Extract from Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe (1998)
ELAINE
(peering at her lips)
Yes... yes, you have...
At the door is a furtive 15 year-old Girl.
She checks her cheek, straightens her hair. She hides
something under her coat, and gathers the proper
nonchalance to enter. Music fades.
INT. KITCHEN -- DAY
5
We now hear the dialogue between this lively Mother and her
son, as she cooks a pan full of soy-based health-food cutlets.
The meal simmers unappetizingly in the pan. Across the
kitchen we see William. He's a great listener, with a calm and
curious face that takes everything in.
ELAINE
Yes you have. I can tell.
ANITA
(boldly)
You can't tell.
WILLIAM
- so Livia -
Mom steps closer and examines the lips even more carefully.
To her, everything is a quest for knowledge.
ELAINE
-- killed everyone off so her son
Tiberius could inherit the throne.
(thoughtful pause)
Just like Nixon.
ELAINE
Not only can I tell, I know who it is.
It's Darryl.
William nods, intrigued. He has a good disposition. The world
of knowledge engages him, and he loves what it brings
out in his Mom. There is a small clatter at the front door, as
the girl we've just seen enters, barely brushing some chimes.
She silently curses herself.
ELAINE (cont'd)
Anita, is that you?
ANITA'S VOICE
Hey Mom! I already ate.
Mom moves to the living room to greet William's sister.
William peers into the next room.
6
ANITA
No I haven't.
INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY
Anita is stunned silent. She turns slightly to look at herself in a
hall mirror, searching for clues, implicating herself
immediately.
ELAINE (cont'd)
And what have you got under your coat?
This is the booty Anita didn't want to give up. Mom picks at
the corner of an album cover now visible under her jacket.
She withdraws the album. It's Simon and Garfunkel's
Bookends.
ANITA
(busted)
It's unfair that we can't listen toour music!
ELAINE
(weary of6 the issue)
Honey, it's all about drugs and promiscuous sex.
She's almost to her bedroom down the hall when mom
catches her. We now discover ANITA, 16, up-close. She is
alluring
with a suspicious and sunny smile.
ANITA
Simon and Garfunkel is poetry!
ELAINE
You sure? I'm making soy cutlets.
ELAINE
Yes it's poetry. It's the poetry of
drugs and promiscuous sex. Look at
the picture on the cover...
The words "soy cutlets" sends a small shiver through the girl.
CLOSE ON BOOKENDS ALBUM COVER
ANITA
I'm fine. Already ate.
William stands in the doorway now, watching, monitoring, as
Mom moves closer to his sister. She sees something curious
about her daughter.
ELAINE
Wait. You've been kissing.
ANITA
(too quickly)
No I haven't.
Mom's fingers at the edges. We examine the insolent faces on
Richard Avedon's classic album cover. Even Simon and
Garfunkel look guilty under her scholarly inspection.
ELAINE (cont'd)
... honey, they're on pot.
ANITA
First it was butter, then sugar and white flour.
(pause)
Bacon. Eggs, bologna, rock and roll,
motorcycles.
You don't even know the truth!
Nearby, William squirms as he watches the gently escalating
conversation. Anita glances at her brother. He silently
urges her to downshift. She can't.
ANITA (cont'd)
Then it was celebrating Christmas on a
day in September When you knew it
wouldn't be "commercialized."
William looks vaguely confused.
ELAINE
Sweetheart, don't be a drama queen.
Anita takes a breath and then out of her mouth comes the
strangled-sounding words of a kid swearing at her parent for
the first time.
ELAINE
That was an experiment. But I
understand -
ANITA
Feck you! All of you!
ANITA
What else are you going to ban?
ELAINE
Hey!
ELAINE
Honey, you want to rebel against
knowledge.
Anita runs down the hall to her room. Elaine turns to William,
relating to him more as a fellow parent than a child.
ELAINE (cont'd)
I'm trying to give you the Cliff's
Notes on how to live in this world.
ANITA
(simple and direct)
We're like nobody else I know.
ELAINE (cont'd)
Well, there it is. Your sister using the "f" word.
WILLIAM
I think she said "feck."
ELAINE
(sputtering)
What's the difference?
These are the words that sting Mom most.
ELAINE
I'm a teacher. Why can't I teach my own kids?
(pats chest)
Use me.
WILLIAM
(encouraging)
Well. The letter "u"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ii8naF_0A0
ANITA
Darryl says you use knowledge to keep
me down. He says I'm a "yes" person
and you're trying to raise us in a
"no" environment!
ELAINE
(immediately, can't help it)
Well, clearly, "no" is a word Darryl doesn't hear much.
Anita gasps. Ever the peacemaker, William weighs in. Nearby
is a poster - "No More War."
WILLIAM
Mom -ELAINE
Everything I say is wrong.
ANITA
I can't live here! I hate you! Even
William hates you!
WILLIAM
I don't hate her.
ANITA
(to William)
(starts at 3.25)