"SHOWGIRLS" (1995)

SHOWGIRLS

by

Joe Eszterhas

NOTICE: This script and its contents are CONFIDENTIALIt is not to be reproduced or xeroxed without the expressed permission of CarolcoPictures.

CAROLCO PicruRES 8800SUNSET BOULEY ARD LOS ANGELES, CA 90069 (310) 850-8800 September 30, 1994

Her name is NOMI MALONE. She looks from a distance like a kid. She stands along the Interstate, outlined in the shadows of the setting sun. She's got a big American Tourister in front of her with a sign on it that says: "Vegas". The suitcase looks like it's been dropped from a plane or something. She's wearing a baseball cap, a worn black leather jacket, torn jeans, and time-kissed cowboy boots. She's got her thumb out.

A sign near her says: "Salt Lake City -- 10; Las Vegas ·-- 342."

cars and trucks roar by her and then a beaten-up, hard top Jeep pulls to a stop. We hear Garth Brooks BLASTING. The door swings open. She grabs her suitcase, goes up to it, looks the guy over warily. JEFF is in his :mid-20's. He has the lanky callowness of the urban cowboy.

She looks at him warily.

She hesitates, then as he opens the back door, she lifts the big suitcase into the back seat. A beat, a final hesitation, and she gets into the front seat.

The Jeep roars onto the freeway.

The Garth Brooks tape is still BLARING. Jeff looks over at her, pressed against the door, and grins.

And instantly she pops a switchblade open and holds it. Jeff looks at the blade, looks at her.

,TEFF It was a bad idea!

She holds the open switchblade casually.

A beat, as he drives.

She looks at him a beat and, still holding the open switchblade, shuts Garth Brooks off and puts the radio on to the heavy metal.

They sit there saying nothing. He drives. She stares ahead, the blade in her hand.

She says nothing, stares ahead. She takes her baseball cap off. Her hair falls down her back. He looks at her. She looks beautiful.

She says nothing, stares ahead, listening to the music, lost in it.

She says nothing, stares ahead.

He starts to pull over. Without looking at him, she snaps the switchblade shut, but keeps it in her hand.

A beat, as he drives.

She pronounces it "Noe-mi." She doesn't even look at him.

She looks at him evenly.

She looks away from him again.

She looks at him hard, holding the switchblade.

He drives; she stares straight ahead. Far ahead, shimmering in the setting sun, we see the Vegas skyline, the desert high-rises, surrounded by nothing.

He smiles; her face is deadpan, she stares straight ahead.

,JEFF(smi 1es) You gotta gamble if you're gonna win.

She looks at him.

She looks away.

They are getting out of the car.

She is taking her suitcase out of the car. She stops, looks at him suspiciously.

She looks at him. A beat, and she decides to leave the suitcase in the car.

They are in the casino. There are hundreds of people even at this hour. There are slot machines everywhere -- the pulsating HUM and ever-present JINGLE of machine and money that is Vegas. She stares wide-eyed at this glittering, swirling world.

She shrugs. He grins, takes a ten dollar bill out of his wallet.

A beat; and she takes the ten.

He winks, grins, and heads away. She stares at this scene a beat, then goes up to a slot machine, stares at it.

She is at a slot machine with a stack of quarters. She keeps plunking them in -- losing, losing, losing. And then she plunks a quarter in and coins cascade out of the machine. She stares at this cascading money, backs a little away.

A beat, and then she laughs to herself. It is a little girlish laugh. She looks around excitedly for Jeff. He isn't there.

She laughs with Nomi a little.

She is plunking silver dollars in -- one after the other -- losing, losing. She's down to her last one. She hesitates. She watches ...and loses. She stands there a long beat, staring.

She nods, looks like she's in a daze. Then she turns and looks at theMan. Fat, bejeweled, prototypical Vegas sleazebag.

She looks at him a beat, then turns and starts quickly away.

He grins.

She goes to the lobby, looks around for Jeff. He isn't there.

A long beat, as she thinks of something, and then she hurries outside.

She walks out, looks around. Jeff's car isn't there. She stands there a long beat.

She says it quietly.

She says it louder and louder. She goes to a Toyota nearby. It is empty. She stands pressed against it for a long beat and then she starts to smash at thewindows with her fists, more and more out of control.

She keeps flailin~ away at thewindows. MOLLY ABRAMS stands behind her. She is 25, good-looking in a dark, slightly overweight way. She wearsa simple, but nice dress.

She keeps flailing at the windows

She tries to grab Nomi's arm -- Nomi swings at her wildly, misses.

And then Nomi turns from Molly and starts to throw up.

As she tries to go closer to Nomi, Nomi starts to nm across the parking lot and onto the Strip, zigzagging between cars -- it is a bolt, a fawn running wildly, crazily away.

Molly watches her, then goes into her car, starts it.

Molly moves onto the strip. As she follows the traffic she suddenly notices Nomi again. She is sitting at the curb, bent forward, miserable. Molly passes her. And then, in an instinctive reaction, she stops - gets out.

As she approaches, Nomi sees her. She gets up, but Molly blocks her way.

Nomi pushes her away and without paying attention jumps on the road, to cross. A car is going to hit her, but at the last moment Molly pulls her back. She falls into Molly's arms. She gasps for air, shakes. And starts crying.

It is near the strip in Vegas -- lots of old people in for a cheap meal, a guy in a clown outfit, the flash of pinkie rings.

Molly puts a tray with soft drinks and fries on the table and sits opposite Nomi. Molly looks at her. Nomi doesn't say anything.

Nomi.looks up at Molly.

Nomi shakes her head.

She looks down at the table again.

Molly doesn't buy it, stares at her. Nomi looks up at her a beat, then down again.

She keeps her eyes down on the table.

Nomi looks up, looks directly at her.

They look at each other a long beat

They look at each other.

They look at each other.

SIX WEEKS LATER

The trailer is small and old, one among a hundred, as crummy as hers. In the background we see Vegas. Molly, in a bathrobe, is taking some clothes from a clothesline - finishes, she heads into the trailer.

It is small but very neat. We see several posters of Andrew Carver on the walls. He is a Michael Bolton-type power balladeer, in his mid 30's, good-looking. We hear an Andrew Carver SONG playing.

Molly enters. She takes off her bathrobe and puts on the dress she took from outside.

Nomi is doing her fingernails -- she has long fingernails and is doing an intricate, multi-colored design on them. She wears jeans and a top, doesn't have any make-up on.

She holds her nails out to Molly, smiles.

Molly looks.

She puts the TV ON -- it's MTV.

She smiles, rolls her eyes.

The backstage, dressing room area of this big hotel show is actually downstairs -- underneath the stage.

In the final hour before the show goes on, there is a frenetic high energy here. "Goddess" itself is a high-energy, loud, 'hip Vegas' show, as opposed to the musical cavalcades of the past. If it's a street-dancing show, it is, of course, still Vegas -- glitzy and bigger-than-life.

Molly Abrams is the show's costume person. She is doing last minute adjustments now, as she does every night. She has a needle and thread in hand often and hurries about, fixing the dancers costumes. "Goddess" is a big show; it has 22 dancers, so there is a.lot for Molly to do.

Nomi, her hair up, wearing a very sexy slip of a dress, wearing make-up, watches Molly as she goes about her job. Nomi looks drop-dead gorgeous, but seems bedazzled by the whole scene.

There is a lot of nakedness in the room, very casual, very professional, as dancers, both women and men, are getting themselves ready with make-up and costuming.

Nomi watches as Molly sews part of a costume that JULIE, a dancer in her late 20's, is already wearing.

From down the long dressing room, another dancer, ANNIE, yells.

, MOLLY (yellingto her) Be r1.ght there,Annie.

She finishes the costume. The girls start leaving for the adjacent corridor. NICKY, another dancer, passes.

Annie now passes too, on her way out. She has her finger sticking out of the hole - it looks like a little prick.

A gay male dancer, DARYL, comes by them.

He keeps going. Nomi, watching all this, smiles. Molly follows the dancers.

The dancers gather at the long steel staircase that leads to the sta~e. Molly sinks on her knees to fix Annie's costume. A delivery boy passes Nomi with a big bouquet of roses. He goes into a private dressing room - it belongs to the star of the show. For a moment Nomi can see a long leg, wearing sexy fishnet stockings.

In the background DAWN TORRENCE, the line captain, starts counting.

DAWN On ten: one, two

Nomi is standing in the back, high up, the spotlights flanking her, watching the show. We see "Goddess" itself now hard-edged, rock and roll dancing, very high energy, but great showmanship.

We see her face as she stares, wide-eyed, a gorgeous girl bedazzled by an adult party.

CRISTAL CONNORS, the new lead dancer, makes her entrance. Her movements are sensuous and fiery -- she looks like ice, but she is all smoldering fire.

Nomi has her nose pressed up against the glass, a little girl lost. Cristal's image reflects against the glass over Nomi - the two images almost becoming one.

We watch with Nomi as Cristal dances, first by herself and then with a partner. There is loud, roof·-shakingAPPLAUSE. Nomi stares.

Lots of people J?hotogra12hers,TV cameras. Molly is hanging costumes up. Nomi is watching her, watching this scene.

Near them, Cristal is talking to reporters -- TV lights are on. With Cristal are three men, MR. KARLMAN, the hotel manager, in his 60's, silver-haired, the complete classy executive. ZACK CAREY, the entertainment director, is 42, gocd-looking, with a down-to-earth, cool, Armani style. PHIL NEWKIRK is heavy, sweating, in his early SO's, the public relations director.

Nomi watches this scene --

Nomi watches Cristal's cool, her polish.

Someone brings a bouquet of roses.

Everyone laughs. Nomi watches her. They take photographs.

And she goes into a private dressing room as the Photographers and Reporters drift away. Molly comes up to Nomi.

They laugh. The stage manager, GAY CARPENTER, 42, a former showgirl, comes up to Molly.

A beat, and Nomi self-consciously shakes her head.

A beat, and Nomi fol.lows her as Molly heads into Cristal's private dressing room.

It is a beautiful room, literally an explosion of roses and mirrors.

Nomi looks around this beautiful room.

Nomi hangs behind Molly, watching. Cristal doesn't even look at her.

And she takes the top off and stands in front of the mirror bare-breasted. Molly and Nomi are behind her. She holds her breasts and rubs them a little as she looks into the mirror -- they hurt. She catches Nomi's eye for the first time looking at her. Nomi looks quickly away.

She is taking her long eyelashes off, looking at herself in the mirror. ·

Molly turns to go, then sees a card with a big bouquet of roses. She touches the card.

Cristal puts cold cream on. She clearly wants Molly and Nomi to go.

Cristal says nothing, works at the mirror. She has so much cream on her face that she looks like a mi.me.

Cristal looks like she's losing patience for a second. Nomi looks embarrassed. Cristal sees Nomi's embarrassment in the mirror, forces herself to be nice.

