTINUOUS
Jack looks
around. TRIPLE-DECKER BUNKS clutter the
basement,
as many as can fit into the space.
JACK
(calling upstairs)
Tyler... ? What's this for?
From
upstairs, the SOUND of the DOORBELL.
INT.
LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Jack opens
the door. Ricky stands on the porch,
staring
ahead in
subordinate military style. He's in
black pants,
black
shirt, black shoes, holds a PAPER BAG, with an army
surplus
MATTRESS rolled-up at his feet.
JACK
Um... what can I do for you, Ricky?
Tyler
steps up beside Jack, looks Ricky over.
TYLER
You're too young. Sorry.
JACK
Wait a minute...
Tyler
comes back inside, shuts the door.
JACK
"Too young?"
TYLER
If the applicant is young, we tell
him he's too young. Old, too
old.
Fat, too fat.
JACK
"Applicant?"
TYLER
If the applicant waits at the door
for three days without food, shelter
or encouragement, then he can enter
and begin training.
JACK
"Training?" Tyler...
EXT. PORCH
- MOMENTS LATER
Jack comes
out, walks around Ricky, hands in his pockets,
unsure. Tyler watches, nods for
Jack to go ahead.
JACK
Uh, look. You're too... young to...
train here. You should probably
be
on you way.
No
response from Ricky, who remains at attention.
Jack goes
back
inside. Tyler closes the door.
EXT. PORCH
- NIGHT
Ricky
remains at attention. Jack bursts out
with a BROOM,
knocks the
brown bag out of Ricky's hand, kicks it away.
JACK
Are you deaf?! I told you to
leave!
You will never get inside this house!
EXT. PORCH
- MORNING
Ricky's
still there. Tyler comes out, friendly.
TYLER
Look, friend, I'm sorry for the
misunderstanding. It's not the
end
of the world. Just go away. You're
trespassing and I will call the
police. Nothing personal.
EXT. PORCH
- NIGHT
Ricky,
same spot. Jack bursts outside with the
broom again.
JACK
You're never getting through this
door, you stupid little weasel!
Look
at me when I talk to you... !
He WHACKS
Ricky in the shoulder with the broom.
JACK
What is your major malfunction!?
INT.
JACK'S ROOM - CONTINUOUS
At the
window, Tyler sips coffee, watches this scene on the
PORCH
below.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Sooner or later, we all became what
Tyler wanted us to be.
EXT. PORCH
- MORNING
Ricky's
there. Bob is now next to him, in
black, with a
paper bag
in hand, mattress at his feet. Tyler
steps out.
Jack stays
in the doorway, locking eyes on Bob. To
all the
following
questions, Ricky answers "Sir!" --
TYLER
You have two black shirts? Two
pair
black trousers? One pair black
boots? Two pair black
socks? One
black coat? Three hundred
dollars
personal burial money? Go
inside.
Ricky goes
in. Tyler turns to Bob.
TYLER
You're too old. Sorry. And, you're
too fat. Nice seeing you.
Bob looks
genuinely hurt. He picks up his
mattress and
starts
away. Tyler looks at Jack and rolls his
eyes. Jack
follows
Bob...
JACK
Bob... Bob, wait...
(leading Bob back)
Let me explain this to you...
EXT. PORCH
-- NIGHT
CRICKETS
CHIRP. Bob stands at at rigid
attention.
INT. 2ND
FLOOR LANDING - NIGHT
Tyler and
Jack stand in bathroom doorway, watching Ricky
finish
SHAVING off all of his HAIR. Tyler
comes to give the
top of
Ricky's head a sharp SLAP.
TYLER
A monkey, ready to be shot into
space. A Space Monkey, ready to
sacrifice himself for Project Mayhem.
From here
on, all those with shaved heads: "SPACE MONKEYS."
EXT. PORCH
- DAY
Jack looks
out the window. Bob stands
motionless. There's
another
"applicant," a SHORT GUY, beside Bob. Ricky comes
out the
front door with the BROOM...
RICKY
(to Bob)
You're too fucking old, fatty!
We
don't want your kind here!
(to short guy)
You're too short. Go away, stumpy!
Go back to the circus!
Ricky HITS
them with the broom, then goes in, SLAMS THE DOOR.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
So it went...
EXT.
BACKYARD - DAY
Tyler
works with a HALF DOZEN SPACE MONKEYS, preparing the
square of
backyard. They pull weeds, clear rocks;
working
with
shovels, rakes, etc. They cart away
WHEELBARROWS of
rocks and
carry in SACKS of FERTILIZER.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Tyler built his army.
IN THE
KITCHEN WINDOW, Jack watches...
INT.
KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
Jack keeps
watching out the window, eats toast.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
To what purpose, might one ask?
Well, one might ask, if not for the
first rule of Project Mayhem.
Jack turns
to look around the kitchen. THREE SPACE
MONKEYS
work --
one SCRUBBING the FLOOR, one WASHING DISHES, one
SCRUBBING
the walls. Jack walks out.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
In Tyler We Trust.
INT.
JACK'S ROOM - DAY
Jack opens
his eyes, awakening to sunlight thru the window.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
And, then...
INT.
UPSTAIRS LANDING - DAY
Jack
slowly pushes open the door to Tyler's room...
JACK
Tyler...
The room
is empty. Jack stares.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
He was gone.
INT.
LIVING ROOM - DAY
Jack comes
downstairs... finds DOZENS of SPACE MONKEYS.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
Jack
enters. Space Monkeys render fat and
make soap. They
pinch
HERBS, adding them to the mix. They add
VODKA. Off
to the
side, a couple Monkeys stir a vat of RICE.
On the
wall is a
big bulletin board with HUNDREDS of DRIVER's
LICENSES;
a sign above it: "HUMAN SACRIFICES."
FRECKLED SPACE MONKEY
"You are not a beautiful and unique
snowflake. You are the same
decaying
organic matter as everything else.
We are all part of the same compost
heap."
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Planet Tyler.
Jack dips
a spoon into the rice, chomps on it irritatingly.
FRECKLED SPACE MONKEY
"We are the all-singing, all-dancing
crap of the world."
Jack picks
up a BOTTLE of VODKA.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I had to hug the walls, trapped
inside this clockwork of Space
Monkeys, cooking and working and
sleeping in teams.
INT.
READING ROOM - NIGHT
Jack
enters, vodka in hand. TEN SPACE
MONKEYS here, reading.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
The house became a living thing,
wet
inside from so many people sweating
and breathing. So many people
moving, the house moved.
Jack walks
out.
INT.
OFFICE - DAY
Jack
enters. Angel Face reads a book, marks
on a chart.
Space
Monkeys shuffle PAPERS and NEWS CLIPPINGS.
Walls are
lined with
FILES, each labeled with a STREET ADDRESS, under
SIGNS:
"Mischief," "Disinformation," "Arson."
