SYRIANA
Written by
Stephen Gaghan
Based on the book "See No Evil" by
Robert Baer
Exile is not a material thing, it is a spiritual thing,
all corners of the earth exactly the same. And anywhere
one can dream is good, providing the place is obscure,
and the horizon vast.
VICTOR HUGO
If a triangle could speak it would say that God is
eminently triangular.
SPINOZA
FADE IN:
1 EXT. TEHRAN, IRAN - MORNING 1
The minarets of Shi'a mosques dot the skyline. The sun
rises through the smog. Keening SIRENS call the faithful.
A GROUP of bearded, turbanned MEN in white robes carrying
Korans walk down an empty street.
As the religious men pass a nondescript metal door, a
THUMPING SOUND rises...
The door cracks open and THREE MUSLIM WOMEN in full black
sack emerge. The door shuts quickly behind them.
Stay with the THREE MUSLIM WOMEN as they walk away. CLICK
CLICK CLICK on the cobblestone. We hear GIGGLES.
SUPERTITLE: TEHRAN, IRAN
One of them reaches down and removes stiletto high-heels,
which disappear under-the black cloth.
2 INT. PRIVATE NIGHTCLUB - MORNING 2
Down two flights of crowded stairs, there's a bar, dance
floor, low couches, minimal lighting, wasted PEOPLE.
Wealthy young IRANIANS sit at a table littered with ice-
buckets and bottles of Absolut and Johnnie Walker.
And with them is BOB BAER, 40's, professionally
nondescript, he could be anything, a salesman, a high-
school teacher. His face is ever-changing and his eyes
miss nothing. Bob is the only American in the place and
still you almost wouldn't notice him.
ARASH AMIRI, 20's, a confident young Iranian, yells over
the music. Beside him is his BROTHER.
ARASH AMIRI
Have you ever tried liquid MDMA?
Bob's forehead is sweating and his hair is sticking to
it, which he wipes away as he sips his scotch.
BOB
Liquid MDMA? No, I never tried it.
The music is louder. Arash proudly shouts over it --
ARASH AMIRI
Tehran is the world capital!
(CONTINUED)
2
2 CONTINUED: 2
Bob doesn't respond. Arash shouts again --
ABASH AMIRI (CONT'D)
So, how's the kid?
BOB
Great. He's great.
Arash just stares. Bob sips his drink.
BOB (CONT'D)
Are we gonna do this?
A girl begins to dance in front of Arash.
ABASH AMIRI
After prayer --
3 EXT. TEHRAN ROOFTOP - DAY 3
DISTANT POV down to the street as TWO CARS pull up. Bob
gets out of one, walks to the rear, opens the trunk --
4 EXT. TEHRAN STREET - DAY 4
The trunk SLAMS. Bob carries a worn ATTACHE CASE. The
Amiris get out of their car, oblivious Shiite party boys.
Bob walks, happy. Dour MEN at cafe tables miss nothing.
5 INT. KEBAB SHOP - DAY 5
Corrugated metal shutters CLOSE, sealing out the light.
Arash ushers Bob through the gloom toward TWO MILITARY
CASES. Bob expertly flips one over and opens it.
Inside: A STINGER MISSILE, neatly disassembled. He finds
the serial number: 3j16w4921.
A SMILEY FACE is scratched into the metal of the Stinger.
Bob tries to activate the Stinger. It's dead. Arash and
his brother perspire. Bob is perspiring.
Bob thinks he hears faint MOUTH BREATHING from behind the
curtain closing off the rear of the shop.
Bob opens HIS ATTACHE CASE. He removes a pouch. The pouch
holds a battery. The battery has a serial number.
Bob finds: 3j16w4921. A perfect match. He removes the
dead battery and replaces it with the live battery. He
activates the missile. It works. Everyone is relieved.
(CONTINUED)
3
5 CONTINUED: 5
Bob moves to THE NEXT MILITARY CASE. He replaces the next
battery and activates the second missile.
Arash and his brother share a celebratory glance. Arash
suddenly takes ONE CASE and drags it through the curtain.
Bob hears LOW VOICES. He turns questioningly to Arash's
brother who just stares and smiles like an idiot.
Then Arash reappears, passing by Bob.
BOB
You said they were both for you.
Arash tosses an envelope at Bob --
ARASH AMIRI
What do you care?
Bob glances in the envelope. Behind him, the Amiris are
picking up the other case. Bob moves toward the curtain.
IN THE BACK OF THE SHOP Bob's eyes adjust. Several robed
shapes, ghosts in grey light, carry the case out a door.
The BARREL OF A GUN touches the side of Bob's head. The
SOUND of a SHELL CHAMBERED and a MOUTH BREATHER.
Bob raises his hands. The barrel slides around to his
forehead and Bob is staring into the blue eyes of
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA, 40's, bearded, and calm.
BOB (FARSI)
I was looking for the bathroom.
MSA seems remarkably serene, then he screams in Arabic.
BOB (FARSI) (CONT'D)
You don't speak Farsi, do you, you
son of a goat?
MSA screams again, tightening his finger on the trigger,
then he backs out the door, never losing aim on Bob.
6 EXT. TEHRAN ROOFTOP - DAY 6
The HIGH POV down to the street. The Amiris exit the
kebab shop carrying the REMAINING MILITARY CASE.
CAMERA ADJUSTS to incorporate SOMEONE'S HAND on the
rooftop. And next to it, a remote-control TRIGGER DEVICE.
4
7 EXT. TEHRAN STREET - DAY 7
As the Amiris carry the case toward their car, Bob
appears in the doorway and heads up the street toward us.
Behind Bob, in the distance, the Amiris get into the car.
Bob glances up at the roof and NODS ONCE, continuing to
walk toward camera as --
The car EXPLODES. Bob walks on as if nothing happened.
8 INT. TEHRAN CAFE - DAY 8
Tight on the game of Asteroids. The version from the
70's. Black and white triangle "spaceship" spinning,
shooting white dots at drifting "rocks," breaking them
up, only to create more rocks.
A hand rapidly hits the firing button. ROBBY BAER, 16,
concentrates, hits hyper space, smiles, remembers he has
a retainer, hides his smile.
He glances over at a cafe table where Bob and MARGARET
BAER, 40's, frank and guarded in a way that is
compelling, are having morning coffee. We realize that
all around them are IRANIANS, that a crowd is massing in
the street outside, and that Bob clearly doesn't want to
have this conversation.
MARGARET
If you go back you get promoted.
Which could open doors later. For
consulting.
BOB
Those people back there don't know
what's going on. They don't wanna
know.
MARGARET
Have you thought about college?
Has that made it onto the radar
screen?
BOB
And it's not like anybody else
could roll in here. It's not like
it's just reading reports.
MARGARET
I took Pakistan because of the
hardship pay. The private school
TUITION --
(CONTINUED)
5
8 CONTINUED: 8
Bob's expression, not unkind, but familiar to her, says
he knows exactly why she took Pakistan.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
I believe in what I'm doing, too.
They look at each other.
BOB
Well, then here we are.
MARGARET
Here we are.
In the street it's turning into a full-blown protest.
BOB
Let's say, somehow, I get a Branch
or even a Group, then what? Will
you come? Will you bring Robby?
Now, Margaret looks away. A STUDENT-LEADER is up on a
platform brandishing a Coke bottle, SHOUTING in Farsi
into a bullhorn.
MARGARET
What's he saying?
BOB
He's against the ban on Coca-Cola.
He says you have to fix your soul,
which is not something you can put
on a soft-drink.
We see the faces of the protesters, silently staring,
their mouths covered by black tape.
CUT TO:
9 INT. WOODMAN HOUSE - MORNING 9
At a kitchen table, RILEY, almost 3, puts his hand in a
bowl of dry Cheerios, squishes it around, then throws a
handful on the floor.
BRYAN (O.S.)
You are a Cheerio dissemination
device. Yes, you are --
Pull back to find his father, BRYAN WOODMAN, American,
late 20's, in a shirt and tie. Blonde and blue-eyed like
a modern T.E. Lawrence, he's lost in the child, sharing
his sense of wonder.
(CONTINUED)
6
9 CONTINUED: 9
JULIE (O.S.)
Don't let him do that, please.
His wife, JULIE WOODMAN, 28, sleepy American, very fit in
sweats, cooks bacon at an older range. They have the
worst house in the best neighborhood and have yet to
properly furnish it.
BRYAN
. An evolutionarily perfect
machine for the spreading of
imported Cheerios to all corners
of the kitchen.
The toddler smiles at him. Julie puts four plates down.
They both notice the empty place setting. Just then, a
golden boy, MAX, 6, enters the kitchen.
MAX
Mommy, I want bacon.
JULIE
You have bacon.
Max sits at the table.
MAX
I want real bacon.
JULIE
You have real bacon, only it's
made from soy beans.
Max looks at his plate.
MAX
I want pig bacon.
10 EXT. GENEVA WATERFRONT - DAY 10
Bryan drives a BMW wagon along Lake Geneva, the fountain
spouting into the sky. A kite is wedged upside down in
the foot well.
SUPERTITLE: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
On every building signs advertise watch companies.
11 INT. MINI TV STUDIO - DAY 11
A brightly-lit Bryan listens to an ear-piece in front of
a Colombe Suisse de Banque banner.
(CONTINUED)
7
11 CONTINUED: 11
BRYAN
Our position is that there is at
least twelve dollars of
instability premium in the market.
Protests in Iran. Threat of more
strikes in Venezuela. The Turks
still making noise about Russian
crude through the Bosphorus.
(LISTENS AGAIN)
You're welcome, Rebecca.
12 INT. COLOMBE SUISSE DE BANQUE - GENEVA - DAY 12
Across the small trading floor, Bryan is sealed off in a
mini TV studio, then the lights switch off and Bryan
leaves the booth --
TIGHTER ON Bryan as he walks past TRADERS staring into
computers while talking into phones --
TRADER (O.S.)
Long and strong on demand numbers,
protests in Iran and, what else is
new, the Vens are threatening
strike. Place is en fuego --
TRADER #2 (O.S.)
People want it warmer, colder,
they leave their TV's on when they
drive to the video store. Twelve
bucks of premium --
VINCENT, 30's, depressed, handsome French trader in a
beautiful suit, working two phones, sees Bryan --
VINCENT
HEY --
Bryan waves him off, keeps walking.
VINCENT (CONT'D)
(INTO PHONE)
Market's on its way up. Just
thought you should know.
(TAKES CALL)
Done. Yep. Bring him in now. Tell
him he's done and bring him in.
(yelling to Bryan)
Woodman, I need you --
Vincent sees Bryan disappear into his office, door
shutting behind him. A small sign reads: RESEARCH.
8
13 INT. BRYAN'S OFFICE - DAY 13
Soundproofed office. Peaceful. Diplomas. Three TVs play:
CNN; a black and white image of a pinched OLD MAN; army
tanks rolling through Iraq in night vision. Bryan is on
the phone. We hear a THREE YEAR-OLD VOICE --
RILEY (OVER PHONE)
Hello, Daddy. I'm playing. That's
my job. Playing.
ON BRYAN'S DESK, mounds of research, books, reports,
numbers. In the phone Bryan can hear Julie laughing.
BRYAN (INTO PHONE)
That's a very good job to have.
JULIE (OVER PHONE)
Tell Daddy you love him.
An abrupt three year-old HANG-UP. Bryan looks up and sees
HIS BRITISH BOSS holding a FANCY INVITATION.
BOSS
The Emir's summer party. In
Marbella. Any interest?
BRYAN
(re: his piled desk)
I can't. I've got all this --
BOSS
I'm not really asking.
BRYAN
It's Max's birthday. We've got
stuff all weekend.
Vincent sticks his head in the door --
VINCENT
September T-I ticked up fifteen
cents and is rebounding. Where's
the next resistance level?
BRYAN
Read my report --
VINCENT
(noticing the invite)
The Emir's party; I'll take that.
Vincent tries to snatch the invite.
(CONTINUED)
9
13 CONTINUED: 13
BOSS
Through much finagling we have an
audience with the Emir. He wrote
the strategy and he's not slick.
(TO BRYAN)
In fact, take your children with
you - a birthday weekend for Max.
The towelheads love children.
ON TV: JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER in a safari hat leads a group
in BAPTIST HYMNS on a croquet lawn while the tanks roll
through Baghdad.
CUT TO:
14 EXT. TUNDRA - KAZAKHSTAN - DAY 14
Tundra seen from the air in the ex-Soviet republic.
A giant ditch cuts the landscape. In the giant ditch is a
giant pipe leading to a ramshackle oil "facility" of
shipping containers scattered around a derrick.
15 EXT. NEAR ATYRAU, KAZAKHSTAN - DAY 15
A herd of goats scamper out of the way of agiant
BULLDOZER with wheels as big as a house.
16 SUPERTITLE: TENGIZ, KAZAKHSTAN 16
Marching music comes from a tin speaker on a wooden pole.
Animal pieces roast on a grill made from oil drums.
Oilmen cluster around makeshift wooden tables. BENNETT
HOLIDAY, 35, African-American, a clean-cut lawyer, maybe
horn rims, starting to grey, sits at a table with RUSSIAN
OIL EXECS. The LEADER eats ribs with tiny teeth.
BENNETT
Are you a director or executive of
this company?
The leader gnaws on a bone. Bennett points down to a mess
of contracts and legal papers in front of him.
BENNETT (CONT'D)
Is this your fax number?
The leader speaks rapidly in RUSSIAN. Bennett is baffled.
Finally, an UNDERLING translates.
UNDERLING
He says, we eat every part of the
pony!
(CONTINUED)
10
16 CONTINUED: 16
BENNETT
Ask him if he's been receiving
faxes'at this number? Ask him if
this is his phone number?
(to the leader)
Is this a number to reach you?
Again, the leader speaks in rapid Russian.
UNDERLING
He says, the weather in Siberia is
very cold!
BENNETT
I'm asking you about this payment.
Who is this person on the account?
Bennett notices a Russian, OSKAR WERNER-TYPE, wearing
THICK-FRAMED GLASSES, smoking and staring at him. Another
RUSSIAN glances at the paperwork.
UNDERLING
Bank is no more.
BENNETT
I know bank is no more. I'm trying
to find out where the assets went.
The Russians nod to the MUSIC coming from the poles. Now
the leader speaks in surprisingly good English.
LEADER
This is marching music composed
for Stalin. Inspiring for workers.
The leader smiles at Bennett. It's a scary smile. The
THICK-FRAMED GLASSES GUY is still staring.
LEADER (CONT'D)
The investment dollar that matters
is one that has army behind it. We
are very good friend of United
States. Who you want arguing for
you in The Hague? Argentina?
The leader spreads his arms expansively to take in the
miles of empty tundra around them.
LEADER (CONT'D)
(PROUDLY)
From right here we light and heat
Europe for next fifty years.
Killeen and Kazakhstan - partners
forever!
(CONTINUED)
16 CONTINUED: (2)
A distant shot of the small cluster of humanity in the
vast steppe, marching MUSIC drifting across it.
CUT TO:
17 INT. CONNEX OIL BOARDROOM - DAY 17
TOMMY (O.S.)
You're not taking this seriously.
You don't think this is a problem.
One wall is a map of the world except where there should
be jagged country boundaries are perfectly straight
resource lines. It's color coded: the world divided into
energy corporations: EXXON/MOBIL, BRITISH PETROLEUM,
SHELL, CONNEX, KILLEEN, TOTAL, GAZPROM, LUKOIL...
TOMMY (O.S.) (CONT'D)
A U.S. Attorney is looking into
your relationships in Kazakhstan
and the U.S. Government is holding
up approval of our merger...
At one end of a long table in a corporate boardroom
President TOMMY BARTON, 50's, a hatchet-man of Zen-like
corporate efficiency, heads a group of EXECUTIVES. A
small placard labels this faction - CONNEX.
SUPERTITLE: CONNEX WORLD HEADQUARTERS - HOUSTON, TEXAS
TOMMY (CONT'D)
The Board thinks it's a problem.
Mr. Janus certainly thinks it's a
PROBLEM --
JAMES "JIMMY" POPE, 50's, a powerful presence leavened by
Connecticut minor chords, speaks from the far end where
an opposing faction is labeled: KILLEEN.
JIMMY
Is the Caspian a lake or a sea,
Thomas?
TOMMY
That's an important legal point --
JIMMY
Oh give me another lecture on
subsurface rights, Thomas.
Jimmy stands. He is imposing in a Lyndon Johnson visits
Congress sort of way.
(CONTINUED)
12
17 CONTINUED: 17
JIMMY (CONT'D)
If the Caspian is a sea, you can
make deals with the Stans, but if
it's a lake, then the rights are
shared equally by all countries,
including Iran. And by an act of
our Congress it is illegal to
trade with Iran, so we can't be in
business with any of those
countries, even though they have
oil and we sell it. This is our
business, Tommy, selling oil, not
finding it. Anyone can find it.
It's everywhere.
Jimmy motions out the window --
JIMMY (CONT'D)
A monkey can stick a straw in the
ground, slurp it out and boil it,
right, Thomas? But you wanna make
it commercial, you wanna turn it
into a commodity, then you gotta
be able to move it and to move it,
you gotta have relationships.
(BEAT)
Take The Gulf --
TOMMY
That's enough, Jimmy.
JIMMY
No, I want to talk about The Gulf
and how a goddamn E-mir, what is
an E-mir anyway --
TOMMY
King. It's a king --
JIMMY
How some podunk King tossed you
out on your ass.
Jimmy pulls out a sharpie, walks to the Resource Map and
defaces it, drawing the outline of an actual country,
Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, home of the Tengiz Field.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
Every company in the world wanted
into Kazakhstan, into the Tengiz,
but Killeen got it and then Connex
wanted Killeen and here we are. I
made investments. Investments that
will bear fruit for this company.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
13
17 CONTINUED: ( 2) 17
JIMMY (CONT'D)
Hell, Tommy, we've all got the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
committed to memory. I've got a
little copy taped to the wall of
my head... Up here.
TOMMY
Thank you, Jimmy. You know how
much we appreciate hearing your
point of view; however, Mr. Janus
and I have asked Connex's
Washington counsel, Sydney Hewitt,
to come down here and talk about
strategy for the next thirty days.
The eyes all shift to SYDNEY HEWITT,. 60's, Alabama smooth
accent and ever-so-certain.
SYDNEY
In a way I feel like Switzerland
and I'd like to remind everyone in
this room that they've signed
confidentiality agreements.
Polite LAUGHTER.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
And allow me to introduce my
associate, Bennett Holiday, who
will be, how should I put it,
building consensus day to day.
Bennett, the only African-American in the room, takes in
the faces now all staring at him. All the white faces.
18 INT. PLANE - DAY 18
Business Class cabin. Bennett looks out the window. His
POV of clouds and farmland and the Mississippi River.
Sydney emerges from First with a scotch and sits.
SYDNEY
You just visited what someday soon
could be the most profitable
corporation in America.
BENNETT
Provided the government approves
the merger --
SYDNEY
Provided we don't start running
cars on water. Provided there's
still chaos in the Middle-East.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
14
18 CONTINUED: 18
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
This ain't the SEC anymore, son,
and maybe you got a couple scalps
on your belt from your time over
there - Enron, World Com - but now
the job is find the problem, fix
the problem. And if you don't find
a problem, then there is no
problem.
Bennett notices that Sydney wears a Mickey Mouse watch.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
And WHEN the government approves
this merger it's gonna buy a lot
of houses out on the Vineyard,
maybe even yours, so, of course,
it's delicate all around. Who's
this U.S. Attorney, Donald Farish
the 3rd? What's his agenda? Who's
behind him? Is it a political
force? Another corporation? Is he
a glory boy making a name?
BENNETT
I know him. He taught a class of
mine at Georgetown Law.
Sydney knew this, of course. Sydney looks Bennett over,
then he chuckles, the effect of which is unsettling.
SYDNEY
Well, there you go, he taught a
class of yours at Georgetown Law.
Mr. .Whiting did say to me, I have
a feeling about this young man. He
said, he can position himself.
Sydney stands.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
Hold these guys in a circle. Ask
the careful questions. I don't
need to tell you this is a hell of
an opportunity for you to catch
those peers who have spent, how
should I put it, less time on the
government dole.
(BEAT)
And get rid of that fancy watch,
it makes you look like a Jew.
Sydney disappears back up into first class, carefully
pulling the curtain in place behind him.
CUT TO:
15
19 EXT. NATURAL GAS LIQUEFACTION PLANT - THE GULF - DAY 19
Bright sunlight beside the Gulf. 200 foot tall loading
tanks with portraits of the Emir. This facility is under
construction by Pakistani and Filipino LABORERS.
ANGLE ON: SALEEM AHMED KHAN, 40, heavy set, with glasses,
and his son, WASIM, 17, tall, bright, wearing electric
blue jumpsuits while painting a brown handrail green.
A VAN stops beside their team and someone YELLS in Urdu.
20 INT. VAN - DAY 20
They drive with OTHER WORKERS across the refinery.
21 EXT. REFINERY - DAY 21
A huge sign in mandarin declares the project funded by
CHINA GAS AND ELECTRIC - the Chinese oil conglomerate.
SUPERTITLE: NATURAL GAS LIQUEFACTION PLANT - PERSIAN GULF
Chinese ENGINEERS in white have rounded up a group of
Pakistanis who stand together sweating in the extreme
heat, an image not much changed since Colonialism.
