Original subtitles

(film reel whirring)

(soft music)

- [Narrator] My dearest parish,

first-timers, and fellow mavericks ...

did you know, ever since I could hold a camera,

I wanted to be a filmmaker?

(lively music)

Before today, the bravest thing I ever did

was sneak into the movies.

One time I brought my family.

Told them I already paid.

I led them to the back door pearly gates

of my new house of worship.

And was caught.

The shame was unbearable.

And, well, sometimes you just don't have the money.

This reminds me of a revelation

my new film mentor taught me:

how your artistic vision justifies

any supposed consequences and sacrifices.

It's summed up by that great film director, Werner Herzog:

"If you need air to breathe, and you are locked in a room,

"you have to take a chisel and hammer and break down a wall.

"It is your absolute right."

And it's my absolute right to hustle.

I just needed a mentor, a guide, to help make my movie,

read over my screenplay.

A producer will do just fine.

I usually start with ...

- James Wagner, right?

- [Narrator] "Hi, I'm an aspiring filmmaker.

- I called your office, but no one's gotten back to me.

- [Narrator] "I will do anything to make my first feature."

- Where does a sick boat go to get better?

The dock!

Like, the dock?

Doc, dock, D-O-C, D-O-C-K.

- [Narrator] Mama warned me against the abuse,

the affliction, nevermind the burden and betrayal.

I told myself it was all part of the game.

- I'd love to come work for you.

- Oh, that's great.

(stuttering) I'll be in touch.

- [Narrator] And my blue skies vanished.

- Brushed out by the strokes of a familiar storm.

And again I'm naked in the world.

- Miss Peach!

Enough!

Holy Jesus!

Please streamline your sob story.

- Yes, sir.

I just got caught up in the fact that...

(slams phone)

- For the love of God and all that is holy,

please get to the part where you meet your idol

and newly found mentor, Claire Adams!

Don't forget that one important detail.

- Sir?

One important detail?

- Can you believe this?

Miss Georgia asking about the one important detail.

I'm surrounded by idiots, I tell you.

(sighs)

(claps)

- My mama always said you need a guide

to get anywhere of importance.

- [Narrator] My mind droned until the end of days

for a solution, like them cicadas in early summer.

By providence, I chanced upon

the next great female director of our century.

- [Mr. Owl] Oh, good God.

Of your century?

- [Narrator] Yes, sir.

Ma'am, I'm sorry.

- No worries.

- [Mr. Owl] "No worries."

Damn Canadians taking over.

- Enough with the reminiscing.

You want ransom?

I have nothing.

My family?

Nothing.

- A reckoning's a-coming.

- I think that, well, wasn't it

the Australians that said that?

- [Mr. Owl] Australians, Kiwis, English,

stupid Queen worshipers all the same.

- Commonwealth lowlifes.

(spits)

(clanging)

- Ma'am, I'm sorry.

- [Claire] No worries.

- [Narrator] My prayers answered,

this was my life-defining moment.

I ran to her and said:

- When I watch your films,

I know I'm not alone in the world.

I believe these are yours.

- Where did you...

- And you are an inspiration not just to me,

but to all female filmmakers.

- Well, that means a lot to me.

It was really nice to meet you.

I'm sorry, I have an important meeting.

- Miss Adams!

(grunting)

I want to make my own feature films.

I'm a screenwriter of sorts.

- I just ...

I need a little help,

someone to read my work and give advice.

I need a mentor.

- Sorry, I'm in pre-production and busy with funding.

- Even John Ford had a mentor.

Well, he did play a Klansman in that KKK film.

- Bah, a racist character doesn't translate

into a racist actor.

- See, I don't know these things.

Look, how about just today?

Your Independent Courage Award is at 8:00, right?

From now to then?

- Well, shit.

And it's the Independent Bravery Award.

- And Miss Adams, will you read my screenplay?

Please, Miss Adams.

- Classic: will you read my screenplay?

Aren't you forgetting one eensy teensy bit?

Yes?

- Come on.

What's your play?

- Everything's in order.

- Is that 8:00 p.m. deadline eating away at you?

- See?

Right here he says my writing is terrible,

that I have no conflict.

- Idiots, the lot of them.

- Can you believe it?

God, I hate script readers!

I would kill every last one of them if I could.

- You're warm.

Check your ketone levels.

- I'm glad I have a good guide.

Not good.

Great.

Great guide.

I just don't think I should be here.

- This is the new normal.

The only way to learn is to leverage experience.

What, you thought you were you gonna read a book about this?

Keep it going, Mrs. Peaches!

- [Narrator] She was very accommodating.

First, we hunkered down in the library

to get some real work done.

- Let's get right to it.

It's unoriginal, boring, and predictable.

The formatting pathetic, dialogue cliche.

It's a mess.

- Did you like any of it?

I followed all the books.

I got a great gut punch in the middle, right?

- Yeah, the books.

The manuals.

