EILEEN MERRELL: I saw something the other night.
Every woman's got a price tag hangin' on her ass.
You ready?
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
GREG TAYLOR: You need to get back on the horse and ride,
show people what they haven't seen before.
What the fuck haven't they seen before?
Where are all the girls?
Why do you need a gun?
Your brother is shot to death. Nobody knows why.
You have a fucking gun. You expect me to calm down?!
Abby.
You didn't know anything about what Longo was up to?
RUDY PIPILO: I didn't know.
But if you're right...
TOMMY LONGO: O-- Oh!
VINCENT MARTINO: I get it. He's protected.
-(GUNSHOT) -♪ (MUSIC STOPS) ♪
(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER PA)
(ANNOUNCEMENTS CONTINUE)
Hey. Do you know the gentleman's club near the university?
-The Skylar? -Yeah.
-Is it still open this late? -As far as I know.
♪ (HARD ROCK MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Lori, you were great. We loved having you here.
But this week, we're booked solid through till Sunday.
I got Amber Lynn headlining.
So, let me do a set or two before Amber.
Lori, she's headlining for me.
If I put you up on that stage in front of her
to scarf up the tip money, she'll kill me for it.
You gotta book in advance.
Who the hell's managing you?
No one right now.
Look, I left LA with not enough cash,
and I've managed to make it this far with enough gigs,
but I just-- I'm...
I'm running low, you know.
I'm riding the fucking Hound, you know?
Look, if you just loan me enough now for...
the bus to Chicago and maybe a hotel,
next time I'm here, I'll make it even.
Okay?
(LORI MADISON SNIFFS)
(TAXI DRIVERS CHATTING OVER RADIO)
(SNIFFS)
(LORI CLEARS THROAT)
Hey, is this Phalen Park?
DRIVER: Yeah.
Could you take a left on Forest and then right on Maryland?
DRIVER: Okay.
LORI: Up here. On the right.
(SIREN BLARING IN DISTANCE)
(RADIO CHATTER CONTINUES)
DRIVER: Where to now?
Is there a hotel near the bus station?
DRIVER: Sure.
♪ ("DREAMING" BY BLONDIE PLAYS) ♪
♪ I don't want to live On charity ♪
♪ Pleasure's real Or is it fantasy? ♪
♪ Reel to reel Is living verité ♪
♪ People stop and stare at me ♪
♪ We just walk on by ♪
♪ We just keep on dreaming ♪
♪ Dream, dream Even for a little while ♪
♪ Dream, dream Filling up an idle hour ♪
♪ Fade away ♪
♪ Radiate ♪
♪ I sit by And watch the river flow ♪
♪ I sit by And watch the traffic go ♪
♪ Imagine something Of your very own ♪
♪ Something you can Have and hold ♪
♪ I build a road in gold ♪
♪ Just to have some dreaming ♪
♪ Dreaming is free ♪
♪ Dreaming ♪
♪ Ooh, dreaming is free ♪
(MACHINE WHIRRING)
TOMMY LONGO: Vincent!
Come on, get in the car.
Hey! Hey! Vincent where the-- the fuck you going?
Hey! Vincent!
(CAR HORN BLARES)
MAN: Hey, asshole! What the fuck?
Hey! The fuck's wrong with you?
-Hey! -(HORN BLARES)
FORREST TUCKER: (ON TV) I don't got time.
Like I told you, I'm in kind of a hurry.
MELISSA: I did not know that you like Westerns. (LAUGHS)
Shit, I'll watch anything with Forrest Tucker.
The man was legendary. Him and John Ireland.
TUCKER: Maybe my language isn't strong enough.
Girl, stop cleaning everything and get over here!
Acting like you're Hazel.
I am just trying to be helpful.
Well, don't be auditioning. You moved in.
It's your home. I will figure out a way to pay my share.
REGGIE "REG" WINHORN: I'm not worried about that.
TUCKER: Start walking. If you don't remember by the time
you reach that tree, you can just forget everything, huh?
REG: Hey, look here.
So, the studio movie starts shooting tomorrow.
U.P.M. called me about a set costumer thing.
MELISSA: Mm-hm.
Fish-out-of-water story with...
some Australian man who moves to the Big Apple
and schools us all.
So I put you up for the job.
'Cause I knew you can handle it.
Thank you.
Yeah, well, I gotta look out for my little partner.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
I'm the one that's supposed to be taking care of you.
