1 EXT. OUTBACK AUSTRALIA. LATE
AFTERNOON
Pre
Credit Sequence
A
red dirt road cuts through a vast dry landscape under an impossibly blue sky.
Graphic:
THE
MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, 6.18 PM, 26TH JAN 1998
Tracking
from above, a bright yellow car kicks up a rooster’s tail of dust as it speeds
towards the sun - low in the sky. The car has a small red satellite dish
clamped its roof.
A
large Prentie (lizard) sitting in red desert sand, watches the yellow sedan
screech to a halt in a cloud of dust.
The
passenger door opens and JOSIE, 19, sporting short pink hair, is forcefully
ejected from the sedan into the red dust.
She shouts to the unseen driver in an English accent
JOSIE
Venus!
What the…!
JOSIE
leaps to her feet, watches in horror as the yellow sedan speeds off towards the
setting sun.
JOSIE
is wearing a tattered pale blue t-shirt with PARTY ANIMAL written on it. Wet
sticky dark blue patches cover her bra-free breasts. She carries a small
backpack.
50
meters up the road the passenger door of the yellow sedan opens. A red suitcase
is pushed out. It hits the road; bursts open. Bright coloured garments fly
everywhere.
JOSIE
No!
JOSIE
runs up the road towards her red suitcase. As she does so she sees, further up
the road, a black object thrown from the driver’s window of the retreating
yellow sedan.
JOSIE
arrives at her suitcase – the colourful clothes it contained scattered
alongside the road. She looks at them, distressed, for a moment, then runs
towards the black object.
50
meters up the road JOSIE approaches the black carry bag lying in the red
dust.
As
JOSIE picks up the black carry bag she catches sight of something moving in the
red dirt several feet from her:
A
small snake slithering away from her.
She
lets out a terrified scream and runs further up the road, looking back over her
shoulder as if expecting the snake to be chasing her.
JOSIE,
wide eyed with fear, stands in the middle of the road, holding the black carry
bag at shoulder height in case she needs it to fight off a snake attack.
She
looks up and down the road. Nothing but low desert scrub in every direction.
The
sound of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March intrudes. JOSIE reacts with shock.
JOSIE
What
the…!?
She
looks around for the source of the sound - puzzled, confused; disoriented.
It
takes her a while to realize that the music is coming from the black carry bag.
She
opens it tentatively, looks inside; reacts with shock.
JOSIE
Holy
fucking moley!
She
extracts a 7 inch cylindrical pink object that could easily mistaken for a sex
aid.
(NOTE: This is a PG film, dear
Reader; fear not!)
She
examines it, tries to figure where the music is coming from, locates a key pad,
realizes it is a mobile phone; presses the ‘answer’ icon. It is a bad line.
JOSIE
Hello!
TERENCE’S VOICE
OK,
OK, you win, Venus!
The
line is breaking up.
JOSIE
Sorry,
this is Venus’ phone but I’m not Venus. I’m Josie..
TERENCE’S VOICE
Didn’t
catch that, sweetheart, but I’ve got five grand waiting for you in Sydney and
I’ve lined up...
The
line breaks up again.
JOSIE
...
Hello... hello…
The
line is dead. JOSIE exclaims.
JOSIE
Five
grand!
A
lizard runs across the road, close to her. JOSIE screams, drops the pink mobile
phone, runs up the road.
The
shot crash zooms upwards revealing JOSIE an increasingly tiny figure in a vast
desert landscape. The shot continues upwards until the frame is filled with
Australia and upwards further until Planet Earth can seen be seen from outer
space.
2 MONTAGE. NUMEROUS LOCATIONS
Opening
Credit Sequence. Music Over: Donna Summer’s ‘Hot Stuff’. The shot from outer
space zooms back to Australia.
DONNA SUMMER
“Gotta
have some hot stuff
Gotta
have some love tonight”
Zooms
in on the Northern Territory to a fibro house in a small dry outback town.
DONNA SUMMER
“I
need hot stuff
I
want some hot stuff”
The
voice over is that of Boston American accented woman with a mellifluous voice.
VOICE OVER
On
1st. April, in the year of our Lord, 1979, at 2.13 Greenwich Mean Time, as
Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain and Donna Summer’s
‘Hot Stuff’ hits number one on the charts...
A
baby girl is born. Through the window can be seen a dry desert landscape.
VOICE OVER
...Rhonda
Patterson joins the human race in the same moment as, on opposite sides of the
planet...
Another
baby girl is born. Through the window: a snow-covered street.
VOICE OVER
...Josephine
Higgenbottom leaves the warm comfort of her mother’s womb.
Josephine’s
vain actress mother (Josephine Senior) surrounded by well-wishing costumed
actors cradles her new baby proudly.
VOICE OVER
In
19 years, seven months, two days, 6 hours and 23 minutes, as Presidential
candidate Bill Clinton fields...
Rhonda’s
mother (Phyllis) stands by the Hills Hoist clothesline, babe in arms.
VOICE OVER
...questions
about the sex he didn’t have with Monica Lewinsky, Josephine and Rhonda are
destined to meet in the middle of nowhere, though they have no idea of this
just now.
Rhonda,
6 months, is baptized in a church.
VOICE OVER
In
fact neither Josephine nor Rhonda, destined to change her name to Venus, have
any ideas in their heads just now, though…
Baby
Rhonda’s POV: Phyllis raises her eyes to the large portrait of a blonde Jesus
Christ hanging on the wall.
VOICE OVER
…
this state of affairs does not last long for baby Rhonda.
PHYLLIS
Praise
the Lord.
VOICE OVER
Phyllis’
unwavering belief that God has a plan for Rhonda...
Hanging
next to the portrait of Jesus is a painting of Adam and Eve and the Serpent
tempting Eve with an apple.
VOICE OVER
...
is destined to be sorely tested!
Baby
Rhonda stares wide-eyed at the Serpent.
Graphic:
VENUS'
STORY…in a nutshell
PHYLLIS,
baby RHONDA on her hip, hangs washing on the Hills Hoist in the yard of a
ramshackle old fibro house. There is a caravan parked in the yard.
VOICE OVER
Shortly
after Rhonda was born, her mother, Phyllis, lost her husband, Dick, and found
God.
RHONDA,
aged 3, looks up at PHYLLIS; waiting for an answer to a question she has just
asked.
PHYLLIS
The
Good Lord took your father away.
RHONDA
looks towards the caravan.
CLOSE
ON RHONDA as she visualizes:
Her
father, DICK, smiling at her as God's huge hand appears from the sky, picks him
up and lifts him out of frame.
VOICE OVER
This
was not strictly speaking true because Dick returns a few months later…
God's
huge hand deposits DICK alongside RHONDA.
DICK
tries to scare RHONDA with a small rubber snake but fails. RHONDA’S face lights
up as she takes possession of the snake. PHYLLIS appears in the background, a
beatific smile on her face; raises her arms in thanks to Heaven!
PHYLLIS
Praise
the Lord.
VOICE OVER
…and
stays long enough to take out a mortgage on the house...
RHONDA
looks through the window of the rocking caravan.
VOICE OVER
…and
obey the Lord's instruction to 'Go Forth and Multiply', resulting…
DICK,
lying on top of PHYLLIS, looks lovingly into her eyes.
RHONDA,
rubber snake in hand, stands beside PHYLLIS, visibly pregnant, watching DICK
drive off, towing the caravan.
VOICE OVER
…in
Phyllis adding to the already rich store of ideas she has put into Rhonda's
head…
PHYLLIS
Your
father is a snake in the grass.
RHONDA
looks at her rubber snake: its head transforms into her father's head smiling
and winking at her.
VOICE OVER
…and
in a new addition to the human race.
Phyllis
gives birth to a baby girl.
VOICE OVER
Rhonda
prayed for a brother but God, in his infinite wisdom, gave her a sister instead
- Mary Magdalene Patterson.
RHONDA
looks questioningly up at PHYLLIS (BABY MARY on her hip) as PHYLLIS picks up
one of several pill bottles from a kitchen shelf, tosses a couple of pills into
her mouth.
VOICE OVER
It
doesn’t take long before Rhonda is introduced to the magical power of…
PHYLLIS
Mother's
Little Helpers.
RHONDA
watches PHYLLIS (smiling beatifically) as she washes dishes.
VOICE OVER
The
process of putting ideas into Rhonda's head continues for some years before
Rhonda starts to have some ideas of her own.
RHONDA
(8 years old), MARY (4 years old) and PHYLLIS look into the empty refrigerator
PHYLLIS
The
Lord will provide.
VOICE OVER
The
Lord, moving as he does in mysterious ways, does not provide, so Rhonda takes
matters into her own hands.
RHONDA,
in a supermarket, stuffs cheese, milk and bread into her school satchel.
Smiling innocently, she walks nonchalantly past the Security Guard at the
entrance with her satchel bulging with stolen goods.
PHYLLIS
inspects the contents of the now full refrigerator, looks down to where RHONDA
stands alongside her.
PHYLLIS
You
see, the Lord will provide. He has a plan.
VOICE OVER
And
so, at the age of eight, Rhonda sets about fulfilling God's plan…
PHYLLIS
and MARY kneel; praying. RHONDA (8 still) sits nearby taking notes.
PHYLLIS (praying)
…a
new school uniform for Mary, an egg-beater, fish for Friday…
RHONDA
(still 8) steals a school uniform, an egg-beater and (most difficult of all!) a
fish.
As
PHYLLIS cooks the fish in the kitchen, RHONDA picks up a bottle of 'Mother's
Little Helpers' and starts to unscrew the lid. PHYLLIS takes the pills from
her.
PHYLLIS
God
doesn't want little girls to eat these.
RHONDA
reads an illustrated story of the Garden of Eden.
VOICE OVER
The
similarity between this prohibition of God's and another does not escape
Rhonda's attention.
GOD,
dressed in white, issues a stern warning to naked Adam and Eve as Eve looks
longingly at an apple in a tree.
GOD
Thou
shalt not eat of the Tree of Knowledge. If ye do, ye shalt die.
