KILL YOUR DARLINGS
Written by
John Krokidas and Austin Bunn
Story by
Austin Bunn
Based on a True Story
FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
Underwater.
Shafts of eroded light slice into the depths of the Hudson
River. The ghostly melody of "Lili Marlene," the ache of the
war-time lover, plays as a strange SHADOW drifts into view.
We realize it is a BODY.
ALLEN (V.O.)
Some things, once you've loved
them, become yours forever.
The body BREAKS the surface and we see the face of its owner
---- DAVID KAMMERER, 33, bearded, handsome. He is clothed, open
white shirt, khakis. Dead.
ALLEN (V.O.)
And if you try to let them go...
Suddenly, a breath: he comes back to life.
David floats back to LUCIEN CARR, 20, (blonde, beautiful,
shirtless and terrified), waist deep in the water.
The scene is playing in REVERSE MOTION.
ALLEN (V.O.)
They only circle back and return to
you.
David's body LIFTS into the young man's arms. We see David's
feet and hands are TIED together with shoelaces. Stones rise
back into his pockets.
ALLEN (V.O.)
They become part of who you are...
A stain of blood on David's chest shrinks, vanishes.
David's eyes OPEN.
CUT TO:
INT. THE TOMBS - DAY
LUCIEN
...or they destroy you.
From behind the bars of a jail cell, Lucien Carr (the young
man from the opening) finishes reading from a paper
MANUSCRIPT in his hand.
2.
Lucien, furious, crumples it up.
LUCIEN
You can't show this to anyone.
We PULL BACK to reveal the author of the manuscript: a
eighteen-year-old ALLEN GINSBERG. Unslept and exhausted. But
determined.
Allen stares defiantly at Lucien from the other side of the
bars.
ALLEN
Then tell the truth, Lu.
LUCIEN
You weren't even there. It's your
truth. It's fiction.
Allen grabs for his manuscript back, but Lucien pulls it out
of reach.
LUCIEN
You wanted him gone too. You sent
him to me.
Allen reaches through the bars and SNATCHES the paper.
Lucien won't let go -- it's a tug of war between the two
boys, two wills. Allen yanks the paper from Lucien's grip and
wins. Lucien, panicking.
LUCIEN (CONT'D)
Please. You'll kill me with that.
Allen turns and races towards the exit of the prison.
Desperate, Lucien calls out after him.
LUCIEN
Allen! No!
Allen doesn't turn. An alarm HAMMERS through the prison.
LUCIEN
Allen! No! DON'T...!
CUT TO BLACK.
INSERT TITLE: KILL YOUR DARLINGS
CUT TO:
3.
EXT. GINSBERG HOME - NIGHT
SUPER: PATERSON, NEW JERSEY. 1943. ONE YEAR EARLIER.
Over a strip of working-class row homes, we hear the sounds
of a radio announcer giving a dispatch from the war front.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
American daylight bombers were busy
again, as our liberators with
fighter escort continue the air
offensive with another sock at
German coastal installations in
France.
INT. GINSBERG HOME - NIGHT
The radio continues playing to a modest home. We see a young
man cleaning house, sweeping in the background.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
But the Germans report a big new
red army push toward Romania. This
is World War news.
As the war report ends, a stuffy musical piece begins. We
hear a groan from the young man.
From out of the background emerges Allen Ginsberg (now 17,
fresh-faced, horn-rimmed glasses, dutiful son). The kind of
kid who takes care of everything.
He storms up to the radio, switches the station to a fast-
paced boogie-woogie number. He smiles and dances joyfully to
the up-beat number with his broom.
The door slams. Allen looks up, caught in the act, to see his
father LOUIS (40's, school teacher, Jewish working-class
poet) home from work. Allen accidentally drops the broom.
LOUIS
How was she today?
Louis turns off the music. The playful mood dies. Allen spots
the mail in his father's hand.
ALLEN
Fine. Anything for me?
LOUIS
Why? You expecting something?
Allen looks down, a bad liar.
4.
ALLEN
No.
Suddenly, from upstairs, the sound of glass shattering. Then
a woman whimpering in pain. Allen, worried, looks off, dread
in his face. His father just sighs.
LOUIS
I told you it wouldn't work.
Allen rushes upstairs.
INT. MASTER BEDROOM, GINSBERG HOME - NIGHT
Allen runs into a dark room, flips on the light.
ALLEN
Mom?
His mother NAOMI (early 40's, Jewish, deep personality
disorder) squats in the corner of the room, in a dirty
bathrobe. Her knuckles are bleeding.
NAOMI
You've got to get me out of here.
He nailed the windows shut while I
was in the bath.
She motions to the shattered window pane across the room.
Allen sees her blood on the sill, where she tried to escape.
He moves towards her, to console her. What he's good at.
ALLEN
Dad didn't do that. I nailed the
windows. Because you're not right.
Naomi, in the midst of a paranoid attack, puts her finger to
her mouth.
NAOMI
Shhh...Allen. He can hear you!
Allen wraps his mother's hand with a dish towel.
ALLEN
You have to rest. Clear your head.
Do you want to go back to
Greystone?
NAOMI
He wouldn't dare put me back there.
5.
ALLEN
Then listen to me.
NAOMI
SHHHH. He can hear you!
She's losing it. Allen quickly thinks, turns to her bureau.
He pulls out a RECORD, starts the phonograph and turns up the
volume.
ALLEN
Can he still hear me?
A BRAHMS WALTZ plays.
NAOMI
What did you say?
Allen turns the music up all the way. Allen mimes deafness.
Finally, she understands: their sounds are drowned out by the
music.
Allen reaches for her. She finally softens, takes his hand.
As mother and son waltz together with the music, Naomi
clutches Allen to her, like he's the only thing keeping her
sane. Because he is.
NAOMI
Don't ever leave me.
Allen, trapped, over her shoulder.
From the doorway, we see that Louis has been watching the
whole time.
EXT. GINSBERG FRONT PORCH - NIGHT
Overwhelmed, Allen shakes on the front stairs. She's not
well. The faint sound of jazz, fun from someone else's home
from down the block. Louis comes out onto the porch, with an
open LETTER in hand from the mail pile. He's upset.
LOUIS
Were you even going to tell me you
applied?!
Allen spies the "Columbia University" seal on the front. He's
been caught. He looks down, ashamed.
6.
ALLEN
I didn't want her to know.
(beat)
It was a dream anyway.
Louis lights his own cigarette. Offers his son one. He
declines.
LOUIS
(talking to himself,
dreaming)
Trilling's there. Van Doren.
English Professors. Important
fellows. And New York City, right
in your goddamn lap.
Louis sits beside his son.
LOUIS
Love that is hoarded,
molds at last.
Allen, surprised to hear his Dad reciting one of his poems.
LOUIS
Until we know,
the only thing we have--
ALLEN
is what we give away.
LOUIS
Is what we hand away. Have, hand.
Consonance.
ALLEN
Give, is. Assonance.
LOUIS
I wrote the goddamn poem. Go write
your own.
Louis hands over the letter. The hardest thing he's ever
done.
Allen takes the envelope, rips it open. He's looking at the
response in shock. Louis tries to read his son's face.
ALLEN
I got in.
LOUIS
You got in?!
7.
ALLEN
I got into Columbia University!
LOUIS
You got into Columbia University?!
Allen and his father embrace.
CUT TO:
EXT. COLUMBIA QUAD - DAY
First day of college. Allen crosses the grand Ivy League
campus in awe. Before him, the staggering facade of the
library like the Parthenon. A troop of Navy midshipmen pass
by. Wartime is on.
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Allen sets his bag on his bed. He notices on one wall are
patriotic posters, exercise posters. He's already got a
roommate.
He eyes a map of the New York City subway system. He can't
believe he's really here in the big city. He walks over to
it.
Allen studies the map, his finger gliding down to Greenwich
Village.
LUKE (O.S.)
You don't wanna go down there.
His roommate LUKE, 18, buzz cut, in a sweaty Columbia
sweatshirt, leans over him.
LUKE
Land of the fairies. Head there and
you never come back.
(extending a firm hand)
Luke Detweiler, Danville, Virginia.
ALLEN
Allen Ginsberg.
LUKE
(bright smile)
You're Jewish, right?
Allen nods. Luke smacks him on the shoulder.
8.
LUKE
I'm getting good at telling.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - DAY
The beautiful main hall of Columbia University's Butler
Library. It's Ivy League tradition meets thousands of years
of scholarship.
A pompous TOUR GUIDE shows off museum-like glass vitrines to
new and prospective students with their families.
TOUR GUIDE
The South Hall library is a church,
and these are the sacraments.
Allen stumbles along on the tour. The tour guide points to
the contents of the vitrines: the wonders of literary
history.
TOUR GUIDE
Original folios of the most
important texts in history.
Beowolf. First folio Hamlet. The
Gutenberg Bible.
Allen looks down, amazed. That's Shakespeare's handwriting.
TOUR
These are among the University's
most prized possessions.
Suddenly, in a reflection in the glass, a flash of RED
catches Allen's eye.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
Let's hear a bit, shall we?
Allen turns to see Lucien Carr (now 19, devilish, stunningly
handsome) LEAP onto a library desk with a book in hand. He
wears a distinctive red CRAVAT that only the truly beautiful
can pull off. The entire room hushes.
LUCIEN
(reciting)
On a Sunday afternoon, when the
shutters are down and the
proletariat possesses the street...
The tour guide looks around confused.
9.
LUCIEN
...there are certain thoroughfares
which remind one of nothing less...
Lucien gets on his knees and THRUSTS a lamp between his legs.
LUCIEN
...than a big cancerous cock.
Parents look around in shock. A female student is instantly
aroused. The prim PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN clomps over.
PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN
What is this nonsense?
LUCIEN
Henry Miller.
PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN
Get down immediately. That book is
restricted.
LUCIEN
Which is why I committed it to
memory.
PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN
Security!
As two Campus Security Guards rush in, Lucien leaps down in
front of Allen.
LUCIEN
Alert the press! Tell them Lucien
Carr is innocent!
Lucien flees, rushes out of the library.
TOUR GUIDE
That was highly unusual. Campus is
actually quite quiet. Moving on.
But Allen doesn't hear, he grins to himself. Who the hell was
that?
PROFESSOR STEEVES (V.O.)
The Victorian sonnet has the
balance of three tenets.
INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY
Patrician, old-guard PROFESSOR STEEVES lectures on the first
day of class, Allen dutifully taking notes in his journal.
10.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
Rhyme, meter, conceit. Without this
balance, a poem becomes slack,
sloppy. An untucked shirt.
Allen disagrees and raises his hand.
ALLEN
Professor Steeves, then how do you
explain Whitman?
No one interrupts Professor Steeves. Murmurs from around the
class. Steeves locks down his gaze on Allen.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
Say more. Two more sentences.
ALLEN
He hated rhyme and meter. The whole
point was untucking your shirt.
Professor Steeves smiles to himself. There's one of them
every year.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
What's your name?
ALLEN
Allen Ginsberg.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
Ginsberg? Your father perhaps is
the poet Louis Ginsberg?
Allen nods.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
He writes rhyming, metered verse.
Why do you think he chose that
form?
All eyes on Allen.
ALLEN
Because it's easier.
The class titters. Professor Steeves hushes them.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
This university exists because of
tradition and form. Would you
rather this building be built by
engineers or Whitman and his boys
at play?
11.
Allen, realizing he is trapped, unable to answer. Professor
Steeves smiles victoriously and writes on the blackboard.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
There can be no creation before
imitation.
The other students take note. Allen sighs, follows suit. From
the back row, Lucien watches Allen and unsheathes a grin.
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
Luke, dressed in a suit, puts on cologne. He looks back at
Allen who is copying from a tome of sonnets.
LUKE
Shut the books. We're taking my
brother with us to the social. He
ships out tomorrow.
ALLEN
I can't. You see how much I've got
to do.
LUKE
He's Navy. It's catnip for the
skirts.
Luke pulls out his own waistband and sprays some cologne down
the front. Allen shakes his head. Luke shrugs.
LUKE
You hymies are really all about
work, huh?
Luke slams the door behind. Allen, alone stares out the
window.
A record starts up down the hall. Clarinet, strings. Allen's
ears prick up. He knows this tune.
It's the same BRAHMS from his mother's bedroom.
INT. DORM HALLWAY - NIGHT
Allen walks down a darkened hallway, the music leading him
forward. He reaches a door with a lit transom. He knocks.
The unlocked door creaks open.
12.
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
A mattress lies on the floor, a phonograph on top. Candles
light the room. Books for furniture. And Lucien on the floor,
reading the Times and smoking.
ALLEN
Brahms?
Allen walks inside. Lucien looks up, surprised.
LUCIEN
Finally. An oasis in this
wasteland.