Just as there's no manual on how to touch the soul,

there's no book worth reading on how to write a screenplay.

- I have the inciting incident on page 11...

- I've had the good sense

never to read books on screenwriting.

Is that guy staring at us?

- Never?

- We revere stories.

At no other time in history has a culture devoted

this much time, this much money to ...

to generate drama.

- I guess so.

- Just like the French staple duck's feet to the floor,

insert a tube and force feed corn down its gullet,

parents prop us up in front of the TV

and choke us with narrative.

- Maybe you should just keep reading.

I have an ending the Dadaists would be proud of.

(sighs)

My script is an anti-script.

- It's shit.

No one's telling you.

So I'm telling you.

Not everybody can't be a novelist, a filmmaker.

You need a kind of ferocity, a beast inside of you

that wants to, that needs to burst out of you.

Do you have that?

- No.

I mean yes.

Somewhere in there.

- Artists experiment with narratives.

Sometimes it works, and sometimes is doesn't.

Look around you.

Libraries should depress the artist who seeks truth.

I've got an idea.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Is this the second or third act?

- Shh!

- Miss Adams, can you explain the three acts?

I couldn't find them.

(scoffs)

Dilettantes rely to the three act structure.

Sure, use it to converse with the layperson,

but to birth, to nurture a story?

To ignite the soul?

- I didn't notice a character arc.

- Character arcs?

The preferred utensils of cowards

and those of weak constitution.

People don't change, not really.

What's critical is our how your audience evolves

to understand your characters.

- What about the endings?

Do I need to know...

- Unhappy, morose endings,

ones that happen and then it's over.

Your hero dies somehow, either internally or externally.

Force your characters to experience this.

For that emotional honesty.

This is the only truth in our lives.

Who's that buffoon?

(intense music)

Hey, what the fuck are you doing, asshole?

- [Nilah] Hey, put her down!

- [Claire] What is going on?

(yelling)

- That is not how it happened!

- Win the mind game.

Win the mind game.

- I'm not cut out for this.

- You the man!

You the man's man!

You the (speaking foreign language).

- [Mr. Owl} ETA 30 seconds.

- This is the only truth in our lives.

You have to be like Herzog.

- [Mr. Owl] Ah, yes.

Herzog.

- Who's this buffoon?

(yelling)

(intense music)

- [Mr. Owl] Yes, sir, I know.

Yes, but she would have been another witness.

Just some girl.

More ransom, more leverage.

It's a win-win.

- How do you be like Herzog?

- Piss off!

- [Mr. Owl] Yes, do tell, Miss Adams.

How is one to be like Herzog?

- Always answer the boss!

- To fight against the apparatus,

the clichés, the structures.

Be yourself, be original, take chances.

- [Mr. Owl] Be yourself?

Original?

Like your last film?

(laughing)

- So sorry.

I promise I won't let them hurt you.

- Please protect us.

(speaking foreign language)

- You'll probably be back in time for your speech.

Eight o'clock, right?

- Miss Adams, what did you really mean by "be like Herzog"?

- Not now.

- Please.

Mentoring will calm me.

- Go your own way.

Forget the three acts and the real plot.

Discover your vantage point and generate it.

- Yeah, but I can't figure out the screenwriting.

I think I need a writing partner.

- Yes, a writing partner!

Don't you agree, Miss Adams?

You still haven't told that one

hush-hush.

- This won't mean shit without a notary.

- Shing!

(sword clanks)

- I told you not to bring it.

Your core competency astounds me.

You're gonna chop your fingers off, idiot!

- I slipped.

And, it's my talisman.

- It has magic powers?

Idiot!

(muzak playing)

- Can you believe she won that award?

She's supposed to be a total bitch.

- An auteur from hell.

- Aren't they all?

Heard she pulled a Herzog and exploited

those Indians in Bolivia for a shot.

- It was a good shot.

- Yeah, she's a total badass.

Can't wait to meet her tonight.

(woman crying)

- You okay?

- [Woman] Yup, I'm fine.

It's just that...

- What's up?

- [Woman] Just a bad day.

I wish those girls had been talking about me.

Anybody to notice my work.

He said, the director said I was poison.

I want a rebirth.

Not to be a better person.

No, I'm selfish.

I want to kick more butt.

Wow.

- Bastards!

Just because you've been tracking me

doesn't make you professionals.

- [Mr. Owl] Do you take such a crew for amateurs?

- Your gun's not even loaded.

- [Mr. Owl] Time's up, Mr. Raven.

- I'm depressed.

Feels kinda like the flu.

- It's the keto-flu.

Up your hydration.

Hell, upgrade hydration.

Pace yourself, it's an athletic workout.

The real stress is about to begin.

- It's so complex.

Convoluted.

The whole plan.

- Do whatever it takes to get the money.

- No, I mean figuring out if I've had too many carbs.

- All that matters is the mission statement

you give to the body.

- What are you doing?

The agreement was...

