King Kong, Part 2

 (It is 1937. Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll, the actress and playwright portrayed by Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody in Peter Jackson's 2005 version of King Kong, are sitting at the breakfast table.)

(They don't look happy. They're not eating, and they're silent for a long while before Ann finally speaks.)

ANN: In love with your hair, aren't you? You can't go a minute without touching it.

JACK: I'll tell you what. You seem to think about my hair much more than I do, my hair seems to be much more important to you, so why don't we put you in charge of it? You can slick my hair back so there's nothing for me to brush away from my forehead. You can braid my hair if you like. Or you can shave my head completely bald.

ANN: I ruined the eggs again, didn't I?

JACK: Don't be ridiculous, they're fine.

ANN: You can't even tell me truth about my cooking.

JACK: Okay, you want the truth about it? The truth is, you can't cook worth a damn. The truth is, I've never eaten eggs worse than yours, and I've had breakfast in a lot of truly horrible dives. The truth is that it drives me crazy how you make a fuss any time I bring up the subject of hiring a cook. The truth is we'd eat much better even if we hired the worst home cook in New York.

(They glare at each other for a moment, then they smile, enjoying this rare moment of frankness, and then they go back to looking sad.)

JACK: The truth is I'd work so hard to make you happy, if you'd give me some idea how to do it. Why are you making that face?

ANN: I wonder whether you yourselves believe what you say, you men.

JACK: "Men"? Are there some other men wearing themselves out trying to please you? What other men?

ANN: I was thinking about Carl, something he said to me when he first met me, when he hired me, the day we set sail -- that was a rather busy day for me, all in all. Now, he said a lot which was obvious nonsense, the sort of nonsense we women hear constantly, but one thing he said seemed absolutely honest. It seemed to come out of him spontaneously, without him wishing to say it or thinking about how it sounded. An earnest expression suddenly came over his face, and he said he was hiring me because I was the saddest girl in the world. And you, too. You fell in love with my sadness, didn't you? And yet you sit there and talk to me with a straight face about wanting to work so hard to make me happy, if only you knew how.

JACK: You, you, you talk about honesty, but that cuts two ways. You can't be honest with me. You went to the zoo again yesterday, didn't you? You visited the gorillas.

ANN: (screams) Yes! Yes! I went to the zoo yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that! I've been to the zoo every day it's been open since we got back to New York, since before he died!

(Jack puts his hands over his ears, squeezes his eyes shut tight and screams.)