Opium (2) DAVID I know it. I know it's true. I just wish I could believe it. Leslie walks up. LESLIE It's time to go. DAVID Yes, I guess it is. INT> LESLIE’S BEDROOM (PALATIAL) David is pouring melted ice cream into a baby bottle in an electric warmer. When it's half full, He pours in 4 shots of brandy. Leslie is sitting naked on a huge brass bed. Her shins are strapped together inside a leather tube. There are leather straps to hold her elbows to her knees and her wrists to her ankles. They're unfastened at the moment, but she holds her arms in position to be strapped. There are 5 CATS sitting round the room watching her. As the scene progresses, the cats get up and leave in embarrassment. LESLIE Why do you put up with me? David kisses her full on the mouth. That's very easy for you to say. David goes back to strapping her in. There are many buckles and straps and laces and his fingers fly as she talks. You're sure you're not doing all this just to please me? DAVID What's wrong with pleasing you? LESLIE Nothing. She's embarrassed. She looks away then at the fashion magazines scattered across the bed. I dont know why I still read VOGUE, their graphics fell apart when they changed format. They're like the designers, selling their names with nothing to back it up. Oooh! DAVID Too tight? LESLIE No. DAVID Too loose? LESLIE Just do what you feel. DAVID I will. LESLIE Good. I got into fashion after I outgrew science fiction. He kisses her on the mouth. Are you trying to shut me up? DAVID No. He takes the baby bottle out of the warmer and tests a drop of it on his elbow. LESLIE VOGUE used to be so intense, that was when Diana Vreeland was running things. It all seemed so new then. He pulls a skin-tight leather swim cap over her head and buckles it at the nape of her neck. Only her nose, mouth and chin are exposed. Fashion photography did it to me the way pornography did to Mapplethorpe. Here was an art that kept its promises, a magic that actually worked, that was transporting the way all art is supposed to be. DAVID The Paris edition is still all right, but I don’t read French. LESLIE It isn’t the words, they simply have to be there like a shaman’s signs, but they don’t mean anything. It’s the smoothness of the paper flattering your fingertips, the perfume of the gloss, the soft shiny floppy weight of it folding its wings over your arms. Said from out of her mask, this is supposed to be just as crazy as it sounds. DAVID Open your mouth. I mean open it and keep it still. LESLIE (with a knowing smile) You say that now. He pulls her to him, cradling her in his arms. He retrieves the baby bottle from the warmer and slips the nipple into her mouth. She sucks on it languidly. He cradles her head in one hand and makes the soft, reassuring noises one makes to a baby. Then he pulls the bottle out of her mouth and squeezes a drop of formula on his left nipple. He pulls her head to him. She sucks on his nipple thoughtfully. Then he tilts her onto her side, pushing her down and climbing past her. He's on his side, propped up on one elbow, facing her but she's completely out of the frame. He lights a cigarette. His face shows nothing. He reaches across the bed for the Paris VOGUE. He begins leafing through it, then he gasps and his eyes roll up in his head. THE SAME THREE HOURS LATER Leslie is sitting up in bed with many frilly pillows propped behind her. David is smoking and staring into space. They both look somewhat dazed. DAVID It felt very far away. She's sucking on the world's largest baby pacifier. He grabs it by the ring and pulls it out of her mouth. LESLIE Yes. It was. It's strange, you always feel the same way I do, our contact is really very good. DAVID This isn't working. I feel spotlights on me like it was a jail break. LESLIE But, Darling, that's exactly what it is. DAVID It's a dirty perfume commercial. LESLIE What's wrong with that? DAVID I dont know what we're advertising and I've seen the ad too many times. LESLIE It's lost some of its surprise, you have to expect that. DAVID It's over. LESLIE Tell me your plans. DAVID Something's got to happen. Something final so there's no going back. If any of this worked we wouldn't have to keep repeating it. LESLIE I guess we just have to keep going farther. DAVID For God's sake, how? INT> MET MUSEUM (DEEP NIGHT) A night watchman is walking down the main corridor, making his rounds in a trance of mechanical repetition. David steps out from behind a statue with a Chinese cleaver and decapitates him with one swing. The body keeps walking and swinging its key chain for 15 feet. Then the blood geysers up and the body