Nervous, Allen tries to make conversation.
ALLEN
How come you're not at the social?
LUCIEN
Only the most anti-social have to
go to an event actually called one.
Libation?
Lucien rises and grabs a wine bottle corked with a sock.
Allen looks nervously towards the door.
ALLEN
You drink in your room?!
LUCIEN
How does a horrible bottle of
Chianti sound?
Lucien inverts two small glasses and pours. Allen stares. He
doesn't break the rules.
ALLEN
I don't drink.
LUCIEN
Freshman?
ALLEN
Yes.
Lucien hands him his glass.
LUCIEN
Excellent. I love first times. I
want my whole life to be composed
of them. Life is only interesting
if life is wide.
13.
Lucien toasts Allen's glass.
LUCIEN
To Walt Whitman, you dirty bastard.
Allen, mortified, not sure how to take that reference as
Lucien knocks his wine back in one gulp.
LUCIEN
How's your Yeats? Have you read A
Vision?
He tosses Allen a BOOK. Dog-eared, underlined and crumbling.
ALLEN
Never heard of it.
LUCIEN
It's completely brilliant and
impossible. He says life is round:
we're stuck on this wheel. Living.
And dying.
Allen opens the book, looks through the old pages, sees a
strange symbol: a diagram of a celestial WHEEL.
LUCIEN
An endless circle. Until. Someone
breaks it. You came in here, you
rupture the pattern. Bang: the
whole world...
ALLEN LUCIEN
Gets wider. Gets wider.
Lucien looks at Allen, amazed.
LUCIEN
How did you...?
ALLEN
Consonance. Reiteration of themes.
Lucien, intrigued, circles in close.
LUCIEN
Are you a writer? Because I've got
a job for a writer.
Allen, mesmerized.
ALLEN
No. I'm not.
14.
LUCIEN
Well, you're not anything yet.
This boy so close, the rush of contact. From down the hall...
HALL MONITOR (O.S.)
Ginsberg?!
Allen doesn't even register his name. Lucien smirks.
LUCIEN
Isn't that you?
HALL MONITOR (O.S.)
Ginsberg?!
Allen groans, snaps out of it.
ALLEN
What?!
HALL MONITOR (O.S.)
Phone call!
Allen reluctantly hands Lucien back the BOOK.
ALLEN
I'll be back.
INT. DORM HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
The Hall Monitor hands Allen the phone.
ALLEN
Hello?
NAOMI (O.S.)
I found the wires.
INT. HALLWAY, GINSBERG HOME - NIGHT
Naomi grips the phone desperately. We see she has stripped
the wallpaper from the wall and pulled the telephone wire out
from underneath.
NAOMI
He's trying to get inside my head.
ALLEN (O.S.)
Dad is not trying to get inside
your head, okay? Put him on.
15.
NAOMI
He's not home. He left.
INT. DORM HALLWAY - NIGHT
Allen, confused. Up the hallway, a door locks.
ALLEN
Where'd he go?
INT. GINSBERG HOME - NIGHT
Naomi looks out the window, does not want to answer.
NAOMI
Honey, I need you come home now.
ALLEN (O.S.)
Mom I can't come home. Listen, you
have to look after yourself.
NAOMI
I don't feel good.
INT. DORM HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
Lucien passes Allen, putting on his coat, heading out to the
city.
ALLEN
(whispered, to Lucien)
You're going to the dance?
LUCIEN
No. Downtown.
NAOMI (O.S.)
Who are you talking to? Is he there
with you?!
ALLEN
No, he's not here with me.
Lucien quickly waves goodbye to Allen, heads down the
staircase. Allen, torn between his mother and this boy.
ALLEN
(into the phone)
Listen, I'll come as soon as I can.
16.
INT. GINSBERG HOME - NIGHT
Naomi, clutches the phone, deadly serious.
NAOMI
You need to promise.
INT. DORM HALLWAY - NIGHT
Lucien slides down the stairway rail. Allen watching him
disappear.
ALLEN
Yes. Ipromiseloveyoubye.
Allen hangs up on his mother and races after Lucien.
INT. STAIRWELL - NIGHT
Allen, breathless, storms down a flight of stairs, catches up
to Lucien. Lucien turns, loving this. The puppy following his
new master.
LUCIEN
Coming?
EXT. COLUMBIA ENTRANCE - NIGHT
Lucien throws his jacket over Allen's shoulder and leads him
into the wild city around the corner.
LUCIEN
Welcome to the edge of the world.
The sound of the IRT screeching takes us to the SUBWAY MAP
from Allen's dorm room which comes to life.
A RED LINE glides down the map from Columbia University all
the way...to Greenwich Village.
CUT TO:
INT. STAIRS/APARTMENT, 48 MORTON STREET - NIGHT
Allen, anxious, follows Lucien up a crowded staircase to a
West Village apartment.
The sounds of a party spill out onto the landing and beyond.
It's pure bohemia here.
17.
Smoke, artists flirting, arguing. Allen sees...
A black man making out with a white woman. An older, elegant
woman sharing a cigarette with a boy half her age.
She stares seductively at Allen. Lucien enjoying himself
immensely. This is what a first time looks like.
LUCIEN
Allen in Wonderland.
Lucien grabs a DRUNK YOUNG GIRL from the crowd, kisses her
passionately. Then lets her go, keeps walking.
ALLEN
Do you know her?!
LUCIEN
No, and I don't plan on it. She
tasted like imported sophistication
and domestic cigarettes.
INT. BATHROOM, 48 MORTON APARTMENT - NIGHT
A makeshift bar in a sink full of ice. Lucien scavenges
through empty bottles in the sink, looking for any remaining
alcohol.
LUCIEN
(calling out)
Dave! Where's the liquor?! I'll be
right back.
As Lucien walks off, Allen tries to make himself
inconspicuous and sits down on the tub.
BILL (O.S.)
Hrffrff hrffrfffrfrfrrf.
Allen looks down to see WILLIAM BURROUGHS (aka BILL, 29,
tall, gaunt, wry), in a suit, sprawled out in the bathtub: a
gas mask over his mouth. Bill motions to the side of the tub.
BILL
(through the mask)
You're...pinching...
Allen stands up, realizing his foot is on a snaking black
tube leading to a metal canister of gas.
ALLEN
Sorry. Are you all right?
18.
BILL
(long exhale)
Artifacts in the visual field, some
light-headedness. Motor
hyperactivity.
ALLEN
What is that?
BILL
Nitrous oxide, for narcoanalysis.
Know thyself. And beshit thyself.
Ever done that?
Allen shakes his head no. Bill turns off the gas. Offers a
joint to Allen.
ALLEN
Oh no, thanks. I don't do...the
cannabis.
Bill eyes Allen, skeptically.
BILL
Show me the man both sober and
happy, and I'll show you the
crinkled anus of a lying asshole.
Allen raises an eyebrow. Lucien returns with a paper in hand.
LUCIEN
Allen, Willy. Willy, Allen, Lucien
reefer.
Lucien takes the joint.
Bill puts the tube of gas back in his mouth, back to
business. Lucien grabs Allen's hand, pulls him to the party.
ALLEN
(whispered)
Is he a criminal?
LUCIEN
He wishes he were a criminal. The
Burroughs family is richer than
God.
ALLEN
He looks like a criminal.
19.
LUCIEN
He's a Harvard man, and he's going
to be an amazing artist. His
current medium is himself.
Allen spots the TERM PAPER in Lucien's hand.
ALLEN
What's that?
LUCIEN
Bunk for school. Now, come on, I
want you to meet our host.
INT. LIVING ROOM, 48 MORTON APARTMENT - NIGHT
DAVID KAMMERER, the man we saw dead at the film's opening,
runs his fingers on the rim of a wine glass. He's sharp, the
mayor of this scene. An eerie hum from the glass.
DAVID
What there is, darlings and
demoiselles, is a circle. Life is
round. Patterns, routines, a wheel
of self-abuse. Margaret, don't even
deny it.
Allen turns to Lucien.
ALLEN
(whispered)
Sounds like you.
LUCIEN
Because it was me. First.
David sees the boys talking. He eyes Allen, curiously.
DAVID
Until. The the disruption we long
for, comes along and the circle is
broken.
LUCIEN
(whispered, to Allen)
He said he was my guardian angel,
but that I was too much work.
David crosses through crowd towards Allen.
DAVID
Take this unbloomed stalwart.
20.
Uh-oh. Allen's singled out. David pulls him to the center of
the room.
DAVID
And you are?
ALLEN
Allen.
Bill walks in, knows what game his friend is playing.
BILL
Play nice, David.
DAVID
Allen, who comes uninvited to my
apartment.
LUCIEN
Actually I invited him.
DAVID
None of us notice him. Look at him.
Why would we bother?
In his tucked shirt and creased pants, Allen realizes the
entire party is scrutinizing, judging him.
DAVID
So the pattern of our evening, our
lives, holds. But under the right
circumstances, even he might change
the world.
Jazz music sparks, PRE-LAP from where this party's going
next. Lucien eyes Allen -- an idea forming.
CUT TO:
INT. TAVERN - NIGHT
The party continuing at this underground speakeasy. Straight,
gay, young, old, a subterranean zoo. A jazz signer owns the
room.
Bill, David, and Allen at a table. David's moment alone with
Allen.
DAVID
So you just met Lucien in the lunch
line and now he's all that you can
see.
21.
ALLEN
Why don't you like me?
BILL
Because David was in the same
godforsaken line.
David and Bill share a knowing look. Lucien returns to the
table and slams a glass down.
LUCIEN
Some earjob at the bar just called
me "boy." So I stole his drink.
Allen scans, sees the famous poet OGDEN NASH looking around
for his glass.
ALLEN
That's Ogden Nash!
LUCIEN
Who's Ogden Nash?
ALLEN
The best selling poet in the
country.
BILL
"A girl who is bespectacled. She
may not get her nectacled. But
safety pins and bassinets--"
DAVID
"Await the girl who fassinets."
LUCIEN
And that's what he's selling?! I'll
kill him.
Bill takes out a switchblade.
BILL
Aim for the throat.
A realization. Lucien leans in, focuses his charm.
LUCIEN
No. We're not going to kill him.
Even better. We're going make sure
nobody remembers him.
(turns to Allen)
How many men started the
Renaissance?
22.
ALLEN
Two.
LUCIEN
And the Romantics.
DAVID
More than I suspect this theory
accommodates.
ALLEN
(Five?)
Lucien's passion building.
LUCIEN
We're sending millions to fight the
Fascists in Europe, but they're
here! Meter and rhyme---
ALLEN
And Professor Steeves---
LUCIEN
Yes! They're all guards in some
prison. Let's make the prisoners
come out and play. Let's come up
with new words, new rhythms.
Allen, swept up in the energy. He couldn't be more
captivated.
LUCIEN
We need a name.
ALLEN
How did they come up "Dada"?
BILL
Tristan Tzara jabbed a knife into a
dictionary.
LUCIEN
Shit. So that's been done.
DAVID
A literary revolution without
writing a word. Neat trick, Lu.
BILL
Well, I'm listening.
23.
ALLEN
What about Yeats? How about the
"New Vision?"
LUCIEN
Ginsy, you're hired!
Allen smiles a mile wide. He's in.
Suddenly, the jazz singer stops. The band puts down their
instruments. POLICEMEN escort a businessman and another
gentleman out of the bathroom, in HANDCUFFS. The mood in the
bar chills.
BAR-GOER (O.S.)
Fucking perverts.
Allen, terrified, looks at David, who looks back, knowing
exactly now who Allen is.
A DOOR CRASH leads us to...
EXT. BAR - DAWN
Drunk, Allen and Lucien stumble to the ground.
LUCIEN
"In the dawn, armed with a burning
patience, we shall enter the
splendid city!"
Allen sits up.
ALLEN
Shit.
LUCIEN
It's Rimbaud. It's overwritten, I
know. He's allowed.
ALLEN
No, my mother. This is bad. This is
very bad.
LUCIEN
What is?
Allen stands, gathers himself urgently. He needs to be
somewhere about twelve hours ago.
ALLEN
She's going to be furious.
24.
LUCIEN
Don't go then.
ALLEN
You don't understand. I have to.
LUCIEN
What?
ALLEN
It's complicated.
Lucien sees his friend scared. Moved, he links his arm with
Allen's.
LUCIEN
Perfect. I love complicated.
INT. GINSBERG HOME - DAY
Allen and Lucien enter the house to find Louis standing
nervously with a suitcase beside a DOCTOR.
DOCTOR
Greystone will alert you if there's
a change in her condition.
A DOCTOR holds out a clipboard. Louis sheepishly signs the
document on top.
ALLEN
Dad, what's going on?
LOUIS
Your mother needs her rest.
