Living in Oblivion
- R
- Year:
- 1995
- 90 min
- 835 Views
A battered 35mm movie camera stands alone on a wooden tripod
surrounded by blackness. Opening credits begin. An almost
imperceptible DOLLY in toward the movie camera. The dolly
forward continues throughout the credits ending in an EXTREME
CU of the camera's lens, filling the frame like a giant,
glass full moon. Fade to BLACK.
Suddenly a door opens directly in front of the camera, wiping
the lens and revealing the following scene in Black and White.
EXT. STREET. NYC. NIGHT
A quiet, deserted industrial street. It is over an hour before
dawn and the street is still cloaked in the heavy stillness
of night.
In the weak light filtering out of their battered van, BERT
and CYBIL -- the Craft Service Managers, finish setting out
breakfast supplies on a 6' table. They work in almost complete
silence, both nearly paralyzed with sleep. A cheap walkie-
talkie, lying beside a paper plate of soggy Oreos, sputters
and buzzes occasionally. Other items on the table include a
mangled banana, seven grapes, and a box of chocolate covered
donuts.
BERT:
What time is it?
CYBIL:
Four. Why?
BERT:
This milk is bad.
CYBIL:
(sniffs)
When did you buy it?
BERT:
Tuesday? I don't know. What's today?
CYBIL:
Monday.
(pause)
There's a deli on Broadway.
BERT:
Nothing closer?
CYBIL:
Nothing that's open.
BERT:
(sniffs the milk)
Is it that bad?
CYBIL:
I don't know. You're the one who
said it was bad.
At that moment a large truck grinds around the corner and
shudders to a stop in front of the building. Bert replaces
the carton of milk neatly beside the orange juice.
EXT. STREET. NYC. NIGHT. B/W
Amid low, one-word greetings, the CREW tumbles out of the
trucks and stands in a groggy cluster around the Craft Service
table. WOLF -- the Cameraman, assumes a place of prominence.
He wears a black leather coat, a black beret, and black
leather half-fingered gloves.
WOLF:
This is the worst f***ing coffee
I've had in my life.
CYBIL:
Then don't drink it.
GAFFER:
What're we doing today?
WOLF:
(pulls out a wrinkled
callsheet)
"Interior. Living Room. Ellen talks
to Mom."
AC:
Any nudity?
CYBIL:
Yeah, you have to take your f***ing
pants off.
AC:
I'll do it. I like Ellen.
GAFFER:
Yeah, she's a babe. She was the nurse
in that Richard Gere movie.
BERT:
I worked on that.
AC:
The shower scene.
WOLF:
Start with the 5K in the window. Run
feeders for three blonds into the
living room.
GAFFER:
Two people. Sitting? Standing?
WOLF:
Who f***in' knows?
GAFFER:
(walks off)
"Ellen talks to Mom."
INT. CAR. NIGHT. B/W
NICOLE sits quietly in the back seat of a beat-up station
wagon. She glances out at the empty city moving past her
window and lets out a deep sigh.
JEFF, the young intern assigned as her driver, glances into
the rearview mirror.
JEFF:
Tired?
NICOLE:
No, I've been up since four. I've
got a big scene today and I'm kind
of nervous.
JEFF:
"Ellen talks to Mom."
NICOLE:
Have you read the script?
JEFF:
No. It's on the callsheet.
NICOLE:
Oh. Well, it's pretty emotional. I
tell my mother I never felt she really
loved me.
JEFF:
You're going to yell at each other?
NICOLE:
I don't know. I'm just going to go
with how I feel. Which is the scary
part. I'm very close to this
character.
JEFF:
Problems with your own mom?
NICOLE:
Yes. But she died before I, well
before we could reconcile...
JEFF:
You were great in that Richard Gere
movie.
NICOLE:
Thanks.
EXT. RESIDENTIAL HOTEL. NIGHT. B/W
CU sidewalk. A pair of women's orthopedic shoes enter the
frame and begin pacing.
Camera pans up to reveal CORA, a small woman in her early
60s, pacing beneath the awning of her residential hotel. She
appears to be rehearsing dialogue with herself.
CORA:
Ellen, I have no memory of this
whatsoever. Ellen... Ellen I have NO
memory of this whatsoever.
Jeff pulls the car up to the curb and Cora gets into the
back seat.
INT. CAR. NIGHT. B/W
NICOLE:
Good morning, "Mom."
CORA:
(gruff)
Morning.
NICOLE:
Sleep well?
CORA:
Not a wink.
Cora immediately lights a cigarette. Nicole instinctively
wrinkles her nose and turns away. Cora notices this and makes
an exaggerated effort to keep the smoke away from Nicole by
blowing it hard out the side of her mouth. Jeff glances back
at the two women in the rearview mirror. No one speaks.
INT. SET. DAWN. B/W
NICK -- the Director, WOLF -- the Cameraman and WANDA -- the
AD, stand in a loose triangle on the darkened set. All are
holding coffee cups. The Gaffer can be seen in the background
fumbling with a light.
NICK:
Look, I'm not blaming anybody, Wanda.
I'm just saying we left last night
and I knew we didn't get that scene.
WANDA:
I'm sorry, I thought it was a great
scene, Nick.
NICK:
It was OK; and it's going to be
alright. But I'm not settling for OK
today. This is a big scene and I'm
not leaving till we get it.
WANDA:
Whatever it takes, Nick. We're here
for you.
NICK:
Alright, here's what I'm thinking.
Wolf, I want to do the whole scene
in one shot.
WOLF:
It's been done.
NICK:
I know that but I'd like to try it
anyway.
WOLF:
Handheld.
NICK:
No, dolly. We go from Close-up to
Wide-shot and back to Close-up in
the same shot.
WOLF:
I'll use the 35, minimize distortion;
I'll light it all from the ceiling.
It could be kind of great.
WANDA:
Sounds incredible. How long, Wolf?
WOLF:
I'll need to see a couple run-
throughs.
NICK:
Not too many. It's a tough scene for
the actors. I want them to feel
relaxed, fresh...
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