collapses. LESLIE There's something sexy about decapitation. You think it's the jugular spurt? David shakes it off like a punch. INT> PRIMITIVE ART EXHIBITION (DEEP NIGHT) They have hung a variety of freshly severed heads on all the prongs of a Trobiand Island skull rack. David is daubing them with red and ocher paint. Leslie is exasperated. LESLIE Why dont you just go out and slay a dragon? DAVID There aren't any dragons. Why do you think I ended up in graduate school? INT> LESLIE’S APARTMENT (DAY) THE NEW YORK TIMES is face down on the kitchen table. The last page shows an ad for COSMOPOLITAN. On it rests the severed head of a TEENAGE GIRL. LESLIE is decorating it with beads and sequins and glitter, 18 kinds of blush, gloss, mascara, lipstick and liner. LESLIE (thoughtfully) This is fucking ridiculous. Then her cat walks by on stilts. INT> DAVID"S APT. (DAY) It's a huge high ceilinged white room. There are, maybe, 10,000 art books on shelves around the room. Sarah is sitting at the desk writing something in a folder. She's wearing her white doctor's coat. The phone rings and she answers it. SARAH It's for you. She walks the phone across the room to David. He's still in bed. DAVID Yoarrumph. LESLIE (V.O.) It's Leslie. DAVID Yes, I know. LESLIE (V.O.) How are you? DAVID (puzzled but cheerful) Oh, I'm alright. How are you? LESLIE (V.O.) Any ... regrets? Suddenly, he knows what's expected of him. DAVID Oh, no, after...after everything, I will love you always. LESLIE (V.O.) Oh, David, you make me so happy than I've ever been in my life. DAVID And I'll see you tomorrow? LESLIE (V.O.) Yes, and stay away from Sarah the nurse. DAVID I’m supposed to be courting a girl my own age. LESLIE (V.O.) You like her too much. DAVID No, it’s just that I don’t like you at all. LESLIE (V.O.) I love you, you were beautiful. DAVID Oh, good. And I love you. LESLIE (V.O.) Yes. They both hang up. SARAH This is fucking ridiculous. THE SAME (24 HOURS LATER) Sarah has been replaced by Leslie. She and David are in bed naked. LESLIE How long was that? David looks at the clock. DAVID 3 Hours. At least. LESLIE Really? DAVID Yes. LESLIE It's not the same if you dont lead up to it. They did, but there's no point in arguing. She gets out of bed and walks away. DAVID Did you fake it? LESLIE I wouldn't do that to you. DAVID I thought it was over. LESLIE You thought what was over? Noises from the street. Car horns from a traffic snarl. High squeaky horns, low grunting horns, shrill shrieking women screaming obscenities in thick Jersey accents. It dies away into a hoarse shouting match and then the sound of an incompetent street fight. It sure kicks the Hell out of romance. DAVID If there were some way of going insane together, that would cut us off from the world completely. She's interested. She walks back toward the bed, rolling her hips slightly. LESLIE How? DAVID We could learn Go together. LESLIE Go? DAVID It's a Japanese game played with black and white stones. LESLIE I know. DAVID It gets to be an obsession. You get so you cant think of anything else. LESLIE (deliberately calm) You talk about going insane together and the best you can come up with is a Japanese game played with little stones? DAVID Baby, we've got to stop. We're totally predictable. I'm using random numbers, but there are too many patterns to think about. They started off knowing that we're on the upper east side, by now they've got it down to a 4 block area. Pretty soon now they’re going to catch us right in the fucking act. LESLIE You've lost your nerve. DAVID That's all I want to lose. If we keep at it, routine police work, the most boring tedious embarrassingly stupid kind of routine police work is going to trip us up. LESLIE Darling, I think it might be discreet if we left the country for a while. Just for the season. DAVID First, I'm going to dynamite the Sistine Chapel then I'm going to use a flame thrower of the Mona Lisa. I am going to dedicate myself to destroying great works of Art so no future historian will have to memorize them. LESLIE Cant you think of something we can do together? DAVID Sorry. LESLIE I know what we'll do, we'll smuggle in hashish from Turkey. DAVID Did you see Midnight Express? LESLIE That's what I mean, think of the terror. 