VOICE OVER
Rhonda
knew that Adam and Eve did not die as a result of eating from the Tree of
Knowledge…
RHONDA
(11 now) watches, puzzled, as the Nun-Teacher finishes writing on the
blackboard: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
RHONDA
Why
did God curse the Serpent for telling Eve she should eat from the Tree of
Knowledge when you…
NUN
Rhonda,
its not for you to question the Word of God.
VOICE OVER
It
is too late, however, to stem the flow of questions flooding Rhonda's brain.
RHONDA
It's
unfair to serpents.
VOICE OVER
And
so it is that Rhonda's love of snakes is
nurtured and grows.
Rhonda
looks at snakes in glass cages in a pet store.
VOICE OVER
Feeling
the need to chose between God's opposition to women's education and the
Serpent's more liberal views regarding knowledge…
Rhonda
looks at a snake shedding its skin; entranced.
VOICE OVER
…Rhonda
sides with serpents. She anticipates some opposition from her mother but is
prepared.
Rhonda
shows the python to Phyllis, a bandage wrapped around its middle.
RHONDA
She
was run over by a car and the Lord asked me to help her in her time of need.
Her name is Serpent.
PHYLLIS (beatific smile)
Oh!
Rhonda
(12 years old now) inspects the bottle of Mother's Little Helpers in her hand.
VOICE OVER
Wondering
if her ‘Mothers' Little Helpers’ have any role to play in God's Plan Rhonda
conducts her first chemical experiment and discovers …
She
takes a pill and pops it into her mouth.
VOICE OVER
…
that 'Mothers Little Helpers' can be divided into two categories.
In
her bedroom, RHONDA looks at two small bottles - one green, with GO written on
it; one red, with STOP. She opens the GO bottle, takes out a pill, pops it into
her mouth.
VOICE OVER
Her
continuing chemical experiments lead her to the discovery of new states of
consciousness
RHONDA,
aged 15,'stoned', watches in awe as Serpent, her pet python, sheds her skin.
RHONDA
I
will shed my skin and live forever.
As
PHYLLIS prays, RHONDA, starts to shed her clothes. PHYLLIS, her eyes shut, is
oblivious to RHONDA'S performance, but MARY (aged 11) opens one eye for a peek
and can't help but enjoy what she sees.
VOICE OVER
And
so it is that Rhonda, with the help of her friend, Cheryl, discovers an
alternative way to keep her mother's refrigerator stocked.
RHONDA,
15, in a school storage room and wearing pink-rimmed heart-shaped ‘Lolita’
sunglasses, performs a strip-tease to the tune of “Jesus loves me this I know”
as Cheryl collects money from a group of 16 year old boys. TWO NUNS appear in
the doorway and react with horror to the sight of Rhonda dancing in her bra and
knickers.
VOICE OVER
Rhonda's
education comes to an abrupt halt. This causes her mother some distress at
first but Phyllis' prayers...
PHYLLIS,
hands on Rhonda's shoulders, eyes raised to heaven.
VOICE OVER
...are
answered when Rhonda gets her first job as ‘Venus Aphrodite’...
RHONDA/VENUS
puts food in the refrigerator as she answers PHYLLIS' question.
RHONDA/VENUS
I’ve
got a job in the service industry.
RHONDA/VENUS
(from here on in to be referred to as VENUS), in a brief bikini, wearing her
‘Lolita’ sunglasses, pops out of a huge 'cake' singing “Happy Birthday to you…”
to the raucous applause of an assembled football team.
VOICE OVER
That
Rhonda aka Venus is still only 15 years old causes some complications with
Child Welfare…
VENUS,
in her bedroom filled with stolen goods is confronted by THREE UNIFORMED
POLICEMEN and TWO CHILD WELFARE OFFICERS.
VOICE OVER
…but
it is her re-distribution of goods provided by the Lord that results in her
being provided with alternative accommodation…
Juvenile
Detention Centre. VENUS sits beside a teenage boy looking at a page torn from a
BMW Mechanics Manual, at a detailed drawing of the BMW door-locking system.
VOICE OVER
…and
an alternative education.
YOUNG CAR THIEF
All
ya need to get past the BMW locking system is half a tennis ball...
The
YOUNG CAR THIEF holds up half a tennis ball.
VOICE OVER
And
it is in this alternative accommodation that Rhonda discovers her unique talent
with computers. A talent…
Juvenile
Detention Centre Activities room. Under the watchful eye of a WELFARE OFFICER,
VENUS sits in front of a computer. On the screen is the PENTAGON Home Page.
VOICE OVER
…that
makes it possible for her to roam freely inside almost any computer in the
world that takes her fancy…
We
see VENUS hack into the computers of Madonna, Michael Jackson and Brad Pitt.
VOICE OVER
...and
become adept at the use of Photoshop.
VENUS
puts Bill Clinton’s head on the body of Jabba the Hutt.
VOICE OVER
By
the time she is 18, the now multi-skilled Rhonda is too old to utilize this
alternative accommodation any longer and so…
VENUS
walks out of Juvenile Detention Centre, bag in hand.
3 INT. STRIP CLUB. “GET YOUR
ROCKS OFF” NIGHT
VENUS,
wearing out-sized sunglasses shaped like Sydney Harbour Bridge, a pink wig and
a python wrapped around her near naked body, performs an erotic ‘python dance’
in a crowded smoke-filled strip joint: “Get Your Rocks Off”. Behind her, a
sign: VENUS APHRODITE.
VOICE OVER
…with
her mother and sister still to support and not wishing to destroy Phyllis'
faith in God, Rhonda, who has changed her name to Venus Aphrodite, continues to
provide…
VENUS
greets PHYLLIS at the front door of her fibro house with a big bunch of
flowers, a basket full of food and an envelope filled with cash.
VOICE OVER
And
so it is, one day...
4 INT. DRESSING ROOM. STRIP CLUB.
NIGHT
VENUS,
in the dressing room of the strip club “Get Your Rocks Off” with THREE YOUNG
STRIPPERS looks at the TV - on which the bald Tony (BIG TONY) Babbit can be
seen pontificating in front of a large banner that reads FAMILY FIRST:
VOICE OVER
...when
she sees Tony Babbit on TV:
BIG TONY
Only
when this great country of ours embraces traditional family values and stamps
out strip joints and other such dens of iniquity...
VOICE OVER
...that
an idea occurs to her.
VENUS
calls to the other TWO YOUNG STRIPPERS over, tells them her plan. In a MONTAGE:
VENUS,
a photo of Tony Babbit at her side, flicks through a book filled with photos of
male actors, stops on one; smiles.
VENUS,
in a motel room, hands a middle aged actor a wad of money and proceeds to shave
his head.
VENUS
attaches fake ears to the actor, stripped down to his underwear, so that he now
looks very like Big Tony.
VENUS
stands behind a camera on a tripod, signals to ‘BIG TONY’, to take off his
underpants. Behind her the TWO YOUNG STRIPPERS start to take their clothes off.
End
opening credit sequence.
NOTE: It will be apparent by now,
despite their radically different
hair-styles, that JOSIE and VENUS look very alike. Whilst Josie and Venus will
be played by the same actress, efforts must be made with make-up to make them
NOT look like identical twins. Whilst they can be mistaken for each other
(particularly when they want to), the audience should mistake them at this
point for sisters only; not twins.
5 INT. ‘FETISHES’.
TERENCE,
late 40s, thinning hair tied in a pony tail, wearing much too much bling, sits
in the deserted ‘dining area’ of a different strip club: FETISHES. On the TV:
Tony
Babbitt pontificates.
TONY BABBIT
Strip
clubs and other dens of iniquity, run by known gangsters...
In
the background, THREE YOUNG STRIPPERS take it in turns auditioning for RANDY,
late 20s, in a loud floral shirt.
TONY BABBIT
... must
and will be closed down when I am elected.
Signs
reveal the club’s name: FETISHES.
TERENCE’S mobile phone rings. He picks it up but keeps his eyes of the
TV.
TONY BABBIT
No
longer will known criminals be able to cater to the fetishes of depraved men...
TERENCE
uses the ‘remote’ to turn the volume down on the TV.
TERENCE
Fetishes.
What can I do you for?
VENUS’ VOICE
You
don’t know me, Terence, but I know you and I am a big fan. Huge! Venus
Aphrodite.
TERENCE (smiles)
I’ve
heard a lot about you, Venus Aphrodite. From my friend, Reggie.
VENUS’ VOICE
Oh!
(A BEAT) Got any interest footage of Tony Babbit dancing naked...
RANDY,
sunglasses propped in his blonde-streaked hair, lifts a film director's
viewfinder hanging around his neck, looks through it as a YOUNG STRIPPER smiles
seductively at him.
VENUS’ VOICE
...in
a motel room with two teenage high school girls?
6 INT. VENUS' CAR. OUTBACK ROAD.
LATE AFTERNOON
VENUS
drives. She wears her Sydney Harbour Bridge sunglasses; speaks into the pink
(tastefully phallic!) cylindrical mobile phone seen earlier in Josie’s hands.
TERENCE’S VOICE
Is
the Pope Catholic?
VENUS
Do
bears shit in the woods!
7 INT. ‘FETISHES’.
TERENCE
watches Tony Babbit on TV as he talks.
TERENCE
Does
the Pope shit in the woods? Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back? ‘Course I’m
interested, sweetheart. ‘Course I am.
VENUS’ VOICE
Cost
ya four grand.
TERENCE
Whoa!
Five grand! That’s a bit steep, Venus!
8 EXT. VENUS' CAR. OUTBACK ROAD.
LATE AFTERNOON
Seen
from outside, VENUS drives a green car.
VENUS
Blackmail’s
an expensive business, Terence?
TERENCE’S VOICE
Give
ya three, max!
VENUS
Five
grand Terence. Think about it. I’ll await your call.
VENUS
hangs up, smiles, throws her mobile into a black carry bag on the passenger
seat; turns up the radio. A news report:
RADIO
President
Clinton denies all the allegations that have been made by Ms Lewinsky.
