10/29/14 / 91.

The waiter pockets the money and gives Riggan the drink. He
walks it over to Tabitha and places it down in front of her. Not
looking up, she pulls the drink closer and takes a sip.

Riggan sits down across from her. She looks up and immediately
recognizes him. He takes out the Carver cocktail napkin and
pushes it in front of her. She looks at him, and then down to
the napkin. She reads it in silence.

RIGGAN (CONT'D)
(Re: The napkin.)
That was twenty years before I put on that
damned costume.

A pause. Then she pushes the napkin back toward him.

TABITHA
I don't care.

RIGGAN
I'm just saying, when you come tomorrow
night, I want you--

TABITHA
It doesn’t matter.

RIGGAN
What are you--

TABITHA
I'm going to destroy your play.

RIGGAN
You haven't even seen it. I don't-- Did I
do something to offend you?

TABITHA
As a matter of fact you did. You took up
space in a theater which otherwise might
have been used on something worthwhile.
RIGGAN
But you don't even know if it's--

TABITHA
That’s true. I haven't read a word of it,
or even seen a preview, but after the
opening tomorrow I'm going to turn in the
worst review anybody has ever read. And I'm
going to close your play. Would you like to
know why? Because I hate you. And everyone
you represent. Entitled. Spoiled. Selfish.
Children. Blissfully untrained, unversed
and unprepared to even attempt real art.
Handing each other awards for cartoons and
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 10/29/14 / 92.
TABITHA (CONT'D)
pornography. Measuring your worth in
weekends. Well, this is the theater, and
you don't get to come in here and pretend
you can write, direct and act in your own
propaganda piece without going through me
first. So, break a leg.

Tabitha goes back to her writing. Riggan sits for a moment.

RIGGAN
What has to happen in someone's life,
for them to end up becoming a critic?

She looks up at him.

RIGGAN (CONT’D)
Whatcha writin’? You reviewin’ a play? Was
it good? Bad? Did you even see it? Lemme
read.

He snatches the notebook from her.

TABITHA
I will call the police.

RIGGAN
No you won’t. Let’s read your review!
(He scans the notebook.)
“Callow”. A label. “Lackluster”. Label.
“Marginalia”. Sounds like you need
penicillin to clear that up. None the
less... label.
(Looks to Tabitha.)
All labels. You’re a lazy fucker
aren’t you?
(Looks one last time at
the notebook.)
Epistemological vertigo?

Tabitha wants to reach for the notebook, but her pride won’t
let her. Riggan takes a flower from a vase at the center of the
table.

RIGGAN (CONT’D)
You know what this is? You don’t, do
you? You can’t even see it if you don’t
label it. You mistake those sounds in
your head for true knowledge.

TABITHA
Are you finished?

RIGGAN
(Wrinkling one of the pages.)
Nothin’ about intention, structure,
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 10/29/14 / 93.
RIGGAN (CONT'D)
technique. Just crappy opinions backed
up by crappy comparisons. You’re
incapable of writing more than a couple
of paragraphs, and you risk nothing of
yourself.
(He tears out the page and tosses
the notebook.)
Well, I’m an actor and this play has
cost me everything. So you can take
your cowardly, malicious, shittily
written reviews and shove them up
your... (Showing her the wrinkled
page.) ...wrinkly, tight ass.

Riggan wears a proud smile. And suddenly, Tabitha begins to

smile with him.

TABITHA
You think you’re an actor?
(Calls to the waiter.)
Eddie!
Eddie the waiter approaches the table.

WAITER
Yeah, Mrs. Dickinson?

TABITHA
Give us some Shakespeare.

WAITER
No problem. Got anything in mind?

Tabitha looks over at Riggan picking the perfect verse.

TABITHA
The Scottish Play. Act five...

WAITER
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to
day, To the last syllable of recorded
time; And all our yesterdays have lighted
fools. The way to dusty death...

He is brilliant. The monologue is perfectly played and powerful.

Riggan being mercilessly reminded of his mediocrity... by Eddie
the waiter.

WAITER (CONT'D)
...Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a
walking shadow, a poor player, That
struts and frets his hour upon the
stage, And then is heard no more. It is
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
 10/29/14 / 94.
WAITER (CONT'D)
a tale told by an idiot, full of sound
and fury... Signifying nothing.

A few drunks clap at the beautiful performance. Then, a powerful

silence rings out for a moment, until...

TABITHA
Thank you, Eddie.

WAITER
You got it.
TABITHA
(To Riggan. A derisive laugh.)
You're no actor. You're a celebrity.
Let's be clear on that.

Tabitha rises from her seat and grabs her things.

TABITHA (CONT’D)
I'm going to kill your play.
She walks away. Riggan sits numb. After a moment, he reaches
over and gulps down Tabitha's entire martini, gin pouring out
the sides of his mouth. Unaware, he slams the empty martini
glass on top of the Carver napkin and gets up. We follow him
out onto...

49 EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS 49

...the street, where he walks through the theater district.

Tired. Drunk. Empty. Neon lights all around him. A crazy, old
homeless man passes by in the opposite direction shouting
furiously. Riggan keeps walking until he arrives at a bench,
with a tree behind. Everything is quiet. Riggan sits on the
bench, lost. We begin to tilt up, slowly, toward a tall tree.
We move closer into the branches and the green leaves.
Silence.

A49 A49
Night turns into day. The sounds of the city disappear and
birds begin to sing. The branches now caressed by golden shafts
of morning sun. Finally, we tilt down slowly and find...

50 EXT. STREET - DAY. 50

...Riggan still sleeping on the bench. He looks like a bum. His

raincoat is dirty and wet.

(CONTINUED)