12,000 miles from home with the entire world against us. We'll have no one but each other. We'll be cut off from the rest of the world. DAVID We have that right here. LESLIE Here we're going to get caught, you tell me. DAVID Yes. LESLIE Well? DAVID One thing for sure, we wont be bored again for a very long time. She starts laughing. She slips off her panties and casually climbs on top of him. THE SAME (DAY) David and Chen are taking the art books off the shelves and packing them into plastic milk crates. THE SAME The shelves are three quarters empty. THE SAME The shelves are empty. David and Chen are carrying the crates out the door and down the stairs. EXT> STREET They're loading the crates into a U-Haul hitched to a VW Rabbit. Chen tries to pay for them. CHEN There must be $10,000 worth of books there. DAVID It's between friends, it cant be paid for. CHEN I'm not your friend. DAVID Since right now? CHEN I talked to her. Since I talked to her. She's insane. She needs to be protected from people like you. DAVID You tell her that? CHEN Yeah. She hung up and said that if I called again, she'd have me arrested. DAVID Not your day to be a hero. CHEN She's insane. That's like being underage. She cant give her consent. It's rape. DAVID So am I. We’re both diagnosed paranoid schiz psychotic so, it’s perfectly fair. Chen hands him the money. David takes it, wadding it into the pockets of his jeans. Chen gets into the VW and behind the wheel. He slams the door and talks out the window. CHEN I thought of killing you, but decided the Hell with it. DAVID That's your solution to every problem. You belong in grad school. CHEN You're going to get yourself killed anyway so, it's not cost effective. Chen tries to roar away, but the overloaded VW is moving inches at a time. POV over the U-Haul and its incredible load of books, barely moving while Chen guns the engine. INT> LESLIE"S APT. (DAY) She's on the bed, brushing her hair. David is at the desk looking at a map and guide books to the Middle East. His solution to every problem is to read a book about it. LESLIE Poor little man. DAVID He seems to think so. Look, Turkey is a little obvious. Let's try Lebanon. Anything is possible in Lebanon. LESLIE Isn't there a war there, again? DAVID They're only killing each other and they only fight at night. LESLIE And dont say goodbye to Sarah. DAVID Hang in there. LESLIE She'd have you committed. She'd have us both committed. DAVID Is that such a bad idea? LESLIE They're not going to put us in the same cell, dear heart. They'd burn us at the stake and call it pyrotherapy. These are the real monsters, not cute little ones like us, but the real thing. DAVID If you feel that way, why do you have an analyst? LESLIE I dont. When I want to say something, I say my analyst said it so you cant argue with it. He doesn't exist. DAVID Very shrewd, but dont call him until we get back. She smiles INT> MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL (DAY) This one teaches the exotic Western martial art of steer roping. 40 Japanese executives are lined up in jeans and Stetsons, bowing to the instructor with the traditional greeting of "Howdy, Pardner." David is cleaning out his locker. He takes out a black belt. THE INSTRUCTOR, a 50 year old James Dean, is watching him with a mixture of annoyance and affection. INSTRUCTOR (fake Japanese accent) Rich people everywhere the same, never go out of the house except go another house. But all the time...huh...huh...huh. He pantomimes coughing. All these women. You kill yourself. When last time you grow crass? David bows and leaves. EXT> STREET (DAY) David is carrying his black belt and Stetson. He passes a garbage can and drops them in. EXT> STREET (DAY) David and Leslie are walking up the stairs of a re-modeled brownstone. A plaque says REPUBLIC OF LEBANON, CONSUL GENERAL with a picture of a cedar tree. INT> LEBANESE CONSULATE (BRIGHT) They're sitting in front of the desk with David explaining the purpose of the visit. DAVID ...to study Islamic architecture. I am a student of art history. ASST. CONSUL But the only logical place would be Istanbul, possibly, Yemen. LESLIE I keep telling him that. DAVID Istanbul has been done to death. Lebanon has been strangely overlooked. ASST. CONSUL But the war... DAVID That's the point. If the architecture is going to be studied, it has to be before the war destroys it. The asst. consul shakes his head and sighs, then reluctantly stamps their visas and signs them. ASST. CONSUL You must send me a copy of your book. DAVID Oh, I will. I will. EXT> LEBANESE CONSULATE (DAY) They come down the stairs. She smiles and takes his arm. Outrageously, they look like any other couple in love on a spring day. EST. SHOT> BEIRUT AIRPORT (DAY) They're walking away from a 747 and into the terminal. He's carrying a heavy shoulder bag. As he goes through the metal detector, the alarm system goes berserk. Bells and sirens go off. MILITIA MEN, wearing black hoods with crosses painted between