· · ·
turning to page one
turning to page one
by
Undated; no draft date printed on the cover
Browse what happens, then open the scene. Summaries may reveal later events.
INSERT:
A first edition copy of The Royal Tenenbaums.
On the dust jacket there is an illustration of a cream- colored note card that looks like a wedding invitation. The title of the book is engraved on the card.
The next page says “Chapter One.”
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on
Archer Avenue in the winter of his
thirty-fifth year.
CUT TO:
A five-story limestone townhouse. A forty-three-year-old man in a raincoat rings the front doorbell. He is Royal.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
Over the next decade, he and his wife
had three children and then they
separated.
Royal sits at the head of a long table. He is surrounded by his children.
Chas is twelve, with curly hair, dressed in a black suit and tie. Margot is ten, with a barrette in her hair, wearing a knitted LaCoste dress and penny loafers. Richie is eight, with long hair, parted on the side, dressed in a Bjorn Borg- style tennis outfit with a headband.
Chas wears a blank expression, Margot looks as if she is about to cry, and Richie has tears all over his face.
MARGOT
Are you getting divorced?
ROYAL
(gently)
At the moment, no. But it doesn’t look
good.
RICHIE
Do you still love us?
ROYAL
Of course, I do.
CHAS
(pointedly)
Do you still love Mom?
ROYAL
Very much. But she asked me to leave,
and I had to respect her position on the
matter.
MARGOT
Was it our fault?
ROYAL
(long pause)
No. Obviously, we had to make certain
sacrifices as a result of having
children, but no. Lord, no.
RICHIE
Why’d she ask you to leave?
ROYAL
(sadly)
I don’t really know any more. Maybe I
wasn’t as true to her as I could’ve
been.
CHAS
Well, she says --
ROYAL
Let’s not rehash it, Chassie.
An Indian man with salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in pink pants, a white shirt and a white apron, comes in from the kitchen with a Martini on a tray. He is Pagoda.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
They were never legally divorced.
Pagoda hands Royal the Martini.
ROYAL
Thanks, Pagoda.
A gallery of the children’s art, done mostly in crayon, but with beautiful frames and careful lighting. The subject matter includes: spaceships, wild animals, sailboats, motorcycles, and war scenes with tanks and paratroopers.
A stuffed and mounted boar’s head with its teeth bared hangs in the stairwell. A label on it says “Wild Javelina, Andes Mountains.” Under the stairs there is a telephone room the size of a closet. Old messages are tacked to the walls, and the children’s heights are marked on the door frame.
A thirty-three-year-old woman with a scarf around her neck and sunglasses on top of her head talks on a rotary telephone. She is Etheline.
Richie sits on her lap reading an Atlas of the World. Margot sits on a foot-stool reading The Cherry Orchard. Chas stands in the doorway with a slip of blue paper in his hand.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Etheline Tenenbaum kept the house and
raised the children, and their education
was her highest priority.
Etheline says into the telephone:
ETHELINE
I’ll hold, thank you.
CHAS
I need $187.
ETHELINE
(pause)
Write yourself a check.
Chas hands Etheline the slip of blue paper.
INSERT:
A cheque made out in the amount of $187. Etheline signs it.
CUT TO:
Chas taking back the cheque. Etheline says into the telephone:
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
Bene. Si. Grazie mille.
Etheline hangs up. There is a schedule of activities -- guitar, ballet, yoga, scuba-diving -- written on a chalkboard behind her and divided into columns labelled Chas, Richie and Margot. She changes an Italian lesson from 4:30 to 5:30.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
She wrote a book on the subject.
INSERT:
A copy of Etheline Tenenbaum’s book, Family of Geniuses. On the dust jacket there is a photograph of the three children conducting a press conference in a room crowded with journalists. It appears to have been published in the late seventies.
CUT TO:
The press conference. Chas points to a reporter.
CHAS
The gentleman in the blue cardigan,
please.
CONTINUED: (2)
REPORTER
Thank you. I have a two-part question.
CHAS
Go ahead.
Chas’ room looks like a businessman’s office, except it is very small and has bunk beds. There is a desk with an Apple II computer and an electric coffee pot on it. There is a water cooler in the corner, with a paper cup dispenser.
Chas stands talking on the telephone while Etheline brings in his lunch on a tray.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Chas Tenenbaum had, since elementary
school, taken most of his meals in his
room, standing up at his desk with a cup
of coffee, to save time.
On a shelf in an alcove there are ten cages connected together by plastic tubes. White mice with tiny black spots all over them race around outside the cages. Chas feeds one of them a drop of blue liquid from a test tube.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
In the sixth grade, he went into
business, breeding dalmation mice, which
he sold to a pet shop in Little Tokyo.
There are twenty-five pinstriped suits in boys’ size twelve and an electric tie rack hanging in the closet. Chas pushes a button on the tie rack and the ties glide along a track.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
He started buying real estate in his
early teens and seemed to have an almost
preternatural understanding of
international finance.
There are a small weightlifting bench and punchbag in the corner. There is a set of exercise charts neatly drawn with felt-tip pen tacked on the wall. Chas bench-presses about fifty pounds on a small barbell.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
He negotiated the purchase of his
father’s summer house on Eagle’s Island.
A house in the country. Chas crouches in the bushes with a BB gun. Across the lawn, he sees two younger boys with BB guns drop down from a tree.
One of the boys is Richie, and the other has nearly-white blond hair. He is Eli. He wears Apache warpaint.
Chas gets Richie in his sights.
ROYAL
Hold it, Chassie.
Chas freezes. He looks up and sees Royal watching from the roof with a BB gun trained on him. Royal is dressed in khaki pants, sunglasses and no shirt.
CHAS
What are you doing? You’re on my team!
ROYAL
(hesitates)
There are no teams.
Royal fires. Chas screams and fires back as Royal scrambles away, laughing.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The BB was still lodged between two
knuckles in Chas’ left hand.
The walls of Margot’s room are red, with little running zebras painted all over them. There is a collection of African masks hanging in the corner. Margot sits at a small metal stand, typing on an IBM typewriter.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Margot Tenenbaum was adopted at the age
of two. Her father had always noted
this when introducing her.
CUT TO:
A cocktail party. Royal introduces Margot to a group of elderly men in black tie.
ROYAL
This is my adopted daughter, Margot
Tenenbaum.
Margot nods politely.
CUT TO:
A wall filled with bookshelves. There are thousands of books of plays. Margot takes out a copy of The Iceman Cometh.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
She was a playwright and won a Braverman
Grant of fifty-thousand dollars in the
ninth grade.
There is a mock-up of a stage set for a play that appears to have taken place in a network of tree houses on a tropical island. Margot places a tiny canoe beneath a palm tree.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
She and her brother Richie ran away from
home one winter and camped out in the
African Wing of the Public Archives.
Richie and Margot sit on a bench in front of a large Gothic building. Richie has on a small backpack with a sleeping bag attached to it. Margot carries a small red suitcase. They both look extremely dishevelled and tired.
A single-file line of students in Catholic school uniforms goes past them following a museum guide. Eli is at the end of the line. He stops and stares at Margot and Richie.
RICHIE
Hi, Eli.
ELI
You said I could run away, too.
MARGOT
No, I didn’t. And don’t tell anybody
you saw us.
CUT TO:
Richie and Margot sharing a Boy Scout sleeping bag on a bench in a gallery of wildlife dioramas in a darkened museum. Margot reads a book about sharks by the light of a flashlight. Richie is asleep.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Four years later, she disappeared alone
for almost two weeks and came back with
half a finger missing.
INSERT:
A pair of knitted gloves. One finger has been clipped off at the middle knuckle and is being sewn up.
Richie’s room is in the attic. There are a chemistry set, a drum set and a long shelf filled with tennis trophies. Richie sits on the edge of his bed.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Richie Tenenbaum had been a champion
tennis player since the third grade.
There are thousands of Matchbox cars arranged on every available inch of space on tables, desks and window sills. Richie parks a little Maserati next to a dune buggy.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
He turned pro at seventeen and won the
U.S. Nationals three years in a row.
There is a ham radio set in the corner of the room. Richie sits at the console wearing a set of headphones. There is a map of the world on the wall, with colored pins stuck in different cities.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
He kept a studio in the corner of the
ballroom but had failed to develop as a
painter.
CUT TO:
A ballroom with vaulted ceilings and a giant chandelier on the top floor of the house. One corner is filled with seventeen almost identical portraits of Margot looking over the top of a book with an irritated expression. Etheline helps Richie hang a new portrait among the others.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
On weekends, Royal took him on outings
around the city.
Royal and Richie stand among a group of Puerto Rican men as two large, vicious-looking pit bulls with scars all over them snarl at each other. Royal yells along with the others:
ROYAL
Vamanos! Andale!
Royal throws a fifty-dollar bill into a pile of money on the sidewalk. Richie throws in a dollar.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
These invitations were never extended to
anyone else.
CUT TO:
The second floor of the Tenenbaum house. Chas sits alone in one window. Margot sits alone in the next. They both watch as Royal and Richie get out of a gypsy cab in front of the house, sharing a bag of peanuts and laughing.
There is a slightly run-down thirty-five-story apartment building across the street. Eli sits alone in a window.
A two-room apartment with a crucifix on the wall. Eli finishes making his bed and folds it into the couch. An elderly woman works at a sewing machine in the next room.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Richie’s best friend Eli Cash lived with
his aunt in a building across the
street.
Eli walks up the front steps of the Tenenbaum house and rings the doorbell. He wears a set of house keys on a string around his neck. Pagoda opens the door. He is dressed in pajamas, slippers and a bathrobe. He lets Eli inside.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He was a regular fixture at family
gatherings, holidays, mornings before
school and most afternoons.
CUT TO:
The Tenenbaum house at night. There are strings of colored lights glowing around the front door and white paper bags with candles in them on the steps. Royal rings the front doorbell. He carries a small package wrapped in red-and-pink- striped paper with a white ribbon on it.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
The three Tenenbaum children performed
Margot’s first play on the night of her
eleventh birthday.
There are twenty eleven-year-olds wearing party hats. Margot, Chas and Richie are in costumes. Margot is a zebra, Chas is a bear and Richie is a leopard. Eli is dressed in pajamas. Royal sits at a table with them, drinking a glass of whiskey.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
They had agreed to invite their father
to the party.
There is a small stage-set across the room for a play that appears to have taken place on a ship.
CHAS
What’d you think, Dad?
ROYAL
It didn’t seem believable to me.
Chas looks at Margot. She is silent. Royal says to Eli:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Why are you wearing pajamas? Do you
live here?
RICHIE
He has permission to sleep over.
Royal shakes his head.
CHAS
Did you think the characters were --
ROYAL
What characters? It was just a bunch of
little kids dressed in animal costumes.
MARGOT
Goodnight, everyone.
Margot quickly collects her unopened presents from the table. She puts Royal’s aside and sets it in front of him.
ROYAL
Sweetie. Don’t get mad. That’s just
one man’s opinion.
The lights go down. Royal looks across the room. Etheline stands in the doorway with a birthday cake on a tray. The candles are lit. She looks furious. Pagoda stands at the light switch. Everyone begins to sing “Happy Birthday.” Margot walks out of the room, and the singing disintegrates.
NARRATOR
He had not been invited to any of their
parties since.
Etheline blows out the candles.
There is a large antenna for Richie’s ham radio and a wooden coop with a falcon in it. The falcon has a hood over its eyes. Richie opens the coop, carefully removes the falcon’s hood, and feeds him some sardines from a tin.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
In fact, virtually all memory of the
brilliance of the young Tenenbaums had
been erased by two decades of betrayal,
failure and disaster.
Richie carries the falcon on his arm to the edge of the roof.
RICHIE
Go, Mordecai.
The falcon spreads its wings and lunges into the sky.
MONTAGE:
(The names of each of our characters and the names of the actors playing them appear over the following shots.)
Royal Tenenbaum sits in a chair in his hotel suite with no shirt on and a towel wrapped around his face. A woman in a white apron lifts off the towel, and Royal looks in the mirror. He is now sixty-six, with grey hair, white at the temples, worn very long in the back. He is getting a facial, and there are strips of blue cellophane covering his face. The woman quickly peels them away and begins to massage his temples. Royal lights a cigarette at the end of a three-inch holder.
Etheline Tenenbaum draws eyeliner around her eyes in the dressing mirror. She is fifty-five and has long, black hair with one silver streak that runs through it. She wears a pink slip and a gold locket. The wall behind her is filled with portraits of tribesmen and native warriors from around the world. She holds up a pair of prescription sunglasses and looks at herself. She lowers them and does her lipstick.
Chas Tenenbaum shaves in the locker room of a boxing gym. Steam fills the air. He is thirty-six and in top fighting condition. Ari and Uzi Tenenbaum are on either side of him. They are eight and ten. They are also shaving, but with no blades in their razors. All three have extremely curly black hair.
Margot Tenenbaum is at a hairdresser’s with three people working on her at once. She is thirty-four. Her hair is being dyed, and there are little clamps and bits of foil twisted into it. She is smoking a cigarette, and she blows a puff of smoke as the hair dryer is lowered onto her head. She holds an open copy of a book of plays by George Bernard Shaw. She has one fake finger made of wood.
Eli Cash is in the fitting room of a clothing store having a white buckskin jacket with fringe taken in. A tailor pulls at the hem of the jacket and sticks pins in the sleeves. The tailor’s helper brings Eli a cup of tea and some cucumber sandwiches. Eli picks out a sandwich. A second helper hands him a short-brimmed Stetson cowboy hat. He puts it on at an angle and stares at himself.
Releigh St. Clair brushes his teeth with an electric toothbrush in a very small, white-tiled bathroom. He has a full, gray beard and round glasses, and he is dressed in red silk pajamas with white piping. He stops suddenly, picks up a tape recorder off the edge of the sink, and excitedly dictates something into it. He puts the tape recorder back on the sink and starts brushing his teeth again.
CONTINUED: (2)
Henry Sherman stands in front of a mirrored wall in a vestibule of his building. He is a tall black man, fifty-six years old, with grey hair and a moustache. He wears a double- breasted navy blazer. He carefully folds a checkered handkerchief and tucks it into his breast pocket. There is a hand-lettered sign regarding trash and recycling taped to the wall behind him, underneath a row of mailboxes. It is signed H. Sherman, the Landlord, in red ink.
Richie Tenenbaum looks at himself in the mirror in his stateroom on board an ocean liner. He is thirty-two, with long hair, parted on the side, and a beard. He wears a khaki suit, a striped tennis shirt, a headband, and penny loafers. The ocean goes by at a fast clip in the porthole behind him. A towel on the dresser says The Cote d’Ivoire in red stitching. He takes out a little camera. He points it at his reflection, smiles sadly, and takes a picture of himself. He puts the camera back into his pocket and goes out the door.
INSERT:
Page 22 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Two.”
Royal’s suite at the Lindbergh Palace Hotel. There are shelves full of law books and hundreds of spy novels in stacks on the floor. There is a set of Encyclopedia Britannica, an exercise bicycle and a Xerox machine.
Royal lies on his stomach on a massage table getting a massage from a young Asian woman. The manager of the hotel stands in front of Royal with a piece of paper in his hand.
MANAGER
I’ve been instructed to refuse any
further charges on your room account and
to direct you in writing to please
vacate the premises by the end of the
month.
The manager hands Royal the piece of paper. Royal points to the masseuse.
ROYAL
What about Sing-Sang? I owe her a
hundred.
The manager looks to the masseuse.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Royal had lived in the Lindbergh Palace
Hotel for twenty-two years.
INSERT:
A letter typed on Lindbergh Palace Hotel stationary. It begins:
Dear Mr. Tenenbaum,
In light of your continuing failure to remit any form of payment, we have no --
CUT TO:
The masseuse. She does not appear to understand English.
MANAGER
Can you pay her in cash?
Royal shakes his head. The manager hesitates.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He was a prominent litigator until the
mid-eighties, when he was disbarred and
briefly imprisoned.
CUT TO:
Royal standing in the window looking out at the falling snow as Sing-Sang folds up the massage table behind him. He lights a cigarette.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
No one in his family had spoken to him
in three years.
The radio room on board the Cote d’Ivoire. There are computer terminals, short-wave radios, maps on the walls, and a crew of technicians in white uniforms. There is a mist outside the window, and an oil tanker in the distance.
The radio operator finishes typing a message into a keyboard and looks up to Richie.
RICHIE
Read it back to me so far, Pietro.
RADIO OPERATOR
Dear Eli, I’m in the middle of the
ocean. I haven’t left my room in four
days. I’ve never been more lonely in my
life, and I think I’m in love with
Margot.
The radio operator looks to Richie. Richie nods.
RICHIE
New paragraph.
Richie takes a sip of a Bloody Mary.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Richie had retired from professional
tennis at twenty-six. His last match
had been widely discussed in the media.
INSERT:
A copy of the Sporting Press magazine. On the cover, there is a photograph of Richie standing at the baseline of a tennis court. He wears no shoes and only one sock, and there are tears all over his face. The stands behind him are filled with confused fans. A caption across the page says “Meltdown!” And, in smaller letters, “Tenenbaum suffers mid- match nervous collapse in the semis at Windswept Fields.”