A male nurse leads Naomi from the bedroom. She is still in
her robe, shattered and fogged by sedatives. Allen realizes
what's happening.
ALLEN
(to his father)
You can't do this to her.
Naomi recognizes her son.
NAOMI
Where were you?
ALLEN
I was out. With a friend.
25.
NAOMI
I called you!
MALE NURSE
It's time to go, Mrs. Ginsberg.
The nurse takes Naomi to the door. Allen pulls her back, into
the house.
ALLEN
No, you're not leaving.
Naomi points an accusing finger at Louis.
NAOMI
He already signed the papers.
ALLEN
Dad?!
LOUIS
It's for the best.
ALLEN
Your best.
LOUIS
It's for her best. It's not for my
best. Look at her! Listen to her!
Naomi babbling. Allen realizing how far she's gone. Allen
shoves the nurse off Naomi.
ALLEN
Get off!
From deep within, Allen can see she is still there, and we
can see she knows that it's too late.
NAOMI
This is your fault.
The nurse escorts a docile Naomi out of the room. Allen
breaks down. Lucien, mute witness to it all.
MUSIC PLAYS over...
INT. GINSBERG HALLWAY - NIGHT
Louis lectures Allen.
We close in on Allen's despondent face. The dutiful son's
first failure.
26.
EXT. GINSBERG FRONT PORCH - NIGHT
Allen escapes outside where Lucien is sitting, smoking. Allen
sits beside him, notices: Lucien has been crying.
ALLEN
Complicated enough?
LUCIEN
At least you have her. My father
left me when I was four.
A beat of understanding between them. Lucien lays down. Allen
takes his cigarette, lays next to him.
ALLEN
I've been thinking about what Yeats
said. To be reborn, we have to die
first.
Allen hands him back the smoke. Lucien perks up.
LUCIEN
So what do you suggest?
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
Candlelight flickers on Allen's face.
ALLEN
I've spent my life making other
people happy.
We PULL BACK to see a noose around Allen's neck. A suicide is
underway.
ALLEN
It's time I find happiness the only
way I see possible.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
Oh please. Die already.
We PULL BACK again to see Lucien beside, also with a noose
around his neck. Both of them on chairs. Their nooses are
attached to the same pipe.
LUCIEN
Where's the verve? The brio?!
From atop the chair, Lucien kicks his record player with his
foot. Grand classical music screeches to a start.
27.
LUCIEN
If it be that I am indulging my
self-consciousness in justifying
myself, or if it be--
ALLEN
That's a run-on.
LUCIEN
Don't edit me!
Lucien shoves Allen. Allen trips off the chair, the noose
snaps tight...and suddenly he's hanging in mid-air. He
struggles. Lucien tries to help, but falls off his own chair.
The pipe starts to bend.
Allen and Lucien panic as they swing through the room,
suspended in air.
The pipe BREAKS. They crash to the ground.
A beat of relief -- are we alive? -- and the two break out
into hysterics.
DIRTY BE-BOP JAZZ PLAYS OVER...
A RED LINE TRAVELS UP THE SUBWAY MAP FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
TO HARLEM BRINGING US TO...
INT. HARLEM NIGHTCLUB (MINTON'S PLAYHOUSE) - NIGHT
The black crowd claps for the same jazz singer and band we
saw earlier, now on their home turf. Allen, Lucien and Bill
watch from a table.
ALLEN (O.S.)
The New Vision declares--
LUCIEN (O.S.)
"Proclaims" is better--
INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - DAY
Lucien and Allen pace while Bill reclines on the sofa. They
riff on the The New Vision manifesto.
ALLEN
Proclaims the death of morality.
And...
28.
LUCIEN
The expression of self.
ALLEN
The true, uninhibited, uncensored
expression of the self.
BILL
Words, boys. Empty words.
LUCIEN
Then what do you suggest?
BILL
The derangement of the senses.
CUT TO:
INT. JAZZ CLUB - NIGHT
Allen bopping his head to the new rhythms in this club - the
place where be-bop jazz is being born.
CUT TO:
INT. 48 MORTON APARTMENT - DAY
Bill cracking open a Benzedrine canister and removing the
soaking strip from inside.
He drops it into three coffee cups. The boys knock it back,
Lucien pushing Allen to finish the whole drink.
CUT TO:
INT. DORM - DAY
Allen furiously typing up the manifesto at his school desk.
BILL (O.S.)
What do you hate from the pit of
your gut?
INT. 48 MORTON APARTMENT - DAY
Allen, Lucien pacing with increasing excitement.
LUCIEN
Institutions.
29.
ALLEN
Paterson, New Jersey.
LUCIEN
My father.
Bill smiles. They're playing his game.
BILL
Bingo.
The music suddenly stops as we ...
CUT TO:
INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY
Professor Steeves lecturing before the class.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
And so while Shakespeare...
He notices Allen's empty seat. Unhappy.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
All right.
The MUSIC builds again as...
CUT TO:
INT. JAZZ CLUB - NIGHT
...a drummer takes a wild solo. Enraptured, Allen taps his
fingers to these new rhythms.
CUT TO:
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Allen's fingers typing in these same rhythms. Beside, The New
Yorker advertising Ogden Nash's upcoming reading.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
Extraordinary men propel society
forward. It is our duty to break
the law.
30.
INT. 48 MORTON APARTMENT - DAY
Allen stopping Lucien in his tracks.
ALLEN
Really?
LUCIEN
It's how we make the world wider.
Allen considers, agrees.
ALLEN
You are an extraordinary man.
Lucien beams.
LUCIEN
Well, thank you.
INT. 48 MORTON APARTMENT - AN HOUR LATER
Bill at David's bookcase, removing classic art and literature
books and throwing them to Allen.
BILL (O.S.)
"Return of the Native."
"Leviathan." Tear `em up boys.
Destroy the old and build the new!
Allen, with scissors, cuts up pages of the books. Hands them
to Lucien who nails them to the wall.
It's a frantic assembly-line: Bill whips books to Allen,
Allen tears out sections, and Lucien hammers them up.
We PULL BACK to see the entire wall is covered in words.
INT. HARLEM NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT
Time suddenly slows. The music tapers, the hands of the
drummer taper down to a still. Allen looks around, scared and
confused. What is happening?
A spotlight cuts through the room, capturing the singer's
sweaty ecstasy, the bassist's fingers mid-plucking. The room
freezes.
Unlit cigarette dangling from his lip, Allen turns to Bill.
31.
Bill holds up his finger - it is on fire. He lights Allen's
cigarette with the flame. We have entered into another
universe.
Lucien stands -- the only thing moving -- and Allen follows.
He steps into the frozen moment. And it's beautiful.
LUCIEN
Watch this.
Lucien leans over a young woman, a statue at a table with a
young man in military attire.
LUCIEN
(whispered in her ear)
Go.
The girl comes to life and clambers over the young man to a
second, more attractive soldier. And kisses him. The pair
erupt into life, into desire.
Lucien and Allen sit on the stage beneath the frozen
musicians. Lucien pulls out a BOY SCOUT KNIFE.
Wraps Allen's hand in a fist around the blade.
He pulls the knife free. Allen winces in pain.
Lucien does the same to his own palm, then presses their two
bloody hands together. A ceremony. Allen's eyes roll back.
David appears in a janitor uniform. The Technicolor fades.
DAVID
What the hell is this?
CUT TO:
INT. 48 MORTON APARTMENT - NIGHT
Allen, the nitrous oxide mask over his face inhaling from a
tank of gas. He has been adrift in a hallucination.
Lucien presses Allen's hand back and forth, both unharmed.
BILL
Time slows down as you drift deeper
and deeper into your cave...
Bill notices David, turns off the gas.
32.
BILL
We are exploring the avenues of
Allen's mind.
David looks around the mess of his living room, his pillaged
library of books, papers all over the floor.
DAVID
Dimly-lit, I am sure. What have you
done to my apartment?
Allen struggles to his feet, moaning. Lucien steps between
David and their wall of clippings.
LUCIEN
David, don't touch anything. We
have to write it all down.
Bill stands up, woozy. Calls out to David.
BILL
Get this man a pair of scissors!
DAVID
This is not your revolution, this
is my life.
BILL
What kind of life is it?
DAVID
It's mine. Not everyone gets an
allowance.
(beat)
Leave. Get out!
Allen stumbles out of the room, scared. David approaches
Lucien.
DAVID
I need to speak to you. Alone.
INT. BATHROOM, 48 MORTON APARTMENT - NIGHT
Allen splashes water on his face. In the mirror, he sees
David and Lucien in the bedroom.
David hands Lucien a TERM PAPER.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
It only has to be five pages.
33.
He tilts the mirror to see them clearly. A glimpse into their
private dynamic.
INT. BEDROOM, 48 MORTON APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lucien flips through the term paper.
LUCIEN
You make me too smart, they're
gonna suspect something's up.
David throws Lucien's coat over his shoulder.
DAVID
And get you sent back to your
mother again? That would just be
the end of you.
LUCIEN
Fuck you.
David spots Allen watching from the bathroom.
INT. BATHROOM - 48 MORTON APARTMENT - NIGHT
Allen, caught, looks down, pretends he heard nothing. But
it's too late. David walks over and SLAMS the door in Allen's
face.
PROFESSOR STEEVES (O.S.)
Kill your darlings.
INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY
Professor Steeves, intent, in front of the class.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
Your crushes, your juvenile
metaphysics. None of them belong on
the page. It is the first principle
of good creative work. A work of
fiction you will deliver as your
final exam.
He sees Allen, badly hungover and brooding, writing in a
journal. Ignoring class.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
Oh look. Whitman Jr. graced us with
his presence today.
34.
Steeves walks to Allen's desk, grabs his journal.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
"The New Vision. Extraordinary men
propel us forward. It is our duty
to break the law."
(to Allen)
Fantastic.
ALLEN
There's more life in those five
pages than in the dozens of bad
sonnets we've read in class.
Steeves cocks his eye, stares down Allen. The first time
Allen has defied anyone. Ever.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
You want life? You want the world
on fire?
Steeves motions to the door. Then to Allen.
PROFESSOR STEEVES
The war awaits. What will it be?
Steeves tosses the journal back down on Allen's desk.
Allen looks down at the "New Vision", ashamed.
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
A rainstorm beating against the windows. Allen paces as a
drunk Lucien knocks off a bottle of wine and reads from
Allen's journal.
LUCIEN
"The rose that scents the summer
air/ grows from my beloved's
hair...?"
ALLEN
Keep going. That's my sonnet for
Steeves.
Lucien flips through the journal, closes it, disappointed.
LUCIEN
We have the map. We have the
manifesto. We need the work.
(suddenly cold)
I was wrong. Maybe you're not up
for this after all.
35.
Allen stares at Lucien in disbelief. Shocked, Allen rushes to
Lucien's desk.
ALLEN
Show me your fucking map.
LUCIEN
Stop!
Allen grabs the pages Lucien has been working on: they are
covered in doodles - there's nothing there.
ALLEN
Oh right, you don't have anything
because David's not here to write
it for you!
Lucien stands up, drunk. Furious.
LUCIEN
It's complicated.
ALLEN
I love complicated.
Lucien steadies himself. Furious.
LUCIEN
He's a professor working as a
janitor so he can be near his
precious Lu-Lu. He is a goddamn
fruit who won't let me go.
ALLEN
A fruit?
LUCIEN
A queer.
This detonates inside Allen. Lucien crashes to his bed. Allen
sits beside.
ALLEN
Then let's get rid of him.
Lucien softens, leans against Allen. Passing out from the
liquor.
LUCIEN
Right now, I just need you to write
us something beautiful.
(beat)
First thought, best thought.
36.
Lucien drifts off. Allen shakes, holding Lucien's body for
the first time.
We follow Allen's P.O.V. as he runs his finger through
Lucien's hair. He can barely breathe, this close to what he
finds beautiful.
Allen's fingers slide to Lucien's cheek. Toward his lips.
Lucien's eyes open. Allen tenses, afraid. But Lucien suddenly
takes Allen's finger in his mouth. Sucks it, eyeing Allen the
whole time.
CUT TO:
A thunder-clap. Lucien passed out in Allen's lap. We were
just in Allen's imagination.
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Allen at his typewriter. A blank page. Inspired to write
something beautiful.
We see flashes of the past, snippets of Lucien: their
contact, Lucien's smile. Allen searching through their past.
All playing in reverse.
LUCIEN
Allen in Wonderland.
Is it something? He writes the words down. Flash of their
past build in a crescendo as he keeps searching, digging
through moments, leading to...
NOTHING.
Allen's blocked.
He'll need more help if he's going to get to beautiful.
BILL (O.S.)
Pervitin.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - DAY
Bill with NORMAN (30s, shady, real criminal) and Allen in his
dim, bookshelf-lined lair. Bill gives the secret nod to
Norman.