- Don't worry.

Blanks.

- Hey, yo, careful.

Remember Hexum in the 80s?

He played Russian roulette with blanks.

Did not end well.

(breathing heavily)

- Sorry, it'll be over soon enough.

Don't let them get to your heads.

They're just playing out their clichés.

- Clichés?

- You know, the driver's the loco producer in the outfit.

The archetypal warrior father trickster shaman guy.

Joseph Campbell deep caca.

You know his stuff, right?

- What do you mean, "producer"?

- They changed the deadline?

- No.

Must be finished by tomorrow.

- We can do it.

They don't need a final version, just something watchable.

Something's not in alignment, though.

The ending's not earned somehow.

- He's wrong.

His notes are wrong.

I told him the hero should save

an injured possum on page two.

The audience would have loved it.

- You're sweating.

A lot.

- What is Pigeon guy doing?

- He's, uh ...

researching the next project.

Not doing a good job of it.

- You can do better?

- What do you mean by "crazy producer"?

(groaning)

- You know the great thing about fitness is?

About eating right?

The end always justifies the means.

(coughing)

- Hey!

(coughing)

(shouting foreign language)

- Hey.

Hey.

- Is he, uh ...

(speaking foreign language)

- Almost.

- He's been fasting for a month.

It must be that high-fat, low-carb diet you have him on.

- Shut the fuck up, idiot!

- He had one of those heart attack seizures

from all the butter you force fed him.

- Pigeon!

Pigeon!

Oh no, oh no!

- Miss Adams, let's just be respectful

and we won't get hurt.

- Fucking dilettantes don't know what they're doing.

(coughing)

- Let me take him to the ER.

- No hospitals!

Take him to Doctor Zhivago.

- I wonder what happened to that Pigeon guy.

His lips were awfully red.

- Shh!

- [Nilah] You focusing your creative energies?

- My career lives and dies by tonight's speech.

My investors will be there.

- Don't say that.

You're brilliant.

- I'm broke.

In debt.

My films aren't mainstream.

- [Nilah] Why not make a genre picture?

- Never.

- [Nilah] Can't never could, Miss Adams.

- You will never catch me in a genre picture.

They are the soul-sucking,

money-making vehicle of the studios.

I'm no stooge.

So it's literally over my dead body.

- [Nilah] My English teacher would say "metaphorically".

- I'm not talking metaphors, or allegories,

or even creating an adumbration.

- [Nilah] Adumbration?

- Figures of speech, foreshadowing.

(energetic music)

(coughing)

- Is he ..

Is he alive?

- Let's go.

Hate Doctor Zhivago.

- Did you do it?

- He did it to himself.

Bacon n' eggs, bacon almond flour muffins, bacon smoothies.

I bet it was Boss Man.

- No.

No, it was that slut from the caterer.

You murdered him because he cheated on you.

- You killed him because he insulted your writing.

- He doesn't know what real art is!

- And, yes, he lied.

Yes, he was unfaithful, but that don't make me an assassin.

Boss Man thought he was the weak link.

- He never would have talked.

- Shit, I can't pee!

- What are we doing?

- We pee on the newspaper before folding.

- Miss Adams, why would we do such a thing?

- Remember my movie in Bolivia?

- The Masks of Mrs. Jones.

The one where the prisoners sell curses

to bring jazz to the other inmates?

- One woman told me about the Seaside Brick.

- [Narrator] I wanted to say it was my favorite movie,

but was self-conscious.

- You're making a weapon.

- Before they had easy access to knives and guns.

- Look, I'm dry.

Except for code red down there, if you know what I mean.

- Hand it over.

- [Nilah] Hand what over?

- Your tampon.

- That's not right.

- Directors dream, directors do.

We pick locks, shoot without permits, steal.

- And make your own weapons?

- Don't you want to be a filmmaker?

- [Narrator] It was unfair.

She had me.

I knew she was right.

- This has nothing to do with that.

- Hand over your fucking tampon or I'll hold you down

and uncork you like a bottle of wine!

- Turn around.

(girl moans)

Ready.

(chuckles)

- What?

You wear pads?

Brilliant.

(squirting)

(crumples paper)

- [Nilah] Oh, God.

- Alright, tape.

Where's the tape?

Shh.

(exhaling)

- Did you kill Mr. Pigeon?

You don't take notes very well.

- No!

What do you think I am?

Claire must have done it.

She hates interns just as much as script readers.

- Claire doesn't know if he's a script reader or an intern.

Be a good move, professionally.

- I hate script readers and their silly notes.

- I know.

I just don't think now is the time

to be exterminating the team.

- Mr. Emu did it.

He actually wants the job. (chuckles)

- Mr. Pigeon alive?

- Maybe food poisoning.

- From eating broccoli sauteed in olive oil?

- [Mrs. Hawk] I'm brainstorming.

(splashing)

(mug shattering)

- Listen up.

Under the contract, Mr. Pigeon surrenders his credits.