the eyes, appear out of nowhere and point assault rifles at them. THE CUSTOMS INSPECTOR seizes David's shoulder bag and empties it on the table. The bag is full of chains and manacles. There's a brank: a metal cage for the head that forces a long metal tongue depressor into the mouth. The customs inspector is baffled. CUSTOMS INSPECTOR Are you in the hardware business? DAVID Body sculpture. He shovels the chains back into the bag and shuts it. He walks off with Leslie. The customs inspector waves his hand and the militia men let them through. INT> HOTEL LOBBY (WELL LIT) David and Leslie are walking away from he reservation desk. DAVID Let's find the bar. LESLIE There's a bar? Alcohol is against Islamic law. DAVID There isn't any law here. LESLIE Do they torture prisoners? DAVID I'm sure they do, everyone does. LESLIE I thought, perhaps, we could watch, offer suggestions. DAVID We can ask. LESLIE I think I need to be spanked. DAVID It's a beginning. She links arms with him as hey walk into the bar. LESLIE You have all this violence in you, it's frightening. DAVID No, I dont frighten you at all. They sit down at the bar. THE BARTENDER walks over. He's a Christian Arab named AMRAM. DAVID T and T (Leslie nods). Twice. AMRAM Did you finish your degree? David clenches his eyes shut. He's convinced that he's finally gone crazy. LESLIE Do you two know each other? David looks at him. DAVID Oh, no. AMRAM (to Leslie) Sure, CUNY grad school. (to David) Did you get your degree? DAVID No, did you? AMRAM Sure, PHD in poli sci. When I got back here, they told me that they had enough politicians. So, I'm a bartender. He puts the glasses down in front of them.David reaches for some money, but Amram holds up his hand and shakes his head. DAVID To revolution. He raises his glass. AMRAM First we'd need a government. DAVID Can I buy you one? A drink, I mean. AMRAM Against Islamic law. Islamic law, that's like the Italian economy or the Swiss navy. DAVID You're not being too cool. AMRAM I see you, I think we're still in New York. LESLIE (brightly) Do you know where we can get some hashish? Amram pours himself a double shot of Johnnie Re and gulps it. AMRAM Good to see you again. Welcome to Beirut. INT> HOTEL ROOM (NIGHT) David and Leslie are standing by the window, naked. They're watching a running gun fight in the street. A GUNMAN runs around the corner and catches a burst from an assault rifle point blank in the stomach. The body explodes from internal pressure. LESLIE It's real, isn't it? DAVID Yeah...out of control. LESLIE I wish I had lived in the last century. DAVID It was worse. LESLIE Yes, but I wouldn't have known it. DAVID With a corset from your armpits to your knees and barely able to walk. LESLIE Yum! There's a knock at the door. David looks at. the street then at the door. He closes the drapes so that, when he opens the door, light from the hall wont attract gunfire from the street. He signals for Leslie to go into the bathroom, then opens the door holding his gun behind his back. It's Amram and he jerks his head to signal David to come out into the hall. David walks out, slipping the Browning into his jeans at the small of his back. At some point he’s put on his jeans. DAVID You think the room is bugged? AMRAM I dont know, just living the part. How do you expect to get this past customs? DAVID Easy, we dont go past customs. Amram shrugs elaborately. AMRAM There's a beach reserved for Europeans. Be there at 10 with your woman. No, bring her. You'll look like tourists. Drug smugglers travel alone. A TWA flight bag. An Arab will run up to you and say that you left it in the cab. DAVID Old tricks are sometimes the best but... AMRAM In the middle of a 100 naked Europeans and all of them squinting at the sun, it's perfect. David takes out some money and hands it over. Amram pockets it without counting it. Why are you doing this? DAVID Why are you doing it? You have to live here. AMRAM There's no risk, it's perfectly legal. DAVID Then why all the conspiracy? AMRAM Trying to give you your money's worth. You Americans seem to expect it. You will like Beirut. DAVID I think I'm going to love it. Beyond a window behind them, the city is lit up by flashes and explosions that sparkle through the gaps in the drapes. There is a continuous rattle of small arms fire. INT> HOTEL ROOM (NIGHT) Leslie is chained spread eagled to the bed. David is standing over her with a riding crop. LESLIE Not tonight, you wont, we have to go to the beach tomorrow. I heard you through the door. DAVID Yeah. He lays down beside her and puts his hands behind his head. LESLIE You going to leave me like