Now Nomi looks really embarrassed. Cristal watches Nomi in the mirror.

A beat, and then Cristal smiles at her a beat, and looks away to work on her eyelashes.

She is working on her eyelashes, smiles, glances at Nomi in the mirror. Nomi looks at her a beat.

And she turns and walks out. Molly stands there, shocked.

Cristal turns on her suddenly.

Cristal looks at her a beat, and then she smiles.

And she turns back to the mirror.

Molly looks at her.

Molly sees Nomi walking ahead to Molly's car.

Nomi keeps walking.

Nomi stops; Molly comes up behind her.

Molly looks at her, sees she really is sorry.

Nomi doesn't say anything, looks depressed. They get into the Toyota.

Molly looks at her, sees how depressed she is. She starts the car.

And she takes off. Nomi looks at her, smiles a big little-girl smile.

rt is a very little-girlish yay.

The car swerves onto the strip, intoan explosion of neon and a sea of tourists.

Nomi turns to her. Her look is sudden,wild-eyed anger.

This is a gigantic club. There are hundreds of people. There is a main dance floor, but above it,on all sides of the walls, are balconies. The MUSIC is non-stop -- hip-hop and rave.

She is dancin~ with Molly. She's wearing that little slip of a dress, her ha1.r isdown. She looks gorgeous. But it's her dancing that grabs us. It is the first time we've seen her dance. She is all explosive energy -- it is very sexy and very fluid, but there is also a kind of vibrating jerkiness to it at times. What she does is almost primal.

Near the bar, a young man in his mid 20's is watching her. His name is JAMES SMITH. He wears a suit and a T-shirt. He looks hip. He is black.

James Smith just stares at her.

He watches her a long beat.

The other man shrugs, walks away. A beat, and James goes out on the dance floor -- the music blasts non-stop, one ear-splitting rave after another, strobe lights swirling.

Nomi is dancing with Molly -- they are laughing together.

And she goes off. James starts to dance with her. They're very good together, very hot. His dancing is restrained power, restrained energy, something very powerful held in, while she is all out there, sizzling, kinetic.

And without breaking stride as she dances, she knees him very hard in the groin -- it is a perfect shot -- and as he hunches over in great pain

And she walks off the floor calmly as James goes down, bumping into another couple, who also fall. Another guy hauls off at someone who bumped into him -- James tries to stop it.

And he hits James and suddenly there is pandemonium. People swinging, falling, beer being poured off the balcony ··-glasses and bottles flying -- the music screeching -- as Nomi shoulders her way through the bodies -- it is a full-scale riot now.

And two other BOlfflCERSgrab her.

Everything is flying now. The place looks like a war zone.

One of the Bouncers stares at this insane scene, dodging beer mugs --

And the two bouncers, holding Nomi between them, start moving her out of the club towards the doors. Molly is caught in a tangle of people on the floor. She is looking around for Nomi. She looks alarmed.

She stands with POLICEMEN and others in front of a booking desk. She still looks great in her hot little dress.

It's a lie; she wasn't carrying a purse all night.

A MATRON walks her back, takes her into a cell. It is a large pen-like area; there are about twenty women in here. They all look like hookers. Some of them look more expensive; some of them look very hard, very tough. About half of them are in black.

Nomi doesn't look at all intimidated.

The Matron opens the cell -- she walks i.n.

There are HOOTS and CATCALLS. A tough-looking black HOOKER stands against a wall.

Nomi says nothing to her, walks away.

There are LAUGHS and HOOTS.

There are more LAUGHS and HOOTS.

And she starts to head toward Nomi as there are more CATCALLS and HOOTS.

She touches Nomi's arm.

She touches Nomi's butt --and as she does, Nomi suddenly grabs her by the hair, twirls her around, and digs her long nails into her face, slashing it. The Hooker screams. Nomi pushes her away, hard, against a wall.

The others stare at her as the black Hooker cries and holds her bleeding face. Nomi returns the stare -- and they slowly look away.

Many of them are asleep in groups, some of them with their arms around each other, some alone. Nomi is sitting on the floor in a corner, her head against the wall, her eyes open, staring at nothing.

A MATRON comes in, opens the cell door.

She gets up, starts to head out, passes the black-Hooker -- her face is crusted with blood. A beat, and she looks at the Hooker's face, her expression deadpan.

Nomi's face shows no expression as she walks out of the cell.

The Matron gives her a look.

She is walking out. James Smith stands there, leaning against a wall. She looks at him, right through him, keeps walking. A beat, and he goes after her.

She keeps walking, doesn't even look at him.

A beat, and then she stops and turns to him.

And she puts her arm out a beat, then keeps walking. A beat, and he catches up to her again.

They've gotten outside -- the sun is coming up. They are near downtown Vegas -- it is a bizarre setting, the rising sun and all this neon everyplace still blazing and flashing. There are very few people on the street.

They keep walking.

She smiles a little at that. She hearsa HORN honking at her.

She sees Molly in the Toyota, heading toward her.

The Toyota pulls up -- Molly swings open the door.

Molly gives her a quarter. Nomi flips it to James, who catches it.

She gets in; Molly takes off.

In her rearview mirror, Molly sees James standing there, staring after them.

It is very small, very garish, very seedy. one big cracked and faded mirror, very harsh lighting. Loud rock MUSIC blasts from outside.

Standing in front of the mirror, putting make-up on, adjusting G-strings, pasties -- in various states of undress, are: NADIA, dark-haired ...DEE, tall, Appalachian-looking, dishwater blonde ...CARMI, short, tired-looking, her hair frizzy. They are all young and well-built.

Nomi stands there with them in front of the mirror. She is wearin';fcheap-looking lingerie that looks like it's from Frederick's of Hollywood. She is putting false eyelashes on.

She looks at herself in the mirror the lashes don't exactly have the same effect that they had on Cristal. A beat, and she starts taking them off.

She is top.less.

She speaks with a Russi.an accent.

Dee is much smaller breasted. HENRIETTA comes into the small dressing room. Her stage name i.s HenriettaBazoorn,though everyone calls her Henry. She is i.n her SO's. She is very fat. She speaks i.na gravely, 9uttural growl and always wears what passes for a low-cut evening gown. She has a bottle of bourbon in her hand. All the girls say "Hi.,Henry". She sits herself down in the only chair and takes a big slug of the bourbon.

She is pressing her elbows against her sides, then flapping them against her sides, looking at herself in the mirror.

Nomi slaps her on the back, hard. When she does, Henrietta's breasts suddenly pop high out of her dress and pop back in.

Nomi hits her on the back again and her breasts pop out and back in again.

Henry takes another slug of bourbon and starts to waddle out. As she does, AL TORRES comes into the room. He is the club manager -- in his 40's, heavy, swarthy. With him is PENNY, a big, svelte and very young blonde.

They laugh, catcall.

The club is very dark, but large and spotlighted. Spread around the big room.are three platforms with brass poles. At the side of the room is a long bar. The place is full. There are no women here, except for the performers. Many of the customers are Asian.

Henrietta Bazoom is up on the stage, under the big spotlight. Occasionally, she waddles out onto the runway-bar. She is heavily sweating in her low-cut evening gown. Her voice is a boozy snarl from hell.

She flounces her heavy breasts inside the gown.

She cups her pubic area. There are lots of LAUGHS.

A beat, and she jabs her elbows to her sides and her enormous breasts pop out and then back in again. There are howls of LAUGHTER.

Lots of LAUGHS.

Al talking to Penny -- some of the other girls are ready and heading out into the club. Nomi is working on her nails.

A beat, and Penny nods. She looks scared.

A beat, Al grins and turns to Nomi, who is about to go out.

They look at each other a long beat. He turns back to Penny who sits there looking scared.

A beat, he grins, and walks out. Penny sits there, look.ing like she's going to cry.

Nomi looks at her, sees how vulnerable she looks.

She goes to Penny, puts an arm around her.

Penny holds her.

A big stretch limo pulls up. Getting out of it are Cristal Connors, wearing a Lanvin black leather mini with stiletto heels and a beautiful lace top; Zack Carey, the entertainment director of the stardust; Phil Newkirk, the PR head; and two Japanese businessmen in their fifties with bodyguards.

Henrietta up onstage. She is singing in her truly horrible voice:

Lots of laughs, catcalls. At the same time Cristal's party is coming in.

LAUGHS.

More LAUGHS, CHEERS.

Cristal's party is led to a special table by two bouncers.

She starts to flounce and waddle off. There are lots of CHEERS.

She suddenly leans down, close to the customer, jabs her sides with her elbows -- and her breasts pop out and hit the customer in the face. He almost falls off his chair.

Hysterical laughter and Henrietta is gone.

FROM CRISTAL'S POV, we watch the club as it explodes in full seedy glory in front of her. Rock MUSIC blasts very loudly. The three platforms have girls dancing on them under spotlights. Penny is on her back on the long bar-runway, crawling around. She is completely naked. Men are inches from her open body.

Cristal and the others sit at a table. She looks at a girl on one of the platforms, dancing with the brass pole. It is Nomi. She is topless. Nomi sees them. Cristal smiles at her a little. Nomi looks away from her, dances with the brass pole.

As we see Nomi dance, we see that, while the other girls on the platforms are basically stripping, Nomi is really dancing, putting on the same kind of wild energy into it that we saw her do at the Shark Club. Cristal keeps her eyes on her.

The Japanese men are laughing, talking excitedly among themselves. They are watching Penny who, looking very scared, makes her way down the long runway-bar on her back, her legs open.

Zack smiles, looks at the Japanese man for a second, then looks away. His eyes are on Nomi. Cristal is watching Nomi, too. And then she sees Zack watching Nomi.

The SONG ENDS and Nomi heads back to the dressing room. She doesn't even glance at Cristal's table.

She is sweated, wiping the sweat off of herself with a towel. Henrietta is there, looking deadpan, at herself in the mirror, the bottle of bourbon in her hand. Al Torres comes in.

Nomi. looks athim; looks like she's going to.

They look at each other a beat.

She just stares at herself in the mirror. Al and Nomi are still looking at each other.

And she turns and heads for the other corner of the room.

There are other girls up on platforms now -- Nomi circulates among the tables; she wears a very short red negligee. We see Al watching her a few steps back. We see that she is avoiding Cristal's tab.le. Dee is there, talking to Cristal. They both look at Nomi, but we can't hear what is said.

Nomi goes up to a group of guys at a table.

The other guys at the table laugh. Nomi forces a smile.

She is too far away from the entrance to notice that James Smith has entered. He, however, sees her. He chooses a table close to the wall, in a dark spot.

At the table with the drunk guys:

The guys at the table laugh. Dee motions to Nomi, who leaves the table and goes to her. Al watches them talking. We can't hear what they're saying. Nomi is shaking her head.

Al goes up to Dee and Nomi.

She indicates Cristal's table.