37.
BILL
The Germans call it the "wonder
drug." Prescribed for super-human
feats.
Norman pops open a briefcase full of drugs. Bill selects a
green pill bottle and gives it to Allen.
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Allen pops two. Waits for it.
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - LATER
The pace of everything has DOUBLED.
Allen, sweating at his typewriter, jubilant, tapping his foot
with the music, typing furiously at the keys. Whatever this
drug is, it's working.
BILL (O.S.)
But beware of the side-effects.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - DAY
Bill rattles off the list.
BILL
Sudden blindness, bouts of
diarrhea, heart palpitations, and a
severe decline in moral standards.
CUT TO:
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Allen jerking-off at his desk.
Allen racing around his room, burning off energy. The
memories are now flooding in.
David at his party...
DAVID (O.S.)
Take this unbloomed stalwart.
Lucien at the bar...
38.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
Let the prisoners come out and
play.
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - EVENING
Luke enters, turns on the light.
His jaw-drops: Allen is on his bed, running in place like a
mad-man.
LUKE
What the hell are you doing?
Allen, furious at the interruption.
ALLEN
Writing!
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - DAY
Bill, a thoughtful eye on young Allen.
BILL
But the words, oh the words...
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Allen's got it. He rips the pages from the typewriter.
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Lucien's door slams open. A sleepless Allen, hair on end,
storms into the room, fresh pages in hand.
ALLEN
Lu! It's very rough but...
David sits at Lucien's desk, writing. Allen stops short.
David spies the pages in Allen's hand.
DAVID
Ah. The "Vision" at last. Can I
see?
Allen hides them behind his back.
ALLEN
Where's Lu?
39.
DAVID
He's out. With a senior, some
football player. A writer and
handsome too.
(beat)
James? Jack. There it is. Jack.
ALLEN
You're not allowed to be here.
DAVID
That's odd since I'm the only thing
keeping him here.
ALLEN
Not anymore.
A stand-off. David collects his jacket, approaches.
DAVID
Piece of advice. You don't know Lu.
As soon you think you do, he'll
find someone else.
David smirks, walks off leaving Allen alone with his pages.
DAVID
Or maybe he already has.
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
3:00 AM. Allen snoring. Then the sound of the door creaking
open. Allen wakes up to see Lucien entering.
LUCIEN
What are you, moving in?
ALLEN
Where have you been?!
Lucien starts getting undressed.
LUCIEN
I found a real writer. Already a
million words under his belt before
Columbia.
ALLEN
You mean Jack?
Lucien fumbles.
40.
ALLEN
Why didn't you tell me?
LUCIEN
What am I supposed to do?
Newsreels?
He spots the piece of paper in Allen's hand.
LUCIEN
What's that?
Defensive, Allen pockets his poem for Lucien.
ALLEN
Nothing.
Lucien gets into bed.
LUCIEN
If you're going to stay, don't hog
the blanket.
Lucien closes his eyes. Allen sits up, jealous, his mind
spinning. He stares at Lucien.
ALLEN
Why is Jack a real writer?
LUCIEN
Once you meet him, you'll see what
I mean.
JACK (O.S.)
Hey Al!
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Handsome JACK KEROUAC (mid-20's, athletic, infamous jaw)
palms a football, fakes a pass to Allen. Allen, on the couch
with a stack of pages, shakes his head.
ALLEN
No.
Lucien drinks wine beside. Jack ignores Allen, wings the
pigskin right at him. Allen ducks. The ball SLAMS into a
painting on the wall. It crashes onto Allen's head.
EDIE (O.S.)
Jack? What was that?
41.
JACK
(with a wink)
The damn cat!
The bell around the neck of Jack's cat KIT KAT jingles as it
scurries away. Jack darts over, hangs the painting upside
down.
JACK
(whispered to Allen)
She painted it. Say nothing.
Jack notices a piece of mail addressed to him next to Allen.
It's an old vinyl RECORD sent by his friend Sammy. He shouts
down the hall.
JACK
Hey when'd this come?
EDIE (O.S.)
Today. Where is Sammy now?
JACK
I dunno. Some battleship.
Lucien nods to the huge manuscript on Allen's lap. We realize
it is Jack's novel The Sea Is My Brother.
LUCIEN
What do you think? Brilliant, no?
ALLEN
It's missing some periods and
commas.
LUCIEN
It's better than anything you've
ever written.
ALLEN
I use periods and commas.
JACK
Both of you! Quiet!
Jack sets up an old phonograph. The scratchy record starts as
Jack sidles up close to the speaker.
VOICE OF SAMMY (O.S.)
Jack, how are you chum?
JACK
Sammy, you bastard.
42.
LUCIEN
Who's Sammy?
JACK
My best friend since I was twelve.
Off in the Navy.
VOICE OF SAMMY (O.S.)
We've just been through 20 days of
German shelling, every three hours,
night and day. This will be my last
one for a while. We're headed out
to the front. Some beach near Rome.
Anzio?
EDIE (O.S.)
Come to the table!
VOICE OF SAMMY (O.S.)
It's supposed to be beautiful...
Jack pulls the stylus off.
EDIE PARKER, Jack's wealthy, vivacious art student girlfriend
(early 20's) walks in. Messy, comfortable, adorable. She
holds a pot, eyes Lucien and Allen.
EDIE
I didn't know we were having
guests.
Jack comes to the table. She smacks something down on a
plate: it's brown GLOP.
JACK
What's this?
EDIE
I was aiming for stew.
JACK
You missed.
Jack grabs his jacket.
EDIE
Where are you going?
JACK
Out.
EDIE
Out? I cooked all day for you.
43.
JACK
What do you want me to do? Eat shoe
leather? I'm hungry and what you do
in the kitchen is unholy.
EDIE
That's funny. You talk like a
Catholic. But you fuck me and won't
marry me. How does that work?
Allen and Lucien watch entranced.
JACK
Shut your mouth, Edie.
EDIE
I thought you liked it WIDE OPEN...
Jack exits, slams the door shut. Edie stares at Allen and
Lucien on the couch.
EDIE
Scram.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
Lucien drinks from a wine bottle as the three boys stroll.
Allen trails behind.
JACK
So Al. You thought my novel was
shit?
ALLEN
Not exactly. It's...
LUCIEN
It's all true. Jack served in the
Merchant Marines.
JACK
I've left school twice already.
Columbia's full of squares. I'm not
even sure why I bothered to come
back.
ALLEN
(sarcastic)
Then why don't you just ship out
again?
44.
JACK
Trust me. Sometimes when I fight
with Edie, I want to.
Lucien stops. He spots a DINGY, floating off a dock. He gets
an idea.
LUCIEN
You two did just fight.
JACK
Carr, you're goddamn crazy.
Lucien RUNS for it, then Jack. Allen, now the third wheel,
reluctantly chases after.
EXT. HUDSON RIVER - NIGHT
The dingy drifts into view in the middle of the busiest river
in the world - quiet at this late in the night. Jack rowing.
JACK
A "new vision?"
ALLEN
Yeah.
JACK
Sounds phony. Movements are cooked
up by people who can't write about
the people who can.
LUCIEN
Lu, I don't think he gets what
we're trying to do.
JACK
Listen to me, this whole town's
full of finks on the 30th floor,
writing pure chintz. Writers, real
writers, gotta be in the beds. In
the trenches. In all the broken
places. What're your trenches, Al?
ALLEN
Allen.
JACK
Right.
Allen looks to Lucien for help.
45.
LUCIEN
First thought, best thought.
ALLEN
Fuck you. What does that even
mean?!
JACK
Good. That's one. What else?
ALLEN
Fuck your one million words.
JACK
Even better.
ALLEN
You don't know me.
JACK
You're right. Who is you?
Lucien loves this, raises an eyebrow. Allen pulls out his
poem from his pocket.
ALLEN
Be careful.
You are not in wonderland
I have heard the strange madness
long growing in your soul.
But you are fortunate.
Lucien listens anew, realizing this poem is about him.
ALLEN
In your ignorance
In your isolation,
you who have suffered
Find where love hides.
Give. Share. Lose.
Lest we die unbloomed.
Just the sound of the water. Completely vulnerable, Allen
sits back down.
JACK
Allen. Beautiful, kid.
Allen looks up, moved.
LUCIEN
You wrote that?
46.
ALLEN
You asked me to. Remember?
Lucien lights up. He comes forward, gathers his friends
close: gawky, emotional Allen. Blustery, sensitive Jack.
LUCIEN
Forget Columbia. Forget Ogden Nash.
Here's the plan, boys. We join the
Merchant Marines. Sail the world
until the war ends. Then jump ship
and make it to Paris. For the
liberation.
ALLEN
You don't speak French.
LUCIEN
Jack does. It'll be us, together.
At the beginning. It'll be the
perfect day.
A FLOOD-LAMP and HORN shatter the reverie.
A COAST GUARD patrol boat has caught them. A megaphone
squawks to life.
POLICE OFFICER
Don't MOVE!
JACK
Jesus Christ!
POLICE OFFICER
Put your hands in the air!
The boys, trapped, look at each other terrified. The BLAST of
the horn sends up to...
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY, OUTSIDE COLUMBIA DEAN'S OFFICE - DAY
Allen, nervous waits outside. Lucien already inside getting
reprimanded by the Dean. Allen can hear the conversation
through the door.
He leans in closer.
DEAN (O.S.)
You've managed to matriculate and
drop out of Tulane, Bowdoin,
University of Chicago.
47.
INT. COLUMBIA DEAN'S OFFICE - DAY
Lucien in a leather-backed chair. The DEAN (40's, sardonic)
overlooks Lucien's record. Lucien's mother, MARION CARR, a
fallen matriarch, smokes with dispassion.
DEAN
Your attendance record here is
abominable. You've ignored curfew.
Your papers, when you bother to
turn them in, exceed the assigned
page limit. Can you explain why
you're at Columbia?
LUCIEN
Same reason you're here.
DEAN
What's that?
LUCIEN
Loose Barnard girls.
Marion Carr looks at the Dean with a weary smile.
DEAN
I know about your difficulties.
About what happened in Chicago.
A pale comes over Lucien's face. Which becomes absolute fury.
LUCIEN
(to Marion)
You told him?!
MARION CARR
He's not the enemy.
DEAN
See, the University acts in loco
parentis. You are our
responsibility. We're trying to
find someway to make this all work.
Lucien EXPLODES.
LUCIEN
Who said anybody could know
anything about anything?!
MARION CARR
Lucien, your temper!
48.
INT. HALLWAY, OUTSIDE COLUMBIA DEAN'S OFFICE - DAY
Allen sits back as he hears someone approaching.
Louis Ginsberg rounds the corner with an unfamiliar woman.
LOUIS (O.S.)
Allen? What the hell is going on?
ALLEN
Who's she?
The woman, EDITH (early 30s, Jewish, shy), waves nervously.
EDITH
Hi. I'm Edith Cohen.
ALLEN
What's she doing here?
EDITH
I'll go wait outside.
Edith exits down the stairs.
ALLEN
(smirks)
So that's why you locked mom up.
Louis SLAPS his son.
Lucien storms out of the Dean's office, followed by Marion,
putting on her fur coat. Marion inspects her son's new
accomplice then races after her son. Louis motions to Lucien.
LOUIS
Did he put you up to this?
Allen stares down his father. Gathering courage to defy him.
ALLEN
No. I stole the boat. And it was
tremendous.
EXT. SEMINARY GARDENS - NIGHT
In the quiet, Lucien smokes and stares up -- he looks
ravaged. A suitcase beside him.
Allen approaches, surprised.
ALLEN
Where are you going?
49.
LUCIEN
You know me now. I'm only good at
beginnings.
ALLEN
You're dropping out?
LUCIEN
Best of luck.
Allen GRABS Lucien's suitcase and sits beside Lucien. This
explodes out of him.
ALLEN
My father shows up yesterday with
some new woman. And in the middle
of the Allen's-a-screw-up
monologue, all of a sudden, I
realize: I don't care. I've never
not cared. So, I told them it was
my idea. To steal the boat.
LUCIEN
Why?
ALLEN
Because I don't want to be the
person they think I am. I'm on
academic probation. I could be
kicked out. You can't leave. You
started something and I have no
idea what I'm supposed to do next.
Lucien, moved.
ALLEN
It's our turn. Let's show them what
we can do.
At the thought of payback, Lucien awakens. Allen grins.
ALLEN
You in?
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - DAY
A hard STAMP on a library request: RESTRICTED.
PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN
You must not drink while you're
handling it. And no writing in it.
50.
Allen, Lucien, Jack and Bill spy on the PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN
and a female PAGE at the main desk. The librarian places a
KEY RING in a drawer.
PERMISSIONS LIBRARIAN
It must come back exactly as you
found it.