9 EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF DARWIN. DAY
VENUS’
green car drives past a sign that reads:
DARWIN
10 kms
BILL CLINTON’S VOICE
“I
did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
10 MONTAGE. VARIOUS LOCATIONS
Backstage
in a theatre. JOSEPHINE SENIOR and other ctors watch TV. Men at Work sing “I
come from the Land Downunder.”
Grahic:
London
1983.
MEN AT WORK
“Do
you come from a land down under?
Where
women glow and men plunder?”
On
the TV:
The
final few seconds of the 83 America’s Cup in Perth. Australia wins. Prime
Minister Bob Hawke ecstatic!
VOICE
OVER
Meanwhile,
back in 1983, on the other side of the world, as Australia wins the America’s
cup...
Nearby,
backstage, 4 YEAR OLD JOSEPHINE, clutching a small pink teddy bear, looks up at
racks of colourful theatrical costumes.
MEN AT WORK
“Can't
you hear, can't you hear the thunder?”
Close
on 4 YEAR OLD JOSEPHINE as she explores the costumes with her hands and eyes;
smiling happily.
MEN AT WORK
“You
better run, you better take cover”
She
ignores the admiring smiles of JOSEPHINE SNR and ACTORS in Restoration comedy
costumes looking down at her.
Graphic:
JOSIE’S
STORY...in a nutshell
An
AGEING ROUE, his eyes on JOSEPHINE SNR’s ample uplifted breasts, squeezed into
a tight bustier:
AGEING ROUE
Beautiful,
just like her mother.
JOSEPHINE
JUNIOR pays no attention - entranced as she is by the colour and texture of the
costumes.
NOTE: (Young Josie and Venus,
very similar in looks at all ages, are to be played by the same actresses –
with different haircuts etc.)
A
park. JOSEPHINE JNR, aged 5, stares at a flower garden.
JOSEPHINE
SNR sits on a blanket closeby, sipping champagne with her current BEAU.
JOSEPHINES Snr. and Jnr. have identical haircuts.
VOICE OVER
Unlike
Venus’ mother, Josephine Senior, does not think that God has a plan but that
life’s twists and turns are mapped out in the stars.
In
answer to the BEAU’S question, looking at JOSEPHINE JNR.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR
Aries.
Such a happy child! (LOUDER) Aren’t you, darling? A happy child?
JOSEPHINE
JNR turns and smiles dutifully at her mother. The BEAU glances at JOSEPHINE
SENIOR’S ample uplifted breasts.
VOICE OVER
At
a very early age young Josephine discovers that the world as she imagines it is
much more...
In
her imagination JOSEPHINE JUNIOR undresses and re-dresses her mother and the
BEAU in costumes made from flowers.
VOICE OVER
...interesting
than the world as it is and that bodies...
JOSEPHINE
JNR (aged 5), pink teddy bear at her side, pastes a cut out picture of a dress
into her Scrap Book.
VOICE OVER
...adorned
in beautiful clothes never fail to put a smile on her face.
JOSEPHINE
JNR, smiling, is surrounded by photos of models in haute couture clothes she
has cut from Fashion Magazines.
VOICE OVER
By
the time she is fifteen, Josephine is collecting Fashion Designers also...
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE (15 years old now, to be played for here on in by the same actress
who plays teenage Venus) now has a large collection of Scrap Books. The walls
of her bedroom bear witness to her love of fashion design. Her pink teddy bear
sits on her pillow.
VOICE
OVER
...her
favorite being the Australian Amaroo Yunipingu, whose designs, inspired by
Australian flora and fauna, so shocked the fashion world and gave birth to his
label, ‘Feral Fashion’.
Magazine
photos of Amaroo’s ‘indigenous’ designs. One, inspired by and partly made of
ostrich feathers.
A
zoo. TEENAGE JOSEPHINE (15 still) looks at the multi-coloured birds in a large
aviary. Closeby, JOSEPHINE SENIOR flirts with a NEW NEW BEAU.
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE’S attention is caught by her mother’s raucous theatrical laugh. In
her imagination she undresses and re-dresses her mother in a costume made from
multi-coloured parrot feathers. Pleased with the result, she dresses the NEW
NEW BEAU in Eagle feathers, his hands (transformed into talons) poised to grasp
Josie Senior’s ample breasts.
VOICE OVER
Josie’s
early attempts at clothes design…
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE sitting at a sewing machine, surrounded by feathers, hands an imaginatively
designed jacket, made mostly of feathers, to her bemused mother.
VOICE OVER
…reveal
that her powers of imagination are far greater than her skill with a sewing
machine.
As
JOSEPHINE SNR tries the jacket on it falls apart.
JOSIE SENIOR
Best
to stick with what you are good at, darling.
VOICE OVER
What
Josephine Junior is ‘good at’ Josephine Senior assures her daughter, is acting.
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE, a lady in a Restoration Comedy, takes a bow centre stage, smiling at
the applauding audience in general and her proud mother in particular.
VOICE OVER
And
young Josephine, Josie to her friends now, is indeed a skilled actress.
Backstage,
TEENAGE JOSEPHINE smiles enthusiastically as her mother’s admiring friends
congratulate her. JOSEPHINE SNR hugs JOSEPHINE JNR, who smiles obligingly.
JOSIE SENIOR
She
wants to be an actress when she grows up, don’t you darling?
VOICE OVER
Skilled
enough to convince her mother that she loves acting, when in fact pretending to
be someone else, does not seem to Josie to be a particularly noble pursuit.
Unless that someone is Richard Gere…
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE, clutching her pink teddy bear, watches TV; tears in her eyes:
Richard
Gere, in a white officer’s uniform, picks Debra Winger up in his arms and
carries her out of the factory.
VOICE OVER
…for
whom Josie develops a serious teenage crush.
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE sits in the wings of a theatre, mending a costume.
VOICE OVER
In
Josie’s mind acting is not nearly as much fun as making costumes and the...
Onstage,
JOSEPHINE SNR, in peasant garb, plays Joan of Arc, about to be burnt at the
stake.
VOICE OVER
...free
reign the world of theatre offers her fertile imagination.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR (as Joan)
“I
bid you remember that I am a saint...
In
her imagination JOSEPHINE JNR re-dresses her mother as a Hooker – her breasts
spilling out of a crimson bustier, micro skirt, knee high leather boots; whip
in hand.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR
...and
that saints can work miracles.”
VOICE OVER
With
her mother’s connections and her own natural talent as an actress...
In
a darkened theatre, JOSEPHINE SNR sits beside the DIRECTOR of the Acting
School.
VOICE OVER
...the
course of young Josie’s stellar acting career seems set...
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE (18 years old) strides onstage dressed as a hooker – in the same
costume she imagined her mother in - crimson bustier, micro skirt, knee high
leather boots.
VOICE OVER
And
so it was that she finds herself auditioning for a place in the Royal
Shakespeare Company that she is determined not to win.
JOSEPHINE
SNR is shocked until she sees that the DIRECTOR of the School is amused.
CASTING DIRECTOR
And
what is your audition piece, Miss Higgenbottom.
TEENAGE JOSEPHINE
Joan
or Arc, sir.
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE recites the last line of her audition piece. Her attempts to perform
badly has a reverse affect to the one intended on the DIRECTOR.
TEENAGE JOSEPHINE (as Joan)
“O
God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive thy
saints? How long, O Lord, how long?”
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE takes a bow and exits. The CASTING DIRECTOR turns to JOSEPHINE SNR:
CASTING DIRECTOR
She’s
magnificent. An original talent. Like her mother. Did you know she was going to
play Saint Joan as a...whore?
JOSIE SENIOR
Of
course! We’re like that (CROSSES HER FINGERS) two peas in a pod. Josie hides
nothing from me.
VOICE OVER
This
is not strictly speaking true since Josie, recently turned 18 has secretly
acquired her own passport and a tourist visa for 3 months…
TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE spins a Globe, measures the distance from London to Australia.
VOICE OVER
…in
the furthest English-speaking country from her mother she can find on the
planet.
CLOSE
ON: Passport photo of JOSIE, with short pink hair.
PASSPORT CONTROL OFFICER
G’day
Josephine!
At
Sydney airport, the PASSPORT CONTROL OFFICER looks from the passport to TEENAGE
JOSEPHINE (JOSIE) – her hair short and pink now.
JOSIE
Josie!
PASSPORT CONTROL OFFICER
And
you have $5,000 to support yourself while you are in Oz?
JOSIE
nods, hands the PASSPORT CONTROL OFFICER a booklet of Traveller’s Cheques. He
flicks through them quickly.
PASSPORT CONTROL OFFICER
Welcome
to Australia, Josie.
JOSIE
sits on a bus driving through the Australian desert. She holds her pink teddy
bear up to the window to share the view. Open on her lap is her Amaroo
Yunipingu scrapbook.
VOICE OVER
Josie’s
main reason for being in Australia, actually, is her fervent desire to meet her
design hero in the hope...
JOSIE
crosses her fingers.
VOICE OVER
...that
Amaroo might become her mentor.
JOSIE
looks out the window of the bus at a passing sign on the outskirts of Darwin:
DARWIN
10 kms
JOSIE,
dressed in one of her eye-catching outfits, carrying her red suitcase, walks
down the street in Darwin and into an upmarket arcade.
11 INT. AMAROO’S BOUTIQUE. DAY
As
JOSIE waits at Reception, admiring an array of
imaginatively designed clothes, she catches a glimpse of AMAROO - a
handsome thirtysomething man of Chinese/Aboriginal descent - in a back room
fitting one of his exotic costumes onto a model. JOSIE, in 7th heaven, hopes he
will notice her.
The
RECEPTIONIST looks at JOSIE’S outfit, smiles her congratulations, looks into
the diary on her desk.
RECEPTIONIST
I
am sure Amaroo will want to see you. He’s leaving for overseas tomorrow but I
can squeeze you in first thing in the morning...
JOSIE’S
face breaks into the happiest of smiles.