Jack's eye
lingers on "Arson." He starts flipping through
a
file. Angel Face comes to take the file
from him.
ANGEL FACE
That wouldn't interest you.
JACK
Where's Tyler?
ANGEL FACE
The first rule of Project --
JACK
Right, right.
As Angel
Face replaces the file, Jack notices -- a LYE-
BURNED
KISS-SCAR on the back of Angel Face's hand.
EXT. BACK
YARD - NIGHT
Jack takes
a swig of vodka, smokes. In the
BACKGROUND, a
Space
Monkey WHACKS an APPLICANT with a BROOM.
It's a
ritual; no
words. Other Space Monkeys tend the
garden.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I'm all alone. I Am Jack's
Broken
Heart.
Jack drops
his cigarette in the gravel, steps on it.
A
Space
Monkey immediately comes to clean it up.
JACK
Get away from me!
MARLA'S VOICE (O.S.)
Who are all these people?
Jack
turns, sees Marla with an overnight bag.
JACK
The Paper Street Soap Company.
MARLA
Can I come in?
JACK
He's not here.
MARLA
What?
JACK
He's not here! Tyler's not here
anymore! He's gone away!
Marla
stares at Jack, miserable. A tear runs
down her
cheek. She turns and walks
away. Jack watches her go.
There's a
LOUD COMMOTION from the house, VOICES SHOUTING.
Jack heads
to the back door...
INT.
KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
Jack
enters. Ricky crawls, bleeding from a
gunshot wound to
the
LEG. Space Monkeys begin a rudimentary
job of treating
the
wound. Other Space Monkeys carry in a
DEAD BODY in
BLACK
CLOTHES and SKI MASK, putting it on the table.
JACK
What's going on?
Space
Monkeys stare at the body. The
Mechanic, sweating,
gets to
his knees and pulls the ski mask off the corpse --
it's BOB,
with a gunshot wound to the HEAD.
JACK
Bob... oh, Christ...
Jack
pushes past a Space Monkey, stares down, stricken...
JACK
What... what happened... ?
MECHANIC
(out of breath)
We were on assignment...
EXT.
SCULPTURE PARK - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
A
SCULPTURE adorned with a giant GLOBE on top.
MECHANIC (V.O.)
We were supposed to kill two
birds
with one stone:
A SERIES
of EXPLOSIONS blasts the GLOBE free. It
ROLLS...
MECHANIC (V.O.)
A piece of corporate art...
The GLOBE
ROLLS downhill, to the street -- rolling over one
parked
LUXURY CAR after another, crunching car roofs and
causing
windows to explode...
MECHANIC (V.O.)
... and trash a trendy coffee bar.
Then, the
GLOBE arrives at the lobby of a HOTEL...
BROADSIDES
a limo, RICOCHETS... ROLLS directly into the
front of a
closed ARROSTO coffee bar, SMASHING windows...
DECIMATING
coffee push-pats...
EXT. PARK
- AERIAL VIEW - (FLASHBACK CONTINUOUS)
Bob, the
Mechanic and Ricky FLEE, LAUGHING at their
handiwork. They split up,
running O.S.
MECHANIC (V.O.)
We had it all worked out, man.
It
went smooth... until...
HARSH VOICE
Police! Freeze!
O.S.
SOUNDS of GUNSHOTS and FLASHES of MUZZLE FIRE.
INT.
KITCHEN - NIGHT - (RESUMING)
The
Mechanic looks up from Bob's corpse.
MECHANIC
They shot Bob... they shot him in the
head. Those fuckers...
Jack walks
away from Bob's corpse, distraught, holds his
head,
turns to look back, his eyes filling with tears.
ANOTHER SPACE MONKEY
We gotta do something.
RICKY
We got to get rid of the evidence.
We have to get rid of this body.
ANGEL FACE
Bury him...
Jack looks around in disbelief.
JACK
What... ?
ANGEL FACE
The garden. Take him there. Move,
people. Let's do this!
Several
Space Monkeys gather around Bob's body.
JACK
No... !
Space
Monkeys stop. Jack gets between them
and Bob, SHOVES
a few
Space Monkeys back...
JACK
Get your hands off him! Get
off...!
What the hell do you think you're
doing... ? Evidence?! This is a
man... ! You killed him!
ANGEL FACE
He was killed in action.
JACK
No! Look at you! You're... you're
running around in ski masks,
exploding things...
ANGEL FACE
He was killed serving Project Mayhem.
RICKY
It's what he would have wanted, sir.
JACK
What he wanted? Look... look at
him.
Look at him! What does he want?
(wipes tears,
points at Bob)
This is a person. This is not a
cog
in your machine...
RICKY
But, this is Project Mayhem.
JACK
No, no. This is a man -- this
man
has a name...
RICKY
But, in Project Mayhem, we have no
names.
JACK
No! Wrong! This man's name is
Robert Paulson.
RICKY
Robert Paulson?
JACK
Robert Paulson is dead. He's
dead,
because of you...
MECHANIC
I understand.
Everyone
just stares at Jack.
MECHANIC
In death, a member of Project Mayhem
has a name.
JACK
No -- !
MECHANIC
His name is Robert Paulson.
RICKY
His name is Robert Paulson!
JACK
No!
ALL SPACE MONKEYS
His name is Robert Paulson!
JACK
Stop that -- !
ALL SPACE MONKEYS
(louder)
His name is Robert Paulson! His
name
is Robert Paulson...
Jack backs
away, surrounded, PUSHES his way out of the room.
INT.
TYLER'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Jack
barges in, goes to the desk, rifling through drawers.
He finds
FLIGHT COUPONS, used and unused. The
used coupons.
have the
flight information, including the destination
cities. The PHONE RINGS. Jack answers it...
JACK
Tyler?
DETECTIVE STERN'S VOICE
(from phone)
This is Detective Stern of the arson
unit. I'd like to see you in my
office tomorrow morning...
Jack, in a
panic, HANGS UP.
INSERT - AN
AIRPLANE TAKES OFF...
INT. PLANE
CABIN - DAY
Jack sits
stiffly in a seat.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I went to the cities on Tyler's used
tickets stubs.
INSERT - A
SIGN: "LA GUARDIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT"
EXT.
AIRPORT - NIGHT
Jack
hurries from the terminal, runs to a TAXI ...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
In every city, I branched out from
the airport to downtown, bar-
hopping...
INT. TAXI
- IN MOTION, MID-CITY - NIGHT
Jack's
looks out the window, intently watching buildings.
JACK (V.0.)
I didn't know how or why, but I could
look at fifty different bars,
and
somehow I just knew...
JACK
(to driver, points)
Here. Let me out, right here...
