SWIMMING UP
Screenplay Draft by Tommy Ross
CHRYSLER BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY — 2002
FADE IN:
EXT. MIDTOWN MANHATTAN - NIGHT
Winter.
The silver crown of the Chrysler Building glows over Manhattan.
Steam rises from street grates.
Traffic murmurs below.
The camera slowly TILTS UP the stainless steel arches.
TITLE CARD:
CHRYSLER BUILDING
NEW YORK CITY
2002
CUT TO:
INT. SERVICE ELEVATOR - NIGHT
An old freight elevator rattles upward.
SANTOS, mid-50s, dark-haired and weathered, stands alone with a metal toolbox.
Industrial fluorescent lights flicker overhead.
The elevator numbers climb:
DING.
The doors open.
INT. FLOOR 76/77 SERVICE LANDING - NIGHT
A cramped mechanical room.
The walls sweat condensation.
Red steel ladders rise upward through darkness, their paint chipped and peeling with age.
TAYLOR, early 30s, blond, athletic, nervous beneath false confidence, leans against the wall holding a deli coffee.
Santos steps out.
SANTOS
You Taylor?
TAYLOR
Yeah.
SANTOS
First time I seen you up here.
TAYLOR
I mostly work lower floors.
SANTOS
You been up there before, right?
Taylor hesitates.
Too long.
Then:
TAYLOR
Yeah. The journey into hell.
(points upward)
We gotta go up these ladders, over some crossbeams, up some more ladders, and up to the crawlspace.
Santos studies him.
SANTOS
Alright.
Taylor forces a grin.
TAYLOR
How bad can it be?
Both men chuckle quietly.
Santos looks upward into the darkness above them.
SANTOS
Depends what you bring up there with you.
Taylor looks up.
The darkness seems endless.
They begin climbing.
CUT TO:
INT. LADDER SHAFT - CONTINUOUS
The red ladders groan softly under their weight.
Boots CLANG against steel rungs.
Their flashlights sweep across riveted walls.
SANTOS
You know where you’re going right?
TAYLOR
Yeah.
(beat)
I’m going home.
Santos gives him a strange look.
CUT TO:
INT. PHANTOM FLOOR 1 - “73 AND A HALF” - NIGHT
A cramped wedge-shaped maintenance room.
Dust.
Old electrical conduit.
Wind whistles through unseen cracks.
Taylor wipes sweat from his forehead.
TAYLOR
Women want all this emotional shit.
SANTOS
Mhm.
TAYLOR
You work all day, pay for everything, come home exhausted...
(beat)
And when you ask for something simple, like a blowjob, suddenly you’re some kinda criminal.
Santos says nothing.
Taylor laughs bitterly.
TAYLOR
Apartment. Car. Savings.
Everything.
SANTOS
You got kids?
TAYLOR
Nah.
(beat)
Thank Christ.
Taylor leans against the wall.
TAYLOR
Just wait till she sees what it’s like living in a trailer.
SANTOS
Trailer?
TAYLOR
That’s where she’s headed.
He says it with absolute conviction.
CUT TO:
INT. LADDER SHAFT - LATER
The shaft narrows.
The city sounds disappear.
Only metal.
Only wind.
SANTOS
You know where you’re going right?
Taylor smirks strangely.
TAYLOR
Yeah.
I’m going home.
(beat)
Or Paris.
SANTOS
Paris.
TAYLOR
Why not?
She wouldn’t find me there.
SANTOS
Who?
TAYLOR
My wife.
Taylor laughs to himself.
TAYLOR
Imagine that.
Me in Paris.
Tiny apartment.
Smoking cigarettes.
She’d never even know where I went.
Santos watches him carefully now.
CUT TO:
INT. PHANTOM FLOOR 2 - OLD RADIO ROOM - NIGHT
Ancient radio equipment.
Dead switchboards.
A low electrical HUM.
Taylor shines his flashlight across dusty walls.
TAYLOR
Women always say they want honesty.
SANTOS
Do they?
TAYLOR
Until they hear it.
SANTOS
So you told her?
TAYLOR
About one.
SANTOS
One.
Taylor grins.
TAYLOR
You think it was one?
Santos stares at him.
TAYLOR
I stopped counting.
Maybe seventy.
SANTOS
Seventy.
TAYLOR
Something like that.
SANTOS
Jesus Christ.
Taylor shrugs.
TAYLOR
Look, I’m thirty-two. I’m not dead.
CUT TO:
INT. PHANTOM FLOOR 3 - WINDOW GALLERY - NIGHT
Moonlight pours through triangular openings in the crown.
Safety netting stretches across them.
The city glows impossibly far below.
Taylor stares out.
Too long.
SANTOS
You alright?
TAYLOR
You ever think about just starting over?
SANTOS
At my age?
Taylor ignores him.
