Speed-the-Plow (8 page)

F
OX
: I don't want your respect. Your respect
stinks
: You know why? You've proved yourself insane. You're gonna buy a piece of shit . . . you're gonna spend ten million dollars for a piece of
pussy,
you were “up all night . . .” You were up all night boffing the
broad.
Are you getting
old
? What is this?
Menopause
?. Your “life is a sham"? Two days in the new job, you can't stand the strain . . .? They're going to invalid you out, your name will be a
punchline
in this town . . .

G
OULD
: . . . if the film doesn't work out here . . .

F
OX
: If the film . . .

G
OULD
: The radiation film.

F
OX
: Did you miss your
wake
up call . . . ? If the film doesn't work out here, you know what you got? Little Lambsy Divey. No One Will Touch You, do you understand . . .? You're throwing your life away. (
Pause.
) Listen to me: Bob (
pause
): Bob (
pause
): I have to tell you something. . . It's the secretary. She, what did she do to you . . .?

G
OULD
: She did nothing to me.

F
OX
: What is she, a witch?

G
OULD
: She did nothing, we, we talked . . .

F
OX
: You talked and you decided to throw your career away. . . ? And my, and my, and
my
chances with it. . .

G
OULD
: . . . I don't want . . .

F
OX
:
Bullshit
what you want.
Bullshit.
I Could Of Gone Across the Street.

G
OULD
: . . . I don't. . .

F
OX
:
Fuck
you. . .
Fuck
you. . . (
He hits
G
OULD.)
Fuck
you. Get up. (
He hits him again.
) I'll fucken’ kill you right here in this office. All this bullshit; you
wimp,
you
coward
. . . now you got the job, and now you're going to
run
all over everything, like something broke in the
shopping
bag, you
fool
—your fucken’ sissy film— you squat to pee. You old
woman
. . . all of my life I've been eating your shit and taking your leavings . . .
Fuck
you, the Head of Production. Job I could of done ten
times
better'n you, the
press,
the
money,
all this time, and now you're going to be some fucken‘
wimp,
cost me my, my, my. ..
fortune
? Not In This Life, Pal. Your Writ Has Run. You hear me . . .? (
Pause.
) Bob . . . ? (
Pause.
) Do you hear me . . .? You want somebody to take charge? I'll take charge. Do you hear me, mister . . .? You need an excuse to cop out, I'll give you your fucken’ excuse. (
Pause.
) We have a meeting. Can you fix yourself up?

G
OULD
: No. (
Pause.
)

F
OX
: What's the matter?

G
OULD
: Nothing.

F
OX
: You have another shirt. . .? Can you get through the meeting with Ross?

G
OULD
: I'm going to greenlight the radiation book.

F
OX
: It's alright, Bob. It's okay. I see it now. It's okay. Everything is okay. Listen to me, it's alright. I'll
explain it to you: a beautiful, a beautiful and an ambitious woman comes to . . .

G
OULD
: I want you to be careful what you say about her.

F
OX
: It's only words, unless they're true. It's alright, now. I'm sorry I got frightened. Forgive me. I'll explain it to you. (
Pause.
) A beautiful and an ambitious woman comes to town. Why? Why does
anyone
come here . . .? You follow my argument? (
Pause.
) Everyone wants power. How do we get it? Work. How do they get it? Sex. The End. She's different? Nobody's different.
You
aren't,
I'm
not, why should she? The broad wants power. How do I
know
? Look: She's out with Albert Schweitzer working in the jungle? No: she's here in movieland, Bob, and she trades the one thing that she's got, her
looks,
get into a position of authority—through you. Nobody likes to be promoted; it's ugly to see, but that's what happened, babe. I'm sorry. She lured
you
in. “Come up to my house, read this script . . .” She doesn't know what that
means
? Bob: that's why she's here.

G
OULD
: . . . A woman . . .

F
OX
:. . . Hey, pay me the courtesy. . . how
lonely
you must be. How hard the world is. You complain to her. “No one understands me . . .” “
I
understand you” . . . she says.

G
OULD
: She
does
understand me.

F
OX
: Hey, that's
first-rate.

G
OULD
: She
does
understand me . . . she knows what I suffer.

F
OX
: “What You Suffer . . .”? “What you suffer . . .”? You're a
whore
. . . Bob. You're a
chippy
. . . you're a fucken’
bought-and-paid-for
whore,
and you think you're a ballerina cause you work with your legs? You're a whore. You want some sympathy? You don't get none. You—you think you can let down. You
cannot
let down. That's what they pay the big bucks for. This is what you put up with you wanna have two homes. Okay? Bob, let's speak frankly, eh? This broad
just took you down.

G
OULD
: . . . she came to me.

F
OX
: Why did she come to you? Cause you're the Baal Shem Tov? You stupid shit, I'm talking to you . . . Why does she come to you? ‘Cause you're so good looking? She
wants
something from you. You're nothing to her but what you can
do
for her.

G
OULD
: You're full of shit.

F
OX
: Uh huh. I know I am.

G
OULD
: What does she want from me?

F
OX
: If I'm so smart? She wants you to greenlight this radiation book.

G
OULD
: Why?

F
OX
: The fuck should
I
know.
I
don't know. It's not important. Is she Head of Production?
You're
Head of Production. Read the new plaque on your door. Can she greenlight a film? No.
You
can. Now: what does she want from you? Hearth and Home? No. What? Love? Huh? Children? . . . To greenlight a film. To greenlight some bizarre idea . . .

