Gilroy both wrote and directed this film, which marks his debut as a director, but certainly not as screenwriter. Some of his other credits include the Bourne Trilogy, as well as Armageddon, and Dolores Claiborne. His lateste work as a director is the film Duplicity, what we might touch on, on a later note, as it also contains some very interesting Story Tricks.
In short, Tilda Swinton plays Karen Crowder, the top legal adviser to U/North a gigantic chemical fertilizing company. Just before act two starts she’s about the give an interview on camera to be used in some internal marketing.
We start of by seeing her sitting in front of the camera crew and the interviewer with one of the senior partners at her side. She delivers a very thoughtful and serious answer to the interviewer’s first question and seems extremely confident and on top of the situation.
But after the first question is answered, we start to cut back and forth between the ongoing interview and her rehearsing in her room 30 minutes or so before. In the comfort of her private space she just the opposite; she’s nervous and fumbles with the words while she’s trying to find the right answers to the prepared questions.
The trick is that not only do we get a lot of exposition details about Karen Crowder, about her being a work alcoholic and very much the young rising star as the in-house legal adviser, but we also see her as a fragile and somewhat emotional unstable woman that is working very hard to keep her facade intact.
It’s a superb trick by Gilroy. In just over two pages, Gilroy manages not only to introduce Karen and sketch out her background, but also to show both her personalities; her calm collected professional one and her fragile and unstable personal one. Something that proves to be a vital clue for events later in the story.
EXT. OMAHA RIVERFRONT TOWNHOUSES -- DAY
Modern, tidy, downtown Omaha living. As we hear:
KAREN (V.O.)
At the moment, U/North currently has seventy thousand employees working in sixty-two countries around the world...
(continuing, as we--)
INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/BATHROOM -- DAY
KAREN CROWDER alone at the mirror. Fresh from the shower --
KAREN
...around the planet...sixty-two countries around the planet.
(trying it again)
At work in more than sixty countries around the globe.
INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY
Later that morning. KAREN and her boss, DON JEFFRIES, a 60-year-old Corporate titan, on one side of the table. Facing
them, A SMALL VIDEO CREW: CAMERAMAN, SOUND, and INTERVIEWER. The filming part of some in-house promotional puffery --
KAREN
...right now we’ve got seventy-five thousand employees in over sixty countries around the planet.
INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/BATHROOM -- DAY
Twelve minutes later. Make-up at the mirror --
KAREN
...so the volume...the quantity of legal issues is just overwhelming...
(reset)
...just enormous.
(trying it folksy)
You can imagine, the volume of legal issues...it’s just enormous...it’s...
INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY
Video camera rolling and --
KAREN
...it’s quite substantial. As general counsel, what I do -- our in-house department -- we analyze the dimensions of the problem or the opportunity, we determine the jurisdiction, and we farm our business to the firms and talent we think can help us the most.
INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/DESK AREA -- DAY
KAREN glancing at a list of questions --
KAREN
Balance?
(smiling for the imaginary camera--)
I think everyone has to find their own mix. I like work. I enjoy my job.
(try again)
I find I feel most alive when I’m...
(fuck)
I realized a long time ago, that...
(hating this, and--)
INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY
INTERVIEWER
So how do you keep a balance between work and life?
INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/BEDROOM
KAREN pulling on her stockings and --
KAREN
Balance?
(trying to pretend the question surprises her--)
Honestly? I think all this concern about “balance” actually creates more stress than...
INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY
KAREN
...your priorities change, you make new plans. But my goal -- right now, today -- is to be the second best General Counsel this company has ever seen.
DON JEFFRIES, THE INTERVIEWER, everyone smiling at this --
KAREN
Don brought me in here twelve years ago...
(big smile for Don)
Trusted me. Mentored me.
INT. KAREN’S OMAHA HOME/KITCHEN -- DAY
KAREN
(having a lonely egg)
...and when Don moved up to the boardroom, I never really thought I’d have the opportunity to move into his place...
(reset)
...his position...his office...his...
INT. U/NORTH OMAHA CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY
KAREN
...because if you’re ultimately not comfortable with the responsibility, you’re in the wrong place. It’s your department. It’s your ability to make tough decisions in real time and--
(stopping because--)
A SECRETARY has nervously entered the room --
DON JEFFRIES
We’re in the middle of an interview...
SECRETARY
They said it was urgent.
That is clever writing!
You can read Tony Gilroy’s excellent script in its entirety here. The sequence mentioned herein starts at page 27 in the script.
- Story Trick #1 was about Foreshadowing and Payoff using the Nolan brothers’ The Prestige as an example [↩]
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