A
DAY LATER
JOSIE
smile has turned into a frown. She is wearing yet another of her daring and
imaginative outfits as the immaculately dressed RECEPTIONIST (also in a
different outfit) smiles apologetically.
RECEPTIONIST
I’m
terribly sorry, but Amaroo had to catch an earlier flight and...
JOSIE
tries hard to hide her disappointment.
12 INT. PUB. NIGHT
JOSIE
sits on a stool at the bar in a crowded pub sipping a cocktail; drowning her
sorrows.
Onstage
a band (THE COWBOYS) plays. The lead singer and guitarist, BRANDON, (Marlboro
Man good looks) beams a huge white smile at JOSIE when she looks in his
direction.
VENUS,
in dark glasses and wearing a wig, sits on the vacant stool next to JOSIE’S; a black
carry bag hanging from her shoulder.
VENUS
pays no attention to JOSIE (whose eyes are on BRANDON) as she scans the bar
looking for someone. She sees her DRUG DEALER, makes eye contact, nods.
As
VENUS - on edge, nervous - looks down at her shaking hands, JOSIE’S spirits
improve exponentially as BRANDON flirts with her with his eyes as he sings a corny
love song.
The
DRUG DEALER sits alongside VENUS. She slips an envelope along the bar to him.
He drops a small packet into her black carry bag. JOSIE notices none of this.
Her eyes are on BRANDON - his eyes
staring directly into her own.
VENUS
stands, walks out.
BRANDON
finishes his song, walks across the Club, stands in front of JOSIE, takes her
hand, drops to one knee kisses the back of it, looks into her eyes.
BRANDON
You
have most beautiful blue eyes that I have ever seen.
JOSIE
is smitten. She smiles joyfully, turns bright red.
BRANDON
sweeps JOSIE up into his arms in a manner reminiscent of Richard Gere in AN
OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN.
13 EXT. PUB. NIGHT
BRANDON,
his guitar case on his back, carries JOSIE to his gleaming silver and black
Harley Davison parked outside.
14 EXT. MOTORBIKE ON OUTBACK
ROAD. NIGHT
JOSIE,
the guitar case strapped to her back now, clings to BRANDON as he drives on an
outback road under a full moon.
15. INT. BEACH. NIGHT
BRANDON
leans up against his Harley, his arms around JOSIE. She looks up at him
adoringly. Behind them, the full moon reflects a silver corridor of light off
the still ocean.
JOSIE
Do
you believe in destiny?
BRANDON (nods)
Yes,
I'm going to be a rock and roll star. And you?
JOSIE
Famous
fashion designer. (A BEAT) My eyes are brown, by the way; not blue.
BRANDON
laughs. JOSIE smiles. He leans forward to kiss her.
JOSIE
You
can’t kiss me.
BRANDON
Why?
JOSIE
Because...because....if
you do I’ll..
BRANDON kisses her.
JOSIE
No,
I can’t...you can’t...we can’t...
She
grabs BRANDON’S head and kisses him passionately.
16 AMAROO’S BOUTIQUE. DAY
JOSIE,
in yet another of her eccentrically beautiful outfits, stands at the
RECEPTIONIST’S desk. She shakes her head.
RECEPTIONIST
I’m
sorry.
JOSIE
tries to hide her disappointment.
MONTAGE
-
JOSIE sits at her sewing machine creating yet another outlandish colourful
outfit.
-
JOSIE in her new outfit in Amaroo’s boutique. The RECEPTIONIST shakes her head.
JOSIE smiles stoically.
-
JOSIE sits at her sewing machine working on a new design.
-
The RECEPTIONIST shakes her head etc.
Eventually:
RECEPTIONIST
If
you leave your phone number I’ll make sure to let you know the minute Amaroo is
back in the country.
JOSIE
smiles, takes out a pen and begins to write down her phone number.
17 INT. DRESSING ROOM. STRIP
CLUB. NIGHT
In
the dressing room of Venus’ strip club a black gloved hand lifts Venus’ pink cylindrical
phone from her black bag. Venus’ familiar
‘python dance’ music can be heard in the background, along with the
cheering of a happy male audience.
OLIVER,
early 30s, alone in the room, sweats profusely as he examines the mobile. He is
nervous, fumbles but eventually finds the battery compartment; removes the
battery.
18 INT. STRIP CLUB. DARWIN. NIGHT
VENUS,
wearing Sydney Harbour Bridge sunglasses, in a hot pink wig, a python wrapped
around her near naked body, performs an erotic dance to music in a crowded
smoke-filled strip joint. Behind her, a sign: VENUS APHRODITE.
A
DRUNKEN MAN slips a $100 bill into VENUS’ g-string and puckers his lips in
hopes of a kiss.
OLIVER,
twitchy and drenched with sweat, sits at the rear of the strip joint, watches
VENUS’ dance as he removes his black leather gloves. He takes a cigarette from
a packet and puts it in his mouth.
VENUS
approaches the DRUNKEN MAN as if to kiss him – indicating that he must close
his eyes. He does so. VENUS presents him with her bottom to kiss. He does so.
OLIVER
laughs nervously, the unlit cigarette jiggling up and down between his lips.
19 INT. BRANDON’S HOUSE. NIGHT
JOSIE
lies face down asleep on a double bed, barely covered by an Indian silk
sarong. It is a hot night. The sound of
a motor bike half wakes her as BRANDON pulls up on his Harley in the front
yard, his guitar strapped to his back.
A LITTLE LATER
BRANDON,
wearing a sarong, walks up the bed
carrying a tray with two cups of hot chocolate on it, a pile of pancakes and a
bottle of maple syrup. JOSIE is sound asleep. He places the tray on the bed
gently and lightly massages JOSIE’S back with the tips of his fingers. JOSIE
purrs, opens her eyes, smiles and turns over as BRANDON leans in to kiss her on
the lips.
JOSIE
Mmmm...
She
dips her finger into the moat of maple syrup around the pancakes, puts it in
her mouth.
BRANDON
grins wickedly, dips his finger in the moat, holds it up to JOSIE’S mouth. She
opens her mouth, sucks on his finger, laughs happily.
20 INT. CAR. OUTSIDE STRIP CLUB.
NIGHT
OLIVER,
sweating profusely, sits in his car; looks at the screen of the laptop computer
resting on his lap:
OLIVER’S
BOSS sits at a desk - a CIA emblem on the wall behind him.
OLIVER’S BOSS
She
has to be stopped, Agent Pringle.
OLIVER
Yes
sir.
In
the background, across the road, VENUS can be seen emerging from the Strip Club
carrying a heavy basket.
OLIVER’S BOSS
And
it is imperative that we find out what Miss Aphrodite knows. You realize what’s
at stake here.
VENUS’
hair is wrapped in a colorful scarf and she is wearing her heart-shaped Lolita
sunglasses.
OLIVER’S BOSS
Failure
is not an option.
21 EXT. DARWIN STREET. NIGHT
VENUS
walks up to a taxi parked outside the Strip Club, puts her basket on the rear
passenger seat. OLIVER can be seen parked across the road in his red car.
VENUS
reaches into her black carry bag, takes out her pink mobile as she gets in.
OLIVER
I’ve
planted a bug and a tracking device in her dildo and..
OLIVER’S BOSS’ VOICE
Her
dildo..!?
OLIVER
Her
phone. It’s shaped...well, um... doesn’t matter. Point is...I won’t let you
down, dad...umm, I mean sir.
OLIVER’S BOSS’ VOICE
I
certainly hope not, Oliver. I really do. There are profound implications at
stake here for the Australia-United States alliance if she is not stopped.
VENUS
punches numbers into her pink mobile phone.
22 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. OUTSIDE
STRIP CLUB. NIGHT
OLIVER
turns on a tape recorder on the seat beside him, switches on the ignition as
VENUS drives by in the taxi, pink mobile at her ear. Terence’s voice emanates
from the recording device.
TERENCE’S
VOICE
We
can give you $3,500 max for the video, darlin’!
23 INT. TAXI. NIGHT
VENUS,
in the back seat of the cab, talks on her pink mobile.
VENUS
$4,000,
Terence.
TERENCE’S VOICE
He
is naked, right? Big Tony? Like...totally!
24 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. NIGHT
OLIVER
follows Venus' taxi. Venus' voice emanates from the recording device.
VENUS’ VOICE
As
the day he was born.
On
the seat beside him is his laptop computer - on the screen of which can be seen
a red flashing dot moving across Darwin.
VENUS' VOICE
He'll
shit himself when he sees it. You'll have him by the short and curlies.
Venus'
taxi slows; pulls up outside an apartment block.
OLIVER
watches her walk from the taxi into the building carrying her heavy 'python
basket'.
25 INT. VENUS’ APARTMENT. NIGHT
VENUS
sits in front of her computer, typing. ‘Serpent’ is curled up asleep on the
floor.
CLOSE
ON the screen as THE PENTAGON home page appears.
VENUS
finds the sub-heading she is looking for and clicks on it. A “HIGHLY
CONFIDENTIAL” Pentagon web page appears – with a box into which must be
typed a password.
VENUS
deftly types in numbers and letters. A moment later, in red flashing letters,
she sees: ACCESS DENIED
VENUS
crosses off the 10th or so entry in her note-book, starts to type in code
number 11.
26 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. NIGHT
OLIVER
looks at the laptop computer screen. On the “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” Pentagon web
page Venus’ latest attempt at entering a password can be seen.
OLIVER
takes a cigarette out of a packet, puts it in his mouth.
27 INT. VENUS. APARTMENT. NIGHT
VENUS
raps her fingers nervously on the table, pours herself a glass of wine.
Onscreen: ACCESS DENIED
VENUS
minimizes the web page, opens a folder on her desktop entitled TOM CRUISE.
CLOSE
ON: Computer screen. A photo of Tom Cruise’s head, turned towards the camera,
alongside another shot of a naked man, seen from behind, on a luxury cruiser.
VENUS uses Photoshop to move Tom Cruise’s head onto the naked body.