Well, you are. We're family.
(SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
(PANTS)
(PANTING)
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
(SIGHS) I'm out of money.
HARVEY WASSERMAN: Right. What do you still owe?
Scene to scene?
I mean, half the fucking movie.
Harvey, almost all of my exteriors.
I don't know what to tell you.
You were gonna peel off 20 for me from
-your straight-to-video stuff. -I did!
-What are you talking about? -Well, so-- so what? -Hey, even though you only
matched it with ten, I still gave you the 20. What the fuck you think you've been shooting
-on the last six weeks? -That's all gone?
All of it. Yes.
All of it.
(SIGHS) Fuck!
I don't wanna lose these actors.
I don't blame you. You know. I've...
I've seen some of your dailies.
Look, if I could steal more for myself to get you there,
I would, but I can't.
We're broke. Maybe I could look in my wallet
and find you enough to finish
what you have on the schedule this week,
but that's it. Afterwards, you know,
you're gonna have to suspend production.
You know, at least for the time being.
(CANDY SIGHS)
(INHALES, EXHALES)
What would you do if you were me?
I'd cast a legend.
Oh, okay.
Well... (SCOFFS)
You're not gonna get any fresh backing
without any names on this.
You know, there's not a single porn star in the bunch.
-Okay? There's not one single... -No, Harvey. They're actors.
-...name for the one-sheet. -I need them to act. Fuck porn stars.
Excuse me. You want money, right?
So, go through your Rolodex, find someone with fans
who wants a chance to act in something real,
and then use them in a way that doesn't ruin
any of the scenes you really need,
and then make them take their clothes off and fuck.
Once.
Twice.
A big enough name's gonna get you that fresh backing.
So, compromise, Eileen. You know?
It can't all be art.
(COUGHING)
Brought supplies.
-No milk? -(EXHALES)
Who mixes milk with mash?
Ah. So just the essentials.
(VINCENT CHUCKLES)
So...
What do you think of this place?
It's pretty much what I pictured.
Thank you, Vince.
Yeah. Thank the owner.
What's the man's name?
Jerome.
He used to... drink his lunch in the Hi-Hat, noon to one?
Yeah. I remember.
Good dude.
He said to enjoy it in good health.
(COUGHS)
Well, that's out of my hands.
Is there anything I can do for you?
You could finish splitting that wood.
(CHUCKLES)
All right. (CLEARS THROAT)
(LAUGHS)
Man, you know what you're doin'?
Please. It's like riding a bike.
-Just sit back and relax. -All right.
-I'm out of the business. -♪ (PIANO MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
I appreciate you reachin' out.
-But I can't. -EILEEN "CANDY" MERRELL: Okay,
but there's barely any fucking to be done.
I mean it's-- it's really just
so I can put your name on the poster
and get some fresh money behind me.
And what we're doing...
is different...
-Mm-hm. -...than anything you or I have ever done.
And you could do some acting.
"Acting." (CHUCKLES)
Who are you bullshitting?
No one ever paid me to act.
(CANDY CHUCKLES)
I knew what I was there to do.
Shit, Shana.
If you knew you weren't gonna take this part,
why'd you agree to meet me?
I'm bored.
I wanted to go to a restaurant with an old friend,
and... catch up.
Uh-huh.
-Oh, honey. -(CANDY LAUGHS)
I got married.
-Damn. -Yeah. (LAUGHS)
To one of the richest real estate developers
in New York.
Aaron Rivers used to show up at my movie premieres
in the city and just...
stand in the lobby and stare at me.
Two dates later he proposed.
He moved me into a 12-bedroom Tudor revival mansion
in Tuxedo Park
and gave me an unlimited allowance.
So?
The caveat was I had to quit the business.
You know where I came from.
I was a star.
And what I had, I earned.
(SIGHS) God.
I loved the attention.
-Yeah. -I can admit that.
The goddamn attention was what I loved about it.
Even more than the money.
Now I'm just another woman living in a gilded cage.
I made a mistake.
What can I say?
Let us have another. Hm?
(CHUCKLES)
♪ (LOUNGE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
TOMMY: So, what the fuck we doin'?
About the girls?
No, about the situation in Lebanon.
I don't know, Tom.
How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm
when they've seen the lobby of every hotel in town?
You make an example.
(SIGHS) Well... it's warm enough now.
Yeah, I'll go into the village. Get some firewood delivered.