INT. BAR -
NIGHT
Jack
enters. He sees several MALE PATRONS
with FIGHT
BRUISES. Jack moves to the
bar. The BARTENDER has a broken
arm and
swollen face.
JACK
I'm looking for Tyler Durden.
BARTENDER
Never heard of him.
JACK
This is an emergency. It's
important
I find him.
BARTENDER
I wish I could help you... sir.
The
bartender WINKS at Jack.
INSERT -
AERIAL VIEW - ATLANTA SKYLINE - NIGHT
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Every city I went to...
INSERT -
AERIAL VIEW - CHICAGO SKYLINE - DAY
JACK (V.0.)
...as soon as I set foot off the
plane...
INSERT -
AERIAL VIEW - DALLAS SKYLINE - NIGHT
JACK (V.).)
...I knew fight club was close.
INT.
AIRPORT TERMINAL - NIGHT
Jack RUNS through the airport, lugging his
suitcase.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Tyler was setting up franchises, all
over the country.
INT. DRY
CLEANERS - DAY
The
PROPRIETOR, his head bandaged, is confronted by Jack.
JACK
I need to know where Tyler is.
Can't
you help me?
BANDAGED PROPRIETOR
Sir, you're disturbing the other
patrons with your laudish
behavior.
JACK
(pointing)
There's no one else here.
BANDAGED PROPRIETOR
I'm sorry, I haven't the faintest
idea what you're talking about.
JACK
Look at my face. I'm a
member. I
just need to know if you've seen
Tyler Durden.
BANDAGED PROPRIETOR
I'm not disclosed to bespeak any such
information to you, nor would I, even
if I had said information you want,
at this juncture be able.
Jack looks
around, incredibly frustrated.
JACK
You are a moron.
BANDAGED PROPRIETOR
I'm afraid I have to insist you leave.
Jack gives
up, shoves his way out the door.
INT. CITY
BUS - DAY
Jack sits
on the bus, looking out the window. The
bus stops.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Under and behind and inside
everything I took for granted,
something horrible had been growing.
OUT THE
WINDOW, a CONSTRUCTION WORKER with a BROKEN NOSE
works a
jackhammer. He stops, wipes his brow.
INT.
SPORTS BAR - DAY
TVs show
football. Jack is seated with TWO
BRUISED PATRONS.
BRUISED PATRON #1
No one's ever seen him. No one
knows
what he looks like.
BRUISED PATRON #2
He has facial reconstructive surgery
every three years.
JACK
That's the stupidest thing I've ever
heard.
BRUISED PATRON #1
Is it true about fight club in Miami?
BRUISED PATRON 12
Is Mr. Durden building an army?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Am I asleep... ?
INT.
AIRPLANE - NIGHT
Jack sits
awake. Everyone around him is asleep.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Have I slept? I'm not sure if
Tyler
is my bad dream or if I'm Tyler's.
EXT.
MID-TOWN STREETS - DAY
Jack steps
off the sidewalk, hailing a TAXI...
EXT. CITY
ALLEY - DAY
The
alleyway's deserted. Jack heaft to
rusty CELLAR DOORS.
He opens
the doors, looks around, heads down stairs...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I was living in a state of perpetual
deja vu.
INT. DANK BASEMENT
- CONTINUOUS
Jack
enters this dark basement, walks ahead in the dim
light. The place is damp and
empty. Jack stops, looks down.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Everywhere I went, I felt I had
already been there.
At his
feet -- DRIED BLOOD on the concrete floor.
INSERT -
AERIAL VIEW - PHOENIX SKYLINE - DAY
INT.
ANOTHER BAR - DAY
Jack walks
in. The place is empty. He walks to a KITCHEN
DOOR,
opens it and peers in at... a GROUP of KITCHEN WORKERS
solemnly
stand in a circle, chanting...
KITCHEN WORKERS
His name is Robert Paulson. His
name
is Robert Paulson...
MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)
(from behind Jack)
Welcome back, sir.
Jack
whirls, startled -- facing the wounded BARTENDER, who
wears a
NECK BRACE, his nose a smashed eggplant.
WOUNDED BARTENDER
How have you been?
JACK
... You know me?
WOUNDED BARTENDER
Is this a test, sir?
JACK
Yes... it's a test.
WOUNDED BARTENDER
You were in here last Thursday night.
JACK
What?
WOUNDED BARTENDER
You were standing right where you are
now, asking how good our security is.
It's tight as a drum.
JACK
Who do you think I am?
WOUNDED BARTENDER
Is this part of the test?
Jack nods
slowly. The Bartender holds up his
hand, shows
the KISS
SCAR on the back of his hand...
WOUNDED BARTENDER
You're the one who did this to me.
You're Mr. Durden, sir. Tyler
Durden.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Please return your seatbacks to their
full upright and locked position.
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - NIGHT
Jack
bursts inside, out of breath, runs to grab the phone,
punches a
number, doesn't bother to turn on the lamp.
INTERCUT
WITH...
INT.
MARLA'S ROOM - SAME
Marla
answers.
MARLA
Yeah?
JACK
Marla, it's me. Have we... have
we
ever had sex?
MARLA
What kind of stupid question is
that?!
JACK
Because the answer's "yes" or because
the answer's "no?"
MARLA
Is this a trick?
JACK
Will you just answer me, for
Christsake?!
MARLA
You mean, you want to know if I think
we were just having sex or making
love?
JACK
We did make love?
MARLA
Is that what you're calling it?
JACK
Answer the question!
MARLA
You fuck me, then snub me. You
love
me, you hate me. You show me
your
sensitive side, then you turn into a
total asshole! Is that a pretty
accurate description of our
relationship, Tyler?
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
We've just lost cabin pressure.
JACK
What did you say... ?
MARLA
What is wrong with you?
JACK
Say my name.
MARLA
What... ?
JACK
Say my name! What's my name!?
MARLA
Tyler Durden! Tyler Durden, you
fucking freak. What's going
on? I'm
coming over there...
JACK
Marla, no, wait...
As Marla
HANGS UP. Jack stares at the receiver,
dazed...
TYLER'S VOICE
We've got six fight clubs in Chicago
now...
Jack
spins, dropping the phone -- TYLER sits beside him.
TYLER
Four in Milwaukee.
JACK
What's this all about, Tyler?
TYLER
And, we're definitely filling a void
in the rural South.
JACK
Why do people think I'm you?
TYLER
You broke your promise. You
talked
to her about me.
JACK
Why do people think I'm Tyler Durden?
TYLER
Why did you do that?
JACK
Answer me, Tyler.
TYLER
Why do people think anything?
JACK
I don't know! Tell me!
Tyler shakes his head in disgust, extremely
irritated.
TYLER
People think that you're me, because
you and I happen to share the same
body.
JACK
What... ?
TYLER
Is this really news to you?
JACK
What are you talking about... ?
TYLER
Sometimes I control it, and you
imagine yourself watching me...