VENUS
smiles to herself, sips wine, kneads her stressed shoulders with her hands and
prepares to write. Beside her is the open manila folder filled with sensational
gossip newspaper and magazine articles about celebrities – the most prominent
of which is the I HAD BILL CLINTON’S LOVE CHILD article. Alongside the folder:
several vials of pills. After a moment’s contemplation, VENUS types:
My
first night with Tom was HOT!!!
VENUS’
neck is killing her. She picks up a vial, tips a few pills into her hand,
knocks them back with a slug of wine.
There
is a loud knocking at the door. VENUS calls out.
VENUS
Who
is it?
VOICE
Friends
of Reggie’s.
VENUS (sotto voce)
Shit!
(LOUD) Be there in a sec.
Moving
at lightning speed VENUS dresses, unclamps a small fold-up satellite receiver
attached to the window sill, packs it into its red plastic case; packs the blue
VHS video cassette case with BIG TONY written on it and her manila folder full
of newspaper clippings into her black shoulder bag, along with her pink mobile
phone.
28 INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT
The
TWO BIG BURLY MEN stand at the front door. BURLY MAN #1 bangs on the door
loudly.
BURLY MAN #1
Hey,
Venus, we don’t got all night!
29 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. NIGHT
OLIVER’S
eyes are on the black Mercedes as he hears:
VENUS’ VOICE
Just
getting dressed…
OLIVER
registers the driver of the Mercedes – a Mafiosi thug out of Central Casing -
in sunglasses; his thinning hair tied in a long pony tail. We will get to know
him as REGGIE.
30 INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT
The
two BIG BURLY MEN exchange looks, agree on the plan of action, charge the door
in unison – knocking it to the floor.
31 INT. VENUS’ APARTMENT. NIGHT
The
two BIG BURLY MEN search the apartment looking for Venus.
32 EXT. APARTMENT. NIGHT
VENUS,
bags and cases hanging from her shoulders, ‘Serpent’ wrapped around her neck,
shimmies down the drainpipe at the side of the building. Her black shoulder bag
catches hold of the drainpipe and in the process of freeing it, most of it’s
contents fall out.
Seen
from below: Various items fall past us: the blue plastic VHS case and several
pill bottles.
The
bottles of pills shatter on the ground – sending pills flying off in all
directions.
33 EXT. BACK STEET. NIGHT
VENUS,
loaded down with ‘Serpent’ and bags, rushes down a dark suburban street,
checking out the cars parked there. When she sees a blue BMW her eyes light up.
She takes half a tennis ball from her black bad, places it over the lock and
hits it hard. The inside locks jump up.
34 INT/EXT. BRANDON’S HOUSE. DAY
BRANDON
is polishing his motor bike on the patio of his house as JOSIE, just inside the
French doors, finishes sewing yet another wildly colourful and outrageously
designed outfit.
A
LITTLE LATER
JOSIE,
dressed in her new outfit, looks at herself in a full length mirror - very
happy with her work. She traipses out onto the patio and presents herself to
BRANDON.
JOSIE
Da
da!
BRANDON
turns to her with a smile but seems not to notice her new outfit. His attention
on the true love of his life - his spotlessly clean, gleaming shiny Harley
Davison.
BRANDON
Is
that a thing of beauty or what?
JOSIE
More
beautiful than me?
BRANDON
notices JOSIE’S outfit.
BRANDON
Hey.
(A BEAT) Cool.
JOSIE
Yeah!?
BRANDON
I
love your beautiful clothes, babe. I really do. But you know what?
He
takes her head in his hands, kisses her on the lips.
BRANDON
I
love you even more without them.
JOSIE
laughs, shakes her head. BRANDON grins, starts to undress her. JOSIE stops him,
breaks away.
JOSIE
Wait.
As
JOSIE rushes from the room the phone rings. BRANDON answers it.
BRANDON
Sorry,
she’s tied up at the moment, can I take a message?
BRANDON
writes on a piece of paper alongside the phone. JOSIE reappears wearing a brown
suede cowboy jacket (with tassles) and bearing the logo: THE COWBOYS.
Underneath the logo is written Brandon.
BRANDON
bursts out laughing.
35 INT. PUB. NIGHT
BRANDON
and the other members of THE COWBOYS play rock and roll - all wearing tassled
suede Josie-designed cowboy jackets with their names underneath the COWBOYS
logo.
JOSIE
loves the music; dances up a storm with the rest of the crowd. She is the most
colourful and outrageously dressed woman
on the dance floor. There is a good deal of eye-contact and smiling between JOSIE
and BRANDON.
LATER
JOSIE
signals to BRANDON onstage (with a theatrical yawn) that she is leaving. He
nods, beams a white smile, blows her a kiss. JOSIE blows a kiss back.
36 EXT. BRANDON'S HOUSE. NIGHT
JOSIE,
wearing a light Indian silk sarong only this hot summer’s night, works at her
sewing machine on the porch. She yawns, looks at her watch. It is 3 am. She
decides to call it a night, gets up and walks through the French doors into:
37 INT. LIVING ROOM. BRANDON’S
HOUSE. NIGHT
JOSIE
walks up to a futon, lies down, loosens her sarong, closes her eyes.
MORNING
BRANDON,
wearing his cowboy outfit and carrying a bottle of Maple Syrup, tip toes
through the doors towards the bed, on which JOSIE lies - her naked body covered
with her sarong.
BRANDON
puts down the bottle of Maple Syrup, takes his shirt off to reveal a trim
tanned muscular back. He unbuckles his belt and begins to take off his faded
denim jeans.
JOSIE
turns her head to look up at BRANDON, whose naked body can be seen from behind.
JOSIE, smiling up at BRANDON, slips out from beneath her sarong, turns onto her
back. (Fear not, dear Reader, nothing
x-rated here!)
BRANDON
picks up the bottle of Maple Syrup; unscrews the cap. JOSIE smiles, reaches
behind her, finds what she is looking for and lifts into frame a yellow
disposable cardboard camera. As BRANDON begins to pour drips of syrup onto her
breasts, JOSIE lifts the camera to take a photo of BRANDON hovering above her,
bottle in hand. FREEZE FRAME.
Through
the lens of her camera we see:
JOSIE
tilt from Brandon's head and shoulders to shoulders and chest (click!), to
chest and stomach (click); stomach and…
CLOSE
ON JOSIE, smiling as she takes another photo (click!) - closely followed by a
loud scream.
JOSIE
Ahhhh
JOSIE'S
scream has been elicited by the appearance, on the porch, of three MEN IN BLUE
OVERALLS, staring at them.
A
LITTLE LATER
JOSIE
struggles into a tattered pale blue t-shirt with PARTY ANIMAL written on the
front as BRANDON pulls his jeans on. In the background MEN IN BLUE OVERALLS can
be seen wheeling Brandon’s motor bike towards the DEBT CONSOLIDATION van parked
in the street.
BRANDON
Must
have forgotten a few payments…
JOSIE
You've
got a memory like a sieve, Brandon Tilbury!
A
thought has just occurred to BRANDON that fills him with panic. He looks at the
clock on the wall. It reads 8.45.
BRANDON
Babe,
I did tell you that Amarroo's secretary called about your appointment this
morning, didn't I???
38 EXT. BRANDON'S HOUSE. DAY
JOSIE,
carrying her red suitcase, runs out the door past BRANDON - almost in tears as
the MEN IN BLUE OVERALLS secure his gleaming Harley in the DEBT CONSOLIDATION
van.
BRANDON
You're
not going like that!?
He
is referring to JOSIE'S pale blue t-shirt, sticking to her wet sticky breasts
like a second skin. JOSIE walks fast towards a waiting taxi.
JOSIE
I'll
change in the taxi.
BRANDON
Sorry
babe!
39 INT. TAXI. DARWIN STREET. DAY
JOSIE,
in the passenger seat of a taxi, tries to open the clasp on her suitcase. It is
jammed. She takes off one of her shoes and hits the lock of her suitcase: hard.
It won't open.
JOSIE
Shit!
She
looks at her t-shirt. The wet sticky patches over her breasts have turned dark
blue. JOSIE hits the lock of her suitcase with her shoe again. It still won’t
open. She looks at her watch.
JOSIE
Shit!
40 EXT/INT. TAXI/ OUTSIDE ARCADE.
DAY
JOSIE
emerges from the taxi outside the arcade in which Amaroo has his boutique. As
the taxi pulls out she realizes she is wearing only one shoe.
JOSIE (shouts)
Wait!
JOSIE
watches the taxi drive off, her shoe on the dash board.
41 INT. ARCADE. DAY
JOSIE
rushes through the arcade, through some doors, into:
42 INT. LARGE ROOM. DAY
A
large room in which half a dozen young men and women - all immaculately dressed
and coifed - stand by racks of their fashionable clothes waiting their turn to
present their designs to AMAROO - sitting with his ASSISTANT at the other end
of the room.
AMAROO
looks at JOSIE - bedraggled, out-of-breath, in grubby cut off jeans, wearing a
sticky wet t-shirt with PARTY ANIMAL written on it and only one shoe.
AMAROO
And
you'd be?
JOSIE
Josephine
Higgenbottom. I'm sorry I'm…late…I…
AMAROO
holds up his hand to stop her.
AMAROO
Lateness
is the least of your problems, sweetheart. Next. Nerida Walsh.
AMAROO’S
ASSISTANT signals to NERIDA.
Close
to tears, JOSIE walks towards the doors. Immaculately attired NERIDA pushes a
rack of clothes before her, striding confidently towards AMAROO. Her rack clips
the edge of Josie's suitcase. It bursts open, scattering Josie's designs on the
floor - shirts, skirts, bustiers, multi-coloured jackets embedded with tiny
mirrors, coins and crystals.
JOSIE
kneels to retrieve them; sniffling, miserable.
As
she repacks her wildly colorful eccentric clothes, two legs appear in frame and
then a slender dark manicured hand.
