Complete Unknown

Synopsis: This shape-shifting tale of the perils and pleasures of self-reinvention begins at a dinner party, when Tom's (Michael Shannon) co-worker arrives with an intriguing date named Alice (Rachel Weisz). Tom is convinced he knows her, but she refuses to acknowledge their history. And when Alice makes a hasty exit, Tom sets off after her. What follows is an all-night odyssey shared by two people, one needing to change his life, the other questioning how to stop changing.
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Director(s): Joshua Marston
Production: Parts and Labor
  1 win & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
5.4
Metacritic:
58
Rotten Tomatoes:
50%
R
Year:
2016
91 min
$187,145
Website
206 Views


[woman]

So, Connie,

is that short

for something?

[Connie]

Technically, Constance.

No one ever

calls me that, though.

Anyway,

I got back a week ago,

and I was like, "Oh, my God,

where am I gonna live?"

Well, this is the room.

Ah, I was mostly traveling

on my own

but then I spent two months

with this amazing group

of botanists

-in the rain forest.

-Oh, wow.

Did you, uh, did you

take a boat on the Amazon?

I don't swim,

so there was no way.

-Oh.

-Oh, I love the light in here.

Yeah, it's nice.

-Right?

-Yeah.

Leslie, the girl

who just moved out,

she actually went to Chicago

to do Development studies.

Really? That's exactly

what I was thinking of.

I would love to do that.

I mean,

that or Environmental Law.

I don't know,

I'm still exploring.

[man screams]

What's your name, sir?

What's your name?

-Mike.

-Mike, my name

is Paige, I'm a nurse.

I'm gonna be

taking care of you.

Can you take a deep breath

in through your nose,

out through your mouth,

there we go.

-In through your nose.

-[whimpers]

Out through your mouth.

[audience applauds]

[in Mandarin]

[applause continues]

[woman sighs]

-Here you go.

-Thank you.

Barbara's already texted

asking how it went.

Oh, yeah?

It was sweet of her

to invite me to the wedding.

I don't know anyone here

outside of work.

So...

So, you were a teacher

back in the States?

Yeah.

I taught for a bit.

And what did you teach?

A little of everything.

We don't have to, I mean--

-No, I want to.

-...if you don't wanna go there.

I want to.

-It's fine.

-I want to.

I was a teacher back home

for, um...

eight years, then I...

Then I came here.

And um...

[phone rings]

Tom. I'm gonna go down

and eat something.

Did you read the AgReport

on rotational grazing?

I saw it,

I haven't read it.

It's so full of distortions.

It's unbelievable.

That's why

I haven't read it.

Well, I'm writing Conners.

He needs to know

what they're producing.

-Yeah.

-I'm being polite, I swear.

Okay?

-You wanna come down?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just hitting send.

I want to see the fall

grazing trends.

I bet they conform.

Don't send

anything off yet, okay?

I promised to send a draft

last Friday.

I know, but I just want to

see the fall trends, Clyde.

This thing's

gotta be ironclad

when we go to committee.

Okay.

Okay, I'll hold off.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can you pass the salt?

Sure.

Thanks.

Thank you.

It's a brackish lake,

and it has

this incredible reed

that regulates the salt level

and that allows

this one species

of leech to thrive.

It's the only place

in the world you find them.

They can't exist

anywhere else.

Really?

And you were dissecting them?

Yep.

I pretty much lived

in a Tasmanian marsh

from the age of 24.

We discovered

that these leeches

produced a peptide

in their salivary glands

that might be useful

in treating cancer.

Cancer?

-Wow. This--

-Yeah.

This sounds

like amazing work.

I know.

I mean, well,

I was really just

a lab grunt so...

I can't claim, you know.

-Sure, sure.

-Yeah.

Um...

you do realize

that most of us

can't stand our cafeteria.

-Really?

-Yeah.

You know, I might not be

the only infiltrator.

Mm, there's like

a million lunch places

-in this neighborhood.

-I know, I know.

I just haven't had

time to explore

Plus, I'm out on Long Island

half the time.

Right. Hunting frogs.

Hunting frogs.

[phone buzzes]

That's the whole point

of how we laid it out.

You know, I started with

the conceptual framework

we originally agreed on.

And then I layered in

exactly how to handle

all the regulatory hurdles,

so they'd be in a position

where they could actually,

you know...

Are you listening, Ramina?

Are they position to?