CUT TO:
Richie dictating to the radio operator.
RICHIE
Your friend, Richie. End of letter.
Richie signs a slip of paper and hands it to the radio operator. He wraps a scarf around his neck and goes out the door.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
For the past year he had been traveling
alone on an ocean liner called the Cote
d’Ivoire and had seen both poles, five
oceans, the Amazon and the Nile.
Eli stands at a podium reading from a book to a crowded audience. A telegram marked “Ship to Shore” is tucked into his coat pocket. His voice is quietly dramatic.
ELI
The crickets and the rust-beetles
scuttled among the nettles of the
sagethicket. Vamanos, amigos, he
whispered, and threw the busted leather
flintscraw over the loose weave of the
saddlecock. And they rode on in the
friscalating dusklight.
Eli looks up. He closes his book. The audience applauds uproariously.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Eli was an assistant professor of
English Literature at Brooks College.
The recent publication of his second
novel --
INSERT:
A copy of Eli Cash’s latest book, Old Custer. On the dust jacket there is an illustration of an Indian in warpaint with a long, bloody knife clasped between his teeth and a yellow scalp hanging from his hand.
Eli walks among the card catalogues surrounded by a crowd of admirers.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
-- had earned him a sudden, unexpected
literary celebrity.
CUT TO:
Eli standing near the circulation desk with a group of professors drinking cocktails.
ELI
Well, everyone knows Custer died at
Little Bighorn. What this book
presupposes is:
(tentatively)
maybe he didn’t?
Eli shrugs and smiles.
CUT TO:
Eli placing a call from a pay phone in the lobby. He unfolds a newspaper clipping and looks at it while he waits. He says suddenly into the receiver:
ELI (CONT’D)
Let me ask you something. Why would a
reviewer make the point of saying
someone’s not a genius? I mean, do you
think I’m especially not a genius?
Isn’t that --
Someone gives Eli a book to sign. He scribbles his name on it and hands it back without looking. He says sadly:
ELI (CONT’D)
You didn’t even have to think about it,
did you?
The bathroom of Margot’s and Raleigh’s apartment. Margot sits Indian-style on the counter painting her toenails red and talking on the telephone. There are cotton balls between her toes, and she has a towel wrapped around her.
Hot water runs full blast in the bathtub. A little black-and- white television set is tuned in to the six o’clock news with the sound turned off. Margot whispers into the telephone:
MARGOT
Well, I just don’t use that word
lightly.
Margot takes a drag of a cigarette balanced at the edge of the sink. There is knock on the door. Margot does not look up.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
I have to go, Eli.
Margot hangs up the telephone. There is another knock.
RALEIGH
Margot?
Raleigh has an English accent with a lisp. Margot answers without taking the cigarette out of her mouth.
MARGOT
Uh-huh?
RALEIGH
May I come in, please?
Margot puts out her cigarette. She waves the smoke away, turns on a little electric fan, and sprays perfume into the air with an atomizer. She reaches over and unlocks the door with her foot.
Raleigh cracks open the door and looks inside. He is wearing red pajamas and a camel’s-hair bathrobe. He seems worried and intimidated.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Margot was married to the writer and
neurologist Raleigh St. Clair.
INSERT:
A copy of Raleigh St. Clair’s latest book, The Peculiar Neuro- degenerative Inhabitants of the Kazawa Atoll. On the dust jacket, there is a photograph of Raleigh -- dressed in a Speedo, with goggles on top of his head -- on a beach, standing next to a Kasawa. The Kasawa stares at him curiously.
CUT TO:
Raleigh looking in the bathroom doorway.
RALEIGH
How are you, my darling?
CONTINUED: (2)
MARGOT
Fine, thank you.
Margot blows on her toenails.
RALEIGH
You must eat something. Shall I make
your dinner?
MARGOT
No, thank you.
Margot taps her fingers on the counter. The wooden one makes a clicking sound. She looks to Raleigh. Raleigh hesitates. He goes out suddenly and closes the door. Margot reaches over with her foot and locks it.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
She was known for her extreme secrecy.
For example, none of the Tenenbaums knew
she was a smoker, which she had been
since the age of twelve.
Margot opens a box of Q-Tips. There is a cigarette hidden inside. She takes it out and lights it.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
Nor were they aware of her first
marriage and divorce to a recording
artist in Jamaica.
INSERT:
A remaindered copy of Desmond Winston Manchester XI’s LP record Dynamite Stick. On the sleeve there is a photograph of five Rastafarians standing in front of a metal shack. A younger Margot stands behind them partly hidden in the door frame. She is dressed in a string bikini.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
She kept a private studio in Mockingbird
Heights under the name Helen Scott.
A small room with one wooden chair and a metal stand with an IBM electric typewriter on it. There are posters for several of Margot’s plays leaning against the walls. The titles include: Static Electricity, Erotic Transference and Nakedness Tonight.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
She had not completed a play in seven
years.
Raleigh’s basement. Raleigh sits at a table, across from a fifteen-year-old boy in a plaid fishing hat with “Dudley” stitched across the front. Raleigh is dressed in a turtleneck shirt and a corduroy blazer with suede patches on the elbows. The boy has an earphone in his ear. He wears Henry Aaron-style flip-up sunglasses.
Raleigh and Dudley both have a set of building blocks in front of them. Raleigh’s are arranged in the shape of a symmetrical cross. Dudley’s are strewn out randomly. A cardboard screen stands in between the two sets of blocks.
Raleigh says into his tape recorder:
RALEIGH
Seventeen October. Third examination of
Dudley Heinsbergen.
Raleigh lifts the cardboard screen and looks to Dudley.
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
All right, Dudley. Make yours look like
mine.
Dudley sets to work, moving his blocks around slowly.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Raleigh’s next book was on the subject
of a condition he called Heinsbergen’s
Syndrome.
Dudley finishes arranging his blocks into the shape of a lop- sided octagon with branches coming out of it.
DUDLEY
Done.
Raleigh begins to laugh quietly. He shakes his head.
RALEIGH
My goodness. How interesting. How
bizarre.
CUT TO:
Raleigh sitting in a corner. Dudley stands on the far side of the room misspelling words on a chalkboard. Raleigh whispers into his tape recorder:
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
Dudley suffers from a rare disorder
combining the symptoms of amnesia,
dyslexia and color-blindness, with a
highly acute sense of hearing.
Dudley turns around suddenly and frowns.
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
There is also evidence of --
DUDLEY
I’m not color-blind, am I?
Raleigh looks to Dudley. He hesitates.
RALEIGH
I’m afraid you are.
Ari’s and Uzi’s bedroom. It is perfectly neat and organized like a military barracks. There are night lights in every socket. There are two fire extinguishers and a large first- aid kit mounted on the wall. There is a turtle in a fish tank in the corner. Ari and Uzi are sound asleep in their bunk beds.
Chas stands in the doorway. His expression is blank. In one hand, he holds a small tape recorder. In the other hand, he holds a fishing lantern.
He turns on the lantern, which begins blinking rapidly in a strobe effect. He presses play on the tape recorder, which blasts a recording of a police siren at full volume. He yells at the top of his lungs:
CHAS
Fire alarm! Ari! Uzi! Let’s go! Look
alive!
Ari bolts out of the top bunk. He is shirtless and has on pajama bottoms. He puts on a pair of cleats and grabs the turtle out of the fish tank. Uzi sits up. He looks half asleep. Chas runs around the room, tipping over chairs and blasting the tape recorder. He looks to Uzi. He screams:
CHAS (CONT’D)
Uzi! Let’s go!
Ari presses the button for the elevator and waits. The apartment is extremely large and spare. It looks like a museum.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Chas’ wife, Rachael, was killed in a
plane crash the previous summer.
Chas and Uzi rush into the hallway. Uzi has on a pajama top and underwear. Chas yells to Ari:
CHAS
No elevators! There’s a fire!
They race down the stairs. Chas picks up Uzi.
UZI
What about Buckley?
CHAS
You forgot him.
Uzi starts to cry.
INSERT:
A slide projected onto a screen. Ari and Uzi and their mother stand in front of a small plane outside a hangar. The mother has on sunglasses with a scarf tied over her hair. The wind blows her dress sideways, and she is laughing. The boys wear camp shorts and no shirts. Uzi is doing a karate stance.
There is a beagle looking out of the window of the plane.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Chas and their two sons, Ari and Uzi,
were also on the flight and survived, as
did their dog, who was discovered in his
cage several thousand yards from the
crash site.
CUT TO:
A dog’s cage upside down in the desert surrounded by scraps of metal and clothing. A cloud of smoke billows in the distance.
The beagle is asleep next to the bathtub on a little bed with “Buckley” written on it. He looks very old and has white fur around his eyes. His breathing is wheezy. Chas’ siren can be heard in the distance outside the window. It stops.
Chas, Ari and Uzi stand on the sidewalk, looking up at the building. The street is deserted. The tape recorder has been turned off. The lantern is still blinking.
Chas turns off the lantern and presses stop on his stopwatch.
CHAS
Four minutes and forty-eight seconds.
We’re all dead. Burned to a crisp.
Chas shakes his head. He looks disoriented and weak.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Over the last six months, he had become
increasingly concerned with their
safety.
Uzi is still crying.
UZI
We left Buckley.
Chas rubs his eyes and his temples. He says quietly:
CHAS
It doesn’t matter.
Chas sits down on the sidewalk. Ari and Uzi look scared. The doorman watches uneasily from the lobby.
The walls of Etheline’s study are filled with pre-Columbian art and primitive tools and weapons. There are shelves full of hundreds of bones and bits of pottery with little numbers painted on them. There are stacks of National Geographics on the floor. A human skeleton hangs on a stand in the corner.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Etheline became an archaeologist and had
overseen excavations for the Department
of Housing and the Transit Authority.
The back doors are open on to the garden. Pagoda sits on a bench outside, peeling potatoes, listening to a Walkman with headphones. His hair is now white.
Etheline is at her desk studying an arrowhead while Henry sits next to her. He is working on her taxes.
HENRY
Apropos of my question re: I-40 slash I-
9 adjustments.
Henry stands up. He seems very nervous. Etheline looks up at him curiously.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
She taught bridge class twice a week
with her friend and business manager,
Henry Sherman.
INSERT:
A copy of Henry Sherman’s book, Accounting for Everything. A caption at the top of the cover says “A Guide to Personal Finance.” It appears to have been published in the late sixties.
CUT TO:
Henry looking down at Etheline.
HENRY
It would probably be advantageous for
your marital status to be legally
established as single, in light of the
circumstances.
ETHELINE
What do you mean?
HENRY
I mean for tax purposes.
ETHELINE
(pause)
But I thought it was --
HENRY
Etheline?
ETHELINE
Yes?
HENRY
Will you marry me?
Pagoda stops peeling the potatoes. He takes off one ear of his headphones. Etheline puts on her prescription sunglasses.
HENRY (CONT’D)
I love you. Did you already know that?
ETHELINE
No, I didn’t.
Henry nods calmly.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Since her separation from her husband,
she had had many suitors --
MONTAGE:
A large man stands on a glacier in Antarctica with penguins behind him. He wears a hooded fur coat and has ice frozen into his beard. He checks the elevation with a compass. A title identifies him as Neville Smythe-Dorleac.
CONTINUED: (2)
An Asian man in a tweed suit and large, perfectly round glasses on a settee in a room filled with avant-garde furniture and sculpture. He has several sets of blueprints under his arm. A title identifies him as Yasuo Oshima.
A white-haired man sits in a director’s chair on a sound stage, surrounded by extras dressed as futuristic earthlings and aliens. He has a strong, weathered face and wears a safari jacket. A title identifies him as Franklin Benedict.
CUT TO:
Henry looking down at Etheline. He has two bandaged shaving cuts, and a safety pin holds his glasses together.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
-- but had not considered a single one
until this moment.
Etheline starts to say something. She hesitates.
ETHELINE
This isn’t really a tax issue, is it?
HENRY
(pause)
That’s true. I don’t know why I put it
that way.
Etheline smiles slightly. She takes Henry’s hand.
ETHELINE
Let me think about it, Henry.
Pagoda frowns.
Pagoda places a call.
PAGODA
Hello, please. Tell Mr. Royal this is
the Pagoda.
Royal rides down in the elevator at the Lindbergh Palace. He is dressed in a gray double-breasted Savile Row pinstripe suit, a dark pink shirt, a red-and-pink-striped tie, and Aristotle Onassis-style wrap-around sunglasses. He smokes a cigarette.
The elevator operator has a thin, gray moustache and jet- black hair. He is Dusty. The elevator stops.
ROYAL
Thanks, Dusty.
DUSTY
You’re welcome.
The elevator doors open and Royal strides out quickly. He crosses through a gigantic lobby. A bellboy appears.
BELLBOY
There’s a call for you, Mr. Tenenbaum.
ROYAL
Who is it?
BELLBOY
A Mr. Pagoda.
ROYAL
I’ll take it in there.
Royal points to a little wood-paneled telephone booth.
The telephone rings. Royal answers it.
ROYAL
What do you got?
Royal and Pagoda stand alone in the middle of a field. A light, misting rain falls.
PAGODA
The black man asks her to be his wife.
ROYAL
(quietly)
No shit? And what’d Ethel say?
PAGODA
She thinks about it.
Royal stares off into space. He shakes his head.
ROYAL
I don’t like the sound of this one damn
bit, Pagoda. I mean, Lord knows I’ve
had my share of infidelities. But she’s
still my wife.
(pause)
And no goddamn two-bit chartered
accountant’s going to change that.
INSERT:
Page 50 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Three.”
The doorbell rings. Pagoda comes into the hallway and opens the front door. Uzi is on the steps with a duffel bag over his shoulder and a stack of coloring books under his arm. Buckley is at his side. Buckley has a cold and coughs often.
There is a silver BMW parked at the curb with three doors and the trunk open. Chas, Ari and a uniformed driver are unpacking suitcases, blankets, boxes, clothes, toys, boxing gloves and a computer. The driver is Anwar.
Chas, Ari and Uzi all wear red Adidas warm-ups.
CHAS
Give us a hand, Pagoda.
Pagoda frowns. He starts down the steps.
There are twenty people at five card tables playing bridge. Most of them are in their fifties and sixties. They look very distinguished. Etheline and Henry are among them.
Chas, Ari, Uzi, Anwar and Pagoda come out of the hallway and cross through the living room, struggling with all of their possessions. Pagoda carries the fish tank with the turtle in it. Buckley follows them.
The bridge players watch strangely as they pass. Chas looks back at them but keeps moving. Etheline hesitates.
ETHELINE
Chas?
Chas stops in the doorway. Pagoda leads Ari, Uzi, Anwar and Buckley out of the room, up the stairs.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
What’s going on?
CHAS
We got locked out of our apartment.
Etheline seems confused.
ETHELINE
Did you call a locksmith?
CHAS
(hesitates)
Uh-huh.
ETHELINE
(pause)
I don’t understand. Did you pack your
bags before you got locked out? Or how
did you --
CHAS
It’s not safe over there.
Silence. Etheline looks to her guests.
ETHELINE
Excuse me for a moment, please.
Etheline closes the sliding door to the living room. She and Chas stand alone in the hallway.
ETHELINE
What are you talking about?
CHAS
The apartment. I have to get some new
sprinklers and a back-up security system
installed.
ETHELINE
But there’s no sprinklers here, either.
Chas looks up and studies the ceiling. He shrugs.
CHAS
Well, we might have to do something
about that, too.
Etheline looks concerned.
CUT TO:
Two dalmation mice chewing on a plate of hors d'oeuvres on the window sill. The bridge players watch them silently.
Ari and Uzi sit silently on the bunk beds in Chas’ room. They have dark circles under their eyes and seem exhausted. Chas walks around the room examining things. He looks like a wreck, but acts incredibly cheerful, pretending not to notice how sad the boys look.
CHAS
Isn’t this great? It feels like we’re
camping.
Chas chuckles as he turns on his old electric tie rack.
ARI
When are we going home?
Chas sees something across the room. He frowns.
CHAS
Who put that in here?
There is a framed poster leading against the wall in the corner. It is a tennis-shoe advertisement with a picture of Richie holding a trophy over his head, surrounded by a cheering crowd. A caption across the top says “The Baumer.” Chas turns it around to face the wall. He kisses Ari and Uzi goodnight.
CHAS (CONT’D)
See you in the morning.
Chas goes out the door. A moment later, he comes back in.
CHAS (CONT’D)
You know what? I’m going to sleep in
here, and that way we can all be
together.
Chas spreads out a blanket on the floor and lies down. Uzi comes and lies down next to him.
Royal sits on the edge of an examination table with white butcher paper on it. A young doctor on a rolling stool takes Royal’s blood pressure as they talk.
ROYAL
What kind of side effects can be
expected?
DOCTOR
Well, there’s a number of possibilities.
Severe nausea and dizziness are
standard. A certain percentage of
patients may also experience seizure.
ROYAL
You mean like flopping around on the
floor and everything?
DOCTOR
In some cases.
Royal nods gravely.
