THE IRRESISTIBLE OFFER

by
Andrew Yakovlev

Inspired by

THE SECRET AGENT

by Joseph Conrad

6.30.06

Andrew V. Yakovlev
308 East 90th Street, APT 4A
New York, NY 10128

Tel: 646.415.2245
E-mail: a.yakovlev@mac.com
EXT. NEW YORK CITY (MORNING)

We open with an aerial shot of the City skyline. Several high

establishing shots are linked by a chyron reading “New York
City,” we localize on the Midtown area and hold on Times
Square.

CUT TO

EXT. MIDTOWN (MORNING)

An extreme low angle view of the same office high-rises that

we’ve previously seen from the sky. The camera slowly pans
down past the hurrying office workers and onto the concrete
pavement being stamped by their shoes.

This is what CHARLES is seeing. He is spread out on some

cardboard in an unused entrance way. He passes out from
hunger and exhaustion and comes to to the poking of a baton.
It’s police officer MICHAELS.

MICHAELS
Hey, you. Stinkface. Wake up.

CHARLES doesn’t answer.

MICHAELS (cont’d)
Hey, you stinky bum. Gotta get a
move on it. Come on. Move along.

CHARLES still doesn’t respond. MICHAELS jabs him. CHARLES

spazzes.

CHARLES
No, I aint going. Ooh, copperhead
don’t sting me. I aint goin
nowhere, pig.

MICHAELS
What the fuck are you talking
about? Why don’t you get the fuck
off my block, I don’t need your
smelly ass around, it’s bad for
business, don’t look good for the
fucking tourists. Now move along,
before I drag your ass to jail.

CHARLES
(mumbling) I aint scared, you can’t
sting me, I got the antidote. You
think you got the power, but you
don’t, I got the power.
(MORE)
 2.

CHARLES (cont'd)
I’m the space master, that’s why
you all yous follow me and watch
me, observing my every move like a
cockroach. Fuck you! I’ll kill you!
You kill me?! You can’t, cause kill
you.

MICHAELS
(kicking him)Get the fuck up you
crazy piece of shit!

CHARLES can’t seem to move.

MICHAELS (cont’d)
Waste of space. You’r nothing!
You’rnt even a human being!

CHARLES spits at the cops shoes. MICHAELS kicks him again and
pushes the baton into his chest.

MICHAELS (cont’d)
(leans in) You worthless piece of
shit. I’d rather see you die right
here right now, then have to deal
with the stinkin’ paperwork. (jabs
and points to the passerbyes with
his stick) Look, you think any of
these people care if you kick the
fucking bucket right now?!

The flow of human traffic goes on, uninterrupted.

MICHAELS (cont’d)
(reaching for his pad) I guess I’m
gonna have to do it.

CHARLES
No, no, you can’t. I was just
resting.

MICHAELS
(puts away the stick) Yeah, now
looks to me like you had your rest.
Take your shit and move the fuck on
before I feel like getting my hands
dirty again.

CHARLES gets up. Picks up his meager belongings and shoves

them into a nearby pushcart. Random junk falls out. CHARLES
doesn’t notice, he laboriously starts pushing his squeaky
cart off away from the policeman.

FADE OUT
 3.

EXT. 27TH AND 7TH (NOON)

NEW YORKERS are stepping over a heap of junk sprawled about a

passed out homeless man. It’s CHARLES. He comes to and sits
up stretching out his hand.

CHARLES
Spare some change.

A NEW YORKER walks by without noticing CHARLES.

CHARLES (cont’d)
Fine...fuck. God bless you!

CHARLES sits up and looks around, he’s thirsty. A much more

together HOMELESS man walks up.

HOMELESS
Hey, yo, what’s up?

CHARLES motions for the bottle in HOMELESS man’s hand. He

gets a sip.

HOMELESS (cont’d)
You know, you can’t hang out here.
This is Pete’s stretch. If he finds
out you’re here, he’ll come and
fuck you up.

CHARLES
Oh year, and where’s he at?

