The Genius Club

ARMAND (VOICE OVER)
Exactly. Finding a cure for cancer will bankrupt the medical establishment. Just like ending war will bankrupt the military establishment. Excellent answer, Ally. I'm very impressed with you. (bitterly) I also know our great President cut cancer research funding. President Halstrom looks away. How true. And how sick. Cut money to find cures, spend money to start wars. Right, Mr. President? It's not that simple. Oh, it's not that simple? What's complicated about what I just said? Try Senate committees, House leaders, political agendas, lobbyists, news media, military operatives...the list goes on. So politics is the cause of the world's problems? Yes, politics is the cause of the world's problems. Say it again, Mr. President. Politics- -I can't hear you. I want you to scream it out. (louder) Politics- -I CAN'T HEAR YOU! POLITICS IS THE CAUSE OF THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS!
 * VOICE OVER
 * ALLY
 * VOICE OVER
 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM
 * VOICE OVER
 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM
 * VOICE OVER
 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM
 * VOICE OVER
 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM
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 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM
 * VOICE OVER
 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM

Brian looks around the room. CLOCK: 2:30 a.m. Brian carefully puts on an earplug.

In The Hallway (THE GENIUS CLUB)
Brian takes out a stick of gum and pops it in his mouth. He looks down the empty corridor. (beat) 'The speculations of a philosopher are far removed from the judgment of the multitude, for his aim is seek truth in all things' Copernicus. Right. Are you going to answer the question? His name is Armand. He has the nation's second highest IQ, supposedly. He's been missing since 2002. He's the foremost expert in radioactive decay. For years he went under 'Armand Inrig' and other names until he was fired. (now looking at Jose) He has a lightning sharp mind. Worked for the Defense Department until he became persona non grata there, despite holding 34 patents. He finally developed a nuclear bomb sometime last year. Why does he want us to solve the world's problems in one night? (impatiently) Because he knows we can't. He's gathered the greatest minds for one last intellectual bash to show how 'superior' he is to all of us. He's using us as straw men then. Yeah.
 * BRIAN
 * JOSE
 * BRIAN
 * JOSE
 * BRIAN
 * JOSE
 * BRIAN
 * JOSE
 * BRIAN

Abandoned Warehouse
INT. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT INSERT FRAME: Armand's sweaty, distraught face. It's all lies. Am I the only one who sees this? Step into any supermarket and you're accosted with stupidity. Has anyone ever wondered why magazines feature the same celebrities at every single checkout counter? Why not a magazine about finding a cure for leukemia? Or a magazine about solving world hunger?
 * VOICE OVER

Push in on each of the genius's face.

It's all one big distraction. The media outlets are succeeding in distracting the entire human race with stories about some celebrity or baseball player - in other words the head is chasing the tail or don't you get it?
 * VOICE OVER (CONT'D)

Brian sees his cell phone light up and answers it. SPLIT SCREEN between him and the FBI AGENT. Brian, the last safety mechanism has been deactivated. He's really going to blow up the city. Have you tried getting under the shield? Yes. He's got tamper-proof wiring all around it. God help us.
 * FBI AGENT
 * BRIAN
 * FBI AGENT

Brian hangs up and looks away. Think back a few decades - terrorism hardly existed. It's a modern invention - terrorism has simply replaced war. We should call it 'transnational soldierism'. And all war is a meaningless waste of human life.
 * JOSE
 * PRESIDENT HALSTROM

The scoreboard lights up.

Quotes from Stephen Baldwin, Tim Chey, et al

 * Stephen Baldwin: I read the script and I was crazy about it. Most of the scripts coming out of Hollywood are pretty boring. They really don’t make you think. They don’t have purpose and meaning. This one had purpose and meaning. It wasn’t just about the topic—the God part of it—that a lot of movies don’t even mention. It was about viewing the different sides of issues like oil and gas, capitalism, communism. Those are issues most people aren’t talking about in movies right now. There’s no thought. This movie was very thought-provoking. I had to audition for it, but when I read the script I made a decision that said, “this is mine.


 * Tim Chey: "The world is not getting any better - it's sick and in dire need of help. I wrote the script to kind of turn every issue upside down. The environment is claustophobic and, in the end, these character's lives and their destiny's change in the course of one night."


 * Paula Jai Parker: 'I loved the monologue that she spoke. Because she is a scientist it had to make sense to her. For her to believe in what her grandmother and her grandmother’s grandmother believed, it had to make sense. That’s the same with me. I had to read the Bible for myself. I couldn’t let everyone tell me Jesus did this and that. It wasn’t enough for me to hear the stories. I had to go into the Bible and read it for myself from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, I get the message, I feel the message and I think that relates to my character. She had to read it and investigate the possibilities and I think the monologue says it all. The reality is she couldn’t believe in God until it made sense to her, to her science. That’s how I am. I couldn’t believe what my mother said until I read it for myself. I became so intrigued with religion and Jesus and the knowledge that I gained from the Bible that I am currently reading the lost chapters of the Bible. The chapters that were taken out to make the Bible more politically correct. I want to know what is missing. We’re a lot alike in that regard.'


 * Carol Abney: My character is clearly an atheist. Her religion is money. Personally, I don’t necessarily identify with that. I don’t follow one religious path, but I do respect it. I am not an atheist, but I’m also not a “label”. Intellectually I could identify, but not emotionally.