Etheline and Raleigh stand outside the bathroom in Margot and Raleigh’s apartment. Etheline has on an overcoat and gloves. Raleigh knocks on the door.
RALEIGH
You have a visitor, my darling.
Margot answers without opening the door:
MARGOT
Who is it?
ETHELINE
It’s me, sweetie.
Silence. A key slides from under the door to Etheline’s feet. Etheline looks to Raleigh. Raleigh looks embarrassed.
Margot is in the bathtub watching Planet of the Apes on her little black-and-white television set. Etheline sits on the edge of the tub with her coat in her lap.
ETHELINE
Raleigh says you’ve been spending six
hours a day locked in here watching
television and soaking in the tub.
MARGOT
(pause)
I doubt that.
ETHELINE
Well, I don’t think that’s very healthy,
do you? Nor do I think it’s very
intelligent to keep an electrical gadget
on the edge of the bathtub.
MARGOT
I tied it to the radiator.
Etheline examines the television set. There is a length of red twine wrapped around it and knotted to a pipe.
ETHELINE
Well, it can’t be very good for your
eyes, anyway.
Margot turns off the television set with her foot. She looks to Etheline. Etheline smooths back Margot’s wet hair.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
Chas came home.
MARGOT
(pause)
What do you mean?
ETHELINE
He and Ari and Uzi are going to stay
with me for a little while.
MARGOT
(frowns)
Why are they allowed to do that?
ETHELINE
(hesitates)
Well, I don’t know, exactly. But I
think he’s been very depressed ever
since --
MARGOT
(urgently)
So am I.
ETHELINE
(pause)
So are you what?
The front door of Margot and Raleigh’s apartment building opens. Margot comes out and goes down the steps with three suitcases and her TV. Raleigh follows her. Etheline and Dudley walk behind them. Raleigh sounds desperately unhappy.
RALEIGH
But why is this bloody necessary?
MARGOT
Because I’m in a rut, and I need a
change. Hang on.
Margot sets down her suitcases and goes into a telephone booth with graffiti spray-painted all over it. She closes the door and makes a call.
Etheline stands on the corner and raises her hand into the air. A gypsy cab pulls over. Raleigh waits uncomfortably outside the telephone booth. He watches Margot talking on the telephone. Dudley points at the taxi.
DUDLEY
That taxi has a dent in it.
Margot comes out of the telephone booth.
RALEIGH
You don’t love me anymore, do you?
MARGOT
I do, kind of. I can’t explain it right
now.
Raleigh looks crestfallen. Margot puts her suitcases into the back seat of the taxi. Dudley continues to point at it.
DUDLEY
Another dent here and another dent
there.
MARGOT
(gently)
I’ll call you, OK?
Raleigh nods. Margot gets into the taxi. Etheline looks at Raleigh sadly. She gets into the taxi and closes the door. Raleigh and Dudley watch the taxi drive away. Raleigh has tears in his eyes. Dudley takes a bite of a graham cracker.
Margot goes into her room and sets her suitcases on the floor. She closes the door and locks it. She opens the door to the closet and turns on the light. She whispers:
MARGOT
Hello?
There is a rustle behind some hanging clothes. Eli looks out nervously and slowly emerges. He is dressed in white briefs. He whispers:
ELI
Hello, beautiful.
CUT TO:
Margot and Eli in Margot’s single bed with the sheets pulled over their heads. Margot is eating potato chips, smoking a cigarette, and watching the news on her TV with the sound turned off.
ELI (CONT’D)
Could we have dinner with your mother
sometime?
Margot frowns. She looks at Eli strangely.
MARGOT
What for?
ELI
(shrugs)
I don’t know. I’d just love to see her.
MARGOT
I don’t think so, Eli.
Eli looks disappointed.
The next morning, Etheline comes out the front door of the Tenenbaum house and goes down the steps. Royal suddenly appears at her side.
ROYAL
You got a minute?
Etheline looks startled. She keeps walking.
ETHELINE
What are you doing here?
ROYAL
I need a favor. I want to spend some
time with you and the children.
ETHELINE
Are you crazy?
ROYAL
Now, hold on, dammit.
ETHELINE
Stop following me.
ROYAL
I want my family back.
ETHELINE
Well, you can’t have it. I’m sorry for
you, but it’s too late.
Royal hesitates for a fraction of a second.
ROYAL
I’m dying, baby.
Etheline stops. She looks to Royal.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’m sick as a dog. I’ll be dead in six
weeks. I’m dying.
ETHELINE
What are you talking about?
Royal stares at her blankly. He nods.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
What happened?
Royal shrugs. Etheline looks stunned.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
Oh, my God.
Etheline looks as if she is going to faint. Royal seems suddenly worried.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
I’m sorry. I didn’t know.
Etheline cannot seem to catch her breath. Royal looks around nervously.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
What’d they say? What’s the prognosis?
Etheline begins to hyperventilate. Royal tries to calm her down.
ROYAL
Take it easy, Ethel.
Etheline stumbles a step and Royal catches her. He looks scared.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Hold on. Hold on.
ETHELINE
(urgently)
Where’s the doctor? Let’s get --
ROYAL
Wait a second.
Royal holds Etheline by the shoulders. He hesitates. He says gently, trying to comfort her:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Listen. I’m not dying. But I need some
time.
Etheline looks puzzled.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
A month. Maybe two. I want us to --
Etheline slaps Royal hard in the face. She says furiously:
ETHELINE
What’s wrong with you?
ROYAL
Ethel.
CONTINUED: (2)
ETHELINE
Go away!
Etheline turns away and walks quickly across the street.
ROYAL
Baby. I am dying.
Etheline stops. She looks back to Royal. She can see from the look on his face that now he is telling the truth. She goes over to him in the middle of the intersection.
ETHELINE
Are you or aren’t you?
ROYAL
(pause)
Dying? Yes.
A telephone conversation. Henry sits at a desk in his study. There are ledger books and adding machines in front of him and glass statues of birds and animals behind him. Etheline is in the telephone room on Archer Avenue.
HENRY
Have you told your children?
ETHELINE
More or less.
HENRY
And are they all right?
ETHELINE
Hard to say.
A second telephone conversation. Ari talks on a pay phone next to an indoor pool. Uzi stands beside him. Each wears goggles and an orange life-jacket belted tightly. A sign on the wall says “Water Safety and Rescue Class, 11 a.m.” Chas sits at the desk in his bedroom on Archer Avenue.
UZI
Who’s your father?
CHAS
His name’s Royal Tenenbaum.
ARI
You told us he was already dead.
CHAS
(hesitates)
But now he’s really dying.
A third telephone conversation. Eli sits on a couch in front of a painting of two men wearing ski masks riding a motorcycle chasing after a screaming girl in a bikini. He smokes a long, Moroccan-looking pipe. Margot talks on the telephone in her bathroom on Archer Avenue. There are three bottles of developing chemicals and a photographic enlarger next to the sink.
ELI
I’m very sorry, Margot.
MARGOT
That’s OK. We’re not actually related,
anyway.
ELI
That’s true.
The Cote d’Ivoire. Richie sits under a wool blanket in a chaise lounge reading a telegram with “Shore to Ship” printed across the top. He looks upset. A waiter stands next to him with a pen and a pad of paper in his hand. All of the other passengers on the deck are very elderly and have white hair.
RICHIE
I’d like to send a response, Alberto.
WAITER
Yes, sir. Go ahead.
RICHIE
Dear Mom, I received your message. I’m
coming home as soon as possible.
(pause)
Who do I see about that?
The waiter shrugs.
The entrance to the passenger terminal for the Cote d’Ivoire. A sign across the glass says “Royal Arctic Line.” Richie stands on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets as bundled-up, white-haired passengers and baggage handlers run by around him. He has two small suitcases and a vinyl bag with a pouch on he side for a tennis racket. There is no racket in it. Two elderly men with white hair come over to him.
ELDERLY MAN 1
Can we get a picture with you, Baumer?
Richie nods. One of the elderly men gives his camera to a baggage handler, and they stand next to Richie.
ELDERLY MAN 2
I saw you whip Vishniac in the finals at
Glenchester. You were beautiful back
then.
Richie smiles briefly. The baggage handler takes the picture.
ELDERLY MAN 1
Thanks, Champ.
The two elderly men walk away. A city bus stops at the corner. The door opens and Margot gets out. She smiles at Richie and waves. She wears a mink coat with a belt around it. She has on pink gloves. She walks across the sidewalk and stops ten feet in front of Richie as the bus drives away. They stand there smiling at each other.
MARGOT
Stand up straight and let me get a look
at you.
Richie stands up a little straighter and continues to look at Margot with the same smile.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
What’s so funny?
Richie shrugs.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
Well, it’s nice to see you, too.
Their smiles fade, and they both look cold and sad. Richie reaches out his hand. Margot goes over to him and puts her arms around him.
Margot and Richie stand on the steps in front of the house. The door opens and Etheline and Pagoda come outside and hug Richie. Richie and Henry shake hands. Ari and Uzi come running out and hug Richie.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
That night, Etheline found all of her
children living together under the same
roof for the first time in seventeen
years.
Chas watches from his window on the third floor. Richie looks up and sees him. Richie waves tentatively. Chas waves back without smiling.
Richie comes out on to the roof dressed in pajamas. He opens his falcon’s coop. He puts his hand under the falcon’s feet, and the falcon steps on to his fist. The falcon’s hood says Mordecai across the front. Richie pulls a leather cord and lifts the hood off the falcon’s head. He strokes the falcon’s feathers and talks softly in its ear.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The next morning Richie woke at dawn.
He had decided birds should not be kept
in cages, fed Mordecai three sardines,
and set him free.
CUT TO:
An hour later. Richie sits on a box on the roof eating a bowl of cereal and reading a book called Three Plays by Margot Tenenbaum. There is an empty tin of sardines at his feet. The door to the falcon’s coop is open, and the falcon is gone.
INSERT:
Page 76 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Four.”
Royal gets out of a gypsy cab in front of the Tenenbaum house. He is dressed in a white bathrobe, white pajamas and red bedroom slippers. He carries a cane, but walks across the sidewalk quickly and energetically.
Pagoda waits for him at the top of the steps. They shake hands. Silence.
ROYAL
OK.
Pagoda opens the front door.
Royal sits on a stool across from Richie and Margot on the couch. Chas stands at a table in the corner reading Richie’s Atlas of the World. Royal looks to Chas. Chas looks back at him but does not move. Royal looks back to Richie and Margot.
ROYAL
I’ve missed the hell out of you, my
darlings. You know that, don’t you?
MARGOT
I hear you’re dying.
ROYAL
So they tell me.
MARGOT
I’m sorry.
ROYAL
(shrugs)
I had a good run.
RICHIE
You don’t look so sick, Dad.
ROYAL
Thank you.
RICHIE
What’ve you got?
ROYAL
I’ve got a pretty bad case of cancer.
CHAS
(yawning)
How long are you going to last?
Royal looks across the room at Chas. Chas does not look up from his atlas.
ROYAL
Not long.
CHAS
A month? A year?
ROYAL
About six weeks.
Royal looks back to Richie and Margot.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
But let me get to the point here. The
three of you and your mother are all
I’ve got, and I love you more than
anything.
Chas laughs quietly.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Let me finish. Now, I’ve got six weeks
to set things right with you, and I aim
to do it. Will you give me a chance?
CONTINUED: (2)
CHAS
No.
ROYAL
Do you speak for everyone?
CHAS
I speak for myself.
ROYAL
Well, you’ve made your views known. So
why don’t you let somebody else do some
of the talking now?
MARGOT
What do you propose to do?
ROYAL
Well, I can’t say, really. Make up for
lost time, I suppose. But the first
thing I’d like to do is take you to see
your grandmother, at some point.
RICHIE
(pause)
I haven’t been out there since I was
six.
MARGOT
I haven’t been there at all. I was
never invited.
ROYAL
Well, she wasn’t your real grandmother,
so I didn’t know you’d be interested,
sweetie. Anyway, you’re invited this
time.
MARGOT
Thanks.
Richie looks to Chas. He looks back to Royal.
RICHIE
You know, Rachael’s buried there, too.
ROYAL
(pause)
Who?
CHAS
My wife.
ROYAL
Oh. That’s right, isn’t it? Well, we
can swing by her grave, too.
CONTINUED: (3)
Chas slams the atlas shut and puts it back into the bookcase. He walks toward the door. Royal extends his hand as Chas walks by. Chas slaps it away and goes out of the room. Royal says to Margot and Richie:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’ll be right back.
Chas is already half-way to the second floor as Royal appears at the bottom of the steps.
ROYAL
Chas?
Chas stops. He looks down to Royal.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
May I see my grandsons?
CHAS
Why?
ROYAL
Because I’d like to finally meet them.
Chas scoffs at the idea and shakes his head.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Don’t give me that guff.
CHAS
I think we’ll pass.
Chas walks away up the stairs. There is a clean square and a hook on the wall in the stairwell, as if something has been removed. Royal frowns. He yells toward the kitchen:
ROYAL
Pagoda! Where’s my javelina?
Royal stands in the living room with Richie and Margot.
ROYAL
I’ll say goodnight to you now, children.
Margot waves. Richie hugs Royal. Royal looks to be on the verge of tears.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Thank you, my sweet boy.
Royal and Pagoda stand outside the top of the front steps. Royal says quickly:
ROYAL
I’ll contact you in the next twelve
hours and give you further instructions.
Pagoda nods. A taxi stops in front of the house. Royal’s face darkens. Henry and Etheline get out of the taxi. They each carry a playbill for a play called That Rascal. Royal clamps his hand on Pagoda’s arm and lets out a slow whistle.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Look at that old grizzly bear.
Royal licks his fingers and smooths back his hair. He bounds down the steps.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Hello, Ethel! Good evening, sir. Hold
the cab, please, driver.
Henry leaves the door to the taxi open.
ETHELINE
Royal, this is Henry Sherman.
ROYAL
Hey, man. Lay it on me.
Royal puts out his hand for Henry to give him five. Henry reluctantly slaps hands with Royal and says:
HENRY
How do you do?
ROYAL
(shrugs)
Ah, what can I say? I’m dying.
Henry looks uneasy.
ETHELINE
Don’t pay any attention to that man,
Henry.
ROYAL
I’m just kidding. Goodnight all.
Royal gets into the taxi and closes the door.
Margot and Eli walk together down a street with trash everywhere and abandoned cars and broken windows.
ELI
Right there is where I used to go get
jacked off.
Margot nods. She seems distracted.
ELI (CONT’D)
You don’t give a shit.
MARGOT
I’m listening.
(points to a deli)
Right there is where you used to go get
jacked off.
ELI
That’s right.
They walk in silence for a minute.
ELI (CONT’D)
How’s Richie?
MARGOT
(pause)
I don’t know. I can’t tell.
ELI
Yeah. Me, either. He wrote me a
letter. He says he’s in love with you.
MARGOT
(frowns)
What are you talking about?
ELI
(shrugs)
That’s what he said. I don’t know how
we’re supposed to take it. Hang on.
They stop in front of a partially demolished building. Eli presses the buzzer to one of the apartments. A voice comes on the call box:
VOICE
Hello?
ELI
Sugar, it’s Eli.
VOICE
Hey, baby.
The door buzzes open. Margot says blankly:
MARGOT
What are we doing, Eli?
CONTINUED: (2)
ELI
I just got to pick something up. Don’t
repeat that, by the way. About Richie.
It was told in confidence.
Eli goes inside. Margot stands alone on the street. She looks up at the destroyed building.
A large network of pits between two brownstone townhouses. There are workers digging, surveying, sketching, and shaking dirt through metal hand-screens.
The archaeologists crouch around Etheline while she compares a bit of soil on the end of a trowel with a color chart in a handbook. She is dressed entirely in denim except for a scarf over her hair. She has on sunglasses and boots. The three archaeologists are all scruffy young men with beards.
ETHELINE
Good. Now I’ll just remove the loose
soil and note the decomposition levels.
Etheline dusts off a partially unearthed skeleton. Henry appears in the background, climbing down a ladder on the far side of the pit. He wears a gray wool suit and tie. He picks up a pebble off the ground and looks at it. Etheline says to the three archaeologists:
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
These were probably slaves. Before the
arrival of the --
GRADUATE STUDENT
What are you doing?
A graduate student with a shovel is looking at Henry and frowning. Etheline and the three archaeologists turn around and see them.
GRADUATE STUDENT (CONT’D)
Please, put that artifact back where you
found it, sir.
Henry looks embarrassed. He puts the pebble back on the ground.
CUT TO:
Etheline and Henry walking through a trench together.
HENRY
I’m sorry to interrupt your work.
ETHELINE
Don’t be silly.
HENRY
I just wanted to apologize for the other
day. When I proposed to you.
ETHELINE
Why? I thought it was very sweet.
HENRY
Look. I know I’m not as accomplished as
some of the men you’ve been involved
with. Franklin Benedict and General
Cartwright and your ex-husband and --
ETHELINE
That’s ridiculous.
HENRY
But I feel I have just as much to offer
as any of them. I know I went about it
backwards, but --
ETHELINE
Henry, I have no interest in Frank
Benedict or Doug Cartwright. I never
did.