HOMELESS
That’s me. I’m Pete.

PETE goes for a headbutt. THUD.

FADE OUT

EXT. 34TH AND 8TH (NOON)

CHARLES is kneeled over, bleeding slightly from his nose.

He’s still trying to get his act together.

SYLVAN VERLOC (O.S.)

Looks like you are having one of
those days?

CHARLES looks up, his vision is still blurry. VERLOC places a

handkerchief in his hand.
 4.

CHARLES
(to the handkerchief) Please, I
need some change, I need to get
some food...man.

CHARLES wipes his face. He sees a sharply dressed man of pure

confidence, MR. SYLVAN VERLOC.

SYLVAN VERLOC
I am sorry, but I have nothing
smaller then this. (hands him a $20
bill) Would it do?

The token has a sobering effect.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

So...Your story, what is it? I am
curious to know it.

CHARLES looks at him. Isn’t it obvious?

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

Well, I can see that you are down
on your luck. You are lacking
shelter, nourishment, hydration. It
also looks like you have recently
suffered an injury...Friend, how
long has it been like this?

CHARLES
I...I don’t know. Can’t
remember...lost count after five...

SYLVAN VERLOC
What happened to you?

CHARLES
I’ve done bad. I blew it bad. Lost
it all...my life, my wife, she
left, had everything at stake,
house, car, business...the lawyers
then they say “pyramid scheme.”
Stupid, fell for a house of cards.
Fell down, hit that rock bottom
hard.

SYLVAN VERLOC
Hmm...Not much luck you say?

VERLOC hands him another twenty.

 5.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

This is luck. Look, compared to
what you had a few moments ago,
this is practically a small
fortune. How is that for luck?

CHARLES soberly studies VERLOC.

CHARLES
Alright, what’s the catch?

SYLVAN VERLOC
No catch. You are free to walk away
right now, or you can stay and
allow me to introduce myself
(reaches out his hand). My name is
Sylvan Verloc.

CHARLES seizes the opportunity and latches on to VERLOC’s

hand.

CHARLES
You damn well know my name, you’re
the ones who do it - all the cops
and the FBI following me around
all the time!

SYLVAN VERLOC
(without flinching) Calm down,
friend. Let me assure you, I am on
your side. No one is observing us,
all of this is purely random
coincidence. Now, if you would tell
me your name, I would be delighted
to have you join me for an early
supper.

CHARLES
It’s Charles...(lets go of the
hand) I’m Charles.

SYLVAN VERLOC
Nice to meet you, Charles.

CHARLES
There’s a McDonalds over on the
corner of Lex.

INT. RESTAURANT (NOON)

We are inside a small, but cozy establishment. CHARLES and

VERLOC are the only customers.
 6.

They are sharing a tastefully opulent fare at a corner table.

CHARLES is devouring his platter. Wine is poured.

SYLVAN VERLOC
Charles, do you know what year the
Great Fire of Rome erupted?

CHARLES
What? 9/11?

SYLVAN VERLOC
Well yes, how about that?

CHARLES
I got pretty much all of it figured
out. They play everybody perfect,
including you and me, buddy. They
still do, everyday. And the social
workers - they’re in on it too,
they tried to send me to Worcester!

SYLVAN VERLOC
That sounds like an interesting
story, and I would like to hear it
some day. But, all of that is in
the past, behind us. What we have
to do now, is focus on the present.
We should only think about this
moment and where this moment can
take us. Charles, you still have a
chance to make things right,
everyone always has that chance. I
can see you doing it and all you
have to do is visualize it with me.

CHARLES
No way, man. Things don’t turn out
for the better, it’s all bull. It’s
meant to keep people like me down.
I need food, work, place to lay my
head. I can’t get that, they won’t
let me! I go to the shelter, wait
for social worker, I have to stay
up all night so I don’t loose my
place. People there are crazy,
screaming the whole time! Can’t
sleep. She sends me down to 20th
from 120th. It takes the whole day,
the whole hell. (starts mumbling to
himself) It’s hell, hell, hell - to
live like this, it’s triple 6 times
sixty six with six on top....hell.
 7.

SYLVAN VERLOC
If you do not mind me asking, when
was the last time you had a decent
meal?

CHARLES
Can’t say I remember, all I got to
eat is this nightmare.

SYLVAN VERLOC
Then today you wake up! You are a
Man, take back control your
destiny!

CHARLES studies the menu left out on the table.

CHARLES
(points to the menu) I’ll try the
duck in mango sauce.

SYLVAN VERLOC
(snaps his fingers) Waiter.

The WAITER comes over and pours out more wine for CHARLES.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

(to the waiter) The duck please,
for our friend.

CHARLES drinks the wine.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

As you implied earlier, I do have a
proposition for you...And Charles,
it is nothing short of an
irresistible offer.

CHARLES leans in.

CHARLES
Alright. I’m listening.

SYLVAN VERLOC
It is quite lucrative and the risk
involved is minimal. In fact, it is
done so often, repetition has made
the method simple and efficient.

CHARLES
I heard all this before, amigo.
 8.

SYLVAN VERLOC
I doubt it. It is not everyday that
one is offered such a large amount
of money for performing such a
simple task. One that only takes a
few minutes.

The duck is brought down.

CHARLES
Alright, who do I have to kill?

VERLOC gives out a rolling laughter.

SYLVAN VERLOC
You are not using your imagination,
Charles! You will get 100,000
dollars and a new identity and all
you have to do is take that package
over there.

In the corner is a bag that matches the style of CHARLES cart

possessions. It was just brought in by the WAITER.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

Take it and in a few hours carry it
up seven blocks. And then, put it
inside a garbage can.

VERLOC flips over his menu revealing a map of Times Square.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

(he points to a mark on the map)
This garbage can here. Then walk
away, this way. In a few moments
after that, you will be safe and
rich.

CHARLES
You want me to set off a bomb in
the middle of Times Square?!

SYLVAN VERLOC
No, you do not have to set it off.
The device is detonated remotely.

CHARLES
What the fuck?! I thought I was
crazy! Are you for real? Is this
for real?!!

SYLVAN VERLOC
I am being perfectly serious.
 9.

VERLOC takes out a leather bag.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

Inside of this valise is 50,000
dollars. There is also 50,000 in a
car parked on 11th and 39th. (He
pulls out a leather key wallet from
his pocket) This is the key.

Beat.

CHARLES
Hell no! I aint blowing up this
city. I love New York.

SYLVAN VERLOC
Oh you do, do you? You have been
conditioned to say that! Think
about it, how can it be true? This
city has abandoned you, you exist
on its dark, dirty bottom. How can
you possibly love something that
does not love you back? What has
the concrete ever done for you? Or
the people, these people? They
ignore you, spit on you, beat you
down...well some of them. But worst
of all, most of them do not even
notice you! You are a subhuman to
them, they would care more for a
wounded dog.

VERLOC opens the bag and puts the key inside, he lets the bag
stay open.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

This is a limited time offer. The
bomb has to go off exactly at
13:54. In two hours.

CHARLES
Oh hell no! This is crazy, I’m not
going down for your sorry asses.
Who the fuck are you to be blowing
up shit?! Verkai, Varuk, whatever
the fuck your name is!

SYLVAN VERLOC
I am Verloc...Bug honestly Charles,
that information is not relevant or
necessary to your decision making
process at this point.
(MORE)
 10.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont'd)

I can say that we are only a tiny
part, a small cog that
turns...possibly for the interests
of a different country. Why, do you
think other countries do not
operate their own CIAs or FBIs? Or
this could be an act ordered by a
multinational economic entity
looking to profit from the markets,
or perhaps insurance..Or maybe a
political cabal, a fringe group
with a radically new agenda and
radical needs to implement its
program. A true operative does not
bother to try his hand at
unravelling it, we simply observe
and improvise.

CHARLES
You sons of a bitches. You blew up
the towers!

SYLVAN VERLOC
Charles, look at what is on the
table. Think back to today. Think
back to this week, this year, the
last five? You said it yourself -
it has been hell. Now you have the
perfect opportunity. Not only a way
out of this wretchedness, but a way
to a new you. You can trade your
rags for a bespoke suit, your
pavement for a soft pillow, you
will be able to afford
companionship, love, whatever your
heart desires.

CHARLES
Yeah? And feel guilty as hell for
the rest of my life!?

SYLVAN VERLOC
Guilt? My friend, you are more
guilty now for having cheated
yourself once and now letting
yourself be cheated over and over
again. But what is even sadder, is
that you are a victim and a
perpetrator of your own misery. If
it were them? If the roles were
reversed?
(MORE)
 11.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont'd)

It cannot be hard to imagine, you
observe it everyday of your life -
they walk past you without thinking
twice about your suffering. And in
their name, with their money,
vicious wars are waged and
atrocious acts are committed. Yet,
they are masters at being
blissfully ignorant. And some are
even worse - openly endorsing these
horrors as righteous! Meanwhile
you, you have no money, not even a
voice. You are unnoticeable in
their periphery. You are innocent
from the greater evil, you are
pure.

CHARLES
Yes...yes I am.

SYLVAN VERLOC
You are the one who has the power
over them.

CHARLES
I do.

SYLVAN VERLOC
If you pass up on this, you will
only be betraying yourself. This is
your one chance to recoup, to get
even.

CHARLES
You’re right!

SYLVAN VERLOC
Charles, I could tell right away
you were a man of great reason.

CHARLES
I’ll do it, but 75 grand up-front.

SYLVAN VERLOC
(reaches out his hand) It’s a deal.

They shake. The WAITER takes away their plates. The plates
are followed back to the kitchen where the bomb is undergoing
the last preparations. The conversation continues over the
prep sequence.

CHARLES (O.S.)
What if...
 12.

SYLVAN VERLOC
What if the bomb goes off too soon?
Charles, you are not being paid to
be a martyr or a suicide bomber.
There is no need for that, we can
afford to be more sophisticated -
the bomb is detonated remotely,
through a cell phone.

CUT TO a video camera recording the finishing touches of the

bomb preparations, a disassembled cell phone is being wired
to a detonator.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

Oh and furthermore, you will be
trailed by a man with a video
camera. I hope you do not mind
being recorded.

CUT TO VERLOC at the table.

SYLVAN VERLOC (cont’d)

If the police stop you, it will go
off. If you go to the wrong place,
it will go off. If you do
everything correctly, 5 minutes
after you deposit the package, and
calmly walk away, it will go off.
That’s all.

As the monologue continues we cut to the real time view of

the location.

EXT. TIMES SQUARE (NOON)

We see a long shot of the location and frames of all the

landmarks to be mentioned by VERLOC.

SYLVAN VERLOC
Now, this is the intersection of
Broadway and 7th. This is the NYPD
police station. Right here, this
cube, this is the ARMY and NAVY
recruitment station. This is the
garbage can. The lid on the garbage
can is removable.

A CUSTODIAN comes up and flips up the lid and pulls out a bag
of trash.

CUT TO
 13.

INT. RESTAURANT (NOON)

Back to the table.

SYLVAN VERLOC
You should be able to just slide
the package through the opening. Is
everything clear? Any questions?

CHARLES puts his hand on the leather bag and pulls the money
close to his chest.

CHARLES
Got it.

EXT. TIMES SQUARE (AFTERNOON)

CHARLES is making his way up the street. He’s pushing a cart

in which we can prominently see the package from VERLOC.

We cut back to the shot of the Times Square garbage can. A

shot of the cross streets. A shot of the police station, a
shot of the military center.

CHARLES, now seen through the view of a video camera,

approaches the target.

We get a close up of CHARLES. He sees the garbage can and is

steadily moving towards it. All around the city is alive,
bristling with media.

CHARLES comes up to the target. Looks around, still

proceeding with the plan. He lifts up the lid and pretends to
rummage for cans. As he dips inside all the city NOISE fades
out. When he pulls his head back out - time has stopped.

Everything and everybody, besides CHARLES, is frozen in mid-

climax. The stock ticker is frozen still. The birds. The
cars.

CHARLES looks around. What follows are three frozen life

dioramas that CHARLES observes in this moment.

The First Diorama is a man dressed in a LOBSTER suit passing

out flyers for Red Lobster.

The Second Diorama is a Midwestern COUPLE making tourist

faces.

The Third Diorama is a BABY-SITTER pushing a stroller with a

beautiful child.
 14.

CHARLES takes it all in, turns, and is confronted by his own

reflection in the tinted window of a car frozen mid-town, mid-
time. The reflected CHARLES is holding the bomb.

CHARLES looks down at his hands, and indeed he is holding a

bundle that is about to go off, time turns back on - the car
drives by. CHARLES is holding the bomb, but it hasn’t
exploded yet. It’s his one opportunity, he can grab it.

CHARLES presses the package close to his chest. The garbage

can lid is still up.

A Times Square CUSTODIAN notices the suspicious activity and

starts walking over.

CUSTODIAN
Hey! You! You can’t do that here!

CHARLES hesitates.

CUT TO video CAMERA zooming in on CHARLES’ face.

CUT TO a cell phone being dialed.

CUT TO the video camera view, shaky and grainy, the CUSTODIAN
is gesturing at CHARLES.

CHARLES presses the package tighter.

CHARLES
No! I’ve changed my mind.

He closes his eyes waiting for an explosion.

CUT TO the cell phone, there’s no reception. The call can’t

go through!

CHARLES opens his eyes. He’s alive.

CHARLES (cont’d)
(to the custodian, to the
terrorists, or anyone else who
would listen) I’ve changed my
mind!!!

CUSTODIAN
Hey, wait! Stop!

CHARLES takes off running west. The crowds organically make

way.

CUT TO the video CAMERA view. The CAMERA operator is on the

move too, following CHARLES.
 15.

Back to CHARLES, he’s knocking people over, running into

traffic. Over and over cursing and screaming unintelligibly.

Meanwhile the cell phone OPERATOR (whose face we never see)

is trying to find reception. For a second he gets two bars,
but then they disappear.

By this time, CHARLES has made it to a considerably emptier

street. He picks up speed, but trips. The bomb comes flying.
Before it lands, CHARLES ducks for cover. Once more, the bomb
doesn’t go off. CHARLES picks it up and continues running.

The video CAMERA captures that last moment and is still

following him as well. Though now, it is even shakier and
grainier due to being at a greater distance from the subject.

CUT TO Officer MICHAELS walking a patrol down the same street

that CHARLES is on.

The cell phone has finally got bars. The number is being
speed dialed.

CHARLES is moving wildly, now searching for a place to stash

the device. He can’t find a spot. He is desperate.

MICHAELS observes all this and takes off running towards the
maniac.

CHARLES runs out onto the road where he notices Officer

MICHAELS moving to intercept him. He recoils, but tries to
communicate.

CHARLES
I’ve changed my mind.

CUT TO the cell phone call coming through.

MICHAELS realizes something.

MICHAELS
Quick, give it to me.

CHARLES
I’ve changed my mind.

The cell phone call comes through.

Something starts BEEPING in the bag.

MICHAELS
Throw it to me!

CHARLES throws the bag at MICHAELS.

 16.

He catches the bundle.

The BEEPING goes faster. It’s about to go off!!!

MICHAELS thinks quick, he spots an empty UPS truck with open

rear doors. He runs to the back of the truck, throws in the
bomb, shuts the doors, locks the latch and jumps away in the
nick of time. His dive away from the truck is seen through
the video CAMERA.

We hear an EXPLOSION. A beat later and we see it captured in

grainy shaky video.

FADE OUT

THE END.