Enough to last me.
-Got any heating here? -Not much.
What'll you do in the winter?
Winter's not gonna touch me, man.
(SNIFFS)
Rudy's gone.
What do you mean?
He's dead.
His people did him.
The way they do, you know.
How?
In his car.
Up on 49th, at the river.
Shot in the head.
Why'd they do him like that?
So, now it's just Tommy.
The new capo.
Tommy ain't right in the head.
You know, he...
thinks something and... his trigger finger reacts.
You think he did Rudy?
I don't know.
But I've seen him do people, so I know he will.
Whatever Rudy had is now his.
(MIKE COUGHS)
Look, you, uh... You want me to get you some, uh...
medicine or somethin'? I don't know. (EXHALES)
No.
I'm good.
Wish they had a phone in here.
We could at least talk.
I can call you from town... time to time.
(SIGHS)
I will come back up here next month.
Sure thing.
We had fun, man.
(LAUGHS)
Yeah, we did.
(COUGHS)
Yeah.
My father used to say...
"Never let anything walk by you."
I took his advice.
I don't believe I left one stone unturned.
(CHUCKLES)
(MIKE SIGHS)
(CUP CLINKS)
You remember Honey?
Of course.
Honey was somethin'.
All of 'em.
The whole parade, man.
They were rich.
I ain't got no regrets.
I drink from the cup.
Mike...
What?
(SIGHS)
Shit.
This is hard for me.
-I-- -Shh.
Let's enjoy this fire.
(KEYS JINGLE)
AMY GOLDMAN: Michael's saying goodbye to some friends
before he leaves for school.
That's great.
(KEYS JINGLE)
It's quiet in this house.
It is. (CLEARS THROAT)
This isn't fair to me.
I understand.
I'm sorry I hurt you...
but I don't regret the time we had together...
(SNIFFS)
...or the family that we made.
I'll, uh...
I'll start looking for a place of my own.
(SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON TV)
(DOOR OPENS)
(KEYS JINGLE)
ABIGAIL "ABBY" PARKER You could've brought breakfast.
Yeah, well-- (CLEARS THROAT) I went to see Mike.
(SIGHS)
(VINCENT SOBS)
-I'm so sorry. -(SNIFFS, SIGHS)
I feel like this is, like, a real estate agent sweater.
-No. -"Donate me." (LAUGHS)
I don't want to see her in anymore sweaters, I think.
-SECRETARY: Eileen? -Yeah?
There's a Lori on the phone asking for Candy.
Lori Madison?
She's calling collect. Do I accept?
-I-- -I'm gonna transfer her.
Okay.
-Lori? -OPERATOR: Accept charges?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'll accept.
OPERATOR: Go ahead.
Lori!
Hey, Candy.
Hey. Where the fuck are you? California?
Uh... No. Um... Youngstown.
You're in Ohio?
Yeah. I didn't know who else to call at this point.
Um... I'm out of money,
and I'm trying to get to New York.
I had to leave LA in kind of a rush, and...
I didn't really plan so good, and, um...
If you have any work,
anything that you could lend me now,
I could, um... I could pay you back.
-Um... -Uh... Yeah.
Wh-- Um... Where do you want me to send it?
Uh... I'm act-- I'm at the place right now.
Uh... I can just--
I just need to go in and get the information.
Oh, my G-- Thank you so much.
So much.
I'll be right back.
Hey, Harvey!
How about Lori fucking Madison on my one-sheet?
Does that get me a little cash in a hurry?
(HARVEY CHUCKLES)
GENE GOLDMAN: And finally,
adult entertainment is no longer a growth industry in Midtown.
We are expanding enforcement
in response to concerns about the infiltration
of sex establishments, loiterers and criminals
into areas north and west
of the designated condemnation sites.
If you observe any of these elements on your block,
give us a call and we will be there for you.
But don't be mistaken,
if you're supporting any of these undesirable elements,
we will also be there for you.
COMMUNITY BOARD CHAIR: Thank you, Gene.
May we open this up to questions?
We'll take questions one at a time.
No interrupting.
Miss Parker.
Hi. (SIGHS) I'm Abby Parker.
For almost 15 years,
I've run a bar over on 45th Street.
Anyone who comes into my bar, they're my customer.
In this neighborhood, that's meant getting to know
more than a few prostitutes, pimps,
dealers, addicts, homeless people...
All the undesirables you allude to
in your rallying cry.