ENGINEER (IN MANDARIN)
Your services are no longer needed
here at the China Gas and Electric
facility.
A PAKISTANI translates into Urdu for the-group. Find
Saleem and Wasim in the crowd --
SALEEM (IN URDU)
What did they say? I can't hear.
WASIM
They're letting us go.
SALEEM
The whole group?
WASIM
The whole group.
In the distance, the engineer is droning on.
(CONTINUED)
16
21 CONTINUED: 21
ENGINEER
We know you have worked hard and
wish to thank you for that hard
work with a small cash bonus which
you may collect on your way out of
the facility.
SALEEM
What did he say? I can't hear. I
can't hear.
WASIM
He's telling us to scram.
SALEEM
Scram? What do you mean, scram?
ANGLE ON: The engineer pointing toward the exit of the
facility. He turns to another ENGINEER nearby.
CHINESE ENGINEER
(SOTTO)
Look at them standing there. Like
blue cows. Shit. Get them moving.
22 EXT. LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS FACILITY, PERSIAN GULF - DAY 22
Wasim and Saleem cross the desert near the LNG facility.
SALEEM
The Chinese are smart people, but
such bad drivers. They should not
be allowed even to wash cars.
Wasim doesn't say anything. They walk in silence. Then --
SALEEM (CONT'D)
When I was your age, in Pakistan,
there was always in the distance--
SALEEM/WASIM (SIMUL)
Snow covered mountains.
SALEEM
That's right. Three hours away,
but right there, white across the
sky, like you could reach out and
touch them. Snow covered
mountains.
Ahead is transient worker housing. Wasim takes in
plywood fencing surrounding identical huts.
(CONTINUED)
17
22 CONTINUED: 22
SALEEM (CONT'D)
As soon as we can, we'll get a
real house and bring your mother
here. I promise.
Wasim just looks at his dad who puts his arm around him.
The refinery and power lines shimmer behind them.
23 INT. FOREIGN WORKERS COMPOUND - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 23
Sterile, white trailers in neat rows with laundry hanging
out of windows. MEN wash at a communal shower.
Wasim begins stripping off his grimy uniform. Saleem
shouts to a few MEN batting a cricket ball around.
24 EXT. POWER LINES IN DESERT - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 24
Massive POWER LINES drape from steel pyramid to steel
pyramid. A GROUP of TEENAGERS, including Wasim and
FAROOQ, 16, a self-styled leader, drink home-fermented
alcohol from a Styrofoam cup. They wear jeans, T-shirts,
caps. Ragged, unbathed, they're wasted.
Farooq takes a gulp, makes a face, swallows, SHOUTS --
FAROOQ
Ow, ow, ow, ahhh --
He throws up. The KIDS laugh. He comes up composed --
FAROOQ (CONT'D)
An announcement. An announcement.
If man is made in God's image,
then God is deeply messed up.
Farooq shoves the cup at Wasim. He tries to push it away.
FAROOQ (CONT'D)
You afraid? Afraid of the buzz?
WASIM
I'm afraid of your breath.
Wasim points at a silent kid hanging back from the group.
WASIM (CONT'D)
Hakim hasn't had any. And Hakim
wears jewelry.
FAROOQ
He thinks that little bracelet's
gonna get him girls.
(CONTINUED)
18
24 CONTINUED: 24
They start chanting HAKIM, HAKIM, HAKIM in encouragement.
Hakim, sphynx-like, just looks at them.
WASIM
(to another kid)
What's wrong with your brother,
anyway?
Hakim looks to his brother, then lifts up his shirt.
There is a recent scar where a kidney would be.
FAROOQ
You can drink with one. You don't
need two.
GROUP
HAKIM, HAKIM, HAKIM.
Hakim isn't sure.
WASIM
(TO FAROOQ)
I want to talk to your uncle about
work.
GROUP
HAKIM, HAKIM, HAKIM.
WASIM
Farooq. You have to introduce me.
FAROOQ
There isn't any work. Quit
pestering me. Hakim, Hakim --
Finally, Hakim sips and holds his side. The boys' cheers
are thin and vulnerable in the immense desert.
In the distance a luxury car is parked. And U.S. Military
officers snap a picture - "Native Boys in Desert."
25 EXT. BELTWAY - DAY 25
A line of commuter traffic from inside a car. Bob's eyes
appear in the rearview. He sits in traffic.
FRANKS (V.0.)
Bob's freaking out about this
other missile. Where's the
missile? Who has the missile? He
wrote a memo.
CUT TO:
19
26 INT. DIVISION CHIEF'S OFFICE - DAY 26
The DIVISION CHIEF, a woman in her 40's, patrician and
smooth, stares out of the glass box office toward the
trees. FRED FRANKS, 30's, a saltine dipped in milk,
CONTINUES --
FRANKS
.I just finished convincing the.
Brits and French Intel we had
nothing to do with the Amiri job.
Now what do we say: remember that
thing we had nothing to do with,
well, there's something missing.
The Division Chief finishes listening patiently.
DIVISION CHIEF
Okay, here's something. Put him up
for a promotion. Bob's a good guy.
He saved our ass in Beirut in '85.
FRANKS
(BEAT)
Great. Terry likes him. We'll get
him an audition downtown.
CUT TO:
27 EXT. BELTWAY - DAY 27
DIVISION CHIEF (V.0.)
You'll get him an audition
DOWNTOWN --
Bob exits into downtown D.C, the traffic lightening. He
goes through a tunnel.
CUT TO:
28 INT. DIVISION CHIEF'S OFFICE - DAY 28
The idea of promoting Bob gains traction --
FRANKS
Bob's a hero. They'll give him
something good. He is an Iran
expert.
DIVISION CHIEF
Fred, Bob's never had a desk job,
never done nine-to-five. Can he
show up to work everyday? Can he
stay on message?
(CONTINUED)
20
28 CONTINUED: 28
FRANKS
Yes, absolutely. I'll prep him.
CUT TO:
29 INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE SITUATION ROOM - WHITE HOUSE - DAY 29
Bob waits in a hard back chair. It's a spare, functional,
highly polished place. Marines like statues stand guard.
VOICES come from a partially open door across the hall.
MARILYN (V.0.)
Imagine gasoline ten dollars a
gallon at the pump. Or heating oil
that costs twenty-five hundred a
month for a two-bedroom apartment.
If oil goes to a hundred a barrel,
the U.S. turns into a third-world
country. That is a fact.
TERRY GEORGE (V.0.)
Do you have any analysis to back
up that fact?
SUPERTITLE: WASHINGTON, D.C.
DISTINGUISHED VOICE (V.0.)
In the next fifteen years, The
North Sea and Alaska dry up. Two
million barrels a day to the U.S.
gone. That is a known fact.
30 INT. SITUATION ROOM - WHITE HOUSE - DAY 30
The Deputies Meeting. A small room with recessed lighting
filled with the rung below the top-tier of Washington
bureaucracy. Navy STENO GUYS record the conversation.
TERRY GEORGE
I need data supporting known
facts. Because what I know is that
in the entire region when we even
whisper our support, those people
are delegitimized.
TERRY GEORGE, 40's, Deputy CIA Chief, quite a good guy to
those in power, speaks to a DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN,
60's. Through the partially open door, one third of Bob
is visible.
DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN
Iraq had no established ethnic
majority.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
21
30 CONTINUED: 30
DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN (CONT'D)
It's like trying to organize
Louisiana. Iran, on the other
hand, is Persian --
The Deputy National Security Advisor, MARILYN RICHARDS,
40's, sculpted hair, with the soul of a seventy year-old
white, Republican male, is in charge --
MARILYN
There has been some good news
concerning Iran lately. Right,
Terry?
TERRY GEORGE
For Iran, yes --
MARILYN
The President is very interested
in Iran, Terry.
Marilyn takes in the presence of the DISTINGUISHED
GENTLEMEN sitting near her. Terry slides a file across
the table to her.
TERRY GEORGE
I know that, Marilyn. In fact, we
just pulled one of our officers
out and I took the initiative to
ask him to come down here. He
infiltrated Hezbollah in Beirut in
the eighties, won himself some
nice medals. We're thinking about
giving him a station.
MARILYN
Beirut in the eighties, is that a
resume builder?
Polite chuckles follow Terry George to the doorway.
31 INT. OUTSIDE SITUATION ROOM - WHITE HOUSE - DAY 31
Terry George appears, crooks a finger. As Bob passes --
TERRY GEORGE
Don't chomp down on any bait.
He looms over Bob, pointedly taps Bob's files --
TERRY GEORGE (CONT'D)
We're fine. Iran is fine. Fine.
32 INT. SITUATION ROOM - WHITE HOUSE - DAY 32
Bob sweats slightly as he plows on, reading from notes.
(CONTINUED)
22
32 CONTINUED: 32
BOB
And our analysis seems to be
on the mark... And we're getting
good satellite coverage.
Bob is clearly working from a script. Terry George is
pleased and gives Bob the slightest of approving nods.
BOB (CONT'D)
And we're reprogramming resources
into Iran. Our next review will
show that ---
MARILYN
Thank you for coming over, Mr.
Baer. Welcome back and forgive me
if I wade right in, but forgetting
for a second your bureaucratic
checklist, I'm trying to get
undigested information, so if you
could give me a reading of the
temperature over there?
Bob glances at Terry. Exasperated, Marilyn continues.
MARILYN (CONT'D)
India is now our ally. Russia is
our ally. Even China will be an
ally. Everybody between Morocco
and Pakistan is the problem.
Failed states and failed
economies, but Iran is a natural
cultural ally of the U.S. The
Persians do not want to roll back
the clock to the 8th century. I
see students marching in the
streets. I hear Khatami making the
right sounds. And what I'd like to
know is if we keep embargoing them
on energy, then someday soon are
we going to get a nice, secular,
pro-Western, pro-business
government?
The steno guys type away. A long beat on Bob.
BOB
It's possible. It's complicated.
MARILYN
Of course it is, Mr. Baer. Thank
you for your time.
Bob looks to Terry who nods. Bob starts to leave.
(CONTINUED)
23
32 CONTINUED: ( 2) 32
MARILYN (CONT'D)
(sotto, to the room)
Intelligence is the misnomer of
the century.
Bob stops. He can't help himself --
BOB
They let young people march in the
street and then the next day shut
down fifty newspapers. They have a
few satellite dishes up on roofs,
let 'em have My Two Dads, but that
doesn't mean the Ayatollahs have
relinquished one iota of control
over that nation.
The steno guys hands are frozen.
DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN
Mr. Baer, the reform movement in
Iran is one of the President's
great hopes for the region and
crucial to the petroleum security
of the United States.
TERRY GEORGE
(A WARNING)
These gentlemen are with the CLI.
Bob has no idea what this is or whether he should answer.
DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN
The Committee for the Liberation
of Iran, Mr. Baer.
BOB
We've had Iran in embargo for
almost thirty years, we backed
their neighbor, a neighbor we
invaded twice, in a ten year war
against them, we're hanging on by
a thread with a massive occupation
force, so I got news for you...
Thomas Jefferson just ain't that
popular over there right now.
Silence except for the steno guys clicking away, then
complete silence. Terry George stares at Bob a long beat.
TERRY GEORGE
That will be all, Mr. Baer.
CUT TO:
24
33 EXT. CAPITOL HILL APARTMENT - MORNING 33
Bennett exits a cab, walks up the steps with an overnight
bag. A MAN, 60's, tough and well-preserved, in a dark
suit and tie, waits on the stoop with a folded paper.
DANNY DALTON (V.0.)
I hear phrases thrown around like
"the corrupting influence of
money" or "the evil influence of
dollars in politics," when more
money was spent on the syndication
rights to Seinfeld than on the
whole of the last presidential
election.
Bennett just walks past him to open the door.
34 INT. BENNETT'S APARTMENT - MORNING 34
A nice three bedroom that is part of the quiet
gentrification movement not yet reflected in the streets.
Cable news plays silently in the living room. There's a
goldfish in a small aquarium.
Through a door, Bennett and the man are in the kitchen.
35 INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS 35
A SMALL TV: plays C-Span testimony on Campaign Finance
Reform. DANNY DALTON, 40's, an "oilman," testifies.
DANNY DALTON
Last election cycle I spent three
hundred thousand. I got pictures
of myself with the President that
I use all over the world. People
don't know Danny Dalton, but they
know the President of the United
States and they see that I know
the President of the United
States...
Bennett has showered and changed. He makes coffee. The
man sits at a dinette. He lights a cigarette.
BENNETT
I'm not making this coffee for
you. I'm making it for me. You I'm
making oatmeal and then you sleep.
BENNETT SENIOR
You look like shit.
(CONTINUED)
25
35 CONTINUED: 35
Bennett just stares for a moment. Bennett takes the
oatmeal off the stove, sets a bowl in front of the man
whose fingernails are black, whose dark suit is filthy.
BENNETT
Are you working?
BENNETT SENIOR
I had a little trouble at work.
Bennett grabs his travel coffee and starts away --
BENNETT
There's some beer in the fridge
for after you wake up, so you
don't die on my floor of the DT's.
And no smoking in my house.
Bennett leaves the kitchen. The man yells after him.
BENNETT SENIOR
I don't need your goddamn
hospitality.
The front door SLAMS. The man glances up at a photo of
Bennett Jr. at his Howard University graduation. And next
to it, the man, BENNETT SR., graduating 25 years earlier.
ON TV: old, white senators listening judiciously.
DANNY DALTON (ON TV)
In our country we don't stuff
dollars into ballot boxes. What we
do is turn money into votes and
what turns money into votes is
free speech - the ability of a
candidate to get his message out -
and that takes money, real money,
meaning, not so loosely
translated: MONEY IS SPEECH! And
last time I checked, speech in the
USA is protected. You can't limit
my advocacy just because it works.
I have a sovereign, inalienable
right to petition my government.
Tilt up to find Bennett Senior, part of a six pack
dangling from two fingers, staring at a wall covered with
an intricate MATRIX of KILLEEN OIL's limited partnerships
and strategic alliances all over the world.
(CONTINUED)
26
35 CONTINUED: (2) 35
DANNY DALTON (CONT'D)
The money I gave the President is
the best investment I have ever
made in my business. Next election
cycle I plan to double it.
(BEAT)
And why is it some dirty little
secret that it's in America's
interest to do business overseas?
Bennett Sr. stares up at the wall. He pops a beer.
CUT TO:
36 EXT. EMIR'S ESTATE - MARBELLA - DAY 36
Bryan and Julie and the kids arrive at the manicured
entrance of a vast, impressive estate, their rental wagon
anomalous among Bentleys and Rolls.
An Arab valet opens Julie's door. The kids are excited.
37 EXT. GARDEN - DAY 37
A geometric sculpture garden. Giacomettis and Henry
Moores. A TV monitor plays video of gardens and flowers.
GUESTS cluster together. You could almost tag labels on
them: arms dealer, Ambassador, Minister of Trees.
Bryan and Julie and the kids wander into the party.
BRYAN
.I'm probably the tenth guy this
month to pitch something like
this. It's like the Godfather.
Emir, I come to you on this
special day. Vincent is riding
motorcycles through Cambodia,
through land-mines. Some charity
thing.
JULIE
That's guilt not charity. He's
Catholic and can't view himself as
a shallow model f.u.c.k.e.r, which
he is. And when war breaks out in
some energy producing country,
he's the first one into work.
Bryan looks at her.
JULIE (CONT'D)
Honey... you're a man who supports
his family, not a boy.
(CONTINUED)
27
37 CONTINUED: 37
BRYAN
I thought you like him. Vincent.
JULIE
I do, honey. For you, I like him
very much.
She takes his hand as they walk.
VOICE (O.S.)
Please, attention please, your
host, his majesty, the Emir...
ON A TV MONITOR: the Emir, HAMAD AL-SUBAAI, 60's,
bearded, overweight, sitting in front of greenery, his
TWO SONS behind him, addresses his party guests.
EMIR (ON TV)
It is my pleasure to personally
welcome each of you to the Casa De
Las Palmas, our oasis of palms in
the south of Spain.
38 INT. EMIR'S PRIVATE OFFICE - DAY 38
The EMIR, his two sons, PRINCE MESHAL, late 20's, weak-
chinned, effeminate, with longish hair, and PRINCE NASIR,
30's, handsome, with large expressive eyes, close-cropped
hair, powerful and serious, are across a table from
CHINESE OIL EXECUTIVES.
The Emir's PRERECORDED SPEECH drones on --
EMIR (ON TV)
And symbolic of the affection of
my people for each of you. At nine
o'clock, we will have wonderful
music from the London
Philharmonic. Please eat and
socialize and enjoy.
The Emir ignores himself on TV and turns to business. He
recently had a stroke and was filmed from his good side.
EMIR (CONT'D)
(a slight slurring)
I am happy to welcome the Chinese
to my country and optimistic you
will not be nearly as greedy as
the Americans.
Assiduous nods from the CHINESE oil executives as the
King's young Japanese SECRETARY slides contracts across.
28
39 EXT. POOL PAVILION - DAY 39
Bryan and Julie watch Max tentatively approach the pool.
Nearby, Riley has introduced himself to an Arab family.
JULIE
Arabs are very family oriented, as
a people. Is that racist?
Max, a book-oriented, rather than water-oriented, child
is afraid to jump in.
BRYAN
(WATCHING-MAX)
Not if what you're saying is
positive.
A bigger BOY fakes like he might push him in. Bryan
starts to his feet --
JULIE
Don't. Let him work this out. It's
important for his autonomy.
Max finds his courage, jumps, and disappears beneath the
surface, then bobs up happily. Julie smiles.
BRYAN
Hedge strategies are tough for
these guys. Oil goes up the people
wonder why those extra billions
aren't in the treasury. Prices go
down, no one's thanking them for
saving a few bucks.
Julie looks at her husband to determine whether he's
testing his "pitch" or in need of encouragement.
JULIE
Make a game of it. Pretend they're
six year-olds and you have to get
them to eat carrots and all they
want is dessert. Make it about
good parenting.
40 INT. EMIR'S PRIVATE OFFICE - DUSK 40
EMIR
The house is a Genius-Home. One of
my sons had it wired by experts
from the United States.
(CONTINUED)
29
40 CONTINUED: 40
The Emir sort of wilts, fading out. Prince Meshal foists
a remote control on his father. The other son, Prince
Nasir observes his father and brother.
The Emir rouses. He presses a few buttons. The monitors
show the estate: lawn; squash court; guard house.
PRINCE MESHAL
watch...
ON TV: the image of a rear guard house. Suddenly, the
gate slides back, stops, slides the other way.
CHINESE OIL EXECUTIVE
Your Highness, that is incredible.
(to Prince Nasir)
Prince Nasir, isn't that amazing?
PRINCE NASIR
(DISMISSIVE)
Fascinating.
The Emir presses the remote. ON TV: seven swimming pools.
Meshal proudly shares the moment with his father.
PRINCE MESHAL
Oh, look, it's getting dark,
better turn on the lights --
ON SIX OF SEVEN MONITORS: pool lights turn on, shimmering
turquoise. One pool remains dark.
The Emir notices the dark pool. He presses the device.
ON THE MONITOR: The lights go off. He presses again. Six
pools light up, but one is still dark.
The Emir ignores his son and speaks for the room.
EMIR
Send a fool on a fool's errand.
Meshal frantically tries to make the pool light come on.
ON THE MONITOR: ONE IS STILL DARK --
41 EXT. POOL SIDE - DUSK 41
CHILDREN SCREAM, shouting, playing tag in the crepuscular
light beside the dark pool. Max is among the children.
30
42 EXT. UNDER WATER - DARK POOL - DUSK 42
The SOUND of ELECTRICITY. We push toward a darkened pool
light. The cover is cracked and the light is filled with
water. Closer. Blue light arcs inside the cover. The
SOUND of ELECTRICITY is LOUDER.
43 INT. EMIR'S ANTECHAMBER - NIGHT 43
Pictures of the Emir with Nixon, Carter, Ronald Reagan,
Poppy Bush, Clinton, Bush II.
TWO GULF BUSINESSMEN, reps of the Emir, appear and
address Bryan who is waiting.
GULF BUSINESSMAN
We regret that His Highness will
be unable to see you. However, we
are authorized to hear your
proposition on his behalf.
BRYAN
Here?
They nod. Bryan looks around. It's awkward.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Well, okay... The real worry
facing you guys is another year of
record pricing. There are no more
elephant fields. Not even in
Natural Gas. As structural
alternatives are more fully
realized you'll need a new
strategy to maximize every penny
from your existing resources,
particularly in a climate of
falling prices.
One businessman turns to the other --
GULF BUSINESSMAN (ARABIC).
There are two kinds of people in
the world: those who control
subsurface mineral rights and
those who want to steal from them.
Bryan didn't understand a word.
44 EXT. POOL - DUSK 44
The kids are organizing a game of "shark and minnows." An
OLDER KID explains to Max --
(CONTINUED)
31
44 CONTINUED: 44
OLDER KID
You're the shark and you try to
tag us as we swim across.
Max is uncertain, eyeing the dark water. From somewhere
distant the LONDON PHILHARMONIC begins to play.
OLDER KID (CONT'D)
You jump in and count one, two,
three, then we all try to get to
the other side.