As
AMAROO picks up the bustier embedded with tiny mirrors, coins and crystals
AMAROO'S changed tone of voice reveals his professional respect for what he is
looking at.
AMAROO
Did
you create these?
43 INT. ARCADE. DAY
JOSIE,
a spring in her step and a huge smile on her face, speaks excitedly into her
mobile phone.
JOSIE
He
wants me to be his assistant; to be my mentor. I can’t believe it. I...oh,
shit...This is the happiest day of my life. All I have to do is get a new
visa...a student visa...
44 EXT. FRONT YARD. BRANDON'S
HOUSE. DAY
JOSIE
gets out of a taxi, surprised to see Brandon’s motor bike parked in the yard.
BRANDON, looking very sheepish, appears on the porch.
JOSIE
How!?....What!?
BRANDON
I
borrowed some of your travelers cheques.
45 INT. BRANDON'S HOUSE. DAY
JOSIE
looks at Travellers cheques - only the stubs of which remain. She is in shock.
BRANDON
And
you're going to get it all back, babe. Promise. As soon as the advance for our
album comes through. Two weeks, max!
JOSIE
But
I need that money to get a student visa. (A BEAT) In the next week! You've
stolen ALL my money.
BRANDON
Borrowed,
babe, borrowed!
JOSIE
stares at him, in shock. There is a knock at the front door. BRANDON opens it
to a YOUNG WOMAN - suitcase in one hand, a bottle of maple syrup in the other -
smiling broadly.
YOUNG WOMAN
I’m
back.
46 INT. CAR. OUTBACK ROAD. DAY
VENUS,
wearing her ‘Lolita’ sunglasses, drinks a beer as she drives, jiggles her right
leg nervously. She takes one hand off the steering wheel, looks at it. It is
shaking badly.
Placing
the beer bottle between her legs she reaches into the black carry bag on the
seat beside her, extracts a bottle of pills. It is empty. She extracts another.
Empty. She chooses another, (seemingly randomly) unscrews the lid, tips the
last three or four into her open hand (steering with her knees), throws
them into her mouth and washes them down with a swig of beer.
VENUS
Merde!
The
sound of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March emanates from inside her black carry bag.
VENUS reaches into it, takes out her slender pink mobile phone. Her hands shake
badly.
MARY (telephone)
Hey,
sis!
VENUS
Hi
gorgeous.
MARY (telephone)
The
Debt collectors are here again…
VENUS
Merde!(A
BEAT) How bad is it?
MARY (telephone)
Bad
bad. Very bad bad...
VENUS
plants her foot on the brake. Her car skids to a halt.
47 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. OUTBACK
ROAD. DAY
OLIVER,
unlit cigarette in his mouth, slows as he notices that the red dot on the
computer screen has stopped moving.
MARY’S VOICE
...and
mum’s given the last of her money to...
VENUS’ VOICE
Some
Christians in need!
48 INT. VENUS’ CAR. DAY
VENUS
has her mobile to her ear. Mary’s laughter is heard.
MARY (telephone)
You’re
psycho sis!
VENUS
Psychic,
ya mean!
MARY (telephone)
Yeah,
that too.
VENUS
smiles, does a U-turn.
49 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. OUTBACK
ROAD. DAY
OLIVER
has pulled to the side of the road; is looking at the laptop computer screen.
The red flashing dot is moving towards him. He looks up to see Venus’ car
driving towards him. He picks up a magazine, pretends to be reading it.
50 INT. VENUS’ CAR. DAY
VENUS
pulls up alongside OLIVER in his bright red car, parked at the side of the road
in the middle of nowhere; unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.
VENUS
You
OK?
OLIVER,
ever so polite, speaks with an American accent.
OLIVER
Fine
thank you mam.
VENUS
notices that he is holding the magazine upside down, nods. She is about to
drive off when she notices that the glossy magazine OLIVER is reading upside
down has I HAD BILL CLINTON’S LOVE CHILD on the cover.
VENUS
smiles to herself as she drives off.
51 INT/EXT. PHYLLIS’ HOUSE. DAY
VENUS
approaches her mother’s run-down fibro house, pulls up behind a large van with
DEBT CONSOLIDATION written on it – into which the same three MEN IN BLUE
OVERALLS seen earlier load a lounge suite, dining table and other household
goods.
As
VENUS walks up she becomes aware of a shiny brand new green truck parked
closeby. Taking out her wallet, VENUS walks up to one of the MEN IN BLUE
OVERALLS.
VENUS
How
much this time, Roger?
ROGER
G’day
Rhonda...Venus. Five hundred bucks. Sorry to…
VENUS,
tight lipped, holds up her hand to deter ROGER from explaining; opens her
wallet.
52 INT. PHYLLIS’ HOUSE. DAY
As
VENUS strides in through the front door she is greeted by MRS SMITH – trying to
control a brood of feral children running wild. In the background the THREE MEN
IN BLUE OVERALLS can be seen unloading the lounge suite etc. and carrying it
back to the house.
A
TV set is on in the room (news) - the volume turned down.
VENUS
Who
are you?
MRS SMITH
Mary
Smith. (A BEAT) The Lord sent us.
MARY,
15 now, walks in and greets VENUS with a hug.
MARY
Mrs.
Smith got a message from God that a woman called Phyllis would help the family
in its time of need.
MR
SMITH walks in, arm in arm, with Venus’ mum, PHYLLIS.
VENUS
Jesus!
With a new truck?
MARY
nods, raises her eyebrows.
MR. SMITH
Praise
the Lord!
PHYLLIS
smiles beatifically, kisses VENUS on the cheek.
PHYLLIS
Hello
Rhonda darling.
VENUS (exasperated)
Jesus,
mum! What happened the last time God sent someone to you in their time of need?
PHYLLIS
When
the Good Lord tells me to turn a blind eye to the poor and needy I’ll…
VENUS’
attention is caught by an item on the TV news. As she moves to turn the volume
up:
VENUS
You
almost lost your house!
On
the TV screen:
A bald
politician (recognizable as ’Big Tony’) stands in front of a large placard
which reads FAMILY FOREMOST. The caption identifies him as 'Tony Babbit':
BIG TONY
(onscreen)
The
mainstay of a healthy community has always been and must remain, the family and
I pledge that as your member…
A
sedan pulls up in the street.
PHYLLIS
Oh,
look, the man from the Bank…Mr. Phillips. Such a lovely man.
MR
PHILLIPS walks in. PHYLLIS greets him with a beatific smile.
53 EXT. PHYLLIS’ HOUSE. DAY
MR
PHILLIPS, wearing a cheap pitch black toupee over his greying hair, beams an
unctuous smile at PHYLLIS and VENUS.
VENUS
Five
thousand dollars? By the end of the week!?
MR PHILLIPS (nods)
The
last thing the bank wants to do, of course, Phyllis, is repossess your house,
but…
PHYLLIS
smiles beatifically.
PHYLLIS
I
understand, Mr Phillips, but you don’t need to worry because the Lord will
provide…
PHYLLIS
turns to VENUS with a happy smile. VENUS humours her mother with a smile as she
shakes her head.
54 EXT. PHYLLIS’ HOUSE. DAY
VENUS
has opened the door to her sedan, turned to talk with her mother offscreen:
VENUS
Mum,
the next time someone turns up and tells you God sent them...
PHYLLIS,
with ‘Serpent’ the python hanging around her neck, smiles, nods, waits for
VENUS to continue.
VENUS
Tell
them God has given them the wrong address.
55 INT. VENUS’ CAR. DAY
VENUS
drives, pink mobile at her ear.
VENUS
I
need $5,000 for the ‘Big Tony’ tape Terence.
TERENCE (telephone)
No
can do, sweetheart. Yesterday it was $4,000.
VENUS
Yes,
but it is my prerogative as a woman to change my mind.
TERENCE (telephone)
$4,000
max.
VENUS
I
need $5,000. Seller’s market, Terence.
56 INT. STRIP CLUB. FETISHES
TERENCE
talks on his mobile:
VENUS (telephone)
Got
an hour to give me a yea or a nay...
The
line breaks up.
TERENCE
Tell
ya what, Venus, how about $4,500 and you throw in one of your famous python
dances? Hello...hello!
The
line has gone dead.
57 INT. VENUS’ CAR. DAY
VENUS
You
there, Terence? (A BEAT) Hello...
VENUS
hangs up, throws her pink mobile into a black carry bag on the passenger seat,
looks at her hand. It shakes badly.
58 EXT. OUTBACK AUSTRALIA. LATE
AFTERNOON
JOSIE,
still in her PARTY ANIMAL t-shirt, carrying her red suitcase, wearing her small
backpack, and with her black carry bag hanging around her neck, sits on the
back of Brandon's motor-bike.
BRANDON
She's
my ex…I promise…Babe? Ex. E...X
JOSIE
feels too miserable to respond as the motor bike speeds through a dry desert
landscape.
A
yellow sedan pull alongside as it prepares to overtake Brandon's motor bike.
The
driver, VENUS, wearing her Sydney Harbour Bridge shaped sunglasses, holds her slim pink mobile phone
to her ear.
59 EXT/INT. VENUS' CAR. LATE
AFTERNOON
As
BRANDON and JOSIE disappear from view, VENUS talks on her mobile. The news, on
her car radio is turned down low.
VENUS
Hello
Terence...Terence! It's Venus...if you’re good for the five grand, right? I’ll
be in Sydney on Friday...
TERENCE'S VOICE
Didn’t
catch that, Venus! Hello…
The
line is breaking up.
VENUS
Hello,
hello…Terence? Shit!
VENUS
puts the phone in the black shoulder bag on the seat beside her; unscrews the cap of a bottle of pills; tips
it upside down. It is empty.
VENUS
Merde!
VENUS
turns up the radio volume.
ANNOUNCER
Pentagon
officials would neither confirm nor deny reports that a computer hacker from
Australia had accessed top secret files…
60 EXT. ROADHOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON
A
Roadhouse at a desert crossroads. VENUS pulls up in the yellow sedan at the gas
pump as passengers file onto a passenger bus.