Those are my customers, and many have become friends.
And, Gene, you're misleading everyone coming here
to tell us that this new phase of redevelopment
is gonna save my neighborhood from itself,
that the city is looking out for us.
Sure.
There's billions of dollars at play...
but it's private money.
Seems your role in this
is to make the remapping of Times Square
a bit more palatable
by pretending it's a public project.
But, Gene, you know I mean this with love in my heart.
You can go fuck yourself
if you expect us to do your bidding.
All due respect, but my office has been working
to make Midtown more hospitable
since before redevelopment.
Hospitable for whom?
Mm? I'm sure there's economic development and jobs coming in,
but the people I know won't see any of that.
No. You're gonna rebuild and re-gild Times Square,
and anyone who's not up to corporate standards
of respectability gets kicked down the road.
I run a bar where job one
is to treat the damned and the damnable alike,
with a little dignity.
I-- I might not have done much in the last 14 years...
but I've served an honest drink.
And I'm not gonna stop.
(APPLAUSE)
(SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
(CAR APPROACHES)
(DOOR OPENS)
Fuck is your problem?
Sorry I couldn't deal the other day,
I just had something on my mind.
Yeah? What?
Rudy fucked your head up.
Sure.
It just fucks me up that it's like Rudy never existed.
For weeks now, I get the envelopes,
I pass it on to you.
-It's like nothing changes. -What should change?
Look.
I loved Rudy.
I feel real bad about what happened to him.
Know who killed him?
Could be anyone.
Yeah, could be.
Listen.
Vincent.
Here's a little secret:
I don't know who did Rudy.
But I know it may have happened because when push came to shove,
he didn't give you up.
Did you know that?
He took your weight for killing Cacace.
He paid your debt that way.
So, now Cacace's people,
they're not looking for you anymore
because Rudy was an eye for an eye.
Yeah.
Well, I told him about you and Frankie.
About the drug thing.
I thought he might've been in that.
No shit.
These past weeks, you've been duckin' me
as if I'm gonna drop you if you so much as
blink in front of me.
Look, Rudy hated the drug thing.
So do a lot of the older guys,
so they say.
But the reality is that if we stay out that game,
only the tutsoon's gonna be making any money.
Rudy was wrong about that.
And he was wrong not to take you out...
when the word came down for him to do that.
In our business, when you're wrong,
you-- you don't get to retire.
How about me?
What about you, Vincent?
The fact is, me and you know things about each other,
so as long as we keep those to ourselves, we're good.
(CHUCKLES)
Just keep doing what you're doing.
Bobby too, Irene, everyone else in your crew.
It'll be all right.
I'm already workin' on a new spot for you.
Well, I don't know...
I don't know if I wanna go back to that life. I'm...
finally sleeping normal hours again.
We'll find you a new spot, and it'll be like it was.
Only difference is now the envelopes go to me.
Gonna put you in a real nice club.
You'll like it.
(INHALES, EXHALES)
(ENGINE STARTS)
(GLOVE COMPARTMENT OPENS)
♪ ("GOTTA TELL ME WHY" BY THE SLICKEE BOYS PLAYS) ♪
PILAR: Abby!
♪ You showed I knew it was you ♪
♪ You said "Is that what you do?" ♪
-Hey. -Hey.
Doesn't look like you're gonna be able to slip out tonight.
We're in the weeds, and I'm closing tonight.
You've been closing a lot lately.
What can I say? I'm busy.
Hey, bartender.
Can I get another beer?
I-- I gotta go.
Come to my show tomorrow night.
I'll try.
It's important to me, Abby.
I'll be there.
♪ One heading for circumstance One heading for Mars ♪
♪ No Casanova here... ♪
(SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
(PORN ACTRESS MOANING ON TV)
LORI: I owe you.
Mm.
I'm good for the work.
(CHUCKLES) Well, for the work, you know,
you're going in the wrong direction.
All the work's in LA, you know that.
Not for me. Not anymore.
I left my man. And then me and Kiki split up, too. So...
that was like a month ago.
Went back on the dance circuit,
I've just been doing some low-end places for tips,
you know, sold a few Polaroids.
Yeah, I get it.
But... tonight, for the first time in a long while,
I got off the Greyhound in the Apple,
walked through Port Authority,
and not a single pimp looked at me, so...
-(LAUGHS) -(GROANS)
I must've gotten old or something.