Max stares at the dark water. It's not inviting. Finally,
he jumps.
He hits the water and goes rigid, almost skittering
across the surface, flopping uncontrollably.
45 EXT. ESTATE LAWN - NIGHT 45
Bryan walks back across the lawn when SCREAMS come from
the pool area ahead. Bryan hurries, then runs.
46 EXT. POOL - NIGHT 46
The VOLTAGE is audible as Max rolls onto his back,
floating lifelessly. SECURITY prevent people from diving
in. A bystander yells --
BYSTANDER
Cut the power! Cut the power!
Bryan enters the area. He sees Julie being restrained.
And a body in the water.
As the estate goes dark, Bryan dives and holds Max,
wading to the side with the lifeless body.
CUT TO:
47 EXT. DESOLATE OIL FIELD - DAY 47
A DONKEY TRAIN passes a DERRICK under a gathering sky. On
the back of ONE DONKEY the STINGER CRATE bounces along.
The donkeys move through the Antaean field as lightning
cuts the distant clouds.
CUT TO:
32
48 EXT. RIVERFRONT - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 48
Freight boats and water taxis plow up and down a river,
back and forth, back and forth, as Wasim enters along a
wall in the foreground. He wears his best clothes and
looks freshly scrubbed as he picks his way along.
He ducks down an alley, stops. Nervous, he catches his
reflection in a shard of glass of a boarded-up window.
WASIM
(PRACTICING)
Abu Khalifa, thank you for this
opportunity. I am a hard worker. I
will not let you down.
49 EXT. RIVERFRONT WAREHOUSE - DAY 49
A scraggly warehouse, the most basic of operations.
WORKERS carry goods in and out.
Wasim walks with ABU KHALIFA, 42, a gruff foreman.
ABU KHALIFA (ARABIC)
Two of my wife's kids got deported
for not having work.
WASIM
(HALTING ARABIC)
You don't have to pay me. Let me
show you how hard I work. And then
decide whether to pay.
For a moment it seems like this offer may win the day.
ABU KHALIFA
I'm sorry. I already have a long
list for that, too.
(GRUFF AGAIN)
And if you want to work in this
country, learn how to speak the
language.
Wasim tries and fails to hide his disappointment.
CUT TO�
50 EXT. CEMETERY - DAY 50
A mound of dirt under a blanket. A small mound. An
Episcopal Minister saying something soundlessly.
The mourners are Bryan and Julie's age which means they
have small children. Mourners holding children.
(CONTINUED)
33
50 CONTINUED: 50
Bryan holds Riley and Julie stands beside them. Julie is
weeping. she notices Bryan is completely stone-faced.
Julie watches two BOYS chase each other through the
crowd, playing tag, stifling their laughter.
CUT TO:
51 INT. TRAILER - FOREIGN WORKERS COMPOUND - DAY 51
Tight on JOHNNY and PONYBOY just before they run to catch
the boxcar in THE OUTSIDERS.
BOY (O.S.)
Why are they running after him?
WASIM (O.S.)
Maybe he has a knife or committed
a crime or something.
Wasim, Farooq, other men and boys watch a small TV in a
cheap trailer, housing for immigrant labor.
SUPERTITLE: FOREIGN WORKERS COMPOUND - PERSIAN GULF
wasim sits with Farooq watching the film. YUNUS, 6,
watches Wasim, his older brother, with reverence.
FAROOQ
They gave us french fries at the
Madrassa.
Wasim's father, Saleem, enters with a few groceries.
WASIM
Papa, close the door.
ANOTHER FRIEND
His sister has a thing for you.
WASIM
His sister has a big ass.
(TO FAROOQ)
Of course, at the Madrassa you
don't have to worry about that.
FAROOQ
And lamb. We got skewers of lamb.
YUNUS
I like lamb.
The children's faces are lit by the TV'S glowing light.
34
52 (OMIT) 52
53 EXT. GOVERNMENT PLAZA - DAY 53
Against a wall, YOUNG MEN are frisked by police who tap
their legs apart with batons. Above them a watchful
portrait of the Emir, in epic pose, astride a stallion.
A line of Pakistani and Filipino MEN winds out of a
building. People are paranoid. No jokes. Eyes darting.
As more MEN arrive, POLICE in riot gear watch them,
shouting in Arabic into a bullhorn.
Yunus watches Wasim and Saleem. He mimics how his brother
stands. An OLD MAN tries to talk to them.
OLD MAN
Hot today. Can't remember the
streets this hot.
Saleem looks around, sees if anyone was listening, then
takes the old man's arm.
SALEEM
You don't want to talk here.
Suddenly, a POLICEMAN shoves Saleem from behind. Saleem
turns to the officer, already apologizing, but Wasim
steps between them. The cop pushes Wasim with his baton.
POLICEMAN
Tough guy? Is that right, tough
guy? What's your name, tough guy?
Wasim doesn't say anything. Yunus watches his father and
brother. The cop pokes Wasim again with the stick --
POLICEMAN (CONT'D)
What's your name?
WASIM
Johnny.
The policeman swiftly brings his club down on Wasim's
head, dropping him to his knees. other POLICEMEN close.
Saleem gets in the middle, but is beaten down. Wasim
tries to reach for Yunus who is SCREAMING and hitting at
the policeman's legs. A club comes down on Wasim's head --
CUT TO:
35
54 EXT. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY - DAY 54
Perfect calm at a beautiful, rural Ivy League campus with
STUDENTS strolling between buildings.
55 INT. ADMINISTRATION BUILDING - DAY 55
Tight on note cards of "conversational topics" and
reminders to be "natural." A perfect MOTHER and FATHER
coach their PERFECT NERVOUS DAUGHTER.
NERVOUS DAUGHTER
I learned the value of diversity
in my time at the Model U.N.
And, across the rich leather and wood anteroom of a
Princeton admissions office, Bob and Robby also wait.
ROBBY
Maybe you'll get made Ambassador
to somewhere cool, like France or
Italy or Ghana. What's your dad
do? He's Ambassador to Ghana.
That's so cool. I know.
Bob looks over at his son like he doesn't really know who
this person is, which he doesn't.
BOB
How's your mom?
ROBBY
(FORCED GAIETY)
Great! She's great'.
The Perfect Family glances over at them. After a beat --
ROBBY (CONT'D)
Do you know what mom's job is?
BOB
she's a secretary.
ROBBY
What did she do when you met her?
BOB
She was a secretary.
(BEAT)
Robby, are you nervous?
Indignant Robby speaks loudly for The Perfect Family --
(CONTINUED)
36
55 CONTINUED: 55
ROBBY
I've been airlifted out of foreign
countries and I speak three
languages because I have to.
They'll feel sorry for me.
An ADMISSIONS OFFICER signals to Robby who disappears
through the door.
56 INT. KEBAB RESTAURANT - DAY 56
A college dive restaurant. The workers are all Lebanese
immigrants. Bob and Robby eat at a small table.
ROBBY
I know it's a year away but I'll
have to have a car. A decent car.
Nothing fancy, but it has to run.
So I can get into Boston and New
York. They have a great crew.
That's what they told me. I said,
crew of what? Ha, ha. They said,
rowing. So...if I want to row...
Bob quickly finishes a glass of cheap, white wine.
BOB
Robby, you know, I live... Where
do I live? Maryland. I live in
Maryland. Meaning you have
residency there. In Maryland. For
the University. Of Maryland.
Robby liberally uses the hot sauce. Two LEBANESE MEN at
another table nod in approval. Robby fires off Arabic.
ROBBY (ARABIC)
Lebanese is like Vanilla. You want
hot, try Pakistan.
The men can't believe this kid speaks Arabic. Robby turns
back to Bob and says what's really on his mind.
ROBBY (CONT'D)
I just want a normal senior year.
I want to live in a normal house.
I want Cinemax and prom. You know
what prom is like in Pakistan?
Prom sucks in Pakistan.
Bob looks at his kid with love, the real thing.
(CONTINUED)
37
56 CONTINUED: 56
BOB
Robby, it's complicated. I may
have really screwed up at work.
ROBBY
How?
BOB
I was supposed to keep my mouth
shut and didn't.
Robby is disappointed and angry.
ROBBY
What does Mom do again that we
have to live in Islamabad?
BOB
She's a secretary.
Robby turns back to the Arab men --
ROBBY (ARABIC)
Both of my parents are
professional liars.
Bob and Robby are the only occidentals in the place.
CUT TO:
57 EXT. U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - D.C. - DAY 57
Bennett exits a cab in front of the Justice Department
building. The FBI looms just down the street.
58 INT. DONALD FARISH'S OFFICE - DAY 58
DONALD FARISH III, 60's, longer hair than you would
expect, talks on his cell phone, feet kicked up on the
desk. Two Assistant U.S. ATTORNEYS stare at Bennett.
FARISH (INTO PHONE)
Hey, how bad is it? Ouch. When a
Volvo dealer says that. Okay,
you're honorable decent guys.
Farish clicks off the cell phone, turns to Bennett.
FARISH (CONT'D)
My wife and our narrow driveway.
(BEAT)
How the hell are you?
(CONTINUED)
38
58 CONTINUED: 58
BENNETT
You know, can't complain.
FARISH
That's not good, kiddo. That's
suffering quietly. Married? Kids?
Bennett shakes his head. Farish looks him over like a
good diagnostician inspecting a patient. Then --
FARISH (CONT'D)
There is no way a company like
Killeen pulled off a deal like
this without paying somebody off.
Bennett shrugs. Looks at the Assts. They don't smile.
BENNETT
Why don't you tell me what you
have so I can respond?
Farish looks at his guys. They all choke back laughs.
FARISH
I used to think something was
wrong here. Now, I know
something's wrong here.
He stands, tall, imperious. Walks around his desk.
Perches on the edge, towering over Bennett.
FARISH (CONT'D)
Either you don't find anything
because you don't know how to
look. Or you do and they carve you
out and light you on fire.
(to his guys)
That's gotta be the play, right?
Bennett doesn't say anything. Farish picks up a file,
scans it: Bennett's particulars therein.
FARISH (CONT'D)
You're so under-qualified it's
laughable. Sydney Hewitt's new
boy. How many of those have I
seen? They're all gone; He's still
Sydney Fucking Hewitt.
BENNETT
I guess you guys really have a
handle on the angles.
The U.S. Attorney team shares a moment at his expense.
(CONTINUED)
39
58 CONTINUED: ( 2) 58
FARISH
Let's talk about our old friend
the Holder Memoranda. In charging
a corporation or --
BENNETT
Sentencing a company after a
guilty plea, cooperation will be
factored in, which includes waving
the privileges afforded their
attorneys.
FARISH
(DAWNING)
Right... I remember you now.
Strong A in Environmental Law.
BENNETT
(to the Assistants)
He was an easy grader.
FARISH
Not anymore.
59 INT. SQUASH COURT - DAY 59
The SHARP SOUNDS of SQUASH. Looking through the opaque
square of Plexiglas in the door to a squash court, Sydney
and Bennett grunt and lunge and sweat.
SYDNEY
I took a bit of a temperature
reading. The other associates seem
to like you. That's not really a
good sign.
BENNETT
I'm sorry, Sir.
HIGH ANGLE - down to the fishbowl aspect of the court.
Sydney has a very good serve. As they talk he wins three
points in a row, Bennett lunging at the spinning ball.
BENNETT (CONT'D)
Sir, I don't want to get ahead of
myself, but Kazakhstan... You got
capitalists with a K --
Point.
SYDNEY
Six apiece.
(CONTINUED)
40
59 CONTINUED: 59
BENNETT
You got banker gangsters,
gangster bankers. The Federal
prosecutor is a good man. Smart.
HONEST --
SYDNEY
Inherited a ton of dough --
Point.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
Seven.- Six. Already got his mind
made up. Got his teeth in it like
a little terrier.
As Sydney is talking, he wins the point.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
Eight - Six. Match point.
BENNETT
I think they've got someone inside
the deal. Somebody they can
squeeze.,
SYDNEY
Like an informant?
BENNETT
Yes, Sir. Like an informant. Just
my feeling based on their
overconfidence.
Sydney aces Bennett.
SYDNEY
Match!
He turns and holds out his hand.
60 INT. CLUB ROOM - DAY 60
The casual bar of a fancy, D.C. Men's Club. Very old
money. Lots of power. Membership includes one woman, one
Jew, and Vernon Jordan. Bennett and Sydney eat lunch.
SYDNEY
If people in oil deals talked to
U.S. Attorneys, there'd be no oil
business.
DEAN WHITING, 60's, congenial, but powerful in build, an
ex-marine, an insider for forty years, wanders over.
(CONTINUED)
41
60 CONTINUED: 60
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
Dean, you know Bennett Holiday.
BENNETT
Good to see you again, Sir.
SYDNEY
We've been discussing the Connex-
Killeen merger situation.
WHITING
Will they get approval? Helluva
large company if they do. I mean,
client.
BENNETT
I don't know, Sir. The Tengiz
field, Killeen's largest asset, is
being looked at pretty heavily by
the U.S. Attorney's office.
Sydney Hewitt nods to another club member. Bennett turns
to see DONALD FARISH III joining a far table.
WHITING
Well, Bennett, as they say in the
bible, there are many, many ways
to light Europe.
CUT TO:
61 INT. BEDROOM - WOODMAN HOUSE - NIGHT 61
A light SWITCHES ON.
Bryan and Julie are both awake listening to Riley CRYING
down the hall. It's unnerving, but neither one moves
right away, perhaps hoping he'll fall back asleep.
JULIE
I wish I could just believe he's
floating around on a cloud or in
the corner watching us.
Julie wants Bryan to comfort her, but he doesn't.
BRYAN
That minister eulogizing our child
made me sick. How do you eulogize
a child? He was great at playing.
He loved popsicles.
She rolls into him and he holds her, but he's staring at
the ceiling as the child's cries echo down the hallway.
42
62 INT. RILEY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 62
Bryan opens the door to his son's bedroom. Riley is
standing in his crib, crying inconsolably.
RILEY
(his voice catching)
I want to look out the window.
He holds up his arms for his father who lifts him. They
walk to the window. Riley stops crying instantly, as
children will, and shimmies out of his dad's arms.
At the window, they stand together, silhouetted against
the dark night and distant street light.
CUT TO:
63 INT. CORRIDOR - DAY 63
Bob and Fred Franks walk down an institutional white
corridor.
FRANKS
Nothing like the straight poop to
wake 'em up on the 7th floor. And
the Amiri brothers. Darn nice
work. Darn nice. How're you
finding everything? Must be a
little slow-paced, a little dull?
BOB
Intelligence work isn't training
seminars and little gold stars for
attendance.
FRANKS
What do you think intelligence
work is, Bob?
They turn a corner which gives way to another
institutional white corridor.
BOB
It's two people in a room and one
of them is asking a favor that's a
capital crime in every country on
earth. A hanging crime.
Another corner. Another white hallway.
(CONTINUED)
43
63 CONTINUED: 63
FRANKS
No, Bob. It's assessing the
information gathered from that
favor and balancing it against all
the other information gathered
from all the other favors.
Franks smiles. Opens a door to a white, windowless room.
64 INT. WHITE, WINDOWLESS TASK FORCE ROOM - DAY 64
It's so white it's hard to see the lines of anything.
PEOPLE around a conference table. DIVISION CHIEF, a woman
in her 40's, patrician and smooth, at the head. Easels
with pictures: Prince Nasir, MSA - the Egyptian With Blue
Eyes. The EGYPT CHIEF is talking. Bob sits.
DIVISION CHIEF
Welcome, Bob. Good news. We have
something for you, something we
think you'll like, that makes use
of your specific skill set.
EGYPT BUREAU CHIEF
. In the past he had been
harbored as a guest of the royal
family.
A photo of the dedication of a new Water Ministry
Administration Building. See Nasir and Meshal and, in the
background, the Egyptian with blue eyes.
DIVISION CHIEF
(ADDRESSING BOB)
You know this guy?
The Division Chief points to Prince Nasir on a street.
BOB
Prince Nasir Al-Subaai.
FRANKS
His money's in a lot of dark
corners, paying for weapons that
could be used against the USA.
Franks slides Bob a thick file on Prince Nasir Al-Subaai.
FRANKS (CONT'D)
Paperwork on the polygraphs. Wire
transfers to Qaeda fronts. Letters
instructing his Water Ministry to
employ Mohammed Sheik Agiza, the
guy who has your missile.
(CONTINUED)
44
64 CONTINUED: 64
DIVISION CHIEF
He's traveling to Beirut. You have
some experience in Beirut, don't
you, Bob?
BOB
It's a great city.
Everybody chuckles.
DIVISION CHIEF
This is a bad guy and we need him
off the table. Who knows, maybe
you'll even find your blue-eyed
Egyptian.
FRANKS
I gotta get going a little early,
my daughter's soccer tournament.
The Division chief passes behind Bob's chair --
BOB
Did you see my report on the
missile? I reset guidance to blow
ten feet off the ground --
DIVISION CHIEF
Bob, you just don't get it. Nobody
wants to hear about a missing
missile, not right now. Besides,
the ragheads'll never be able to
figure out how it works.
She leans down, taps the Nasir file, whispers.
DIVISION CHIEF (CONT'D)
This is top of The Director's
list. Hit a walk-off home run and
you'll get any desk you want.
65 INT. T.J. O'TOOLE'S - DAY 65
Happy hour at a mall pub. Bob and STANLEY "STAN" GOFF,
50's, moustache, glasses, windbreaker, ex-number three in
CIA, smarter than he looks, drink beer and watch TV.
STAN
How's Margaret? Divorced yet?
BOB
We're not getting divorced.
Stan looks at him like he's kidding himself.
(CONTINUED)
45
65 CONTINUED: 65
STAN
I'm telling you, Bobby my boy,
number three is the charm.
BOB
What about this C.L.Z. - Committee
to Liberate Iran?
STAN
Patriotic men donating their time,
whose only goals are the full
employment-and personal safety of
every American.
Bob glances sideways at him.
STAN (CONT'D)
In that order.
BOB
My goal was always to own a bar in
Macau, before Macau got ruined
like everywhere else.
STAN
There's nowhere left in the world
to own a real bar, Bobby my boy,
but I'll tell you one thing, you
could quit right now, I'll get you
hired back tomorrow as a. private
consultant. You'll be doing the
exact same job, sitting in the
exact same office, only at double
the salary.
BOB
I'm not doing anything sitting in
that office. That's the problem.
(to the Bartender)
Bourbon rocks --
Bob glances up at the TV. ON TV: financial news, BRYAN
WOODMAN in front of the trading floor at his company.
BRYAN (ON TV)
If on Monday Khatami refuses the
I.A.E.A. inspectors, look for
crude prices to spike yet again.
Push into the television --
CUT TO:
46
66 INT. MINI-STUDIO - DAY 66
Bryan under the lights, listening. on closer inspection
he looks tired and his tie is loosened.
BRYAN
It's not like it's any secret Iran
will refuse the snap inspections.
(after a pause)
okay. Thank you, Rebecca.
Bryan nods and the lights go off on Bryan. He stares --
BOSS (O.S.)
Go home.
BRYAN
It was a stupid question, Henry.
VINCENT (O.S.)
The Prince's man called again.
(DEFENSIVE)
I'm just telling him.
CUT TO:
67 EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - NIGHT 67
Bob and Stan drunkenly exit T.J. O'Toole's into the
standard suburban mall parking lot. There is a bright
multiplex sign. FAMILIES and TEENAGERS stroll.
STAN
I like consulting. No, I love it.
Love it. And I'll say this for it,
private business is efficient.
There I said it. Fucking cliche.
And the CIA is like what, a thirty
billion a year business. so
anybody wants to sell anything, a
pencil, a computer, they gotta
interface through a security
clearance -- don't give me shit --
I got two kids in college and
we're doing our kitchen.
BOB
Stan, I got a chance to go back. I
want to go back. Is it safe for
me?
(CONTINUED)
47
67 CONTINUED: 67
STAN
You talking about with your wife
or the wackos?
Bob doesn't say anything. He looks away.
STAN (CONT'D)
Clear it with Hezbollah... shit,
I'm late to pick up Sue.
Stan hits his remote lock and leaves Bob standing there.
Wide shot of Bob alone in the mall lot gently sloping to
IKEA cobalt blue in the distance.
CUT TO:
68 EXT. CAMPFIRE - NIGHT 68
The bolt action of a gleaming hunting rifle. Danny D.,
the "oilman" whose Congressional testimony was broadcast
on CSPAN, sights a weapon.
DANNY D.
Is the Caspian a lake or a sea?
BENNETT
Sea. Caspian Sea. Like seashore.
DANNY D.
Looks like Lake Michigan. Size of
Lake Michigan. The Red Sea opens
into the Indian Ocean --
Jimmy Pope and OTHER HUNTERS drink and clean thirty ought
sixes, their faces lit by firelight.
JIMMY
Caspian's surrounded. Like a pond.
Caspian pond.
DANNY D.
France and Russia want it to be a
pond, that's for damn sure. The
Caspian, I mean. In some court
somewhere right now.
(BEAT)
Moot point, hopefully.
An animal carcass rotates on a spit over the fire.
(CONTINUED)
48
68 CONTINUED: 68
JIMMY
(TO BENNETT)
Mr. Janus, Chairman of Connex, and
Dean Whiting, founding partner of
your firm, are proud members of
the Committee to Liberate Iran.