FLASHBACK
- HALLWAY - NIGHT
Commissioner Jacobs checks his tie in a mirror, goes to open
the door
of the MEN'S BATHROOM -- face to face with JACK.
FLASHBACK
- LOU'S BAR BASEMENT - NIGHT
JACK
stands surrounded by eager fight club MEMBERS, under
the bare
bulb, talking and behaving like Tyler...
JACK
The first rule of fight club is --
you don't talk about fight club.
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - RESUMING
TYLER
And, sometimes you control it...
FLASHBACK
- EXT. PAPER STREET HOUSE - DAY
Jack
stands in the yard, VODKA in hand, yells at Marla.
JACK
He's not here! Tyler's not here
anymore! He's gone away!
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - RESUMING
TYLER
You can see me and hear me, but no
one else can...
FLASHBACK
- CURBSIDE - NIGHT
JACK sits
alone on the curb, watching the nearby freeway.
He talks
to someone beside him, but nobody's there.
JACK
Anyone?
(thinks)
My boss, probably.
(pause)
Who would you fight?
Jack
listens, looks at the empty space beside him.
JACK
Oh, yeah.
(nodding)
I didn't really know my Dad...
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - RESUMING
TYLER
But, when you fall asleep, I do
things without you...
FLASHBACK
- TYLER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JACK is on
top of Marla, sweating, making violent love...
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - RESUMING
TYLER
I go places without you. Get
things
done...
FLASHBACK
- BUILDING - NIGHT
The Parker Morris Building.
JACK, Bob,
Ricky, Angel Face and another GUY rappel down the
side,
SPRAYING PAINT. JACK is
"TYLER" in demeanor,
mannerisms, speech...
JACK
(shouting)
You are not your job. You are not
how much money you have in the bank.
TWO
WINDOWS SHATTER OUTWARD -- TWO MEN look out and yell:
BRUISED MAN #1
I am not my job!
BRUISED MAN #2
I am not how much money I have in the
bank!
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - RESUMING
Jack's
having trouble catching his breath.
Tyler stands.
TYLER
There!
Happy? I asked for one thing
from you... one simple promise.
Now
look what you've done!
JACK
This isn't possible...
TYLER
We're going to have to do something
about Marla...
JACK
What... what are you saying?
TYLER
It's okay. We okay... a little
codependent, sure, but...
Jack
shakes his head in disbelief, in denial...
JACK
No! This isn't true. We... we were
around other people, together, both
of us...
TYLER
You never talked to me in front of
anyone else.
JACK
Wrong, wrong -- what about the car
crash... the two guys in the backseat?
TYLER
What about them? They're
lunatics.
JACK
You took me to the house.
TYLER
The house is rented in your name.
JACK
You have jobs.
TYLER
Night jobs -- while you were sleeping.
JACK
What about Marla?
TYLER
What about Marla?
JACK
She's... you... you're fucking her.
TYLER
Um, well... technically, no.
Jack
stands, trying to absorb, feeling ill, trying to find
words,
then -- he suddenly FAINTS to the floor, OUT COLD.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
It's called a "changeover."
The
movie goes on, and nobody in the
audience has any idea.
INT. HOTEL
ROOM - PRE-DAWN
Jack's
eyes snap open. He sits up, alone. He remembers the
previous
night... looks at himself in the mirror... looks at
the clock
-- 4:35am.
INT.
HALLWAY
The room
door SLAMS OPEN as Jack bursts out of the room,
carrying
his suitcase, SPRINTING for the STAIRWELL...
INT.
STAIRWELL
Jack races
down, three steps at a time, dragging his
suitcase -
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM - behind him...
INT. LOBBY
Jack
hurries to the front door, his suitcase half-broken
open,
passing the front desk. A DESK CLERK
calls after him.
DESK CLERK
Sir... sir? Are you checking
out?
JACK
Yes.
The clerk
follows the length of the counter, waves a PAPER.
DESK CLERK
Please initial this list of phone
calls.
JACK
Bill me!
Jack goes
out the door, freezes. He rushes back
in, going
to the
desk -- snatches the bill, studies it: many NUMBERS.
JACK
Wait...when were these made?
DESK CLERK
It says right there, sir...
between
two and three-thirty this morning.
Jack looks
at the clerk, at the bill, at the clerk.
JACK
I need a copy of this.
INT.
AIRPLANE CABIN - IN FLIGHT - DAY
Jack
stares out the window, his face set hard.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Had I been going to bed earlier every
night? Have I been sleeping
later?
Has Tyler been in charge longer and
longer?
EXT. PAPER
STREET - DAY
A TAXI
halts. Jack leaps out, points to the
GRUNGY CABBIE.
JACK
Wait here.
INT. PAPER
ST. HOUSE, LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER
Jack walks
in to find the place EMPTY and DESERTED.
He
continues
on into the KITCHEN, gawks at BATHTUBS and
CANISTERS
holding vast amounts of liquid. There
are HOSES,
GAS MASKS,
BEAKERS, TEST TUBES and PUMPS.
He picks
up a BOTTLE labeled "NITRIC ACID."
INT.
TYLER'S ROOM
Jack sits
by the PHONE, pulls out the HOTEL BILL, runs his
finger up
and down the list of PHONE NUMBERS...
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
Deja vu, all over again...
Jack
finger stops on a NUMBER. He dials,
phone to his ear.
VOICE
(from phone)
Eighteen-eighty-eight.
Jack sees
a file on the wall: "1888 CENTURY PARK EAST."
JACK
Who is this?
VOICE
Maintenance.
JACK
Listen, something is going to happen,
something terrible...
VOICE
Very good, Sir.
JACK
Excuse me?
VOICE
Don't worry about us, sir. We're
solid.
JACK
Now wait, there's been a mix-up.
Everything's changed...
VOICE
You told me you'd say that.
JACK
Abort the plan.
VOICE
You told me you'd say that, too.
JACK
Did I tell you I'd call you a fascist
dickhead?!
VOICE
Well, sir, you said you might.
Jack HANGS
UP, desperately dials the next number on the bill.
DIFFERENT VOICE
(front phone)
Twenty-one-sixty. Maintenance.
Jack sees
a file: "2160 PICO BOULEVARD."
He throws the
phone,
pocketing the bill. He grabs up all the
FILES.
EXT.
MARLA'S HOTEL - SUNSET
Jack's
TAXI halts. Marla walks out of the
lobby doors, sees
Jack
getting out of the cab, laden with files...
JACK
Marla!
Marla
makes a sharp turn, walking away. Jack
follows,
hugging
the files to his chest, catching up.
JACK
Marla...
MARLA
Your whacked-out, bald freaks hit me
with a fucking broom. I thought
they
were going to break my arm.
JACK
I'm sorry, I...