That allocates his credits to you

and grants full producer status.

- Sweet!

- What's the best way to spend the ransom money?

Let's rehire that badass editor.

- Color correction.

- Sound design.

It's all about the audio.

- It's a visual medium.

Spend it on the visuals.

- There's a time crunch.

We'll be switching around a few scenes.

Otherwise, everything goes to post audio and deliverables.

20 hours to fix the edit!

Ah, fuck it.

Read me his notes.

(speaking foreign language)

- [Mr. Emu] Add flashback sequences

to bring tension to dialogue.

- Did you hear that?

(speaking in foreign language)

- Add voiceover to extend movie to 90 minutes.

(speaking in foreign language)

Add ticking clock to ramp up the stakes.

(bangs door)

- [Claire] Fucking knew it.

You can't do it.

- Do what?

- A group of producers kidnaps a director for money?

I don't even have money, you fuck twads.

- What about mommy's 30,000?

- What?

No.

You leave her out of this.

- Your mother finances your movies?

- Oh, you didn't know?

Her films don't generate any money.

Lucky for us, little mommy resides in Oakland.

- The wheels are already turning.

- Nice try.

A ticking clock?

Flashbacks?

Are you listening to this, Nilah?

Your characters carry the story.

Hey, I got a stellar idea.

How about you acquire a huge fucking clock,

hang it up in the background?

I spit on your boorish and hackneyed ideas.

(spits)

- You told her to be like Herzog.

We are like Herzog.

We are Fitzcarraldo.

We are in the kidnapping business to make movies.

- Finish your film at all cost.

Hell, kill a few Indians, drown a few little tiny primates,

take a bullet if you have too.

Find the Machiavelli inspiration deep inside you.

Don't be nice, be productive.

Don't be noble, be impressive.

- I know you.

I'm going to find you out.

- Really?

Well, Claire, what do you think about this?

- Why do you have that?

- It's a reminder.

For team play.

For cooperation.

- You haven't earned the right to make films!

You will never make another movie

unless it's about you taking it up the ass

from your giant cellmate on security footage

sent to your fucking mother, you bird-face motherfucker!

You producers are all the same!

I'm going to take my Independent Courage Award

and personally shove it up your bureaucratic apparatus!

- It's the Independent Bravery Award, Miss Adams.

(kicks door)

- Field trip.

(claps)

- May I approach the Boss Man?

Excuse me, Mr. Boss Man.

Any chance you're looking to hire a director

or someone who can help with the edit?

- [Mr. Owl] This is my kidnapping, not a job interview.

Get back.

What?

Jesus.

- I can run errands too.

- [Mr. Owl] Look, keep your mentor in line.

When this all blows over, I'll send you

a job through one of my contacts.

- Soon.

- [Mr. Owl] Sure, sure.

- I need money.

For my movie.

- What was that about?

- [Mr. Emu] She asked to use (speaking in foreign language).

- We can escape easy.

First I gotta figure out out who these producers are.

- No.

If we don't see their faces, we'll live.

- It's a matter of principle.

When it happens, just sit tight.

(energetic music)

(van doors opening)

No, no way.

I refuse.

- [Mr. Owl] You have no choice.

Otherwise, she joins the party.

- A little old lady won't understand.

You'll give her a heart attack.

- Claire, thy appearance bethinks a longing of lost love.

How I do suffer so.

- Does look good, doesn't it?

- Don't even think about it.

- A joyous coincidence.

For doth the previous troupe content themselves

with the prat of schoolchildren and beshrews

my feast of boar and pots of ale.

- Ma, please.

Enough.

- Are doth afeard of my presence?

- Let's get to the point.

I was hoping...

- I notice a base and unworthy lot becomes my humble abode.

Why doth the brave masquerade about and such?

- They're method actors.

We start shooting on the morrow.

(clears throat) Tomorrow.

In fact, we're here to ask for an investment

to help finish the film.

- Eat.

Devour.

- Sorry, ma'am.

The team's credo is paleo for life and strength in ketosis.

- Blasphemy.

Do you dare chide my being to undone my generosity?

- Enough.

Stop.

Talk normal.

- About that investment.

- I'm sorry to be asking this, but can I have

the 30,000 you promised me last year?

You still keep cash in the house?

- I am not going to entrust suited crooks with my 30,000.

- You have the money here?

- Must be in the suitcase, jefe.

- Did I mention Claire that I divided

the 30,000 among your brothers?

Your films are too heady, a terrible investment.

- What?

- Is the money in the suitcase?

- Of course it is.

- You contradict yourself!

- I taught her everything she knows

about acting, about narrative.

Is this how I'm rewarded?

Oh, what is ketosis?

A paleo diet?

- No grains, low carbohydrates, lots of fats.

- What?

- Your body burns fat for fuel.

- Is this part of your method or are you on drugs?

Grains are the essence of civilization.

- [Mrs. Hawk] Grains are unhealthy.

