Requiem for a Dream

              Requiem for a Dream    
                            by

              Darren Aronofsky & Hubert Selby, Jr.

ON THE TV -

- is Tappy Tibbons, America's favorite television personality.
His charismatic personality shines for the entire world to
see.

His audience cheers wildly.

                            AUDIENCE
              Juice by Tappy!  Juice by Tappy!
              Juice by Tappy!  ooooOOOOH!  Tappy's
              got juice!  Tappy's got juice!
              ooooOOOOH Tappy!

                            TAPPY TIBBONS
              Thank you!  Thank you vey much!
              Today's winner is a flight attendant
              from Washington DC.  Will you
              please welcome Mary -

Suddenly, the plug is pulled.  The TV flickers off and we -

                                                 CUT TO:

THE PRESENTATION TITLES, THEN -

                                                 CUT TO:

INT. SARA'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Harry Goldfarb, young twenties, is an eccentric kid with a
seductive smile.

He tries to stop his mother, Sara Goldfarb, from locking
herself in the closet.

                            HARRY
              Ma!  Ma!  C'mon, Ma!

                            SARA
              Harold.  Please.  Not again the TV.

She slams the door closed and Harry talks to the shut door.

                            HARRY
              Why do you haveta make such a big
              deal out of this?  Eh?  You know
              you'll have the set back in a
              couple of hours.

No answer.

                                                                      2.

                            HARRY (CONT'D)
              Why ya gotta make me feel guilty?
                     (frustrated)
              Ahhh...

Harry walks across the room to the early eighties TV with
ridiculous rabbit ears.

Sara locks the door and retreats to the back of the closet.

Harry starts to push the set on its stand when suddenly it
jerks - almost falling.  Harry spies a thick bicycle chain
going from around the TV to the radiator.

                            HARRY (CONT'D)
              Jesus!  Whatta ya tryin' to do, eh?
              You tryin' to get me to break my
              own mother's set?  Or break the
              radiator?

Harry marches to the closet.

                            HARRY (CONT'D)
              ..an' maybe blow up the whole house?
              You tryin' to make me a killer?
              Your own son?  Your own flesh and
              blood?  WHATTA YA DOIN' TA ME?
              YOUR OWN SON!!!

Then, a thin key slowly peeks out from under the closet door.
Harry works it out with his fingernail and yanks it up.

                            HARRY (CONT'D)
              Why do you always gotta play games
              with my head for krist's sake?
              Don't you have any considerations
              for my feelings?  Why do you haveta
              make my life so difficult?

And then, meekly from the closet -

                            SARA
              Harold, I wouldn't.  The chain
              isn't for you.  The robbers.

                            HARRY
              Then why didn't you tell me?  The
              set almost fell.  I coulda had a
              heart attack.

Sara shakes her head in the darkness.

                            SARA
              You should be well, Harold.

                                                                      3.

                            HARRY
              Then why won't you come out?

Harry tries to open the locked closet door but can't.

                            HARRY (CONT'D)
              See what I mean?  See how you
              always gotta upset me?

Harry walks to the TV, unlocks the chain and starts to wheel
the TV towards the front door.  He pauses by the closet.

                            HARRY (CONT'D)
              Ma?  Ma?  C'mon out?  Please, Ma.

No response.  Inside, Sara hugs her knees.

Then, he throws up his hands, mumbles -

                            HARRY
              Eh, screw it.

- and pushes the set carefully out of the apartment.

In the closet, Sara hears the door shut.  She mumbles to
herself -

                            SARA
              It's not happening.  And if it
              should be happening it would be
              alright, so don't worry, Seymour.
              It'll all work out.  You'll see
              already.  In the end it's all nice.

                                                 SMASH CUT TO:

BLACK -

- AND THE TITLE: 'REQUIEM FOR A DREAM'

TITLES BEGIN -

EXT. SARA'S APARTMENT - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Waiting for Harry is Tyrone C. Love, young twenties, leaning
against the wall, playing skillfully with a yo-yo.

Taking his time, Tyrone helps Harry wheel the set to the
dingy elevator.

                            TYRONE
              Sheeit, this mutha startin' to look
              a little seedy, man.

                                                                      4.

                            HARRY
              What's the matter, ya particular
              all of a sudden?

                            TYRONE
              Hey, baby, ah don't care if it's
              growin' hair just so's we get our
              braid.

