The Great Gatsby Page #5

Daisy and Tom stare at Nick - both demanding his allegiance.

SUDDENLY! The telephone rings again: BRINNNGGG! Again, allfreeze. BRINNNGGG!

PUSH IN:
On Daisy as the telephone continues to shriek.

NICK (V.O.)

None of us could ignore that fifthguest’s shrill metallic urgency...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. BUCHANAN MANSION - BALUSTRADE - LATER

Servants clear. Jordan and Tom retire to the salon, as Nick

and Daisy stroll down toward the water, and Daisy confides:

DAISY:

Oh Nicky...

NICK:

What?

15.

DAISY:

Its just, well, you see, I thinkeverything’s terrible anyhow. You

know I’ve been everywhere and seen

everything and done everything, andI’ve had very bad time Nicky... I’m

pretty cyncical about everything.

Daisy gazes melancholic across the bay; an awkward silence.

Nick tries to change the subject-

NICK:

Your daughter; I suppose she talks,

and... eats, and everything?

DAISY:

Pammy? Oh yes...

Daisy leans on a stone balustrade and gazes down toward thedock, where a green light glows in the velvet dusk.

DAISY (CONT’D)

Listen Nick, when she was born, Tom

was God knows where - with God

knows whom - and I asked the nurse

if it was a boy or a girl. She toldme it was a girl, and I wept. 'Allright,' I said, 'I'm glad it's agirl. And I hope she'll be a fool -

that's the best thing a girl can bein this world, a beautiful little

fool.’

She breaks off, and looks at Nick with that smile of hers...

DAISY (CONT’D)

All the bright precious things fadeso fast...

And as a sad, sweet underscore plays, WE PUSH out over thewater, and across the bay toward Gatsby’s castle...

DAISY (CONT’D)

And they don’t come back.

EXT. GATSBY’S CASTLE - DOCK - NIGHT

WE DISCOVER:
At the end of Gatsby’s dock, A MAN - his dark

silhouette is cut against the paler black of the night sky.

In the distance behind him we see headlights. It is Nick,

pulling up at his bungalow.

16.

EXT. NICK’S BUNGALOW - NIGHT

Nick gets out of his car. He stops. Through the trees, he cansee The Man gazing intently across the bay.

NICK (V.O.)

When I arrived home I noticed that

a figure had emerged on myneighbor’s dock.

Nick goes closer, and watches The Man...

NICK (V.O.)

And something told me it was... Mr.

Gatsby.

The Man reaches out-

NICK (V.O.)

He seemed to be... reaching toward

something out there in the dark.

A green light on dock pulses in the distant darkness...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SANITARIUM - DOCTOR’S OFFICE - WINTER - NIGHT

Nick, troubled...

NICK:

The green light.

DOCTOR:

Green light?

Nick struggles with a painful memory...

NICK:

I don’t want to talk about this

Doctor.

Nick breaks off; and after a VERY LONG SILENCE, he admits:

NICK (CONT’D)

I can’t talk about THIS.

DOCTOR:

(delicately)

Then write about it.

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