Henry falls into a pit and disappears from view. Etheline does not notice this and continues walking.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
And as far as Royal is concerned, he’s
the most --
Etheline stops. She looks around. She sees Henry climbing up a ladder, out of the pit. He is covered with dirt and has a small twig in his hair. She rushes over to him.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
Are you all right?
Henry sighs. He brushes some dirt off his jacket.
HENRY
I’m fine. Anyway, let me know when you
make up your mind.
Henry starts to walk away. Etheline grabs his sleeve.
ETHELINE
Wait a second, Henry.
Henry stops. He looks to Etheline. She takes his hand and kisses it. He looks surprised.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
I’m sorry. I’m very nervous.
CONTINUED: (2)
Etheline pulls the twig out of Henry’s hair.
HENRY
That’s OK. Thank you. Why are you --
ETHELINE
To tell you the truth, I haven’t slept
with a man in eighteen years.
Silence. Henry nods. He puts his hand on Etheline’s cheek.
Margot lies in her bed behind a mosquito net watching a downhill skiing competition on her portable television. Etheline stands in the doorway and says calmly:
ETHELINE
I think I’m falling for Henry.
Margot looks to Etheline. She pulls open the mosquito netting.
MARGOT
That’s amazing.
ETHELINE
What do you think of him?
MARGOT
(excited)
I think he’s gorgeous.
ETHELINE
I’ll tell you a secret. He asked me to
marry him.
MARGOT
(dreamily)
I’m going to have a father.
ETHELINE
(hesitates)
Well, I haven’t accepted yet. Besides,
you already have a father, sweetheart.
MARGOT
Not really. Plus, now he’s dying.
CUT TO:
The hallway outside Margot’s room. Pagoda is poised in the dark, watching from the stairs.
A rooftop park with a chain-link fence around it. There are several fighters lifting weights and jumping rope. Ari does chin-ups from a jungle gym. Uzi does sit-ups on a mat. Buckley lays on the cement beside them.
Someone whistles from behind the fence. Ari and Uzi look. It is Royal. He is inside a telephone booth with the door partly open, holding the receiver to his ear. He signals for Ari and Uzi to come over.
Ari frowns. He looks across the courtyard to Anwar, sitting on a bench, reading a BMW owner’s manual. Royal ducks back into the telephone booth and holds the receiver to his ear. Anwar does not look up.
Ari slides down a fire-station-type pole. He and Uzi cautiously go over to the fence with Buckley. Royal hangs up the receiver and comes out of the telephone booth.
ROYAL
That’s a hell of an old hound dog you
got there. What’s he go by?
ARI
Buckley.
ROYAL
(pointing at Buckley)
Buckley. Sit.
Buckley sits. Royal looks impressed. He turns to Ari.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You know who I am?
Ari shakes his head.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’m Royal. You heard of me?
Ari nods. Royal looks pleased. His expression becomes serious again.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’m very sorry for your loss. Your
mother was a terribly attractive woman.
ARI
(pause)
Thank you.
ROYAL
Which one are you?
ARI
Ari.
ROYAL
(looks to Uzi)
Uzi, I’m your granddad.
UZI
Hello.
ROYAL
I’m sorry we haven’t gotten to know each
other. I don’t get invited around much.
What do you think about that, by the
way? You don’t have to say anything.
Royal sighs. He stares off into space.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Kind of a fuck-you to the old man, I
guess.
Royal looks back to Ari and Uzi.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
How’s your daddy?
ARI
Fine.
ROYAL
You think so? How often’s he got you
working out?
ARI
Sixteen times a week.
ROYAL
(shakes his head)
Do me a favor. Tell him you want to
meet me.
UZI
But we just met.
ROYAL
No, we didn’t.
Ari and Uzi look confused.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Look. I want us to have a relationship,
but we’re going to have to pull some
strings to make that happen.
(pause)
Here’s what you tell him...
Ari and Uzi sit across from Chas. He is behind his desk with his back turned to them. Ari and Uzi are both dressed in black Adidas warm-ups. Chas wears his red one. A technician tinkers with a large Xerox machine on the other side of the room. Another technician rolls in a crate on a dolly.
ARI
I bet Mom would’ve wanted us to meet him
before he died, wouldn’t she?
Chas turns his chair around and looks to Ari and Uzi. Silence. He sighs.
A small cemetery next to an electrical power plant. The trees are bare, and the city is across the river. Chas, Ari and Uzi stand together dressed in black Adidas warm-ups. Royal and Richie stand beside them.
Royal’s mother’s gravestone reads “Helen O’Reilly Tenenbaum (1909-1962).” Epitaph: “The Salt of the Earth.” Royal places a bouquet of white flowers at the foot of the grave. There are tears in his eyes. He says to Chas:
ROYAL
She was a tough old broad, wasn’t she?
CHAS
I wouldn’t know. Excuse me.
ROYAL
Oh, that’s right. We got another body
buried out here. Hang on. Take some of
these.
Royal takes half of the white flowers off his mother’s grave and hands them to Chas. Chas walks away. Silence.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
What do you think of this big old black
buck moving in up there?
RICHIE
(pause)
Who?
ROYAL
Henry Sherman. You know him?
RICHIE
Yeah.
ROYAL
Is he worth a damn?
RICHIE
I believe so.
Royal nods.
CUT TO:
Ari, Uzi and Margot standing in front of Rachael’s gravestone, which reads “Rachael Evans Tenenbaum (1965- 2000).” Uzi stares at Margot’s missing finger.
UZI
What happened to your finger?
Ari looks quickly to Uzi.
MARGOT
It got chopped off by an axe.
UZI
How’d it get chopped off by --
ARI
Uzi. Shh.
MARGOT
It’s OK. I’ll tell you. I’m adopted.
Did you know that?
Uzi shakes his head.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
Well, I am. And I went to find my real
family when I was fourteen. They live
in Indiana.
A fourteen-year-old Margot stands behind a barn with a family of blond farmers. There are a mother and father and five very young children. Margot’s hair is dyed black, and she wears a black LaCoste dress, black eyeliner, and black nail polish.
FATHER
Now just set one of them hickory trunks
right up on top there, sister Maggie.
Margot sets a log sideways on top of a wood pile. She reaches to adjust the log slightly just as the father swings an axe and chops the log in half.
Everyone looks stunned. The father stares at Margot’s bloody hand. Margot looks to the father as if he is an idiot.
CUT TO:
Margot, Ari and Uzi standing together.
ARI
Did you try to sew it back on?
MARGOT
(shakes her head)
Couldn’t find it.
CUT TO:
Richie and Royal looking at an impressive monument in the middle of the cemetery. An inscription says: “Veteran of Two Wars. Father of Nine Children. Drowned in the Caspian Sea.”
ROYAL
That’s a hell of a damn grave.
Richie nods. Royal says wistfully:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I wish it were mine.
CUT TO:
Royal and Richie walking together among the gravestones.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
It’s a shame, isn’t it?
RICHIE
What?
ROYAL
You probably had another good two to
three years of competitive play in you.
RICHIE
(shrugs)
Probably.
ROYAL
I had a lot riding on that match, you
know. Financially and personally.
Richie nods. Silence.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Why’d you choke out there that day,
Baumer?
RICHIE
(pause)
I don’t know, Dad.
INSERT:
CONTINUED: (2)
A television set tuned in to network coverage of a tennis match on grass courts. Richie is playing an Indian player dressed all in white. A title identifies him as Sanjay Gandhi.
Gandhi serves. With a bizarre swing, Richie hits his return directly off the court and deep into the stands. He shakes his head and talks to himself. It is briefly revealed that he is wearing no shoes and only one sock.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
That’s seventy-two unforced errors for
Richie Tenenbaum. He’s playing the
worst tennis of his life. What’s he
feeling right now, Tex Hayward?
TEX HAYWARD (V.O.)
I don’t know, Jim. There’s obviously
something wrong with him. He’s taken
off his shoes and one of his socks, and -
- actually, I think he’s crying.
Richie is shown preparing to serve with tears all over his face. He hesitates. He looks into the stands.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Who’s he looking at in the friends’ box,
Tex?
Margot and Raleigh, holding hands, watch from their seats in a courtside box. They look very concerned.
TEX HAYWARD (V.O.)
That’s his sister, Margot, and her new
husband, Raleigh St. Clair. They were
just married yesterday, Jim.
Richie stares at Margot and Raleigh. He looks to Chas, with Rachael, Ari and Uzi. He looks to Etheline. He looks to Royal in a lonely seat up in the nosebleed section. Royal stands up and walks towards the exit.
Richie serves suddenly, underhand, barely tossing the ball into the air. Gandhi nails his return, and Richie attempts to play it by throwing his racket at the ball.
CUT TO:
Royal and Richie standing together.
ROYAL
I kind of disappeared after that, didn’t
I?
CONTINUED: (3)
RICHIE
(shrugs)
Yeah, but I understood. I know you’re
not very good with disappointment.
Royal nods. He kicks a pebble on the ground.
CUT TO:
Royal scraping some dirt off of Rachael’s gravestone with his foot. Chas stands beside him.
ROYAL
You still got that little BB in your
hand, Chassie?
Chas looks to Royal. He holds up his hand and shows Royal a little round bump between two knuckles. Royal taps it with his finger. It moves slightly.
CHAS
Why’d you shoot me?
Silence. Royal says quietly:
ROYAL
It was the object of the game, wasn’t
it?
CHAS
No. We were on the same team.
ROYAL
Were we?
Chas does not respond. Royal sighs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Well, you sued me. Twice. And got me
disbarred. But I don’t hold it against
you, do I?
A lawyer in a robe sits behind his desk. Chas and Royal and two attorneys sit across from him. A stenographer sits at a metal stand, typing.
JUDGE
And how was it possible for Mr.
Tenenbaum to withdraw these funds
without your written authorization?
ROYAL
Objection, your honor. Now, dammit --
ROYAL’S LAWYER
This isn’t a courtroom, Royal. Don’t
object.
CHAS
Because I started the corporation when I
was a minor, so my father was the
primary signatory on most of my
accounts.
Chas’ attorney whispers something into his ear.
CHAS (CONT’D)
He also stole bonds out of my safety
deposit box when I was fourteen.
The judge looks to Royal. Royal looks guilty.
CUT TO:
Royal and Chas surrounded with Ari and Uzi.
ROYAL
You think you could start forgiving me?
CHAS
Why should I?
ROYAL
Because you’re hurting me.
Chas turns and walks away. Uzi looks to Royal.
UZI
Were you in prison?
ROYAL
Kind of. Minimum security. I got
jacked by the IRS. Should we split?
ARI
Yes, sir.
ROYAL
Call me Mr. Tenenbaum.
ARI
OK.
ROYAL
I’m kidding. Call me Pappy.
ARI
OK.
Royal yells across the cemetery to Richie and Margot.
CONTINUED: (2)
ROYAL
Come on! Let’s shag ass!
CUT TO:
Margot and Richie walking toward the cemetery gates.
RICHIE
How are you and Raleigh getting along?
You think you’re going to get back
together?
MARGOT
(pause)
I don’t know.
RICHIE
Well, if you need someone to talk to,
let me know, OK? I like Raleigh very
much. I know he’s a lot older than you
are, and you’re having some problems,
but -- Anyway, maybe I can help.
MARGOT
OK. Thanks.
A maintenance man with a shovel in his hand yells from across the cemetery:
MAINTENANCE MAN
Hey, Baumer! All right!
Richie smiles and waves to the maintenance man.
MARGOT
By the way, I heard about that letter
you sent to Eli.
Silence. Richie starts to say something. He hesitates. A pack of cigarettes falls out of Margot’s pocket on to the ground. They stop walking and look at it.
RICHIE
You dropped some cigarettes.
MARGOT
Those aren’t mine.
RICHIE
Well, they just fell out of your pocket.
Margot picks up the pack of cigarettes and puts it back in her pocket.
Eli walks into the vestibule smoking a joint which he keeps in his mouth at all times like a cigarette. He opens the front door. Richie stands on the top step.
ELI
Oh, my Lord. Look at you.
Eli embraces Richie. They smile sadly at each other.
CUT TO:
Richie and Eli walking into the front room of the house. It is furnished like a house in the English countryside, with antiques and potted flowers and old rugs.
RICHIE
Did you tell Margot about that letter I
wrote you?
ELI
(hesitates)
Why? Did she mention it?
Richie does not respond.
ELI (CONT’D)
Yes, I did.
RICHIE
Eli, that was meant to be just between
you and me.
ELI
I know. I’m sorry. Why would she have
repeated that, I wonder?
RICHIE
Well, I would ask you the same question.
ELI
(pause)
Rightly so.
Richie and Eli walk into the next room. Eli’s wife, Sabrina, is painting in her studio. She is very beautiful and wears spectacles and a white sari. She is barefoot. Classical music plays quietly on the record player.
ELI
Sabrina?
Sabrina does not look up. She seems irritated.
SABRINA
What?
ELI
Look what I found on the doorstep.
Sabrina looks to Richie. She is only mildly surprised. She has an English accent.
SABRINA
Hello, darling.
Sabrina hugs and kisses Richie.
ELI
Charlotte? Stetson? Say hello to Uncle
Richie.
There are two children in the corner. Stetson is six. He works at a spinning potter’s wheel, molding a hunk of clay. Charlotte is five. She is painting a set of teacups. She has a cast in a sling on her arm. They are both blond and fair.
The children do not respond to Eli. Eli does not appear to notice this, as he is in the process of relighting his joint.
RICHIE
How’d she break her arm?
ELI
(sadly)
I fell down the stairs with her.
Richie looks disturbed. He notices a nude, teenaged girl standing on the table. She has a deep tan, except where she wore a bikini. She is Sabrina’s model, Cinnamon.
ELI (CONT’D)
That’s Cinnamon. Hello, Cinnamon.
Cinnamon looks at Eli coldly.
Eli sits on a couch across from Richie. They are both drinking wine. There is a large zip-lock bag of marijuana on the table. There is a large, frightening painting on the wall of five men wearing African masks and sitting on dirt- bikes.
Silence.
ELI
What’d you say?
RICHIE
(pause)
Hm?
ELI
What?
RICHIE
I didn’t say anything.
ELI
When? Right now?
(pause)
I’m sorry. Don’t listen to me.
(barely audible)
I’m on mescaline. I’ve been spaced out
all day.
Eli pours himself another glass of wine.
RICHIE
Did you say you’re on mescaline?
ELI
(nods)
I did, indeed. Very much so.
Richie reflects on this for a minute.
RICHIE
How often do you --
ELI
I’m worried about you, Richie.
RICHIE
(pause)
Why?
ELI
Well, actually, Margot is, for some
reason. But I did find it odd when you
said you were in love with her.
(pause)
She’s married, you know.
RICHIE
Yeah.
ELI
And she’s your sister.
RICHIE
(quickly)
Adopted.
INSERT:
CONTINUED: (2)
Page 112 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Five.”
The side entrance of the hotel. Royal goes in through revolving doors.
Royal comes into the lobby and freezes.
A large number of trunks, suitcases and boxes are stacked and piled on four carts next to the front desk. There are also several dozen hanging garments on a rack with wheels on it. A bellboy rolls a fifth cart next to the others. The manager and his assistant come over and watch Royal study his possessions. Royal says suddenly:
ROYAL
Where’re my encyclopedias?
MANAGER
They’ve been placed in storage.
ROYAL
(shaking his head)
Damn you. You’re taking my
encyclopedias. This is humiliating.
MANAGER
I’m sorry. Would you like to --
ROYAL
Where am I supposed to go? You’re
turning me into a goddamn hobo.
MANAGER
I’d be happy to make a reservation for
you at another hotel.
ROYAL
You son of a bitch.
MANAGER
Frederick?
The manager looks to the bellboy. The bellboy begins to roll one of the carts across the lobby. The manager walks away. Dusty, the elevator operator, appears at Royal’s side.
ROYAL
Hello, Dusty.
MANAGER
Hello, sir.
ROYAL
Spot me a quarter, will you?
MANAGER
Of course.
Royal places a call from the lobby.
ROYAL
Richie? It’s your dad.
Etheline, Henry, Chas, Margot, Richie, Ari and Uzi sit at the table eating dessert.
RICHIE
I think he’s very lonely. Lonelier than
he lets on, and maybe lonelier than he
even realizes.
ETHELINE
Have you spoken to him about this?
RICHIE
Briefly. And he agreed that --
CHAS
I’m sorry. Maybe I’m a little confused.
What are you suggesting?
RICHIE
That he come here and stay in my room.
CHAS
Are you out of your mind?
RICHIE
(sincerely)
No, I’m not. Anyway, I think he’d be
much more comfortable here than --
CHAS
Who gives a shit?
RICHIE
I do.
CHAS
You poor sucker. You poor, washed-up
poppa’s boy.
Henry puts his hand gently on Chas’ arm.
HENRY
All right. Let’s not get out of hand.
Chas jerks his arm away.
CHAS
Don’t get in the middle of this, Mr.
Sherman. This is a family matter.
MARGOT
Don’t talk to him like that.
HENRY
Please, call me Henry.
CHAS
I prefer Mr. Sherman.
ETHELINE
Call him Henry.