Nomi looks at him a beat, and then heads over toward Cristal's table. Al, a few steps back, watches her. James Smith is watching from a distance, inconspicuous.

At Cristal's table, Nomi forces a smile.

She holds her hand, looks at the nails. Nomi pulls her hand away.

She indicates Zack. Nomi looks at Zack; his look says "It's not my idea."

Nomi looks at her a beat, then slowly shakes her head,her eyes still on Cristal's.

They still have their eyes on each other.

Nomi looks at Al. She doesn't want to do this.

Cristal smiles.

We see Nomi leading Zack and Cristal through the club. We see Al and James, in separate places, watching them. She leads them through a hanging bamboo curtain.

It is very darkly lighted. There are couches here. We see other girls, shadowed, vague, in other parts of theroom, dancing, completely naked, in front of sittingmen.

She moves a few steps away from them.

she sits so that she will be sitting behind Nomi.,facing Zack.

The MUSIC GOES ON. It is blasting,heavy metal rock and roll: Aerosmi.th.

And Nomi comes back and standsin her nightie in front of the sitting Zack. She very slowly takes off her nightie. Her body is stunning. She is completely naked. Zack looks at her body. Behind her, Cristal looks at her body.

Nomi leans in very close to Zack ... her breasts brushing his face ...as her body starts to move... he smiles, looks at Cristal ...and then, as Nomi moves against him, his smile fades ...and this is suddenly very sensuous,very serious ... her body is up against his as she moves ...and then she turns.

She presses her nakedness against his lap... he puts his head back ...she looks up, as she presses against him ...her eyes are on Cristal's, who isn't smiling now either... whipping her long hair... Zack raises his hands to hold her hips, stops himself ... as she presses herself squiggling, dancing against him, her butt hard into his lap, she cups her breasts, squeezes them, throws her hair back, her eyes on Cristal.

James smith stands at the other side of the bamboo curtain, watching her body, rapt.

And James moves away.

She turns, faces Zack again, moving, dancing... and sits across Zack's lap, her breasts against his face ...her eyes directly on his ...he puts his head farther back ...she moves her head closer... covers his head with her long, luxuriouant red hair ... as he arches, moves hi.shead back and forth ... it is still hidden in her hair... and he stops moving suddenly as the SONG ENDS.

A long beat. She kisses his neck gently and flings her hair back off of his face.

Zack looks at her a very long beat -- their eyes are on each other.

And Nomi gets up and turns to her. Her face is expressionless as she looks at Cristal, but there is a triumph in her eyes. She's still completely naked.

Cristal opens her bag, counts out five one hundred dollar bills and holds her hand out with the money. A beat as they look at each other, and Nomi takes the money, reaches for her nightie, and walks out the bamboo curtain.

Cristal and Zack look at each other a beat.

He looks at her. And starts to get up, slowly.

All the girls are getting dressed. Al comes in, puts his hand out. Nomi peels two hundred dollars off, hands it to him. Her face is expressionless.

She doesn't even look at him.

She looks very disturbed. She starts to head out.

She is asleep on the couch -- someone .isBANGINGon the door. Half asleep, she goes to it, opens it. James Smith stands there wearing his shades. She starts to slam it. He stops it with his foot.

She tries to close it. He stops it with his foot.

He keeps his foot in the door; she looks at him.

She pushes on the door again.

Suddenly she pushes the door in his face.

He stumbles backwards.

She disappears, slamming the door. ,Tameswalks away.

He gets to his car. suddenly the door opens again.

James has started his car. He steps on the gas. The car heads right for the trailer, where she stands. She doesn't move an inch. He steps on the brake an inch away from her.

But she is touched by what he said. She i.strying to maintain her anger. James puts his car in reverse.

He pulls away, with a lot of noise.

But she doesn't yell anymore, so James can't hear it. A beat, as she looks after the disappearing car. It looks like she is going to cry.

She sits in front of the enormous sphinx. It is jammed with tourists. She wears her jeans, boots, and her black leather jacket. She is curled onto herself, her head on her arms, lost in her thoughts.

Molly is suddenly there.

She seems very excited, but we know from how she was sitting that she's forcing it. They hug and laugh. They run across the road zigzagging between the cars.

They reach the curb.

A good-looking man in his JO's walksby them wearing a beautiful suit. He .looks over at them,smiles,keeps going.

Arm in arm, they walk afterhim.

They .laugh, follow him.

They laugh.

A series of short shots of flashy window displays.

We end up on a black dress in the window at Versace. They are looking at it.

They stare at it.

She is still staring at the dress.

She starts moving away -- Nomi stops her.

She laughs.

She looks back at the dress.

A beat, and she looks at Molly seriously.

There is no one else in this very fancy store. Molly sits, waiting for Nomi to come out of the changing room. A haughty woman CLERK watches her.

She looks self-conscious sitting there. A beat, and Nomi comes out of the changing room in the black dress. She looks sensational.

She goes to a mirror, looks at herself a long beat, her face expressionless. And then she smiles at herself slowly and turns excitedly to Molly, who has been watching her.

Nomi turns, laughing, to the mirror and looks at herself again. The Clerk looks haughtily away.

They are coming out of an elevator, walk to a parking place.

She laughs.

Her laugh dies.

Molly stops dead suddenly.

Nomi follows her look. A big poster says -- "Coming soon -- Andrew Carver." There is a huge blow-up photograph of carver. Nearby is a photograph and a poster advertising "Goddess" at the Stardust with a photo of Cristal Connors.

Nomi looks at her and laughs. They keep wa.U:ing.

They laugh.

Nomi is onstage with Penny. They are both naked, dancing around poles to a hard rock song. There are only a few customers. Nomi, while continuing her dance, bends over to Penny.

Penny looks. An older guy is sitting in front of them. He is sweating. He is moving his arm, his hand hidden behind the balustrade.

The music ends, they walk down the stage, while Carmen and Dee take their place.

They laugh, passing the guy - whose hand is now hidden under a handkerchief.

As Nomi walks back to the dressing room a hand touches her arm. She spins, knocks it off, sees it is Phil Newkirk, the PR guy from the Stardust. He's alone.

She looks at him.

She nods.

She looks at him a long beat.

He smiles at her. A long beat.

A beat, as they look at each other and he gets up and starts heading out. She watches him.

Behind her, a DRUNK at a table, yelling.

She turns, stares at the Drunk a beat. There is disgust and fear in her eyes. In the background Henrietta has come onstage.

She swings the door open, comes charging in.

Molly runs out of the bathroom. She's been in the shower, her hair is full of soap.

She looks at Nomi. Her eyes are wide, her mouth open. She looks like she is out of breath.

Nomi is walking towards the hotel, where we see the big billboards of Cristal Connors. Suddenly she stops, hesitates and turns around.

She passes Molly.

She continues to walk away from the Stardust. Molly blocks her way, holding her by the arms.

Nomi doesn't answer, looks away.

She laughs a little to herself.

She laughs a little again. Nomi looks at her, sees there are tears welling in her eyes. She reaches over and holds Molly's hand.

A beat, and Molly looks at her and smiles.

A beat, Nomi smiles, and she gets out.

She comes out of the dressing room. There are already about twenty girls onstage. She is wearing pink tights and dancing shoes. Her hair is up in a bun. She looks at the girls onstage. They are wearing high heels, fishnet tights, G-string leotards.

She looks very out of place. As she stares at them, looking scared, a man pass~s her. TONY MOSS is the producer of "Goddess". He is in his mid 40's, aggressive, good-looking, New York. He glances at her.

He grins, keeps going. A beat, and she looks at the other girls onstage again and heads back into the dressing room.

She is alone in this big room. She stares at herself in the mirror. She looks scared. A beat, and then she gets suddenly very busy. She puts some make-up on. She takes a pair of pantyhose out of her bag. She puts the pantyhose on and rolls up her leotards high on the side. She looks at herself, doesn't like the way she looks. She takes a safety pin and makes the leotard a little moreV-necked so her breasts show more. She looks at herself again. A beat, and she lets her hair fall down.

She goes out onstage, looking determined if not comfortable, and joins the other girls.

Bright spotlights suddenlygo on -- she can't see who is out there watching her in the showroom.

Tony Moss comes up onstage, looks the girls over. With him is his choreographer, MARTY JACOBSEN, in his early JO's, long-haired, androgynous-looking.

They spread out across the vast stage, the spotlights on. Nomi looks off-balance, very nervous.

Tony moves from one girl to the other onstage, Marty Jacobsen next to him. Nomi watches him from down at the end of the line.

Tony stops at a girl.

A beat, and the girl walks offstage.

He moves over to another GIRL, looks her over.

The girl walks offstage.

He goes to another girl. He pinches her belly.

The girl walks offstage. He passes some girls, doesn't make any comments. He gets to a GIRL with very short hair.

He keeps walking.

He keeps moving, then stops at another GIRL.

And she walks away. In the back of the showroom a door opens. A woman walks in. It is Cristal.

He gets to Nomi, looks her over.

There is an almost collective intake of breath from the other girls, who all look at her. Tony Moss looks at her a long beat then grins.

In the back of the showroom, Cristal smiles.

The remaining girls are dancing to the HARD ROCK NUMBER we saw Cristal do in the beginning of the script. Tony Moss watches them.

Nomi looks like she's on fire -- her movements sensuous, fluid, and yet at certain beats almost spastic. It is the same kind of rhythm we saw her do at the Cheetah, but there is much more body tension in it.

Marty Jacobsen indicates her with his head to Tony Moss. Tony watches her a long beat.

The music ends. He confers with Marty.

He goes up onstage. The girls stand there, scared to death.

He points to a girl.

He points to another girl. We see how nervous Nomi is as he looks up and down the girls. After the longest moment, he points to her.

The others troop off the stage. Nomi and the two other girls stand there. He motions them closer to each other. He looks at them a long beat. Cristal is slowly walking forward towards the stage.

They look at him a beat, hesitate.

A beat, and they take their tops off. Nomi looks strangely self-conscious. He goes from one to the other, looking closely at their breasts. He looks for a longer moment at Nomi's, then looks in her eyes. She meets his gaze.

Another ROCK SONG from "Goddess" comes on. They start to dance.

As they dance, he stays up onstage, watching their bodies and movements very closely.

He turns to one of the girls.

She goes off and he looks closely at Nomi and the other remaining girl, who are standing there bare-breasted.

They are looking into each other's eyes. A beat, and she starts to gently massage her nipples. Cristal watches her.

She looks at him a beat, then pinches her nipples gently. She sees that Cristal is watching her.

A beat, and Marty is there holding ice cubes. He gives them to Tony. Tony holds them out to Nomi.

She looks at him a beat and she suddenly knocks his hand away, knocks the ice cubes out of them. She starts heading off the stage.

Tony stares after her. Cristal watches her leave.