MARLA
The were burning their fingertips
with lye. The stink was
unbelievable.
JACK
Marla... I need to talk to you.
It's
going to take a tremendous act
of
faith on your part for you to hear me
out.
MARLA
Here comes an avalanche of bullshit.
Marla
heads into a DINER. Jack follows...
JACK
-- A little more faith than that.
INT. DINER
- MOMENTS LATER
Marla sits
in a BOOTH. Jack sits across from her.
MARLA
I don't want to hear anything you've
got to say.
JACK
Give me a minute, Marla, alright...
just sixty seconds.
MARLA
Sixty seconds, then I'm out of here.
JACK
Absolutely, you have every right.
I
need you to do me a favor.
MARLA
I've done you enough favors.
A WAITER
with a BLACK EYE appears at the table.
WAITER
Sir! Anything you order is free
of
charge, sir.
MARLA
Why is it free of charge?
JACK
Because... I'm Tyler Durden.
MARLA
Then, I'll have the clam chowder...
fried chicken and a baked potato with
everything and a chocolate chiffon
pie.
Jack look
to the pass-through WINDOW into the kitchen where
THREE
COOKS look out with STITCHES in their faces.
JACK
Clean food, please.
WAITER
In that case, sir, may I advise
against the lady eating the clam
chowder?
JACK
Thanks, no clam chowder. That's
it.
The waiter
snaps to attention and leaves.
MARLA
You got about thirty seconds.
JACK
(takes a deep breath)
I know that I've been... unwell.
I
know it's been like there's two sides
to me.
MARLA
Two sides? You're Dr. Jeckle and
Mr.
Jackass.
JACK
I deserve that. Anyway, I've...
I've
only just realized
MARLA
What?
JACK
I mean, the depth and breadth of our
relationship has only recently been
illuminated for me. I know
this...
I know us hasn't been such a
great
thing for you...
MARLA
Whatever.
(to waiter)
I'll take my food to go...
Marla's
getting up to go, but Jack rises, fed up, takes her
by the
arm, putting her back in her seat.
JACK
Sit down! Sit down and give me
my
last fifteen seconds without opening
your mouth!
Marla crosses her arms. Jack collects himself.
JACK
I'm trying to tell you -- and this is
where you have to trust me -- but, I
think your life might be in real
danger.
MARLA
What?
JACK
You have to get out of here.
Leave
as soon as possible. Go to any
rural
town, away from any major city...
MARLA
You are an insane person.
JACK
Marla...
MARLA
No, no, shut up! I've had
enough.
I tried, Tyler... I have tried...
Marla's
getting upset, tears coming to her eyes.
MARLA
There's a part of you I really like,
but I can't do this anymore. I
just
can't. This is killing me...
JACK
I'm sorry, but I...
MARLA
What?! You're sorry? I don't
believe that for a minute.
Marla gets
up. Jack grabs for her, but she's gone,
heading
for the
door. Jack gathers his files, runs to
follow...
EXT. DINER
- MOMESTS LATER
Jack
pushes out the door, files under one arm, catching up...
JACK
I can't explain. You wouldn't
believe me anyway. I'm trying to
protect you...
Jack grabs
her arm, tries to hail a TAXI, but the taxi races
past. Marla pulls free, screaming at him...,
MARLA
Let go of me!
JACK
Do this for me, Marla. Do this
for
me, if you never do anything else...
Jack spots
a BUS idling further up the street.
MARLA
Leave me alone! I don't ever
want to
see you again!
JACK
Okay, if that's what it takes, you'll
never have to see me again.
(digs in his pocket)
Here... here...
He pulls
MONEY from his pocket, holding it out.
JACK
Take this money, get on this bus...
(pointing to bus)
Get on, and I promise you, I'll never
bother you again, if that's what you
want. Please...
Marla
looks at Jack, numb.
MARLA
Tyler...
JACK
I'm begging you. Get on the bus.
Get on the bus.
Marla
takes the money from Tyler, walks towards the bus. As
they
approach it, Jack shields his eyes, afraid to look...
MARLA
Why are you doing this?
JACK
I can't let myself see where you're
going. Go wherever it takes you,
remember... keep away from major
cities...
Marla
stands at the doors of the bus, heartbroken, gives one
last look
at Jack.
MARLA
(holds up the money)
I'm not paying this back. I
consider
it "asshole tax."
JACK
Yes, fine. Just, get on. Stay away
a couple of weeks, at least.
Jack's
still covering his eyes. Marla gets on
the bus.
MARLA
Tyler...
Jack
finally looks to her.
MARLA
You are the worst thing that ever
happened to me.
DOORS HISS
SHUT. The BUS LEAVES, heading
away. Jack seems
relieved. Then, a SCREAM is HEARD
from MARLA...
Jack
turns, looks... THROUGH THE BUS WINDOWS: the bus is
filled
with BALD MEN IN BLACK: Space Monkeys.
Jack
SPRINTS after the bus...
The bus
speeds away. Onboard, Space Monkeys
subdue Marla.
Jack falls
to the asphalt, rolls, files-flying.
JACK
Son of a bitch!
INT.
POLICE STATION - DAY
Jack RUNS
to the front desk, crazed, dumps the armload of
files on
the desk in front of the DESK SERGEANT...
JACK
(loudly)
I want you to arrest me. I'm the
leader of a terrorist organization
responsible for acts of vandalism all
over the city. Detective Stern
in
arson knows who I am...
INT.
INTERROGATION ROOM - LATER
Detective
Stern and THREE DETECTIVES stand, staring at Jack,
who's
seated. On the table are the phone bill
and files.
JACK
There are probably several hundred
members in the metropolitan area.
Chapters are sprouting in at least
five other major cities. They're
tightly-regimented, with many cells
capable of operating without a
central leader. Check this
address:
1537 Paper Street. You'll find
the
body of Robert Paulson buried in the
garden. You'll also find
numerous
tubs used to make gallons of
nitroglycerin. The plan, I
believe,
is to blow up these credit card
headquarters and the TRW building.
STERN
Why these buildings?
JACK
You are not your job. You are
not
how much money you have in the bank.
STERN
(to other detectives)
Keep him talking.
Stern
leaves. A beat, then, the remaining
Detectives smile
at Jack
with REVERENCE.
FLAT-TOP DETECTIVE
I really admire what you're doing.
You're a brave man to order this.
JACK
What?
REDHEAD DETECTIVE
You're a genius, sir.
They grab
Jack and force him on his back on the table.
Flat-Top
has a rubber band; the Bald Detective has a knife.
BALD DETECTIVE
You know the drill. You said if
anyone ever tries to interfere with
Project Mayhem, even you, we got to
get his balls.
Flat-Top
PULLS Jack's pants completely off, tosses them
aside. Jack SCREAMS. Flat-Top holds his legs.