CHAS
Why? I don’t know him that well.
ETHELINE
You’ve known him for ten years.
CHAS
As your accountant, Mr. Sherman, yes.
ARI
(to Richie)
Where are you going to sleep?
RICHIE
I’ll just camp out upstairs.
UZI
We brought an extra sleeping bag you can
use.
RICHIE
Oh, that’s OK. I’ve got an old Scout
cot and a couple of army blankets.
UZI
You want to borrow our electric --
CHAS
Uzi.
ARI
We don’t mind, Dad. We like him.
UZI
Who? Pappy?
CONTINUED: (2)
Chas looks shocked and then revolted.
CHAS
It’s not your decision, goddammit.
ETHELINE
Nor is it yours.
RICHIE
Well, he’s already up there.
Silence.
RICHIE (CONT’D)
I think he’s asleep, because of the
medication he’s on. But I guess you can
wake him up and throw him out, if Mom
says it’s OK.
Richie’s room has been converted into a makeshift hospital room. Royal lies on an electric hospital bed. He has an IV in his arm and a tube in his nose. There are several monitors and machines breathing and humming. There are numerous bottles of pills and medicines on the night stand. Pagoda has on a surgical mask and scrubs.
Chas stands in the doorway. Richie is behind him.
CHAS
Get out.
ROYAL
All right. Let me just collect my
things.
Royal sits up on the edge of the bed. He is dressed in pink surgical scrubs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Would you mind handing me my cane,
Richie?
Richie hands Royal his cane. Royal struggles to his feet. He rolls the IV stand beside him.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Let’s see, now. Where’s my suitcase?
Royal’s knee gives out. He staggers a step. He grips the back of a chair and looks to Richie with a surprised expression. He collapses on to the floor. He produces a wooden spoon, which he takes between his teeth.
RICHIE
Dad?
Richie and Pagoda rush over and kneel on the floor beside Royal. Chas frowns. Richie yells out the door:
RICHIE (CONT’D)
Mom!
ROYAL
Grab me a Nembutal, son.
Richie runs to the night stand and pops open a bottle of pills. Chas looks down at Royal.
CHAS
Are you OK?
Royal takes the spoon out of his mouth.
ROYAL
Fuck do you care?
Richie gives Royal a pill with a glass of water. Etheline comes to the door.
ETHELINE
Oh, my goodness!
ROYAL
Pagoda. Call Dr. McClure.
CUT TO:
Forty-five minutes later. Royal is back in bed. He is being examined by Dusty, the elevator operator from the Lindbergh Palace. Dusty is dressed in a white lab coat and elevator- operator pants with a red stripe down the side. He checks Royal’s pulse while everyone watches.
Dusty speaks with the Tenenbaums in the hallway outside Richie’s bedroom.
DUSTY
His condition is stable. The attack was
just a side-effect. I recommend that
you push fluids and continue the stomach
cancer medication.
Dusty’s beeper goes off. He looks at it.
INSERT:
Dusty’s beeper has a digital message on it: “Smitty worked a double yesterday. Can you sub for him tonight?”
CUT TO:
Dusty pushing a button on his beeper.
CHAS
Can we move him?
DUSTY
Absolutely not.
CHAS
For how long?
DUSTY
We’ll have to wait and see.
RICHIE
Is he going to be all right?
DUSTY
That depends. Is he a fighter?
RICHIE
Yeah.
DUSTY
(solemnly)
Then that’s the best we’ve got. Now, if
you’ll excuse me, I have another call to
make.
Etheline sits next to Royal’s bed. Pagoda comes in and hands Royal a small brown paper sack.
ROYAL
Pagoda is in possession of a parcel that
contains my will and some instructions
regarding the funeral, including my
epitaph, for when the time comes.
Etheline nods.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Proof-read it for me before they carve
it on the headstone, OK?
ETHELINE
OK.
ROYAL
I never did stop loving you, by the way.
Do you believe that?
ETHELINE
Not really.
ROYAL
You look terrific. That dress is
stunning.
ETHELINE
(pause)
Thanks.
Royal raises an eyebrow. Etheline shakes her head and goes out of the room. Royal opens the paper sack and withdraws a cheeseburger wrapped in aluminum foil. He unwraps it and takes a bite. He hesitates. Henry is standing in the doorway. He walks away.
A dalmation mouse eats some crumbs off the floor.
CUT TO:
An hour later. Royal lies in bed, drinking a milkshake, reading a spy novel. Chas appears in the doorway.
CHAS
Lights out, old man.
Chas turns out the light.
ROYAL
I was going to read for a little bit,
Chas.
CHAS
Sorry. 11:30. Lights out.
ROYAL
I’m in the middle of a sentence.
CHAS
Have to finish it up in the morning.
Them’s the rules.
Silence. Royal says in a quiet, strangely upbeat voice in the darkness:
ROYAL
Goodnight, m’boy.
Chas hesitates. He closes the door.
The ballroom on the top floor of the house. There are chairs and tables with sheets over them lined up along the walls. Near the center of the room, there is a yellow nylon pup- tent. The room is dark except for a lamp glowing inside the tent.
There is a Boy Scout sleeping bag on an air mattress on a cot inside the tent. There is a photograph of the Tenenbaum family taped to the nylon wall. There is a small table with a stack of books and some of Richie’s Matchbox cars and tennis trophies on it. Richie lies on the cot reading Three Plays by Margot Tenenbaum.
Chas comes into the tent. Richie looks up, startled.
CHAS
Looks like you and Dad are back together
again, huh?
RICHIE
(pause)
He’s your dad, too, Chas.
CHAS
No, he’s not.
(pause)
You really hate me, don’t you?
RICHIE
(puzzled)
No, I don’t. I love you.
Chas looks disturbed by this.
CHAS
Well, I don’t know what you think you’re
going to get out of this. But believe
me, whatever it is, it’s not worth it.
RICHIE
I don’t want to hurt you, Chas. I know
what you and the boys have been through.
You’re my brother, and I love you.
CHAS
(gritting his teeth)
Stop saying that.
The next morning. Royal sits on the window sill smoking a cigarette. Pagoda sits next to him drinking a cup of coffee. Royal throws his cigarette out the window. He looks down at the street. He frowns.
Eli is climbing out a window on the second floor.
ROYAL
What’s that jackass doing here?
Pagoda looks down at Eli. Eli drops to the sidewalk. He sees Royal’s cigarette burning on the ground. He steps on it. He looks up to Royal. Their eyes meet. Royal yells:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I know you, asshole!
Eli hesitates. He smiles defiantly. He runs away.
INSERT:
An article on Eli in the Sunday magazine section. The headline says “Where the Wild Things Are.” There is a photograph of Eli in the desert holding a dead rattlesnake by the tail in each hand. A note stapled to the top says: “Dear Mrs. Tenenbaum, Just in case you missed it. Love, Eli.”
CUT TO:
Margot and Etheline sitting together in Etheline’s study. Margot is reading Henry’s book, Accounting for Everything. Etheline is reading the article on Eli. Margot looks at it.
MARGOT
Did Eli send you that?
ETHELINE
(nods)
He always sends me his clippings.
MARGOT
(incredulous)
What for?
ETHELINE
I think he just likes the encouragement.
He’s done it for years. He used to send
me his grades in college.
MARGOT
(frowns)
That’s ridiculous.
There is a rap on the glass. Margot and Etheline look up. Raleigh is standing in the window. He looks miserable.
The backyard. Margot and Raleigh sit at a metal table drinking tea.
RALEIGH
How long do you intend to stay here?
MARGOT
I don’t know.
RALEIGH
Are you ever coming home?
MARGOT
(pause)
Maybe not. But --
RALEIGH
You’re joking.
MARGOT
No. But --
RALEIGH
I want to die.
Raleigh crumples into a ball on the ground and stays there. Margot puts her hand on his back.
MARGOT
Raleigh, please. For God’s sake.
Raleigh sits up suddenly.
RALEIGH
Have you met someone else?
MARGOT
(pause)
I couldn’t begin to even think about
knowing how to answer that question.
Raleigh stands up and walks away.
Royal watches down the stairwell as Margot comes up. He knocks on the railing. She looks up at him. Silence.
ROYAL
I don’t like the way you’re treating
Raleigh.
MARGOT
What are you talking about? You don’t
even know him.
ROYAL
I’ve met him. And I don’t think he
deserves --
MARGOT
Stay out of it.
Margot walks toward her room. Royal steps on to the landing at the top of the stairs.
ROYAL
You’re two-timing him with that
bloodsucker Eli Cash.
Margot stops. She stands still with her back to Royal.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
It’s not right, dammit. You used to be
a genius.
Margot turns to Royal. They look at each other for a long minute. She says in a quiet voice:
MARGOT
No, I didn’t.
ROYAL
(hesitates)
Well, anyway, that’s what they used to
say.
Margot goes into her room and closes the door.
Raleigh stands at the edge of the roof looking down to the ground while Richie cleans the empty falcon’s coop.
RALEIGH
Richard, I know you’re terribly close to
Margot, and perhaps you understand her
better than anyone else.
RICHIE
I doubt it.
RALEIGH
Nevertheless, may I confide in you?
RICHIE
(pause)
OK.
RALEIGH
I believe she’s having an affair.
Silence. Richie comes out of the coop and goes over to Raleigh.
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
I’m utterly devastated. I don’t know
where else to turn. Will you advise me?
RICHIE
I don’t know. What do you want to do?
RALEIGH
Well, I thought, perhaps --
RICHIE
Find the guy and get him?
RALEIGH
(pause)
Well, no. I thought we might --
Richie punches his hand through the attic window. He kicks it. Raleigh looks shocked. He stares at Richie’s bloody hand.
RICHIE
Who do you think it might be?
RALEIGH
(hesitates)
I don’t know, at the moment.
Royal comes down the hallway and looks in the doorway to Chas’ room. There are five computers, four telephones, the Xerox machine and a television and VCR on a cart. Three secretaries make copies and take messages. Chas is on the telephone. A messenger waits for him to sign a document.
Ari and Uzi sit working with a calculator and a ledger pad at a small desk in the corner. Royal says to them:
ROYAL
Let’s go down to Little Tokyo and get
some firecrackers.
Chas covers the receiver with his hand.
CHAS
What do you need?
ROYAL
(hesitates)
Nothing. You got them crunching numbers
for you, huh?
CHAS
Please, don’t come in this room.
Etheline sits at her desk writing numbers on little bits of pottery and recording it in a notebook. Royal stands in the garden, looking in the window. His IV bag hangs on a rolling stand beside him.
ROYAL
Chassie’s got those boys cooped up like
a pair of jackrabbits, Ethel.
ETHELINE
He has his reasons.
ROYAL
I know it. But you can’t raise boys to
be scared of life. You got to brew some
recklessness into them.
ETHELINE
I think that’s terrible advice.
ROYAL
(pause)
No, you don’t.
Royal listens to Ari over the intercom while Pagoda does yoga exercises in the corner:
ARI (V.O.)
We take boxing and self-defense class.
Royal pushes a button to talk.
ROYAL
I’m not talking about dance lessons.
I’m talking about putting a brick
through the other guy’s windshield. I’m
talking about taking it out and chopping
it up.
Silence. Ari says over the intercom:
ARI (V.O.)
What do you mean?
MONTAGE:
(Royal, Ari and Uzi laugh continuously throughout the following montage.)
Royal, Ari and Uzi jump off a high scaffold into the indoor pool at the 375th Street Y.
Royal, Ari and Uzi jaywalk through heavy traffic.
Royal, Ari and Uzi ride horses in the park. Royal leads them at a full gallop down a ravine and over a stone wall.
Royal, Ari and Uzi race go-carts up and down loading ramps and in between fork-lifts in a large warehouse.
Royal, Ari and Uzi throw water balloons at a gypsy cab.
Royal, Ari and Uzi hide cartons of chocolate milk under their jackets and walk quickly out the door of a bodega.
Royal, Ari and Uzi ride on the back of a speeding garbage truck.
ROYAL
(indicating Pagoda)
He saved my life, you know. Thirty
years ago. I was knifed at a bazaar in
Calcutta, and he carried me to the
hospital on his back.
ARI
Who stabbed you?
Royal motions to Pagoda again.
ROYAL
He did. There was a price on my head,
and he was a hired assassin. Stuck me
in the gut with a shiv.
The three secretaries are still at work, and Chas is on the telephone. He sees Royal, Ari and Uzi walking by the hallway. Chas hangs up the telephone.
CHAS
Where’ve you been?
Chas goes to the doorway. He glares at Ari, Uzi and Royal.
ROYAL
Just stepped out to get some air. How’s
the --
CHAS
(concerned)
What’s that?
Chas points to a spot of dried blood on Uzi’s forehead.
ROYAL
Holy shit. That’s not -- What is that?
Royal licks his finger and rubs away the blood.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
No. That’s dog’s blood.
Chas frowns. He looks to Royal. Royal hesitates. Chas grabs Royal by the arm and pulls him into the closet across the hall.
Chas closes the door and turns on the light. There are hundreds of board games, most of which are about thirty years old, in shelves up to the ceiling.
CHAS
Stay away from my children. Do you
understand?
ROYAL
(looking around)
My God. I haven’t been in here in
years.
CHAS
(screams)
Are you listening to me?
ROYAL
Yes, I am. And I think you’re having a
nervous breakdown. I don’t believe
you’ve recovered from Rachael’s death.
I think --
Chas turns off the light, goes out of the closet, and closes the door. Royal stands alone in the dark. He switches the light back on and looks down at the floor. He smiles.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
There you are.
The stuffed boar’s head is under the bottom shelf, in the corner, covered with dust.
Royal and Etheline walk along a path through the park. Royal rolls his hanging IV bag at his side.
ETHELINE
How are you feeling?
ROYAL
Oh, I’m having a ball. Scrapping and
yelling. Mixing it up. Loving every
minute with this damn crew.
(sincerely)
I’d like to thank you for raising our
children, by the way.
ETHELINE
(pause)
OK.
ROYAL
I’m not kidding.
Etheline shrugs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You always put them first, didn’t you?
ETHELINE
I tried to. Lately, I feel like maybe I
didn’t do such a great job.
ROYAL
Goddammit, don’t do that to yourself.
I’m the one who failed them. Or,
anyway, it’s nobody’s fault.
(pause)
Plus, it doesn’t --
ETHELINE
Well, then why didn’t you give a damn
about us, Royal? Why didn’t you care?
ROYAL
I don’t know, but I’m ashamed of myself.
I’ll tell you one thing, though. You’ve
got more grit, and fire, and guts than
any bob-tailed fox I ever damn hunted,
and if --
Etheline laughs. Royal smiles.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
What? What’s so funny?
ETHELINE
Nothing.
ROYAL
No, tell me.
ETHELINE
Nothing. Just these little expressions
of yours.
ROYAL
(pause)
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
But I’ll take it as a compliment.
They look at each other for a long minute.
CONTINUED: (2)
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You’re true blue, Ethel. You really
are.
CUT TO:
Henry with two bags of groceries in his arms, watching from behind a stone wall above the path. He listens as Royal says:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
How’s your love life?
ETHELINE
None of your business.
Henry frowns.
INSERT:
Page 147 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Six.”
Etheline and Henry come down the front steps of the Tenenbaum house. Henry is dressed in black tie. The ends of a pair of theatre tickets stick out of his breast pocket. Pagoda holds a gypsy cab for them at the curb.
HENRY
I’d like you to talk to Royal about us,
if you don’t mind.
ETHELINE
(hesitates)
I don’t think the timing’s right for
that, Henry.
HENRY
Well, I’d agree if I thought he was
really going to die in six weeks. But I
don’t.
Etheline stops at the bottom of the steps. Silence.
ETHELINE
Well, I hope you’re right.
(pause)
Actually, I don’t believe I’m going to
join you tonight. I’ll call you in the
morning.
Etheline turns around and goes back up the steps. Henry watches her. He looks sad and stunned. Pagoda watches Henry. Etheline goes inside and closes the door.
Royal and Pagoda stand together in the board-game-filled closet drinking Martinis and smoking cigarettes. Royal has a half-eaten cheeseburger in his hand. He whispers excitedly:
ROYAL
She said that?
Pagoda nods. Royal snaps his fingers.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
We got the sucker on the ropes.
The next morning. Henry stands at the counter reading the Wall Street Journal. He has on reading glasses. Royal comes into the kitchen eating a cheeseburger. Henry looks at him blankly. Royal sits on a stool.
ROYAL
Can I ask you something?
HENRY
(pause)
OK.
ROYAL
Are you trying to steal my woman?
HENRY
(pause)
I beg your pardon?
ROYAL
You heard me, Coltrane.
HENRY
(long pause)
Coltrane?
ROYAL
What?
HENRY
Did you just call me Coltrane?
ROYAL
No.
HENRY
You didn’t?
ROYAL
No.
HENRY
(pause)
OK.
ROYAL
But if I did?
Silence. Henry waits for Royal to continue.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You wouldn’t be able to do anything
about it, would you?
HENRY
You don’t think so?
ROYAL
No, I don’t.
HENRY
(seething)
Listen, Royal. If you think --
ROYAL
You want to talk some jive?