She goes in. She is alone. She looks up in the mirror. She is, of course, topless. She's sweating. A long moment, as she looks at herself. We see tears welling in her eyes. And then she turns away from the mirror and starts, softly to cry. Behind her, Cristal stops by the open door and looks at her a long beat.

And then Nomi turns to her, crying, her mascara running. A long beat, then--

A beat, and Cristal nods.

They look at each other.

They look at each other, then --

She pushes a box with tissues towards her. A beat, as they look at each other -- then Nomi takes the tissues, her eyes still on Cristal -- and Cristal turns and goes.

We see a SUPERVISOR gathered with a dozen uniformed bellman. James smith is one of them. Suitcases are everywhere along the pavement. Big buses are parked nearby.

The bellmen, including James, start moving suitcases. As he moves a couple, he sees Nomi walking out the front door. She looks destroyed. He looks at her a beat, drops the suitcases, and goes to her.

He sees the shape she 1 sin.

She doesn 1 tlook at him,but stops.

She says nothing.

She looks at him sadly.

She looks at him, flares.

She looks at him. The Supervisor is suddenly there.

James looks at him a beat.

As James talks, Nomi starts to smile. The supervisor just stares at James in disbelief.

He can't get the word "fired" out.

He takes his uniform jacket off quickly and throws it to the Supervisor, who just stares at it, his mouth open. James puts his arm around Nomi quickly and walks her away. She stops and laughs.

She looks at him and smiles. He puts his arm around her.

It is a broken-down jalopy. James is driving very fast in a very narrow alley. They are in a downtown, seedy part of Vegas. There is MUSIC on, thumping rock and roll. Nomi is wolfing down an enormous hamburger.

A beat, as he looks at her.

,JAMES Where you from?

She looks at him. She finishes her hamburger. She burps. She laughs.

He stops the car. It is in front of a dilapitated old downtown building. She looks at him.

She looks at him evenly a long beat like she knows what he wants.

A beat, she looks at him.

He looks at her a beat, then nods. He opens the door.

She steps in behind him. It is a very large room in a state of disarray. The walls are filled with photographs of James and others dancing. There is very little in the room, although the room is neat: a bed, a chair, a small table, a blaster on the nightstand.

She goes to the walls, looks at the photographs of James and the others dancing.

They look at each other a beat. She smiles a little.

He walks to a tape player on the floor.

,TAMES I know you're a private dancer. I only need three other dancers. We could put it on at the Shark Club maybe.

She sees he is serious, is struck by his earnestness.

He hits a button. We hear a powerful RAP SONG booming through the warehouse.

And he starts to dance -- his movements are stylized, exaggerated, a combination of ballet and hip-hop.

,TAMES Come on now, keep up with me. I know you can do it.

A beat, and she starts to dance with him tryin9 to match his rhythm and movements. At first clumsy, she gets into it ...and he dances over to a chair.

Sitting on the chair, he is still movin9, dancing, sitting down. She faces him, dancing, standing over him and then against him -- the way she did with Zack at the Cheetah.

And she bends over him, dancing -- his groin is against her body now -- her face very near him as they do a very sexy, exaggerated, stylized bump and grind. And as they do it, he kisses her on the lips.

The kiss turns more and more passionate. He moves his hands up and down her body, under her top, between her legs ...and she suddenly freezes, turns away.

A beat ··-he can't believe she's stopped.

Before he can touch her, she walks to the door.

She stops in the doorway, looks at him, surprised.

He walks towards her.

They look at each other a long beat. Then she walks out onto the street.

James appears in the doorway.

She does not look back anymore.

She walks in. Molly is working on a dress at her sewing machine.

As soon as she sees her --

Nomi just stares at him.

Nomi stands there, frozen.

She dials the number.

She hands Nomi the phone.

NOMI (on phone)

'I Yes.

(a beat) Yes. (a beat) Okay.

She hands the phone back to Molly, stands there, staring, as if in a daze.

She walks in, wearing her jeans, boots, and black leather jacket.

Henrietta is up onstage, doing her act. She is singing.

She walks by Henrietta, through throngs of men.

She walks into the ctressingroom as Henrietta is cheered in the club.

Al Torres is sitting there. Girls are coming in and out.

She starts taking some of her cosmetics and other things out of a drawer, starts putting them into a bag.

She doesn't look at him.

He starts to laugh loudly. Henrietta walks in.

She sits down in front of the mirror.

Nomi looks at Henry a beat, then goes to her, hugs her quickly, kisses her on the cheek.

They hug a beat, and then she heads out with her bag, doesn't look at Al.

There is the slightest smile when she says it.

And she walks out. He stands at the door, looking after her.

Al looks at her, genuinely shocked. He makes a face.

Nomi knocks on the door.

A long beat, and then the door opens. James stands there with a towel around him. He smiles.

It slowly dawns on James what she's talking about.

He looks disgusted. They look at each other.

She looks at him a long beat. He looks away from her, sad. Behind James, we hear a woman's VOICE in his room.

He starts to close the door. Nomi stops him, peers around him. She sees Penny, the young svelte stripper from the Cheetah. She is in bed, naked.

He closes the door. She looks at him a long beat.

He looks at her a beat, shakes his head. There is an iron half-smile on his face.

She turns and walks away. James is watching her go down. The door opens behind him. Penny comes out, scantily dressed.

He doesn't 1·~0:J.:.atPenny,is still staringdown the stairs.

He turns to her, looks at her, cups her big breasts.

Nomi walks into an office. She is wearing the simple, classy, sexy black dress she bought at Versace. She wears high stiletto heels. She looks overdressed, of course, but magnificent.

A RECEPTIONIST looks her up and down suspiciously.

Nomi nods -- a slight beat, a s.li9ht hesitation,she gathers her gumption -- and heads back to an inner office.

It is, surprisingly, very tastefully done.

Tony Moss sits behind a desk. With him in the room are: the choreographer, Marty Jacobsen ..•the stage manager, GAY CARPENTER, 42, a former showgirl. ..and the line captain, Dawn Torrence, 31, a former dancer who wears braces on her knees.

As soon as Nomi walks in --

She stands there self-consciously, clearly very nervous.

They stare at her. They don't get it. They don't know that she means Versace. She sees they don't get it.

They try to hide their smiles, understand now.

They nod hi to her, look her over.

He smiles. She looks at him, off-balance, in disbelief that he is being so nice.

Gay gets up, starts leading her out of theroom.

They watch her, see how green she is.

DAWN They always tell you that in Vegas before that take your money.

Tony and Marty laugh -- Nomi smiles a little

Gay is taking her through the dressing rooms, heading toward the stairs leading to the stage

She stops and turns on the lights around the mirror. Nomi looks at her dressing table, her mirror. It is a long way from the Cheetah. She stares for a long beat, then Gay keeps walking.

Nomi looks nervous.

She sits in front of a middle-aged,very officious-looking WOMAN.

Nomi looks nervous.

She keeps watching what the Woman is writing down.

The Woman looks at her a beat.

She is walking down the corridor. She looks disturbed.

Phil Newkirk comes down the corridor with Zack Carey, the entertainment director. They are laughing about something, then they see her.

Nomi nods, smiles.

This is the first time that she and Zack have seen each other since the lap dance at the Cheetah.

They shake hands a little cltunsily,a little embarrassed.

He looks even more embarrassed.

She still looks embarrassed.

As they head away, Phil starts to laugh. Zack turns back to her.

He pronounces it correctly.

He says it gently, shyly, with feeling.

And he turns and goes away.

She stands there with two other girls in leotards. The leotards are Bob Fosse-style leotards, cut up so high on the sides that they reveal a part of the buttocks.

With her are Marty Jacobsen, the choreographer, and Dawn Torrence, the line captain.

They smile hi to her.

DAWN (to Nomi) Have you eaten?

DAWN What would you like?

The other girls smile.

DAWN (to stagehand) Get her some brown rice, vegetables, and a bottle of Evi.an. Okay, let's do it.

Hard, THUMPING ROCK AND ROLL comes on and the three girls start to dance.

Nomi stares as the three girls dance -- twisting their torsos to the left, extendin~ legs to the right -- then head to the right, left arm across, r1.ght leg going forward,then sweeping in ballistic jerky movements together across the floor.

Nomi dances with them as Marty and Dawn watch.

The MUSIC STOPS.

Marty does it.

She does it, twisting her hip.

The MUSIC STARTS again as he does the movement with her.

Nomi, dancing with the others, as Marty stands next to her. The MUSIC is playing.

Nomi does it slower.

Marty watches her a long beat. She keeps dancing.

He watches her as she dances with the other girls. She is sweating.

She is dripping with sweat.

Nomi really thrusts her hips in a kind of bump and grind done to dance.

The MUSIC STOPS.

Nomi has an Evian bottle in hand, is taking a big slug.

DAWN (smiles, to Nomi) Good.

And he walks away .

She looks petrified.

As Marty heads offstage, Tony Moss comes in through a back door.

He watches her as Dawn does some exercises with her.

She is in front of the mirror at her dressing table. Dawn stands next to her and is helping her with her makeup. Molly is working on her costume, which she is already wearing.

on either side of her dressing table are SONNY and NICKY, the two dancers we saw with her at Marty Jacobsen's run-through.

DAWN Use some more eyeliner.

Nomi does it.

DAWN Not too much -- darken the eyebrows a little.

DAWN (rolling her eyes) Oh no, not again!

And as they turn -- three monkeys come bouncing into the dressing room, jumping on tables, scurrying about, knockin9 things down. There are yells and screams as things are spilled. Stagehands come racing into the room after them.

A little HISPANIC MAN in his 50's comes in, very upset, wearing a black bolero outfit. The magic monkeys are his act.

A monkey jumps up on Nomi's table, smears some makeup on as she watches wide-eyed ..•then looks at himself in the mirror, looking pleased, then looks at her and jumps away. She giggles.

Four or five tables away from her, two dancers -- ANNIE and JULIE -- we saw them in the beginning of the script -- are pushing and yelling at each other.

Julie hurls herself at Annie as stagehands and others try to separate them... and then one of the monkeys, making his way back out of the room with stagehands in pursuit, jumps right up on both of them... as Annie and Julie scream.

Nomi is standing in front of the mirror, taking a long look at herself, Dawn and Molly next to her.

DAWN (gently, quietly) Showtime.

And Nomi looks at her with panic in her eyes.

They are at the bottom of the long steel stairway leading from the dressing room to the stage. It i.sa dim, half-light down here.

They are ready to go up. We see Sonny,Annie, Julie, Nicky, SAL, a straight male dancer, and FELIX and Daryl, two gay dancers. Nomi is with them -- Molly andDawn alongside her. Annie and Julie are still giving each other ugly looks.

Hector anda STAGEHAND run down the stairs with the escaped monkeys. As they go by them --

DAWN (after Stagehand) Where?

DAWN (to Nomi) Watch your turns there, it's slippery.

We see Sonny put a vial to her nose in the half-light. She snorts the vial.