TAYLOR
Different city. Different name.
SANTOS
You owe somebody money?
Taylor laughs.
TAYLOR
Everybody owes somebody money.
SANTOS
Not like you mean it.
Long silence.
TAYLOR
Credit cards.
Taxes.
Couple loans.
Nothing crazy.
Santos notices Taylor trembling slightly.
SANTOS
You cold?
Taylor shakes his head.
TAYLOR
Gambling.
SANTOS
What?
TAYLOR
I got shylocks.
Santos absorbs this.
Taylor refuses eye contact.
CUT TO:
INT. NARROW LADDER SHAFT - LATER
The building CREAKS in the wind.
Taylor shines his flashlight toward one of the triangular openings.
TAYLOR
There ain’t even glass in these.
SANTOS
Yeah.
(points to netting)
But see the netting?
It’s there so you fall out, not down.
Taylor stares at him.
Not sure if he’s joking.
CUT TO:
INT. PHANTOM FLOOR 4 - NIGHT
A terrifyingly narrow maintenance platform.
Barely room for two people.
The city thousands of feet below.
TAYLOR
You ever feel like your real life never started?
SANTOS
Can’t say I have.
TAYLOR
I’m serious.
This?
(gestures downward)
This ain’t my actual life.
SANTOS
Looks like work to me.
TAYLOR
Nah.
I got plans.
SANTOS
Everybody’s got plans.
TAYLOR
No, I mean real plans.
Business stuff.
Vegas maybe.
This electrician thing’s temporary.
SANTOS
You been here a year.
TAYLOR
Exactly.
Santos quietly absorbs the answer.
CUT TO:
INT. LADDER SHAFT - HIGHER STILL
Santos breathes harder now.
The shaft tightens around them.
SANTOS
You know where you’re going right?
Taylor smiles.
TAYLOR
Yeah.
I’m going home.
(beat)
Me and some friends from Jersey, we snuck up here when we were like fourteen.
SANTOS
You did?
TAYLOR
Yeah.
SANTOS
Not many people have been up this high.
TAYLOR
I remember thinking it felt like being inside a spaceship.
(beat)
Or inside somebody’s head.
Santos looks unsettled.
CUT TO:
INT. PHANTOM FLOOR 5 - TINY PLATFORM - NIGHT
Almost nowhere to stand.
Concrete beams.
Deep WIND ECHOES.
TAYLOR
You married?
SANTOS
Long time.
TAYLOR
Happy?
SANTOS
Most days.
Taylor laughs bitterly.
TAYLOR
She thinks she can survive without me.
SANTOS
Maybe she can.
Taylor becomes angry.
TAYLOR
No she can’t.
(beat)
Just wait till she sees what it’s like living in a trailer.
Silence.
SANTOS
Trailer...
There's that word again.
TAYLOR
Yep. That's exactly where she's headed.
Taylor stares upward.
CUT TO:
INT. CRAWLSPACE BELOW THE SPIRE - NIGHT
The smallest space yet.
A dark hatch above.
Barely enough room to crouch.
Absolute silence.
Taylor looks upward.
TAYLOR
Yeah, I tell ya Santos...
She’s gonna come home one day and find me long gone to Paris.
Santos shines his flashlight upward.
SANTOS
That’s the needle.
Taylor stares upward.
Hypnotized.
SANTOS
Only room for one up there.
(beat)
You wanna go?
Taylor nods immediately.
TAYLOR
Yeah.
SANTOS
You know where you’re going right?
Taylor looks into the darkness.
TAYLOR
Yeah. I’m going home.
Taylor opens the hatch.
A small boat ladder can barely be seen ahead in the darkness.
He climbs upward into the spire.
Disappears.
Silence.
CUT TO:
INT. CRAWLSPACE BELOW THE SPIRE - LATER
Santos crouches alone.
Tiny flashlight glow.
Metal CREAKING.
Original music plays.
He waits.
And waits.
And waits.
Finally:
SANTOS
Hey.
No response.
SANTOS
What’s taking you so long?
Silence.
SANTOS
You jerking off up there?
Nothing.
Santos slowly stands.
Concerned now.
He shines the flashlight upward.
Begins climbing.
Disappears into darkness.
Then:
SANTOS (O.S.)
OH, FUCK!
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. TAYLOR’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Taylor jolts awake in bed.
Breathing hard.
His wife beside him.
Dim blue moonlight spills softly across the room.
WIFE
Honey.
You had a bad dream.
Taylor slowly settles.
TAYLOR
Yeah.
(beat)
It’s okay.
I’m alright.
She kisses him.
He holds her tightly.
FADE TO BLACK.
END CREDITS:
Credits roll over slow shots of empty ladders inside the Chrysler crown.
The white credits drift upward between the steel rungs.
Fluorescent lights HUM softly.
THE END
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