(INHALES) Nah, girl, you still got it.
(INHALES) Well, look, uh... I'm directing something new.
The schedule's haphazard, I shoot when I've got money,
but I do have a couple of scenes coming up.
I could write a part in for you.
I mean, it's-- it's not gonna keep you afloat, but...
-it's something. -Yeah, anything.
Here's my home number. Call me and, uh,
I'll let you know when you can pick up your pages.
-Where are you staying? -Uh... Just a hotel to start.
Well, you know, unless you're gonna stay at an SRO...
you're gonna need a credit card.
Don't kill me on this, okay?
Some place clean, but not the Waldorf Astoria, all right?
LORI: Yeah.
Welcome back.
No palm trees, no sunshine, no fucking avocados.
Thank you, Candy. Bye.
Abby!
(SIGHS)
(GROANS)
Xiomara said what again?
She said that she and the girls weren't coming back to the French Parlor.
Or any other parlors. Said those days were done.
Where's her loyalty?
Yeah, I was the one that put her on the party circuit
in the first place.
She didn't care about what you
or your father thought about her.
-She named y'all specifically. -That girl got fire.
Whose side are you on?
Oh, come on, you gotta at least give her that.
You know, it's what Tommy says, shoulda made an example of her.
And then what happens? Because I fuck up Xiomara,
all other girls are gonna come running out of the hotel bars,
and toss their damn beepers in the street?
They gonna close shop and come running back to these parlors?
BERNICE: Mm. Never gonna happen.
Well, what am I supposed to tell Tommy Longo when he comes by?
Tell him you made a decision. Man can respect that.
When I was in Rikers...
there was this one guy who went by "Spanish Joe"
who marked me as soon as I came in.
I don't know why, certain guys just be angry like that.
They gotta look down on someone.
He told me straight up: "I'm about to murder yo' ass."
That was his big mistake.
Some guys just run their gums too long. Like my man Tuco said,
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Spanish Joe gave me time to think,
so I made a decision. Got friendly with the guard,
he passed me one of those machinist screwdrivers
with the long shaft.
One morning, I caught up with Spanish Joe in the showers.
Wanna get a man when he's most vulnerable?
You hit him while he's naked.
Got him in a headlock
and drove that screwdriver through his eye,
all the way to the handle.
Just buried the motherfucker in his brain.
See, he thought it was gonna go a certain way,
but it was me who wrote the end of his story.
I'm confused. You're saying what?
That we should kill Xiomara?
You're missing my point entirely.
I had a problem and I solved it.
Let me ask again. What am I supposed to tell Tommy Longo?
Motherfucker, tell him you can't fight the future.
Those girls are gone.
Look that dago motherfucker in the eye
and tell him we gotta do something else.
Baby, can I get some duck sauce?
Who the fuck's Tuco?
LARRY: (OVER PHONE) So, I read the pages,
and no offence, guys, this is dry stuff.
I mean, I took a woman's studies course pass-fail
my last year in college, and it was way more dramatic.
Hey, Larry, what was a degenerate like you
doing in a woman's studies class?
LARRY: To score pussy, Candy.
Oh, yeah, and... and did you?
LARRY: I did. Some of the angriest pussy imaginable.
But my point is: why would Lori Madison give you
two scenes of talk and a quick fuck-and-suck
for an art-house project
that is gonna have no back-end?
Well, she's in New York, Larry; she wants to work.
LARRY: That's her problem.
She's under exclusive contract to Vibrance.
She works for us only.
Well, she's not gonna make any money for you
sitting on her ass.
LARRY: Come on, Candy!
Who are you kidding?
You're throwing her just enough work
so you can put her on the poster
and raise some dollars behind it.
And you're trying to do it at a discount.
Truth be told, there's no price you can name
that's gonna get me to give up my rights to Lori Madison.
She works with me, or she doesn't work.
(MOUTHS)
Uh... It's Harvey. Uh...
2,000 to Lori, in cash, in her hand
on the day of the shoot, 2,000 to you...
Larry, in a cashier's check I send in the mail today.
LARRY: 3,000 to me, Harvey.
Uh... Sold.
LARRY: But, Candy, baby...
Yeah, Larry.
(WHISPERS) The fuck are you doing?
If you're so hungry to raise money for this film project,
why play small stakes?
Lori Madison cameo is only gonna raise you so much money.
CANDY: What you got in mind, Larry?
