Misery Page #2

CAMERA MOVES IN TO

PAUL. He's inside and doing his best to fight is, but his

consciousness is going. He tries to keep his eyes open but they're

slits.

Slowly, he manages to reach out with his left arm for his

briefcase --

-- and he clutches it to his battered body. The MUSIC continues

on.

But PAUL is far from listening. His eyes flutter, flutter again.

Now they're starting to close.

The man is dying.

Motionless, he still clutches the battered briefcase.

HOLD ON THE CASE. Then --

DISSOLVE TO:

The BRIEFCASE in Paul's hands as he sits at a desk.

SINDELL (o-s)

What's that?

PULL BACK TO REVEAL

We are in New York City in the office of Paul's literary agent,

MARCIA SINDELL. The walls of the large room are absolutely crammed

with book and movie posters, in English and all other kinds of

other languages, all of them featuring the character of MISERY

CHASTAIN, a perfectly beautiful woman. Misery's Challenge,

Misery's Triumph -- eight of them. All written by Paul Sheldon.

CUT TO:

PAUL, lifting up the battered briefcase -- maybe when new it cost

two bucks, but he treats it like gold.

PAUL:

An old friend. I was rummaging through

a closet and it was just sitting there.

Like it was waiting for me.

CUT TO:

SINDELL:

(searching for a compliment)

It's ... it's nice, Paul. It's got...

character.

CUT TO:

THE TWO OF THEM.

PAUL:

When I wrote my first book, I used to

carry it around in this while I was

looking for a publisher. That was a

good book, Marcia. I was a writer

then.

SINDELL:

You're still a writer.

PAUL:

I haven't been a writer since I got

into the Misery business --

SINDELL:

(holding up the cover art

of Misery's Child)

Not a bad business. This thing would

still be growing, too. The first

printing order on Misery's Child was

the most ever -- over a million.

PAUL:

Marcia, please.

SINDELL:

No, no. Misery Chastain put braces on

your daughter's teeth and is putting

her through college, bought you two

houses and floor seats to the Knick

games and what thanks does she get?

You go and kill her.

PAUL:

Marcia, you know I started "Misery"

on a lark. Do I look like a guy who

writes romance novels? Do I sound

like Danielle Steel? It was a one-time

shot and we got lucky. I never meant

it to become my life. And if I hadn't

gotten rid of her now, I'd have ended

up writing her forever.

(touches his briefcase)

For the first time in fifteen years, I

think I'm really onto something here.

SINDELL:

I'm glad to hear that, Paul, I really

am. But you have to know -- when your

fans find out that you killed off their

favorite heroine, they're not going to

say, "Ooh, good, Paul Sheldon can

finally write what we've always wanted:

an esoteric, semi-autobiographical

character study.

Rate this script:3.0 / 4 votes