FLAT-TOP
It's useless to fight.
REDHEAD
This is really a powerful gesture,
Mr. Durden. It'll set quite an
example.
JACK
No... you're making a mistake!
FLAT-TOP
You told us you'd say that.
JACK
I'm not Tyler Durden!
BALDY
You told us you'd say that, too.
JACK
Okay, I am Tyler Durden and I'm
ordering you to abort the mission!
FLAT-TOP
You said you would definitely say
that.
BALDY
What's our best time for a "cut and
run?"
FLAT-TOP
Four minutes.
BALDY
Is somebody timing this?
REDHEAD
(looks at his watch)
Wait till the second hand gets to the
twelve.
A KNOCK at
the door. Flat-Top slaps a hand over
Jack's
mouth. He and Redhead block view
of the table as Baldy
opens the
door a crack. Stern mutters:
STERN
Some of this info checks out.
Let's
go to the place on Paper Street.
Baldy
glances back at the other Detectives, leaves, closing
the
door. The two remaining Detectives continue. Jack kicks
and
screams and writhes. The Detectives
wrangle him, but
with more
difficulty, now that Baldy's gone.
REDHEAD
(checking his watch)
Mr. Durden, you're going to fuck up
the time!
Jack gets
one leg free, KICKS, knocks Flat-top backwards --
Flat-Top
SLAMS the wall, falls. Redhead lets go
of one of
Jack's
arms, jams his elbow into Jack's throat... cutting
off the
airway. Jack's face reddens... he's
choking...
Jack's
free hand reaches, searching.. pulls Redhead's GUN
and points
it at him. Redhead backs off. Jack gets
up,
gasping
for air, PISTOL-WHIPS Flat-top as he rises.
Jack grabs
one of the files off the table.
EXT.
POLICE STATION - DAY
Jack,
without pants, in BOXER SHORTS, escapes out the BACK
DOOR. He looks at the ADDRESS on the file folder.
EXT.
STREET
Jack
SPRINTS down the middle of the street, gun in hand,
looking
like a complete madman. Cars almost hit
him.
EXT. BANK
BUILDING - LATER
Jack,
sweating and panting, stops, looks... then heads
toward the
BUILDING with the address "1888."
EXT. 1888
LOBBY
Jack tries
the door. Locked. He lifts a cast iron bench,
runs
forward -- RAMS it into the glass. The
bench
immediately recoils from the glass, SLAMS Jack's groin!
Jack falls
to his knees, doubled over, holding his package.
Then, he
rises, SHOOTS the glass...
INT. 1888
LOBBY
Jack
pushes through the broken glass. He
sprints for the
"PARKING" door...
INT.
GROUND LEVEL - PARKING
Jack
enters, looks -- NO CARS. He bolts to
the STAIRS...
INT.
TOP-LEVEL PARKING AREA - SEVENTH FLOOR
Jack
enters, heaving. Again, NO CARS. He moves from one
SUPPORT
POST to another, searching. He finally
spies,
across the
garage, NINE LARGE CANISTERS, heavily-WIRED.
Jack runs
to the BOMB, frantic. He walks around
it.
There's a
DIGITAL CLOCK, ticking down from "10:05"...
Jack moves
to pull the lid off one CANISTER, looks inside..
TYLER
Could be worse...
Jack looks
-- Tyler's seated, his back against one post.
TYLER
You could be standing under 37
stories of steel and concrete with a
150 gallons of nitroglycerin strapped
to the support... oh, maybe it
couldn't be...
JACK
(points at bomb)
You... you can't be serious about
this.
TYLER
What a ridiculous thing to say.
JACK
I can't let you...
TYLER
...go through with this?
What are you going to do?
JACK
I'm going to...
TYLER
...stop me?
JACK
I'm not going...
TYLER
...to let this happen!
JACK
Stop finishing...
TYLER
...your sentences! They're
our sentences. Get your mind
around
that.
Tyler gets
up walks to Jack.
TYLER
What are you doing running through
the streets in your underpants?
We
both use that body.
JACK
Since when is Project Mayhem about
murder?
TYLER
The buildings were evacuated thirty
minutes ago. Everything's
proceeding
exactly as planned.
JACK
You don't know that. There could
still be people inside.
Tyler
keeps walking around, crosses his arms.
TYLER
Maybe. Maybe a couple of guys
with
shaved heads couldn't synchronize
their watches. Good riddance.
Jack looks
back to the BOMB, goes to it, wipes sweat off his
face. He starts finger the MANY WIRES, sorting
them.
TYLER
I wouldn't be doing that. Unless
you
know which wires, in what order...
JACK
If you know, I know.
Jack holds
his gun under one armpit, uses both hands to go
through
the tangle of colored wires.
TYLER
Or... maybe I knew you'd know, so I
spent the whole day thinking about
the wrong ones.
Jack
chooses one wire, GREEN, holds it in his fingers.
JACK
If I'm wrong, we're both dead..
TYLER
This is not about martyrdom.
Jack
twists the GREEN WIRE around his finger.
JACK
I'm pulling the green wire.
TYLER
Green? Did you say green?
Tyler
comes a little closer, leaning to try to get a look,
seems
genuinely concerned.
JACK
Yes...
TYLER
Don't pull the green wire. Pull
anything but the green wire.
JACK
Fuck you.
TYLER
I'm serious. That's the wrong
one.
Jack's
unsure, swallowing, pulling the wire taunt, fingers
trembling. The SOUND of a
VEHICLE is HEARD from below...
TYLER
Hear that? Marla's here. Just in
the nick of time, eh?
Jack looks
to Tyler. Tyler points towards the
SOUND...
TYLER
See for yourself.
Jack
releases the wire, walks to a RAILING, gun in hand,
keeps an
eye on Tyler. Jack looks over the
railing...
BELOW, a
BUS idles. The doors open and MARLA'S
dragged out,
kicking
and screaming, carried by SIX SPACE MONKEYS...
MARLA
You motherfuckers...
They carry
Marla into the BUILDING'S ENTRANCE.
Jack leans
against the railing, exhausted.
TYLER
I've got everything. The
bombs. The
army. I've got Marla.
JACK
Bob is dead, Tyler. The police
blew
a hole in his head. Was that
part of
your plan?
Tyler
thinks, shrugs.
TYLER
Bob was a grown man. In any
great
struggle, there will be casualties.
Wouldn't that be implicit in the
name? Project
"Mayhem."
JACK
Fuck your struggle. I want out.
TYLER
You want out?
JACK
I quit.
TYLER
Not an option, for the most obvious
of reasons. You need to get with
the
program.
(looks at his watch)
Seven minutes. Let's get out of
here.
Tyler's
walks away. Jack looks at the gun in
his hand. He
points the
gun at Tyler...
JACK
Tyler...
TYLER
(still walking away)
What?