-(WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY) -(CLICKS FINGERS)
A feature. One of mine. A return to the golden age.
Booked in theaters, an actual three-act story,
great production values, and stars.
Like a Green Door or a Misty Beethoven.
CANDY: Well, you know, it's all about the script, Larry,
so, um...
I gotta read it before I can make any kind of a decision.
I can get you your pages.
(SCOFFS) What are you talking pages?
You want me to direct this thing, right?
LARRY: We want you to fuck, Candy.
You and two or three other legends
that still present on film.
-(LAUGHS) -The return of Candy Renée.
You know, I'm not in front of the camera anymore.
Not for a long time, Larry.
LARRY: Yeah, you're still hot as lava.
Be that as it may.
LARRY: Two days of work.
Straight on-camera fucking, tastefully done!
No anal, no gape-shots, nothing like that.
10,000 dollars, no strings.
(WHISPERS) No gape shots.
LARRY: Ten large can buy you a couple weeks of production
at New York prices, I'm guessing.
Twenty.
Half when I sign...
LARRY: You're kidding, right?
Yes or no?
Fifteen. And... I'll throw back our piece on Lori.
'Cause I'm a giver!
BOBBY: Game's changed.
Three girls will pool money and get a furnished apartment
over near one of the tunnels,
put and ad in The Voice, and boom, instant trick-pad.
We're not getting a piece of any of that stuff?
♪ (LOUNGE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Fuck that! Uh-uh.
No.
The girls do not walk. They don't do that.
If we, uh... bruise up that... Xiomara,
the other girls'll come back.
(SIGHS) They're not coming back.
And roughing up one mouthy broad won't help.
Beepers made 'em bold.
They figured out they don't need pimps or whore houses.
Some of them, anyway.
And you know what, Tommy? They're right.
It's a free country.
Tommy, a few more months of all this,
all our parlors are gonna be empty.
Yeah, okay. Okay.
Okay.
(GLASS CLINKS HEAVILY)
It's like, uh... It's an economics problem.
It's like management. (EXHALES)
I'd rather shoot a motherfucker.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(DOOR UNLOCKS)
Hey, girl.
CANDY: Hm.
-You want a drink? -Sure.
Uh... Your pages are on the table.
Just go ahead and sit down.
This is really nice, when did you move?
Uh... Well, a couple years ago,
when my erotica films were more popular. (CHUCKLES)
I was spending a lot of nights at Harvey's editing suite,
so I figured it'd be good to get something a little closer.
So, you gonna move back?
I guess so. (CLEARS THROAT) You seem to be doing okay here.
Nah, the business is really drying up in New York.
I'm one of the last holdouts.
I'll make it work.
Thanks for the part.
Sure.
I was in town earlier this year.
Oh, yeah?
I came in to audition for a role for, um... a straight movie...
-a slasher thing. -Ah. (CHUCKLES)
It's pretty stupid, all of it. I didn't even get a call-back.
Well, that happens all the time.
Mm. Actors learn how to take it. It doesn't mean anything.
You don't think so?
You don't think it had anything to do
with me being Lori Madison, porn star?
You think that doesn't matter, I think that's all that matters.
Listen, Lori,
it hasn't been easy for me, either, making changes.
Now that the movies are on tape,
there's no such thing as an ex-pornstar.
I mean, that shit's around forever, but...
you know, so what? Just shake it off and move on.
So, you're telling me that I can never really escape the life?
You don't need to escape it. (EXHALES)
You shouldn't wanna escape it; you're Lori Madison,
people love Lori Madison.
I mean, Lori Madison won four fucking Eroticas.
Lori Madison is money.
She helped me make a movie I'm proud of.
You know, you're Lori Madison, goddammit! (CHUCKLES)
But... you know, if you're saying
that's not all you are, I do get that.
You gotta save something for yourself,
you can't be just her.
How do you know? You've only ever known me like this.
(CHUCKLES) I know.
I mean, I'm Candy Renée... to most of the world.
But I'm also...
Eileen Merrell.
I'm a mother, I'm a daughter...
I'm somebody's lover.
I'm both people, you know? We live two lives.
That's how we do.
I don't have a kid.
I don't have a man anymore.
I don't have a family.
Shit. I drove past my old house in Minnesota
on the way here and it was boarded up.
-(SCOFFS) -Mm.
This is all I am.
(SIREN BLARES IN DISTANCE)
It's not.