- You can't feed the people without grains,

you bourgeois cunt.

- Don't call me bourgeoisi

(grunts)

- Your mother is brilliant.

- Fuck me, not you too.

(whimpering)

- Tell her to get up.

Make her stop.

- Shing!

- [Mr. Owl] Where we at with that suitcase, Mrs. Hawk?

- It's jammed.

I couldn't get it.

- Don't worry.

I'm sure the money's in there.

If your mother promised it and all.

Hey no one really got hurt, so that's something.

- [Mr. Owl] What was the name of that film

she did two years ago?

- The Masked Mrs. Jones.

- Ah yes, Mrs. Jone's Masks.

500 minutes I will never get back.

- Do you remember what you said when you made it?

About freedom and obstacles?

- Technically nobody ever gets back...

- [Nilah] "Always destroy what is within."

Then you'll be free.

Hell, when life gives you mangoes,

make mango-naid. - You've seen it?

- [Mr. Owl] Finished it.

Like my first marathon.

- Hey, Mr. Owl, you leave her alone.

That stands alone as a brave piece of art representing

the fluidity of the plight of the postmodern woman.

(giggling)

- Miss Nilah, your mentor has no idea, does she?

(phone ringing)

No idea.

- She got no idea.

- [Mr. Owl] Hello?

- It's El Boss Man.

The chief.

The head producer.

Mr. Foreboding.

- [Mr. Owl] Yes, sir.

I understand.

- He's talking about post-production.

That's when you finish principle...

- Oh Jesus fucking Christ, we know what post-production is!

- I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

You're right.

- [Mr. Owl] I understand, visual medium,

but the audio is problematic.

No.

Fine.

I'll get right on it.

Visual medium doesn't fucking mean anything!

- Told you!

Wouldn't listen.

(shouts)

(intense music)

- Oh god, my fingers!

(moaning)

- Her fingers!

- Demoted.

Associate Producer.

Maybe.

(moaning)

- Not to be disrespectful...

- But.

- But you should treat the bird people better.

I don't want them to put the rape on us.

What about the money?

- My mom gave it to my brothers.

- What if you're wrong?

Let's settle in and let it work itself out.

- Forget the politeness.

Stop with the "Yes, Miss Adams."

Think of yourself, no, sculpt yourself

into boldness verging on arrogance.

- Hey, that ostrich man can protect us!

- Forget ...

Forget the Emu!

They're novices.

Listen to my words.

I need your inner bitch to come out!

Motherfucking jackpot!

(grunting)

- I can't.

I'm feeling sick again.

- You got this.

I'm telling you, just consume more fat.

It's liquid synergy.

Your body wants ketosis.

- I'm worthless.

- What's ketosis again?

- Mr. Glucose Storage Factory, shut the fuck up.

- At least tell me what Plan B is.

- Fuck Plan B.

What happened to Mr. Pigeon?

Did you hurt him?

Just to be script reader?

What are you thinking?

Keep it on.

Stay in character.

There's cameras everywhere.

(drilling)

- I feel a tad woozy.

Think you can get me a job?

I'm a hard worker.

I don't think those producers

will hire me anymore after the maiming.

- When we get out of here, escape the madness,

trust me, the movie business' main problem

is that it's about business.

Oh, fuck me, what the fuck?

- Oh no, oh no no, Miss Adams.

I ate too much bread.

Oh Miss...

- Hey, hey, hey.

It's okay, when we get outside I'll carry you.

- It's all right, I feel better now.

Those damn star...

- Oh fuck.

- [Mrs. Hawk] How's he doing?

- It appears he was poisoned.

- Okay, lesbians and gaffers,

the time you've been waiting for has arrived.

- I present to you in glorious, non-anamorphic

four-by-three, Mrs. Jones Masks!

- The Masks of Mrs. Jones.

- Ugh!

Can you make it?

500 more minutes.

How does a film like this get financed without distribution?

(phone ringing)

Oh, that's right, little mommy helps.

Yes, sir.

The mother is collecting the money from the brothers.

Yes, she knows about the sensitive situation.

The money will be here within the hour.

Sir?

Yes, I already called them.

I know, color correction, a visual medium.

What?

Are you sure?

Wait, you want me to do what to her?

- My boo boo.

Who did this to you?

Who's next?

- That flightless bastard did it.

He told you, right?

It's a lie.

He wants you.

He poisoned me to get to you.

- What?

- I never cheated on you.

Never.

I may have flirted with her.

But that's it.

- Bastard!

My bastard.

- Listen.

We still have time to fix this film in the edit.

- How, like how?

- Well it's like sex.

A little foreplay, stick it in there, and make some noise.

Then you escalate, escalate, escalate until... (coughing)

- Until?

Until?

- Until the ending, the climax.

Cut to credits.

It's all about the ending.

- Boss Man did this.

- He thinks I'm weak.

- You're not weak.

You're accommodating.