Danny D. here is, too.
DANNY D.
D. is for Dalton. I was on the
other side of the Tengiz deal.
BENNETT
The other side?
JIMMY
El Presidente Nazerbayev's best
pal in the whole world.
DANNY D.
It's a beautiful field. Goddamn,
is it a beautiful field.
Danny hands a clean, checked rifle to Bennett.
DANNY D. (CONT'D)
I guarantee we'll let the air out
of some tomorrow.
69 EXT. 777 RANCH - HONDO, TEXAS - DAY 69
A herd of zebra trots across a field and distant GUNSHOTS
crack through the pine forest. This is a private game
preserve, 10,000 acres of "conservation."
A large sign shows a buck in cross-hairs and `777 Ranch -
Experience Wildlife from Four Continents in Texas."
DANNY D. (O.S.)
I believe in getting inside their
personal space. So it's you and
him and nothing else. That's
eighteen yards for a tiger or
rhino...
Bennett and Jimmy ride in the back of a "wagon," a
modified shooting platform pulled behind a Jeep.
� JIMMY
Six billion barrels of oil, a
billion of natural gas liquid,
fourteen trillion cubic feet of
GAS --
(CONTINUED)
49
69 CONTINUED: 69
Danny D.'s conversation floats up from a lower platform.
DANNY D. (O.S.)
Man, I mean to tell you, by the
end, you got blood of lions,
baboons, rhinos on your dungarees.
Bennett, wearing an orange vest over his casual clothes,
seems uneasy. Jimmy yells down to his friend.
JIMMY
That's Kenya, Danny, not one of
these turkey shoots.
DANNY D.
Bred animals kill, too, Jimmy.
Jimmy continues his thought to Bennett.
JIMMY
Fuck Connex. Fucking slant-
drillers. Don't know why I ever
sold 'em my company in the first
place. Here, take your pick.
He hands Bennett a thick catalogue.
ANGLE ON CATALOGUE: Pages of animals you can shoot with
pictures and description.
ADDAX -- "this large African antelope is white with a
gray masked face. It's horns corkscrew up making multiple
twists in both sexes. Large males can weigh 275 lbs. Both
males and females make handsome trophies.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
The Tengiz is the Holy Grail. You
get into that stream, nobody in
your family will ever have to
clean a toilet again.
BENNETT
I have a feeling this U.S.
Attorney has a source.
JIMMY
Like somebody who didn't get into
Tengiz and is pissed off about it.
BENNETT
Any idea who that might be?
Jimmy looks at Bennett like he was just born.
(CONTINUED)
50
69 CONTINUED: (2) 69
JIMMY
How 'bout every other oil company
in the world.
(re: the catalogue)
What's your fancy?
Bennett randomly picks an animal from the list.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
The Kudu. Good choice.
(calling to driver)
Floyd. Kudu.
Bennett sees in the distance "Beater Boys," Mexican men
in orange jackets, flushing quail for a party of hunters.
70 (OMIT) 70
71 ANGLE LATER 71
IN THE DISTANCE a massive Kudu, tame as a house cat,
unafraid of guns or people, stands near a feeder.
DANNY (O.S.)
(WHISPERS)
Kudu. Big bull.
Bennett hesitates. Jimmy looks at him.
BENNETT
I'm not sure --
JIMMY
Jesus H. Christ. Kudu is rare. Get
that gun up.
Bennett lifts the rifle. THROUGH THE CROSS-HAIRS the Kudu
is gigantic and unaware of the hunters.
DANNY D. (O.S.)
He's got 52 inch horns. Maybe 54.
The Kudu looks at Bennett. An uncomfortable beat --
JIMMY (O.S.)
Come on, son. He won't wait all
day.
Finally Bennett PULLS THE TRIGGER. The gun is LOUD. He
stares, then slowly pulls back from the scope.
DANNY D. (O.S.)
Lung shot. He's gonna run a bit.
51
72 EXT. THICKET - 777 RANCH - DAY 72
The sound of their feet - tromp, tromp, tromp - as Jimmy
and Bennett move through dense thicket looking for the
wounded animal.
JIMMY
My granddaddy was a wildcatter.
Same with my daddy. That's how I
got my start. Luck and hard work.
Nobody handed me shit. Now, I got
libraries and parks named after
me. And I'll probably ruin the
grand-kids. You wearing a wire,
Bennett?
BENNETT
No.
JIMMY
Mind if I pat you down?
Jimmy checks for a recording device. He's clean.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
We all tell ourselves little
stories, Bennett. Sometimes I'm
the flame burning in the Jefferson
Memorial. Other times I'm a guy
with his nose pressed up against
the windows of a whorehouse --
Suddenly there's a RUSTLING as a large animal passes
somewhere close. Bennett freezes. Jimmy looks at him.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
Boar.
(BEAT)
This deal snapped the lights on in
the kitchen and the rodents all
scurried. Now you're standing
there under the lights trying to
point to where they all went.
(BEAT)
Don't be the one caught out in the
kitchen.
Jimmy unslings his rifle and motions to where, obscured
in the thicket, a pair of intense dying eyes stares back.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
What'd your daddy do, Bennett?
(CONTINUED)
52
72 CONTINUED: 72
BENNETT
I don't know who my father is.
On Bennett as Jimmy FIRES --
CUT TO:
73 INT. TAXI - BEIRUT - DAY 73
Bob rides in a taxi through the streets of Beirut, a city
that was once the Paris of the Middle-East: dust, noise,
construction cranes, and knock-off designer clothes.
SUPERTITLE: BEIRUT, LEBANON
They turn off the wide airport road into a warren of
narrow streets. The cab stops and the driver turns --
CABBIE
Southern Suburbs.
Bob happily waves him on. Streets narrow. People stare.
BOB
How can you tell if you're talking
to a Shiite or a Sunni Muslim.
(BEAT)
If you feel like Shee-iteing your
pants you know.
The driver glances at Bob in the rearview.
OUTSIDE a MAN has a gun stuck in his waistband. Another
MAN on a roof has a rifle. A paranoid, guarded place.
They turn and suddenly a metal gate is across the road.
MEN pour out around the car. Flannel shirts, olive drab
army shirts, beards, no beards, guns in waistbands.
Bob's door is opened and he is yanked from the cab.
BOB (CONT'D)
I'm here to see Said Hashimi.
They roughly frisk Bob.
BOB (CONT'D)
Hashimi. Said Hashimi.
They take his pen, remove his belt, check his passport:
it's Canadian. Bob's picture. The name is SEYMOUR RISEN.
They check his license: the name is SEYMOUR RISEN.
(CONTINUED)
53
73 CONTINUED: 73
Bob is pushed into another vehicle. Someone pulls bills
from Bob's wallet and flips them to the cabbie.
The gate rises. The car pulls away. The gate drops. The
cabbie is left standing there holding the bills.
74 INT. ANTERIOR ROOM - HEZBOLLAH COMPLEX - DAY 74
1970's Arab architecture. Large room. Wide doorway. Wide
hallway. Wide stairs. No direct sunlight or sight-lines.
LOCAL FARMERS, WORKERS wait. Flannel crosses to Olive
Drab. Both have guns in their waistbands. They talk
quietly, then laugh.
Bob sits on a low couch. Opaque glass separates two rooms
and shadows move behind it. SOMEONE offers Bob hot tea.
A door opens and a man signals for Bob, who gets up,
holding his pants.
75 INT. HASHIMI'S ROOM - DAY 75
Dim light. An air-conditioner hums in the wall. SAID
HOSSEIN HASHIMI, 80's, Tolstoyan grey beard, turban,
rheumy eyes, the spiritual leader of the Hezbollah, sits
in a high-back chair in a corner.
Bob sits in a high-back chair near Hashimi. The young men
revere Hashimi and guard him carefully.
SAID HASHIMI
I have a good feeling about
American people, Bob. A good
people. A welcoming people. There
are ten million Muslims in the
U.S. I have over 300,000 followers
in Detroit alone.
BOB
Thank you for this audience. I
have a business proposal for
Mussawi. One that benefits
everyone.
Hashimi nods magisterially.
SAID HASHIMI
Mussawi is an energetic young man.
(BEAT)
Your Arabic is very good.
(CONTINUED)
54
75 CONTINUED: 75
The power CUTS OUT. The air-conditioner SLOWLY DIES OUT.
It's near dark in the room. The guards move nervously
toward Bob and Said Hashimi.
BOB
I thought it would also be prudent
to say, I have no interest in
Hezbollah. This is business and it
doesn't concern Hezbollah.
In the distance a dog barks and chickens cluck. After a
beat, Hashimi turns his rheumy eyes on Bob.
HASHIMI
If what you say is true, consider
yourself welcome in Lebanon.
The generator comes on with a distant WHIR. The lights
come on. A man crosses to the air-conditioner, reaches up
and trips the circuit breaker, bringing it back to life.
CUT TO:
76 INT. GROTTO - BEIRUT - DAY 76
An ancient grotto where the early Christians used to
hide, be discovered, and executed. A tourist attraction,
it's a cool, vast, dimly lit, subterranean space.
Bob reads a description of a stalactite formation. He is
alone, waiting for someone. The grotto ECHOES.
In the distance, TWO ARAB SCHOOL CHILDREN, playing with
the echoes, do a little dance step and rap out, in broken
English, a well-known American SONG.
MUSSAWI
I gotta ask you one question. Amin
Shehab... car accident?
Bob turns to look at MUSSAWI, 30's, closely-shaved bullet
head, seemingly good-natured, a businessman, he speaks
English with a New Jersey accent.
BOB
Yeah, sure. Only one of them was
propelled by gas and the other by
C-4.
MUSSAWI
The papers said heart attack.
Bob nods pleasantly.
(CONTINUED)
55
76 CONTINUED: 76
BOB
He saw an engine coming at him at
27,000 feet per second and his
heart stopped.
This settles a beat.
MUSSAWI
Rumors of Bob, but never Bob. It
is Bob, right? What is it you tell
people you do these days, Bob?
BOB
I'm between State Department and
Defense.
Bob surreptitiously looks around to see if Mussawi is
alone. It's clear Bob makes him nervous as well.
MUSSAWI
Just me, buddy, as requested.
Bob reaches inside his jacket. Mussawi reaches in his.
BOB
I'm getting some information,
Jimmy.
MUSSAWI
My name is Mussawi.
Bob hands a picture to Mussawi.
BOB
Okay, Jimmy.
Mussawi glances down at the picture. It surprises him.
ANGLE on the picture of PRINCE NASIR crossing a street.
Bob has a small pad on which he scribbles a dollar
figure. Mussawi glances at the number. He's impressed.
MUSSAWI
He's traveling to Beirut. It's
dangerous to travel. He'll
disappear.
BOB
I want you to drug him, put him in
the front of a car and run a truck
into it at fifty miles an hour.
MUSSAWI
It's good to have you back in
town, Bob.
(CONTINUED)
56
76 CONTINUED: ( 2) 76
Mussawi turns and walks away, singing some familiar song.
CUT TO:
77 EXT. CITY - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 77
Drifting above tall glass buildings. Construction cranes
everywhere.
78 INT. SHANGRI-LA HOTEL ROOM - DAY 78
Tall glass buildings rise out of the white desert. Pan
and find Bryan Woodman staring out the window. He's on
his cell phone.
BRYAN (INTO PHONE)
There's an arrow on the ceiling
pointing the direction of Mecca.
(BEAT)
The Bin Laden group air-
conditioned Mecca. One of their
big projects. They made billions
and billions.
No response on the phone.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Women are covered head-to-foot
walking five feet behind the men.
(BEAT)
It's humid. 125 degrees and humid.
I walked out of the airport and it
was like a wall fell on me. All
the Arabs in white sheets. It
says, it's hot and I don't have to
work. I'd like to see them play
baseball dressed like this.
He dwindles away. silence on the other end of the phone.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Fine. I'm fine.
(BEAT)
No, I'm fine.
(BEAT)
How are you?
More silence. He looks down at the swimming pool of the
luxury hotel, a peaceful blue aberration in the
desiccated landscape.
57
79 INT. LOBBY - SHANGRI-LA HOTEL - DAY 79
Bryan stands alone under a vaulted atrium. An ARAB MAN in
white separates from a group and ushers him outside.
80 EXT. DESERT DRIVE - DAY 80
Tapioca dunes drift away for miles. An Oryx nests with
two of its young. A Range Rover splits the dunes.
81 EXT. NASIR'S DESERT HOUSE - DAY 81
On the deck of an elegant desert house composed mainly of
tents and sails a SUPPLICANT beseeches a favor from
Prince Nasir who reads a newspaper and watches TV.
SUPPLICANT
Your generosity is bigger than a
mountain that shades us from the
burning sun. I humbly ask for my
citizenship expiry date to be
extended.
The Prince nods his assent. Across the deck Bryan sits
with the PRINCESS AL-SUBAAI, 30, a Westernized young
woman with dignity beyond her years.
They watch as Nasir is served coffee by SERVANTS who make
sure not to block his view of the financial news. The
supplicants stare at the Princess.
PRINCESS AL-SUBAAI
They hate me being here, dressed
like this. My husband tells them,
she's a medical doctor, she'll
examine your children, but only
without a veil.
A SECRETARY checks a list and ushers another supplicant
forward.
SUPPLICANT #2
The money given for my children's
education was spent on farming and
camels, but your benevolence is
like the shade of palm trees in an
oasis.
Nasir nods then makes his way over. Bryan watches the
princess smile. Her husband kisses her cheek. Nasir sits.
PRINCE NASIR
My father has ordered the Marbella
estate to be razed.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
58
81 CONTINUED: 81
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
There will be a park. To lose a
first born son...
Nasir doesn't know what to say.
PRINCESS AL-SUBAAI
We're very sorry for your loss.
PRINCE NASIR
A house main was run in the wrong
place. The covering for the wiring
had deteriorated.
Bryan just stares at him.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
You're very angry. I understand.
BRYAN
You can't possibly understand.
82 EXT. DESERT RUINS - DAY 82
Tight on a falcon's face. Heat ripples across flat, white
desert. It's hallucinogenic.
NASIR
An ancestor of mine owned this
bird's ancestor before Christ was
born.
The falcon catches an updraft and rises effortlessly.
NASIR (CONT'D)
Six more North Field blocks will
be available for development. We
would like to offer your firm the
right to represent them.
BRYAN
Six blocks. Which phase?
NASIR
Phase three.
BRYAN
(CALCULATING)
Twenty-seven, twenty-eight million
cubic meters per day. We'll be in
the stream for what, ten one
hundredths of a cent, which is,
roughly... Seventy-five million
dollars.
Nasir nods.
(CONTINUED)
59
82 CONTINUED: 82
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Great. That's great. Seventy-five
million dollars...
(BEAT)
How much for my other kid?
Prince Nasir stares at Bryan.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
If I were your economic advisor
I'd tell you it's not the dumbest
thing you've ever done, but it'll
probably be the dumbest thing you
do today. Probably.
(BEAT)
But why would you need an economic
advisor? Twenty years ago you had
the highest GNP in the world and
now you're tied with Paraguay.
Your second biggest export is
second-hand goods. Followed by
dates on which you lose five cents
a pound.
(BEAT)
You want to know what the business
world thinks of you. They think a
hundred years ago you were
chopping each other's heads off in
the desert and that's exactly
where you'll be in another
hundred. So, yes, on behalf of my
firm, I accept your money...
NASIR
Okay, fine. I'll have the money
forwarded to your firm
immediately.
(BEAT)
And I'll give you another hundred
million for the other kid.
They look at each other.
NASIR (CONT'D)
OK. So now that you're my economic
advisor; tell me something I
haven't heard.
Bryan stares a beat, thinking.
BRYAN
Okay. You want an idea, here's an
idea.
(CONTINUED)
60
82 CONTINUED: (2) 82
He draws in the sand: he draws Nasir's kingdom, the
Persian Gulf, Iran. Turkey. And Europe.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Your kingdom is here. The North
Field is here. Europe is here.
Because of trade restrictions and
outdated alliances, you've been
selling your gas for peanuts,
loading it on ships, and waving as
it sails away.
(re: the stick)
But, pretend for a second this is
excess Iranian pipeline capacity.
He lays the stick across the circles in the sand like an
overland pipe running to Europe.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Here is your route. Overland.
Through Iran. You commoditize it,
you control it, you take it right
to the front door of every home in
Europe. Your profit just went up
by a factor of three, possibly
four. I think that's a pretty good
idea.
Overhead the falcons spiral higher and higher, chasing.
each other in the sky. The rising MURMUR of AMENS --
CUT TO:
83 INT. SUBURBAN MEGA CHURCH - DAY 83
A cavernous mega church, a religious Wal-Mart with 8500
worshippers in stadium seating. REVERAND STEWART, 30's,
intelligent and sincere, wears a headset --
REVERAND STEWART
And when Jesus had been Baptized,
just as he came up from the water,
suddenly the heavens were opened
and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and
alighting on him. And a voice from
heaven said, "This is my Son, the
Beloved, with whom I am well
pleased." Let us pray: 0 God, open
our hearts to your word and open
your word to our hearts. Amen.
AMENS. Danny Dalton, his WIFE and CHILDREN sit in good
seats up front. Danny has a flag pin on his lapel.
(CONTINUED)
61
83 CONTINUED: 83
REVERAND STEWART (CONT'D)
This is the third in our four week
series on Luke 2:52. And Jesus
continued to grow in wisdom,
stature, and in the love of God
and those who knew him. The task
is NOT getting more of God, but
letting God get MORE of us.
High above the pulpit, dead center of the auditorium is a
giant American flag waving under the cross.
Slowly the MURMURING RISE of different PRAYERS.
CUT TO:
84 INT. MOSQUE - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 84
A long narrow mosque packed with men kneeling shoulder to
shoulder CHANTING PRAYERS. Most of them are under thirty.
Their movements are unified and ecstatic.
THE CLERIC (V.0.)
They will try to disguise the
difference, to make Muslims who
speak about religion appear to be
fanatics or backward people.
85 INT. MADRASSA - DAY 85
Boys study at small desks. Boys chanting. Boys lined up.
Even smaller boys at smaller desks.
86 INT. SMALL ROOM - MADRASSA - DAY 86
A circle of TEENAGERS, round-shouldered, melancholy,
including Farooq and Wasim, sit at a table eating lamb
and french fries.
THE CLERIC (V.0.)
They will tell us the dispute is
over economic resources or
military domination and if we
believe that we play right into
their hands, with only ourselves
to blame.
There is a remarkable contrast between the setting at the
government barracks (sterile, poor) and the Mosque (warm,
rich). The teenagers wear serious expressions and
try/fail to be respectful as they gorge.
(CONTINUED)
62
86 CONTINUED: 86
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
No. The divide between human
nature and modern life cannot be
bridged by free trade. No. It
cannot be cured with deregulation,
privatization, openness or lower
taxes. No.
THE CLERIC, 40, is a serene man whose beard and glasses
make him appear older than his age. Wasim watches as he
talks in hypnotic cadence, making eye contact with each
boy in turn.
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
The pain of living in the modern
world will never be solved by a
liberal society.
The Cleric's sympathetic gaze falls on Wasim who is
bruised with black eyes from his beating.
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
Liberal societies have failed.
Christian theology has failed. The
West has failed.
He serves more lamb and vegetables to Wasim's plate.
Wasim begins hungrily eating again.
87 EXT. MADRASSA COMMUNAL FARM - DAY 87
Boys pull a plow in the fields. The sound of BEES.
THE CLERIC (V.0.)
The divine and the worldly are but
a single concept and that concept
is Koran.
They walk past bee hives spaced across the desert. Farooq
and Wasim and two OTHERS are with him.
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
No separation of religion and
state - Koran. Instead of Kings
legislating and slaves obeying -
Koran.
They stand in a corn field growing in the desert. The
boys are impressed with themselves as only young,
uneducated men can be when discussing philosophy and
politics with a learned man.
(CONTINUED)
63
87 CONTINUED: 87
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
The true confrontation is over
Islam. They must eradicate Islam
in order to rescue their own
doctrine from extinction. True
Islam will end up partial Islam.
And partial Islam cannot exist.
The cleric bends down to pull a weed.
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
Do you believe me when I tell you
this?
Wasim watches Farooq nod emphatically. They are full and
The Cleric seems to know everything in the world.
The Cleric surveys the boys with quiet exaltation, his
tenderness and compassion begins to affect Wasim.
THE CLERIC (CONT'D)
Now, who would like sweets before
prayer?
88 (OMIT) 88
CUT TO:
89 EXT. GOVERNMENT HALL - BEIRUT - DAY 89
A banner reads: UNION OF ARAB NATIONS - BEIRUT, LEBANON
Wide steps in a wide plaza. A CROWD watches as IMPORTANT
MEN, including Prince Nasir, sweep down the marble stairs
to microphones. The PRESS snaps photos.
PRINCE NASIR
We begin the process of empowering
a new generation of Arabs with the
skills and training necessary to
succeed globally...
Bryan claps dutifully. But he's on the phone, the cord
dangling from ear to Blackberry which reads "work."
BRYAN (INTO PHONE)
He invited me to come with him. I
think he thinks he's somekindof
reformer. He's got a nice jet.
Okay, very nice. Hold on a sec --
He glances at the Blackberry screen. Another call -- JULIE
HOME. He hits "IGNORE CALL."