She
clamps her small fold-up satellite receiver to the roof rack, connects it to
her laptop computer, sits in the passenger seat - her laptop computer resting
on her lap, boots up her computer.
Various
icons appear - one of them the Home Page for THE PENTAGON.
As
the bus begins to pull out onto the highway and as BRANDON and JOSIE approach
on the motor-bike, VENUS, deep in thought, flips the lid of her computer shut.
From
the back of Brandon's motor bike, as it pulls up close to the Roadhouse, JOSIE
watches forlornly as the bus drives past them.
JOSIE
My
bus!
JOSIE
wipes tears from her eyes, puts on her sunglasses.
Her
hands shaking, VENUS replaces the petrol nozzle in its holder, opens the
passenger door of her car, rummages around in her black bag - extracts a hand
full of credit cards. She flicks through them until she finds the one she
wants. JOSIE and BRANDON can be seen
arguing in the background.
61 INT. ROADHOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON
As
she processes VENUS’ credit card, the PROPRIETOR can’t take her eyes off her
Sydney Harbour Bridge sunglasses and shaking hands.
62 EXT. ROADHOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON
VENUS
walks to the yellow sedan parked alongside BRANDON - who sits astride his
motor-bike. JOSIE, carrying her red suitcase, wearing her small backpack and
with her black carry bag around her neck, stands close-by.
JOSIE
You
knew how important being mentored by Amaroo is to me!?
BRANDON
And
you know how important my Harley is to me…I mean…
JOSIE
puts on her sunglasses, walks towards the road.
BRANDON
Babe!
I didn't mean that…I'm sorry!
JOSIE
sticks her thumb out; hitching. BRANDON calls out:
BRANDON
Who's
going to pick you up out here?
63 EXT. UP THE ROAD FROM
ROADHOUSE. DAY
VENUS
drives towards pink-haired JOSIE - standing at the side of the road, thumb
outstretched: hitching.
JOSIE
has her red suitcase suitcase and a small backpack alongside her and a black
carry bag slung around her neck.
VENUS
pulls up, looks over the top of her Sydney Harbour Bridge sunglasses at:
JOSIE,
wearing ‘conventional’ sunglasses, cut off shorts and a pale blue t-shirt with
PARTY ANIMAL written on it. There are two sticky wet dark blue patches around
her breasts.
VENUS
You
got any pills?
JOSIE
Pills!?
VENUS
Uppers...downers...whatever...?
JOSIE
shakes her head; looks at VENUS’ shaking hands.
VENUS
hides her hands, looks at the sticky wet patches around Josie’s breasts. JOSIE
looks down, smiles self-consciously.
JOSIE
Don’t
ask.
VENUS
No
pills?
JOSIE
shakes her head.
JOSIE
Sorry.
VENUS
Hop
in.
64 INT. VENUS’ CAR. DAY
VENUS
drives through the desert. JOSIE, in the passenger seat, has her black carry
bag resting on her lap.
JOSIE
Thank
you so much.
VENUS
looks over the top of her sunglasses at JOSIE; puzzled.
VENUS
Take
them off.
JOSIE
takes her sunglasses off.
VENUS
Jesus
H Christ!
VENUS
removes her own sunglasses. JOSIE exclaims:
JOSIE
Holy
frigging Moley!
VENUS
and JOSIE could be twins and they both recognize this in an instant. They are
both gobsmacked.
JOSIE
No
way!
VENUS
What
the...! How did you...!? Who the fuck are you?
JOSIE
I
don’t know.
VENUS
You
don’t know!
JOSIE
Sorry,
I mean, My name’s Josie but I...
VENUS
This
is weird. Too weird! Why are you...!? Our here! In the middle of fucking
nowhere...!?
JOSIE
I’m
trying to find out who I am. (A BEAT) I mean...
VENUS
So,
where are you going?
JOSIE
Haven’t
got the foggiest idea. I mean...
VENUS
shakes her head, looks at her own shaking hands.
VENUS
You
don’t know who you are, you don’t know where you’re going!?
JOSIE
No.
I mean yes I don’t know...
VENUS
And
you don’t have any pills?
JOSIE
shakes her head.
VENUS
And
you’re a Pom?
JOSIE
Born
and bred. First April 1979.
VENUS
Holy
fuck! You’ve got to be kidding. My birthday. Same day!
JOSIE
No
way.
VENUS
and JOSIE stare at each other; gobsmacked.
JOSIE
What
do you think it means? Us looking like sisters…maybe twins even?
VENUS
Why
does it have to mean anything?
JOSIE
Everything
means something.
VENUS
No,
nothing means anything.
JOSIE
Oh.
You don't believe in Fate? Destiny?
65 INT. OLIVER'S CAR. OUTBACK
ROAD. LATE AFTERNOON
OLIVER
is parked in the shade of a tree in an otherwise vast treeless landscape. From
the recording device on the seat beside him he hears muffled voices:
VENUS’ VOICE
No.
I don't believe in anything.
JOSIE’S VOICE
Not
even…
66 INT VENUS' CAR. LATE AFTERNOON
JOSIE
…that
God put us on this wonderful planet for a purpose!?
VENUS
Wonderful!
You’ve got to be kidding! (A BEAT) I don't believe in anything and especially
not God.
JOSIE
Oh!
But if there is no God…
VENUS
Law
of the jungle, sweetheart. What’s your name?
JOSIE
Josie.
And you?
VENUS
Venus
Aphrodite.
JOSIE
Oh!
VENUS
That's
all there is. A fucking jungle. Survival of the fittest. You want something,
you go after it. You don't let anything or anyone stand in your way.
The
thin sound of Stevie Wonder’s “I just called to say I love you” is heard. JOSIE
takes her blue mobile phone out of her black carry bag, looks at the LCD
screen: Mum
JOSIE
Excuse
me...
JOSEPHINE SENIOR (telephone)
Daaaarling,
I had a call this morning from the Royal Shakespeare. They want you. Badly...
JOSIE
holds the phone away from her; grimaces.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR (telephone)
...To
play Ophelia! Ophelia, darling. This is the opportunity of a lifetime...
VENUS
can’t help but smile.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR (telephone)
...To
appear onstage with the luminaries of the Royal Shakespeare…
VENUS
grabs the phone from JOSIE, mimics Josie’s plummy English accent.
VENUS
Line’s
breaking up, mum. Sorry.
VENUS
hangs up, grins at JOSIE. JOSIE laughs.
A
LITTLE LATER
VENUS
drives fast through the desert.
VENUS
If
ya hate acting that much, why are ya want to go back and be in that Royal
Shakespeare thingo?
JOSIE
My
tourist visa expires at the end of the week and...well, it's very difficult to
say 'no' to my mother.
VENUS
Tell
me about it.
They
drive on in silence for a moment. The sound of “I just called to say I love
you” again.
JOSIE
My
mother!
JOSIE
is in two minds about talking to her mother. VENUS grabs the blue mobile from
her, speaks in an English accent.
VENUS
Mum,
has it ever occurred to you that I might not want to be an actress?
JOSIE
grimaces. Josephine Senior laughs incredulously.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR (telephone)
Not
want! Not want! What on earth...!?
VENUS
That
I might have dreams of my own?
JOSIE
grabs the phone from VENUS.
JOSIE
Mum...sorry...I
didn’t mean that. You’re right...It’s a wonderful opportunity. I’ll be back in
London next week. Love you. Bye.
JOSIE
hangs up. VENUS shakes her head in disgust. JOSIE opens her mouth to speak.
VENUS holds her hand up to stop her, turns the radio up, switches stations a
couple of times before stopping on a news report.
BILL CLINTON’S VOICE
I
did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
JOSIE
Liar.
VENUS
All
men are liars.
JOSIE
does not agree but thinks better of voicing her dissent.
VENUS
looks over the top of her sunglasses at JOSIE, down to the dark blue wet sticky
patches around her breasts.
VENUS
And
the...?
JOSIE (sheepish)
Maple
syrup.
VENUS
Maple
syrup!? How the fuck didja get maple
syrup all over ya boobs?
JOSIE
Well,
you see...um...Brandon...the boyfriend...poured it on me and…
VENUS
Asshole!
JOSIE
No,
he was going to lick it off…
VENUS
Lick
it off!
VENUS
looks at JOSIE incredulously.
JOSIE
Haven't
you ever had a man…you know, use his tongue to…you know…?
VENUS
Yech,
no way! Any guy that tried to pull a stunt like that on me would be in deep
shit!
JOSIE
Oh!
VENUS
I
don't have a very high opinion of men. Assholes the lot of them!
JOSIE
Oh!
I love men, but…!
VENUS
But?
JOSIE
Oh,
I don't know…(sighs) You know that feeling when you meet a guy and he's charming
and everything and has a lovely smile but you have no intention of, you know,
sleeping with him or anything…and then he looks into your eyes and kisses you
beautifully and before you know it…
JOSIE VENUS
You're in love… He's
getting his rocks off…
VENUS
I'd
rather kiss a snake.
JOSIE
Oh!
I cant think of anything worse than kissing a snake! I've got a phobia about
snakes.
VENUS
So,
ya boyfriend pours maple syrup on ya tits and ya decide to go hitchhiking but
ya don’t know where to!?
67 INT. OLIVER’S CAR. OUTBACK
ROAD. DAY
OLIVER,
an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, drives along a dusty desert road.
From
the recording device on the seat beside him can be heard crackling static.
Annoyed, OLIVER fiddles with knobs on the recording device. A few words of
Venus and Josie talking can be heard between crackles.
JOSIE
...need
different visa...
VENUS
...different
boyfriend...
JOSIE
...if
I’m deported...
Also
on the seat is his laptop computer – on the screen of which can be seen a red
flashing dot moving across an aerial map of the terrain Oliver is driving
through.
68 EXT. OUTBACK AUSTRALIA. LATE
AFTERNOON
Through
an extremely wide angle lens, a red dusty road unfolds in the dry desert
landscape. This is the POV of:
A
large Prentie (lizard) peering out through the wire mesh of a makeshift wire
cage strapped to a platform welded to a bicycle frame in front of the handle
bars.