JACK
(COCKS the gun)
Defuse the bomb.
Tyler
stops walking.
TYLER
Ask me nicely.
JACK
Defuse the bomb, please.
TYLER
Defuse the bomb?
JACK
Yes.
Tyler
strides towards the BOMB. Jack trains
the gun...
JACK
Please.
Tyler
looks at the BOMB, reaches over to it.
He grips the
GREEN
WIRE, yanks it out -- the CLOCK STOPS.
Jack
lowers his gun.
TYLER
I did that for you. As a
gesture.
Now, how fast can you run? There
are
ten other bombs, in ten other
buildings in the immediate area.
If
you're going to get them all, you
better get cracking.
(looks at watch)
Six minutes. Green wires,
remember.
I'll be upstairs.
Jack's
stunned. Tyler walks across the parking
garage, past
Jack,
heading for the STAIRS.
Jack aims
the gun at Tyler's back, FIRES!
Tyler
ducks to one side, impossibly quick, avoiding...
Tyler
spins to face Jack.
TYLER
Whoa! What was that all about?
Jack
aims... FIRES!
Tyler
DODGES behind a post as the BULLET THROWS CONCRETE.
Jack edges
forward, gun held in both hands, moves around the
post...
Tyler is NOT THERE. Jack turns, takes
slow steps,
moving the
gun from side to side...
Suddenly,
a FIST ENTERS FRAME -- SLUGS Jack's face.
Jack
falls. The gun goes CLATTERING across
the floor...
Jack
turns, looking... Tyler's GONE. Jack
looks to the gun,
scrambles
to his feet, running to pick up the gun...
Tyler
KICKS Jack in the chest, sends Jack sprawling.
Jack
rolls, holding his chest. He looks up,
sees Tyler run
into the
STAIRWELL. Jack grabs the gun and
follows...
INT.
STAIRWELL
Jack
smashes the door open. The stairwell's
empty. Jack
RUNS up a
flight of stairs, kicks open ANOTHER DOOR...
INT. MAIN
LOBBY
Jack steps
forward, gun up... TWO INTERLOCKED HANDS SLAM
down onto
his head. Jack drops to the floor.
Tyler
backs away, laughing. Jack gets to his
feet, aims his
gun...
TYLER
Fire at will.
Jack
clenches his teeth, FIRING -- nothing happens to Tyler.
Jack FIRES
TWICE -- no effect. Tyler raises his
arms.
TYLER
What did you expect?
Jack
charges. Tyler dodges, PUNCHES, knocks
the gun out of
Jack's
hand. They FIGHT, trading PUNCHES,
grappling, taking
each other
to the floor...
CUT TO:
INT.
SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Banks of
SECURITY MONITORS sit unmanned.
ON ONE
MONITOR: Jack is seen in the lobby, on the floor,
alone,
wrestling himself. He swings his left
hand up,
punching empty
air, then swings his right hand -- PUNCHING
himself in
the side of the head...
INT. MAIN
LOBBY
Tyler and
Jack fight viciously, bloodied. Tyler
manages to
get his
hands around Jack's throat, starts BANGING Jack's
head against
the floor...
SECURITY
MONITOR P.O.V.
... Jack's
got his hands around his own throat, BANGING his
own head
against the floor, over and over...
INT. MAIN
LOBBY
Jack
manages to break Tyler's grip, KICKS Tyler away.
Tyler springs
to his feet, RUNS, heading for a STAIRCASE.
Jack gets
up, breathing hard, holding his head, follows...
ON THE
STAIRS, Tyler reaches the LOFT LEVEL, above the
lobby,
disappears around a corner. Jack's
right behind,
turning
the corner -- Tyler's NOT THERE.
Jack
receives a SHARP SLAP on the back of the head.
He
wheels. Tyler isn't there. A TAP on his shoulder. Jack
turns
around -- WHAM! -- Tyler PUNCHES his face.
Jack falls
against
the loft railing. Tyler comes forward,
SWINGS...
SECURITY
MONITOR P.O.V.
Jack
PUNCHES himself square in the nose!
INT. MAIN
LOBBY
Jack's
dazed. Tyler grabs Jack's shirt, pulls
him forward,
SWINGS HIM
-- THROWS him DOWN THE STAIRS...
Jack TUMBLES
horribly down... HITS BOTTOM, striking his head
on the
floor. Jack PASSES OUT...
FADE TO BLACK:
INT. LARGE
SOCIAL ROOM - TOP FLOOR
CLOSE ON:
Jack's head jerks back as he SNAPS AWAKE.
He
looks
around, trying to focus his eyes...
JACK'S
P.O.V. -- TRACKS in the sawdust of the floor, from
where his
body was dragged across to where he is how.
CLOSE ON:
Jack tries to comprehend. He turns his
head --
TYLER'S HAND
brings the GUN up, PUTS THE GUN IN JACK'S
MOUTH. Jack freezes, looks
around with his eyes...
PULL BACK TO:
Tyler is
seated in Jack's lap. Tyler holds the
gun in
Jack's
mouth, his arm around him. This huge
room is being
remodeled. Tyler and Jack are
seated near floor-to-ceiling
windows
affording a spectacular view of the CITY.
Tyler
looks at his watch.
TYLER
One minute.
RUPERT = JACK (V.O.)
I think this is about where we came
in.
TYLER
(looking out window)
This is the beginning. We're at
ground zero. Maybe you should
say a
few words, to mark the occasion.
JACK
i... ann....iinn.. ff....nnyin...
Jack
tongues the barrel to the side of his mouth.
JACK
(still distorted)
I still can't think of anything.
Tyler
checks his watch.
TYLER
It's getting exciting now.
Jack
turns, so he can see down -- 31 STORIES.
TYLER
Look what we've accomplished.
(checks watch)
Thirty seconds.
(looks out windows)
Out these windows, we will view the
economic collapse. One step
closer
to global equilibrium. I'm glad
you're here with me.
Tyler
watches the skyline, WHISTLES at tune, waiting.
JACK
(distorted)
Can't you call it off... ?
TYLER
It's out of our hands.
(looks at watch)
This is it.
JACK
Please...
TYLER
Fifteen seconds now. Can you see
alright? 10... 9... 8....
Tyler
looks out the windows, at SURROUNDING BUILDINGS,
excited. Jack closes his eyes,
despairing.
TYLER
5... 4... 3... 2...
Out the
window, the SKYLINE remains unchanged.
Nothing. A
long
beat. A very dark scowl comes over
Tyler's face.
Jack opens
his eyes. More waiting. Tyler looks genuinely
surprised,
pissed-off.
TYLER
What the fuck -- ?
JACK
Paraffin.
TYLER
What?
JACK
(relieved)
Paraffin. Your merry band mixed
the
nitro with paraffin. I saw it
floating in the bomb.