The Permissions Librarian heads off. Seeing the young page
alone, Jack tucks in his shirt, SLICKS his hair down. Jabs a
piece of gum from his mouth into Lucien's palm.
JACK
No telling Edie, got it?
Jack strolls up to the desk. Winks at the page.
JACK
I see you checking out all these
books. And I'm asking myself: do
you ever get checked out?
She radiates. Bill looks at his watch.
BILL
25 seconds. Masterful.
But then, another page, GWENDOLYN (20, sweet and saucy),
joins the first.
LUCIEN
Damn! Shift's over.
Jack looks back, shrugs as he walks off with the first page.
Lucien groans, plan's 86'd. But Allen sits up.
ALLEN
I'll go.
INT. PERMISSIONS DESK, LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - DAY
Allen walks up to the desk.
ALLEN
Hi.
Gwendolyn looks up. Allen is smiling nervously.
ALLEN
I wondered if you could help me.
GWENDOLYN
Sure.
51.
ALLEN
I'm looking for a book.
GWENDOLYN
Okay. Does this book have a title?
ALLEN
It's called The Day Amanda Came.
GWENDOLYN
(knowing look)
Well, you'll have to wait. I can't
leave the desk.
Allen turns back to Lucien who nods, eggs him on.
ALLEN
But...I really need it.
Gwendolyn looks around.
GWENDOLYN
(flirting)
Okay. Only for you.
She places a sign on the desk: "HELPING A READER. BACK IN 5
MINUTES."
They head off the stacks, Lucien bounds up to the desk,
glides over the top, and digs through the drawer.
Old cards. Broken pencils. NO KEYS.
LUCIEN
Shit!
60 INT. STACKS - DAY 60
CLOSE UP: THE KEYS in Gwendolyn's hand as Allen and Gwendolyn
walk through the stacks.
ALLEN
Working here must be a drag.
GWENDOLYN
I like it. It's the only way I meet
boys. They're very strict at
Barnard.
ALLEN
How strict?
52.
GWENDOLYN
For example, they'd never let me do
this.
Gwendolyn LIFTS her sweater. Bares her brassiere.
ALLEN
Right. No.
INT. PERMISSIONS DESK - CONTINUOUS
Lucien peeks up from behind the desk. Sees Bill staring at
him.
BILL
Go!
Lucien races into the stacks after Allen.
INT. STACKS - CONTINUOUS
GWENDOLYN
Did you know I've never done it
with someone who was Jewish before?
I really want to know what it looks
like.
Gwendolyn paws the front of Allen's pants, undoes his belt.
Uncomfortable, Allen stops her.
She pulls away, pulls down her sweater. The keys jangling in
her hand.
GWENDOLYN
I'm sorry, I thought you were
saying something but not saying it.
Should we find your book?
THROUGH A GAP IN THE STACKS: Allen sees Lucien, pointing to
the KEYS in her grip. Realizing what he has to do.
ALLEN
There is no book. Take it off.
GWENDOLYN
Really?
Gwendolyn sets down the keys. Undoes her cardigan. Lucien
nabs the keys and races up the stacks.
53.
INT. ROW, LIBRARY STACKS - CONTINUOUS
Lucien hands the keys to Bill. Bill PLACES it into a clay
molding and makes an impression.
GWENDOLYN (O.S.)
No. Why don't you take it off?
INT. STACKS, LIBRARY - CONTINUOUS
Allen takes off her sweater. Gwendolyn, just in a bra. This
is as close as Allen has ever come to sex. He's breathless.
GWENDOLYN
It's not like I'm a virgin. I've
done it with three guys already.
You're a virgin, huh?
She KISSES him. Cold lips. He's terrified.
GWENDOLYN
You're kind of a virgin, though,
huh?
ALLEN
No.
GWENDOLYN
Liar. If you have done it before,
you'll last for thirty seconds.
Start counting.
She opens his fly, then lowers herself down. Allen tries to
stop her, but it's too late. He sighs.
ALLEN
1...2...
Lucien returns and see Allen reluctantly getting his first
blowjob. Lucien leans against the books and watches.
ALLEN
3...4...
Lucien flashes Allen a wicked grin.
ALLEN
5...6...
Over Gwendolyn's head, Allen watches Lucien staring at him.
He starts to get aroused.
54.
ALLEN
7...8...9...
Allen and Lucien holding eye contact, Allen thrusts into her
mouth, comes. Gwendolyn rises back up, unimpressed, drops her
sweater.
GWENDOLYN
I knew it.
She grabs the KEYS that are now back on the shelf. Allen
looks to find Lucien. But he is gone.
GWENDOLYN
I bet you don't even read.
Gwendolyn walks off. Allen lifts his pants, ties his belt.
ALLEN
I do.
EXT. COLUMBIA LIBRARY - NIGHT
Shots of the darkened church-like building. Deserted.
Timeless.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
This is it guys. Our Bastille. No
chickening out.
INT. CARD CATALOGUE AREA, LIBRARY - NIGHT
The light from the boys' flashlights SLICES through the dark
as they enter into the library through a heavy door.
Bill reaches into Jack's mouth and takes the chewing gum from
inside it. Jack shoots a glare at him - what the hell?
Bill presses the sticky gum into the strike plate of the door
-- blocking the door from being able to close shut.
The boys look at each other, give each other the silent nod,
then split -- Lucien and Jack sneak off to the main hall,
Bill and Allen up to the stacks.
Behind them, the chewing gum slips, falls from the strike
plate. The door shuts.
And LOCKS.
55.
INT. STACKS - NIGHT
Outside a gated "RESTRICTED ACCESS" room, Bill grabs the
padded LOCK and fits in his molded KEY. Allen watches as he
turns it...
The lock CLICKS open.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - NIGHT
Jack and Lucien unscrew the glass from the VITRINES encasing
the historic books and manuscripts we saw earlier.
EXT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
Walking into the light of the street lamp outside the library
is David. He approaches two campus security GUARDS on the
night patrol.
DAVID
Excuse me. I think I saw some light
or movement in the library.
The security guards FLASH their lights at the facade.
INT. RESTRICTED ACCESS ROOM - NIGHT
Bill throws open the metal gate between them and the
restricted books inside.
An ALARM explodes into the quiet.
Bill and Allen look at each other: this was unexpected.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - NIGHT
Jack and Lucien jolt as the alarm goes off, look up from the
vitrines to each other. What is going on up there?
EXT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
The guards hear the alarm coming from inside the library.
They race to unlock the CHAIN holding the doors locked
together.
56.
INT. RESTRICTED ACCESS ROOM - NIGHT
Bill rushes past the gate, shines his flashlight searching
the books until he finds a box marked RESTRICTED CONTENT.
He empties it, tossing the books to Allen. We've seen this
move before.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - NIGHT
Allen, carrying the restricted books, runs up to Jack and
Lucien at the vitrines which are now wide open and empty.
JACK
(whispered)
What just happened?
Jack and Lucien grab the books from Allen and start to set
them in the cases. The alarm suddenly STOPS.
SECURITY GUARD (O.S.)
We know you're here!
The footsteps of the guards approach. Game over. Their work
not done, the boys RACE back to the door they came through.
All EXCEPT LUCIEN. He ducks behind the vitrine, hiding. He
clicks off his flashlight.
The guards ENTER the main hall, searching for the culprits.
INT. CARD CATALOGUE AREA - CONTINUOUS
Allen, Jack and Bill reach the closed door. They can't open
it.
JACK
What the hell, Bill? It's locked!
No way out. Allen turns, notices Lucien is missing.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - CONTINUOUS
The guards step right past Lucien and STOP. Lucien ducks,
rounds to the side of the case.
GUARD
Did you hear that?
57.
INT. CARD CATALOGUE AREA - CONTINUOUS
Bill, Jack and Allen slide along the wall of card catalogs,
back to the main hall looking for another exit.
Through the arch leading inside, they can see the guards
canvasing the room with flashlights.
SECURITY GUARD
We know you're here!
SECURITY GUARD #2
Come on out!
Across the room, Bill spots TWO GLASS DOORS leading out to a
balcony. He points at the doors.
Jack WHIPS his flashlight in a tremendous arc to another
room. It clatters noisily, a distraction.
It works. The guards CHASE after the noise.
Jack, Bill, Allen BOLT to the glass doors. They throw them
wide open. Allen is about to leave, but stops Jack.
ALLEN
Wait. Lucien.
Allen turns and sees Lucien, still furiously working, books
under his arm.
Jack shakes his head, follows Bill and races out the door.
Alone, Allen RUNS back to Lucien who is madly placing the
books in the vitrines. He is a man possessed.
ALLEN
Lu that's enough. Come on! What's
wrong with you?
LUCIEN
(deadly serious)
No. Not yet, we have to finish.
A FLASHLIGHT finds them. Allen and Lucien, caught. The guards
pull out BILLY CLUBS.
SECURITY GUARD
Don't move. It's over.
The guards GRAB Lucien. Drag him by the collar. But Allen
flees, breaks free. Lucien struggles, enraged.
LUCIEN
Get off of me! Allen! Help!
58.
INT. CARD CATALOGUE AREA - CONTINUOUS
Allen stops, terrified. He sees: a console of switches on the
wall. Desperate, he reaches for them. Flips them all on.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - CONTINUOUS
All the lights in the whole library come on at once. A
BLINDING flash.
The guards squint and look for Allen.
INT. CARD CATALOGUE AREA - CONTINUOUS
Allen THROWS down all the switches.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - CONTINUOUS
The room PLUNGES into complete darkness.
Lucien realizes: this is his moment.
He wriggles out of his coat and RUNS. Allen JOINS him and the
two, reunited, run around the corner.
The guards give chase.
INT. ENTRANCE FOYER - CONTINUOUS
Allen and Lucien race into the vestibule between the doors
leading out to the city -- and the doors back into the
library.
Lucien presses against the exit doors: they're locked.
The GUARDS turn the corner, see the boys stuck between the
two sets of doors.
Allen blocks the library doors with his shoulder. The guards
POUND on the door.
A SOUND from outside: the padlock unlocking. Suddenly: the
exit door opens. It's Jack and Bill, with lock-picking gear
in hand.
They YANK Allen and Lucien out.
59.
EXT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
Jack slams the door, Bill runs the chain back through the
handle and LOCKS it.
The door BULGES as the guards bang into it.
SECURITY GUARD
Open the goddamn door! Open this
up!
The boys turn and RUN down the grand steps leading back to
the campus. Glee on their faces.
CUT TO:
EXT. LIBRARY - DAY
The same grand steps the next morning. Students walking up
and down it to class, socializing, as if nothing happened
there the night before.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - DAY
Inside, the pompous TOUR GUIDE from earlier showing off the
vitrines to a new crowd of parents and incoming students.
TOUR GUIDE
The South Hall library is a church,
and these are the sacraments.
The crowd mumbles, then laughs. The guide, confused, looks
inside them to see the Kama Sutra opened up to a particularly
salacious page.
The explicit images from a Grecian urn.
Lady Chatterly's Lover, Ulysses, all the books banned,
restricted, kept from public eye.
And lastly: Tropic of Cancer. By Henry Miller.
The prisoners have come out to play.
TOUR GUIDE
Oh. My. God.
And a note, left on the glass: "The New Vision."
60.
INT. WEST END BAR - DAY
Four shot glasses. Four hands.
LUCIEN
To literacy.
Allen, Bill, Jack and Lucien throw back their drinks in
celebration.
The Mills Brothers "You Always Hurt The One You Love" on the
jukebox plays over this lazy, drunken afternoon.
Allen's eyes scan the wall above them, Columbia's "Hall of
Fame": newspaper headlines, yearbook photos...
ALLEN
Jack, that's you, isn't it?
He sees a framed photo of Jack in a football play, mid-catch.
JACK
Yep. Last year. They still won.
LUCIEN
Look at them!
And we do: we see FLASHES of the photos: ribbon-cuttings,
team-photos, graduations: life in a thousand fake smiles and
stagings.
LUCIEN
Souvenir history. To make people
think they left some mark on the
world. Because otherwise nobody
would ever know.
(beat)
I don't ever want to end up on this
wall.
JACK
Have no fear. You never will.
Suddenly, David appears in the bar. The group looks at each
other, mystified.
ALLEN
What's he doing here?
David walks briskly over to Lucien.
DAVID
Since you didn't show up earlier, I
just hoped to give you this.
61.
David drops a TERM PAPER on the table: "On the Decline of the
West." Allen leans over the table, inserting himself into
the conversation.
ALLEN
Maybe he didn't want to see you.
DAVID
I think he can speak for himself.
LUCIEN
Yup. And he says we should all have
another round...
Lucien stands up to get a drink. David grabs his arm. Lucien
tries to push him off.