A beat, and she shakes her head. Dawn pretends to look the other way.

A Stagehand brings a bowl of ice. Julie takes it first and passes it around. She puts ice cubes on her nipples, holds the ice there. The others take it and do the same thing.

A beat, and Nomi takes the ice and does it too. (All the dancers are, of course, t~pless). She sees Cristal coming out of her dressing room in costume. Molly is with her.

The dancers start to go up the stairs, passing Dawn who is halfway up.

DAWN On ten. One, two

Cristal approaches and looks at Nomi. Molly walks up to the staircase. Nomi suddenly hugs Molly.

DAWN ..• Four, five ...

The dancers rush up the staircase and arrive at stage level.

The dancers rocket onstage, almost ballistically, and start to dance.

Molly and Dawn arrive together backstage. We see them watching Nomi from their POV.

At first stiff, wary, guinchy -- she starts getting into MUSIC... losing herself in it ... letting i.t run through her veins.

Molly is smi.li.ng,watchin9her. At first Dawn is expressionless and then she starts to smile, too.

We HOLD ON Nomi's face as she hears APPLAUSE and dances. She smiles radiantly, but i.t isn't just the smile. Her entire being radiates.

And Cristal comes dancing out to the front of the stage to HUGE APPLAUSE as Nomi.and the others dance behind her. For a few moments, Nomi is right behind her so that it appears she and Cristal are dancing together. And then Cristal moves away to dance with Felix as the audience APPLAUDS her.

As they dance off and head, runnning, for the stairway.

As they go charging at a breakneck pace to change costumes for the next nwnber. They head down the stairs in this order: First Sal, then Julie, Annie, Nicky, Felix, sonny, Daryl, Cristal and Nomi last.

As they hurry in -- Dawn immediately shepherds Nomi to her table. As she gets to her table, Nomi sees an explosion of roses in a vase. She stops, stares a beat -- but Dawn is hurrying her. She starts taking her costume off, with Dawn helping her ...but as she does, she opens the card.

We see it in CLOSEUP. It says: "GOOD LUCK, LOVE" and is signed by Zack Carey.

DAWN (smiles) You were just fine.

She is almost finished changing when Marty is there.

And Marty hurries off. Finished changing, she looks at herself in themirror as Dawn heads away.

DAWN (to Nomi) Two minutes.

She looks at her flowers for a long beat, like a little girl lost, alone ...and at that moment, Molly runs up to her.

Hugging, they dance around in a little circle and laugh.

She indicates the flowers.

At the next table, Sonny is putting more makeup on.

And Molly leads her, runnning, toward the stairs.

She heads out with Molly into the parking lot. She has her roses in her arms. They are giggling, very up. When she steps out, she sees James standing there in the darkness. She keeps going.

She doesn't respond.

Nomi looks at him a beat.

She looks at James a long beat. He doesn't know how to begin.

He shrugs, embarrassed.

It's the same line he used to her.

She looks at him, sees his honesty, his earnestness.

James looks at her, exasperated by her coolness. He's getting a little angry.

,JAMES Well, you know? It ain't like I'm seein' any money for writin' that number, I might as well at least touch a little pussy.

Zack Care¥ gets out of a brand-new black Ferrari nearby. She watches him.

Zack is heading by them. He smiles at her.

A beat. He stops, looks at her, glances at James up and down.

A beat, as they look at each other, he glances at James up and down again, and he heads toward the backstage door.

She doesn't like his grin. She starts walking toward Molly's car. He keeps pace.

She stops, looks at him. She looks for a second like she's going to hit him -- as he grins at her -- and then she speaks sweetly, with great control.

And she goes off toward Molly's car. His grin dies. He didn't expect her to say that.

She opens the door, gets in, she's got a big smile on her face, her flowers in hand. As soon as she gets in, Molly steps on the gas and they head out of the parking lot, turn onto The Strip, encased in a world of blazing, exploding phosphorescent neon.

As they drive by the Volcano at the Mirage, which is just in the middle of erupting. Nomi stares at it.

Molly looks at her, sees how disappointed she is.

Molly looks at her looking at the fiery Volcano.

Nomi puts the roses to her nose, smells them. She turns suddenly to Molly.

They have changed. Molly wears an old robe; Nomi a Harley-Davidson T-shirt. She has put her flowers in a vase in the tiny living room. She is smelling her roses.

An Andrew Carver SONG is playing. Molly is only a few feet away, in the kitchen, waiting for the pot pie.

NOMI (laughs)

She shrugs -- she has put the pie on a big pl.ate.

She cuts a piece -- Nomi tastes it.

They laugh. The phone rings. Molly picks it up, swallowing a big piece of pie.

She grabs the phone from Molly,who laughs.

She is aver-:{excited, bedazzled little girl sharing her excitement with her father -- but of course it isMolly's father she's talking to.

It is dark. Nomi walks in. It seems there is no one else here.

She steps back into the shadows, into the half-li9ht. And she sees Cristal sitting there with her legs crossed 1.n front of her. She wears leather pants, ver-:{expensive ostrichcowboy boots, a beautifully bejeweled denim jacket, and a very fancy straw cowboy hat.

Nomi looks at her a beat, shakes her head. Cristal snorts a line of coke that she has laid out with a rolled-up hundred dollar bill.

She gets up. They look at each other a beat.

She smiles. Nomi looks at her evenly, doesn't smile.

Cristal looks at her a beat.

They have their eyes on each other.

They look at each other, the faces unsmiling. A long beat.

She doesn't seem anxioiisto go anywhere with Cristal.

She starts to walk ahead -- Nomi goes after her.

She pronounces it correctly.

8 0 INT. SPAGO ··DAY 80

It is at Caesars Forum. They have been seated at a center table. Cristal keeps her cowboy hat on and wears wrap-around shades. She looks glamorous. Nomi sits across from her in her black leather jacket, her Harley T-shirt,and jeans -- looking relatively very scruffy.

People are staring at Cristal -- Nomi sees it. Waiters hover about excitedly. They have their menus in hand.

Nomi is wary, defensive, almost hostile.

She avoids Cristal's eyes.

Nomi looks at her a long beat as she looks at her menu.

Cristal laughs. Nomi smiles, almost against her will.

Another little smile, almost against her will..

Nomi laughs, almost against her will.

They laugh.

They are e~ting salads and sashimi. Cristal has a bottle of Roederer Cristal in front of her. She is pouring Nomi some.

She smiles -- she's a little high off the champagne. She raises her glass in a toast.

They clink glasses. Cristal smiles.

A beat, and Cristal's eyes are directly on hers.

A beat, and Nomi's eyes are directly on Cristal's.

A beat, as Cristal's eyes are on her.

There is a long beat between them as they look at each other, deadpan -- and then Nomi smiles a quick knowing smile that immediately disappears.

A beat, and then Cristal smiles, her eyes intensely on Nomi's again.

A beat; we see the hurt and anger on Nomi's face.

Cristal looks at her a long beat,stung. Then she starts putting money on the table.

They look at each other a long beat.

As they look at each other -- THREE MEN come up to their table.

They have pens and pieces of paper.

She is signing the piece of paper.

She is finished with the autograph, gets up, puts the piece of paper to her lips, making an imprint of her lips on it.

Cristal leaves, Nomi follows.

Cristal laughs, leans over and kisses Nomi on the cheek, leaving a lipstick smear.

Their eyes are on each other.

It is dark. Suddenly the stageli.ghts go on. Cristal and Nomi. face each other, both of them wearing high-cut Bob Fosse-style leotards. There is no one else here.

A beat, as they look at each other -- it i.s very quiet-- and then Cristal. smiles. A long beat... and then Nomi smiles a shy, girlish smile.

Hard, thumping ROCK MUSIC from the show comes on... and Cristal starts to dance in front of Nomi.

A beat, and Nomi starts to dance facing her. The¥ are thrusting hips at each other, eyes on each other, their bodies almost touching.

She starts to pump harder... and then so does Nomi, their eyes on each other.

Facing each other, their legs are touching now... their torsos moving, bobbing, not quite touching ..• Cristal's head isback, her eyes closed... they are both sweating heavily... And as the music continues ... Cristal suddenly stops dancing ...and after a beat, so does Nomi.

They look at each other. Cristal puts her arms behind Nomi's back slowly ... and lifts Nomi's arms ...as the music continues.

A long beat, as Cristal holds Nomi's arms high, and then she moves her face toward her body ... and kisses her armpit, very gently, very tenderly.

The song ends, the music stops. In the sudden absolute silence, they look at each other...and Cristal very gently pulls Nomi's leotard down over one breast ... leans close slowly, and kisses her breast.

Nomi freezes. Slowly shemoves a step backwards, detaching her breast from Cristal's lips.

Cristal straightens up, smiles. She touchesNomi again, Nomi slaps her hand away, turns and walks away.

She picks up her sweater.

Cristal follows her, shutting off the sta9e lights. It gets pretty dark, as they walk towards the staircase.

They go down the steep staircase towards the dressing rooms. Cristal is a couple of steps behind Nomi. The sound of their steps resonates sharply on the steel of the staircase.

She laughs and disappears in her dressing room. Nomi stands there for a moment then walksaway.

They are in between numbers, changing their costumes. At the dressing table next to Nomi,Phil Newkirk, the public relations guy, is talking to Nicky. we can't hear what they're saying.

Down the row of tables, Julie is getting ready with her two little kids next to her -- a LITTLE BOY and a LITTLE GIRL, about four and six years old. The kids see a cage with the monkeys being pushed through the corridor.

Julie is looking at herself in the mirror, putting makeup on.

He says it in a loud voice.

At the next table, Annie is getting anno¥ed with the kids. The little girl has taken her lipstick - Annie angrily grabs it back.

And the Little Girl starts to cry very loudly as Julie puts her arms around her and holds her. As she holds her, she stares at Annie .like she's going to kill her.

Phil Newkirk comes over to Nomi's dressing table. We see Molly working on Sonny's costumes on the other side of Nomi.

Cristal is suddenly there, on her way out of the dressing room. Nomi turns to her.

She keeps going. Nomi smiles. Phil follows Cristal.

The girls start leaving the room, for the next number. Molly holds Nomi back.

Nomi looks at her a beat.

Molly hangs up the costume she is holding and hesitates for a moment before she moves away.

But her words are drowned out by Cristal who appears half-naked in the doorway.

Molly rushes away as Nomi starts going toward the stairs.

Nicky doesn't look at her, looks at herself in the mirror.

We see dozens of Jaguars displayed around the showroom. It is a Jaguar car dealers' convention. There are hundreds of people. We see Nomi and Nicky, wearing their costumes from the show. They wear tops, too,·but they are so skimpy they may as well be topless.

85 A SERIES OF QUICK CUTS 85

1) Nomi and Nicky, with two corporate types standing against a Jaguar, arm in arm. Their picture is being taken.