Nothing. Just hopefully

the guy at Agriculture

will actually pass it

up to the deputy

so we can move forward.

I finally feel like

I framed it in a way

where they really have

to move on it.

You know?

And what's Clyde say?

Very supportive.

What's the story

with this biologist?

She's just a friend, he says.

But he said it three times.

-Ah.

-Yeah.

I don't know.

I hear myself out loud,

and the whole thing

seems futile.

[in Farsi]

You want to have a threesome

for my birthday?

Wow, your Farsi

is getting much better.

[chuckles]

-I know that one.

-Uh-huh.

Orange cows are laughing

in outer space.

You don't say.

Not quite.

I like this one.

Makes you look gorgeous.

So when will this project

come up in committee?

September, I think.

They cannot do it earlier?

I don't control

the schedule, honey.

How will Clyde handle it

if you won't

be around by then?

Uh...this f***ing cake.

-Tom.

-Yeah?

I don't know.

I mean, we haven't really

talked about it.

But after this big push

I've been making,

I can't exactly say

I'm not gonna be around

to see it through.

There are thousands

of farmers

depending

on the legislation.

It's important.

But my jewelry

is only jewelry?

-We agreed.

-We didn't agree.

I want to go to California.

So go.

Alone?

Unbelievable.

I gotta deal with this cake

before the bakery closes.

You didn't do it already?

I'm sorry,

I should have checked it.

Just dress the hens

for me, would you?

Can we finish

this conversation?

-No, I--

-[doorbell chimes]

You're early.

You're leaving.

[in Farsi]

Mark is on his way.

I'll be right back.

I tried to read your paper

about the leeches.

-You've been Googling.

-I've been Googling.

I only got about as far

as the third paragraph.

The writing

was a little dense.

Yeah, well, don't blame me.

I was just

the research assistant.

I'm surprised that came up.

That and this great picture

of you.

The one with the leeches?

-Yeah.

-Oh, God.

I really want to get

that one taken down.

No, no.

I thought it was endearing.

I appreciate you

inviting me tonight.

Oh, yeah.

No problem.

It's a great group.

I really think

you'll like them.

-Yeah.

-You said you wanted

-to meet people.

-Oh, I do.

They're people, so...

Maybe we need

a safe word, though,

in case it isn't going well.

Like what?

Like I say "Potato famine."

-"Potato famine?"

-Yeah.

Well, that's really easy

to work into

any conversation.

Sure, everybody left

during the potato famine.

Okay.

-[Clyde chuckles]

-[woman] Hello.

-Oh, hi.

-Come in, come in.

Ramina, this is Alice.

Hi. Pleasure to meet you.

Please, come in, come in.

[Alice]

The sounds just completely

envelope you and you sink in,

and you become absorbed

by living music.

Of frogs?

-Yeah, of frogs.

-Of frogs?

And-- And screech owls,

tree crickets, mosquitoes.

I swear, I mean, I'm barely

out of the city,

but I feel like I could

be back in Tasmania.

And where is it again?

It's near Northport,

it's the Campbell Bog.

And it is this frog

that brought you to New York?

Yes, it did.

Yes.

Well, it's the first new frog

that's been identified

in North America

in 27 years.

I mean, you wouldn't know

it was a new species

if it wasn't

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Joshua Marston

Joshua Jacob Marston (born August 13, 1968) is an American screenwriter and film director best known for the film Maria Full of Grace. Born in Los Angeles County, California, he graduated from Beverly Hills High School. Marston worked in Paris as an intern for Life, then for ABC News during the Gulf War. He returned to the United States and earned a master's degree in Political science from University of Chicago in 1994 before earning a Master of Fine Arts in film at New York University.Marston also directed an episode of Six Feet Under, and Episode 7 of The Newsroom in 2012. Marston directed a segment of the collective film New York, I Love You. His 2011 film The Forgiveness of Blood premiered in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and competed for the Golden Bear. Along with Andamion Murataj, Marston won the Silver Bear for Best Script.In 2016, Marston made his English-language debut on Complete Unknown starring Rachel Weisz and Michael Shannon, which had its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released on August 26, 2016 by Amazon Studios & IFC Films. Marston is currently directing Come Sunday for Netflix. more…

All Joshua Marston scripts | Joshua Marston Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Complete Unknown" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/complete_unknown_5833>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Complete Unknown

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    In which year was "The Godfather" released?
    A 1973
    B 1974
    C 1972
    D 1970