(more)
JACK (cont)
They must've run out of cotton and
Epsom salt. Paraffin is iffy at
best.
Tyler
rises, taking the gun from Jack's mouth, starts
pacing. Jack rubs his sore
jowls, allows himself a smile.
TYLER
Damn it! God-damn it...
JACK
Not exactly according to plan.
TYLER
Do we have to do everything
ourselves?!
Tyler
stops walking, lets out a sigh of disgust.
He reaches
into his
pocket, taking out a WALKIE TALKIE.
TYLER
(into WALKIE TALKIE)
... Codename Rooster. Passcode First
Strike...
Jack's
eyes go wide.
JACK
NO...
TYLER
(into WALKIE TALKIE)
Proceed with remote detonation.
Jack leaps
-- TACKLES Tyler. The GUN is knocked
away. Jack
STRIKES
Tyler's face repeatedly with his elbow, scrambles
off...
Jack gets
the gun, turns, pointing it. Tyler's
getting to
his feet,
sees the gun, annoyed. Jack stands.
TYLER
Haven't we already done this?
Jack
SHOOTS TWICE. Bullets pass right
thorough Tyler.
Tyler just
rolls his eyes, drops the walkie-talkie to the
floor and
STOMPS on it, CRUSHING it.
JACK
(pointing)
How'd you do that?! You're a
fucking
figment of my imagination... you're
psychogenic fugue state...
TYLER
Fuck that, maybe you're my
hallucination.
Jack
falters, pointing at Tyler's feet.
There's no walkie-
talkie
there. Jack looks down, sees the
WALKIE-TALKIE
CRUSHED
under his own foot.
JACK
Oh... Christ...
Jack holds
his head, walks around, at his wit's end.
JACK
Why... why... why... ?
TYLER
Why what?
JACK
Why can't I get rid of you? Why
can't I just wish you away?
TYLER
You need me.
JACK
No, no, I don't.
(pause)
I thank you, I really do. Thank
you,
but I don't need you anymore.
TYLER
Look, I can be selfish, I know that.
(pause)
I'm not blind to my own failings...
JACK
Noooo, please...
Jack backs
up against a window, numb and weary.
TYLER
From now on, we'll share Marla.
We've been spending too much time
apart...
JACK
... no, no, no...
TYLER
No more running off without you.
From here on out, we do it together.
JACK
Why are you doing this?!
TYLER
I'm doing this for us.
JACK
Please understand... I've gotten all
I can from this, Tyler.
TYLER
(sullen)
If I leave, you will be right back
where I found you...
JACK
I swear on my life, I won't...
TYLER
You will. You know you will.
Jack
stares at Tyler, tears welling up, hangs his head. He
looks at
the gun in his hand...
TYLER
Can you live with that?
Jack
stares at the gun a long time... then...
Jack
brings the gun up, PUTS THE GUN IN HIS MOUTH.
Tyler
cocks his head.
TYLER
What are you doing?
JACK
What have you left for me?
TYLER
Why do you want to do that? Why do
you want to put that gun in your
mouth?
JACK
Not my mouth. Our mouth.
Tyler is
calm.
TYLER
This is interesting.
Tyler
smiles in appreciation, slowly walks forward, stands
very close
to Jack.
TYLER
Why are you going with this, Ikea-
boy?
JACK
It's the only way to get rid of you...
Jack COCKS
the hammer on the gun.
TYLER
I can see you feel very strongly.
I
feel strongly too.
(pause)
Hey, you and me.
(pause)
Friends again?
Their eyes
are locked, unblinking. Long silence.
JACK
Do something for me.
TYLER
What?
JACK
Appreciate something.
TYLER
What?
JACK
Look at me...
TYLER
What?
JACK
My eyes are open.
EXTREME
SLOW MOTION:
Jack's finger squeezes the trigger...
KABLAM! --
Jack's cheeks INFLATE with gas. His
eyes bulge.
BLOOD
flies out from his head. The WINDOW
behind him
SHATTERS. SMOKE wafts out of his
mouth and tear ducts.
RESUME
NORMAL SPEED as the GLASS FALLS behind Jack...
Tyler
stands, in gunsmoke, eyes glazed, sniffs the air...
TYLER
What's that smell... ?
Jack
slumps to the floor... Tyler falls...
Tyler hits
the ground. The back of TYLER'S HEAD is
BLOWN
OPEN,
revealing blood, skull and brain.
Suddenly,
a GROUP of SPACE MONKEYS burst into the room,
moving
forward to Jack. TYLER'S BODY IS GONE.
TALL SPACE MONKEY
Are you all right, sir... ?!
Jack
quakes, holding the side of his head; a ragged hole
blown in
his CHEEK. He's bleeding hard, but he's
alive.
JACK
I'm okay...
Jack looks
to the Space Monkeys, trying to get his eyes to
see. TWO SPACE MONKEYS enter with Marla. One holds a gun
to Marla
as she struggles.
SHORT SPACE MONKEY
Are you sure? You look terrible,
sir! What's happened?
JACK
Everything's fine.
ANOTHER SPACE MONKEY
Sir, you look really awful! Do
you
need medical assistance?
Jack sees
Marla, tries to get to his feet, falls...
JACK
Bring the girl to me. The rest
of
you get out. Now!
The
Monkeys bring Marla, releasing her, saluting.
MARLA
What happened... ?
JACK
Don't ask.
Marla
crouches, takes out wadded TISSUES and tries to apply.
them to
Jack's wound. Space Monkeys are
leaving, hesitantly.
JACK
Get to the rendezvous point. Move it!
Jack and
Marla are left alone.
MARLA
My God, you're shot...
JACK
Yes.
Jack tries
to got up. Marla helps him.
MARLA
Who did this to you?
JACK
I did, I think. But, I'm okay...
I'm
fine...
MASSIVE
EXPLOSION... the glass walls rattle...
Jack and Marla look -- OUT THE WINDOWS: a
BUILDING EXPLODES;
collapsing
upon itself. Then, ANOTHER BUILDING
IMPLODES
into a
massive cloud of dust. Jack and Marla
are
silhouetted against the SKYLINE.
Jack looks to Marla,
reaches to
take her hand.
JACK
I'm sorry... you met me at a very
strange time in my life.
Marla
looks at him. ANOTHER BUILDING IMPLODES
and COLLAPSES
inward...
and ANOTHER BUILDING... and ANOTHER...
The FILM
SLOWS, then ADVANCES ONE FRAME at a TIME -- SHOWING
SPROCKET
HOLES on the SIDES. EACH FRAME is an
IMPLODING
BUILDING
-- then, ONE FRAME IS A PENIS. Then,
the IMPLODING
BUILDING
again. SPEED UP the frames, LOSE the sprocket
holes,
RESUME NORMAL SPEED...
FADE TO BLACK:
end