Mr. Raven hated your notes.

- I only suggested more conflict, more violence!

That's no reason to kill me!

- What did you do to Mr. Pigeon?

First Yonnie, now the intern!

Tell me about Yonnie.

Tell me.

Tell me now, or she loses an ear.

- Oh no.

No, no, no, no.

Miss Adams?

Claire.

- Tell you what about Yonnie?

Tell you what?

I'll tell you anything.

- Oh crap, Miss Adams!

- About how you stole his script.

About how none of your work is original.

(sword clangs)

(shrieks)

- What the fuck did you do?

- Oh shit.

(grunting)

(yells)

- [Narrator] My dear congregation ...

have you ever hit a low, had the bottom out,

been unmoored and cast out to sea?

What to do?

- You have to destroy what's inside you.

You must embrace the crazy.

- [Narrator] Embrace the crazy.

- You have to dig deeper, get inside darker.

Be in the here and now.

- [Narrator] Be the now.

- I have to follow dreams to the end, through the struggles.

There is a wildness in the air that we breathe.

Through all of it.

To get the stuff that's inside.

I am this wildness, I must be the wildness.

- [Narrator] Be the wildness.

- Good god, this is appalling.

(imitates gun firing)

- You leave her alone.

Claire is an artist.

A brilliant, lone wolf on the festival circuit

who emits courage through her ...

- Bravery.

- Who emits bravery through the greatest frickin'

artistic medium of all time, the goddamn moving picture.

- Sit down.

You'll be alright.

- [Narrator] How can one unshackle their minds, themselves?

What holds them back from attaining the purity, the freedom?

(clapping)

- Little Nilah, poor girl from Georgia.

How did you ever get so far?

- Calm down.

How about another lesson?

- You gonna tell her your eensy-teensy secret?

Yeah, not cool.

- It's hard being famous.

- I have no idea, strange Owl man, what it is you mean.

In Georgia, we'd say you're meaner than a wet panther,

but the bird-cat analogy confusion would get in the way.

- Birds of prey have excellent eyesight.

The black car, the black SUV, the con.

- Nilah, I'm was wrong.

He's dangerous.

- Miss Claire Adams, the great white hope

of independent feminist cinema.

She had to save your life, just to get your attention.

- No, wait.

That's not true, Miss Adams.

- [Narrator] Booyah.

Everything happens for a reason.

Don't you agree?

Everybody has moments in life, to take, to seize.

"Grandiose yourself," my mama would say.

- Ma'am, I'm sorry.

- No worries.

- When I watch your films,

I know I'm not alone in the world.

I believe these are yours.

You are an inspiration not only to me

but to all female filmmakers.

- That means a lot to me.

It was really nice to meet you.

I'm sorry, I have an important meeting.

- [Nilah] Miss Adams!

(grunting)

- [Mr. Emu] You could have killed her, you know.

- That's not true.

Right?

- She could't afford a mentor.

She's a filmmaker adrift and a terrible screenwriter.

Nothing to leverage but ambition and grit.

- You could have killed me.

I should have left you!

I could have died!

You ...

Bitch!

- Bitch?

Nobody calls me that.

You're so stuck up, you'd drown in a rainstorm.

The sun don't come up to hear you crow.

- Oh, more sayings (speaking in foreign language).

- I gave you purpose, I gave you life.

- Bitch.

You psychotic bitch.

- What, what?

I can't hear you.

My ear is cut off!

- Oh come on, a small portion of the cartilage at best.

- It's admirable.

A mentor is everything in this industry.

It was a necessity.

- Damn straight.

- It's like what Claire taught you about Herzog:

"If you need air to breath, it is your absolute right."

- Exactly.

A true necessity.

Something Miss Privileged here can't understand.

- I think the wrong filmmaker got their ear cut off.

Mr. Raven?

(crying)

Just shake it off.

She's not half the producer you are.

Lest we forget, this is your film too.

- Color correction?

- Fuck color correction.

Remember, it's just me.

It was your idea to have fake bosses.

- Mystery bosses are good.

- Are you okay?

- I like fake bosses.

- Ah, fuck yeah!

It's like, I don't know who's pulling the strings,

but I fucking want to know.

It's uh, it's so ...

- Ominous?

- Yeah.

Get up.

- I'm sorry.

You can still get your credits back.

- She's staring.

She can't hear, right?

- Of course not.

Not like she can read lips.

She doesn't have super powers.

- Doesn't she do dialogue transcribing for her movies?

- No way.

- I couldn't see her coming in the van.

I can't see anything.

I'm like John Ford with a white hood.

I gotta lift it up.

- Don't insult Ford.

Okay?

I can't see caca either.

- She's freaking me out.

He was poisoned.

- You have you be a tyrant to get what you want.

Nothing matters but the final product.

- Thanks.

I mean it.

I just needed to hear it.

You're a great mentor.

- I will give Mr. Emu this much, though.

He was right.

