Danny Collins

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1 INT. CHIME IN MAGAZINE OFFICES - DAY (1971) 1

We listen to the song as we pick up snapshots from an

office of an early 70’s music magazine:

-Cigarettes are smoked indoors, everywhere. Smoke wafts

over cubicles, everywhere.

-Women wear mini-skirts. Really “mini” mini-skirts.

-Music POSTERS and SIGNAGE line cubicle walls. Hendrix.

Dylan. Simon and a Jew-fro’d Garfunkel.

-A poster of a young RICHARD NIXON. Someone has drawn a

MUSTACHE on Nixon’s face as well as a “SPEECH BUBBLE”

which reads “I’m an asshole.”

-We hone in on a SINGLE CIGARETTE. A hand places it in

an ASHTRAY. The now-empty hand removes the needle from

the record player (stopping the song).

VOICE (O.S.)

Well, it’s a hell of an album,

Kid. People are gonna freak.

The album goes into a SLEEVE and gets placed on a table.

The album’s cover bears only a simple title: Danny

Collins.

The cigarette gets picked back up, and the “voice” takes

his place behind a desk. His other hand picks up a

DICTAPHONE.

VOICE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

(re:
recording)

This cool?

SECOND VOICE (O.S.)

Sure.

He hits RECORD. A PACK OF CIGARETTES are held forward.

(CONTINUED)

2.

1 CONTINUED:
1

VOICE (O.S.)

Smoke?

SECOND VOICE (O.S.)

No thanks.

The pack is pulled back REVEALING for the first time:

OUR INTERVIEWER, GUY DELOACH (36). His style is of the

day and his manner that of a hippie who thinks he knows

everything about anything worth knowing.

DeLoach leans back in his seat. He takes a long drag on

his cigarette as he studies the YOUNG MAN opposite him.

ON THIS YOUNG MAN

Throughout, we see him only in FACELESS SNAPSHOTS.

-Long hair, very much of the era.

-Open collared shirt. A hairless chest.

-A single gold cross on the hairless chest.

-Those few facial features we can make out are boyish,

untouched by... well, anything.

DELOACH:

Jesus H, you’re a baby. What are

you, sixteen?

YOUNG MAN:

Twenty-one.

DELOACH:

Jesus H.

(beat, then)

Well the album’s gonna be massive,

Kid. Who got you there?

YOUNG MAN:

I’m sorry?

DELOACH:

Your influences. Who do you dig?

Who makes you hard?

YOUNG MAN:

(uncomfortable)

Oh, well, I-

DELOACH:

Hold on.

DeLoach picks up the recorder, speaks into it.

(CONTINUED)

3.

1 CONTINUED:
(2) 1

DELOACH (CONT’D)

June 30th, 1971, Guy DeLoach withDanny Collins for Chime Mag.

(then)

More than anything it’s your

writing. You write like f*ckingLennon, man.

DANNY:

Oh, well, that’s... thank you.

DELOACH:

He’s clearly an influence here,

no?

DANNY:

Yeah, I mean... I guess he’s the

one who makes me the hardest?

A beat. DeLoach LAUGHS, shakes his head.

DELOACH:

Jesus H. Well, you’re going to be

huge, Kid. I know the real thingwhen I hear it and you’re it.

Danny doesn’t say anything. DeLoach raises a brow.

DELOACH (CONT’D)

Kid, look at me. I’ve been a star-

maker and a star-f*cker for a verylong time, and I’m telling you:

You. Are. Going. To. Be.

Huge. Richer than richer, famous

as shit, more women than you knowwhat to do with. And I’m telling

you this, and I’ve got to ask: why

are you sitting there, staring atme, looking like that informationscares the living shit out of you?

Danny leans forward, full-frame for the first time.

DANNY:

Because it does.

CUE TITLE CARD:

DANNY COLLINS:

CHYRON:
42 YEARS LATER

2 OMITTED 2

4.

3 EXT. THE GREEK - EVENING 3

The large marquee outside the famous theatre bears onlyfour words:

Danny Collins. Sold Out.

4 OMITTED 4

5 INT. BACKSTAGE - MEANWHILE 5

A sign on the dressing room door reads: HEADLINER.

the distance we hear a dull, thumping ROAR. THUMP.

THUMP. THUMP. A distant crowd awaits their star.

In

6 INT. DRESSING ROOM - CONTINUOUS 6

A HAND fingers a CROSS.

The cross dangles from a chain, half buried in a patch ofgray chest hair. The cross is removed, placed on a table.

The cross OPENS, like a coffin, and dumps a line ofCOCAINE on a table.

A NOSE comes into frame, snorts some.

AT THE MIRROR:

Preparation for show time:

- GRAY HAIR STRANDS are darkened with HAIR COLORER.

- A GIRDLE is strapped over an undershirt.

- PLATFORM SHOES are stepped into, providing an extrafive inches of height.

7 INT. TUNNEL - MOMENTS LATER 7

From behind, we TRACK our hero as he marches through thebowels of the arena in his platform shoes - his steps arewobbly, not exactly in a straight line.

He passes some GIGGLING GIRLS, nods at them. He passes afew “backstage” types, including a familiar ROADIE.

ROADIE:

Break a leg, Danny.

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