Absolute Power
- R
- Year:
- 1997
- 121 min
- 822 Views
FADE IN:
1
INT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM -DAY 1
The saddest eyes you ever saw.
We are looking at an El Greco drawing. It is a study for
one of his paintings.
bunch of art students are doing sketches of the eyes,
the elongated fingers, the slender hands El Greco drew so
brilliantly.
Most of the students are around 20. A couple of suburban
housewives are there too.
And one older man.
This is LUTHER WHITNEY. Mid 60s, very fit, neatly
dressed. At quick glance, he seems as if he might be a
successful company executive.
As we watch him draw we can tell he is capable of great
concentration. And patient. With eyes that miss
nothing:
He has pilot’s eyes.We’ll find out more about him as time goes on, but this
is all you really have to know: Luther Whitney is the
hero of this piece. As we watch him draw -
Luther’s sketchbook. He is finishing his work on the
eyes, and he’s caught the sadness: It’s good stuff.
Luther. It’s not good enough for him. He looks at his
work a moment, shakes his head.
GIRL STUDENT:
Don’t give up.
LUTHER:
I never do.
GIRL STUDENT:
May I?
She’s indicated his sketchbook. He nods. She starts
thumbing through.
The sketchbook as the pages turn.
Detail work. Eyes and hands. The eyes are good. The
hands are better. Very skillful.
(CONTINUED)
)B( ABSOLUTE POWER -Rev. 5/16/96 2.
1 CONTINUED:
1The GIRL hands it back. Impressed.
GIRL STUDENT:
You work with your hands, don’t
you?
CLOSEUP -LUTHER *
An enigmatic smile. Now, from that -2
EXT. RED’S BAR -DAY 2
A nice working class part of town. Nothing fancy here
but there’s a pleasant feel. The streets are clean, the
houses neat and well tended.
Luther, carrying his sketchbook, walks along. It’s
afternoon now. Up ahead is a local bar: RED’S.
3 INT. RED’S BAR -DAY 3
Luther walks in. Nothing fancy here. Strictly working
class. And relatively empty. An overweight bald man
Luther’s age works behind the bar. This is RED. They
are good enough friends not to ask each other questions.
LUTHER:
(as they nod to
each other)
Redhead.
RED:
Luther.
(as Luther hands
him a videotape)
Your life would be a whole lot
operate a V.C.R.
LUTHER:
My only failing.
As he turns -4
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD -LUTHER’S HOUSE -DAY 4
A street of small row houses. Clean, well tended.
Luther walks toward one. Later in the afternoon. He
carries half a dozen small shopping bags, from the
market, the hardware store, the drug store, the cleaners.
3.
5 EXT. LUTHER’S HOUSE -DAY 5
A terra cotta planter to the right of the front door.
Luther shifts his packages, tilts the planter slightly,
bends down, pulls out a key, inserts it in the front
door.
6 INT. LUTHER’S HOUSE -KITCHEN -DAY 6
as he enters. Neat, tidy. A Cuisinart, a cheese slicer,
lots of other nice equipment. As he begins putting food
away -
7 INT. LUTHER’S HOUSE -DINING AREA -NIGHT 7
Evening now. Table set for one. A single candle.
Beside the candle is Luther’s sketch pad. Now Luther
himself moves INTO VIEW, carrying a tray. He puts it
down.
A gorgeous omelet is on a fine china plate, parsley
sprinkled neatly on top. An elegant green salad is on
another plate, covered with thinly sliced parmesan
cheese. An expensive water pitcher, a lovely glass.
Clearly, a great deal of thought has gone into dinner.
Luther lights the single candle. We are now aware of a
photograph nearby. The picture is old. A pretty little
girl stands in the center, smiling. Her mother stands
alongside, smiling too. A man is with them, looking at
them happily. It’s Luther. When he was young.
Luther studies the photo a moment. Then he turns, looks
out the window.
is visible. Lovely. Peaceful.
9 LUTHER 9
Now Luther opens the sketch pad, quickly flips past the
hands and eyes and faces -
--we are looking at something totally different: a
mansion.
HOLD ON Luther’s drawing of the mansion.
KEEP HOLDING.
4.
10 EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION -NIGHT 10
In the moonlight --it looks exactly like his drawing.
But no drawing could convey the size of the place --we
are looking at ten thousand square feet. Wealth and
power.
We’re in rolling hill country. The mansion is dark.
Totally deserted. Silence.
Now a sound -TIRES ON GRAVEL. A car comes rolling INTO
VIEW. The motor of the car has been turned off. The
lights of the car have been turned off. The car slides
to a stop. Again, silence...
HOLD ON mansion, a couple of hundred yards away. There
is a small field between the car and the estate. Now -
11 EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION/INT. LUTHER’S CAR -NIGHT 11
A man holds binoculars, studying the place. He wears
dark clothes, tennis shoes. He puts down the binoculars,
begins to smear his face with black camouflage cream -
--it’s Luther, and he’s been a professional thief his
entire life. He’s a three-time loser, but his last
sentence was so long ago and his skills are now so vast,
so refined, that it is unlikely he will ever get caught
again.
12 EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION -GROUNDS -NIGHT 12
The grounds as Luther glides through it. He wears a
backpack.
The night is cool.
He stops. All that separates him from the mansion now is
a stretch of gorgeous lawn. Except for Luther, it isn’t
gorgeous --it’s no-man’s land.
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