DAVID
You've had plenty of time to
celebrate. Your library hijink made
the morning paper. I'm sure you're
all very proud.
Allen, Jack and Bill glance at each other suspiciously, then
at David.
ALLEN
How did you know it was us?
DAVID
Did he use that "Bastille" line?
Cause I gave it to him.
Allen, Jack and Bill look at Lucien, shocked.
LUCIEN
I haven't seen you for days.
David throws down Lucien's cravat to the table. The one we
remember him wearing when we first met him in the library. A
private power move.
DAVID
You left this at my place.
ALLEN
(to David, a guess)
You told the guards we were there.
No one else knew.
David does not respond. Jack suddenly jolts up. Shoves David
back.
62.
JACK
You little fink!
Lucien explodes at David.
LUCIEN
You wanted me to get kicked out?!
You ratted on me!
DAVID
Stop, Lu. You're losing control
again. You know what comes next. I
know what comes next.
ALLEN
Yeah.
(to Lucien)
Cut him off.
Lucien gives David a fatal look.
LUCIEN
Best of luck, Janitor.
DAVID
Excuse me?
LUCIEN
We are over. Leave.
Lucien spindles the paper and plunges it into a beer. David
in shock, begins to shatter in front of them.
DAVID
Look at me, Lu.
Tears well in David's eyes. Lucien sits back down, ignores
him. Bill stands up, tries to lead David away.
BILL
Let's go.
DAVID
(from his wound, breaking)
You said I was everything to you.
You are everything to me.
Everything to me. Do you hear me?
David fractures. Utterly vulnerable. This is it: the real
uninhibited, uncensored self.
BILL
Let's go. Time and place, David.
63.
DAVID
Shut up, traitor.
He turns sharply to Lucien saying loud enough so everyone can
hear.
DAVID
You'd be dead if it weren't for me!
Lucien totally dead cold. Allen, unsure what David is talking
about. David turns and rushes outside and Bill follows him.
Alone with Allen and Jack, Lucien suddenly smiles as if
nothing just happened, puts his arm around Allen.
LUCIEN
You'd be boring if it weren't for
me!
The two start to crack up together.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
JACK
And...go!
Jack crouched inside an empty barrel. Trashed, Lucien kicks
the barrel down a grassy slope.
Allen and Lucien cheer Jack on as the barrel bangs down the
slope. But then it swerves, SLAMS into a bench. At the top of
the slope, Lucien and Allen look on in shock.
LUCIEN
Jack? Jack?
(no response)
He broke his fucking neck. The
warrior poet has passed on.
Jack staggers from out of the barrel. Throws his hands in the
air victoriously. Allen and Lucien cheer him on.
ALLEN
No, he lives!
LUCIEN
Excellent! Judges award a...
Allen holds up nine fingers.
ALLEN
Nine!
64.
Jack falls to his knees, pukes. Allen and Lucien crack up.
LUCIEN
All right Ginsy, your turn.
Drunk, Allen tries to stand up. But then falls right back
down. Lucien laughs, tucks his body next to Allen's.
LUCIEN
This is just the beginning, you
know.
Lucien lays his head against Allen's shoulder.
LUCIEN
Your fault, Ginsy. It's all your
fault.
Lucien's thigh brushes against Allen's.
Allen stares at Lucien, in the full glare of Lucien's warmth.
Allen looks around. The park is empty. Building up the
courage.
ALLEN
First thought, best thought.
He grazes his hand against Lucien's inner thigh. Lucien looks
down at Allen's hand curiously, then back at Allen.
The decisive moment. Allen leans over. Kisses him. It builds
in passion.
Lucien pulls back, unsure. Then returns the kiss. It builds
in passion.
Everything Allen had hoped for, lensed into a moment.
JACK (O.S.)
I think I just puked on the inside.
Lucien opens his eyes to notice Jack stumbling up the slope.
He tenses, pulls away from Allen.
The moment has been shattered.
As if nothing just happened, Lucien stands and looks at Jack
with his usual devilish smile.
LUCIEN
Let's go, Jack.
65.
He throws his arm around Jack's shoulder, turning his back to
Allen. They start to walk off. Jack stops, turns back to
Allen.
JACK
Wait, Al, you coming?
Lucien glares at Allen.
LUCIEN
No. Allen's got work to do. Ten
pages on Spengler's Decline of the
West. Due tomorrow.
ALLEN
Excuse me?
LUCIEN
I'd be lost without you, Ginsy.
(to Jack)
Come on, Lion.
The two of them leave. Allen, abandoned and broken, puts his
head in his hands.
ALLEN
Fuck. Fuck!
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lucien and Jack stumble into Jack's apartment. Edie sits with
GRANDMA FRANKIE (90s, stone-faced) around the living room
table, listening to the news on the radio. We hear there's
been an attack in Anzio.
JACK
Edie! Edie bird!
Lucien looks at Edie's stone-cold face. She's pissed. He
turns right back around.
LUCIEN
(exiting)
Lu's going to use the loo.
EDIE
Say hi to Gram.
Grandma Frankie glares at Jack.
EDIE
We invited her over for her
birthday. We made her a cake.
66.
Jack sees a lumpy, half-eaten cake on the table. Realizing he
just messed up big-time.
JACK
Then we should have a drink! How
about a drink, Grandma Frankie? You
want some red wine?
Jack heads to the cabinet. Edie follows him.
EDIE
Where the hell have you been?!
JACK
I was out.
Edie's rage boils over.
EDIE
I packed all your stuff. It's in
your bag. I'm going to be at Gram's
tonight.
Jack reaches for her. She shakes him off.
JACK
Stay. I'm sorry.
EDIE
You just say that, but it's one of
your million words and they don't
mean anything!
(beat)
Just don't be here when I come back
in the morning.
INT. 118TH STREET BEDROOM - LATER
Edie's gone. The apartment is quiet. Lucien and Jack, crashed
out on Jack's bed.
The sound of a strange KNOCKING against a window outside.
Lucien wakes up. Sees Jack still asleep.
He rises to investigate.
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lucien sees David, desperate, alone, on the fire escape.
Lucien can't believe this. He opens the window.
67.
DAVID
I know this is crazy. I don't know
even know what I'm doing here. But
I had to tell you I'm sorry. Let me
make it up to you.
From behind...
JACK (O.S.)
Lu, where are you?
Lucien stares down David.
LUCIEN
I'm going back to bed. Another word
and I call the police.
Lucien turns around and leaves David alone at the sill. From
inside the living room, David hears a MEOW.
He spots Jack's cat KIT KAT looking up at him.
INT. 118TH STREET BEDROOM - LATER
The sound of gas and a violent STRUGGLING from the other
room.
Jack quickly wakes up.
JACK
What the hell?!
Jack jumps out of bed and grabs a baseball bat.
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Jack walks up the hallway. The living room, eerily empty.
Then a howling from the kitchen.
INT. KITCHEN, 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Jack rushes in. Turns on the light. The sounds are coming
from the OVEN.
He rushes to the oven door and opens it. Kit Kat struggles in
the oven, gassed and barely alive. Jack turns off the oven,
clutches his cat.
JACK
It's okay. Shhh.
(turns to Lucien)
68.
What kind of sick son of a bitch
would do something like this?
LUCIEN
It was David.
JACK
I'll wring his fucking neck.
LUCIEN's P.O.V.: Jack's Merchant Marine duffel bag that Edie
has fully packed for him.
LUCIEN
I have another idea.
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - THE NEXT DAY
Allen sits at a table at the library he just broke into and
robbed. But now he's just another student sitting at a study
desk.
He puts in a blank page in the typewriter before him and
types: "On The Decline of the West. By..."
He hesitates, breaking down in tears.
Then finishes typing: "Lucien Carr."
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Lucien, in a Merchant Marine uniform, packs his clothes into
a sailor's duffel bag. Allen enters, type-written pages in
hand.
ALLEN
Your paper and my apology.
Allen hands Lucien the paper he wrote for him. But Lucien
doesn't take it. Allen registers that he's packing.
ALLEN
Where are you going?
LUCIEN
Sailing out. To Paris.
Lucien grabs his BOY-SCOUT KNIFE. Puts it in his pocket.
Allen is speechless.
69.
LUCIEN
We've got to make a ship, probably
as merchant seamen. Jack knows the
tricks.
ALLEN
You weren't going to tell me?
LUCIEN
We both know why you can't come.
Silence. Lucien continues his packing. Allen breaks down.
ALLEN
Fuck you. You're a phony. You got
me and Jack and Bill making your
vision come true. All because you
couldn't do it yourself.
LUCIEN
No, you got what you wanted. You
were ordinary, just like every
other freshman, and I made your
life extraordinary. Go be you now,
all by yourself. Leave me alone.
Allen, now in tears, realizing the end is here.
ALLEN
You don't really mean that.
LUCIEN
(cold, deadened)
Allen. Leave.
Allen gathers himself, stumbles out the door. Leaving the
friendship behind.
Alone, Lucien cracks, breaking down as he closes his
suitcase.
EXT. SEMINARY COURTYARD - DAY
Allen crosses through the courtyard, heading to class. He
comes upon David, waiting for Lucien. Pale. Distraught.
DAVID
Allen, have you seen him? He's not
in his room.
They look almost the same.
70.
ALLEN
He left.
DAVID
I did something wrong. Really
wrong. And you have no reason to
help me. But
ALLEN
But?
DAVID
I know who you are. We're the ones
he needs, but never wants. It
hurts, doesn't it?
Allen burns, does not respond. David is right.
DAVID
All I am asking is tell me where he
is. Please.
CLOSE ON: Allen, on the blade of a choice.
INT. MERCHANT MARINE, BILLETING OFFICE - EVENING
Jack and Lucien in a long line of young soldiers waiting to
ship out. Lucien nips at a flask. They reach the front of the
line. A BILLETING OFFICER calls out to them.
BILLETING OFFICER
Lemme see your papers.
LUCIEN
Two seamen, reporting for duty.
Jack tries not to laugh, hands over his paperwork. The
officer points to Lucien.
BILLETING OFFICER
What's your name?
LUCIEN
Arthur Rimbaud.
Jack rolls his eyes. The officer hands the paperwork back.
BILLETING OFFICER
Go upstairs to get on the docket.
LUCIEN
Let's go get on the docket.
71.
As they turn to leave, they see David is there, descending
the stairs. Jack is about to pounce.
JACK
Goddamn son of a bitch!
LUCIEN
Let me handle this.
Lucien holds Jack back, rushes up to David.
LUCIEN
How did you know I would be here?!
DAVID
Listen, I spoke to a guy upstairs.
I got two passes. I packed for both
of us. We can leave.
LUCIEN
The reason I'm leaving is you.
It doesn't register. Desperate, David holds out the passes.
DAVID
Then you and Jack take them. I'll
catch up.
Lucien considers this, then makes a fateful decision.
LUCIEN
Come with me. We're taking a walk.
INT. TAVERN - NIGHT
Allen, wrecked, walks into the bar where he first drank with
Lucien.
He sees an older man eyeing him and sits down, terrified.
ALLEN
Could I have a whiskey, please?
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Jack unlocks his door. Edie sits on the floor, her eyes red
from crying. Jack drops his duffel bag. Sits with her.
JACK
I'm sorry.
Edie embraces him.
72.
INT. TAVERN - NIGHT
Allen sees a young man in a Merchant Marine outfit, blond,
the bar lamps casting a golden halo around his head. Could it
be?
ALLEN
Lu?
Allen races to him. The man turns and Allen's heart sinks. It
is a SAILOR, a distant echo of Lucien.
The Sailor eyes Allen gently, seductively.
Allen walks up to him.
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Edie breaks the embrace.
EDIE
This came for you today.
She hands Jack a package from the mail. A new record.
JACK
Sammy...
Jack places it on the record player and listens, clutching
Edie. He knows immediately there won't be another record.
SAMMY (V.O.)
Jack, old chum. I'm on a hospital
ship now. My guts all tore up.
INT. CRAPPY HOTEL, 42ND STREET - NIGHT
Allen undresses, terrified, as the sailor does the same.
SAMMY (V.O.)
Anzio's going to be the last place
I ever see with my eyes.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Bill with Norman, his dealer, in his apartment. Norman
injects himself with a morphine syrette. Bill watches,
fascinated.
73.
SAMMY (V.O.)
A mortar round came and found me in
my tent.
Norman offers the box of morphine to Bill. Bill handles it.
Considering.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
Lucien walks, guzzles from his flask. David follows. They are
visibly arguing.
SAMMY (V.O.)
I can feel metal under my skin some
places. Some went clean through.
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
Jack continues to listen to Sammy, his heart sinking. He
knows this is headed to a dark place.
SAMMY (V.O.)
They're not even trying to take it
out no more.
