ACT OUT: Out of Sight

BY: PROVOKR Staff

Steven Soderbergh‘s Out of Sight just might be the sexiest movie of the 1990s. Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney are perfectly cast as star-crossed cops and robbers, as exemplified in this sensuously intimate sequence from late in the film.

INT. BAR – NIGHT

VOICE
Can I buy you a drink?
She stares at the reflection for a moment, then slowly turns, looks up at JACK FOLEY now standing there in his new navy blue suit.

KAREN
(beat)
Yeah, I’d love one.
(then)
Would you like to sit down?

He pulls the chair out, looking at her. Foley offers his hand…

FOLEY
I’m Gary.

She hesitates, then shakes his hand…

KAREN
I’m Celeste.
She smiles with him.  When she lowers her hand to the table, his hand comes down to cover hers. She watches his expression as she brings her hand out slowly, his eyes not leaving hers, and lays her hand on his. The tips of her fingers brush his knuckles, lightly back and forth.

KAREN (CONT’D)    
It takes hours to get a drink around here. There’s only one waitress.

FOLEY
I can go to the bar.

KAREN
Don’t leave me.

FOLEY
Those guys bother you?

KAREN
No, they’re all right.  I meant, you just got here.

She picks up her drink and places it in front of him.

KAREN (CONT’D)
Help yourself.

She watches him take a sip, smack his lips.

FOLEY
You like bourbon?

KAREN
Love it.

FOLEY
(passes the glass back)
Well, we got that out of the way. (then)
Tell me, Celeste.  What do you do for a living?

KAREN
I’m a sales rep.  I came here to call on a customer
and they gave me a hard time because I’m a girl.

FOLEY
Is that how you think of yourself?

KAREN
What, as a sales rep?

FOLEY
A girl.

KAREN
I don’t have a problem with it.

FOLEY
I like your hair.  And that suit.

KAREN
I had one just like it — well, it was the same idea, but I had to get rid of it.

FOLEY
You did?

KAREN
It smelled.

FOLEY
Having it cleaned didn’t help, huh?

KAREN
No. (then)
What do you do for a living, Gary?

FOLEY (beat)
How far do we go with this?

This stops her, throws her off balance.

KAREN
Not yet. Don’t say anything yet. Okay?

FOLEY
I don’t think it works if we’re somebody else.
You know what I mean?  Gary and Celeste, Jesus,
what do they know about anything?

KAREN
It’s your game. I’ve never played this before.

FOLEY
It’s not a game. Something you play.

KAREN
Well, does it make sense to you?

FOLEY
It doesn’t have to, it’s something that happens.
It’s like seeing a person you never saw before —
you could be passing on the street — you look at
each other and for a few seconds, there’s a kind of
recognition.  Like you both know something.  But
then the next moment the person’s gone, and it’s too l
ate to do anything about it, but you remember it
because it was right there and you let it go, and you
think, “What if I had stopped and said something?”
It might happen only a few times in your life.

KAREN
Or once.

They look at each other a moment, then…

FOLEY
Why don’t we get out of here.

They both get up.

INT. ELEVATOR – NIGHT

As they ride down to Karen’s room.  She looks at him, looks away. The doors open and they exit.

INT. HER HOTEL SUITE

As he follows her in, she walks to the bar, fixes them each a drink.  He checks out the room, takes in her view.

KAREN
How’d you find me?

He comes over to her, takes out the newspaper clipping with her picture and shows it to her.

KAREN (CONT’D)
Oh, God…

FOLEY
I called your room from downstairs.

KAREN
If I had answered, what were you gonna say?

FOLEY
Well, I’d say who I was and do you remember me
and ask if you’d like to meet for a drink.

KAREN
If I remembered you.  I came looking for you.
I would’ve said sure, let’s do it.  But for all you
knew I could show up with a SWAT team.  Why
would you trust me?

FOLEY
It would be worth the risk.

She looks at him, touches his face with her hand…

KAREN
You like taking risks.

FOLEY
So do you.

He kisses her now, puts his arms around her.

KAREN
What’s the hurry, Jack?  You have to be somewhere?

She hands him his drink. They both drink, then…

KAREN (CONT’D)
Sooner or later…

She stops and he looks at her over the rim of her glass.

KAREN (CONT’D)
You really wear that suit.

FOLEY
That’s not what you were about to say.

She shrugs, lets it go.  He puts down his drink, kisses her. She lets him, then moves to the couch.

KAREN
Remember how talkative you were?  In the trunk?
Adele said you do that when you’re nervous.

FOLEY
She did, huh.

KAREN
You kept touching me, feeling my thigh.

FOLEY
Yeah, but in a nice way.

He sits down and they kiss again.  This time she peels his jacket off.  He does the same with hers.  He’s starting to unbutton her blouse when–

FOLEY (CONT’D)
(unbuttoning)
I might’ve smelled like a sewer, but you could tell
I was a gentlemaN. They say John Dillinger was a pretty
nice guy.

KAREN
He killed a police officer.

He stops.  Looks at her.

FOLEY
I hear he didn’t mean to.  The cop fell as Dillinger
was aiming at his leg and got him through the heart.

KAREN
You believe that?

FOLEY
Why not?

She looks at him, decides to get off this subject.  Anyway he’s finished unbuttoning her blouse and is now putting his hands inside her shirt.  She closes her eyes.

KAREN
You know that Sig .380 you took was my favorite.
My father gave it to me.

As he kisses her on the neck.

KAREN (CONT’D)
What were you gonna do with me?

FOLEY
I don’t know.  I hadn’t worked that part out yet.
All I knew was that I liked you, and I didn’t want to leave
you there, never see you again.

KAREN
You waved to me in the elevator.

She’s loosening his tie, unbuttoning his shirt.

FOLEY
I wasn’t sure you caught that.

KAREN
I couldn’t believe it.  I was thinking of you by
then, a lot, wondering what it would be like if
we did meet.  Like if we could take a time-out…

FOLEY
Really?  I was thinking the same thing. If we
could call time and get together for a while.

They look at each other a moment.

FOLEY (CONT’D)
You know I saw you on the street.

KAREN
Where?

FOLEY
Outside Adele’s.

He starts to kiss her again, but–

KAREN
You were going to see her?

FOLEY
To warn her about Chino.

KAREN
So she did help you?

FOLEY
I don’t think we should get into that.

KAREN
No, you’re right. Or Buddy. I won’t ask if he’s
with you or what you’re doing here in Detroit.
Or if you’ve run into Glenn Michaels yet.

FOLEY
Don’t talk like that, okay?  You scare me.

And he moves to kiss her, but she stands up, holds out her hand.

KAREN
Come on.

He gets up and she leads him across the room…

INT. BEDROOM – SAME

Jack sits on the bed to take off his shoes, stands up to take off his pants.

KAREN
Are you gonna leave your tie on?

He looks at her, down to her bra and panties, watches as she gets out of the rest of her clothes and comes over to him, standing close to help him with the tie…

FOLEY
My God, look at you.

When her clothes are off, she loops the tie around his neck again and then as she turns off the light… She kisses him.  He sits down on the bed, drawing her back with him, the only light now coming from the sitting room.

FOLEY (CONT’D)
You having fun?

She smiles and then they start to make love…