Reagan
- Year:
- 2011
- 105 min
- 681 Views
EXT. MOUNT VERNON, BALTIMORE - SEPTEMBER 17, 1984 - DAY
Framed in a blue sky, a marble effigy of GEORGE WASHINGTON is
perched atop a stone-white column above red-brick row-houses.
Beneath, FRANK CORDEN (mid 20s, curly hair cut into a
preppier ‘do) does his door-to-door civic duty.
COURTNEY (30s, box-blonde mother of three, B’more accent)
answers his knock with a KENT ULTRA pinched in her fingers.
FRANK:
Good morning, Miss. Can I trouble
you for a moment of your time?
COURTNEY:
Oh Jesus, not another one. I bought
an electric cheese grater from you
people. Thing broke a‘soon as I
stuck in the Muenster.
FRANK:
You sound pretty ‘ungrateful.’
He likes his joke much more than she does.
COURTNEY:
Whadderya sellin’? You got a minute;
Card Sharks is in commercial.
FRANK:
I’m actually not a salesman, Miss.
I was wondering if you’re currently
registered to vote.
COURTNEY:
Not interested.
She tries to close the door. Frank gives it a stiff-arm.
FRANK:
You really should be.
COURTNEY:
Eh, politicians are all the same.
FRANK:
That’s not true. Perhaps if you
knew more about the candidates-
COURTNEY:
I know about the candidates. Reagan
did that movie where he was talkin’
to a monkey.
(MORE)
2.
COURTNEY (CONT'D)
That’s weird:
a president talkin’to a monkey? It’s unnatural. And
the Mondale guy, you can’t say it,
but I will:
p*ssy.FRANK:
Well, he’s certainly a little
skittish on foreign policy.
COURTNEY:
Big fat p*ssy. Betcha growin’ up he
got his ass kicked like...every
day. By like girls and stuff. Those
are my choices, why should I vote?
Frank was waiting for that question. He’s so good at this
speech, it sounds new even for the hundredth time.
FRANK:
Because voting is sacred. Because
everything this country is about
started with the right to be heard.
Our parents and grandparents and
great-great-grandparents fought and
died for that right. Where do your
ancestors come from?
COURTNEY:
(big nicotine exhale)
Down’a street.
FRANK:
Well, I’m sure I’ll talk to them in
a minute then. Miss, there are
people just like you in Russia,
China, East Germany and around the
world who would give everything for
the control that you have over how
your country is run. I’m not here
to say you have to vote, Miss. I’m
here to celebrate that you get to.
Courtney takes a pensive drag from the cigarette.
COURTNEY:
I can sign up with you?
FRANK:
Absolutely.
He hands her a clipboard and a pen.
3.
FRANK (CONT’D)
And if I may...
(reading her name)
Courtney:
I’d like to encourage youto reelect President Ronald Reagan.
COURTNEY:
Nah, I’m votin’ for the p*ssy. That
monkey sh*t really creeps me out.
She hands back the clipboard and shuts the door. Frank
chooses to still count it as a victory.
Cue Johnny Cash’s cover of ‘PERSONAL JESUS’ as Frank
continues down the long street of identical row-houses. He
knocks on doors. Same smile, same speech. Some sign up, some
don’t. Neither fazes Frank. He believes in his mission.
INT. FRANK’S CAR - LATER
A shitbox ‘81 HYUNDAI PONY. The passenger seat is covered in
stacked registration CLIPBOARDS, Styrofoam BURGER BOXES, and
a MOUTHWASH BOTTLE. Frank takes a sip of mouthwash, spits it
back into a McDonald’s cup. No time for real hygiene.
Frank pilots this deathtrap down I-95 toward WASHINGTON, DC.
INT. REAGAN CAMPAIGN OFFICE, GEORGETOWN - DAY
Frank carefully prints names on COFFEE CUPS with a sharpie.
Pours each to order with the right cream and sugar levels.