(CONTINUED)
64
89 CONTINUED: 89
BRYAN (CONT'D)
Julie's fine with it.
PRINCE NASIR
our 13 point document is an
agreement on principles calling
for greater political freedom,
good governance and transparency,
advanced civil liberties and human
rights, women's rights, and
judicial reforms.
Bryan's phone vibrates again - JULIE HOME. He turns the
phone off.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
However, unlike Washington's
Greater Middle East Initiative, we
respect each country's right to
move at its own pace.
APPLAUSE. One leader after another solemnly shake hands
with Nasir as a photographer records the moment.
ANGLE - A WEATHERED MAN
In the crowd with a student's backpack at his feet.
PRINCE NASIR moves down the steps. Bryan and the rest of
his entourage join him heading toward black limousines.
WEATHERED MAN picks up his pack, moves around the crowd,
slips past a barrier.
WEATHERED MAN (ARABIC)
(to Prince Nasir)
You are a good man. I want to
shake your hand.
The bodyguards and police start shouting in Arabic.
GUARDS (ARABIC)
Stop. Don't move --
WEATHERED MAN wears a serious expression heading straight
for Nasir who turns and sees him --
WEATHERED MAN (ARABIC)
You are good man. Like Sadat, you
will shake my hand. Good man.
The guards are SCREAMING. People start scattering --
The weathered man is reaching in his backpack --
(CONTINUED)
65
89 CONTINUED: (2) 89
BODYGUARDS grab Nasir, hustling him toward a limo. Bryan
lunging after them --
The weathered man is tackled and pummeled.
The limos race away, sirens blaring, flags flying.
The weathered man is held and searched. They find pens
and pads. His spilled bag held books.
90 INT. LIMOUSINE - DAY 90
Nasir and Bryan in a stretch with bodyguards as they race
away with sirens blaring and flags flying.
Bryan is pale. He watches Prince Nasir settle back into
his seat. An AIDE fires Arabic at him.
AIDE (ARABIC)
Your highness, do you still want
to meet and greet?
PRINCE NASIR (ARABIC)
Everything as scheduled.
Nasir looks out the window. He switches to English for
Bryan but is speaking more to himself.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
Respect the right to move at their
own pace. Respect the right to do
nothing is more like it. Except
condemn Israel and strengthen the
conservative religious movements.
91 INT. ALBERGO LOBBY - DAY 91
Prince Nasir and his party enter the hotel and sweep
through the lobby. They approach the elevators. Bryan and
Prince Nasir and one bodyguard enter an elevator.
92 INT. ELEVATOR - ALBERGO - DAY .92
The elevator TONES at another floor. The elevator stops,
the door opens and BOB stands there.
PRINCE NASIR
American?
BOB
Canadian.
Nasir motions for them to squeeze together for Bob. The
gate closes. The lift creaks and begins to rise.
(CONTINUED)
66
92 CONTINUED: 92
Nasir is looking at Bob.
PRINCE NASIR
Don't see many Occidentals these
days.
Bob doesn't say anything.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
It's too bad.
Bob nods again. As the elevator moves higher more light
floods in through the wire mesh. Bob's eyes meet Nasir's.
93 EXT. ROOFTOP GARDEN - ALBERGO - DAY 93
Prince Nasir, Bryan, and bodyguards sit with a larger
party across the rooftop garden.
Bob sits by himself eating a sandwich. From below there
is the distant THUMPING of a car stereo.
A little bird dances along the railing watching for
crumbs. All of Beirut is spread out below.
PUSH past the bird over the railing where seven floors
below a Toyota Land Cruiser pulls around the hotel.
94 INT. ALBERGO LOBBY - DAY 94
An EMPLOYEE approaches another EMPLOYEE at the desk and
furtively pulls her away.
ANGLE THROUGH A DOOR to the front of the hotel, which is
now completely empty, except for the Toyota Land Cruiser
with dark tinted windows and five antennae. The stereo is
thumping some odd AMERICAN SONG.
95 EXT. ROOFTOP GARDEN - DAY 95
Bob puts down bills for his check. The waiter is nowhere
to be seen. There's no one behind the bar. No one at the
waiter's station.
Bob glances over at Prince Nasir who is laughing at
something in the Wall Street Journal.
96 INT. ALBERGO LOBBY - DAY 96
Shots of the empty lobby, someone DINGING the bell.
Everyone has disappeared.
67
97 INT. ALBERGO HALLWAY - DAY 97
Bob outside his hotel room door. The hallway is empty.
98 INT. BOB'S HOTEL ROOM - DAY 98
Bob enters his room, chaining the door. He turns and
THREE MEN with guns are standing there.
He's slammed against the door. Duct tape around his
mouth, his arms taped back, his legs wrapped. A black
duffel bag goes over him, swallowing the light.
99 EXT. LAND CRUISER - DAY 99
The duffle is heaved into the back of the Land Cruiser
with a THUD. The trunk gate is slammed --
MATCH CUT TO:
100 EXT. SMALL WAREHOUSE - DAY 100
The doors of a UPS truck open. Boxes loaded on a dolly.
Follow the dolly into --
101 INT. SMALL WAREHOUSE - DAY 101
A small warehouse. Roll past a few desks, some lamps. The
dolly stops. Tilt up to find --
Bennett finishing a file and starting another.
And beyond, a DOZEN PARALEGALS and the mountain of boxes
holding 1.3 million pages of documents.
Bennett's phone VIBRATES loudly. He checks the number.
102 INT. BAR - DAY 102
Tight on a hand written "business" card that says, "If
you find me, call my son, Bennett Jr., at this number."
Bennett takes the card from a bartender and finds his
father slumped in the corner of a seedy bar.
CUT TO:
103 INT. BARE BULB APARTMENT - DAY 103
A rundown kitchen. The windows are sealed. In another
room three MEN eat lunch, sharing a two liter bottle of
Mecca Cola, gossiping in Arabic.
(CONTINUED)
68
103 CONTINUED: 103
On a wooden table is a generator, a homemade shocking
device the size of masonry brick with a long wire to the
generator, and a thick pair of rubber gloves.
Bob is duct-taped tightly to a chair. His face is
battered. His mouth is cracked. He's severely dehydrated.
His hands and feet are dark purple and swollen.
A door opens. FOOTSTEPS. Mussawi's VOICE --
MUSSAWI (O.S.)
Bob, what do you know about
torture methods used by the
Chinese on the Falun Gong? Number
one method? What's your guess?
Water dungeon? Did-you guess water
dungeon? Impractical here.
Bob's POV of Mussawi crossing to the generator. He uses
the hand crank, which makes a grinding SOUND.
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
Number two method? Number two:
twisting arm, putting face in
feces. Not interested in two.
Number three? Number three they
call pulling nails from fingers.
What do you think, Bob? Does
Number three sound good to you?
He lets go of the generator and picks up an evil-looking
pair of pliers the size of bolt-cutters. Bob's POV over
his own hands as Mussawi approaches.
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
The purpose is to get them to
recant their beliefs.
Mussawi circles behind Bob who tries to speak but his
throat is too dry. Other MEN hold the chair steady.
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
What if I had to get you to'
recant? That would be difficult,
right? Because if you have no
beliefs to recant, then what?
Bob wiggles his hands as if they could escape. SOMEONE
mashes Bob's right hand flat, splaying the fingers.
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
You're fucked is what.
The pliers fix on the nail of his pinkie.
(CONTINUED)
69
103 CONTINUED: ( 2) 103
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
Bob, you're gonna give me the name
of every person who has taken
money from you.
Bob stares at him. Says nothing.
Slowly Mussawi pulls with the pliers. Bob's eyes half-
close. Mussawi jerks away. There's a fingernail in the
pliers. Mussawi retches.
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
Ugh. That's disgusting.
Bob is dazed. They throw water in his face.
MUSSAWI (CONT'D)
Come on, Bob. Help me out here.
As water drips down Bob's face he holds his tongue out
and drinks. His voice returns.
BOB
(RE: MSA)
Jimmy, you're not one of these
Koran thumpers.
The pliers attach to another nail.
MUSSAWI
The name is Mussawi.
TIGHT ON the pliers and nail as, ever so slowly, it is
ripped from Bob's hand.
104 ANGLE - LATER 104
BOB'S'POV - as his eyes open, water in them again, his
hands in the foreground -- ALL THE NAILS ARE GONE.
Mussawi leans in tight, furious.
MUSSAWI
You fucking fuck, fucking fuck
stupid fuck, what the fuck. This
is war you fuck. You're a
P.O.fuckingW. Give me the fucking
names.
From Bob's POV Mussawi loses his shit. He starts
battering Bob, blood flying in ropes, the chair sliding
across the floor. The men watch without expression.
(CONTINUED)
70
104 CONTINUED: 104
The force of a blow knocks the chair over and Bob's POV
is tilted against the floor. He hears his HEART and
ragged BREATH.
From this angle, he sees Mussawi cross to the table where
he picks up a handsaw.
MUSSAWI (ARABIC) (CONT'D)
I'm cutting his fucking head off.
His feet approaching Bob. Then a door slamming open. And
more feet, sandaled, in jalabas.
Bob's POV of HASHIMI'S MEN entering the room. They SHOUT.
HASHIMI'S MEN (ARABIC)
The said is very angry with you,
Mussawi. The Said keeps his word.
You're our guest, too, Mussawi.
105 ANGLE -- LATER 105
An empty Mecca Cola plastic bottles and other refuse,
then Bob, freed from the tape, appearing to be dead.
His eye-lids flutter ever so slightly. He twitches. Jerks
into consciousness. His eyes fix on a postcard leaning
against a cola bottle.
His POV of the picture on the card: an orphanage with
Said Hashimi's picture inlaid. And, written on the card:
CONSIDER A DONATION ON YOUR WAY OUT OF BEIRUT.
CUT TO:
106 EXT. RIVERFRONT - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 106
THE STINGER CRATE
is passed from one ancient vessel to another as we slowly
pull back to reveal hundreds of boats in a beehive of
unregulated trade.
CUT TO:
107 A FUEL TRUCK 107
rolls up next to a private jet. The fuel begins to tick,
thousands of dollars spinning by on the pump.
Bryan and Prince Nasir and others pass by and climb the
steps to the plane -
CUT TO:
71
108 A HOSPITAL ROOM 108
Bob in a six bed room. Nobody visiting. No cards or
flowers. His hands are bandaged.
CUT TO:
109 A MASS OF BODIES 109
filling a street and intersection, thousands of Muslims
praying, genuflecting, as far as the eye can see.
Farooq and Wasim among the praying men. They genuflect --
MATCH CUT TO:
110 INT. SMALL WAREHOUSE - NIGHT 110
Bennett sprawled over his desk, asleep. It's night.
There's no telling how long these guys have been here.
A paralegal, holding a piece of paper, wakes him.
PARALEGAL
I found this. wire transfer.
Bennett snaps awake. He looks at the document.
BENNETT
Russian. I don't read Russian. Get
it translated.
(BEAT)
Man, I was dreaming about
something good, too.
111 ANGLE - LATER 111
Bennett wanders over to the desk of another PARALEGAL. On
one side there's a big stack of a papers he's moving to
another stack. In the corner of the desk is a tiny stack.
BENNETT
What are these?
PARALEGAL #2
Orphans. Stuff that doesn't make
any sense.
Bennett idly fingers a piece of paper - a receipt.
PARALEGAL #2 (CONT'D)
Oh, that one's kind of
interesting. The Lily School.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
72
111 CONTINUED: 111
PARALEGAL #2 (CONT'D)
A boarding school in Switzerland.
Paid by wire transfer.
Bennett scans the paper, then turns to the room.
BENNETT
Everybody stop what you're doing.
They look up, bleary.
BENNETT (CONT'D)
We're starting again. I want you
to ignore any document that
doesn't pertain to VIDAK LIMITED.
V.I.D.A.K.
Everyone groans. Someone tosses a file in the air.
Bennett goes to his desk, looks up a number, dials the
number. A voice answers in RUSSIAN.
BENNETT (INTO PHONE) (CONT'D)
Hello... Hello. English?
(to the room)
Does anyone here speak Russian?
The paralegals just stare. Someone in the back shouts --
PARALEGAL
Yeah... Fuck you.
CUT TO:
112 EXT. THE SONG OF ROLAND - NIGHT 112
The fantail of Prince Meshal's yacht, SONG OF ROLAND, one
of many beautiful boats, anchored off Juan Les Pins.
A dinner party in progress. The tinkle of crystal and
music. Candles flicker. Glowing people.
113 INT. PRIVATE SALON - NIGHT 113
Cognac swirls. A gold cigar cutter slices off the tip.
Dean Whiting, Meshal, and REZA BARHANI, a middle-man,
light expensive cigars in a book-lined study on the boat.
REZA BARHANI
Capitalism cannot exist without
waste.
On the walls pictures of Meshal as a child with Reagan,
Qaddafi. As a teenager with Clinton, King Fahd,
Mitterrand, Chernomyrdin.
(CONTINUED)
73
113 CONTINUED: 113
REZA BARHANI (CONT'D)
We should write thank you notes to
Mr. Whiting and. the USA for
producing one quarter of the
world's garbage and one quarter of
the demand.
WHITING
You're certainly welcome. Ha, ha.
Our pleasure, really.
Bonhomie galore. But Meshal is either wary or stupid or
both. Reza points to a glass case where a huge leather-
bound book is displayed.
REZA BARHANI
Prince, that is a rare treasure.
(TO WHITING)
The First Arab edition of Dr.
Johnson's dictionary.
Meshal stares. It's his, but means nothing to him.
WHITING
Prince, is there anything we can
do for you?
The Prince thinks about this for a beat.
PRINCE MESHAL
Americans are very happy to drill
holes in other people's countries.
(TO WHITING)
I've heard of you. The cat's paw
of the Saudi Princes.
Whiting and Reza exchange a quick glance, but this is
what Dean Whiting lives for.
WHITING
I know your brother, the foreign
minister. Very bright. I know your
father, too. He threw the second
creepiest party I've ever been to
in Washington. And from what I can
tell you could probably use a bit
of a cat's paw yourself. Second
born son so beaten down by his
family he can't even tell me what
he wants when he's asked straight
out, a grown-up baby who hates his
brother and maybe wants to be
king, maybe.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
74
113 CONTINUED: ( 2) 113
WHITING (CONT'D)
Well, Prince, are you a king? Can
you tell me what you want?
The Prince is at first taken aback, but then takes a beat
to consider the offer. Whiting and the Middle-man wait.
PRINCE MESHAL
I do have one small dream, a
selfless dream. At my house I have
a perfect one-third replica of
Hyde Park. I have ducks and deck
chairs from the real Hyde Park.
(BEAT)
I wish for a monument to the
success of the moors in Europe in
the 8th century.
REZA BARHANI
That already exists. It is called
the Alhambra.
PRINCE MESHAL
A replica in my country to inspire
the people and a new Cordoba
Valley from which to view it. It
took the masters a hundred years,
but I believe we can do it in ten.
(BEAT)
By the way, do you know that my
brother does not believe in God?
Whiting sips his cognac and, considering the Prince, does
indeed look like a cat digesting a canary.
CUT TO:
114 EXT. MADRASSA CORNFIELD - DAY 114
Wind ripples across the leaves of corn. Wasim's hand
pulls weed grass. Farooq smiles mischievously.
115 EXT. MADRASSA "YARD" - DAY 115
Wasim, Farooq play soccer. Farooq is a natural athlete.
WASIM
The spider is a symbol of the sin
of man. He bites the finger of
Peter Parker who is now half dark
and half light.
(CONTINUED)
75
115 CONTINUED: 115
FAROOQ
A real spider captures, then
stings and immobilizes, then
watches as the prey takes days to
die.
WASIM
They'd never show that.
Suddenly they stop. MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA, the blue-eyed
Egyptian, has been watching them. They are embarrassed.
FAROOQ
Are we in trouble?
MSA smiles a patient, charismatic, spooky smile. They
already know each other.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA
Look around you at your family...
In an OPEN AIR CLASSROOM the Cleric leads young children
in recitation of the Koran. Boys walk to class. Boys plow
a field.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA (CONT'D)
Look around you at your brothers
united by faith in God Almighty
and submission to his law.
A bull sleeps in the shade.
FAROOQ
Wasim is still a virgin.
Wasim lightly shoves Farooq.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA
That is good because fornication
is a serious crime.
FAROOQ
I'm a virgin, too.
(BY ROTE)
It is an attack on honor and shows
contempt for sanctity and
encourages profligacy in society.
The call to prayer SOUNDS across the Madrassa. They wash
before prayer.
(CONTINUED)
76
115 CONTINUED: (2) 115
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA
When God Almighty has chosen us
for important work, we have no
choice but complete submission.
Spreading prayer mats on the ground where they stand,
they begin to pray. In the field, the boys pulling the
plows have begun to pray.
CUT TO:
116 EXT. CIA - SMOKING AREA - DAY 116
The Division chief enjoys a cigarette in a leafy
courtyard of the CIA office park.
Fred Franks hurries toward her. He stays upwind of the
cigarette.
FRANKS
We just received a dispatch from
Damascus, eight minutes old.
Mussawi's shopping a story that we
sent Bob to Beirut to assassinate
Prince Nasir.
The Division Chief drops her cigarette in a coffee can.
117 INT. HIGH CORNER OFFICE CIA - DAY 117
Terry George looks up from papers on his desk. He's got
his hand over the phone, and he isn't happy.
TERRY GEORGE
Can we get this guy? I mean now -
real time now.
FRANKS
Mussawi?
TERRY GEORGE
Yes. Mussawi.
(INTO PHONE)
I'll call you back.
Terry hangs up the phone. The Division Chief and Franks
exchange a glance.
DIVISION CHIEF
Practical answer is no. Not before
he goes into another mosque or
newspaper and this story gains
traction.
(CONTINUED)
77
117 CONTINUED: 117
TERRY GEORGE
He's got Bob's name?
DIVISION CHIEF
Not his real name. But he's
shopping photos of them doing the
deal, long lens. Photos of Bob
being held. He's lucky he's alive.
FRANKS
The whole contact was a set-up.
Mussawi apparently now works for
Iran. First, he tortures our guy,
then peddles the CIA connection.
This is not good at all. After a moment to think, he
spits this out, quickly:
TERRY GEORGE
Put some air between us and Bob.
Bob has a long history of
entrepreneurial operations. We
haven't really had a handle on Bob
for years. After nine one one,
some people got too much leeway,
let their emotions get the best of
them. These are complex times.
There's already an active
investigation into Bob's actions
in, help me out here --
They begin to spin the line together.
FRANKS
Tehran? The Amiri brothers job?
TERRY GEORGE
.We're trying to find out who,
might have hired Bob for the Amiri
brothers job. Could the same
people be behind the Nasir job? A
lot of people seem to want this
Prince Nasir dead and Bob knows a
lot of people.
(DONE)
Fill in the rest, send me
everything. Is that it?
Fred is impressed. You don't get to be Terry George
without some skills.
CUT TO:
78
118 INT. HALLWAY - WALTER REED HOSPITAL - DAY 118
At the end of a depressing hallway, Bob sits in a chair,
his bandaged hands in front of him.
CIA SECURITY OFFICER (O.S.)
You first established contact with
the Amiri brothers in 1998?
BOB
Yes.
CIA SECURITY OFFICER (O.S.)
You met them at a party in the
South of France?
BOB
Yes.
Bob is framed by two, not-bright CIA SECURITY OFFICERS.
CIA SECURITY OFFICER
Party given by Reza Barhani?
BOB
Yes.
CIA OFFICER #2
Were you aware they were involved
in the illegal arms trade?
BOB
Of course I was aware. It's why I
went after them.
CIA SECURITY OFFICER #2
Were you aware these two men were
Iranian Intelligence Officers?
Bob can't believe the question.
BOB
what do you think?
CIA SECURITY OFFICER #2
Mr. Baer. This is a diplomatic
incident. Two men were murdered.
We've been tasked with the Damage
Assessment.
CIA SECURITY OFFICER
We'll need you to turn your
passport over to us.
(CONTINUED)
79
118 CONTINUED: 118
CIA SECURITY OFFICER #2
Passports.
119 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - WALTER REED - DAY 119
Bob in his bed. He stares out the window at a red brick
wall, a fragment of sky. He sees MARGARET in the doorway.
MARGARET
In their helpful way they told me
you were at one of six places but
since you were a number and not a
name did I happen to have that
number. No. No is the answer to
whether I have your number.
She rests her hand on the railing of the bed. On the
verge, she looks away, then back again.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
They wouldn't give me any
information. I didn't know how to
find you, what I'd find...
He pulls her close, careful of his bandaged hands.
BOB
I'm okay. I'm fine. Hey --
MARGARET
(into his chest)
They wouldn't tell me a thing. Not
one thing.
He holds her. As she becomes aware of the bandages on his
hands, as her worry has been abating, anger has
ineluctably filled in behind.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
Where were you, Bob?
He looks at her; he can't tell her the truth.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
Were you back in Beirut?
He just stares. This is infuriating.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
Bob, please tell me where you were
and tell me what happened. Please.
Bob motions for her to come closer.