Henry hesitates. He looks puzzled.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’ll talk some jive with you.
Royal stands up. He screams:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’ll talk some jive like you never
heard!
HENRY
(yelling)
Oh, yeah?
ROYAL
Right on!
HENRY
Sit down!
ROYAL
What?
Royal starts doing a little dance in front of Henry.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
What’d you say?
HENRY
I said, sit down, goddammit!
CONTINUED: (2)
ROYAL
Oh, I heard you.
Henry jumps to his feet. Royal stops dancing. He says darkly:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I want you out of my house.
HENRY
This is not your house.
ROYAL
Don’t play semantics with me. I want
your raggedy ass back on the --
ETHELINE
What’s going on here?
Henry and Royal look to Etheline. She stands in the doorway.
ROYAL
Nothing.
Royal goes to the refrigerator and opens it. He takes out a jar of peanut butter and a jar of grape jelly. Etheline looks to Henry. Henry walks out of the room.
Henry goes into Richie’s room and takes a bottle of Royal’s pills off the night stand. He goes back out of the room.
Henry reads the label on the bottle while he places a call.
HENRY
Hello. I’m calling in regards to a Dr.
McClure. Yes. At Colby General. The
name of the patient is Royal Tenenbaum.
Henry takes out a pill and examines it.
INSERT:
The pill. It has pink and blue sparkles all over it and the word “Tic-Tac” printed on the side.
Henry goes up the stairs with a cold, determined look on his face. He has the bottle of pills in his hand.
A small room with an Indian pattern on the wallpaper. Pagoda lies on a hammock listening to Indian music on a portable record player. There is a knock on the door, and then it opens. Henry stands in the doorway. He stares at Pagoda.
HENRY
How much is he paying you?
Pagoda looks scared.
INSERT:
A television set tuned in to an interview show. The host is a tall, distinguished-looking man in his fifties. He is Peter Bradley. Eli is his guest. They sit at a round table lit at the center of a pitch-black room.
ELI
Well, I grew up with the Tenenbaum
family, you know.
PETER
Right. They’ve come on hard times now,
haven’t they?
Eli nods sadly.
CUT TO:
Richie’s room. Margot and Royal are watching Eli on television.
ROYAL
Bullshit. Change it.
The door opens. Richie comes into the room. His hand is wrapped with bloody bandages. Margot looks concerned.
MARGOT
What’d you do to your hand?
RICHIE
Nothing.
Richie goes into the closet. Two dalmation mice dart out across the floor. They run under the radiator. Royal frowns.
ROYAL
You think we could get somebody to come
over here and kill some of these mice
for us?
MARGOT
No. Those belong to Chas. Or, anyway,
he invented them.
Richie drags a large trunk out of the closet.
ROYAL
Well, tell him to stick them in a
fucking cage or something.
Henry and Pagoda come into the room. Henry goes over to the intercom and presses a button on it.
HENRY
Etheline? Would you mind coming up here
for a minute, please?
Royal looks at Henry suspiciously.
ROYAL
What’s cooking, Pops?
HENRY
You’ll see.
ETHELINE (O.S.)
(on the intercom)
OK.
INSERT:
The television set. Eli’s interview continues.
PETER
Now, your previous novel --
ELI
Wildcattin’.
PETER
Right. Not a success. Why?
ELI
Hm. Well, Wildcattin’ was written in a
kind of obsolete vernacular, much like
the --
Eli freezes. He looks quickly across the room.
ELI (CONT’D)
Holy shit.
PETER
(looking around)
What?
CONTINUED: (2)
A look of sheer horror crosses Eli’s face. He braces himself against the edge of the table. Peter looks concerned.
PETER (CONT’D)
Are you all right?
ELI
(concerned)
Why is it so dense in here?
Peter hesitates. Eli removes his microphone, stands up, and walks off the set. Peter Bradley watches him go.
CUT TO:
Everyone watching in Richie’s bedroom. They look stunned.
ROYAL
Son of a bitch. What the hell kind of
way to act is that?
RICHIE
(pause)
He’s on drugs.
MARGOT
(worried)
I’ll be right back.
Margot goes to the telephone. Etheline and Chas come into the room. Chas is eating a sandwich. Ari, Uzi and Buckley follow them.
HENRY
Hold on a minute, please.
Henry steps in front of the television set and turns it off.
HENRY (CONT’D)
Pagoda has something to say.
Everyone looks to Pagoda. Silence. Pagoda looks worried. He turns to Royal and points at him.
PAGODA
He has the cancer.
HENRY
(angrily)
No, he doesn’t.
Royal sits up. Henry stares at Royal.
HENRY (CONT’D)
I know what stomach cancer looks like.
I’ve seen it.
CONTINUED: (3)
HENRY (CONT’D)
And you don’t eat three cheeseburgers a
day with french fries when you’ve got
it. The pain is excruciating.
ROYAL
How would you know?
HENRY
My wife had it.
Silence. Royal pulls out his IV and the other tubes that are attached to him. He goes into the bathroom and closes the door. Henry turns to Etheline.
HENRY (CONT’D)
Not only is there no Dr. McClure at
Colby General, there’s no Colby General.
It closed in 1974.
Chas crushes his sandwich in his hand.
PAGODA
Ah, shit, man.
ETHELINE
But why would he --
Chas slams his hand against the bathroom door as hard as he can. He sits down on the bed and picks up the phone. He places a call.
CHAS
Yes. Can you send a taxi to 111 Archer
Avenue? Right away, please. Thank you.
Chas hangs up. Royal comes out of the bathroom. He is fully dressed in a suit, and he is zipping up a small leather bag. He picks up one of his bottles of pills off the night stand and leaves the rest. He looks to Pagoda.
ROYAL
I guess we’re back on the street, pal.
Etheline looks to Pagoda. She frowns. Pagoda looks uneasy.
ETHELINE
Were you part of this?
HENRY
Of course he was.
Etheline looks to Royal. Royal looks to Pagoda. He says regretfully:
ROYAL
Time to come clean. No more lies.
CONTINUED: (4)
Pagoda stares at Royal bitterly. Richie points at the hospital bed and life-support machines.
RICHIE
How’d you get all these medical
supplies?
ROYAL
(pause)
A guy at St. Pete’s owed me a favor. I
did some malpractice work for him. I do
have high blood pressure, though.
Royal swallows one of his pills. He turns and stands in front of everyone.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Look. I know I’m the bad guy on this
one, but I just want to say that the
last six days have been the best six
days of, probably, my whole life.
A strange, sad expression crosses Royal’s face.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Immediately after making this statement,
Royal realized that it was true.
Royal begins to gather his possessions.
Royal comes out of Richie’s room with his suitcases. Etheline stands at the end of the hall.
ETHELINE
Why’d you do this to us, Royal?
Royal stops.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
What was the point?
ROYAL
(pause)
I thought maybe I could win you back.
Or, anyway, I thought I could get rid of
Henry and keep things status quo.
ETHELINE
But we hadn’t spoken in seven years.
ROYAL
I know. Plus, I was broke, and I got
kicked out of my hotel.
ETHELINE
(pause)
You’re a bastard.
Royal nods. Etheline stares at him angrily, with tears in her eyes.
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
Goodbye, Royal.
Royal turns and walks down the stairs.
Chas stands at the bottom of the stairs and watches Royal come down with his suitcases. Royal stops in front of him.
ROYAL
Take it easy on those boys, Chassie. I
don’t want this to happen to you.
Chas hesitates. Royal walks past him and goes out the front door.
Richie and Royal stand on the sidewalk. Royal’s suitcases are beside him. Margot and Henry stand at the top of the steps, in the front doorway.
ROYAL
You know, Richie, this illness, this
closeness to death. It’s been very
profound for me. I feel like a
different person. I really do.
RICHIE
Dad. You were never dying.
ROYAL
(smiles)
But I’m going to live.
Richie shakes his head. He turns away and goes up the steps, past Margot and Henry, into the house. Royal and Margot look at each other. Royal points to Henry.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
He’s not your father.
MARGOT
(pause)
Neither are you.
Margot closes the door. Royal puts his hands in his pockets. He stares into space. He begins to cry. A gypsy cab pulls over to the curb. Royal waves to the driver.
The front door of the house opens. Pagoda comes down the steps with two suitcases. He looks furious.
ROYAL
How you doing, pal?
Pagoda drops his suitcases to the ground.
PAGODA
You son of a bitch.
Pagoda’s teeth flash as he goes over to Royal and stabs him with a penknife. Royal screams. He clutches his side. He falls on the ground. The gypsy cab driver watches blankly.
ROYAL
Goddammit! That’s the last time I get
knifed by you! You hear me?
Pagoda helps Royal to his feet. He collects his suitcases. Royal leans on Pagoda as they get into the gypsy cab. Royal says to the driver:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
The 375th Street Y, please.
INSERT:
Page 198 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Seven.”
A huge building that looks like a castle. A sign next to the door says “375th Street Y.”
An extremely small room with a low ceiling and a single bed. Royal stands in front of a mirror while Pagoda stitches up the knife-wound in his side. He holds a bottle of iodine in one hand and a box of bandages in the other.
ROYAL
Everyone’s against me.
PAGODA
You can’t blame them, man.
ROYAL
I know. But, dammit, I want to be loved
by this family.
Pagoda pours some iodine on a cotton ball and applies it to Royal’s knife wound. Royal grimaces.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
How much money you got?
PAGODA
I don’t have.
ROYAL
(frowns)
What do you mean? You’re broke?
Pagoda nods. Royal looks furious.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You got to be kidding me. How’re we
supposed to pay for the damn room?
Pagoda looks up at Royal coldly. Silence.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
All right. We’ll figure something out.
Henry’s bedroom is filled with paintings and sculptures from the fifties and sixties. He puts on a slow jazz record and sits down across from Etheline at a small table with a vase of roses, two bottles of wine, and three candles on it.
Henry has on pale-blue silk pajamas. Etheline wears a cream silk nightgown. The doors to the balcony are open, and there is a gentle breeze. They look at each other fondly for a minute.
HENRY
Would you like another glass of wine?
ETHELINE
Yes, please.
Henry refills Etheline’s glass. He clinks his glass against hers and takes a small sip. She drinks her whole glass all at once. Henry looks uneasy. Etheline says suddenly:
ETHELINE (CONT’D)
Maybe we’re rushing things, Henry.
HENRY
(relieved)
You’re right. It’s awkward sitting here
in our pajamas and everything. We don’t
have to do this right now. Let’s just
try and have a nice time.
ETHELINE
OK.
Henry gets up and changes the record to a more upbeat number.
HENRY
Yes, I think we’re both a little uneasy,
and there’s no need for us to force
anything. There’s no hurry. Let’s just
-
ETHELINE
Actually, I should go.
Silence. Henry nods. He looks disappointed.
HENRY
Can I, at least, offer you some dessert?
Henry points to a dessert cart with a lemon meringue pie, two cheesecakes, a bowl of strawberries, a chocolate mousse, and a crepe suzette on it. Etheline hesitates. Henry quickly strikes a match and sets the crepe suzette on fire. His napkin catches on fire, and he dips it in his water glass. He looks to Etheline.
ETHELINE
No, I think you’re right. I should go.
Etheline picks up her overnight bag off a chair and goes into the bathroom. Henry sits alone. He gets up and turns off the record player.
A footbridge over the river. Margot waits in the middle of the bridge. Eli walks towards her from the opposite bank. His face is smeared with dirt and traces of paint. His clothes look severely dishevelled. He stops a few feet away from Margot.
ELI
I’m not in love with you any more.
MARGOT
I didn’t know you ever were.
ELI
Let’s not make this any more difficult
than it already is.
MARGOT
(pause)
OK.
ELI
OK, what?
MARGOT
OK, I’m not in love with you, either.
ELI
I know. You’re in love with Richie.
Which is sick and gross.
Silence. Margot nods.
MARGOT
Do you send my mother your clippings?
Eli hesitates.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
And your grades in --
ELI
Please, stop ridiculing me.
Eli turns away and looks sadly out at the river. Margot goes over and stands beside him.
ELI (CONT’D)
You never gave me the time of day until
I started getting good reviews.
MARGOT
Your reviews aren’t that good.
ELI
But the sales are.
CUT TO:
A second bridge, two hundred yards away. A large man in a coat and tie takes photographs of Margot and Eli with a telephoto lens.
A small room on the 30th floor of an office building. Raleigh, Richie and Dudley sit across a desk from the large man in the coat and tie. He is a detective.
DETECTIVE
How much do you already know, gentlemen?
RALEIGH
Very little, I assure you.
DETECTIVE
Would you like to examine the report?
RALEIGH
We would, rather. Yes.
The detective hands Raleigh a manila folder. He opens and begins to read. Richie looks over his shoulder.
MONTAGE:
Margot at age twelve buys a pack of cigarettes in a bodega. She smokes one on the roof of the house, leaning against the chimney, next to the falcon’s coop.
(In each of the following images, Margot smokes a cigarette.)
Margot climbs out the window of a girls’ dormitory. She carries a small suitcase. She shimmies down the gutter and runs across the lawn.
Margot stands inside a torch-lit shack among a group of dancing Rastafarians in Jamaica. She holds hands with one of them while he lights a large brown-paper-wrapped marijuana cigarette. A man dressed in a black shirt with a priest’s collar places a string of shells around Margot’s neck. Another man has a small machine gun. There is a goat in the doorway, and the ocean glimmers outside.
Margot opens a window and looks out at the Eifel Tower. She wears a bra and a slip. A topless girl appears next to her, eating a croissant. The girl puts her arms around Margot’s waist, and Margot runs her hands through the girl’s hair.
Margot stands in a pool of water facing a young tribesman in New Guinea. He has on warpaint and wears a large tusk in his nose. Margot kisses him on the mouth.
Margot sits in a make-up chair at a television studio. Peter Bradley comes up behind her and puts his hands down her shirt. Margot smiles at him mischievously.
Margot makes out with:
- a Puerto Rican teenager in the back seat of a taxi;
- a skinny guy with a Mohawk on a city bus;
- a tough-looking Irishman on the deck of a ferry;
- Eli in a deserted subway train going full speed at night.
CUT TO:
Raleigh turning to the last page of the report. He closes the folder and looks to Richie. Richie looks stunned. Silence.
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
She smokes.
DETECTIVE
Yes.
Royal, Pagoda, Dusty and the manager of the hotel sit at a table in the laundry room of the Lindbergh Palace. The manager is reviewing a typewritten document.
MANAGER
All right. Everything seems to be in
order. I’ll contact you in the next
twenty-four hours.
ROYAL
I appreciate that. Which way are you
leaning, by the way?
MANAGER
I’ll inform you of my decision at the
appropriate time.
ROYAL
I get it. Put in a good word for us,
Dusty.
DUSTY
I already did.
Raleigh lies face down on the couch with his head buried in the cushions. Dudley walks over to him with a box of building blocks. He says quietly:
DUDLEY
You want to play some word games or do
some experiments on me or anything?
Raleigh answers without moving. His voice is muffled.
RALEIGH
No.
Richie walks by in a bathrobe. He carries a pair of scissors. He goes into the bathroom, closes the door, and locks it.
Hot water runs full blast in the shower and the sink. Richie stands in front of the mirror. He holds a pair of scissors in his hand. He has clipped off his beard.
He opens the medicine cabinet and takes out a can of shaving cream and a straight razor. He covers his face with the shaving cream. He picks up the razor. He looks back in the mirror. He pushes his hand back through his hair, takes a deep breath, and says quietly:
RICHIE
I’m going to kill myself tomorrow.
Silence. Richie slices the razor deeply, four times, along his left forearm. Blood runs into the sink. He switches hands with the razor and slashes his other wrist. He sits down on the floor.
CUT TO:
The bathroom door slamming open. Dudley bursts into the room. He looks horrified. The floor is flooded with water and blood. Richie is slumped in the corner with shaving cream all over his face.
Dudley screams hysterically.
MONTAGE:
Three paramedics race down a corridor pushing Richie on a gurney. Raleigh and Dudley run beside him. They are covered with blood.
Etheline hangs up the telephone and runs into the hallway. She throws open the closet door and grabs her coat.
Chas, Ari and Uzi hold on as Anwar weaves the BMW in and out of traffic. Buckley has his head out the window.
Margot bursts through the doors of the emergency room. She looks around frantically. She sees Dudley. She sees blood on him. She rushes over and grabs his arms.
MARGOT
Where is he, Dudley?
DUDLEY
(pause)
Who?
Everyone is gathered around Richie in his hospital bed. His arms are covered with bandages. A doctor gives him an injection and says to Etheline:
DOCTOR
He’ll probably sleep for several hours,
and then I’ll come back to check on him.
Etheline nods. She has tears all over her face. The doctor leaves the room. Margot holds Richie’s hand.
MARGOT
How do you feel?
RICHIE
Fine, thanks.
ETHELINE
Are you in any pain?
RICHIE
Not really.
CHAS
Why’d you try to kill yourself?
ETHELINE
Don’t press him right now.
RICHIE
I wrote a suicide note.
MARGOT
You did?
RICHIE
Yeah. Right after I regained
consciousness.
Everyone looks slightly confused.
CHAS
Can we read it?