G
OULD
: It's not a bizarre idea.

F
OX
: It's not a bizarre idea . . .?
Tell
it to me . . . Come on. You can't tell it to me in one sentence, they can't put
it in T.V. Guide. What is this movie that you're going to make? Come on, "A Boy Joins the Cattle Drive and Learns to Be a Man . . .”? “A Couple Finds a Million Dollars Buried in Their Yard . ..”? Come on, come on . . . what is this movie . . .? (
Pause.
)

G
OULD
: We are . . .

F
OX
: Tell me the story.

G
OULD
: We . . . I'm
telling
it to you, and I don't think that we have to mock the possibility that someone could find something that meant something to them. You understand me?

F
OX
: Tell me the film, Bob.

G
OULD
: We. . . I'll
tell
you the film. Alright? We are frightened . . . (
Pause.
) Because the World is Ending. Uh . . . (
Pause.
) A man gives up everything . . . wait. (
Pause.
) A man, to find happiness . . . (
Pause.
)

F
OX
(
picks up the book, reads
): “A gross infection rampant in the world, they spied, and thought they were the messengers of cure, when they were the disease” . . . (
Turns page and reads again
:) “That silver is more powerful than gold; and the circle than the square or the triangle. He thought of architecture . . .” (
He throws the book down.
) Are you kidding me . . .? (
Pause.
) Are you kidding me . . .? I wouldn't believe this shit if it was
true
. . . the fuck
happened
to you? Let your dick run your
office
? What kind of a man . . .

G
OULD
: Okay, Okay. That's enough.

F
OX
: I beg your pardon.

G
OULD
: I said that's enough Get out.

F
OX
: Fuck you.

G
OULD
: Fuck me. Fuck me in
hell.
Fuck me in hell, pal.
You
read the plaque on my door. I am you superior. Now, I've made my decision. I'm sorry it hurt you.

F
OX
: It huit me? You ruined my life.

G
OULD
: Be that as it may.

F
OX
: I see.

G
OULD
: Now, I have a meeting.

F
OX
: Would you tell me why?

G
OULD
: I told you why. Because I've found something that's right.

F
OX
: I can't buy that.

G
OULD
: Then “why” is because I say so.

F
OX
: And eleven years down the drain.

G
OULD
: I'm sorry. (Pause.)

F
OX
: How sorry are you?

G
OULD
: What?

F
OX
: One question . . .

G
OULD
: It won't change my mind.

F
OX
: Well then, just say it's a boon, and grant it to me to assuage your guilt. I want to ask your girl one question. Then I swear I'll go.

G
OULD
: Alright—ask it.

F
OX
(
pushes the intercom button; into intercom
): Dear, could you come in here for one moment, please . . . ?

(
K
AREN
enters.)

K
AREN
(to G
OULD
): What
happened
to you?

F
OX
: Where's
Cathy
. . .?

K
AREN
: What happened to you, Bob . . . are you alr . . .

F
OX
: Where's Cathy honey? She still sick . . .?

G
OULD
: It's alright, Karen.

F
OX
: I have one question for you, and then I'll leave you alone. I understand . . .

K
AREN
: I have to . . . (
Starts to exit
.)

F
OX
: No, no, no, no, no . . . No, no. It's alright. You alright, Bob?

G
OULD
: Yes.

F
OX
: Are you, really though,
tell
us, now . . .

G
OULD
: I'm fine. We'll be done here in one minute.

K
AREN
: What's going on?

G
OULD
: Just answer him.

F
OX
: I understand. Karen. I
understand
. . . that things have been
occurring
. . . large decisions . . . do you follow me . . .? (
Pause.
) Do you follow what I'm going to say?

K
AREN
: What do you want?

F
OX
: Well, Dear, I want to ask you something. (
Pause.
)

K
AREN
: Alright.

F
OX
: You went to Mister Gould's last night? (
Pause.
)

K
AREN
: Yes.

F
OX
: You discussed certain things?

K
AREN
: Yes. We did.

F
OX
: You talked about . . . his new job, you . . .

K
AREN
: You know what we talked about. We
talked
about . . . we talked about not being frightened. We talked about the ability to make a difference.

F
OX
: To make a difference. Yes.

K
AREN
: To make a film . . .

F
OX
: To make a film that makes a difference. Yes, I know. Now: listen: I'm not going to talk to you of what gives you the “insight” to, or the experience to know what will make a good film. (
Pause.
) I'm not going to ask you, I'm not going to ask you what, what brought you to this job . . .

K
AREN
: . . . it was a temporary job . . .

F
OX
: Uh huh . . . I'm almost there, bear with me. Now: I understand, last night, that you and Bob became intimate.

K
AREN
: I think you should leave.

F
OX
: I know you do, but this is something more than your life, honey, you're at the Big Table, and, I'm done, then
Bob
, the Head of Production, is going to say what's what. I have one question. Now, then, you and Bob, you became “Lovers.”

G
OULD
: Leave her alone.

F
OX
: I don't think so. Do you owe me this? Do you
owe
me this? For all the years I spent with you? You became

lovers
. (
Pause
.)

K
AREN
: Bob? No? Alright. Then, yes. We did.