(CONTINUED)
80
119 CONTINUED: 119
BOB
I saw these Shiites selling an
Egyptian a missile. In Iran. I had
a feeling about this guy, a Sunni
nut-job, but I'm back here where I
got on the wrong side of Terry,
then an opportunity just happened
to come up involving someone I
worked with before, not a radical,
I mean, he went to Rutgers, only
now he flips, wants to cut my
goddamn head off. And now they got
me isolated away in here and they
send these suits around asking me
nonsense questions about bad
people who are no longer with us,
no longer with us on their goddamn
orders. So you tell me what
happened. You tell me, Margaret.
Margaret doesn't know what to say so she says nothing.
CUT'TO:
120 INT./EXT. GENEVA - DAY 120
Arabs strolling along the street. Nasir and hisfamily
shop in an expensive jewelry store.
121 INT. HOTEL PRESIDENT WILSON - DAY 121
Arabs stare out windows at the rain. Doors are open.
People mingle. Smoke is in the air.
A young WOMAN walks by, holding the hand of a much older
MAN, laughing at something he's saying.
122 INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT 122
Bryan plays Monopoly with a group of young Arab MEN. They
are using real money. The "bank" is stacks of hundreds
and fifties and twenties. They smoke and drink. An Arab
youth moves the silver top hat.
ARAB YOUTH
Shit. Park Place. Shit --
Park Place with hotels. Bryan holds Park Place. The Arab
Youth takes off his diamond encrusted Rolex and tosses it
toward the bank.
ARAB YOUTH (CONT'D)
Where are you from in the States?
(CONTINUED)
81
122 CONTINUED: 122
BRYAN
El Segundo.
No one has heard of it.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
It's near Los Angeles.
ARAB YOUTH
Movie stars, convertibles?
BRYAN
El Segundo is like Saudi Arabia
with a surf break.
They hoot and protest. They don't believe him.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
It's a desert town on an ocean
controlled by an oil company.
Tankers lined up offshore. There's
this smell in the air. They pass
out flyers to families moving in.
This town is a quiet town where
everyone works and our families
are happy. If you have a problem
with it or if you don't like the
smell, you can leave.
ARAB YOUTH
If anyone works, it can't be Saudi
Arabia.
They all LAUGH LOUDLY, then the laughter fades as they
realize Julie and Riley are in the hotel room.
Julie eyes the money and the Asian girl in the corner.
JULIE
He wanted to say good night to his
father.
Riley goes over and stiffly gives Bryan a hug.
CUT TO:
123 INT. VENDING AREA - CIA - DAY 123
A vending machine HISSES filling a cup. Bob presses the
extra dark button, bandages on the tips of his fingers.
Bob looks over and sees people staring. They look away.
82
124 INT. DIVISION CHIEF ANTEROOM - CIA - DAY 124
Bob stands in front of an ASSISTANT'S desk.
ASSISTANT
she's in a meeting.
BOB
What about Fred?
ASSISTANT
He's in a meeting.
125 INT. BOB'S OFFICE - DAY 125
Bob behind his desk. He turns to his computer.
ON THE SCREEN: CIA proprietary software. He brings up a
search for PRINCE NASIR AL-SUBAAI. He hesitates. Finally,
he hits return.
ON THE SCREEN: PRINCE NASIR AL-SUBAAI - BLACKTAPE FILE.
ACCESS DENIED.
Bob carefully types with his damaged fingers.
ON THE SCREEN: HANDLING AGENTS FOR MUSSAWI. MUSSAWI -
BLACKTAPE. ACCESS DENIED. HANDLING AGENT - BLACKTAPE.
ACCESS DENIED.
Bob takes a sip of coffee. The wall clock reads: 10:10.
ON THE SCREEN: MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA. BLACKTAPE FILE.
ACCESS DENIED.
ANGLE - LATER
Bob at'his desk. The clock reads: 10:40. He hears a
distant TONE. TONE, TONE, TONE. It's a computer POP-UP
TONE. And it's getting closer.
ANGLE - Through the glass boxes at distant offices.
WORKERS turn, check their computers, one after another.
TONE, TONE, TONE. Bob's computer TONES. He turns.
ON THE SCREEN: a pop-up box reading - THIS COMPUTER IS
BEING AUDITED BY THE INSPECTOR GENERAL STAFF.
126 EXT. FRED FRANKS' NEIGHBORHOOD - EVENING 126
A middle-class suburban neighborhood so new the
landscaping is still tied to stakes. Half-built houses at
the ends of streets. Kids playing Wiffle-ball.
83
127 INT./EXT. DODGE K-CAR - DAY 127
Bob pulls up on the quiet street. He checks the rear-view
where a car with two MEN are following him. Bob pops a
book on tape in and waits. It's Anna Karenina in Farsi.
Fred Franks pulls into his driveway and gets out of the
car. His WIFE appears at the front door and his kids
gambol around -- exactly the tableau Bob has never had.
Fred doesn't see Bob until Bob is right on him.
BOB
Fred.
Fred turns and sees Bob, looks around uncomfortably.
BOB (CONT'D)
What's going on, Fred?
FRED FRANKS
(to his wife)
Honey, take the kids inside, would
you? I'll be in in a sec.
Bob and Fred watch the family go up the walk.
FRED FRANKS (CONT'D)
Bob, FBI's got it. Nothing I can
do about it. You know that. It's a
criminal investigation. Two men
were killed.
This bureaucratic defense sends Bob over the edge --
BOB
I was almost killed, Fred. My
hands were mutilated. And they're
asking me about the Amiri
brothers? About Tehran?
FRED FRANKS
You gotta understand. This wrecks
careers. I shouldn't even be
talking to you.
BOB
I typed in Prince Nasir Al-Subai
and my computer gets seized.
FRED FRANKS
I'm advising you to drop it.
(CONTINUED)
84
127 CONTINUED: 127
BOB
Where did this Prince Nasir job
come from? Why was I tortured. Why
am I being investigated? Why was I
sent?
NEIGHBORS stare. Fred's kids look out the window.
FRED FRANKS
Goodbye, Bob.
Lifting up to see Bob isolated in the grid of identical,
treeless houses.
CUT TO:
128 INT. MANDARIN HOTEL - BALLROOM C - DAY 128
The SECRETARY OF DEFENSE projected onto a giant screen.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (ON SCREEN)
In whatever lies ahead, the United
States will remain a friend to the
Iranian people...
A large ballroom at a Washington hotel. It's a lunch
meeting of the COMMITTEE TO LIBERATE IRAN packed with
Washington hawks - middle-aged white men in gray suits.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONT'D)
They have suffered years of brutal
repression, years of domestic
terror from their own rulers.
At the head table: Reza Barhani; Tommy Barton of CONNEX;
Reps of Halliburton, Bechtel, Danny Dalton, Dean Whiting.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONT'D)
A new regime would bring
deliverance for Iran. Iranian
resources are abundant, its
culture is rich, its citizens are
talented. And given a chance,
there is no limit to what the
Iranian people can achieve.
129 INT. MANDARIN HALLWAY - DAY 129
On the other side of the doors, Bennett stands with THREE
HOTEL SECURITY GUARDS. The Secretary of Defense's VOICE
travels through the doors, muffled.
(CONTINUED)
85
129 CONTINUED: 129
HOTEL SECURITY GUARD
You're not on the list. You don't
have a badge and you don't have a
wristband.
Bennett looks at the three guards. He pulls out a card
and scribbles ONE WORD on the back.
BENNETT
Take this to Sydney Hewitt. Now.
(BEAT)
Please.
INSIDE THE ROOM the guard makes his way to Sydney Hewitt
and hands him the card.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Their hopes are the same as all
people in every land: to lead
lives of dignity in a nation at
peace. And America will help them.
APPLAUSE as Sydney looks up sharply. At the head table:
Dean Crutcher, Reza, and Tommy clap along heartily.
MATCH CUT TO:
130 INT. CONNEX BOARDROOM - DAY 130
Tommy, his PERSONAL LAWYER at his ear, --
TOMMY
Not to my recollection --
Bennett and Sydney square off against Tommy, Jimmy, their
personal lawyers, one apiece.
BENNETT
Killeen Oil through Daniel Dalton
and PetroKa Energy Consultants
created assetless shell companies
owned by the heirs of President
Nazerbayev. This was. discussed...
(checks his notes)
At the Upstream Division Meeting
held in January of 2003 in Sun
Valley, Idaho?
TOMMY
I was at the meeting, but I don't
focus on those kinds of details.
(CONTINUED)
86
130 CONTINUED: 130
BENNETT
Wherein it was described that
Killeen bore all financial risk,
but President Nazerbayev's
children, while attending The Lily
School in Switzerland, were
entitled to all of the profits -
seventy million dollars.
Tommy's personal lawyer leans in and whispers in his ear.
TOMMY
I attended the meeting but, as I
said, I don't focus on those kinds
of details.
BENNETT
Daniel Dalton Jr. and PetroKa
Energy Consultants --
TOMMY'S LAWYER
A firm retained by Killeen well
prior to Connex's involvement --
JIMMY
Oh, fer Chrissakes, Tommy, we both
got letters from the Grand Jury,
it's not your own private little
pity party --
BENNETT
A good faith purchaser is in good
faith only if they didn't know
about the problems at the time of
the purchase --
TOMMY
This is the oil business we're
talking about, right?
JIMMY
The lowliest little shareholder
knows we deal with some of the
most stank places on earth --
BENNETT
It is illegal to offer gifts,
money or the promise of money or
anything of value to influence
foreign officials --
(CONTINUED)
87
130 CONTINUED: ( 2) 130
JIMMY
Oh, is it? I have personally seen
a bill from this law firm to the
government of Saudi Arabia for 36
million dollars. A one line bill
for services rendered.
BENNETT
The business of Whiting, Sloan is
not under discussion at this time.
JIMMY
Well, it oughta be. Danny's a good
man. He's a friend of mine.
CUT TO:
131 EXT. LAKE FRONT - GENEVA - DAY 131
The ARAB YOUTH exits the hotel and runs across the wide
waterfront square. He cuts for a lone figure sitting on
wall. He runs up to Bryan.
ARAB YOUTH
They've sued the Emir on the Isle
of Jersey and frozen his money. He
was in Bulgari and his credit card
stopped working.
132 INT. NASIR'S SUITE - DAY 132
Prince Nasir tosses a newspaper at Bryan --
PRINCE NASIR
Some people, cousins of mine
actually, sued my father in The
Commonwealth alleging that he
broke agreements to repay funds
transferred from the State.
Bryan follows Nasir. He glances at a photo of AGGRIEVED
ARABS leaving court with DEAN WHITING looking protective.
BRYAN
A Mareva injunction?
PRINCE NASIR
Aggrieved Royals. Aggrieved about
what? That he tried to cut their
allowances from one hundred
thousand a month to eighty.
They pass wife, children, hangers-on. Room after room.
(CONTINUED)
88
132 CONTINUED: 132
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
There are 300 years of corrupt
layers in the middle-east and you
have to break the ice. There must
be structural changes. I tell
them, with just one of your boats
you could revolutionize Yemen,
build desalinization plants. The
man with the 200 foot boat needs a
250 foot boat. The man with 250.
now needs 300.
They dead-end in a small office. The Emir's JAPANESE
SECRETARY half-rises.
PRINCE NASIR (ARABIC) (CONT'D)
I want to see my father.
The secretary shakes his head. Nasir is furious.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
My cousins aren't bright enough to
be anything but finger-puppets. My
brother has faith only in his own
cunning. Then again, what should I
expect, his mother was a whore.
And he's hired American lawyers.
(TO BRYAN)
What do you suppose they are
thinking, my brother and these
American lawyers?
Bryan takes in the hangers-on in expensive suits peeking
from the doorway, the view to Lake Geneva. It's surreal.
BRYAN
What are they thinking? They're
thinking we're running out. We're
running out and ninety percent of
what's left is in the Middle East.
So if you look at the whole
progression from Versailles,
through Suez, 1973, Gulf War One,
Gulf War II, it's really shaping
up as a fight to the death.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
89
132 CONTINUED: (2) 132
BRYAN (CONT'D)
so what they're thinking is keep
playing, keep buying your toys,
keep spending fifty thousand
dollars a night for your hotel
room, but don't invest in your
infrastructure, don't build a real
economy, so when you finally wake
up, they will have sucked you dry
and you will have squandered the
greatest natural resource in
history.
The Prince remains impassive. After a beat --
PRINCE NASIR
Come with me, please.
133 INT. A QUIET ROOM - HOTEL SUITE - DAY 133
Nasir speaks privately with Bryan.
PRINCE NASIR
I studied at Oxford. I have a PHD
from Georgetown. I want to create
a parliament. I want to give women
the right to vote. I want an
independent Judiciary. I want, to
start a new petroleum exchange in
the Middle-east and cut the
speculators out of the business.
why are the major oil exchanges in
New York and London anyway? I'll
put all of our energy up for
competitive bidding, I'll pipe
through Iran to Europe like you
proposed, I'll ship to China,
anything that achieves efficiency
and maximizes profits for my
people, profits which I'll then
use to rebuild my country.
BRYAN
That's great, that's exactly what
you should do.
PRINCE NASIR
Exactly, except your President
calls my father, says, I've got
unemployment in Texas, Kansas,
Washington State. One phone call
later we're stealing out of our
social programs to buy overpriced
airplanes. We owed the Americans,
but we've repaid that debt.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
90
133 CONTINUED: 133
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
I accepted a Chinese bid, the
highest bid. And suddenly I'm a
terrorist. I'm a Godless
communist.
Nasir hopes takes the newspaper out of Bryan's hand.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
Dean Whiting.
Tight on: Dean Whiting with the aggrieved royals.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
Who represents not only these
aggrieved royals but also Connex
Oil. They're pressuring my father
to invalidate the Chinese
contracts. They underestimate him.
This is about his legacy to his
people.
CUT TO:
134 (OMIT) 134
135 EXT. MADRASSA - DAY 135
Wasim sis studying, slowly, sounding out the words. He
writes crudely formed letters. He sees Farooq goofing
around with friends.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA (V.0.)
We are a small group, the ones who
carry convictions and ambitions.
And an even smaller group from
this group, are the ones who flee
from the worldly life in order to
spread and act upon these
ambitions.
Mohammed Sheik Agiza leads the boys through underbrush on
the communal farm. They approach a small farm shed.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA (CONT'D)
And an even smaller group from
this elite group are the ones who
sacrifice their souls and their
blood in order to bring victory to
these ambitions and principles.
136 INT. FARM SHED -- DAY 136
MSA pulls mats aside revealing a hatch in the floor. He
opens the hatch. A STINGER MISSILE case is hidden below.
He drags out the case. They help him set it on a table.
(CONTINUED)
91
136 CONTINUED: 136
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA
So you are the cream of the cream
of the cream. It is possible for
us to achieve glory only by
traversing this path.
MSA opens the case and, as he shows off the Stinger, we
notice a SMILEY FACE scratched into the metal.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA (CONT'D)
American-made. Good quality, but
nearly impossible to hit anything.
MSA lifts out another device: a conical SHAPED CHARGE.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA (CONT'D)
By shaping the charge, this will
send a blast of molten copper
through thirty inches of steel.
The boys are wide-eyed. This is the coolest pocket-knife
they've ever seen.
CUT TO:
137 INT. MULTIPLEX - MALL - DAY 137
DEATH FIST III! BROSNAN IS BOND! Bob walks past posters
in an air-conditioned theater lobby. A bored concession
stand WORKER ignores him.
BOB (V.0.)
Stan, why did Mussawi double-cross
me? Why does no one care that a
Sunni radical named Mohammed Sheik
Agiza has our missile? And why did
they open a damage assessment on
the Amiris? And on me. For doing
my job?
138 INT. THEATER - DAY 138
An empty matinee. Bob sits next to Stan Goff.
STAN
Questions two and three seem
obvious to me. Missiles are
everywhere. Christ, Casey gave 'em
out like party favors. This damage
assessment, well, let's just say
Nasir wasn't a home run. They're
worried. About fall-out.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
92
138 CONTINUED: 138
STAN (CONT'D)
They're worried you may want to
talk about it. But if you're
already under investigation?
BOB
What about Mussawi?
STAN
Mussawi's a soldier. He's just
like you.
Bob stares at Stan who continues.
STAN (CONT'D)
Maybe he found God. Maybe he was
having a bad day. Maybe Americans
shouldn't travel these days.
BOB
Did Prince Nasir hide Mohammed
Sheik Agiza in the Water Ministry?
Does he fund terrorist
organizations?
STAN
Tell people what they want to hear
and they have a better chance of
believing you. People were paid to
lie, coached on their polygraphs.
Single sources spread through
different intelligence agencies
that don't communicate with each
other. You know how it's done.
BOB
Who's worried about the Nasir job?
Stan, who's worried about me
talking?
On the screen: a LOUD, ACTION BEAT. Stan leans over and
WHISPERS --
CUT TO:
139 EXT. ENERGY DEPARTMENT - DAY 139
Hulking structures in concrete like Albert Speer's vision
of heaven as Danny D. rants at Bennett --
(CONTINUED)
93
139 CONTINUED: 139
DANNY D.
Some trust fund prosecutor, got
off-message at Brown, thinks he's
gonna run this up the flag pole,
make a name for himself, maybe get
elected some two-bit, no-name
congressman from nowhere, with the
result that Russia or China can
suddenly start having, at our
expense, all the advantages we
enjoy here. No, I tell you. No.
(MINCING)
But, Danny, these are sovereign
nations... Sovereign nations! What
is a sovereign nation, but a
collective of greed run by one
individual. But, Danny, they're
codified by the U.N. charter.
Legitimized gangsterism on a
global basis that has no more
validity than an agreement between
the Crips and the Bloods!
Passing people shoot sidelong glances. A GROUP of men in
suits are clearly waiting for Danny D.
DANNY D. (CONT'D)
Corruption charges. Corruption?
Corruption ain't nothing more than
government intrusion into market
efficiencies in the form of
regulation. That's Milton
Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel
prize. We have laws against it
precisely so we can get away with
it. Corruption is our protection.
Corruption is what keeps us safe
and warm. Corruption is why you
and I are here in the white-hot
center of things instead of
fighting each other for scraps of
meat out there in the streets.
(BEAT)
Corruption... is how we win.
Danny D. winds down. Finally --
BENNETT
You broke the law, Mr. Dalton.
DANNY D.
Oh, who gives a shit!
(CONTINUED)
94
139 CONTINUED: (2) 139
BENNETT
You have 37 million dollars hidden
away and the only question I can
see of any relevance is whether
you'll get to keep any of it.
The two men are tiny against the architecture, the
nation's capitol going on with it's day around them.
140 EXT. CAPITOL HILL -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - DAY 140
Sydney approaches Bennett who eats his lunch outside the
law offices of whiting and Sloan.
SYDNEY
How'd it go? Think you'll get
invited on any more hunting trips?
BENNETT
He has kids. He's got a wife.
SYDNEY
He broke the law.
Sydney holds out a golden envelope to Bennett.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
Mr. Janus himself wanted me to
extend an invitation to oilman of
the Year. He's being honored so it
should be a nice weekend. Relax.
Get a massage. Congratulations.
Perhaps the slightest flicker of distaste crosses
Bennett's face. On the reverse the Capitol Building is so
close you could reach out and touch it.
CUT TO:
141 INT. EMIR'S SUITE - GENEVA - DAY 141
A vast hotel suite, SILENT until the Emir's electric
wheelchair rolls into sight.
He rolls across marble, through rooms, until he
approaches Prince Nasir and Prince Meshal. A long beat
before the Emir speaks in Arabic.
EMIR
I am tired.
PRINCE NASIR
FATHER --
(CONTINUED)
95
141 CONTINUED: 141
The Emir raises his hand. Nasir gets control of himself.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
Who will be Emir?
The Emir looks away, then back at Prince Nasir.
EMIR
Your brother.
Prince Nasir looks from his father to brother and back.
PRINCE MESHAL
I would ask you to remain as
Foreign Minister.
Prince Meshal sticks out his hand. Nasir ignores it and
speaks to his father.
PRINCE NASIR
You cannot do this. He is barely
qualified to run a brothel much
less a country.
EMIR
(VAGUELY)
I like Europe, the precipitation.
I will be happy to stay here. My
decision is final and I ask you to
support your brother.
PRINCE NASIR
I cannot do that.
142 EXT. GENEVA LAKE FRONT - DAY 142
The ROAR of water as the fountain cascades down. Riley
plays along the low wall beside it. Bryan and Julie hover
nearby. Around them people speak German and French.
BRYAN
Sure, it looks like just hanging
around in a hotel but that's how
these people do business. It's
world historical stage time. With
the delivery deals we can make in
Europe, transport through Iran,
this guy might be able to
revolutionize not just his
country, but the whole region.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
96
142 CONTINUED: 142
BRYAN (CONT'D)
His dad's about to keel over and
Prince Nasir could be like
Mossadegh in Iran in 1952, with a
real democracy springing up
organically. I mean if we could
just be a part of one of these
countries getting a Parliament,
helping them find efficiency,
showing them how real incentivized
capitalism can do its job --
JULIE
Stop it! Look at me.
The fountain shoots up and cascades down. Riley leans
toward the water and for a second his feet lift up. Bryan
starts up, but then Riley is playing again.
BRYAN
Julie, the little trading company
I work for is now the chief
economic advisor to Prince Nasir.
Do you know what this means? It's
like someone put a giant ATM on
our front lawn.