RICHIE
No.
CHAS
Could you paraphrase it for us?
RICHIE
I don’t think so.
CHAS
Is it dark?
RICHIE
Of course it’s dark. It’s a suicide
note.
ETHELINE
All right. That’s enough. The doctor
said to let him sleep.
The corridor outside Richie’s room. Etheline fills out some insurance forms. Ari and Uzi sit on Chas’ lap. Margot sits next to Raleigh. Raleigh stares into space.
RALEIGH
You’ve made a cuckold of me.
Everyone looks at Raleigh and Margot. Silence.
MARGOT
I know.
RALEIGH
Many times over.
MARGOT
I’m sorry.
RALEIGH
And you’ve nearly killed your poor
brother.
ETHELINE
What’s he talking about?
MARGOT
It doesn’t matter.
RALEIGH
She’s balling Eli Cash.
Everyone looks surprised and extremely uncomfortable.
ETHELINE
Oh, my goodness.
RALEIGH
May I have a cigarette?
MARGOT
What?
RALEIGH
Shall I repeat the question?
MARGOT
You don’t smoke.
RALEIGH
(bitterly)
I bloody well know that.
Raleigh stares at Margot in silence. Margot sighs. She reaches into her pocket and takes out a pack of cigarettes. She gives one to Raleigh. He puts it in his mouth.
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
And a light, please?
Margot takes out some matches and lights Raleigh’s cigarette.
CONTINUED: (2)
RALEIGH (CONT’D)
Thank you.
Raleigh stands up and walks away, down the hall, out the door. Silence. Margot lights a cigarette for herself. Etheline looks disturbed.
ETHELINE
How long have you been a smoker?
MARGOT
(pause)
Twenty-two years.
ETHELINE
Well, I think you should quit.
Margot nods.
The door opens at the end of the hall. Henry Sherman comes in. Etheline sees him and stands up. He goes over to her. He starts to put on his glasses. As he unfolds them, he unintentionally clamps them to his necktie and pulls his necktie up to his temple. He says earnestly:
HENRY
How can I help?
Etheline begins to point to Henry’s necktie suspended near his ear, but she hesitates. Henry senses something wrong in his peripheral vision and looks confused. He swats at the necktie, hurling his glasses off his face and on to the floor.
Henry picks up his glasses and puts them back on. He looks to Etheline with an embarrassed expression. Etheline puts her arms around him. She hugs him tightly and starts to cry.
Three hours later. A gypsy cab stops in front of the hospital. Royal and Pagoda get out and walk quickly into the building. They are both dressed in hotel elevator-operator uniforms.
Royal speaks anxiously to a nurse at the registration desk. Pagoda stands behind him.
ROYAL
Richie Tenenbaum, please.
NURSE
Your name?
ROYAL
Royal Tenenbaum.
The nurse looks down at her registration book. She frowns. She looks back to Royal.
NURSE
I’m afraid visiting hours are over, sir.
ROYAL
(hesitates)
Why? What does it say there? They
don’t want me?
NURSE
I’m sorry. I have to refer you to Dr.
Burroughs. He’ll be in tomorrow
afternoon.
Silence.
Royal and Pagoda stand in front of the hospital. Royal points to the edge of the roof. He sounds desperate.
ROYAL
I think if we shimmy up that gutter and
jump across the window ledge we can pry
open the ventilation shaft and --
PAGODA
There he is, man.
Pagoda points to Richie waiting at the bus stop on the corner. He is dressed in surgical scrubs and bedroom slippers. His arms are covered with bandages. Royal looks puzzled. A bus pulls over in front of Richie. The doors open. Royal calls out:
ROYAL
Richie?
Richie looks to Royal and Pagoda. He sees their uniforms. He hesitates.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Where’re you going?
Silence. Richie gets on the bus. Royal and Pagoda watch it drive away. Royal looks very upset.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I have to say, he didn’t look half bad
for a suicide. Attempted suicide,
anyway.
Pagoda nods. He puts his arm around Royal’s shoulder.
An old city busy with trash on the floor and graffiti spray- painted on the walls. Richie sits in the back row and rides downtown.
The ballroom on the top floor of the Tenenbaum house. Richie walks in and sees the lamp glowing inside his tent. Margot calls out from inside.
MARGOT
Who’s there?
Richie does not respond.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
Hello?
Richie looks at the seventeen paintings of Margot hanging in the corner. An unfinished eighteenth, with Margot slightly older, leans against the wall. Richie goes to the tent at the center of the room.
Richie looks into the tent. Margot is sitting on the floor next to a record player smoking a cigarette. She has a Rolling Stones record in her hand. She looks startled.
RICHIE
What are you doing in my tent?
MARGOT
(hesitates)
Just listening to some records.
Margot puts out her cigarette. She seems worried.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
I thought you were supposed to be in the
hospital.
RICHIE
I checked myself out.
MARGOT
Well, shouldn’t you be on some kind of
suicide watch or something?
RICHIE
(pause)
Probably.
Richie goes into the tent and sits down Indian-style in front of Margot. Margot sighs. She puts on the Rolling Stones record. It plays quietly.
MARGOT
How many stitches did you get?
RICHIE
I don’t know. You want to see?
Margot nods. Richie unwraps one of his bandages. His arm is covered with jagged, crisscrossing stitches and dried blood. Margot looks stricken.
MARGOT
Jesus, Richie. That looks horrible.
Richie nods. He wraps the bandage back around his arm.
RICHIE
I heard about your ex-husband.
MARGOT
(pause)
Desmond?
RICHIE
(hesitates)
I guess so. I didn’t get his name.
MARGOT
Yeah. I met him in the ocean. I was
swimming, and he came out to me in a
canoe. We were only married for nine
days.
RICHIE
(nods)
And I heard about Eli.
MARGOT
(sighs)
I know. Poor Eli. Anyway, we mostly
just talked about you.
RICHIE
(surprised)
You did?
MARGOT
Yeah. I guess that was the attraction,
if you know what I mean.
Silence. Richie says quietly:
RICHIE
I have to tell you something.
CONTINUED: (2)
MARGOT
What’s that?
RICHIE
I love you.
MARGOT
(sadly)
I love you, too.
Richie kisses Margot on the mouth, and she kisses him back. She puts her hands on the back of his head. Richie pulls away from her and looks into her eyes.
RICHIE
I can’t stop thinking about you. I went
away for a year, and it only got worse.
I don’t know what to do.
MARGOT
Let’s lie down for a minute.
Richie lies down on the cot. Margot looks at his Boy Scout sleeping bag.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
This is the one we took to the museum,
isn’t it?
Richie nods. Margot sighs. She lies down next to Richie and puts her arm around his shoulder. She smooths back his hair. They listen to the music for a minute.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
Why’d you do it? Because of me?
RICHIE
Yeah, but it’s not your fault.
MARGOT
You’re not going to do it again, are
you?
RICHIE
(pause)
I doubt it.
Margot nods. She starts crying. She kisses Richie’s hand. Richie looks worried. Margot gets up and goes out of the tent. Richie sits alone for a minute. Margot looks back into the tent.
MARGOT
I think we’re just going to have to be
secretly in love with each other and
leave it at that, Richie.
CONTINUED: (3)
They look at each other for a long minute. Richie nods. Margot turns away and goes out the tent.
Richie picks up the stack of books off the table next to his cot. The book on top is Family of Geniuses. Then there are Margot’s books, Raleigh’s book, Henry’s book and Eli’s book. He spreads them out on the floor among his Matchbox cars and tennis trophies. A dalmation mouse appears and crawls among them. The record ends.
INSERT:
Page 230 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Eight.”
The next morning. Richie comes downstairs in his pajamas. He carries the stuffed boar’s head. He hangs it on the wall in its place.
The elevator at the Lindbergh Palace. Royal is dressed in his elevator-operator uniform. He takes three well-dressed businessmen down to the lobby. He looks exhausted and depressed. The doors open. One of the businessmen hands Royal a dollar as they walk out into the lobby.
ROYAL
Thank you, sir.
Royal sees Richie standing in front of the elevator. Royal looks surprised. The doors of another elevator open. Pagoda is the operator. Richie looks at him. Pagoda hesitates. He waves to Richie. Richie waves back.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Going up?
Richie looks back to Royal. He nods. He steps into Royal’s elevator.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
What floor?
RICHIE
It doesn’t matter.
Royal closes the doors and pulls a lever. The elevator goes up. Royal stands with his back to Richie.
RICHIE (CONT’D)
So you’re elevator operators now.
ROYAL
Yeah. We just started, but we’ll get a
bump when we join the union.
RICHIE
What made you decide to do that?
ROYAL
Well, we’re broke. But, in answer to
your question, I guess I’m trying to
prove I can pay my dues and what-not. I
just hope somebody knows.
Richie nods. Silence.
RICHIE
You asked me why I choked out there that
day.
Royal turns around quickly and looks to Richie. He nods.
RICHIE (CONT’D)
Well, I think I know the answer, and I
wanted your advice.
Royal looks surprised and moved. He says quietly:
ROYAL
Sure.
Royal and Richie stand on the edge of the roof, looking out at the city. Silence.
ROYAL
Margot Tenenbaum?
RICHIE
Yeah.
ROYAL
Since when?
RICHIE
Since always.
ROYAL
Does she know?
RICHIE
Uh-huh.
ROYAL
And what’s her feeling about it?
RICHIE
I think she feels confused.
ROYAL
I can understand that. It’s probably
illegal.
RICHIE
I don’t think so. We’re not related by
blood.
ROYAL
(pause)
That’s true.
Silence. Royal nods.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
It’s still frowned upon, but then what
isn’t these days, right?
Richie nods. Royal shrugs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I don’t know. Maybe it works. Why not?
Hell, you love each other, and nobody
knows what’s going to happen, so --
Royal stops short. His expression changes.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You know what? Don’t listen to me. I
never understood her, myself. I never
understood any of us. I wish I knew
what to tell you, but I just don’t.
RICHIE
(pause)
That’s OK.
ROYAL
No, it’s not.
Royal looks very sad. He stares down at the ground. He takes a deep breath. He says quietly:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Do you still consider me your father?
RICHIE
Sure, I do.
ROYAL
I wish I had a little more to offer in
that department.
RICHIE
I know you do, Pop.
Royal nods. He keeps looking down at the ground.
CONTINUED: (2)
ROYAL
I don’t blame you, by the way.
Richie looks off into the distance. He frowns.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
She’s a great looking girl, and she’s
smart as a whip, and --
RICHIE
Mordecai?
Royal looks up. A falcon flies in a low circle around the building. Royal and Richie watch as it lands on the railing in front of them. Silence.
ROYAL
Holy shit.
Richie slowly reaches out to the falcon. He smooths out the feathers on its neck and says softly:
RICHIE
You came back.
Royal looks up at the sky. He seems frightened.
ROYAL
Jiminy Cricket. He must have a goddamn
radar in his brain.
Richie frowns. He hesitates.
RICHIE
I’m not so sure this is Mordecai.
ROYAL
What do you mean? He flew right in
here.
RICHIE
Yeah, but now he has white feathers on
his neck.
Royal and Richie study the falcon. Richie seems uncertain.
ROYAL
Well, the son of a bitch must be
molting.
Richie and Royal ride down in the elevator. The falcon is perched on Richie’s arm.
RICHIE
I need your help with something else.
ROYAL
(excitedly)
You got it. What’s the situation?
RICHIE
Well, I think --
ROYAL
Hang on.
Royal throws the lever on the elevator to full speed. It accelerates and starts shaking violently. He yells into a walkie-talkie:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Pagoda! Let’s hit it!
RICHIE
(hesitates)
I didn’t mean right this second.
Eli sits on the couch in his study working on a jigsaw puzzle of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. Three Egyptian men are chopping up yellow powder on the table. Electronic music blasts form the stereo.
There is a knock on the door. Everyone looks up. Silence.
ELI
Yes?
The door opens and Richie looks inside. Eli and the Egyptian men stare at Richie. Eli has yellow powder on his nose. He says awkwardly:
ELI (CONT’D)
Hey, Richie.
Richie walks into the room. Royal and Pagoda follow him. They are dressed in their elevator-operator uniforms. Eli looks confused and uneasy.
RICHIE
We want to take you to get some help.
ELI
(pause)
Is it just you guys?
Richie looks slightly confused.
ELI (CONT’D)
I guess Margot and your mother couldn’t
make it.
Eli looks disappointed. He sees the bandages around Richie’s arms.
ELI (CONT’D)
What happened there?
RICHIE
(hesitates)
Nothing.
Royal looks to the Egyptian men.
ROYAL
Would you excuse us, please?
The Egyptian men hesitate. Pagoda points to the door. The Egyptian men leave the room.
RICHIE
Where’s Sabrina?
ELI
(pause)
They went back to England.
Richie nods. He sits down next to Eli. Royal and Pagoda sit across from them.
RICHIE
Are we still friends?
Eli seems embarrassed and hurt.
ELI
What do you mean?
RICHIE
Are we?
ELI
Of course. I can’t believe you would
ask me that.
RICHIE
It doesn’t matter. I heard about you
and Margot.
Silence. Eli gets up and goes over to the window. He looks out at the backyard. Richie goes over and stands next to him. Eli looks deeply depressed.
ELI
I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.
RICHIE
You don’t have to say anything.
CONTINUED: (2)
ELI
I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum, you
know?
Richie nods. Eli looks to Royal. Royal nods and says quietly:
ROYAL
Me, too. Me, too.
ELI
But it doesn’t mean what it used to,
does it?
Richie shakes his head. Eli opens the window, reaches out, and picks a dead leaf off a branch of a tree. He looks to Richie.
ELI (CONT’D)
I wish you’d’ve done this for me when I
was a kid.
RICHIE
(pause)
But you didn’t have a drug problem then.
ELI
Yeah, but it still would’ve meant a lot
to me. Anyway, I really appreciate your
coming over here now. I do recognize
that I have a problem, and I want to get
better. Let me just get my things.
Eli goes into the bathroom and locks the door. Pagoda goes over to the window and looks out.
He sees Eli running down the fire escape.
PAGODA
There he goes.
Royal and Richie rush over to the window. They watch Eli drop to the ground, run into the street, and hail a taxi. He has on socks but no shoes.
A room decorated like a birthday cake. Every booth is filled with divorced fathers and their young daughters. Margot sits across from Royal. Royal is dressed in his elevator-operator uniform. A waiter stands next to him.
ROYAL
I want to order some ice cream for my
daughter, please. What would you like,
Margot?
MARGOT
I told you. Nothing. I only have five
minutes.
Royal looks frustrated. Margot sighs.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
I’ll have a butterscotch sundae, I
guess.
The waiter nods and walks away. Silence.
ROYAL
Your brother’s all torn up inside.
MARGOT
(hesitates)
Well, so am I, but I’m not going to
discuss it with you.
Royal sighs. He leans across the table and says urgently:
ROYAL
Can’t someone be a shit their whole life
and want to repair the damage? I mean,
I think people want to hear that.
MARGOT
Do they?
Royal nods. Silence.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
You probably don’t even know my middle
name.
ROYAL
(pause)
It’s a trick question. You don’t have
one.
MARGOT
Helen.
ROYAL
(surprised)
That was my mother’s name.
MARGOT
(sadly)
I know it was.
Royal stands on the sidewalk in front of the Tenenbaum house. He has a bunch of white flowers in his hand.
Anwar is asleep in the BMW parked at the curb. Royal throws a pebble at a window on the third floor.
Ari looks out the window. Royal smiles. Ari opens the window. Uzi appears beside him. Royal calls up to them:
ROYAL
Anybody feel like grabbing a couple of
burgers and hitting the cemetery?
Chas appears between Ari and Uzi. He looks down to Royal. Royal looks nervous. Chas closes the window.
CUT TO:
Royal putting his bunch of flowers on Rachael’s grave. He stands alone with his hands in his pockets. He walks away.
Etheline and Henry come down the front steps of Henry’s building. They both look depressed. Royal is waiting at the bus stop on the corner, next to a small Mexican man in a windbreaker and a tie. Royal has a large envelope in his hands. Etheline and Henry see him. Royal goes over to them
ROYAL
I got you something, Ethel. Actually, I
made it.
Etheline and Henry look at Royal warily. Royal hands Etheline the envelope. She looks to Henry. Henry shrugs. She opens the envelope. It contains a sheaf of typwritten documents.
ETHELINE
What’s this?
ROYAL
A divorce.
Etheline looks to Royal. She says quietly:
ETHELINE
From you?
ROYAL
Yes.
Royal looks to Henry. Henry does not know what to say. Royal motions to the Mexican man.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
This is Sanchez. He’s a notary public.
HENRY
(hesitates)
Hello.
SANCHEZ
Hello, sir.
ROYAL
If you’ll just sign here, please, Ethel.
Royal hands Etheline a pen and points to a dotted line. Etheline signs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
And here.
Etheline signs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
And initial here.
Etheline signs. Royal hands the sheaf of documents to Sanchez. Sanchez puts several stamps and notations on it. Royal looks up at Henry’s building.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
You own this building, don’t you, Henry?
It’s magnificent. I used to be a home-
owner myself, but my son expropriated it
from me.
