Conspiracy Theory

Synopsis: New York City cabbie Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) is an expert on paranoid conspiracy theories. He is also infatuated with government lawyer Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts), who permits his attention because he once rescued her from a mugging. However, when Jerry is captured and put through psychotic tests by Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart), he realizes there is an actual conspiracy. After escaping, Jerry enlists Alice's help, but she wonders whether he has uncovered a real threat or is just insane.
Production: Warner Home Video
  4 wins & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.7
Metacritic:
49
Rotten Tomatoes:
53%
R
Year:
1997
135 min
1,345 Views


FADE IN:

INT. MANHATTAN STREETS - CAB - DAY

Behind the wheel: JERRY FLETCHER. Flat-out handsome if

not for his eyes. Someone rash, someone making an

uninformed decision might call them crazy eyes. He stops

across from an apartment building, TOOTS his HORN.

IN DOORWAY:

A woman and a man, a CYNIC, appear. Jerry smiles as they

kiss goodnight. A bit of desperate passion. She watches

after him as he gets in the cab.

CYNIC:

Luxembourg Towers on 7th.

INT. CAB

Jerry nods, rolls out. The Cynic watches the door to

1257 close, then sighs. Jerry looks at him in the

rearview.

JERRY:

The sound of love.

CYNIC:

Excuse me?

Jerry exhales an exaggerated sigh.

JERRY:

That's love.

CYNIC:

Love? Love's just a pretty way of

saying, 'I want to sleep with

you'. Love is bullshit.

JERRY:

I live on tips, so don't be

offended, but you're a liar. I

saw you kiss. Admit it, this is

the street where love lives.

The Cynic looks back over his shoulder. Down love

street. As Jerry hangs a right, the Cynic faces forward.

JERRY:

Love gives you wings. It makes

you fly. I don't even call it

love. I call it Geronimo.

CYNIC:

Geronimo?

JERRY:

Geronimo. When you're really in

love, you'll jump. Off the top of

the Empire State. Screaming

'Geronimo' the whole way down.

CYNIC:

But you'll die. You'll squash

yourself. What's the point?

JERRY:

Aren't you listening, man? Love

gives you wings.

The Cynic just smiles, leans back.

CYNIC:

She must be some girl.

JERRY:

I love her so bad. She just...

wrecks me. I would die for her.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

Jerry stops at a light. A road crew are at work ahead.

A white strobe light warns motorists that they're here.

CYNIC:

She feel the same about you?

Jerry can't take his eyes off the stroke. As he blinks.

JERRY:

I don't know.

FLASH CUT TO:

SUBJECTIVE POV:

Looking down as a man's arms are strapped to the arm of a

chair. The POV JERKING UP as the same is done with the

head. A kaleidoscope of flashing lights ahead, then

darkness as eyes are shut. They're forced open. We see

the reflection of blue eyes in glass as they're taped

open. As bright lights strobe...

BACK TO TAXI:

Jerry stares at the light, transfixed.

JERRY:

I never told her.

CYNIC:

Why the hell not?

JERRY:

I, uh, I have some problems.

The traffic light glows green; Jerry doesn't see it. The

sound of conspiratorial WHISPERS fill the taxi.

FLASH CUT TO:

SUBJECTIVE POV:

The contents of a syringe pumped into the strapped arm.

The walls begin to melt. The WHISPERS CONTINUE.

GARBLED, but their tone is perfectly clear. Threatening.

Cabalistic. Human forms appear. Stretched impossibly

long, melting along with the walls.

We CLOSE ON the reflection of a dozen pair of the same

taped-open eyes. The WHISPERING CUTS SHORT. Ominously.

The eyes dart from side-to-side as FOOTSTEPS approach.

The eyes suddenly widen in agony. As Jerry's scream of

pain becomes the BLARE of a HORN, we find ourselves back

in the...

TAXI:

Going about 60 mph. Jerry snaps to just in time to avoid

a head-on collision with a car coming the other way.

CYNIC:

Are you crazy?!

JERRY:

The guy came right at us!

CYNIC:

You turned up a one way street!

Jerry watches, in a sweat, as he passes a "ONE WAY" sign

pointing the opposite way. He mutters to himself.

JERRY:

I was only going one way.

CYNIC:

Drop me off here!

JERRY:

Look, I'm sorry --

CYNIC:

Just drop me off.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

Jerry pulls to the curb. The meter at $3.60. The Cynic

slides a twenty through the slot and is out the door.

Jerry watches over his shoulder as the Cynic disappears

down the street. Jerry rubs his eyes, tries to regroup.

Rate this script:3.5 / 4 votes

Brian Helgeland

Brian Thomas Helgeland (born January 17, 1961) is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He is most known for writing the screenplays for L.A. Confidential (for which he received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), Mystic River, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Helgeland also wrote and directed 42 (2013), a biopic of Jackie Robinson, and Legend (2015), about the rise and fall of the Kray twins. more…

All Brian Helgeland scripts | Brian Helgeland Scripts

0 fans

Submitted by aviv on November 02, 2016

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Conspiracy Theory" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/conspiracy_theory_422>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Conspiracy Theory

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.