The
bare-chested 28 year old man on the bicycle, NOTCH, his long hair tied in a bun
on top of his head, has ‘bush eccentric’ written all over him. He hums
‘Waltzing Matilda’ to himself as he rides – clearly in no hurry to get
anywhere.
Hanging
alongside the rear wheel of Notch’s bicycle are two large leather panniers.
NOTCH’S
humming is gradually drowned out by the sound of a truck driving towards him –
with THUNDER DOWNUNDER written in large letters across the front. It bear down
on him fast; roars past. NOTCH is lost in a cloud of dust.
NOTCH
rides his bicycle out of the cloud of dust – covered in a layer of it but still
humming Waltzing Matilda as though nothing untoward had happened.
69 INT. VENUS’ CAR. OUTBACK ROAD.
LATE AFTERNOON
JOSIE
talks as VENUS drives.
JOSIE
...a
disaster! So, unless I can come up with $5000 in the next few days I’m going to
be deported.
VENUS
Wotchya
gunna do about it?
JOSIE (shrugs)
There’s
nothing I can do.
VENUS
There’s
always something you can do. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
JOSIE
nods, bites her lip, sees the large THUNDER DOWNUNDER truck heading towards
them - occupying the entire width of the road. Her eyes widen in fear. She
turns to VENUS.
JOSIE
Shouldn’t
you, like, move over…
VENUS
ignores JOSIE, smiles, puts her foot on the accelerator, moves to the middle of
the road. Chicken!
VENUS (sotto voce)
You
don’t scare me one little bit mate!
JOSIE
is scared shitless, however. The truck is only 50 metres away now, closing in
fast.
JOSIE
screams as a head-on collision seems imminent. VENUS laughs. The truck is
almost on them when its driver pulls over into the gravel and roars past.
VENUS
laughs triumphantly as her car disappears into a cloud of dust as gravel hits
the windscreen.
JOSIE’s
terror does not diminish as VENUS continues to drive fast into the dust cloud -
visibility zero. After a few moments the dust thins. JOSIE relaxes a
little.
JOSIE
What
would you do…if you needed money…a lot of money…fast?
VENUS
Whatever
it takes. If you want something bad enough, babe, you do whatever it takes.
Take no prisoners!
JOSIE
nods, bites her lip, wishes she had VENUS’ courage.
NOTCH,
on his bicycle, appears up ahead, riding in the middle of the road.
As
VENUS closes in on him she honks her horn to get NOTCH to move over. He ignores
her. VENUS slow down, puts her hand on the horn and leaves it there.
NOTCH
raises his right hand - index finger extended in response to VENUS’ impatience.
JOSIE,
enjoying this battle of wills, reaches into her black carry bag and extracts
her yellow cardboard box camera.
VENUS
drives up so close behind NOTCH that she almost hits him. She then passes -
only inches from him. NOTCH responds by again raising his index finger.
JOSIE
lifts her yellow cardboard camera and prepares to take a photo.
NOTCH,
his face covered in a film of dust, turns and smiles for the camera, extending
his raised finger as close to the lens as he can. Click.
JOSIE
laughs, looks back at VENUS – scowling as she watches NOTCH grow smaller in the
rear-vision mirror.
VENUS
Asshole!
JOSIE
mimics VENUS’ scowl. VENUS raises her left index finger. JOSIE lifts the yellow
cardboard camera and takes a photo. Click.
VENUS
grabs Josie’s camera, throws it out the window.
JOSIE
Hey!
What the…That’s got…
VENUS
No
one takes my photo, right! No-one.
JOSIE
Stop!
I want my camera. It’s...
VENUS
Gone.
Finito. Kaput.
JOSIE
stares at VENUS angrily.
JOSIE
Mad
bitch!
VENUS
What
did you say?
JOSIE
Mad
bitch. As in…stark raving…
VENUS
puts her foot on the brake.
VENUS
Out.
JOSIE
But…
VENUS
Out.
70 EXT. OUTBACK AUSTRALIA.
DESERTED ROAD. LATE AFTERNOON
The
passenger door opens. JOSIE is forcefully ejected from the sedan into the red
dust, clutching her small backpack.
JOSIE (shouts)
Venus!
What the…!
JOSIE
leaps to her feet, watches in horror as Venus’ yellow sedan speeds off towards the
setting sun.
50
meters up the road Josie’s red suitcase is pushed out. It hits the road; bursts
open. Coloured garments fly everywhere.
JOSIE
No!
As
JOSIE runs up the road towards her red suitcase a black object thrown from the
driver’s window Venus’ car.
50
meters up the road JOSIE approaches the black carry bag lying in the red
dust.
As
JOSIE picks it up the black carry bag she catches sight of a small snake
slithering away from her.
JOSIE,
wide eyed with fear, stands in the middle of the road, holding the black carry
bag at shoulder height in case she needs it to fight off a snake attack.
The
sound of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March intrudes. JOSIE reacts with shock.
JOSIE
What
the…!?
When
she realizes that the music is coming from the black carry bag she opens it,
looks inside; reacts with shock.
JOSIE
Holy
fucking moley!
She
extracts Venus’ pink mobile phone; presses the ‘answer’ icon. It is a bad line.
JOSIE
Hello!
TERENCE’S VOICE
OK,
OK, you win, Venus!
The
line is breaking up.
JOSIE
Sorry,
this is Venus’ phone but I’m not Venus. I’m Josie..
TERENCE’S VOICE
Didn’t
catch that, sweetheart, but I’ve got five grand waiting for you in Sydney and
I’ve lined up...
The
line breaks up again.
JOSIE
...
Hello... hello…
The
line is dead. JOSIE exclaims.
JOSIE
Five
grand!
A
lizard runs across the road, close to her. JOSIE screams, drops the pink mobile
phone, runs up the road.
When
the coast is clear (no snakes or lizards in sight) JOSIE picks up the phone
tentatively, sits on the road alongside Venus’s black bag, opens it;
extracting:
Two
wigs (brunette and red), a pair of outsized pink-rimmed heart-shaped ‘Lolita’
sunglasses, several passports and...
A
blue plastic VHS case with BIG TONY written under a photo of a bald man
standing at a lectern. Behind ‘Big Tony’ is a poster of his smiling bald self
with FAMILY FOREMOST written in large letters. Clearly a politician.
Venus’
pink mobile starts ringing again. JOSIE picks it up, eventually presses the
‘answer’ icon.
TERENCE’S VOICE
Venus!
Terence here. You there?
JOSIE
Yes,
but...
TERENCE’S VOICE
You
drive a hard bargain, sweetheart! I just hope the Big Tony tape’s worth five
grand!
The
line is breaking up.
JOSIE
Five
grand!…Hello…hello…
The
line cuts out. JOSIE looks closely at the blue VHS with ‘BIG TONY’ written on
it.
JOSIE
Five
grand!
JOSIE
pulls from the black carry bag a handful of credit cards with different names.
And then:
A
worn manila folder that she opens to discover:
Lots
of newspaper clippings. Her attention focuses on a glossy‘ HOT GOSSIP’ magazine
cover with:
A
photo of a young woman and a baby and the banner headline: I HAD BILL CLINTON’S
LOVE CHILD. The byline: Mystery Clinton lover’s bombshell paternity claims…
JOSIE
looks into the setting sun; puts on Venus’ ‘Lolita’ sunglasses to protect her
from the glare.
71 EXT. ROAD. LATE AFTERNOON
As
he rides his bicycle NOTCH’S attention is caught by a yellow object at the side
of the road. He stops, leans over and picks it up. It is Josie’s yellow
cardboard box camera. He slips it into one of the many pockets in his baggy khaki
shorts and continues on his way, humming ‘Waltzing Matilda’ to himself.
NOTCH
pulls up alongside Josie’s suitcase and the assortment of her colourful and
imaginatively designed clothes.
He
registers the small figure of JOSIE in the distance, sitting in the middle of
the road, her back to him.
72 EXT. ROAD. DAY
JOSIE,
wearing Venus’ ‘Lolita’ sunglasses punches numbers into the pink mobile, holds
it to her ear, speaks in a broad Australian accent - sounding just like Venus.
JOSIE
Sorry,
Terence. Bad reception. Yeah, I’ve got the ‘Big Tony’ tape and…five grand ay?
TERENCE (telephone)
How
soon can you…
The
line goes dead.
JOSIE
…hello,
hello…
NOTCH (voice off)
G'day.
JOSIE
as she leaps to her feet in shock, spins around to see:
NOTCH,
covered in dust, unshaven, hair tied in a knot on the top of his head, wearing
on the otherwise naked upper half of his body a multi-coloured bustier
encrusted with beads and tiny mirrors that sparkle in the afternoon sun.
JOSIE (splutters)
It's
not a good day. It's a frigging dreadful day.
NOTCH'S
eyes lower. He gets only the briefest of glimpses of the slender pink mobile
phone resting on JOSIE’S lap (at an unfortunate angle!) before she slips it
back into her bag.
NOTCH (grins)
That
what I think it is?
JOSIE
No.
NOTCH
Whaddya
think I think it is?
JOSIE
has turned bright red. Indicating the bustier on NOTCH.
JOSIE
That's
my bustier.
NOTCH
Yeah,
thought as much. Reckon it'd look better on you than me. So where ya headed?
JOSIE
You
offering me a ride!?
NOTCH
Depends
where ya going, mate.
JOSIE
Please
don't call me mate! (A BEAT) Don't know where I'm going.
NOTCH
Well,
if ya don't know where ya going', mate, there's a good chance you're already
there.
JOSIE
You
a philosopher or something, mate?
NOTCH
Blind
man in a dark room looking for a black hat that isn't there, ay? (A BEAT) Wanna
ride…mate?
JOSIE
looks at the cluttered bicycle, wondering where on earth she could possibly
sit.
JOSIE
You've
got to be kidding!
NOTCH
grins.
…to
be continued…
