Stephen Metcalfe - Writer & Director

Produced in 2000', Beautiful Joe featured Sharon Stone and Billy Connelly. It wasa directed by Stephen Metcalfe.

B E A U T I F U L J O E

EXT. THE BRONX - DAY
Establishing. Late winter. Cold, grey, gun metal sky. New York skyline in the distance.
EXT. THE BRONX - DAY
A working class neighborhood. A guy named Joe parks his old van in front of a corner market. Gets out. Tough looking guy, Joe. Hard, plain face. But looks can lie. Joe waves to one of the neighborhood’s old ladies. Shouts a greeting.
JOE
Hey yeh’, Miz O’Malley!
MRS. O’MALLEY
Joe, how are ya!?
JOE
Can’t complain. An’ you?
MRS. O’MALLY
Terrible. Just terrible.
JOE
Good, that’s good.
Joe enters the market.
INT. MARKET - DAY
Joe is looking through the pain relievers. A WOMAN his age comes down the isle, looking for an item.
PAULINE
Joe, how ya doin’?
JOE
(looking up)
Ah, can’t complain, Pauline. An’ you?
PAULINE
What, you kiddin’ me?
She turns. At the end of the isle, two small boys, are in a shopping cart, trying to kill each other.
JOE
Hey, Pauline, which a these is good for headaches, ey?
PAULINE
What, you got headaches, Joe?
JOE
They come, they go.
PAULINE
You seen a doctor?
JOE
Yeh, he thinks I got tension. It’s work related tension, he thinks.
PAULINE
What is it you do again?
JOE
I’m a florist.
PAULINE
Oh, that’s very intense.
A scream! They turn. At the end of the isle, one of the boys is now flailing away with a half gallon plastic bottle of milk.
PAULINE
Gino! I am trying to talk here!
And suddenly Joe winces, almost dizzy. This isn’t a headache, this is a roadcrew in his skull.
PAULINE (O.C.))
I don’t care he hits you, hit him back!
Joe takes a deep breath as the headache subsides a bit.
PAULINE
You got kids, Joe?
JOE
No, Sylvie and I haven’t been so fortunate.
PAULINE
Fortunate. That’s a good one. Here. This is good for headaches.
She hands Joe pills; moves away.
PAULINE
Gino, I swear to God - !
Joe studies the bottle.
EXT. A STREET - THE BRONX - DAY
Neighborhood’s dreary. Old row houses. Clunker’s parked on the street. Joe parks in his driveway. Gets out. Notices the plumber’s truck parked in front of his house. He reaches back into the van for bags of groceries.
INT. HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY
Joe enters. Puts down his groceries. Frowns. Breakfast dishes are on the table. He goes to the sink, gets himself a glass of water. Opens the pain pills, takes two, drinks. Good. Better. He begins to clear the breakfast dishes. He hears something.
JOE
Sylv? Sylvie? Yeh back up the toilet again?
INT. HOUSE - THE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
Joe comes down a hallway. Still hearing something. He looks up the stairs towards the second floor. Starts up.
INT. HOUSE - AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS - CONTINUOUS
Joe doesn’t want to believe what he’s hearing - the rhythmic creaking of springs. He moves down the hall.
INT. HOUSE - THE BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
Joe sticks his head around the corner of his bedroom door, peeks in. In bed, his half dressed wife, Sylvia is on top of a half dressed man, going to town. Joe stares, dumbstruck. Hurt. Sylvia glances up. And screams!!! She and the man flounder in the bedclothes like beached fish and then - whump! - fall off the bed. Joe hasn’t moved. Sylvia slowly peeks up over the edge of the bed.
SYLVIE
Joe... you’re home early.
JOE
I got a headache.
INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
Through the living room window - the plumber’s truck peels away from the curb. Joe and Sylvie are on the couch.