2) Nomi lying across the hood of a Jaguar, striking poses, looking very sexy, as men crowd around the car to take her picture. ·

3) Nomi and Nicky with a bunch of other girls from other shows in other costumes, smiling for a group portrait.

4) Nomi and Nicky, standing at a booth, signing "Goddess" programs for a line ofmen, smiling.

Nomi and Nicky stand at the booth. There is no one there.

She shakes her right hand -- she is in pain. She sees Phil Newkirk heading toward the booth with anASIAN MAN in his 60's.

She says it afraid and angry.

He and the Asian Man smile.

The man bows. He has a silly grin on his face.

Nomi and Nicky smile at him.

He leers at the girls.

She doesn't look at them,keeps her eyes down.

He laughs, leers.

A beat, as Okida and Phil look at her -- Nicky keeps her eyes down. Nomi starts to walk away. Phil comes after her, grabs her arm.

some people are glancing at them. In the b.g., we see okida watching them, laughing.

She indicates the show. Phil sees how angry she is, sees people looking at them.

And he turns and walks back to Nicky and Okida.

She walks in. She looks very angry, very upset. She is wearing her black leather jacket, her Harley T-shirt, her jeans. She sees Cristal talking to Zack in the dressing room. She looks at them a beat, then walks up to them.

He sees how upset she is; so does Cristal.

It is dark. It is a huge, cavernous room. We see all kinds of props in the b.g. She and Zack are alone.

Zack looks at her a long beat. He looks upset, but he is cool, all inheld.

She stands there, looks at him. He takes a portable telephone off his belt, dials.

He shuts his phone off. Nomi looks at him a long beat.

She turns to go.

His phone BUZZES. He picks it up.

He shuts the phone off, looks at her and smiles.

She looks at him as he smiles ...and then smiles with him.

He steps around some props, sees Zack standing there with Nomi. He gives Nomi a look.

He says it with great intensity, but there is a calmness over it, a basic cool.

Nomi watches him.

He and Phil look at each other a beat.

Phil looks at him a beat, then turns to her.

He looks like he means it.

And Phil goes. She stands there a long beat, looking at him.

She looks at him a long beat.

Their eyes are on each other. A bell rings.

He watches her as she goes out. When she's gone, he picks the phone up again and dials.

He grins.

She goes back in, sees the door to Cristal's dressing room open, steps to it. Cristal is shaving her legs.

Cristal shaves her leg, then looks up.

She smiles.

Nomi with Annie, Julie, Nicky, Sonny, Felix a..nd Daryl in the half-dark, waiting to go up. Molly, a flashlight in her mouth, is sewing something on Annie's costume.

Sal, passing Annie, puts his hand on her crotch. She tries to hit him, but misses.

Sal threatens to hit him. We see Sonny tooting up again.

She has ice on her nipples. Annie sees Julie staring at her.

Julie doesn't say anything, just stares at her.

They are doing a number we haven't seen onscreen before. It concludes with some of the girls being picked up and held on the guys' shoulders. Cristal is the focus of attention.

From NOMI'S POV, we see Julie's hand as she is dancing. We see her drop four rhinestones on the stage ...right in the path of Daryl, who has Annie on his shoulders ashe dances.

But his back is to Julie. He doesn't see the rhinestones on the floor.

Nomi is dancing alone, fartherfrom Daryl and Annie. She sees them get closer to the rhinestones on the floor ... but she can't do anything about it.

Daryl, with Annie atop him, dances closer to the rhinestones. We see his boot getting closer ...and closer ... and then his boot is atop two of the rhinestones and he turns ... loses his balance ... we see it almost inSLOWMOTION ...and he falls, with Annie atop him. They both go down on the floor of the stage -- it is cement underneath the wood -- very hard.

Annie and Daryl are on the floor, with people all around them. Annie and Daryl are in great pain. Annie is crying.

DAWN (looking at Annie) It's her right knee.

Felix is holding his hand. A STAGEHAND comes up to them.

He holds three rhinestones in his hand.

Nomi looks at her, so do the others.

Julie looks at Annie crying.

And she leaves -- Nomi and the others look at her.

Nomi heads quickly through the corridor, which is filled with medical and show people. It is loud there. The door to Cristal's room is open as she passes. We hear and see snatches of the following dialogue:

We are not sure how much of this muffled, heated conversation Nomi has heard.

Nomi and some other girls walk in. Dawn is at Annie's table, putting her personal things in a plastic bag. Julie is already sitting.

DAWN She broke it.

She smiles a very assured, hard smile. Nomi looks away from her, back into the mirror. She sees Julie's little girl jumping on Annie's chair and picking up Annie's lipstick.

Gay sticks her head around the corner.

Nomi turns to her, badly startled. We see fear on her face.

We see a CLOSEUP of Henrietta Bazoom's fat, sweating face as she stands on the darkened, empty stage in her low-cut evening gown.

As soon as she sees Nomi, we hear the guttural voice from hell.

She runs to her, hugs this big woman, kisses her cheek.

They laugh.

Al Torres, the manager of the Cheetah, walks up to her. He is dressed up in his nicest suit.

They shake hands, a bit formal.

They smile. A beat.

Nomi laughs a little. Al shakes his head.

He doesn't know what to say. And sudden1¥, Henrietta moves her elbow and her breasts pop out, then back in, out again, then back in. Henrietta theatrically rolls her eyes.

She looks at him, touched. He avoids her eyes.

He still looks down, doesn't look at her. A long beat, they don't know what to say.

He gives her a fast brush on the cheek. Nomi goes to Henry and hugs her.

Al smiles, waves at Nomi and, taking Henrietta's hand, they slowly make their way waddling across the big stage. Al turns back a second, still holding her hand.

He laughs and they go out the back door. She stares after them a long beat in the semi-darkness, lost in her thoughts.

She looks at him, distracted, still lost in her thoughts.

And he starts to walk across the stage. She watches him, then -- suddenly:

A beat, and then he turns and looks at her.

As he drives; she sits next to him.

She shakes her head, looks straight ahead. They are in the Beltway around Vegas. The neon city glows in the darkness a distance away from them.

He races it a little. She looks at him

He looks at her, smiles, then looks away. She is still looking at him.

He looks at her, very surprised. She is looking right at him, her face expressionless. And then she smiles a little bit.

It is very expensive, done in a faultless southwestern motif. He is in the kitchen, opening a bottle of champagne.

She is walking around the living room, looking at framed photographs of Zack with high profile entertainers like Elvis, Sinatra, Wayne Newton. Prominently: Zack with Cristal and with Andrew Carver.

outside the living room, beyond the big sliding glass doors, we see a beautifully-lighted swimming pool with a fountain arching over it, the fountain spraying directly into the pool.

He comes out of the kitchen with a bottle of Cristal and glasses on a silver tray. He puts the tray down. She watches him.

He looks at her a beat. Is she talking about the champagne or about Cristal Connors?

He pours her champagne. He gives hera glass.

He looks at her directly. She holds his eyes a beat.

A long beat as he looks at her,taken aback, and she casually walks out the sliding glass doors to the swimming pool. She starts to take her clothes off, her back to him. He watches her body. She jumps into the pool.

She is up against the side of the pool, naked. Her arms are on the side of the pool. Her head is back. Her eyes are closed. The water from the fountain is hitting the pool water a few feet in front of her.

We hear a SPLASH of water -- as we HOLD on her face, tilted against the night sky, her eyes closed... and then she moves her head to the side and back ...to the side and back again ...as his head is between her legs under the water. She wraps her legs around his head... as he comes up from under the water ... and puts his mouth on her breast ...holdin~ her head back by ~er hair... pulling her onto him by her butt with the other hand... and then he kisses her, hard ...pulls her farther away from the side into the water... the spray from the fountain is hitting her face now... as his hands part her legs ...wider ...she moans as he is inside her... her head back ...the spray hitting her face, her head tilted back.

She is against the side of the pool ...her face is turned away from him now. His hand is inside her mouth... her mouth open... He holds her by the mouth... her head is back ...his other hand is inside the cleft of her butt... as he is inside her ...under the water. She moves against him, up and down, up and down .. . back and forth ... bump and grind... the lap dancer's movement .. . as he pulls her backwards •..turning her head roughly... she starts to moan... the water from the fountain hits her in the face ...as she comes ...and tries to breathe.

She is sitting on the side of the bed, getting dressed. It is getting light outside. He is asleep, wakes up, sees her dressing. He moves to hold her -- she moves away from him.

She is putting clothes on, doesn't look at him.

She looks at him.

A beat, and she turns away from hi.magain and shakes her head. she stands up to finish dressing. He watches her.

She looks at him a beat,then looks away from him, out the window.

She turns and looks at him, her face expressionless. We hear the TAXI HONKING outside.

And she heads out.

The sun is coming up as she comes from the cab to the front porch and then in the door.

Moll¥ is asleep on the couch. She wakes up. Nomi stands there, smiling at her.

Nomi laughs.

She takes her head out of the pillow, looks at her.

NOMI {upset) Oh, shit.

They laugh together. Nomi. wanders into the kitchen.

She wanders into the kitchen.

Molly watches her.

Nomi.opens some cabinets.

Nomi looks at her a beat seriously, then

She grins like a little girl, stuffing chips into her mouth, as Molly watches her seriously.

Nomi is dancing alongside Nicky, Sonny, and Julie. They are doing one of Cristal's edgy, HARD-ROCK, sensuous numbers. They are wearing the high-cut Bob Fosse leotards. Nomi. wearsa black headband that dangles down to the middle of her back. They bump and grind and move and slide to the climax, and the MUSIC STOPS. They stand there up onstage.

In the showroom, watching them, are Tony Moss, Marty Jacobsen, Zack, Cristal, and Dawn. Watching from another area is Phil Newkirk. A long beat, after the music stops, and then --

DAWN None of them have Crista.l's heat.

There are some laughs.

A beat, as they look at him.

Cristal glares at him.

Zack smiles to himself a little bit.

A beat, as they look at each other.

Zack walks away, signals Phil to follow him. In the background we hear Marty tell Nomi to stay, the others to leave.

Phil gives him a look and drifts away, the other girls have left the stage. And as the music starts again, Nomi dances alone. She turns directly to Zack, her eyes on his, and dances for him, her body turned that way. He keeps staring at her.

Cristal comes up to him. She watches Nomi, too.

Zack never takes his eyes off Nomi.

And now he looks at Cristal.

Nomi is at the water fountain, just slurping water up.

She stops drinking the water, loQks up at her.

A beat, then

They look at each other a beat.

Cristal looks at her like she could kill her, then abruptly walks away.

Nomi drinks some more water -- and then starts heading for the dressing room. Zack comes up to her on the way there.

She looks at him, excited.

A beat, she looks at him with a suddenly dead smile and heads into the dressing room.

She walks in.

As soon as she does, she seesSonny and Nicky glaring at her. Julie seems not to notice her. Nomi stops, looks at them.