(LORI INHALES, EXHALES)
(CLICKS TONGUE)
What time's my call tomorrow?
Um... We start at 9:00 tomorrow. (EXHALES)
Now we got some money on-hand, so we can probably get through
your sequence by the end of next week,
if we can find some locations.
Mm-kay. (INHALES) I hate to do this again,
but do you have a few dollars for a taxi?
Mm-hm.
You know what? Just take 40.
I'll get it back when we wrap you out and pay.
Okay.
Hey, Lori.
What's your real name?
(SCOFFS LIGHTLY)
Hey!
What's your real name?
Land O'Lakes Girl. Remember?
I'll see you tomorrow.
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)
Joey, you got a girlfriend?
-No one special. -That means no one.
What, you think there's something wrong with me?
(BOBBY CLEARS THROAT)
Even Hitler had a girlfriend. (LAUGHS)
Stop it, Bobby!
You two want some coffee?
Yeah.
I mean, yes, please.
None for me.
So, how'd it go today with Tommy?
He gonna set the girls straight?
No. No one is setting anyone straight.
Well, shit, Dad. I handed you this money maker,
and now we're just pissing it away.
I ain't beating on women so you can get paid!
I got more character than that, and you do, too!
All right. All right. Doesn't matter 'cause...
I got a better opportunity for you, anyway.
A sure thing.
(SCOFFS) Ain't no such thing as a sure thing.
(SIGHS, CLEARS THROAT)
See, my friend at work has a cousin at the FDA.
There's this drug, it treats irregular heartbeats.
It's for guys like you, so you don't stroke out.
The pharmaceutical company's stock has been going up.
Everyone thinks the drug is gonna get approved.
So?
My friend's cousin says it's not gonna get approved
on account of all the bad side effects.
Like, zero chance.
So, a guy who shorts the stock is gonna make a mint.
What's that mean, "short the stock"?
Instead of betting that the stock's gonna go up,
you bet that it's gonna go down.
-That's un-American! -(LAUGHS)
Come on, Dad.
You give me 20 Gs, I'll do all the work,
I'll get us set up, you and me split the profits.
-Twenty Gs? -Yeah.
Fuck you!
(SIGHS)
How much could we make?
(HORN HONKING)
LORI: Hey. Need a light?
Who's holding?
Cops.
Fuck you, bitch!
I used to own this stroll from here up to 47th Street.
Who the fuck is holding?
-Coke or dope? -Coke.
See my man in the suede?
-Hey! -(SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
PILAR: Thanks a lot. Have a good night.
WOMAN: You too.
I had a feeling you'd turn up eventually.
(SIGHS) I'm sorry I'm late.
Been hard to pin down lately.
(SIGHS) I'm sorry about that, too.
(INHALES) A woman I haven't seen in a while wanted to
talk to me about a job before I left.
Doesn't matter anymore.
Can we still get in?
They locked the gate.
It's too late.
It's not just your friend tonight.
What are you saying?
When I realized this wasn't working,
I knew you'd never be the one to end it.
So... I'm gonna do it for you.
Maybe you just haven't met the right person yet.
Or maybe you did,
and you haven't given them enough of a chance.
(CAR ALARM BLARES)
(SIGHS)
You'll be okay?
(CHUCKLES LIGHTLY) Always have.
-(CAR HORN BLARES) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Hey, baby.
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS FROM CAR) ♪
Hey, baby. You dating?
Yeah, how much?
Fifty takes you around the world.
God, you're a steal!
-Twenty for the room. -Of course.
AUTOMATED VOICE: A door is ajar.
What's your name, baby?
Sarah.
Better than when we were married.
(CHUCKLES) How about that?
It isn't always there for us. Maybe that's why it's good.
Yeah, well... (EXHALES)
I mean... we're older now.
Older is better?
(CHUCKLES) More like smarter.
You know. I mean, maybe if...
maybe if we'd been what we are now back then...
things would have played out differently.
Just something to think about.
I guess.
But now it is what it is, Vin.
VINCENT: Hm.
Why, you don't think we could, though?
I think it's like...
we took what we had,
and we dropped it on the floor...
like it was some old teacup or something.
VINCENT: Hm.
And... now... with the kids grown and the years gone,
we could sit there on the floor with the glue and...
put it all back together again,
every piece where it needs to go.
And then, at the end, after all that work...
you'd still see all the cracks and the missing pieces.