SYLVIE
I been unhappy, Joe.
JOE
I guess.
SYLVIE
There’s no excitement in my life, no adventure.
JOE
Adventure.
SYLVIE
You’re boring, Joe. You work, you come home, you clean, you cook. You’re like the meals you cook. Balanced, no white sugar, nothin’ deep fried.
JOE
Fried food is adventurous?
SYLVIE
Our sex is boring, Joe.
JOE
How was the plumber?
SYLVIE
He excited me. He said dirty words to me while we was doin’ it.
JOE
I could say dirty words.
SYLVIE
Go on, you’re a gentleman, Joe, that’s your problem. Let me hear you. Go on, say something dirty to me.
JOE
You unfaithful fuckin’ dog.
Those weren’t quite the words Sylvie expected. She scowls.
SYLVIE
I want a divorce, Joe. I want the house, I want half the bank account and I want out.
Joe is silent.
SYLVIE
You’ll see, Joe. Worse things’ll happen to you in your life than this.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
A doctor sits behind his desk.
DOCTOR
Joe, you have a brain tumor.
Joe sits in mute, stunned silence.
DOCTOR
I took the MRI and the cat scan results to several other neurologists. They concur.
Silence. Joe takes a deep breath.
JOE
So what do I take?
DOCTOR
Medicine doesn’t help something like this, Joe. We need to operate.
JOE
You’re gonna go inside me head?
The doctor nods. Joe ponders a moment.
JOE
Will I still be me?
DOCTOR
The brain is a delicate thing, Joe.
JOE
No shit.
DOCTOR
The tumor is in a delicate place.
JOE
(a moment)
What if I don’t do nothin’? I mean, headaches, I can live with headaches.
DOCTOR
It’s not as simple as that, Joe.
JOE
No?
DOCTOR
Joe... we won’t know if the tumor’s malignant or not until we go in.
JOE
(a moment; this sinking in)
...how long can I wait?
DOCTOR
Two months at most.
Joe is silent.
EXT. IRISH PUB - THE BRONX - EVENING
Establishing.
INT. IRISH PUB - EVENING
A neighborhood local; not too crowded. Maps and posters of Ireland on the wall. Roseanne on the TV behind the bar. A beautifully dressed, sour looking guy, HAPPY, enters. He greets; is greeted. He grabs the stool next to Joe. Like Joe, he speaks with an Irish accent.
HAPPY
Joe, how y’doin’?
JOE
Hmm? Oh, good, Hap...
(realizing he always does this)
... good. And yourself?
HAPPY
Friggin’ awful. How about some service here!? A man could die a’ thirst! Joe?
JOE
Thanks, I’m fine.
HAPPY
And turn the friggin’ channel! I want to hear some fat cow complain I’ll go home to me wife!
The bartender, FRANK, serves Happy his beer.
BARTENDER
Nice suit, Happy. Is it new?
HAPPY
Yeh.
BARTENDER
What is it, a wurst?
HAPPY
Frank, the only thing you know about clothes is you got none, so shut the hell up, okay?
Frank takes Happy’s money. Happy slurps beer.
HAPPY
A wurst. Yeh, a friggin’ bratwurst...
JOE
Hap. Can I ask you something? You ever have adventures?
HAPPY
Adventures? Yeh, sure, I’m Indiana friggin’ Jones. What a you talkin’ about, adventures?
JOE
Y’ever go places?
HAPPY
My job, I travel all the time. I hate it.
JOE
What is it you do again, Hap?
HAPPY
...sales.
Frank, who has been listening, puts down Happy’s change.
FRANK
Me and the wife went to Disney World last year, Joe. We found it very adventurous.
JOE
How so?
FRANK
They got guys runnin’ around in mouse suits.
HAPPY
Frank, go mop a toilet with your moustache, fer chrissakes. Let intelligent men have an intelligent conversation. Mouse suits. Let me tell you something, Joe. Everywhere sucks. End a discussion.
JOE
A man should have adventures before he dies. A man should do that.
Happy and Frank glance at one another uneasily as Joe finishes his beer.