We should have incorporated this.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Find anything suspicious.

Poisons, pills.

Mrs. Hawk called.

She said she thinks the intern was poisoned.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Mr. Raven poisoned him?

For full screen credits?

- [Narrator] It's transformative.

It's beauty.

It's life.

- Where's my sword?

- [Narrator] How does one straddle the fence

of insanity and truth?

- Where's the pretentious director?

- Okay, Mr. Raven, who's the assassin?

Our nitwit blabbed about Mr. Pigeon cheating on her.

Oh, so close.

- You think Mr. Emu did it?

(speaking in foreign language)

- Set it up.

- He did always want to be a script reader.

A script doctor.

- He's too dumb to be (speaking in foreign language).

- Or to have planned a murder.

- Motherfucker.

Motherfucker.

- I'm sorry about all this.

I'm not sure about anything anymore.

El Jefe is scaring me.

- The Owl guy?

- [Mr. Emu] Who else?

I'm afraid to drink anything but tap water.

- His boss?

- There's no boss.

Nobody's on the phone.

It's a gimmick.

- What?

- I think the Boss Man killed the script reader.

Poisoned him.

He thinks he's gonna squeal.

- Help us.

Please.

- Yeah.

Mm-hm.

Oh, okay.

Pick up's at 8:15.

And for fuck's sake, leave the sword.

It's better I don't hold this and do something foolish.

Go find the tape.

- Claire Adams.

Please tell your student, Nilah, about Yonnie.

Let's not have a repeat.

- What about?

- About your award tonight.

The Independent Courage Award.

- Bravery.

- Bravery, courage, courtesy, boldness, who cares?

Why is your award-winning film in German?

(groaning)

- Ouch.

Shit.

German reflects the aesthetic of my theme,

the belonging of the anti-hero's origin story.

Notice the last scene,

how the eyes move across the mise-en-scene

as influenced by German Expressionism.

- It's disgusting.

In another life, I would have hired you as a director.

- [Mr. Emu] Better than the last hombre you fired.

- Stop.

- It's true, he did nothing but complain.

- [Mr. Owl] Enough.

- Holy crap, Mr. Producer.

You fucking fired your director and lost all your funding.

Brilliant.

You're the antagonist of this mess.

- He was messing up my film!

He lost control of the actors!

Everything was ...

improvised!

- He refused to do coverage.

He wouldn't listen.

- A producer has no vision.

He can't invoke metaphor, tap into the soul.

A pencil pusher.

He only likes the idea of making movies

so he can bang all the girls at the parties.

- No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

- [Mrs. Hawk] (sniffles) He took away my talisman.

- Well, leave.

- I can't, I've invested too much of my own money.

What should I do?

I think he's gonna hurt her.

- Well, make sure he doesn't.

- But he has vision.

He's an artist at work.

What do I know about such things?

Should I go back in there?

- Oh yes, yes.

- Some people deserve to be treated badly.

But not the producers.

- Just let me go.

You almost have your funding.

I'll get the rest for you, somehow.

I have connections for post.

- You couldn't raise $500 on Kickstarter.

- [Mr. Emu] Easy, boss.

- The reason your film is in German

is because Yonnie conceptualized it in German.

- [Nilah] Who is this Yonnie guy?

- Yonnie is the screenwriter.

The true genius behind the film.

He deserves the award.

- He wrote it?

- Of course he wrote it.

- Originally, yes.

But I tweaked it so much it became mine.

- Did you give him a story by credit?

- No.

I didn't give him any credit.

- He wrote the movie.

He's the screenwriter.

You're not brave.

You're a coward.

And immoral.

- Sometimes you commit indecent acts

to bring beauty into the world.

I assure you there is nothing of Yonnie in my final film.

The only mistake I made was not giving him

a shared story by credit.

That's it.

- You tricked Yonnie.

He wrote the blueprint for your film.

- You can't judge me.

You bamboozled me.

You tried to kill me.

- Hey, who poisoned the Pigeon man?

- I knew it.

You tried to kill our script reader.

- What do you care?

He was an intern.

- He was going to be a producer.

Some day.

- Here is your final film lesson.

A movie isn't a screenplay.

Your script isn't the blueprint,

it isn't a map or even a guide.

Kazan says you're not building a house,

you're building a part of your life.

- Yeah well, this Kazan fellow is wrong.

- Whoa! - Whoa!

- At best.

At best, a script inspires.

Even Ford said, "There's no such thing as a good script."

I mean sure, pay for it.

But a laundry list of what stimulated you in the credits?

And this is the only piece of work

Yonnie wrote that turned out good.

- Stop.

- His script was and is trash.

- Enough.

- He offers very little to the world.

He's a hack!

- Shing.

(gun fires from another room)

No, no, no. (crying)

I should have never brought you here.

- Yonnie?

That isn't Yonnie, right, Nilah?

- [Narrator] How would I know, Claire?

How the fuck would I know?

I did it.

