Donnie Brasco

INT. DAY. OFFICE

SHELLY BERGER, late 40s, flannel shirt, earth shoes — PSYCHOTHERAPIST — sits with Donnie and Maggie.

MAGGIE …He comes home at all hours of the night, without announcing when or why, or where he’s been for three weeks. Or three months. Then he expects everything to be just the way he wants it. He vacuums the entire house. Do you know another man who vacuums? It’s abnormal. Of course, he expects the girls to drop their lives when he shows up…

DONNIE I’m their father, Maggie. I ring that doorbell I expect them home.

MAGGIE They think it’s a Jehovah’s witness. (to Berger) You’d think he’d tell me where he goes or what he’s doing —

DONNIE That’s for your own protection.

MAGGIE Ha! (to Berger) I know he’s cheating on me —

DONNIE I don’t have to listen to that bullshit.

MAGGIE No, why don’t you just leave? That’s what you’re good at.

BERGER Please just listen without saying anything — that’s the task for today. Otherwise you just replay the old pathology. (beat) Maggie, you were talking about Joe’s disappearances.

MAGGIE I never go out anymore. What couple wants to go out with a third wheel? Even when he’s home it’s not like we have any friends any more.

BERGER So you resent him for expressing your autonomy needs?

MAGGIE Yes, I resent him.

BERGER For expressing your autonomy needs.

MAGGIE (unsure) Yes.

BERGER And you, Joe — what do you think you’re running from?

DONNIE I ain’t runnin’ from nothin’.

MAGGIE (mimics) ‘I ain’t runnin’ from nuttin’. The man I married was a college man. (to Berger) Sorry.

BERGER (resuming, to Donnie) Being the distancer forces Maggie into the role of the pursuer. That gives you a feeling of power. Simultaneously you resent Maggie for expressing the very intimacy needs that in your own life you’ve —

DONNIE I’m an undercover agent for the FBI!

MAGGIE I didn’t marry the FBI, Joe.

He writes on a pad. Donnie tries to peek at what he’s writing.

BERGER Okay. I want you to split the week in half. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are Joe’s intimacy days. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are Maggie’s. On your day, you make one intimacy request. Your partner agrees in advance to meet it. Whatever it is.

DONNIE What’s that — an intimacy request?

BERGER An intimacy request. Like ‘Rub my back,’ or ‘Help me work out this problem with the kids.’ Odd day, even day, Sunday’s off. (beat) And masturbate. I recommend it, for both of you. It’s a good way to blow off stress.

CUT TO:

INT. EVENING. CADILLAC

Donnie drives. Maggie SULKS, looks out the window.

DONNIE Can I ask you something?

MAGGIE NO.

DONNIE How much is this costing?

Maggie doesn’t say anything.

DONNIE Okay, Maggie — I want you to answer my question. This is my intimacy request.

MAGGIE A hundred dollars.

DONNIE That was a hundred dollars?

MAGGIE That’s what I said, Joe.

DONNIE A hundred dollars. And how many of these do you think we’ll need?

MAGGIE I don’t know.

DONNIE One hundred dollars.

MAGGIE Is this still your intimacy request? Because otherwise I’d rather not discuss it anymore.

DONNIE I gotta work a ten hour day risking my life to make a hundred dollars!

MAGGIE Who are you risking your life for? Not me, Joe.

DONNIE (mincing) ‘Will you rub my back’? Va’a’fonaooll.

MAGGIE You’re an animal.

DONNIE You know what my intimacy request is for him? It’s very intimate. He can take that bill he’s gonna send me and shove it up his ass.

Maggie starts to PUNCH him.

MAGGIE You’re an animal! Animal!

Donnie tries to fend her off while he drives. The car swings wildly.

Approaching the opposite way:

A TRACTOR TRAILER

Donnie SWERVES. The car tumbles off the road onto a soft shoulder.

Maggie continues to hit at Donnie. He wrestles with her.

MAGGIE I hope (punch) those guys you’re hanging out with (punch) are laying you (punch) because I’m (punch) not anymore!

He looks at her. She looks at him. And they

KISS PASSIONATELY

grappling in the front seat… He grabs her. Pulls her toward him.

Realizes that she is encumbered by something. She deftly unhooks the belt. Kisses his neck…

MAGGIE (under her breath) Do it.

But he’s not buying.

DONNIE Maggie — who told you to wear a seat belt?

MAGGIE What?

DONNIE It’s a simple question. You never wore a seat belt before, Maggie.

MAGGIE Wait a minute — is this — you think I’m having an affair?

DONNIE I didn’t say that. It’s interesting that you would say that, though.

MAGGIE You’re right — I’m secretly seeing a man who wants me to ‘Buckle Up for Safety’. We have three children, Joe — remember them? One of us has to play it safe.

She SLAMS out of the car…

OUT ON THE SHOULDER

with cars whipping by… Donnie chases after her.

DONNIE I just asked a simple question. You’re the one that brought it up with the affair.

MAGGIE Bullshit. It’s so frigging ironic that you’d think I’m up to something. My nights are homework and basketball games. What are your nights?

DONNIE You know what I’m doing.

MAGGIE I don’t know a goddam thing.

DONNIE I’m doing the job. That’s the job.

MAGGIE I live like a widow, Joe. That’s the only way I can deal with this, with the photographs and memories and our children, and I go on with my life. Like you’re already dead.

DONNIE It’s for your own protection.

MAGGIE It’s not protecting me — it’s killing me.

CUT TO:

INT. NIGHT. PISTONE HOME

Maggie sleeps. Donnie lies awake.

DONNIE When did you all of a sudden from nowhere start saying, ‘Do it’, Maggie?

MAGGIE What? Go to sleep.

DONNIE ‘Do it.’ You never said that — ‘Do it’. You never talked that way before.

CUT TO:

INT. MORNING. PISTONE HOME

Kerry wakes up to an odd groaning and whining noise…

DOWNSTAIRS