Campaign posters adorn the walls as busy VOLUNTEERS hum with
the lines read verbatim from cold-calling scripts. ‘Have you
considered?’ ‘Are you better off now?’ ‘Continuing progress.’
Frank glides through the phone banks, handing out
personalized pick-me-ups to each volunteer.
The last is his least favorite to give, labeled ‘KARL.’
INT. CAMPAIGN OFFICE - PRIVATE OFFICE
The eponymous KARL (30s, suspenders, punchable face) squeezes
a HAND GRIP while sticking BLUE PINS in a map of the state of
Maryland. Frank sets his coffee on his desk.
KARL:
Look at this, Frankie. It’s an ass-
kicking in progress. Whole country’s
gonna be one big sea of blue.
4.
FRANK:
We’re red now. Democrats are blue.
KARL:
Bullshit they’re blue. Red’s the
Commie color. They’re our...Commies.
FRANK:
Well, they’re in disguise then. You
see my numbers? I had a big day.
KARL:
Could be better.
FRANK:
Could be better? I registered over
two hundred new voters.
KARL:
And forty of them are voting for
Mondale. Signing up Bad Guys
doesn’t count. I knocked ‘em off
your gross, subtracted them from
your Good Guys to give you a grand
total of...
(checking a sheet)
...Could Be Better.
FRANK:
Karl, you can’t do that. I need to
get credit for my work.
KARL:
You want credit, Frankie, you’re on
the wrong Hill.
Frank scowls at Karl in what seems like a daily occurrence.
He storms out of the office. Karl calls after him.
KARL (CONT’D)
Gonna need to get those stats up,
Frankie. The Good Guys are blue!
INT. CAMPAIGN OFFICE - NOVEMBER 6, 1984
The office buzzes again, this time with jubilant celebration
as the television announces good news. And DAN RATHER.
DAN RATHER:
And I’m getting word that CBS News
can confirm the projection of a
victory for the incumbent,
President Ronald Wilson Reagan.
5.
The primitive graphics color states in for Reagan...in RED.
DAN RATHER (CONT’D)
And it’s looking like a landslide.
A venerable sea of red...
Karl locks eyes with a celebrating Frank, who mouths the word
‘Red!’ to his adversary. Karl responds with a finger.
INT. CAPITOL HILL OFFICE - WAITING ROOM - DECEMBER 1, 1984
A stark waiting room, egg-white other than the dark wood
chairs and massive American flag. Frank sits nervously,
wiping his hands on the pants of his rarely-worn suit. He
pulls evidence of the last time he donned it from his inner
pocket:
a PROGRAM from his brother’s wedding in October ‘82.INT. CAPITOL HILL OFFICE - PAYNE’S OFFICE - MINUTES LATER
Frank sits across from KEN PAYNE (50s, a doughy frog-man),
Coms Director for the Capitol Hill Internship Program.
PAYNE:
Excellent numbers, Mr. Corden.
FRANK:
Thank you sir. They’re actually
even better, I had a few deleted.
We don’t have to go into it.
PAYNE:
Frank-- May I call you Frank?
(before he can answer)
I’m going to. Frank, politics is a
noble profession.
FRANK:
The best.
PAYNE:
With your resume, you can do just
about anything. Why you picking us?
FRANK:
The whole ‘By the People’ thing.
It’s what makes our country
different. When someone votes for
you, you’re making them a promise. I
want to help keep it.
PAYNE:
Ah. One of those!
6.
Frank can’t tell if that’s a good thing.
FRANK:
Yup. Definitely.
PAYNE:
I’ve got an old friend over in the
Treasury. We go way back. At Yale,
we double-teamed this Chinese
prostitute. Two for one deal, if
you know what I mean!
He laughs as only old white dudes can. Frank tries to match
his ‘Hahs!’ and ‘Ho ho whoas!”
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"Reagan" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/reagan_1330>.
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