Henry does not respond. A city bus approaches from the next block.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Here comes my bus. Thanks, Sanchez.
SANCHEZ
You’re welcome.
ETHELINE
Are we divorced?
ROYAL
Almost. Sanchez just has to file the
papers.
Royal signals to the bus driver.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I love you, Etheline. And
congratulations, both of you.
Royal looks to Henry. He turns back to Etheline.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I didn’t think so much of him at first,
but now I get it. He’s everything I’m
not.
CONTINUED: (2)
Royal smiles. He turns away suddenly, runs to the bus, and jumps inside. He looks back to Etheline. He yells:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Take back Pagoda, will you?
Etheline hesitates. She nods. The door closes. Etheline and Henry stand watching with Sanchez.
Eli drives through a tunnel at top speed in the middle of the night. He has on sunglasses, and he is covered with grass and dirt. Electronic music blasts from the stereo. He looks lost and sad.
CUT TO:
Page 258. It says “Chapter Nine.”
INSERT:
An invitation to Etheline’s and Henry’s wedding at the house on Archer Avenue. It is nearly identical to the invitation on the cover of the first edition of The Royal Tenenbaums.
Ari, Uzi and Pagoda stand in front of the house with Buckley, receiving the wedding guests. They help people out of their cars, give them programs for the ceremony, and direct them to the front door.
There are about fifty guests. Half of them are black and half are white. The members of the wedding party are dressed in morning suits.
Royal and Dusty get out of a gypsy cab. Royal smiles at Ari and Uzi. He hugs Pagoda and kisses Ari and Uzi on the tops of their heads. He looks around. He whispers:
ROYAL
I got you some jawbreakers.
Royal slips Ari and Uzi each a large purple-and-green-striped jawbreaker. They hide them in their jackets.
A twenty-one-year-old black Navy midshipman helps Henry finish tying his bow tie. The midshipman is Walter. Henry studies his tie in the mirror.
HENRY
It’s slightly uneven.
Henry unties his knot and starts from scratch. Richie cracks open the door and looks into the room.
RICHIE
Henry?
Henry looks to the door.
HENRY
Hello, Richie. This is my son, Walter
Sherman.
Richie comes into the room. He and Walter shake hands.
RICHIE
Nice to meet you, Walter.
WALTER
Nice to meet you.
CHAS
Henry’s your dad?
Chas is standing in the doorway. Walter hesitates. He nods. Chas looks to Henry.
CHAS (CONT’D)
So you’ve been married before?
HENRY
Yes. I’m a widower.
CHAS
Oh, yeah. I forgot.
(pause)
You know, I’m a widower myself.
HENRY
I know you are, Chas.
Margot looks out the window at the guests arriving on the street while Etheline finishes her make-up. Margot has a white plastic inhaler in her mouth.
ETHELINE
What are you chewing on?
MARGOT
My nicotine inhaler. It’s supposed to
help me quit.
ETHELINE
Is it working?
MARGOT
Not really.
Ari and Uzi tie Buckley’s leash around a pole in front of the house. Royal and a very small Irish priest stand together at the top of the steps.
ROYAL
Well, of course, I’m half Hebrew, but
the children are three-quarters Mick-
Catholic.
PRIEST
(nods)
So they were raised in the church.
ROYAL
(pause)
I believe so. I really don’t know.
A car’s tires squeal around the corner. Royal and the priest look down the block. Eli’s convertible skids through the turn on to Archer Avenue. Royal and the priest frown.
Eli’s face is covered with Apache warpaint. He is dressed in a morning suit. He wears a distracted smile. He downshifts, accelerates, and steers toward the Tenenbaum house. He whispers:
ELI
Here I come.
CUT TO:
Ari, Uzi and Buckley watching frozen as Eli’s car races toward them. Royal looks panicked. He looks to Ari and Uzi and hollers:
ROYAL
Boys!
Royal jumps down the stairs.
There is a tremendous crashing boom and the sound of shattering glass. Etheline rushes over next to Margot at the window.
ETHELINE
What was that?
MARGOT
Eli just crashed his car into the front
of the house.
ETHELINE
Oh, my God.
Chas sprints down the stairs three at a time. He falls and bangs against the wall. He gets back up and keeps running.
Eli sits on the floor, barefoot, covered in glass and debris. He is bleeding from a head wound. Three dalmation mice dart around the room in confusion. Several guests help Eli stagger to his feet. They look alarmed at his appearance, particularly the warpaint.
ELI
Where are my shoes?
Dudley finds one of Eli’s shoes in the fireplace. He hands it to Eli. Eli puts it on.
The wedding guests quickly begin to come out the front door and gather around the smashed car. There is also a crushed mailbox, and mail is scattered all over the sidewalk. The lighter airmail envelopes drift about in the wind. Chas runs down the steps. He yells:
CHAS
Where are you?
Royal and Richie stand up among the rubble. Royal holds Ari under one arm and Uzi under the other. He sets them down. Chas runs over to them.
ROYAL
They’re OK, Chas.
Chas grabs Ari and Uzi. He examines them.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
It’s OK. They’re safe.
ARI
Dad, they ran over Buckley.
CHAS
What?
Chas looks to Royal. Royal nods. He turns to the wreckage. Buckley’s leash remains tied to the railing and extends taut beneath the wheels of Eli’s car.
ROYAL
I think we lost Buckley.
Ari and Uzi start to cry. Richie brushes some debris off Uzi’s hair. He looks to Chas and points to Royal.
RICHIE
He saved them. Kind of.
Chas looks to Richie. He says blankly:
CHAS
He did?
Richie nods. Chas looks to Royal. Royal shrugs. Eli appears in the broken front window of the home.
ELI
Did I hit anybody?
Everyone looks to Eli.
ELI (CONT’D)
Is everybody okay?
Eli sees Chas staring at him. Eli hesitates. He darts away from the window. Chas bolts up the steps, banging his way through the crowd.
ROYAL
Chas! Wait!
Chas bursts into the house. He screams:
CHAS
Eli!
The guests panic as Eli jumps over a couch, knocks over a chair, and ducks into the kitchen.
Pagoda looks up from a tray of canapes he is preparing. He does not appear to notice Eli’s strange appearance and injuries. He holds one of the canapes to him.
PAGODA
This is the quail’s egg.
Eli takes it quickly. Chas smashes open the door. Eli body- checks him and breaks out of the room.
They slam past the priest and knock him down the basement stairs. The wedding guests scream and yell and try to break it up or get away.
Eli slips out the back door and sprints into the garden.
Eli runs to the back wall and tries the gate. It is locked. Chas tackles him hard. Chas grabs him by the arm, swings him around, and slams him against the wall. Eli yells. People rush into the backyard. Richie runs outside.
RICHIE
Chas! Don’t!
Richie tries to pull Chas off Eli. Chas elbows Richie in the face. Richie falls backwards into the bushes. Chas picks up Eli and tries to throw him over the wall. Eli scratches and clutches.
ELI
Help! Please!
Chas yells insanely. He throws Eli over the wall. He turns to everyone watching him. They look stunned. Chas breathes heavily. Richie sits up in the bushes. He has his hand over his eye.
RICHIE
Chas?
Chas hesitates. He climbs over the wall.
Chas lands in a Zen garden, next to Eli. Eli is stretched out on his back. He and Chas look at each other. Chas lies down on the ground. He seems drained. It is very quiet. They both stare up at the sky. There are bonsai trees all around them.
ELI
Did I hit the dog?
CHAS
Yeah.
ELI
(pause)
Is he dead?
CHAS
Yeah.
ELI
(pause)
I need help.
CHAS
So do I.
Walter looks over the top of the wall, down at Chas and Eli. He looks back behind him and yells to someone:
WALTER
Go around to the other side!
Henry and Royal run around the corner and up the steps of a neighbor’s house. A plaque next to the front door says “Residence of the Japanese Ambassador.” Royal knocks. They wait. Royal looks to Henry. He says suddenly:
ROYAL
Can I say something to you, Henry?
Henry looks to Royal.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I’ve been considered an asshole for
about as long as I can remember. That’s
just my style. But I’d feel pretty blue
if I didn’t think you were going to
forgive me.
Henry nods. He says gently:
HENRY
I don’t think you’re an asshole, Royal.
You’re just a kind of a son of a bitch.
Royal seems genuinely moved by this remark.
ROYAL
Well, I appreciate that.
The door opens. A small Asian woman in a kimono looks out at them.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Can we get into your backyard, ma’am?
We got a couple of boys out there.
There are two police cars, an ambulance, a tow-truck and a fire engine in front of the house. Raleigh and two paramedics roll the priest on a gurney. Raleigh holds the priest’s hand.
PARAMEDIC
I think he may’ve broken his ankle.
RALEIGH
That’s not terribly serious, is it?
(to the priest)
Do you have an alternative?
The priest shakes his head.
Eli is being questioned by a police officer. His warpaint is smeared, and there are several bandages on his head and arms. He looks very upset.
ELI
At which point I apparently lost control
of the vehicle, smashed it into the
house, and killed that poor dog.
The police officer studies Eli’s driver’s license.
POLICE OFFICER
You’re Eli Cash.
ELI
(pause)
I am, indeed.
POLICE OFFICER
I love your work.
ELI
(touched)
How sweet of you to say so.
Royal stands among a group of firemen with a dalmation.
ROYAL
I think he’s part mutt. What kind of
papers you got for him?
One of the firemen shrugs. Royal points at the dalmation.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Sparkplug. Sit.
The dalmation sits. Royal looks impressed.
Dusty stands with Richie on the sidewalk and examines his eye. It is scratched badly and looks terrible.
DUSTY
Can you see out of it?
Richie covers his good eye to test his bad eye.
RICHIE
Not really.
CONTINUED: (2)
DUSTY
Uh-huh. Minor corneal damage. Page me
if it spreads to the other eye.
Raleigh and Dudley stand next to each other wearing firemen’s helmets. Dudley laughs crazily.
RALEIGH
What’s so funny, Dudley?
DUDLEY
You look great!
Henry and Walter survey the scene from the smashed-out living room window. Walter points to the rubble.
WALTER
But these aren’t structure-bearing
elements, Dad.
HENRY
It doesn’t matter. It’s still best to
file under force majeure and recoup the
deductible.
Ari and Uzi try to look at Buckley under Eli’s car as several firemen and tow-truck drivers attach straps and chains to the wheels and axle. Etheline goes over to them.
ETHELINE
You boys come over here with me.
ARI
But Buckley’s still under there.
ETHELINE
I know, but there’s nothing we can do
for him, at the moment.
Royal takes the dalmation over to Chas.
ROYAL
I got you a new dog for the boys.
Chas looks at the dalmation. He looks back to Royal.
CHAS
What’s this?
ROYAL
I just bought him.
CHAS
You did?
Royal nods. Silence.
CONTINUED: (3)
ROYAL
I’m sorry I let you down, Chas. All of
you. I’ve been trying to make it up to
you.
Royal holds out the leash. Chas hesitates. He takes it.
CHAS
What’s his name?
ROYAL
(quietly)
Sparkplug.
CHAS
Thank you.
ROYAL
You’re welcome.
Chas suddenly starts crying. He stares at the ground.
CHAS
We’ve had a rough year, Dad.
ROYAL
I know you have, Chassie.
Royal puts his hand on Chas’ head. Chas looks to Royal and takes a deep breath. He nods. Royal watches as Chas takes the dalmation over to Ari and Uzi and talks to them quietly for a minute.
Uzi pets the dalmation. Ari takes the leash. Etheline looks to Royal. Royal looks back at her. Etheline smiles sadly.
Richie and Margot sit near the edge of the roof, next to the falcon in its coop. Richie has an ice pack over his eye. He brushes his hand against the white feathers on the falcon’s neck.
MARGOT
I wonder what happened to him.
RICHIE
I don’t know.
(pause)
Sometimes when people have a traumatic
experience, their hair turns white.
Silence. Margot says quietly:
MARGOT
Well, I’m sure he’ll get over it.
Richie nods. Margot looks at him for a minute. She takes her inhaler out of her mouth and puts it in her pocket. She turns and looks at the top of the chimney. She pulls out a loose brick. She reaches behind it and takes out a pack of cigarettes and a matchbook. She looks to Richie. She points at the chimney.
MARGOT (CONT’D)
This was one of my first hiding places.
Richie studies the pack of cigarettes. It is still sealed, but the wrapper has faded.
RICHIE
How old you think those are?
Margot opens the pack, takes out a cigarette, puts it in her mouth, and lights it. She takes a puff.
MARGOT
I’d say about ten years.
Richie nods. Margot offers him a cigarette. He takes it, and she lights it. Margot puts her arm around Richie’s shoulder, and they smoke their stale cigarettes together.
Ari, Uzi and Chas watch Royal throw dirt on to a grave in the backyard. They have tears in their eyes. The dalmation sits on the ground next to them.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Royal dug a hole for Buckley behind the
garden shed, and buried him in a canvas
duffle bag.
Chas hands Royal a bottle of scotch, and Royal takes a drink.
ROYAL
All right, boys. Say a prayer --
Ari begins, with a jawbreaker in his mouth:
ARI
Dear Heavenly Father --
Henry and Etheline stand side by side in front of a judge in a small office with green carpet and an exercise bicycle. Henry has his left hand raised and his right hand on a bible.
HENRY
So help me God.
The judge extends the Bible to Etheline. She puts her hand on it.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Etheline and Henry were married forty-
eight hours later, in judge’s chambers.
A stage-set for a play that appears to take place in a network of tree houses on a tropical island. A father introduces his daughter to a group of native tribesmen.
FATHER
This is my adopted daughter, Elaine
Levinson.
The house is sold out. Royal sits in the front row with the other Tenenbaums. He laughs quietly and shakes his head. The rest of the audience is silent.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Margot’s new play, The Levinsons in the
Trees, was produced at the Cavendish
Theatre.
CUT TO:
Margot standing alone outside the theatre, under the marquee, smoking a cigarette.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
It ran for just under two weeks and
received mixed reviews.
Brooks College. Raleigh and Dudley sit onstage at a table in front of an audience of doctors and medical students. Raleigh takes a question.
MEDICAL STUDENT
Can he tell time?
RALEIGH
Oh, my Lord, no.
Dudley shakes his head emphatically.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Raleigh and Dudley went on a lecture
tour to eleven universities in the
promotion of their new book.
INSERT:
A copy of Raleigh’s new book, Dudley’s World. On the dust jacket there is a yearbook photograph of Dudley with his Henry Aaron-style glasses flipped up. His expression is almost impossibly blank.
A resort compound on the high plains. Eli practices with a lasso in front of several young addicts. He has stitches on his forehead.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Eli checked himself into a
rehabilitation hospital in North Dakota.
A tall, skinny, Native American man in his late forties walks over to Eli. He and Eli are dressed in matching deerskin jackets. Eli points to him.
ELI
This is my sponsor, Runs with Two
Horses.
A concrete tennis court with a chain-link net. Ari, Uzi and a group of children dressed in tennis clothes watch as Richie demonstrates the continental style of grip to them. Richie has a white gauze patch taped over his eye.
RICHIE
Rod Laver used it. You know who Laver
is?
Uzi steps up to the service line. He bounces a ball and gets ready to serve.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Richie started a programme teaching
competitive tennis to eight- to twelve-
year-olds at the 375th Street Y.
Uzi hits a fast serve to Richie’s forehand. Richie fires his return full-speed straight down the line. Uzi watches it race past him.
Royal, Chas, Ari and Uzi ride on the back of a speeding garbage truck. They are all laughing.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Royal had a heart attack at the age of
sixty-eight.
Royal is strapped on to a gurney with tubes sticking out of his arms and an oxygen mask on his face. Chas sits beside him, holding his hand. The ambulance races full-speed up the wrong side of the street.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Chas rode with him in the ambulance, and
was the only witness to his father’s
death.
Royal appears to be smiling underneath his oxygen mask. He looks up at Chas. Chas puts his hand on Royal’s cheek. Royal closes his eyes.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
In his will, he stipulated that his
funeral take place at dusk.
INSERT:
Page 275 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Epilogue.”
Snow falls lightly, and the sky is getting dark. Everyone in the family is gathered around as Chas, Richie, Henry, Raleigh, Eli, Dusty and Pagoda lower the casket. They are all bundled up in coats and scarves. They step away from the grave.
Henry stands next to Etheline. She takes his arm. Pagoda wears Royal’s sunglasses. Tears stream down his face. Dusty stands beside him. Margot has her arm around Richie’s shoulder. She smokes a cigarette. Raleigh stands next to Dudley. Eli stands next to Walter. The priest is on crutches.
Chas looks to Ari and Uzi standing a few yards away. He nods. Ari and Uzi fire several shots into the air with Chas’ and Royal’s old BB guns.
Royal’s gravestone sits in a wheelbarrow next to a pile of dirt. It reads “Royal O’Reilly Tenenbaum (1932-2001).” Epitaph: “Died tragically rescuing his family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship.” The priest sees this and hesitates. He looks puzzled. He smiles slightly.
Richie throws a white flower into the grave. They all stand in silence for a minute before they turn away and walk to their waiting car.
-- THE END --
THE END