INT. CRAPPY HOTEL, 42ND STREET - NIGHT
Allen's heart in his throat as he steps out of his pants. He
is nearly naked. Vulnerable.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
Lucien throws his flask into the woods, LASHES out at David.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Bill injects the syrette into his wrist. And presses the
oblivion in.
SAMMY (V.O.)
The nurses gave me the same
morphine I gave to dying boys...
INT. CRAPPY HOTEL, 42ND STREET - NIGHT
Allen, naked, lays on the bed. He turns off the light.
74.
SAMMY (V.O.)
...when I didn't know what else to
do.
The sailor climbs on top of Allen, turns it back on.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
David LUNGES for Lucien and Lucien throws him off, spins
away.
He pulls out his Boy Scout knife.
David stares at Lucien, stunned.
INT. CRAPPY HOTEL, 42ND STREET - NIGHT
Allen turns to face the sailor. Looks him in the eye.
SAMMY (V.O.)
Wake, melancholy mother. Wake and
weep.
Allen reaches to kiss the sailor.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
Lucien STABS David, plunges the blade into his chest.
INT. CRAPPY HOTEL, 42ND STREET - NIGHT
The sailor enters Allen.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Bill drifts backwards, into the high.
SAMMY (V.O.)
Quench within thy burning bed, thy
fiery tears.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT
David looks up from his chest. Blood pumps from the gash.
David, clutching his shirt, his chest...
75.
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - NIGHT
SAMMY (V.O.)
And let thy loud heart keep--
The record runs out, the stylus scratches. Jack, trembling.
EDIE
What is that?
JACK
It's Shelley's elegy for Keats.
EDIE
What's that mean?
JACK
It means he's dead.
FADE TO BLACK.
INT. GROUP SHOWERS, SEMINARY - THE MORNING AFTER
FADE UP ON: Allen, alone in the shower. He's completely
blank, eyes on the tile.
Realizing what he did the night before and how it felt so
natural -- now he knows exactly who he is.
INT. DORM HALLWAY - DAY
Allen steps out in a bathrobe, to see a POLICEMAN and a
DETECTIVE whispering outside Lucien's room.
POLICEMAN
He didn't come back here
afterwards. Nobody on the floor
saw.
They stare at Allen, studying him. Other students whisper.
POLICEMAN
We have two in custody. We're still
getting names.
Allen makes his way down the hall. Custody? What happened to
Lucien?
DETECTIVE
So what do we know about this Carr
kid? Did we have any friends? We're
gonna have to speak to all of them.
76.
Allen looks down and races to the hallway phone.
INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY
Allen dials a number. Nervous. Edie picks up.
ALLEN
Edie? Is Jack there?
EDIE (O.S.)
You don't know?
ALLEN
Know what?
INT. 118TH STREET APARTMENT - DAY
Edie searches for the words.
EDIE
The police took him down to the
Tombs. As an accessory. Bill too.
ALLEN (O.S.)
What happened?
Edie shocked, unable to speak.
CUT TO:
INT. THE TOMBS - DAY
The BLARE of a prison horn. A guard opens a heavy gate and
Allen walks onto the hall of cells. It's a long, dank walk.
Allen spots Lucien in a small unremarkable cell, behind bars,
reading. Allen can't believe he's here.
Lucien sits up from his cot and rushes to the bars.
LUCIEN
Allen, thank God.
Allen's skeptical face makes Lucien change tactics.
ALLEN
How could you?
LUCIEN
He wanted to hurt me, I had no
choice.
77.
ALLEN
You could have run. Called the
police.
Lucien looks Allen fiercely in the eye.
LUCIEN
Listen. Somehow he found me at the
Marine Hall.
Allen looks away, realizing he is potentially complicit.
LUCIEN
He said no matter where I went, he
would follow. When I confronted
him, he exploded. I had to defend
myself. He wouldn't stop.
ALLEN
But how did Jack and Bill get roped
into this?
CUT TO:
EXT. HARLEM SIDEWALK - DAWN
Lucien drops the bloody Boy Scout knife down a grate. Jack
stands guard.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
I went to Jack first. He told me to
get rid of the knife. To forget the
whole thing.
They hear footsteps and turn. A black woman watches them
suspiciously.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - DAY
LUCIEN (O.S.)
But then I went to Bill. He told me
to get a lawyer.
Bill fingering David's pack of Lucky Strikes in his bathroom.
David's blood on his hand.
LUCIEN (O.S.)
To say it was an act of self-
defense.
Lucien watches Bill light one of the bloody cigarettes and
inhale. The last flare of his friend.
78.
Bill flushes the rest of the pack down the toilet.
CUT BACK TO:
INT. TOMBS - DAY
Lucien, desperate, at the bars of his cell.
LUCIEN
The D.A. is asking for my
deposition. In writing.
Allen shakes his head, there's no way he's going to do this.
LUCIEN
(pleading)
We both know I can't do it. I don't
know what I'm going to do. I'm
going to be stuck in here for the
rest of my life!
Allen, still unsure. Lucien slides his hand down the bars
until it touches Allen's. Pleads seductively.
LUCIEN
Please don't leave me here.
The BUZZER goes off. Visiting time is over. The prison guard
heads towards the cell. Allen makes a fateful choice.
ALLEN
I'll do it.
Lucien, smiling. Leans in, whispers.
LUCIEN
We're going to say it was an "honor
slaying".
Off Allen's confused face...
INT. LIBRARY, MAIN HALL - DAY
A finger traces down a legal index to the definition of the
phrase: "Honor Slaying."
ALLEN (V.O.)
"Related to a lethal attack
committed when the accused is
defending himself against a known
homosexual."
79.
OTHER students around Allen gossip and steal glances at him
as he reads to himself from the index. The murderer's
"friend."
ALLEN (V.O.)
"If the accused is heterosexual, he
shall be pardoned. But if the
accused is homosexual, the charge
of murder in the first degree..."
Allen's attention falls to the final words:
"SHALL STAND."
INT. POLICE OFFICE - DAY
Jack, in handcuffs, on the phone. PHOTOGRAPHERS, JOURNALISTS
outside, clamoring for Jack to look their way. A murder with
Columbia University students, this is big news.
JACK
Dad. It's five thousand dollars for
bail. I know it's a lot--
A flash bulb FIRES. Journalists cat-calling for Jack's
attention.
JACK'S FATHER (O.S.)
No Kerouac was ever wrapped up in a
murder! Go to hell.
The line goes dead. Jack has run out of options. More
flashbulbs EXPLODE. More screaming for his attention. Jack
whips around.
JACK
Would you all just SHUT THE HELL
UP?!
INT. LUCIEN CARR'S DORM ROOM - DAY
Marion Carr taking down Lucien's dorm room, packing her son's
belongings into the same suitcase he tried to run away with
before.
MARION CARR
You must understand David has been
following him for years.
Allen, smoking nervously from Lucien's bed, watching all
traces of Lucien being torn down.
80.
MARION CARR
When Lucien went to Bowdoin, David
appeared out of thin air. So I sent
Lu to Chicago.
Allen registers the reference from Lucien's conversation with
the Dean, a dim clue. Marion goes back to packing.
MARION CARR
Surprise, David turned up there
too. Then, when Lucien wanted to go
to Mexico, guess who had a car
idling in the driveway?
ALLEN
But he didn't have to go with him.
MARION CARR
He spun a web to ensnare my son.
That's why I brought him here. A
lot of good that did.
Marion finds Lucien's cravat, quickly folds it, hides it in
the suitcase. Allen notices.
ALLEN
What happened in Chicago?
Marion stops packing. Thinks. She settles on the bed, charms
Allen with a smile.
MARION CARR
Thank God Lu has you in his life.
He talks about you all the time.
She leans over and slips the cigarette from Allen's hands
into her own. Inhales seductively.
MARION CARR
You know what Allen? He calls you
his guardian angel.
ALLEN
That's what he called David.
She exhales, her face falls. Leans in threateningly.
MARION CARR
That man ruined my son. You're
going to help me keep what's left
of him.
81.
INT. BURROUGHS'S APARTMENT (69 BEDFORD) - NIGHT
The zip of a suitcase. Bill, undoing his den, packing away
clothes, books. He's also leaving town. Allen's come for
answers --- from the only person who knew the real David.
BILL
Contrary to reports, prison is not
a tonic for the spirit.
We are now realizing it's the end of a chapter for all of
them.
BILL
All the district attorney cared
about was if David was queer.
Allen gulps. The heart of the issue, thrust into the light.
ALLEN
And what did you tell them?
Bill sees the box of morphine from his night with Norman. He
decides to take it with him, hides it under a pile of shirts.
BILL
I said yes.
ALLEN
Did David do something Lu in
Chicago?
BILL
Christ Allen, please don't get
involved.
ALLEN
I have to be. I'm helping him write
his defense.
Bill paces, then turns to face Allen.
BILL
David was my friend. But he's dead.
And did Lucien tell you how he
died?
Allen shakes his head. He has no idea.
CUT TO:
82.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
The moment right after Lucien stabbed David. What we have not
seen yet. The story continues.
David trembles on the ground, bleeding from the knife would.
Lucien stands above, realizing what just happened.
Car headlamps swipe across Lucien's face. Terrified, Lucien
scans the park for witnesses.
BILL (O.S.)
He might not have wanted you to
know, Allen. He tied David up.
Lucien DRAGS David's body from the park under a railing to
the shoreline.
He unties his shoes, LASHES David's hands together with the
shoelaces. Ties them tight.
David groans and gurgles blood. Still very much ALIVE.
Lucien rustles through David's pockets -- pulls out anything
side. He tosses David's pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, now
speckled with blood - to the sand.
Lucien collects stones from the riverbank, STUFFS them into
David's pockets.
BILL (O.S.)
He put stones in his pockets to
weigh him down.
Lucien panics, looks around. He takes off his Merchant Marine
clothes. Fully naked, he drags a bound David into the dark
waters of the Hudson River.
David moans and struggles but is no match for Lucien.
BILL (O.S.)
And dragged him into the Hudson
River.
ALLEN (O.S.)
What?!
BILL (O.S.)
David was alive, Allen, until
Lucien made him drown.
The sound of a door slamming open brings us...
BACK TO SCENE
83.
INT. BILL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
MR. BURROUGHS (60s, patrician, wealthy), Bill's father enters
his son's apartment, causing Bill to stop telling the story.
Mr. Burroughs eyes Allen suspiciously.
MR. BURROUGHS
Who are you? Is he part of this
business.
BILL
Leave him alone, Dad.
MR. BURROUGHS
I paid your bail. Don't talk to me
like that.
Bill looks down, obedient. The rebel silenced by his father.
BILL
Yes, sir.
MR. BURROUGHS
The car leaves in five minutes.
As Mr. Burroughs exits, Bill furiously SLAMS his suitcase
closed.
BILL
The libertine circle has come to an
end.
Allen looks at Bill, lost at what to do next. Bill leans in
close.
BILL
Go back to the beginning.
THE RED LINE LEADS US, ONCE MORE, DOWN THE SUBWAY MAP FROM
COLUMBIA...
TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD. WHERE IT ALL STARTED.
INT. BATHROOM, DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - DAY
The window bangs open. Allen climbs into David's apartment
from the fire-escape.
He opens the door to the living room. Sunlight filtering into
a dusty, silent apartment.
84.
INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - DAY
It is eerie. The place of someone who just left the world.
Allen looks around, unsure what he's looking for.
His eyes fall on the bookshelves. Memories flood back,
raveling and unraveling.
FLASHCUT TO:
INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - DAY
Books LEAP into Bill's hands and he places them back on the
shelves.
Allen UNSUTURES the pages of books, returning back to their
original condition.
Lucien TAP nails out of the wall handing the pages back to
Allen.
Allen scouring his memories, just like when he wrote his poem
earlier.
Time runs in reverse.
BACK TO SCENE
INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - DAY
Allen searches through the steamer trunk of the apartment.
Nothing. He ruffles through the console table. Again nothing.
He notices David's SUITCASE. The one David packed before
planning on leaving by boat with Lucien.
Allen opens it. He digs through it, searching for some clue,
any clue -- something to shed light on the past.
He pulls out a pile of clothes and underneath them...a book.
It's a copy of Yeats' A VISION, covered in notes. It's
David's.
It's the same edition of the copy that Lucien showed Allen in
his room.
FLASHCUT TO:
85.
INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - NIGHT
Time shifts into reverse -- we realize this Allen's mind at
work: rummaging for details, clues, snatches of life.
We see the first night Allen met David -- David circling his
finger around his wineglass, his speech about life as a
circle,slipping through time...
FLASHCUT TO:
INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT (48 MORTON) - DAY
Allen opening the book to find the legend that Lucien once
showed him, the picture of Yeats's WHEEL.
A stack of PAPERS fall from the book. Allen rifles through
them.