- What?

- I poisoned the Pigeon man.

I was going to poison all of them

so we could escape, but Mr. Owl offered me a job.

- What?

- Look, you understand.

Sometimes you have to commit immoral acts.

I'm sorry I tried to blame you.

Damn, I'm poison.

- Why did you even ...

- I hate script readers.

Don't you?

- Carry poison?

(energetic music)

- Wrong way!

Wrong way!

- You fat fuck!

(gun clicks) - Ha.

Misfire, total cliche.

- If you don't stop, I'll cut your fucking head off.

You flightless shit for brains.

You thought I wouldn't notice you cozying up

to Miss Courageous?

- Miss Bravery.

- If you two come back, I won't do anything ill-advised.

Listen.

No one's been hurt yet.

- Look, he kidnapped you, handcuffed you.

You owe him nothing.

- If you leave, I'll cut his head off.

(speaking in foreign language)

- It's okay.

I deserve it.

(keys jangling)

(groaning)

(vomits)

- What?

No, no, no.

Stop, stop!

(ethereal vocal music)

- This mentorship is a lie.

- Hand that to me.

- Admit it.

- Let's get out of here.

- Admit it.

- Admit what?

- You would have left me there.

- What?

- That were me under the sword, you would have deserted me.

You only think about yourself.

- Come on, let's get out of here.

- You can't walk all over me.

I have a breaking point.

I don't need you.

I don't need those producers.

(gun clicks)

- Wait.

- "My love of film is far more important to me

"than considerations of immorality."

- A Hitchcock quote won't absolve you.

(gun fires)

- You think all we care about is your mom's money?

- You have lost the plot.

- This is a snuff film.

Guaranteed distribution and a goddam presale.

Like Wu Tang Clan selling an entire album

to one rich fuck.

This is one in the same.

One movie, one person.

(chuckles anxiously)

- Oh, you think this is a joke?

- It has to be.

Some sick joke!

- Haven't you heard?

"All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl."

- All this just to make a movie?

- We're Dadaists.

We don't need the rules of society.

Fuck the bourgeois and privileged artists like you.

- We are Herzogians!

- Yes, yes we're all Herzogians!

- Herzogians are anti-Herzogians.

"Always destroy what is in you."

(gun fires)

- Wait.

Cut.

You can't stray from the script when it comes to guns.

Hand that over.

Now.

- You can't cut, you're not the director.

Dada is anti-Dada.

- Nilah, now.

(gun fires)

- [Cinematographer] Oh fuck, he's really dead.

- Where did you get that?

She has live rounds!

- Keep rolling, keep rolling, keep rolling!

Everybody keep fucking rolling or I shoot the Gaffer

and every motherfucking P.A. in here!

Get on your knees.

Get on your knees!

You can't subjugate people and get away with it

just because you're an artist.

You exploited Yonnie.

(spits)

- I spit on John Ford.

(spits)

- And after you hit the ground, I'll spit on you.

- Wait, wait.

- Always end with a death.

- Look, I am not Ford.

- Then who are you?

- Don't kill me.

You don't have a character arc.

I'll change.

I will, I'll change, I'll change right now.

I'll reflect, and think and...

- Character arcs are for cowards

and those of weak constitution.

- Look, I am your mentor, I'm your mentor!

- Mentoring is anti-mentoring.

(gun fires)

(head hits railing)

(intense rock music)

♪ If you see a woman walking through town ♪

♪ Covered in a black veil from her hair to the ground ♪

♪ Think about the love you lost ♪

♪ The light you let fade ♪

♪ The weakening heart ♪

♪ You didn't try to save ♪

(grunting)

♪ I'm warning you ♪

♪ Day after day ♪

♪ I'm warning you ♪

♪ You better just stay away ♪

- [Nilah] This is the essence of documentary filmmaking.

If you choose to participate, you will be Mr. Owl.

- You, my dear, will be Miss Hawk.

And you, Mr. Pigeon.

You will have to wear them the entire time.

I know it sounds a little weird, but just, just trust me.

This will be great.

- I want a gun.

- Then you're in.

The two of you?

- Hell yeah.

You in, honey?

- Yeah, I'm in.

Whatever.

- All right, let's do it.

♪ The weakening heart you didn't try to save ♪

♪ I'm warning you ♪

♪ Day after you ♪

♪ I'm warning you ♪

♪ You better just stay away ♪

- Points.

(voice quavering)

(lively music)

- Scene 24, don't have it.

Scene 25, don't have it.

26, don't have it.

Why?

Because we're three days behind schedule

and 100 grand over budget.

Fucking fix it.

(energetic music)

(upbeat music)

♪ You forget how your life goes ♪

♪ And you're just walking around ♪

♪ Alone again with your work clothes ♪

♪ A window in another town ♪

♪ You'll forget how your life goes ♪

♪ And you're just fucking around ♪

♪ It might protect you from something else ♪

♪ A window in another town ♪