Perfect

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- Can I help you?

- Well, I called for her last night.

Her husband died last night.

His picture was in the paper once,

but you misspelled his name.

She wants to be sure you get it right.

- You see, it's not one, but two "I"s.

- You want obituaries.

It's the guy in the back

with the urn on his desk.

What funeral home was she taken to?

How old was she?

What did she die of?

Well, I have to know what she died of

or I can't write the obit.

I don't make the rules.

Could I call you back? Thank you.

Excuse me, will you?

Tom?

Tom, look, I cannot take this anymore.

You got to get me off the obit desk.

I can't write another obituary.

Calm down, Adam. Relax.

It isn't going to last forever.

Think of it this way:

This is your last chance in journalism

to write anything nice about anybody.

Perfect.

New York City - Five Years Later

So, you can't talk to me about the arrest.

Can you talk to me about after the arrest?

You know, his time in prison.

It was terrible.

He was in shock the entire time.

He lost a lot of weight

because he couldn't eat the food.

He couldn't sleep.

They had him in the same cell

with a Mafia hit man.

- He was afraid to close his eyes for a week.

- Interesting.

For a man like him...

that was cruel and unusual punishment.

I'll say.

What do you think, Charlie?

Can you get him to talk to me?

He's not talking to any press, Adam.

He doesn't trust you guys.

I don't blame him.

There's been a lot of bad press lately.

I thought he'd want to tell

his side of the story.

The only way to do that is an interview.

Especially if he feels that the government

is screwing around on him.

Now, I didn't exactly say that.

Anyway, not for the record.

I don't want you to twist

what I said out of shape.

Right.

The problem is, the only people that

will talk to me are people that hate him.

And I'm doing this story

whether I talk to him or not.

So don't fault me

if this is a negative piece.

That sounds vaguely like a threat.

No, I think that if he wants a chance,

he's got to turn his press around.

You reporters think

you make the world turn.

I don't know about that.

You know,

I used to be a reporter myself...

until I got tired of starving my family.

That's why I got into public relations.

- To make a living wage. I love it.

- Yeah.

I really do.

Excuse me. I have to take a piss.

- Am I interrupting something?

- No. Adam, come on in and look at this.

- Frankie strikes again.

- Look at that. They're good.

At last someone has managed

to capture his true essence.

Look at this one.

I can't believe that she got him to do this.

Believe me, it was easy.

I think this will be the one

we use on the cover.

- You like it?

- I like it.

- You want to get some lunch?

- Yeah.

- Frankie, you want to join us?

- Absolutely.

How did it go this morning?

Fascinating.

He insisted we meet at the Atrium Club,

saying it was a safe place to talk.

He implied the government had a reason

for putting McKenzie out of business.

He was so nervous.

- But what about the interview?

- He thought it was doubtful.

- There's no story without an interview.

- Or without pictures.

You don't want to recycle

the same wire service photos.

- I'd love to shoot him.

- You'd make him pose with coke in his lap.

- I can make him do anything.

- Come on, you guys.

I have an idea.

McKenzie has a hearing tomorrow,

in Los Angeles, to reduce his bail.

But he needs the $2 million

to pay his lawyers.

Why don't I fly out there tonight

and get the interview?

- You hate flying.

- I'm fine, as long as there's no turbulence.

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