JULIE
Here's a question: how do you
think it looks to profit off the
death of your six year-old?
This gets through, but then --
BRYAN
Fuck you. I changed the diapers
and put cream on rashes and gave
bottles in the night and went to
doctor's check-ups and worried
about percentiles... I did
everything right. I did everything
right.
They look at each other and, for a second, it seems he
may melt and hold her, but he doesn't and it's cruel.
JULIE
Bryan, we're going back to
America.
BRYAN
Good.
(CONTINUED)
97
142 CONTINUED: ( 2) 142
She heads for Riley who lets go of a balloon. It floats
up past the watch signs plastered on the buildings.
CUT TO:
143 INT. BEDROOM - GEORGETOWN MANSION - NIGHT 143
A phone RINGS a muted electronic BEEP. Dean Whiting
answers the phone.
WHITING
(SLEEPY VOICE)
Hello.
ALARM COMPANY
Hello, is this Mr. Why-Teeng? This
is HomeTech Security.
He reaches for the bedside light and snaps it on. Mrs.
Whiting is a lump on the far side of the bed.
WHITING
This is Mr. Whiting.
ALARM COMPANY
We're showing a motion sensor
failure in your downstairs study.
WHITING
Yes.
Whiting glances at the wall readout on his alarm --
DOWNSTAIRS STUDY flashing.
ALARM COMPANY
Like I said we're getting a
failure message. You want me to
stay on the phone with you while
you walk around or send a car?
Whiting reaches under his bed and pulls a gun box. He
flips the combination. Three pistols. He selects the
largest and switches off the light.
WHITING
I'll walk around.
144 INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT 144
Whiting closes the bedroom door and switches on the hall
light. Lots of closed doors. He walks down the stairs.
98
145 INT. DOWNSTAIRS - NIGHT 145
He reaches around a wall and hits the living room lights.
He crosses the living room and library, hitting lights as
he goes. Then a kitchen. The house is quiet.
WHITING
(INTO PHONE)
Everything's fine.
146 INT. DOWNSTAIRS STUDY - NIGHT 146
Whiting's study, unlike the standard, upper-crust,
decorating of the rest of the home, has a specific Middle-
Eastern flair. Persian antiques. Pictures of Whiting on a
camel, with Persian friends at oxford in the sixties.
Whiting is an Arabist.
The motion sensor light is on. Whiting tries a window.
ALARM COMPANY
How're we doing, Mr. Why-Teeng?
It's secure. He tries another one. It's secure.
WHITING
(INTO PHONE)
Everything's fine.
There's a sliding glass door that leads to a patio and
pool. Whiting tries it and it slides open.
WHITING (CONT'D)
(INTO PHONE)
The sliding door is unlocked.
He turns slowly. The room looks different. There is an
alcove with a wet-bar and walk-in closets.
ALARM COMPANY
Did you leave it unlocked?
WHITING
Send a car, you imbecile.
He looks at the alcove and closet. Just then, the desk
phone RINGS, startling him. The phone rings and rings.
on the wall behind Whiting's head are beautifully framed
photos with Kissinger, Clinton, King Fahd. Rack focus off
Whiting and slowly ZOOM to...
AN OLD PHOTO
(CONTINUED)
99
146 CONTINUED: 146
Of Dean Whiting and the old EMIR, NASIR'S FATHER.
WHITING (CONT'D)
(FINALLY ANSWERING)
Hello.
147 INT. DENNY'S RESTAURANT - NIGHT 147
It's early morning. A couple of drunks at the counter.
Bob is at a booth with a mug of coffee. Dean Whiting
appears outside the window, enters the restaurant, sits.
BOB
You were in Beirut in '84.
WHITING
I lost friends there as I'm sure
you did.
(BEAT)
I got a peek at your file. You're
a good man, one whose experience
is narrow and deep. Your entire
career you've been used and
probably never even known what
for.
BOB
I didn't used to need to know.
A Grand Slam Breakfast is set in front of Bob.
WHITING
In this town, you're innocent
until you're investigated.
Bob looks up and squints at the waitress' name-tag.
BOB
Bacon looks perfect, Deborah.
Bob puts syrup on the pancakes. Eats a piece of bacon.
BOB (CONT'D)
Innocent until investigated.
That's nice. It has a nice ring to
it. I bet you've worn some miles
on little sayings like that. Very
wise, gives the listener the sense
of law being written as it's
spoken.
(BEAT)
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
100
147 CONTINUED: 147
BOB (CONT'D)
If anything happens to me or my
family, an accident, an
accusation, anything, then first
your son will disappear, his body
will never be found. Then your
wife. Her body will never be found
either. This is guaranteed. Then,
whatever is the most dangerous
thing you do in your life, it
might be flying in a small plane,
it might be walking to the bank,
you will be killed.
(BEAT)
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I want you to acknowledge that you
do understand so that we're clear
and there won't be any mistakes.
After a beat, Whiting nods.
WHITING
Beirut rules, Mr. Baer?
Whiting loves the game. Bob looks tired, maybe a little
sad.
BOB
I've made decisions that resulted
in deaths, but I never lost a
nights sleep. Never. I killed
people, but I always had about 500
pages of U.S. law behind me, law
that I believed in, and that was
good enough.
WHITING
You still do, Mr. Baer. You still
do.
Bob stares at him.
BOB
I want my passports back.
CUT TO:
148 EXT. D.C. - DAY 148
Tight on Bennett as he runs through a downtrodden
neighborhood. Sweat dripping, breathing heavily, he runs
faster and faster. People on stoops watch him go.
He's oblivious to the UNMARKED CAR following him. Finally
the car races up beside him. The window rolls down and
Donald Parish III's face appears.
(CONTINUED)
101
148 CONTINUED: 148
FARISH
Bennett, hey. Come on. Take a ride
with me.
Bennett keeps jogging.
FARISH (CONT'D)
Bennett, I know you know about the
crime fraud exception to attorney
client privilege?
BENNETT
I do, Don. Very well.
FARISH
Then, you also know your client is
into some shady stuff and it's
starting to look like you could be
involved in hiding the true nature
of the transactions.
Bennett stops. Farish's car stops. Bennett is panting.
BENNETT
That's quite a statement, Don.
149 INT. UNMARKED CRUISER - DAY 149
Bennett rides with Farish. A long beat. Finally --
BENNETT
One word. Dalton.
FARISH
Danny Dalton?
BENNETT
Defrauded the Government of
Kazakhstan of funds to which it
was entitled, defrauded the people
of Kazakhstan of the right to the
honest services of their elected
and appointed officials. Seven
years, does three, maybe two point
seven, on your recommendation.
out the window the bad neighborhood is giving way back to
the developing neighborhood where Bennett lives.
FARISH
And let me guess: this was a solo
act, without the knowledge of
Connex or Killeen Oil, of Mr. Lee
Janus or Jimmy Pope.
(CONTINUED)
102
149 CONTINUED: 149
BENNETT
Dalton's a bit of a rogue, it's
true.
FARISH
And he'll have a nice little trust
fund waiting when he gets out.
BENNETT
Not so little, I imagine.
(BEAT)
Don, we can spend the next five
years in court to get back to this
very place we are right now. They
will fight tough. They will fight
dirty. They will pressure your
boss. They will pressure the
people who appointed your boss.
They will pressure the wives of
the people who appointed your
boss. You won't ever hit 'em any
harder than this. And you know it.
Bennett waits. After a beat Farish shakes his head.
FARISH
I'm sorry, Bennett. I don't think
Dalton's enough.
CUT TO:
150 INT. BENNETT'S LIVING ROOM - DAY 150
Bennett uses the claw end of a hammer to pry the front
off a large wooden crate. His father sits across the room
reading the paper. The side of the box comes down.
Bennett stares --
ANGLE - THE STUFFED HEAD OF A KUDU.
Bennett Sr. stares, then lights a cigarette.
BENNETT
(re: the cigarette)
What are you doing?
BENNETT SR.
The question is what are you
doing?
(CONTINUED)
103
150 CONTINUED: 150
BENNETT
Really. Well, I'll tell you what
I'm not doing: I'm not running a
shelter. You going back to work?
No answer.
BENNETT (CONT'D)
What happened at your job anyway?
Another jerk? Another white
asshole? What? You think you get
where I've gotten and there are
less of them? You think I don't
want a fucking drink? You have no
idea what I'm doing, what is
actually going on with me. The
only way you can change this shit,
all this shit, is from the inside.
I'm trying to get inside. Which a
fucking loser like you will never
understand.
Bennett Sr. puts down, his paper, stubs out his cigarette
and starts for the door.
BENNETT (CONT'D)
Good.
The door shuts behind his dad --
BENNETT (CONT'D)
(yelling after him)
I love this country. It's a great
country, if you're not a quitter.
AND DON'T COME BACK!
Slowly Bennett calms. He turns, looks at the Kudu. He
thinks and the sound of a GRILL SIZZLING begins to RISE
CUT TO:
151 EXT. JIMMY POPE'S BACKYARD - HOUSTON, TEXAS - DAY 151
Ribs on a fancy BBQ grill. A wide expanse of lawn. No
other houses in sight. TEENAGERS splash in a pool.
BENNETT
Dalton's not enough. So they will
sit on him until he explains the
how and why and the who, and they
will be forced to unravel this
merger.
Jimmy turns from the grill.
(CONTINUED)
104
151 CONTINUED: 151
JIMMY POPE
I'd be real careful. You dig a
three foot hole, you'll find one
body, but you dig a six foot hole
and you might find twenty.
BENNETT
Dalton's not enough.
JIMMY POPE
We use one quarter of the oil in
the world, Bennett. Your house is
light and warm and my house is
light and warm, but what if it was
that way half the week, or none of
the week. Hell, China's economy
ain't growing as fast as it could
because they can't get all the oil
they need. I'm damn proud of that
fact.
Bennett gives him nothing. A beat.
JIMMY POPE (CONT'D)
What if it involved someone at
your firm? Someone way the hell
above you. We'd have to have an
understanding.
BENNETT
If he's as big as you say then
when he goes down the merger will
be approved.
Despite himself, Jimmy is impressed --
JIMMY POPE
Just like that.
BENNETT
We're looking for the illusion of
due-diligence. Two criminal acts
successfully prosecuted gives us
that illusion.
Jimmy hands Bennett a plate of ribs and smiles.
JIMMY POPE
Call me Jimmy.
CUT TO:
105
152 INT. SHED - DAY 152
ON TELEVISION: grainy video of a suicide bomber's
videotaped "will." THE BOMBER, 19, stands in a field of
dry rubble and flowers, is both nervous and confident, a
backpack anything but innocuous at his feet.
SUICIDE BOMBER (ON VIDEO)
I wish for everyone who hears
this to fear God and to follow God
and his prophets. When I die I
want the people who inherit my
possessions to do the following:
A group of twenty or thirty BOYS, including Wasim and
Farooq, watch the video in a makeshift shed.
SUICIDE BOMBER (VIDEO) (CONT'D)
One: the people who prepare my
body should be good Muslims so
this will remind me of God and his
forgiveness. Two: I don't want
anyone to rip their clothes or
slap their faces because this is
an ignorant thing to do.
Mohammed Sheik Agiza watches the boys watch the video.
MOHAMMED SHEIK AGIZA
His influence on those left behind
grows. There is no sense of loss,
since he continues to live and
inspire, his fame spreading.
Wasim impassively stares at the video.
SUICIDE BOMBER
Three: I don't want a pregnant
woman to come and say good bye to
me because I don't approve it.
153 EXT. THE BEES - DAY 153
Golden honey flares in sunlight dripping off a comb into
a collection jug. Wasim replaces the comb into a hive.
In a line of square wooden hives, Farooq removes a comb
and begins draining the honey.
Wasim pulls out another comb.
WASIM
OW --
(CONTINUED)
106
153 CONTINUED: 153
Wasim looks down. A bee is on his arm. He brushes it off.
Wasim and Farooq look at the bee on the ground as it
drags'itself around in a circle.
WASIM (CONT'D)
(SOFTLY)
If I truly lack faith, then I am
not the right person.
He looks to Farooq who seems very young at this moment.
FAROOQ
The questioning means that you
have faith and makes it stronger
WASIM
That's a lot of shit, I think.
Farooq looks around to see if anyone is listening.
FAROOQ
We'll get to intervene in the
affairs of family members. We'll
be able to help them with whatever
they need.
(BEAT)
You'll be able to get your mother
here.
Wasim looks at his friend then looks away. On the ground,
the worker bee stops struggling and dies.
CUT TO:
154 EXT. DESERT - DAY 154
Pan across the desert to find Nasir staring into space.
PRINCE NASIR
Twenty seven tribes in my country
and we all hate each other. My
father arrested the malcontents.
He crushed the religious zealots.
Try reasoning with people who have
one foot in the afterlife, he
said, as he leveled village after
village.
Another angle and Bryan is approaching. Behind him is the
desert house made mainly of tents and sails. DIGNITARIES
wait on the deck and watch Nasir.
(CONTINUED)
107
154 CONTINUED: 154
PRINCE
You know what place my children
love most on earth? My children
love Colorado. I could easily live
in Colorado while my brother
presides over a civil war. I could
be very comfortable.
Bryan watches Nasir.
BRYAN
I don't see you moving to
Colorado.
155 INT. BEDOUIN TENT - DAY 155
The tent is crowded with tribal and military leaders.
Worried and suspicious, they.sit on rugs and recline
against pillows. Nasir enters and takes his seat.
PRINCE NASIR
For centuries Islam has been ruled
by people with no respect for law,
monopolies handed out for the
things that people want, commerce
stifled, young people unable to
find jobs, critics jailed or put
to death, women are second-class
CITIZENS --
He is interrupted by a BEDOUIN LEADER.
BEDOUIN LEADER
Tomorrow is the coronation. Your
brother has the support of the
United States. And 10,000 of their
troops are stationed in our
country.
PRINCE NASIR
This is true. My father is ill and
weak and unwilling to fight the
Americans. But others are willing.
And when a country has five
percent of the world's population
but does fifty percent of its
military spending, then the
persuasive powers of that country
are on the decline.
The crowd is unmoved. Rallying the men will not be easy.
CUT TO:
108
156 INT. ZURICH AIRPORT - MORNING 156
Bob rides up an escalator, changing planes in the early
morning. He sees his wife watching him.
157 INT. ZURICH AIRPORT DEPARTURE LOUNGE - MORNING 157
Bob and Margaret sit in uncomfortable, connected chairs.
BOB
If I told you I knew of something
that was going to happen to
someone and that I felt I had to
try and stop it even though it
will probably cost me my job, what
would you say?
She really looks at him.
MARGARET
You can't tell me any more? No, of
course not.
She looks away. Outside the window a huge plane is
pulling away from the gate.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
I want you to do what you think is
right.
(BEAT)
And maybe for you to want the same
for me.
After a beat, she reaches over and takes his hand.
A wide shot of Bob and Margaret holding hands in the
lounge, the plane lifting off behind them --
CUT TO:
158 INT. PALACE - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 158
Tight on medals on a military uniform. Hands reach down
to pin another row. Prince Meshal Al-Subaai is looking
into a mirror as he buckles his ceremonial sword.
PRINCE MESHAL AL-SUBAAI
If I liberalize, the generals
would overthrow me. If I relax my
authority, the mob would tear me
limb from limb. But, of course,
I'm aware that democracy and human
rights are good ideas.
(CONTINUED)
109
158 CONTINUED: 158
He stares long into his own royal reflection.
159 INT. PALACE GREAT HALL - DAY 159
Prince Meshal and ADVISORS walk toward brightly-lit
double doors. The sound of a LARGE CROWD cheering comes
toward him as he disappears into silhouette.
CUT TO:
160 EXT. WORKER'S COMPOUND - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 160
It's a holiday as an AM radio blares Prince Meshal's
CORONATION CELEBRATION. Saleem and other workers play
cricket on a makeshift pitch just outside the gate.
SALEEM
I wanted to be on a bobsled in the
Olympics. I wanted to drive. That
was my dream.
The men have no idea what he's talking about. He sees
Wasim walking toward him.
SALEEM (CONT'D)
Wasim! Bobsled!
(to the men)
Wasim knows what a bobsled is.
WASIM
Can I borrow bus fare, papa?
SALEEM
Wasim, tell them about the
bobsled.
WASIM
It's a little car that goes down a
track of ice and snow.
Saleem pulls some change from his pocket and hands it to
his son.
SALEEM
Oh, how snow sparkles, the crunch
of it under your feet, the quiet
and calm it brings --
Wasim suddenly hugs his father who is surprised but hugs
him back. Then Wasim walks away.
(CONTINUED)
110
160 CONTINUED: 160
Wasim glances back. Saleem waves... and Wasim waves back.
Then Saleem turns back to the cricket.
CUT TO:
161 INT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 161
On the edge of the city, Bob sits in a traffic jam in the
glaring sun, heat waves flickering. His POV of a white
bus full of migrant workers in blue jumpsuits.
CUT TO:
162 INT. CIA - NIGHT 162
Fred Franks stares at the window of a vending machine
trying to decide between Doritos or Fritos. He presses E8
and Doritos drop.
FRANKS
(TO HIMSELF)
Man down. I'm going in.
He snatches the Doritos.
163 INT. CIA TASK FORCE ROOM -- NIGHT 163
This room is now crowded, filled with audio-visual
surveillance equipment. Palpable excitement in the air.
Franks returns with his coffee and chips.
WILLY, 24, a technician, buzz cut, recent 5th year Senior
at Hamilton College, fills him in.
WILLY
Just heard from Tampa, the J-STARS
are tracking and we should have an
image from the Predator in a few
seconds.
FRANKS
Great.
He eats some chips, offers some to another guy.
FRANKS (CONT'D)
Is it night there still?
WILLY
Morning.
CUT TO:
111
164 EXT. BEDOUIN TENT - MORNING 164
The tribal leaders have bargained through the night.
Outside the tents EVERYONE ELSE is waiting, including
Bryan whose ear piece dangles to his Blackberry.
BRYAN (INTO PHONE)
(NOT EXCITED)
We have a contract to establish a
new petroleum exchange. No firm
our size has pulled off anything
like this.
Bryan crosses to the CHINESE OIL EXECUTIVES.
BRYAN (CONT'D)
He's a visionary, like Faisal or
Attaturk, and the people love him.
By Monday, he'll be running the
country.
The Chinese seem unconvinced. Finally, the tent opens and
the leaders file out. Prince Nasir addresses the crowd.
PRINCE NASIR
The Middle-East and the Arab
people have seen empires come and
go in six millennia. The Pax
Romana, the Pax Ottomanica, the
Pax Brittanica, were nothing more
than invasions and occupations
that ended... The Pax Americana
will end, too.
His wife and daughters proudly watch.
PRINCE NASIR (CONT'D)
We have endless patience for
history, but a man starving to
death while sitting on a chair
made of gold can no longer afford
to be patient. The time for
democratic, Arab self-
determination has arrived.
The crowd CHEERS. And as Prince Nasir, his family and
supporters move toward the vehicles, find Nasir's
BODYGUARD whispering into a cell phone --
BODYGUARD
Silver Hummer --
(CONTINUED)
112
164 CONTINUED: 164
As Nasir and Bryan enter a SILVER HUMMER.
CUT TO:
165 EXT. LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS FACILITY - MORNING 165
The Liquefied Natural Gas facility has changed hands. The
CHINA GAS AND ELECTRIC signage is now CONNEX-KILLEEN
signage. The Chinese engineers are now American
engineers.
Native MUSICIANS entertain a small crowd of HARD HATS,
local OFFICIALS and visiting DIGNITARIES.
Someone BREAKS A BOTTLE across a huge colored pipe. The
CHIEF ENGINEER signals. He throws a huge lever --
A POWERFUL WHISPER builds, hurtling through the pipes
toward them and past them to the LNG CARRIER, a thousand-
foot-long tanker, docked alongside.
CUT TO:
166 INT. ELEVATOR - NIGHT 166
The doors open. Sydneyand Bennettenter, wearing
tuxedos. Sydney insertsa plasticcard allowing accessto
the upper floors.
SYDNEY
His wife'll be there. Pat. Butter
wouldn't melt in her mouth.
The elevator TONES on every floor.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
This is good. You done good.
The watch the floors light up.
167 INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE - NIGHT 167
The door opens and PAT JANUS, 50's, Nancy Reagan suit and
coif, opens the door. She takes in the men, smiling --
MRS. JANUS
Sydney, how are you? And you must
be Mr. Holiday?
she shakes his hand. Gives Sydney both cheeks. They cross
the large suite, one wall of which is floor-to-ceiling
windows giving a dazzling view of mid-town Manhattan.
(CONTINUED)
113
167 CONTINUED: 167
In a sitting area, LELAND "LEE" JANUS, 60's, a vigorous
pit-bull in tux shirt and bow-tie, turns from the TV --
MR. JANUS
Syd! Bennett! Lee Janus! How're we
doing?
Janus is standing with his hand out --
MR. JANUS (CONT'D)
Those number crunchers can get a
little over-zealous, can't they,
but Christ, when we write the GAAP
rules like some kind of abstract
painting. Stare at that liability
hard enough and before long it'll
turn into an asset.
CUT TO:
168 INT. CIA - TASK FORCE ROOM - NIGHT 168
A small black and white image of a room full of GENERALS
and SUPPORT STAFF moving silently around.