A beat, and they turn awayfrom her. Nomi sits down. Gay passes through the room.

Julie gets up, ready to leave.

As she passes Nomi she puts a hand on Nomi's shoulder, casually.

Nomi looks at her in the mirror. Then she sees the flyer tucked into the side of the mirror. She takes it out. It is a stylized sketch of a lap dancer sitting across a man's lap. In big letters, we see -- "Private Dance by James smith." Underneath, it says: "The Shark Club, Saturday."

She puts the flyer down. She looks at herself a long beat in the mirror. It is almost as if she is ashamed to look at herself.

A beat, and then she turns and goes to the door of Cristal's dressing room. She opens the door without knocking.

Cristal, in a kimono, is sitting on the couch, doing her nails. They look at each other a beat. Nomi closes the door behind her.

Cristal looks up at her and smiles.

She holds them out, looks at them.

She takes Nomi's hand in hers, compares the patterns on their nails, then intertwines her fingers with Nomi's. Looks at her --

She stands there as if she's waiting. They look at each other. And slowly Cristal pulls Nomi towards her. And very slowly she moves their interwoven hands to her breast.

Nomi's hand now rests on her breast. Cristal holds her breath, her eyes on Nomi. Now Nomi moves her fingers, pushing Cristal's dress aside, exposing her breast.

Her fingers touch Cristal's nipple... squeeze it. Cristal blinks. Her other hand is on Nomi's leg, moving up her thigh.

Suddenly her hand slips inside Nomi's leotard. Nomi inhales '' sharply, their eyes on each other. She wants to move backwards, but Cristal holds her.

'I CRISTAL

Don't --

Her hand moves underneath the leotard. Nomi throws her head backwards.

She looks up to Nomi, her cheek pressed against Nomi's belly. Nomi starts to breathe very fast.

But she has a strange smile on her face.

Nomi is walking out. She wears a black leather jacket and jeans. She looks upset. She sees Molly getting out of her car, carrying some costumes.

She tosses her the keys. Nomi takes the keys and heads directly for the car. Molly looks after her.

Nomi starts the car up.

Nomi roars away -- Molly stands there looking after her, concerned.

She sits in the Toyota, which is parked on the top floor of a high-rise parking lot. She faces the setting sun. She is chewing a Mega-Mac. She has french fries and a Coke on the dash. She stops chewing, then swallows what's in her mouth slowly. A beat, and she puts her head back against the headrest and closes her eyes.

Nomi makes her way through hundreds of people, jammed together on the dance floor. Up onstage, we see James with Penny and two other girls -- one of them we've seen at Nomi's first audition.

Nomi watches James as he dances on the small stage with the others. They are doing his number, "Private Dance". It is stylized and crudely ballet-like. Ear-splitting, bombarding RAP is their accompaniment. They do a lot of thrusts and splits. At one point, Penny lap-dances James, whose feet dance while he's sitting on a chair, pretending to climax.

The crowd here hates what they're watching. There are calls of "Get off the stage!" and "Change the music!"

James is disturbed, seemingly, by none of it. There is a classic spare, elemental power to his dancing. Nomi watches him.

As they finish, there is some applause, but lots of BOOS. The instant they finish -- wild, high-screech industrial RAVE blasts on the speakers and the strobe lights start swirling as the mob starts to dance. Nomi makes her way to the back of the stage -- James jumps off, sees her. They talk above the blare and babel of the MUSIC and the crowd NOISE. He still wears his mime-face.

They have to talk loudly; they have difficulty hearing each other. Penny is suddenly there.

They give each other the high-five.

They give each other the high-five again.

,TAMES(grins) Gitme a beer, bitch.

She shows off a diamond ring. Nomi glances at James a beat, then --

And she goes off into the crowd. James and Nomi look at each other a beat -- he draws her closer to a wall so they can hear each other better.

She looks at him a beat, sadness in her eyes. He looks away from her.

She indicates the dancing.

He looks away from her.

She looks at him a long beat,sadness in her eyes. Suddenly she gives him a kiss.

She walks away.

She walks to her table. Nicky is sitting at the next table.

Nicky says nothing, ignores her. She glances at Nicky, then sees a white envelope on her table, it has the letterhead of the Stardust. She looks at it a beat,and then she opens it. She stares. We don't see what it says.

Nomi glances up from the envelope, sees Cristal in the mirror, looking at her from her dressing room.

She storEs into the office, the letter in her hand, heads directly for the inner office.

She just keeps going.

She swings the door open. He is on the phone. His office is done in the same southwestern style that his house is done in we see Penas and Cormans on the walls.

He hangs up.

He gets out of his chair, comes to her.

She waves the letter. He tries to hold her. She breaks away from him.

Nomi looks at him a long beat.

A beat, and she starts to head out. She looks destroyed.

And she's gone.

She walks back in. She looks crushed. Cristal is sitting in Nomi's chair at Nomi's dressing table, some of the dancers are around her. They are laughing about something funny that Cristal just said. As Nomi enters, they all fall silent. Nomi goes up to Cristal slowly, looks at her. A beat, and then

Nomi stares at her, unable to speak.

And she gets up and heads back to her dressing room. Nomi stares after her. Some girls laugh.

onstage, during the show -- Nomi dancing wi.th Sal,sonny, Nicky, Felix, Julie, Daryl. She tries to smile, but it is a forced, frozen smile.

And Cristal comes dancing out to the front of the stage to huge APPLAUSE, as Nomi and the others dance behind her. For a few moments, Nomi i.s right behind her,so that it appears the two of them are dancing together.

And then, suddenly, Cristal turns onstage, her back to the audience, facing Nomi as they dance. They are thrusting hips at each other, their bodies possessed, all sinew and glands, out of control. Their eyes are on each other, their smiles gone. They are almost head to head, almost touching. It's a fight ...and it's sex.

as they dance off and head, running, for the stairs.

as they go charging at abreakneck pace to change costumes for the next number. They headdown the stairs in this order: first Sal, then Julie,Nicky, Felix, Sonny, Daryl, Cristal, and Nomi last.

Three or four stairs from the top, in CLOSEUP, we see Nomi's hands. She pushes the small of Crista.l's back.

Cristal screams, falls. Sonny, two in front of Cristal, screams as well. It allhappens very fast.

Cristal falls down the rest of the stairs to the bottom.

The others, including Nomi,are at the bottom of the stairs, surrounding her. We see Molly off to the side of the stairs, to the left. She stares.

Gay comes running up to them, sees Cristal at the bottom of the stairs in the half-dark, moaning, her eyes closed.

Marty is there suddenly.

Dawn is there suddenly.

DAWN ( .leaningdown) Cristal, can you hear me?

Cristal moans; her eyes are closed.

Molly watches her.

Molly looks at her, her face expressionless. Gay glares at Nomi a long beat. Then Marty turns to her and looks at her.

They look at Julie a beat -- Gay and Dawn don't look convinced. Gay looks at Nomi again -- Molly keeps looking at Nomi.

Cristal moans, her eyes closed.

As paramedics take Cristal on a stretcher to the ambulance, Nomi stands with a group of others, staring, watching. Julie is on one side of her, Molly on the other.

As they put Cristal into the ambulance and close the door:

Nomi looks at her a beat and Julie goes back inside.

Nomi notices Molly staring at her.

And Molly goes back inside.

Nomi stares as the ambulance's SIREN goes on and it's red light starts spinning as it heads out of the parking lot.

There is an air of crisis in the room. Mr. Karlman paces back and forth. With them are Zack, Tony Moss, Marty Jacobsen, and Phil Newkirk.

Zack is onhis portable phone.

He shuts it off, puts it down on the table.

Tony looks at him, grins suddenly,shakes his head.

Tony glances at Zack -- then, aftera beat.

A long beat.

A long beat.

A long beat, as they sit there, stumped, and then they see Zack smiling. They look at him.

We see Sal, Julie, Nicky, Felix, Sonny, Daryl dancing -- with two new girls. We saw both of the new girls at the first audition that Nomi went to. One girl was the last finalist; the other girl was the one that Tony Moss said "try yoga or hanging from the ceiling" to.

As they are dancing --

And Nomi comes dancing out to the front of the stage to MILD APPLAUSE. Her long hair has been cut short into a sleek Vegasy style.

We see Zack and Molly watching her from backstage separately.

It is her moment of triumph. She sizzles. She burns. She soars. She's an angel. She's a whore. She's a whirling dervish. She's better than Cristal. She's hotter than anyone that we've ever seen.

The audience starts to applaud -- it turns into a ROAR, a response from some primal depth.

Zack smiles, stares at her, transfixed. Molly stares, her face expressionless.

There are lots of people -- photographers, reporters, TV cameras. Nomi is talking to reporters. With her are Mr. Karlman, Zack and Phil Newkirk. Molly watches her from the side.

Nomi smiles. Bright lights and camera flashes go off in her face.

As bright lights and camera flashes go on in her face.

Cristal's dressing room is now hers. Explosions of roses are everywhere.

She is in front of the mirror taking her eyelashes off -- Molly is next to her, helping her take off her costume. Zack comes in. He kisses her on the cheek quickly.

She turns to him, her smile wide. He leans in and kisses her gently, briefly on the lips. She looks at him a long beat.

She laughs; it is a very girlish laugh.

And he starts out.

He takes a package from behind his back, beautifully-wrapped, puts it on her table.

And he leaves. As soon as he does --

A beat -- Nomi turns from the mirror, looks at Molly.

Molly looks at her a long beat.

They look at each other a beat.

Nomi looks at her a long beat.

She starts out. Nomi goes after her.

She holds Molly's ann.

She turns. Nomi puts her arms around her neck from the back, holds her.

A beat, and then Molly heads out. A beat -- Nomi looks lost in her thoughts -- and then she looks at the beautifully-wrapped package on the table.

NIGHT

Nomi, wearing a very flashy Vegasy goldlame gown, and Zack, in a suit, come down a windy, marble staircase. Applause, cheers of a couple hundred people that have gathered in this special VIP wing - dancers from the show, highrollers,gamblers, bimbos. Everybody wears expensive dresses, gowns, suits.

As soon as they reach the floor we hear TRUMPETS blare. And walking towards them comes Caesar and his court, all in togas. People start chanting "Hail.,Caesar! Hail, Caesar!" And while Caesar approaches Nomi, he starts singing"The Most Beautiful Girl In the World". When he isclose to her he puts laurels on her head. Nomi laughs delightedly - more photos are taken. Mr. Karl.manapproaches, kisses her, walks her up to the doors leading to the terrace. At that moment fireworks go off there and Nomi sees the letters "NOMIMALONE" forming.

suddenly she steps forward and puts herself right in front of the firework that's blazing around her. She heaves her arms high, a true star. Flashlights,applause and the song all blend together.

And then she sees Molly. She steps downand hugs her, Molly is embarrassed, as everyone is looking.