                                                 CUT TO:

EXT. SARA'S BUILDING - BRIGHTON BEACH, BROOKLYN - DAY

Lining the front of the building in beach chairs are ten
female Yentas absorbing the sun and passing judgement on
Harry.

Harry says hello and is greeted by a chorus of fake,
sarcastic 'hellos' in return.

                                                 CUT TO:

EXT. STREETS OF BRIGHTON BEACH AND CONEY ISLAND

Harry and Tyrone carefully navigate the TV through the
streets of the old Brooklyn neighborhood.

They go under the elevated train, past the giant, dying
projects, across the boardwalk, beneath the shadows of the
towering parachute jump and through the cracking and boarded-
up amusement park.

THE TITLES END.

                                                 A HARD CUT TO:

BLACK

ON THE SCREEN IN WHITE LETTERS: 'SUMMER'

                                                 CUT TO:

INT. PAWN SHOP - DAY

Old and squat Mr. Rabinowitz shakes his head as Harry and
Tyrone push the set into his store.

He stands behind a cage of bulletproof glass with all of the
pawn shop's possessions.

                            MR RABINOWITZ
              So look, the table too already.

                                                                      5.

                            HARRY
              Hey, what do you want from me?  I
              can't schlep it on my back.

                            MR RABINOWITZ
              You got a friend.

                            TYRONE
              Hey man, I ain't my leper's
              schlepper.

Harry chuckles.

                            MR RABINOWITZ
              Such a son.  A goniff.  Your mother
              needs you like a moose needs a hat
              rack.

The pawn shop owner clucks his tongue and slowly counts out
the money.

                                                 CUT TO:

QUICK HIP-HOP MONTAGE:

Lighter flicks-liquid on spoon sizzles-tourniquet snaps-
needle sucks-hand slaps vein-a thunderous rush of liquid-and
finally an ecstatic sigh.

INT. TYRONE'S DIVE PAD - LATER

Tyrone's pad is run down but it'll do.  Tight on Harry back-
spinning a record on the turntable and halting the beat.
Then he lets the other turntable spin and start a new tune.

                            TYRONE
              Sheeit, that's some boss scag, baby.
              I mean DYN-A-MITE.

                            HARRY
              Yeah, man, something else.

Harry calmly watches the record spin.

                                                 CUT TO:

INT. DONUT SHOP - NIGHT - LATER

Tyrone and Harry sit at the counter of an all-night donut
shop, sipping hot chocolate and eating chocolate Crullers.

                                                                      6.

                            TYRONE
              Ya know what we oughta do, man?
              Huh?  We oughta get a piece of this
              Brody shit and cut it and off it,
              ya dig?

                            HARRY
              This stuff's good enough to cut in
              half and still get you wasted.  We
              could double our money.  Easy.

                            TYRONE
              That's right.  An' then we buy a
              couple a pieces an' we got
              something' else goin', man.  It
              sure would be righteous.

                            HARRY
              In no time we'd get a pound of pure
              straight from Sal the Geep.

                            TYRONE
              No hassles.  That's all I want, no
              hassles.

Just then, a hulking Cop sits down on the stool next to Harry.

Tyrone and Harry both fall silent and slowly sip their hot
chocolates.

Harry looks down at the Cop's gun.  It's maybe six inches
from his hand.

Slowly, he reaches over and undoes the safety latch on the
Cop's holster.

Tyrone's eyes fill with fear.

The Waitress comes over and gives the Cop his office.

                            WAITRESS
              Can I get you a -

Just then, Harry yanks the gun out of the holster.  The Cop
spins around.  Harry retreats -

                            COP
              Hey! Hey!

Harry smiles as the Cop charges.  Tyrone snickers.  Then
Harry tosses the gun over the Cop's head.  Tyrone catches it.
The Cop chases Tyrone.

                                                                      7.

Harry and Tyrone laugh as they toss the gun back and forth
just over the frustrated Cop's head.  The Cop slips and
falls on his ass and we -

                                                 CUT BACK TO:

Reality.  Five minutes earlier -

                            WAITRESS
              Anything else?  Huh?

Tyrone butts Harry.  Harry looks up at the Waitress who
stares at him.  The towering Cop looks over as well.

                            WAITRESS
              Well.

                            HARRY
              No, no.  Just the check.

The Cop returns to his donut.

                                                 CUT TO:

INT. PAWN SHOP - DAY

Mr Rabinowitz shakes his head as Sara enters.  He pulls out
a ledger book that is labeled 'Sara Goldfarb's TV'.