PULLING back to reveal they're on a small monitor,
titled, "US CENTRAL COMMAND, TAMPA, FLORIDA."
The Division Chief, Franks, other Group Chiefs huddle
over another, blank, MONITOR.
ANGLE: ON THE BLANK MONITOR, suddenly, an image pops on --
desert seen from seven miles up. A wide shot of sand and
more sand.
The room lets out soft YEAHS as the image shifts, finding
a distant highway cutting through it.
WILLY (V.0.)
Image from Predator. Seven miles
up. Let's go in. God, I love the
UAV's.
FRED FRANKS (V.0.)
What?
WILLY
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. I love
'em.
FRED FRANKS
And it's quiet, right?
(CONTINUED)
114
168 CONTINUED: 168
WILLY
Baby cruises at eighty knots,
about as audible as the clouds.
CUT TO:
169 INT. HUMMER - DAY 169
Bryan watches the desert fly outside the window. Nasir
stares ahead. The Hummer slows.
Bryan sees a vast FLOCK OF SHEEP moving diagonally across
the desert in front of them, blocking the road.
170 EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAY 170
In the middle of thousands of sheep, shepherds on camels,
and SPRINKLER TRUCKS misting water over the flock moving
with ancient slowness across the road.
CUT TO:
171 INT. FOUR SEASONS PRESIDENTIAL SUITE - NIGHT 171
Mr. Janus in the comfy chair. Bennett perches on the edge
of the couch. Sydney is next to him.
BENNETT
The lawyers are saying, hey,
if you can't trust a Big Five
accounting firm. And the
accountants are saying, hey, we're
not lawyers. Legal didn't
understand. Accounting didn't
understand. Nobody understood
anything. The regulatory bodies
had to scratch their heads for a
minute that nobody at Connex or
Killeen was at fault, but this
merger is so balance-positive for
American consumers that ultimately
Justice wants it, the Federal
court wants it. Everybody wants
it. Our real client is US, the
American people, and we're
building our presence in
Kazakhstan, so we had to give them
a little something meaningful and
they got out of our way.
Mr. Janus glances at the TV where a pro golfer sinks a
long, undulating putt.
(CONTINUED)
115
171 CONTINUED: 171
He looks back at Bennett, just a glance, but it's clear
he recognizes in Bennett someone who understands the way
the world works and the pressures that he, Mr. Janus, is
under.
MR. JANUS
Something besides Dalton?
BENNETT
Unfortunately, yes. And the best
option seemed to be a secret deal
for excess Iranian pipeline
capacity that I uncovered during
the diligence, a side deal
benefiting the lead lawyer
involved in the Connex-Killeen
merger approval process.
A slow dawning on Sydney's face --
SYDNEY
What do you think you're doing?
BENNETT
Of course, it's illegal for an
American to control these rights --
SYDNEY
Stop. Right. Now.
Bennett and Mr. Janus look at Sydney.
MR. JANUS
Is there something you want to
tell me, Syd?
CUT TO:
172 INT. CIA TASK FORCE ROOM - NIGHT 172
ON A MONITOR: the image of the distant desert slowly
swings around.
FRANKS (V.0.)
What are we looking at, folks?
WILLY (V.0.)
We'll get there.
They find a lone car traveling like an ant in the road.
WILLY (V.0.) (CONT'D)
I gotta do some traveling. I've
never even gotten out of the USA.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
116
172 CONTINUED: 172
WILLY (V.0.) (CONT'D)
Before grad school, I am
definitely getting down to Mexico.
The image tightens. It's an SUV seen from heaven.
CUT TO:
173 INT./EXT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 173
Bob is driving fast now. The modern city is behind him.
Lift up to see the Mitsubishi heading into the desert, an
eight lane highway heading to nowhere.
CUT TO:
174 EXT. LNG TANKER - PERSIAN GULF - DAY 174
The needle disengages from a container with a swoosh.
VOICE (OVER SPEAKERS)
The latest vacuum seal
protection and workers trained in
the Taiwan and the United States
of America.
MEN in blue jumpsuits watch the needle lift in the sky.
175 INT. LNG BRIDGE - DAY 175
A FUNCTIONARY talks into the microphone. People pass this
way and that sipping champagne. The view down the length
of the boat past the containment bubbles is striking.
FUNCTIONARY
Each container holds over 20
million U.S. dollars of fuel,
that's 100 million in total, quite
a haul...
A wide of the beautiful harbor. Fire boats spray water.
And far away, a FLOTILLA of native fishing boats, dhows
and sambuks and boums, makes its way out to sea.
176 EXT. FISHING BOAT - DAY 176
FISHER-FOLK perform tasks they've been performing since
time began. A FISHERMAN looks up --
Following his view to another dhow as WASIM and then
FAROOQ drift into view.
MUSIC swells across the water from the terminal. More of
the flotilla of fishing boats is revealed.
(CONTINUED)
117
176 CONTINUED: 176
And behind them the shoreline is dotted with oil storage
tanks still painted with images of the old Emir.
CUT TO:
177 INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE - NIGHT 177
Sydney on his feet, standing aggressively over Bennett.
SYDNEY
In our line of work, the guy with
the documents is usually the guy
who stole the documents.
BENNETT
Finesse. Strategize. Advise. But
don't own. Your words.
SYDNEY
You aren't going to hurt me,
Bennett. You'll wash out of the
private sector. Fact, you're
already gone. You'll end up
working public defender cases.
You'll make 1/50th the money. You
could have been on the boards of
Fortune Five Hundred companies.
You could have been an advisor to
Presidents. You could have helped
us win like Romans instead of
sitting on the sidelines hoping we
don't turn into Visigoths.
(BEAT)
You jumped that turnstile, sir,
but don't worry, we'll get you off
at trial --
Sydney takes the documents out of Bennett's hands.
SYDNEY (CONT'D)
(CALMING)
We expect you kids to try and kill
the father. We encourage it. Just
maybe not so soon.
Sydney senses something and sees DONALD FARISH III and
FBI AGENTS have entered the room. Sydney turns back to
Bennett, a flash of true venom --
SYDNEY (CONT'D)'
You ungrateful, pissant, nobody.
FBI restrains Sydney. Pat looks up from her needlepoint.
(CONTINUED)
118
177 CONTINUED: 177
BENNETT
A piece of advice Syd, one
attorney to another...
Bennett leans close --
BENNETT (CONT'D)
(SOTTO)
Get rid of that watch. It makes
you look like a nigger.
ANGLE - on Sydney's wrist is the Mickey Mouse watch. And
then a handcuff is slipped over it and clicked tight.
Sydney now appears completely relaxed again. He looks at
Donald Farish III and nods --
SYDNEY
Don. Not the perp walk, Don --
Farish nods as if to acknowledge they're barely out of
round one. And they begin leading Sydney out.
Across the room, silhouetted by the windows, Mrs. Janus
helps Mr. Janus slip on his tux jacket.
They see Bennett standing awkwardly in the middle of the
room. Pat extends her hand for him to join them.
178 EXT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE BALCONY - EVENING 178
The three are silhouetted against the skyline. Mr. Janus
looks out at the valleys of Manhattan.
MR. JANUS
I'm a straight shooter, Bennett. I
think it was Trollope who said the
best capitalist is someone who's
greedy and honest. We can't forget
that second part.
MRS. JANUS
It was Trollope, honey.
MR. JANUS
We're creating a lot of jobs this
quarter, Bennett, a lot of jobs.
We're building a business and
that's what America's all about.
CUT TO:
119
179 INT. CIA - TASK FORCE ROOM - NIGHT 179
ON THE MONITOR the convoy is in the smudge of sheep.
WILLY (O.S.)
Silver Hummer, silver Hummer where
are you silver Hummer?
ON THE MONITOR the image tightens, zooming in on the
silver roof of Nasir's Hummer. It locks --
Relief on the faces of Bureau Chiefs and technicians.
WILLY (CONT'D)
There's a phrase. You know what I
mean. What's the phrase? Target
SOMETHING --
SOMEONE ELSE
Target acquisition.
ON THE MONITOR the silver roof unmoving in the desert.
WILLY
Right. Target acquisition. That's
what we got here.
CUT TO:
180 EXT. CONVOY - DAY 180
Nasir's children are laughing as sheep pass. The parents
are laughing, too. PAN and find Bryan watching them.
Nasir's wife smiles kindly. Bryan opens the door for her.
BRYAN
You guys should ride together.
Nasir and Bryan exchange a glance then Nasir helps his
wife into the vehicle. Bryan hands the baby up to them.
181 INT. BRYAN'S VEHICLE - DAY 181
Bryan looks out and sees a SHEPHERD showing his SON how
to use the staff, tapping the sheep, guiding them.
The convoy moves out, sheep like parted waters on either
side of the highway, sheep closing behind as they pass.
CUT TO:
120
182 INT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 182
Bob speeds toward the sheep who are again blocking the
road. He pulls up to them and honks. Nothing happens.
SHEPHERDS on camels stare.
He inches the car forward. Bob's SUV is steadily engulfed
by sheep. Then he can't go any further. He forces the
door open and gets out.
183 EXT. SHEEP CROSSING - DAY 183
Cacophonous sheep BELLS and sheep SOUNDS, hooves in sand.
The sun is brutal. Bob climbs onto the hood.
HIS POV ahead in the desert, beyond the sheep, of Prince
Nasir's convoy is rapidly disappearing. And THE HIGHWAY
CURVING to the right.
184 INT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 184
Bob slams the car into reverse and begins backing out of
the sheep. It's slow going. Sheep getting bumped, BAAING
loudly, as Bob reverses.
CUT TO:
185 EXT. PREDATOR DRONE AIRCRAFT - DAY 185
A metal plane, like a giant, grey insect, drifts silently
above the earth. The horizon is bright and curved.
The Predator has no pilots. The controls adjust on their
own with robotic smoothness.
186 INT./EXT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 186
Bob gets free of the sheep. He turns off the highway and
drives out into the desert, going around the giant flock,
so that he can cut the convoy off at an angle.
A wizened SHEPHERD on a camel watches the SUV go. The
watering trucks continue SWISH, SWISH, SWISHING.
CUT TO:
187 INT. HELLFIRE BAY - DAY 187
The bay where two Hellfire missiles wait. The hatch
begins opening.
(CONTINUED)
121
187 CONTINUED: 187
The desert floor appears far below, just a blank canvas,
the details out of reach of human eyes.
CUT TO:
188 INT. PRINCE NASIR'S HUMMER - DAY 188
The baby is SCREAMING and a child can't get its juice box
to fit in the Hummer cup holder. The square corner hits
the circular opening. And again. And again.
Nasir's wife readies a bottle.
The child slams the juice box. Nasir reaches and fits the
juice box in the holder. The baby keeps screaming.
CUT TO:
189 INT. BANQUET HALL - OILMAN OF THE YEAR - NIGHT 189
Laughter fills the room at a sumptuous awards dinner. SIR
DAVID has white hair and a black bow tie.
SIR DAVID
I would like to say, in making our
selection of the recipient of this
award, John Brown can't win every
year. It would be like Formula One
with Schumacher and Ferrari
winning over and over. And I don't
need to tell you whose fuel
they're using.
Faces in the crowd, eating and laughing --
SIR DAVID (CONT'D)
This is not to crown a career.
You're a young man and, unlike me,
have many years of toil ahead of
you. This year's oilman of the
Year, Mr. Leland Janus of Connex-
Killeen.
The crowd gives LELAND "LEE" JANUS a standing ovation as
he walks to the podium. All the big oil companies have
tables. Bennett Holiday is next to Dean Whiting.
Mr. Janus shakes hands with Sir David and accepts an
engraved crystal oil derrick.
MR. JANUS
Thank you, Sir David. Thank you.
(BEAT)
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
122
189 CONTINUED: 189
MR. JANUS (CONT'D)
It's not a secret vote, so we can
see who is voting for themselves.
It's all right to vote for
yourself. I did not vote for
myself.
The rapt faces of oil men listening to an oil man.
MR. JANUS (CONT'D)
I voted this year, as I do every
year, for Ali Naimi, the Saudi Oil
Minister, who has done more for
shareholder value than all of us
combined.
Laughter as a smiling SAUDI accepts a round of applause.
MR. JANUS (CONT'D)
And that is certainly not a
criticism of any of us in this
room. My father told me when I was
young, never criticize a man until
you have walked a mile in his
shoes. This is something I've
tried to live by, because, if you
do criticize, you're already a
mile away and you've got his
shoes.
LAUGHTER, people glancing... who knew he was so funny?
CUT TO:
190 INT. HELLFIRE BAY - DAY 190
A missile shifts, rolling sideways, a slow mechanical
movement of impersonal machinery...
And then one of the HELLFIRE MISSILES silently drops and
falls rapidly away from the plane.
CUT TO:
191 INT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 191
Bob races across the white desert.
Ahead, through the windshield, the convoy angles along
the highway.
CUT TO:
123
192 EXT. FISHING BOAT - DAY 192
Fire boats shoot water in the distance. As Wasim makes
his way to the prow of the boat, slowly. the huge LNG
tanker slides into frame, filling the sky.
The name -- THE CONDOLEEZA RICE -- appears.
Wasim pushes fishing nets aside, revealing a stinger
missile fashioned into a shaped charge and fitted to the
prow of the boat.
A SMILEY FACE
scratched into the surface of the Stinger, the same
missile Bob intended to explode in the beginning.
CUT TO:
193 INT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 193
Bob is closing on the front of the convoy, maybe a
hundred yards off. He can see Prince Nasir. He pulls a
WHITE SHIRT from the backseat and starts waving it out
the window.
CUT TO:
194 INT. CIA TASK FORCE BUNKER - NIGHT 194
People stare at the monitors, tense and restless.
ANGLE - MONITOR
The toy-like convoy snakes across the desert.
FRANKS (O.S.)
Somebody tell me what the hell is
going on.
WILLY (O.S.)
The plane is just really high. And
there's delay on the video
TRANSMISSION --
FRANKS
How long?
WILLY
I don't know. I can find out. I
think from Yemen to here was like
four or five seconds.
CUT TO:
124
195 INT. BRYAN'S VEHICLE - DAY 195
Bryan stares ahead. His POV up the length of the convoy.
The HUM of the highway. He turns and sees, out the
window, the Mitsubishi SUV cutting toward them.
CUT TO:
196 INT. CIA TASK FORCE BUNKER - NIGHT 196
ANGLE - MONITOR
The toy-like convoy snakes across the desert. Another car
enters the frame, angling toward the convoy.
FRANKS (O.S.)
What's that other car?
CUT TO:
197 INT. PRINCE NASIR'S HUMMER - DAY 197
The SCREAMING baby takes the bottle and quiets. Prince
Nasir makes eye contact with his wife and smiles.
A bodyguard in the front hears something over the radio
and points out to the desert --
Nasir turns and looks at Bob's car fast approaching --
CUT TO:
198 INT. MITSUBISHI SUV - DAY 198
Bob angles the car in tighter, waving the white flag.
Nasir's bodyguards point their weapons.
CUT TO:
199 INT. PRINCE NASIR'S HUMMER - DAY 199
Prince Nasir sees him. They make eye contact --
A bodyguard begins shouting into a walkie-talkie. Other
vehicles race forward and surround Bob's car, forcing it
to stop.
200 EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY - DAY 200
Soldiers with their weapons on Bob. He steps from his car
holding the white shirt in front of him.
(CONTINUED)
125
200 CONTINUED: 200
BOB
It's okay. It's okay.
Bob slowly. approaches Prince Nasir's vehicle. They stare
at one another. Nasir lowers his window.
PRINCE NASIR
I remember you. You're the
Canadian.
Tight on Bob. He starts to speak --
A WHITE FLASH
MATCH CUT TO:
201 INT. CIA TASK FORCE BUNKER - NIGHT 201
ANGLE - MONITOR
A TINY POOF of white smoke. And vehicles scatter in crazy
directions. Then a rush of black smoke.
ANGLE - THE ROOM
The crowd of Chiefs and Technicians erupts into
celebration, handshakes and high-fives.
ANGLE - MONITOR
The tendril of black smoke is spreading into a black
cloud. The vehicles are stopped.
CUT TO:
202 INT. BANQUET HALL - OIL MAN OF THE YEAR - NIGHT 202
The room is silent. Mr. Janus stares into the crowd.
MR. JANUS
I accept this award on behalf of
the employees of Connex-Killeen,
our people, the finest in the
world...
(MOVED)
Guys, could I get you to stand up
for a moment?
At the CONNEX table, Tommy and Jimmy and the others get
to their feet. The crowd APPLAUDS. Bennett applauds Jimmy
who sees him clapping and applauds him right back --
CUT TO:
126
203 EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY - DAY 203
The Prince Nasir convoy is scattered like toys. People
broken with shock and awe.
Debris is still falling. Find Bryan moving forward
through smoke and overturned vehicles, the only sound the
BUZZING/RINGING in his ears.
Bryan's POV of a burning crater in the road. Nasir's car
and family are completely incinerated. And nearby Bob's
car is a massive ball of flame.
CUT TO:
204 INT. BANQUET HALL - OIL MAN OF THE YEAR - NIGHT 204
Mr. Janus'holds out his hands to still APPLAUSE.
MR. JANUS
I want to thank our strategic
friends from around the globe who
are here tonight.
More APPLAUSE. Emir Meshal Al-Subaai gives a little wave
to both sides of the room.
MR. JANUS (CONT'D)
I hope I'm not giving away trade
secrets when I say Liquefied
Natural Gas truly is the fuel of
the future.
Mr. Janus raises his crystal derrick in a toast.
MR. JANUS (CONT'D)
And to everyone else who helps
make this the most exciting and
important and profitable industry
on earth.
The crowd again begins CLAPPING for itself. Light catches
the crystal oil derrick and refracts --
CUT TO:
205 EXT. DESERT - DAY 205
Bryan staggers away. We're ON HIS BACK as he slogs, then
WE COME AROUND...
Bryan's face is TIGHT in half the frame while behind him
the wreckage and people and smoke trail away.
(CONTINUED)
127
205 CONTINUED: 205
Bryan wipes at a tear, and another. Then suddenly, he's
weeping, losing it completely. He stumbles blindly on.
Bryan wanders through the desert, a hazy form merging
with the heat shimmering horizon.
CUT TO:
206 EXT. FISHING BOAT - DAY 206
Tight on Farooq's eyes. Farooq is terrified. He stares at
Wasim who is watching the tanker where workers and
touring dignitaries pay no attention.
On another boat a father and son fishermen going about
their business. The father smiles briefly at Wasim.
Wasim sees that Farooq is frozen. Wasim shouts at him in
Urdu. Farooq hesitates a moment longer, then his hand
pushes the throttle forward.
The dhow accelerates, breaking free of the flotilla,
heading straight for the CONDOLEEZA RICE (LNG CARRIER).
At the bowsprit, Wasim has the wind and sunlight and
spray in his face.
WASIM'S POV of the CONTAINMENT BUBBLES which have a
covering of frozen, sparkling condensate and look exactly
like SNOW COVERED MOUNTAINS.
On Wasim's face a slow, almost beatific smile begins to
spread. He seems completely at peace as he passes into
the shadow of the tanker.
On the CONDOLEEZA RICE sailors become alarmed, running in
different directions, but it's too late
The little boat speeds for the side of the tanker and
just as it makes impact --
CUT TO WHITE:
FADE IN:
207 EXT. MADRASSA - DAY 207
Sprinklers water a green field in the middle of a desert.
208 EXT. WASIM'S VIDEOTAPED "WILL" - DAY 208
Wasim appears against a plain background. He looks very
young. He addresses the camera.
(CONTINUED)
128
208 CONTINUED: 208
WASIM
During the funeral I want everyone
to be quiet. And I should be lying
on my right side.
209 INT. WOODMAN HOUSE - USA - DAY 209
Riley plays with a Thomas Train set. Julie reads in a
comfortable chair. Packing boxes are still unopened.
WASIM (V.0.)
(CONTINUING)
You should throw dust on my body
three times while saying, from the
dust we created you and to dust
you will return.
Riley sees his mother looking past him. He turns, sees
his father, and runs toward him. Bryan gathers his son up
in his arms.
WASIM (V.0.) (CONT'D)
From the dust a new person will be
created.
Bryan looks through the rooms at his wife who has taken a
few steps toward him. She hesitates --
CUT TO:
210 INT. BOB'S OFFICE - CIA - DAY 210
A MAN cleans out Bob's office, putting files into boxes.
Another MAN puts photos into a box.
ANGLE - PHOTO
BOB WITH A FRIEND, smiling. Another photo of BOB WITH
COWORKERS is placed on top.
Tighter on this picture of Bob --
WASIM (V.0.)
(CONTINUING)
Everyone should mention that I
died pure of heart and that the
next world is the true life...
CUT TO:
211 EXT. BENNETT'S CONDO - D.C. - NIGHT 211
Bennett gets out of a cab. His father is slumped over on
the front stoop.
(CONTINUED)
129
211 CONTINUED: 211
WASIM (V.0.)
.The next world is the true
life.
Bennett walks up the steps and pauses beside his father.
BENNETT
(GENTLY)
Come on, man. Come on... Leave the
beer.
His father rouses. Bennett helps him inside and the door
shuts behind them.
CUT TO BLACK:
THE END