And finds a faded pink hospital "ADMIT" form.
Cook County Hospital, Chicago. March 1943.
He scans down the page: "Carr, Lucien. Suicide Attempt. Gas
Inhalation. Admitting Person: D. Kammerer."
At the bottom, the form reads "Next of Kin."
Beside is the name: David Kammerer.
Below, Allen sees POSTCARDS, PHOTOS. Photos of the beach, of
Lucien and David, reclining together. It's their trip to
Mexico.
In photo, the two of them, posing for the camera together.
Smiling. Looking very much like a couple in love.
Lucien's signature red CRAVAT hangs around David's neck.
On the backside, written by hand is:
LUCIEN (V.O.)
The perfect day.
Allen, shocked. The puzzle pieces have fallen into place.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY, GREYSTONE - DAY
INSERT: A photo of Lucien in The New York Times.
86.
The headline: "STUDENT IS SILENT ON SLAYING FRIEND. HELD
WITHOUT BAIL. AWAITING DEPOSITION."
The sound of footsteps.
Allen looks over the article. He's on a bench in the hallway
of an old sanitarium.
His mother, Naomi, approaches, tentatively. The first time
they have seen each other since she was taken from home.
Both of them scared to make the first move towards re-
connection.
Naomi steps towards her son, takes his face in her hands.
Allen melts in her arms.
EXT. GARDEN, GREYSTONE - DAY
Allen and Naomi, in the courtyard of the hospital. Patients
being led through the sanitarium's gardens by nurses behind.
Naomi, looks remarkably more calm then the last time Allen
saw her.
NAOMI
He would leave me alone in the
house. I was going to die there.
ALLEN
No, Mom. That's not true.
NAOMI
Yeah, I know it.
Naomi sinks inside herself, dark thoughts returning.
ALLEN
Mom, stop.
NAOMI
Hey, I'm okay now. I'm your mother.
And I'm okay.
She notices the bags under his eyes. His weary face.
NAOMI
But you're not.
Allen, a kid out of his league.
87.
ALLEN
I'm in over my head. Someone I know
killed a man. And I don't know what
to do. He wants my help. And I
don't know if I should give it to
him. I don't know if it's right.
It's just a mess.
NAOMI
Let him go. Don't help him.
ALLEN
I can't, mom. He's my best friend.
NAOMI
Listen to me.
Naomi pulls her son closer. With more strength than she has
displayed in years.
NAOMI
The most important thing your
father ever did was fail me.
(beat)
You understand?
Allen, realizing what he has to do.
INT. DORMROOM - NIGHT
Late night. Allen, back at the typewriter where he wrote the
poem for Lucien.
He inserts a blank page. The task before him feels huge.
The events of the night in question -- the night of David's
murder -- ravels and unravels in his mind's eye.
FLASHCUT TO:
David, stabbed, gasping at Lucien with horror. The knife
being pulled back, the wound closing back up.
FLASHCUT TO:
David, reaching for Lucien, in reverse, Lucien walking back
to David, ending in an embrace.
ALLEN (V.O.)
He loved you. And the truth is,
once--
FLASHCUT TO:
88.
Allen turns over the old PHOTOGRAPH of David and Lucien
together from David's apartment. The Perfect Day.
ALLEN (V.O.)
You loved him back.
FLASHCUT TO:
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
Time now runs forward, to the inevitable. We watch Lucien and
David walking once more of the night of the murder. But this
time we hear their argument. Lucien, drunk, tosses his flask
into the bushes. David follows him, desperate.
DAVID
Let's get out of the city. Anywhere
you want. I've saved up.
ALLEN (V.O.)
But this secret ate away at you.
LUCIEN
I was just a kid, you dragged me
into your perverted mess!
ALLEN (V.O.)
So in Chicago, you tried to kill
yourself.
DAVID
How can you say that? You know
that's not true.
Lucien stops short. Stares hard at David.
DAVID
I will never give up on us.
ALLEN (V.O.)
He rescued you. He saved your life.
LUCIEN
You're pathetic.
Lucien walks on, but David lunges for him. They struggle.
Lucien throws David off, spins free from his grasp, pulls out
his Boy Scout knife from his pocket.
The two men face each other.
89.
ALLEN (V.O.)
You needed him as much as he needed
you.
The bare blade FLASHES between them. David, looking at the
knife, shocked that their relationship has come to this. He
looks back up at Lucien.
DAVID
Now I know how you felt.
LUCIEN
When?
DAVID
When you wanted to die.
David takes a step, closing the gap between him and the
knife. Daring Lucien to strike.
DAVID
Do it.
Lucien moves forward. The gap narrows. Just inches away from
each other.
David steps forward onto the blade. Lucien does not back off.
David gasps, notices the knife deep in his chest to the hilt.
Blood pumps from the gash.
Lucien frees the knife. Then pulls back and STABS David a
second time. With malice.
And again. Plunges the blade into his chest. He grinds the
knife into David even further..
DAVID
Oh my god...
David DROPS, clutching his shirt, his life pulsing from his
chest.
FLASHCUT TO:
INT. ALLEN'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
Allen writing madly. The words come in a rush.
90.
ALLEN (V.O.)
Some things once you love them
become yours forever.
CUT TO:
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK
Out in the Hudson River, Lucien cradles David's dying body in
his arms. David looks up at Lucien, his last moment of life.
The opening shot of the film.
ALLEN (V.O.)
And if you try to let them go...
David's eyes CLOSE. Lucien releases David out into the
current.
ALLEN (V.O.)
...they only circle back and return
to you.
David sinks into the depths of the Hudson, becoming just a
shadow then disappearing altogether.
ALLEN (V.O.)
They become part of who you are.
CUT TO:
INT. THE TOMBS - DAY
From his cell, Lucien Carr finishes reading Allen's
DEPOSITION.
LUCIEN
Or they destroy you.
We have returned to the opening scene of the movie. Lucien
crumples the paper in his hand.
LUCIEN
You can't show this to anyone.
Allen stares at Lucien defiantly through the bars.
ALLEN
Then tell the truth, Lu.
LUCIEN
You weren't even there. It's your
truth. It's fiction.
91.
Allen grabs for the manuscript. Lucien pulls it out of reach.
LUCIEN
You wanted him gone too. You sent
him to me.
Allen SNATCHES the manuscript -- it's a tug of war through
the bars.
LUCIEN (CONT'D)
Please. You'll kill me with that.
Allen yanks the paper from Lucien's grip. He heads towards
the exit of the prison. Desperate, Lucien calls out after
him.
LUCIEN
Allen! No! DON'T!
An alarm HAMMERS through the prison, sending us to...
INT. DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
The New York City's District Attorney's SECRETARY at her
reception desk. Allen enters the room, his deposition in
hand. He is visibly nervous as he approaches the desk.
ALLEN
Allen Ginsberg.
SECRETARY
He'll be with you in a minute.
Please, have a seat.
Allen waits, glances at the deposition in his lap. The title
reads, "The Night in Question."
INT. JAIL - DAY
From his prison bed, Lucien stares down the cellblock,
hopeless. His eyes alight on his sheets.
INT. DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
The camera moves in an arc, rotating past Allen, sweating,
toward the door of the DISTRICT ATTORNEY...
92.
INT. JAIL - DAY
...the same circle finds Lucien as he RIPS the bedsheet into
strips. Frantic...
INT. DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
The circle discovers Allen, unable to sit still. The weight
of his decision crushes him...
INT. JAIL - DAY
...Lucien fashions a noose around his neck. He ties the sheet
to one of the cell bars. We glide past him back to...
INT. DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
...Allen spies the shadow of the District Attorney behind
frosted glass of his office...
INT. JAIL - DAY
...the circling suddenly STOPS at Lucien as the knot on the
noose catches. He is hanging, choking, desperate to die and
yet fighting for life.
But the knot on the cell bars releases. Lucien FALLS to the
ground.
Alive.
INT. DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
The secretary hangs up the phone.
SECRETARY
Mr. Ginsberg. He's ready for you.
She looks at the chair. No one is there.
SECRETARY
Mr. Ginsberg?
The sound of the door closing. Allen is gone.
MALE VOICE (O.S.)
How did you expect us to react to
this?
93.
INT. COLUMBIA DEAN'S OFFICE - DAY
Allen's manuscript HITS the Dean's desk.
The deposition's title page now reads "The Night in Question
by Allen Ginsberg." It's been refashioned into a novella.
Allen sits in the same chair where Lucien was reprimanded.
Professor Steeves sits silently beside the Dean at his desk.
DEAN
No, please tell me. Professor
Steeves says you submitted it as
your final.
Allen, nervous in the chair.
DEAN
Well, then, let me tell you. It is
smutty and absurd.
ALLEN
But you finished it.
The Dean loses his patience.
DEAN
You've taken incompletes in two
classes. And you are already on
academic probation. There are rules
you agreed to upon admittance into
this university. And you have
managed to break and keep breaking
them. You don't seem to have much
respect for this institution. So
you may either retract this fiction
as your final. Or you may choose to
be expelled. What will it be?
Professor Steeves eyes Allen.
ALLEN
Fine.
Allen stands, making his decision.
ALLEN
Consider me expelled.
Allen reaches for his manuscript. The Dean SLIDES it out of
reach.
DEAN
This remains with us.
94.
Professor Steeves keeps a close eye on Allen as he leaves the
office.
INT. GINSBERG HOME - DAY
Back in the Ginsberg residence, but the house is quiet now,
peaceful. No Naomi. The radio playing softly in the living
room. Louis jotting down verse on the back of the mail.
Allen, shirt untucked, composing a poem on the back of a
bill.
They both reach for their cigarettes at the same time.
Louis looks at Allen writing. A mirror between father and
son. A moment of warm appreciation.
Louis hands Allen a package from the mail pile.
LOUIS
This came for you today.
The package is from Columbia University. Allen opens it,
mystified as to what it might be.
It's his manuscript.
On it, a note: "Walt Jr.: Keep this, Keep Going. - Professor
Steeves."
The music on the radio suddenly stops for a news broadcast.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
This is Bill O'Connell reporting
from Paris and these are the sounds
of liberation.
Over the radio comes the sound of a ROARING CELEBRATION.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Crowds have assembled in the
streets.
Allen takes in the historic news. He looks at his father. The
world, forever changed.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
This is the end of a long darkness.
France and Europe are finally free.
Crowds ERUPT in whistles and cheers. Allen takes it in. The
moment Lucien had dreamed of.
95.
The Mills Brothers' "You Always Hurt The One You Love" starts
to play.
EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - DAY
Sun streaming on Allen, standing at the bank of the Hudson
River, at the place where David died.
ALLEN (V.O.)
Another lover hits the universe.
But the night here has passed, a new day begun. It's now
pastoral, shimmering. Strolling couples, families walk by.
Allen closes his eyes.
ALLEN (V.O.)
The circle is broken.
INT. WEST END BAR - DAY
A raucous crowd now fills the boys' old haunt. Soldiers, New
Yorkers of all kinds, pouring champagne, toasting the end of
the Second World War.
ALLEN (V.O.)
But with death comes rebirth.
The camera searches through the crowd to find Allen smoking
in a banquette towards the rear of the bar, dressed-down,
scruffy - a hint of the man he will soon become.
He is joyous, writing in his journal.
ALLEN (V.O.)
And like all lovers and sad people
The camera then pans past Allen, up and across the old
college photos on the wall.
We find a framed newspaper article on the Columbia's football
team's latest victory.
In the corner of the article, we see a familiar face.
As we move closer, we can read the edge of the headline
reads: "HONOR SLAYING."
The face belongs to Lucien Carr, staring down, frozen in
time.
Lucien is now on the wall.
96.
ALLEN (V.O.)
I am a poet.
CUT TO BLACK.
The following TEXT CARDS fade up on screen.
FIRST CARD:
Portraying David Kammerer as a homosexual predator, Lucien
Carr pled guilty to first degree manslaughter. He served 18
months in a reformatory.
He worked as an editor at United Press International, where
he remained until his death in 2005.
He married twice and had three children.
SECOND CARD:
Edie Parker's family bailed out Jack Kerouac, on the
condition they marry and move to Michigan.
Craving friends in New York, he annulled his marriage and
began a journey that would inspire his novel On the Road.
THIRD CARD:
William Burroughs left his family to pursue a criminal life
in New York that he documented in his novels Junkie and Naked
Lunch. He co-wrote his first novel with Jack, a novel based
on David Kammerer's murder.
It was kept from publication for over sixty years.
FOURTH CARD:
After his expulsion from Columbia University in 1945, Allen
Ginsberg became one of the most awarded poets in American
history.
He dedicated his first published collection Howl and Other
Poems to Lucien Carr.
97.
In response, Lucien asked that his name be withdrawn from all
further editions.
FADE TO BLACK.
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