Body Double

Synopsis: Jake Scully comes home to find his girlfriend with another man and has to find a new place. In between his acting workshops and his job in a vampire B-movie, he scans the paper looking for anything. He happens to meet Sam Bouchard, a fellow actor who needs a house sitter. Both are pleased with the arrangement that will have Jake staying in the house and for a sweetener, Sam shows him his favorite neighbor, a well-built woman who strips with her window open each night. Jake becomes obsessed with meeting her and is able to help recover her purse from a thief, but shows his own phobia, he is incapacitated by claustrophobia when the thief runs through a tunnel. When Jake witnesses a murder, he finds out that the police love to pin crimes on peeping Toms. Jake discovers that here are just too many coincidences but must hunt them down himself without the police.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Director(s): Brian De Palma
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Metacritic:
69
Rotten Tomatoes:
78%
R
Year:
1984
114 min
1,332 Views


Action, Jake.

Jake! Action.

Cut.

Jake, what's your problem?

Open the coffin

a beat after you open your eyes.

Hey, hey!

Raise the camera!

Something's

the matter with him.

That's all right, Jake.

Just relax.

Something's going on.

Something's weird.

Give him some air.

What's the matter?

Speak to me.

Come on. Talk.

What's the matter?

I don't know

what happened.

I was in the coffin.

I closed my eyes.

The camera was

on top of me.

I couldn't move.

No big thing.

Just for a second there,

I couldn't move.

Uh-huh.

I don't know

what happened.

Fire!

What happened?

Joe, get up there!

Put some water on it!

Throw some water on it!

This is great.

That's terrific.

You got it under control...

You know, you really

look exhausted.

Why don't you take

a shower and go on home?

We lost the sun anyways.

Let me try it

one more time.

There isn't

any sun anymore.

Nuts with

that extreme.

And a Manhattan?

Yeah.

Fries?

Right.

Rings?

Two large Cokes

with ice.

Onions on everything.

Is that to go?

Yeah.

$4.99.

Keep the change.

Have a nice day.

You, too.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Shh.

Ooh!

Ohhh!

Hey, Scully.

How's that picture

coming?

Good.

Fine.

Great.

Jack Daniels, neat.

Scully, you quit

drinking, remember?

Just get the drink,

Doug.

What's the matter?

They cut your big scene?

Again.

Carol?

You're a bartender,

not a priest.

That's right.

I'm a bartender.

Keep the f***ing

glass filled.

Keep your own

glass filled.

I'm sorry, Doug.

I'm sorry.

Just don't pay

any attention to me.

I...

Need a place to stay?

Yeah. I guess I do.

Jake, what are

you doing here?

I figured I'd go

to some interviews,

stay busy.

Do you know

about any sublets?

No. I'll check around.

Something available

immediately?

Not offhand.

What ho!

Whole f***ing

world's here.

You know each other?

Jake Scully.

Sam Buchard.

Jake Scully!

See you in class.

We've got class?

Yeah. At 3:
00.

Right.

Good luck.

What have

you been doing?

A low-budget

independent horror film,

Vampire's Kiss.

I play the vampire.

Vampire's Kiss?

It sounds interesting.

I did Petruchio

in Taming of the Shrew.

Sounds interesting.

Anything else?

You mean

anything good?

You are working.

That's good. Isn't it?

Yeah.

Jake!

Hi.

Small town, huh?

Scully.

Jack Scully.

Jake.

Give 'em hell, man.

Hello. Jake Scully.

I remember that it was dark.

Really black.

I was just a little kid.

The wall behind me was cold.

And damp.

I was hiding...

Oh, yeah.

I was part of this game,

"Sardine."

I was "It."

Everybody was looking for me.

And there was humming...

because I was behind the freezer

in the basement.

I had jammed myself in

so hard behind the freezer...

that I couldn't move.

I'm afraid.

Uh-huh.

What are you afraid of?

They're not going to find me.

But they're not supposed to find you.

I'm afraid because I can't move.

Well, why don't you cry out?

I can't. I'm afraid.

Besides, I'm the sardine,

and they're not supposed to find me.

Particularize that.

Who can't find you?

My big brothers.

It was the first

time they ever let me play.

Your brothers will want to help you, right?

No. They won't let me play again.

They're bigger than you.

Yeah.

Will they hurt you?

Yes.

How?

