Being John Malkovich

INT. CHEERLESS ROOM - DAY

The room is bare, dusty. A ceiling fan turns. The

wall clock ticks. Craig, 30 years old and small, sits at

a collapsible card table. The only item on the table is a

book. Craig picks it up, looks at the jacket. It's entitled

"Sit." Craig opens the book. It reads: "sit sit sit sit

sit..." over and over, page after page. Craig closes the

book. He begins to stand, but thinks better of it, sighs.

He looks at the book again. It is now entitled "Die." He

opens it up. "die die die die die..." A rooster crows.

CUT TO:

INT. CRAIG AND LOTTE'S BEDROOM - MORNING

Craig jolts awake. A rooster stands on Craig's chest,

crowing. Lotte, also 30, in the middle of dressing for

work, hurries in and pulls the bird from Craig's chest.

LOTTE:

Sorry, hon. I didn't know Orrin

Hatch was out of his pen. Good

morning.

Lotte leans down and kisses Craig on the forehead.

CRAIG:

Morning.

LOTTE:

Gotta run. Shipment of grub worms

coming in first thing.

CRAIG:

Enjoy.

LOTTE:

Craig, listen, honey, I've been

thinking... maybe you'd feel better

if you got, you know, a job or

something.

CRAIG:

We've been over this. Nobody's

looking for a puppeteer in today's

wintry economic climate.

LOTTE:

Well, you know, maybe something else

until this whole puppet thing turns

around.

CRAIG:

(bitterly)

The Great Mantini doesn't need a day

job.

LOTTE:

(sighs)

Craig, everyone can't be Derek Mantini.

(beat)

Well, grub worms are waiting. Do me

a favor?

CRAIG:

What?

LOTTE:

Would you check in on Elijah? He seems

to be a little under the weather this

morning.

CRAIG:

Which one is Elijah again?

LOTTE:

The monkey.

CRAIG:

Yeah. Okay.

CUT TO:

INT. CRAIG AND LOTTE' S GARAGE - MORNING

The place is a mess. Vivaldi blasts through cheap speakers.

A small marionette stage stands in the back of the garage.

The stage is lit and on it is a finely sculpted puppet

version of Craig. The "Craig" puppet paces back and forth,

wringing its hands with incredible subtlety. We see Craig,

above and behind the stage. He is manipulating the puppet.

His fingers move fast and furious. The puppet breaks into

a dance, a beautiful and intricate balletic piece. Soon the

puppet is leaping and tumbling through space, moves that one

would think impossible for a marionette. Sweat appears on

the real Craig’s brow. His fingers move like lightning. The

puppet moves faster and faster. Sweat appears on the puppet's

brow. We see that the sweat is being piped from a special

device that the real Craig controls. The Craig puppet

collapses on the floor of the stage. It puts its hands up to

its face and weeps. Craig hangs the puppet, and comes down

around the front of the stage. He is heaving. He switches

off the music, picks up a beer and takes a swig.

CUT TO:

INT. CRAIG AND LOTTE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

The room is filled with penned and unpenned animals of all

kinds:
snakes, lizards, birds, a dog, cats, etc. Craig sits

on the couch and looks at the want ads, the TV is on in the

background. Elijah, the monkey, sits next to Craig holding

his stomach and moaning weakly. On the TV, Derek Mantini is

working a 60 foot high marionette from the top of a water tower.

The assembled crowd is enthralled.

TV ANNOUNCER:

The crowd is enthralled as Derek

Mantini, arguably the greatest

puppeteer in the history of the

world, performs "The Belle of

Amherst" with his 60 foot Emily

Dickinson puppet, directed by the

inimitable Charles Nelson Reilly.

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