When my dear friend R/Kain Blaze (Freestyle, Bucket) came to me looking for help with one of the Urban Iris films he was working on, he had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted. He'd already laid out the shots and the plot, much like a Marvel-style comic book script, and just needed dialogue. So, with just some very rudimentary notes as to what should be happening around the talking, I set to work. It's one of my favorite pieces of collaboration. I hope he gets it shot one of these days (as of March 2003 he's still working on it). I present my dialogue here, as it is intended to be read by the actors, sans most of the directorial notes which he would be doing himself.

"Urban Iris: Uneven"

By Hannibal Tabu

  | Part One | PART TWO |

DAMOND GRIMES: Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man ...

SHERMAN JONES: Hey, man, watch where you're drivin' get your hand off your dick! Pull over here, man, in that alley!

The truck pulls over in an alley and they turn it off, scrabbling to see who's going to get at her first. She goes into the back of the truck, dancing seductively and singing the Britney Spears song.

SHERMAN JONES: f**k you two, I set up this biz today, I'm first! Gimme some goddamned privacy! (shoves them back into the front of the truck and pulls the curtain closed) Yeah, I got some sh*t to get your sushi together, baby!

BU GIANG: (dancing slowly and humming, she pulls a long hairpin from her hair, which falls down around her shoulders. He's so hypnotized by her hips swaying back and forth he never sees it when she strikes at him)

SHERMAN JONES: Ggoogh ohhhh .... uuungh ...

DAMOND GRIMES: (from behind the curtain) Hey, man, don't get her all messy! I don't want sloppy seconds, aight?

JOHNNY YU: (from behind the curtain) His limp little dick ... he'll be finished in a minute. How much time before we gotta meet Suke's boy?

DAMOND GRIMES: (from behind the curtain) Oh, we got about an hour and a half ... we can all f**k this b**ch and dump her somewhere, plenty of time. It's only a few blocks from here anyway.

JOHNNY YU: (from behind the curtain) Hey, Sherm, you're pretty quiet back there. You breakin' that sh*t in for us or just happy to be gettin' some?

BU GIANG: (coldly) He's just about broken.

JOHNNY YU: (tosses the curtain aside to see BU GIANG standing over SHERMAN JONES' broken body) What the f**k? b**ch, I'ma ...

BU GIANG: (cuts JOHNNY YU off by smashing the Jack Daniel's bottle and shoving the broken edge into his throat, killing him)

DAMOND GRIMES: Oh, sh*t! (starts scrambling for a revolver on his waist, pulls it and aims, but can't pull the trigger because BU GIANT has put her own finger between his and the mechanism.)

BU GIANG: (jabs the heel of her fist into DAMOND GRIMES' nose, forcing bone splinters into his brain and killing him instantly)

Scene cuts to BU GIANG holding the package and walking away down the street away from the alley, where a huge explosion suddenly occurs. Looks over the paper and photos again, and the viewer can now see the photos were of the men from the truck. She sticks them back in her bag and keeps walking with a cold expression on her face.

SCENE THREE

DANNY ECKERT: (standing by his cab, glancing at his watch, an analog watch showing it to be five minutes to nine) At nine, I'm starting the meter ... can't believe I'm out here ...

BU GIANG: (appears from the shadows between buildings, rushes past him before he can speak and climbs in the back of the cab)

DANNY ECKERT: (confused, rushes around the cab, gets in, and starts driving) Uh, hey there, I ...

BU GIANG: (coldly, glaring at the rearview mirror) Laryngitis, noun: inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx; characterized by hoarseness or loss of voice and coughing. Take me to LAX, via the 101 to the 405.

DANNY ECKERT: (a bit scared sweating nervously) Uh ... okay. Sure thing.

BU GIANG: (as the car rockets down the freeway, she changed back into her first outfit as he watches her. When she glares up at the mirror, he quickly looks away)

The cab pulls up at the international terminal.

BU GIANG: (slides another wad of hundreds through the divider) The rest of your tip is in the back seat. Wakarimasen. (climbs out of taxi)

DANNY ECKERT: (watches her sleekly slide into the doorway and out of sight, then ponders the box in the back seat, the same one she took from the truck, and scratches his head in confusion)

SCENE FOUR

An office, overlooking a nighttime city skyline. MR. TSUKAHARA is seated behind a huge desk with a laptop computer situated to his right. BU GIANG, dressed in all black and a long black trenchcoat, stands before him, arms behind her back.

MR. TSUKAHARA: Did you get the package from them, also? Where is it?

BU GIANG: It was not part of our agreement. I disposed of it.

MR. TSUKAHARA: Did the targets look in the box?

BU GIANG: No, and neither did I.

MR. TSUKAHARA: (examines her carefully) Do you know, Ms. Giang, I believe you could easily import anything for us without significant complications. Your abilities are ...

BU GIANG (interrupting) Has my family's debt to you been paid in full, Mister Tsukahara?

MR. TSUKAHARA: (quietly) ... yes. Yes, it has, as we agreed. This was the last payment. We are even.

BU GIANG: (bows slightly, turning to leave)

MR. TSUKAHARA: Ms. Giang ... we would love to contract your services for this sort of work in the future, as a freelancer with no obligations.

BU GIANG: (looks at him coldly and takes a beat before responding) No. I have made my last payment.

MR. TSUKAHARA: Very well then. May I suggest you keep Woo-san out of the family business, OK? (turns to his computer and starts typing)

BU GIANG: (walks out intently, closing his office door behind her. In the room just outside his door, she pulls a badge from her inside pocket and glares at it. She tosses it down on a desk near by in slow motion as she walks away from it).

| go back to part one |

If you'd like to read more, you can find material like this on the main site.