The King Of Comedy
Chosen by KAREN GILLAN
KAREN GILLAN: “The scene from The King Of Comedy where Sandra Bernhard is talking to Jerry, the talk-show host she’s gotten tied up. She’s created a little romantic meal for both of them, and she’s talking to him and flirting with him. I was really impressed with her performance, and I could see that she was improv-ing, and then I started to think of how much Scorsese must have been asking his actors to improvise. It makes me want to do that in my films.”
INT. DINING ROOM — NIGHT
From above, we see a close-up of a dinner table set for two. On one plate sits a gun.
Masha (Sandra Bernhard), wearing an evening dress, walks towards the table with a bottle of wine in one hand and an empty pair of wine glasses in the other. The camera pulls back to reveal Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) seated at the table. Not that he has any choice in the matter: he’s been ducttaped to within an inch of his life.
Masha sets down the glasses and bottle. She walks over to Jerry and peels the duct tape off his mouth. He breathes out. She blows him a kiss. He glares ahead, refusing to meet her gaze.
Now seated, Masha begins to speak.
MASHA: I feel completely impulsive tonight. Anything, anything could happen. I have so much to tell you. I don’t know where to start, I wanna tell you everything, I just wanna tell you everything about myself, everything you don’t know.
She holds up a glass. She taps it with her nail, causing it to ding.
MASHA: Do you like these glasses? Crystal. Beautiful. I bought them just for you. I don’t know, there was something about them that reminded me of you. Just the simplicity of them. But if you don’t like them, if there’s even an inkling, if there’s doubt in your mind...
She throws the glass over her shoulder, smashing it. She smiles.
MASHA: You know, sometimes during the day, I’ll just be… I’ll do the simplest things. I’ll be taking a bath and I’ll say to myself, “I wonder if Jerry’s taking a bath right now?” And I just hope, y’know, you’re not drowning or something. I always get really worried about you, you know, like something terrible is going to happen. And I just have, like, these daydreams, like I’m out with you at the golf course, driving your cart, just driving around. “Need a putter, Jer?” You know? “Need an iron?” I don’t even know how to play golf. I played with my parents once, my dad, but… I love you. I’ve never told my parents that I love them. Of course, they’ve never told me that they loved me either. Which was fine with me. But I love you. You want some wine?
Jerry doesn’t say anything.
MASHA: No? Okay. I’m not in the mood to drink either, though. I’m sure in the mood to be alone with you. Why don’t we just clear off the table?
I was thinking, why don’t we go upstairs? But that’s so predictable. Let’s just take everything off the table and do it right here. That would blow your mind, wouldn’t it? It would blow my mind. I’ve never done anything like that before. I never even had anybody over for dinner, let alone made love on the table. But somehow I just want to do that, I just want to, like, dance. I just want to, like, y’know, put on some Shirelles. I wanna be Black. [She laughs] Wouldn’t that be insane? God, you know who I… I wish I was tonight? I wish I was Tina Turner. Just dancing through the room.
She briefly imitates Tina Turner singing, “Ooh ooh,” and then laughs.