They'll laugh at me

for getting stuck behind the freezer,

for crying out for help...

like a big baby.

That's right.

You are a baby.

I know.

Yeah.

You're afraid.

Yeah.

You must act.

I can't. I'm afraid.

You'll never escape.

I know.

You'll die.

Yeah.

Bullshit!

You've got to act!

F*** the fear.

You got to cry out for help.

Come on. Use your body.

Cry for help! Come on!

You can do it, Jake.

I want you to cry out.

I can't.

I'm a sardine.

Sardines in a can are dead.

They can't feel.

But you're alive and afraid,

not a goddamn dead sardine.

Dig down, Jake!

Cry out!

I can't.

Come on, Jake.

Leave the guy alone.

Don't interrupt this exercise.

Exercise? This looks like a mind f*** to me.

What is your name?

You're not in this class.

That's right. I'm not.

I expected a class for acting,

not humiliation.

What gives you the right

to f*** around with this guy's head?

You'd better leave.

That's a good idea.

I'm going to act.

Class is out. Come on.

Come on. Let's go.

Sorry, Will.

Come on.

I can't do this today.

This is called an exit.

Sh*t.

What a fool I am.

Come on, Jake.

You're too hard on yourself.

They can't get a job.

They put an ad in the trade,

call themselves teachers.

They teach us

to be more f***ed up.

That's not it.

Get another round?

Coming up.

Oh.

Thanks.

Mm-hmm.

Are you married?

Separated.

Me, too, as of yesterday.

We weren't married,

but it was almost the same thing.

What happened?

I'm sorry.

That's not my business.

That's okay. It's just...

it sounds so stupid.

These things usually do.

I caught her in bed with another guy.

Can you believe that?

Oh, man.

You had no idea?

No.

None.

Christ, I keep seeing it.

Carol lying there.

Her face was glowing.

Her face was glowing?

Yeah.

How do you get her face to glow?

16 years of humping,

not once did I get a glimmer.

Glowing?

I'm sorry, man.

That's tough.

You're right.

It's not that big a deal.

You kicked the b*tch out,

I hope. No.

Why not?

It was her place.

Oh, man, you've

been through the shitter.

Where are you staying?

I got a friend with a floor.

Hey...

you ready for some good news?

Yeah. I got this five-week gig.

Seattle Rep's doing a revival

of Private Lives.

I've been house-sitting

for a friend.

I've been looking for a sublet.

Wait. I'll make a phone call.

Don't move.

Oh.

Do you like plants?

Sure.

I can't believe this.

Something, isn't it?

Be it ever so humble.

This is unbelievable.

I know it's not much.

I've never seen anything like it.

Your friend must be loaded.

He's filthy with the stuff.

Here they are.

Water them daily after 6:00.

Daily after 6:
00.

This is really nice of you.

One struggling actor helping another.

That's what it's about, right?

Just don't let the plants die.

Right. Where is he, anyway?

Alan's in Europe a lot.

You got a well-stocked bar,

rotating bed,

sauna and Jacuzzi

beyond the walk-in closets.

After I leave,

you can put your stuff away.

You're leaving now?

Yeah. I, uh...

I got time for one more drink

before my flight.

Man, what a setup.

This is great.

Isn't it?

Thank you.

Here's to a friendship I hope...

Wait, wait.

Let's do this right. Come here.

To Hollywood.

Yeah, to Hollywood.

What a view, huh?

Mmm!

That's just part of it.

There is one...

very special feature to this house.

What are you looking at?

Where are you?

There she is!

Show time!

Jake, I'd you to meet

my favorite neighbor.

Okay.

See her?

Whoa.

Whoa!

It gets better.

When?

What's she doing?

You'll see. Get closer.

You bet.

Holy cow.

She's a little out of focus.

Yes, yes, yes!

Hang on.

Does she do this a lot?

Like clockwork. Every night.

Every night?

Jesus.

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Robert J. Avrech

Robert J. Avrech is an American screenwriter whose works include the 1984 film Body Double (with Brian De Palma) and A Stranger Among Us (1992). He won an Emmy Award for his screenplay The Devil's Arithmetic, based on the young adult novel by Jane Yolen.He is also the author of the children's novel The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden, and the memoir How I Married Karen, and publishes personal and political writings on his blog, Seraphic Press. From 2009 through mid-2012, he was a writer for Breitbart News. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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