this? DAVID No. He gags her then goes back to staring into space with his hands behind his head. She wriggles and makes a lot of muffled grunts. EXT> BEACH (DAY) They're walking on the beach. AN ARAB CAB DRIVER runs after them and hands over a flight bag, pantomiming that it had been forgotten in the cab. He runs off and they walk to the water and take off their clothes. They have swim trunks on underneath. They sit down, smiling at the sea and at each other. A SWEDE runs up and starts barking at David. SWEDE (in Arabic) Beach for white men. You get out, maybe, yes. SWEDE (in English) Fuck off. DAVID I'm sorry I dont speak Arabic. SWEDE (in Arabic) You speak Arabic, you fuck Arab. (in English) Beach for foreigners, you fuck off. DAVID I'm American. SWEDE You what? It's time to mention that David is very dark. DAVID Does she look like an Arab to you? SWEDE (in English) No, you Arab. I explain your ass, little Wog. David is still sitting. The Swede kicks David in the ass. David gets up and decks him. I get tired of choreographing fight sequences. Anyway, The Swede gets up and runs off. LESLIE Are you all right? DAVID Oh, yeah, just like home. But, after a while, the Swede comes back with 3 GUARDS. 1ST GUARD (in Arabic) You know the beach is reserved. Get out. DAVID I dont speak Arabic. 1ST GUARD (in Arabic) You fucking speak Arabic, enough clown. Now, get out! DAVID I'm American. 1ST GUARD (in Arabic) Enough talk, no more talk, now get off or I break your fucking head. It turns into a pushing match and David decks the 3 guards. This is easy, even for an untrained man. Street fighting just isn't part of Arab culture. Then 4 MILITIA MEN rush up with assault rifles. SERGEANT (in Arabic) A classic case of the one little detail a criminal overlooked. DAVID I'm American. SERGEANT OK, American, what the fuck you think you're doing? Leslie grabs David's arm and whispers in his ear. LESLIE You will speak only to an officer. DAVID I will speak only to an officer. 1ST GUARD (in Arabic) He's bluffing. SERGEANT (in Arabic) Maybe, but in his undies like that he could be anyone. 2ND GUARD (in Arabic) He knows it, that's why he's bluffing. SERGEANT (in Arabic) He might be a reporter. (in English) Escort him home under house arrest. The colonel will have him called for sometime after lunch. David and Leslie gather up their clothes and are marched off by the 3 militia men. CU of the flight bag laying on the sand. CU of David and Leslie looking dignified and affronted. CU of the sergeant watching them go, thinking hard, but without much success. EXT> HOTEL (DAY) David and Leslie walking into the hotel followed by the 3 militia men. DAVID "I will speak only to an officer" How'd you think of that? LESLIE It's a feudal society, they're very sensitive to class distinctions. DAVID Very shrewd. LESLIE There's nothing you could say that would have made a difference. They'd have killed you. Where's the hash? DAVID I left it. LESLIE They wouldn't have searched us but, if they find the bag, they'll know it was ours. That was really stupid. DAVID If they find it, they wont report it. LESLIE You were always so steady under pressure, what's happening to you? David doesn't know. He shakes his head. Relax, I'll do all the thinking for a while. INT> HOTEL CORRIDOR (LUSH) They walk into their room and close the door. the militia men stand guard outside. INT> HOTEL ROOM (DAY) Leslie strips, fast, and climbs into a bondage costume: boots and a leather harness and a leather motorcycle cap. DAVID Setting the mood? LESLIE You have an interview with the Colonel in , perhaps 4 hours. Your life depends on it. You have to perfect your role. DAVID What's wrong with the old one? LESLIE You're going to be dealing with some semi-educated Wog who isn't really very sophisticated, but wants to be treated like he is. The 1st thing is to convince him that you're an aristocrat. Then you treat him like he too is an aristocrat. When you have him convinced that both of you are aristocrats, you're home free. DAVID How did you suddenly get so smart? LESLIE I'm tired of pretending to be stupider than you are, leave the class war to me. She seems to grow. It's like he's never seen her before. DAVID Yes. She throws herself into a chair and slams her boots on the table. LESLIE When you have a role that works in all scenarios, we know you're ready. Let's get started. (thick Arabic accent) I am Colonel. She throws herself into a chair and slams her boots on the table. David visibly puts on an attitude. DAVID You wanted to see me?, Colonel. LESLIE Is necessary. DAVID
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