They laugh.

LATER

They are standing at a buffet: Nomi, Zack, Mr. Karlman, Phil Newkirk, and Molly, a bit shy. In the middle is Tony Moss, making jokes.

Everybody .laughs. Again we hear trumpets. We see commotion near the entrance, people converging there. Nomi sees ANDREW CARVER come through, smiling, with two bodyguards. If anything, Andrew Carver is better-looking in person than on his posters. Molly, wide-eyed, pinches Nomi's arm. Zack hurries away to greet him.

Nomi finds a garbage can to 9et rid of her plate. Zack is already ahead. Suddenly Jul1e is there at Nomi's side.

She is uncomfortable with Julie, who smiles.

As she heads away, Nomi, lost in thought, walks up to Zack who approaches with Andrew Carver.

Andrew kisses Nomi's hand.

Nomi laughs. Mr. Karlman passes by, greeting, he's already leaving. Zack turns for a moment to Mr. Karl.man. Nomi signals Molly while she's trying to keep Andrew there.

Andrew bends forward and whispers in her ear.

Nomi gives him a look. At that moment, Molly joins them.

He puts his hand out to shake Molly's, smiles a dazzling smile. She shakes his hand but doesn't know what to say.

Nomi laughs -- the others don't get it.

And he puts his arm around her and heads away. We see the bodyguards glance at each other. Molly looks back to Nomi and mouths "Oh, God!" Nomi smiles.

Zack kisses her tenderly on the neck.

The lights in the hallway have been dimmed. A little combo plays romantic music.

couples are dancing. We see Zack and Nomi dancing very close.

We see Andrew talking to Molly against a wall. He is smiling. She looks bedazzled. She laughs. He puts an arm around her.

As she dances with Zack, Nomi seesAndrew leading Molly into a bungalow. Nomi smiles. She drapes her arms around Zack's neck.

Andrew Carver is kissing Molly. His two Bodyguards suddenly appear. They close the door. Molly looks at them. At that moment Andrew slaps her viciously across the face.

Zack is kissing Nomi as he dances with her,his hands around her butt, pulling her in very close. He kisses her ear.

They kiss.

Andrew Carver sits in a chair,watching, smiling ...as one of his Bodyguards holds Molly down on the bed, his hand on her mouth ...while the other one is raping her.

The combo has finished playing. Zack is holding Nomi, looking into her eyes.

Nomi looks at him and nods. They walk away.

At that moment, Nomi sees Molly. She staggers out of abungalow into the hallway. Her legs are bloody. Her face is badly bruised.

She runs to her. Before she gets there, Molly falls on the floor.

Molly is in the hospital bed, her face covered with bandages. Her eyes are closed; she is hooked up to IV's.

A DOCTOR is there with Nomi and Zack.

Nomi closes her eyes.

Nomi's eyes are still closed. The Doctor heads out. Zack looks out at Molly, sees Phil Newkirk gesturing to him at the door. He gets up and heads out for the corridor.

Nomi opens her eyes and looks at Molly. Molly still has her eyes closed, but tears course down her face. Nomi wipes the tears on her face very carefully. A long beat, as she looks at Molly and heads out into the corridor.

She sees Zack reading something i.na manila folder -- Phil is gone. They are alone in the corridor. She looks at Zack, seething with barely controlled rage.

A long beat, as she looks at him ...he still has the manila folder in his hand •..and goes directly to a telephone and starts dialing.

She freezes suddenly. A long beat -- her back is to him. And then she slowly hangs the phone up. She doesn't look at him.

A long beat, and then she turns on him, starts heading away.

And he grabs her roughly by the arm,opens a waiting room door, and almost hurls her inside.

He slams the door, looks at her, looks at his folder.

She looks away from him, closes her eyes.

She has her face averted from him, her eyes closed. It is almost a whimper.

She starts to cry quietly.

He stops, watches her as she cries quietly.

She looks at him, sees the smile, looks away.

Zack watches her a long beat.

A long beat -- she has stopped crying -- she looks at him.

She looks at him a long beat.

They look at each other a long beat.

She looks at him, doesn't understand.

She looks away from him.

A beat, and she turns back to him. She sees the smile. And she spits into his face. A beat... for a moment we think he's going to hit her ...and then he wipes his face off with a handkerchief and looks at her.

She sits in a chair at the side of Molly's bed, staring at her. Molly is asleep, moaning.

She is holding Molly's hand. She is staring out the window. Molly is asleep.

She sits in front of a mirror, dressing, putting make-up on. She wears very tight jeans and a top that we saw Molly wearing before which is very tight on her. She puts deep-red lipstick on. She looks at herself in the mirror.

Her voice is dead, her face a mask. She reaches for the phone and, watching herself, dials.

She gets off the elevator. The two Bodyguards are sitting by the elevator, which only leads to this suite. They speak with English accents.

He leers at her.

She heads for the door. They watch her butt.

She walks in. Andrew carver is sitting in the living room in bathing shorts, watching her.

,,., ANDREW (smiles) It didn't take you long.

She goes closer to him, stops. He looks her up and down. She takes her jacket off and then, slowly, teasingly, her top. She doesn't wear a bra. She has put lipstick on her nipples.

He stares at her breasts and smiles. She steps closer to him. He reaches around her and feels her butt. Her breasts are near his face. She starts to move her body against his as he sits there in the lap-dancer's movement.

ANDREW {smiles) Should we take the rest of it off?

A beat, and she smiles •..nods ...and reaches down to get her boots off. He keeps his hand on her butt, feeling it, his hand between the legs of her jeans •..and the switchblade is suddenly out, open, and she has it against his throat. He stares, wide-eyed.

He gapes at her, his e¥es wide. She ste~s back and, with a dancer's kick, kicks him in the throat with her cowboy boots. He slum~s off the couch, choking. She kicks him a9"ainand again as he 11.eson the carpeted floor, dancing around him, kicking him with her boots, topless, the switchblade in her hand ...in the stomach, in the groin, and then in his face.

Her movements look almost choreographed.

Dressed, she comes out, closes the door.··The Bodyguards sit by the elevator.

He grins.

And she gets in the elevator.

She walks in. Molly is still asleep. A NURSE is there.

A long beat and Nomi goes to the side of the bed. She kisses Molly on the head very tenderly.

As she is about to go out the front door. She stops a beat. And then she turns and goes back to the information desk.

It is a big, private suite. There are flowers everywhere. The TV is on to some soap opera. Cristal lieson the bed. She has her fancy straw cowboy hat on her head.

Nomi walks in and they look at each other a long beat.

A long beat, as they look at each other ...and Cristal smiles.

She averts her eyes from her. Cristal looks at her a long beat.

They look at each other a long beat.

They look at each other a long beat.

Cristal looks at her a long beat, then, seriously --

They have their eyes on each other. A long beat, and Nomi goes over to the bed and sits on the side. She leans down and kisses Cristal on the lips. It is a long, lingering kiss.

Cristal looks at her a beat, takes her fancy cowboy hat off, and sticks it on Nomi's head.

A beat, and then Nomi smiles.

She stands at the side of the road. She wears the fancy cowboy hat, jeans, the black leather jacket, and wrap-around sunglasses. She's got a cheap suitcase in front of her. She's got her thumb out.

Cars and trucks ROAR by her and then a hard-top, beaten-up Jeep we've seen before pulls to a stop. We hear Garth Brooks BLASTING. The door swings open. She grabs her suitcase, goes up to it. She sees ,Teff. She smiles a little to herself. He doesn't recognize her.

She hesitates a beat.

As he opens the back door, she lifts the big suitcase into the back seat.

The Garth Brooks tape i.sstill BLASTING. Jeff looks over at her, pressed against the door.

She nods.

She nods.

He looks at her. She reaches over and shuts Garth Brooks off. And now he recognizes her.

She's got the switchblade out, holding it.

As the Jeep goes down the road and passes a big billboard. There are still workmen up there finishing putting it up.

The billboard shows her face, her hair cut short. In big letters it says: "NOMI MALONE, 'GODDESS' ,THE STARDUST."

As we ...

- FADE OUT.

THE"GODDESS"SHOW 9/29/94

GO-ODESS

N1 -There is a volcano erupting in the background.Lava streams forward, even on the aisles of the stage, surrounding part of the audience.There are little eruptions all over the place.The dancers are "in fear".They split up in several groups and dance to the left, right, even front, but are thrown back, blocked by erupting fires that sprout from the crackling ground.

Apocalyptic feeling-day of judgment. They are all in extremely sophisticated clothes, men and women, but their apparent wealth is of no use. Blocks of stone shift, the thunderous sounds increase to a climax and suddenly the ground (or part of a foreground rock) splits open and the Goddess rises out of this fiery mouth.The dancers see her; approach her, are hesitant and then beg her for help.She is now in the middle, they dance around her, but she is already the leader- their panic disappears, their movements become coordinated, everything becomes more fluent. And more "passionate"- as if the outside fire is now inside them.The Goddess has given them fire, confidence, hope ...

AVENGING ANGEL

N2 -This is somewhere in a warehouse, loading dock area-catwalks, staircases, ramps, filthy windows, machinery.Motorcycles (10-15) crisscross over stage and ramps, sometimes jumping from one area to another- all their headlights on (stronger than normal).Along poles the dancers come down. Finally Cristal appears, she is tied to a chain as they lower her to the ground.The dancers are around her, rip the clothes off of her body.

Their moves are aggressive and violent, their hands are over her mostly naked body. She tries to get away, but they chase her and grab her, drag her to a motorcycle and spread her out on the saddle.Women

hold her hands and arms, the men are going to gang rape her.And then she is able to kick her legs loose-she does a somersault and is free.

But already all the women surround her.And she uses high kicks to keep them away - one, another, another.Suddenly she concentrates on Nomi. They have a violent dance and finally Nomi kicks her down. But Cristal is able to grab a blow torch and the fire blows Nomi away- she seems to burn. And Cristal comes up and uses the weapon on fill. They rush away but her fire reaches them.And one after the other they fall down, burning.As an avenging angel Cristal stands there.

FINALE

We are in an enormous pagan temple - big stone pillars rising up and disappearing straight up into "clair-obscur" There is an atmosphere of celebration.The dancers are whirling around each other, the Goddess in their middle.There is a feeling of joy, like in a black/Pentecostal meeting, with exuberant gospel singing.

,A.ndthen the Goddess slowly starts to rise (she hangs on invisible wires}. The dancers circle around her trying to hold on to her.But she rises above them, they can not touch her any more-so they are now <Jneach other's shoulders, the women on the men so they can reach iiligher.And they do touch her, their hands caressing herlegsfor the '1ast time, her feet, and up she goes, she is now above them.The dancers swirl around, stretching up their hands, it is impossible to \'ouchher now, she is unreachable.

Cristalis high above them now, lights catch her, illuminate her, make her a star in the sky.