Carnage Page #5

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

Lack of balance, unsteady or jerky

gait. But that’s if you take the

whole bottle!

ALAN:

And in normal doses?

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

Normal doses? Rarely.

ALAN:

How long have you known this?

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

Two years. Two and a half years.

ALAN:

And in all that time you haven't

recalled it?

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

You’re joking, right? Might as well

file for Chapter 13.

ALAN:

What are we talking about in

revenues?

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

Somewhere around half a billion

ALAN:

Oh. Oh, I see.

14.

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

I’m going to find out who else knows

about this report.

ALAN:

OK.

ALAN hangs up and immediately dials another number, all the

while gobbling down his cobbler.

NANCY:

Alan, we're all waiting for you.

ALAN:

Yeah, right. One second.

(on cell:
)

Dennis?

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

Did you talk to him?

ALAN:

They've known about the risks for

two and a half years.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

Jesus.

ALAN:

An internal report, but no

undesirable side-effects are

firmly established.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

Appropriate action?

ALAN:

No. No precautionary measures and

they didn't schedule a reserve.

Nothing in the annual report.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

I can’t believe it. And what are

the symptoms?

ALAN:

Lack of balance, jerky gait, the

works. Basically, you look like

you’re drunk.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

(laughter)

ALAN and his assistant have a laugh. He stuffs himself

with cobbler, laughing and talking with his mouth full,

unabashed.

15.

ALAN:

Roughly half a billion in

revenues.

(long beat:
)

You there?

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

What did you advise him to do?

ALAN:

Deny.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

Of course.

ALAN:

That dumbshit wanted us to write a

letter to the editor. No way we're

writing a letter. On the other

hand, if we see this is getting

picked up, we could do a press

release. Like somebody's spreading

false rumors two weeks out from

the A.S.M. kind of thing.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

Want me to broach it with him?

ALAN:

He's calling me back.

DENNIS (O.S. - TEL)

All right. We hold tight for now.

We work on a press release.

ALAN:

OK.

(hangs up)

I've been so busy, I hardly had time

for lunch.

MICHAEL:

Help yourself, help yourself.

ALAN:

Thanks. I know I'm pushing it. Where

were we?

PENELOPE:

We were saying it would have been

better to meet some other way.

ALAN:

Oh, right. Yeah. So this cobbler,

your mother, huh?

16.

MICHAEL:

It's my mother's recipe but Pen made

it.

PENELOPE:

Your mother's doesn't make it with

pear and apple!

MICHAEL:

No.

PENELOPE:

She has to have an operation, poor

thing.

NANCY:

Yeah? What for?

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote