I chose to sort of chop together a bunch of different people talking about Gatsby into one scene, which isn't exactly how it goes in the book but which seemed more appropriate for a film.
FADE IN:
GATSBY’S GARDEN – EVENING
Gatsby’s party is well underway. The band is playing and
people are everywhere, drinking, laughing, and dancing. The garden is lit up in
different colors.
NICK, new-in-town next-door neighbor to Gatsby, and one of
the few people actually given an invitation to the party, awkwardly moves
through the crowd. He approaches a couple.
NICK
Hello, great party
isn’t it? Have you seen Mr. Gatsby? Believe it or not I haven’t actually met
the man…
COUPLE give Nick a confused and astonished look and,
mumbling and shaking their heads, move away.
NICK
(stands a moment
looking extremely uncomfortable)
Right then…
NICK, embarrassed, moves towards the cocktail table, but comes to a
stop when he notices someone at --
THE STAIRS
JORDAN, cool, cocky, young athlete, stands at the top of the stairs and looks down
haughtily.
NICK
(hurries toward
JORDAN)
Hello!
JORDAN
(slowly descends
stairs, giving NICK a lazy nod in greeting)
I thought you might
be here. I remembered you lived next door to…
(trails off as she
sees--)
LUCILLE, girl dressed in yellow, eagerly waves to JORDAN.
LUCILLE
Hello! Sorry you
didn’t win.
JORDAN
(mumbles to NICK)
Oh, she’s talking
about that golf tournament. I lost in the finals, you know.
LUCILLE
You don’t know who I
am... but I met you here a month ago.
JORDAN
You’ve dyed your hair
since then-
(breaks off when she
sees LUCILLE has already moved on. Shrugs, takes NICK’s arm, and leads him into
the garden)
A TABLE IN THE GARDEN
A few minutes later, JORDAN and NICK are seated with LUCILLE
and three other men.
JORDAN
(to LUCILLE)
Do you come to these
parties often?
LUCILLE
The last one was the
one I met you at. I like to come. I never care what I do, so I always have a
good time. When I was here last I tore my gown on a chair, and he asked my name
and address – inside of a week I got a package from Croiriers with a new
evening gown in it!
JORDAN
Did you keep it?
LUCILLE
Sure I did. I was
going to wear it tonight, but it was too big in the bust and had to be altered.
It was gas blue with lavender beads. Two hundred and sixty-five dollars!
(lowers her voice to
excited whisper)
There’s something
funny about a fellow that’ll do something like that. He doesn’t want trouble
with ANYbody.
NICK
Who doesn’t?
LUCILLE
Gastby. Somebody told
me…
(lowers her voice
even further, and JORDAN, NICK, and the men at the table all lean in to listen)
Somebody told me they
thought he killed a man once.
INTERCUT DIFFERENT PARTY-GOERS AS THEY RELATE DIFFERENT
STORIES
PARTY-GOER
No no, I heard he was
a German spy during the war. I heard that from a man who knew him, grew up with
him in Germany.
PARTY-GOER 2
No, couldn’t be. He
was in the American army during the war.
PARTY-GOER 3
I hear he’s a
bootlegger. One time he killed a man who had found out hew as nephew to Von
Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.
PARTY-GOER 4
I tell you, you look
at him sometimes when he thinks no one’s looking at him. He’s killed a man.
Last cut is to OWL-EYES, middle-aged and very drunk man, in ---
LIBRARY
OWL-EYES
They’re real!
NICK
What’s real?
(OWL-EYES gestures
behind him to the full bookshelves)
The books?
OWL-EYES
Absolutely real –
have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter
of fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages and – here, let me show you!
(turns to bookshelf
and pulls out “Volume One of the Stoddard Lectures”, pushes it into NICK’s
hands)
See! It’s a bona-fide
piece of printed matter. It fooled me! This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a
triumph! What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too – didn’t cut
the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?
(snatches book back
from NICK and stows it back into bookshelf)
NICK and JORDAN
(exchange looks, NICK
uncomfortable and JORDAN amused)
OWL-EYES
Who brought you? Or
did you just come? I was brought. Most people were brought.
JORDAN
(smiles, bemused, but
does not answer)
OWL-EYES
I was brought by a
woman named Roosevelt. Mrs. Claud Roosevelt. Do you know her? I met her
somewhere last night. I’ve been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it
might sober me up to sit in a library.
JORDAN
Has it?
OWL-EYES
A little bit, I
think. I can’t tell yet. I’ve only been here an hour. Did I tell you about the
books? They’re real. They’re-
JORDAN
You told us.
JORDAN and NICK shake hands and leave OWL-EYES alone in the
library. He continues mumbling to himself.
OWL-EYES
Real. Absolutely
real…
FADE OUT
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