-You and Abby? -(GROANS)
(VINCENT INHALES, EXHALES)
Nobody wants to be anybody's second choice, Vin.
That never works.
Easier to just...
buy a new teacup?
Yeah.
Easier.
(PANTING)
(MAN GRUNTING)
(MAN SIGHS)
MAN: Mm.
(MAN SIGHS)
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
(EXHALES)
(GROANS)
-(FOOTSTEPS RETREATING) -(DOOR CLOSES)
(SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
(SIGHS)
(EXHALES)
(GUNSHOT)
(KEYS JINGLE)
(EXHALES)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(KEYS JINGLE)
Abby?
(EXHALES)
(MUTTERS) Shit.
(EXHALES)
(SIGHS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JOCELYN: What do you wanna call this one?
Uh... "Apple 30."
We should shoot.
What are we supposed to shoot without Lori?
She hasn't even phoned.
Hey, Deb. Did, uh... Did Lori call Harvey's office?
No idea.
She's always been flakey.
(SIGHS) I...
She really wanted this role.
We can call the other actors, maybe shoot a different scene?
-No. -What do you mean "No"?
You've got all the equipment rented, everyone's here.
I don't wanna shoot today.
All right, everyone.
That's a wrap.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
♪ (SYNTH MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
BRYAN: I didn't imagine it like this.
What'd you think was gonna happen?
EILEEN MERRELL: It's a tragedy.
There's not a lot of tragedy in porn.
VINCENT MARTINO: All those years I was just pushin' and pushin'.
They just went by so fast.
EILEEN: I'd just been inside it so long,
I don't know what it is anymore.
HARVEY WASSERMAN: I know pornography.
You are telling another story.
♪ (MUSIC STOPS) ♪
And you need to finish it.
♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES, CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
What am I supposed to tell Tommy Longo?
Tell him you can't fight the future,
those girls are gone.
BOBBY DWYER: Tonight, while you're out in the field,
all communication is by beeper.
CHRIS BAUER: The message business is running real dry
for a couple reasons. The biggest one is beepers.
Once the girls found out there was this thing
that they could have for ten bucks a month,
or whatever it was, they can work for themselves.
I have a question, what do you do?
People were using the massage parlors less
because of the AIDS fear.
The hotels make it a little bit, on the surface,
a little bit safer, cleaner, etc.
You still got our pager, I see.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Finders keepers.
CHRIS BAUER: It's kind of an exciting version
of industry, unto itself.
DWYER: The game's changed. Three girls will pool money
and get a furnished apartment over near one of the tunnels,
put an ad in the Voice, and boom, instant trick pad.
We're not getting a piece of any of that stuff?
All of the array of infrastructure
required to get you laid,
all of the middlemen, all of the places where
people could lay in the cut and take some of the money,
places for the mob to live, it's all ruined
when it's some woman with her own phone number,
and an ad in the back of the Village Voice.
DWYER: Beepers made 'em bold. They figured out,
they don't need pimps or whorehouses.
And you know what, Tommy? They're right.
It's a free country.
It's an economics problem.
And there's nothing they can do to stop 'em.
ALEX HALL: I think the biggest challenge
that we had in this episode
was depicting the end of Lori's story.
I left my man, and me and Kiki split up too. So...
The key to Lori's character is a line,
and you gotta go back to the first season.
Me, I need pimpin', otherwise I tend to get lazy.
She desperately wants someone to come and save her
and that just keeps not happening.
I don't have a man anymore. I don't have a family.
HALL: And in that moment, Lori realizes
that she doesn't have anything
other than her porn star persona.
This is all I am.
And she doesn't know how to go on.
EMILY MEADE: There was a big debate, in leading up to this
of like, when does she decide to kill herself?
And, what is the trigger?
Hey, baby.
And so, for me, I feel like, Lori's sort of always
had that in the back of her mind,
at least for a long time.
And I think the choices she's made have always
had a lack of respect for her life underneath it.
What's your real name?
Land O' Lakes girl.
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL: It's complicated.
I mean, Lori comes to her at the end
and is in terrible shape.
And, Candy doesn't say, "You know what?
Spend the night on my sofa.
The last thing you need to be doing right now
is fucking on film."
We really wanted the audience to have to,
sort of examine their own role in all of this.
I think in that moment of Lori deciding to kill herself,
we didn't want to let anybody off the hook,
ourselves or the audience.
-(GUNSHOT) -♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