MAX

Making of Batman Returns (1992) - Max Shreck Origins

MAX :

I'd offer you coffee, but my assistant 

is using her vacation time.

Bruce Wayne :

Good time. Everyone but The Bandits'll 

be slacking off till after the New Year.

MAX :

I'm not sure I like The Inference.

Bruce Wayne :

I didn't realize I made one.

MAX :

I'm pushing this Power-plant NOW, 

because it'll cost more later.

A million saved is a million earned.

Bruce Wayne :

I commissioned this report. Take a look at it.

Gotham City has a Power surplus. 

I'm sure you KNOW that.

My Question is: 

"What's your angle?"

MAX :

"Power surplus?" Bruce, shame on you!

No such thing. One can never have too much Power.

If My Life has a meaning, that's The Meaning.

Bruce Wayne :

I'll fight you. I've already spoken 

to The Mayor and we agree.

MAX :

Mayors come and go, 

blue-bloods tire easy;

you think he could go 15 rounds 

with Mohammed Schrek...?

Walken :

“He's an industrialist uh he owns, among other things 

has met uh Schrek's department store —”

Originally, the Max Shreck character, he is 

The Golden Boy -Son of The Cobblepots, 

and it turns out that He and Penguin are Brothers and 

there was that kind of dichotomy in the movie of like 

The Saintly Brother who runs The City 

and the ultimate Black sheep who was 

thrown in The Sewer and 

how they come up together

 but the script and the movie 

is way too rich to begin with 

and that was just another layer 

that we finally had to lose.

“When I suggested to Tim Burton, 

“Tim, I thought of Christopher Walken —”

and Tim, who loves ghouls and 

skeletons and odd things said 

“Oh, no —”, he said “He’s…. he's..

I'm afraid of him 

he scares me —

And I said “But Tim — you're 

supposed to be afraid 

of Max Schrek -- 

Christopher Walken 

They made up a fictional character 

that's not in Batman's universe, and 

suddenly he becomes the most exciting character 

in the film -- well, sorry but that's what you get 

when you put Christopher Walken in a role 

The Prince of fuckin' Darkness :

He says that there's no such thing as too much power 

he says that, that's what his life is about, now —

that's uh those are actually his lines 

I think he means it —

MAX :

Bottom line, she tries to blackmail me,

I'll drop her out a higher window —

meantime, got better fish to fry 

Walken :

I think Max probably didn't have a lot of education 

and that he sort of made his own way, you know —

The Media :

What's The Deal, Mr. Schrek? 

Is The Penguin a personal friend ?

MAX :

Yes he's a personal friend, of this whole city  —

so have a heart — give The Constitution 

a rest, okay it's Christmas 

Walken :

I Think that Max and The Penguin….for their 

own reasons enjoy each other's company, 

probably because when you're like that 

there aren't that many people 

you can talk to —

Being the Family Scapegoat or Problem Child: Honesty About Dysfunction

Being the Family Scapegoat or 'Problem' 

Child: Honesty About Dysfunction

King Osric, The Usurper

Great scene with Max von sydow as King Osric in Conan the Barbarian (198...

They were taken to the hall of King Osric, The Usurper, 

once a powerful Northman like my lord, 

but now old and sotted. 

These are the thieves you have requested, Sire. 

I thought there were three. 

Our companion, he died in 

the gardens. Lions ate him. 

Lions ate him? The lions ate him. 

Do you know what you've done? Why, Rexor himself has come before me, threatened me, a king. What daring! What outrageousness! What insolence! What arrogance! I salute you. 

Thulsa Doom. I've chafed 

for years at this demigod. 

Snakes, in my beautiful city. 

To the west, Nemedia, Aquilonia. 

To the south, Koth, Stygia, snakes. 

Everywhere these evil towers. 

You alone have stood up to their gods. 

And what are you? Thieves! 

You see this? They call it 

the "Fangs of the Serpent.” 

And this one was thrust into 

a father's heart by his very son. 

And my own daughter has fallen 

under this Thulsa Doom's spell. 

Is there a dagger such as this 

in her hand for me? 

She follows him as a slave, seeking for 

The Truth of her soul as if 

I could not give it to her! 

As we speak my daughter 

travels east to Thulsa Doom 

and his Mountain of Power. 

She is to be his! 

Steal my daughter back. 

Take all you can carry. 

There's more. Much more. 

Enough to become 

kings yourselves. 

There comes a time, Thief, when 

the jewels cease to sparkle, 

when the gold loses its luster, 

when the throne room 

becomes a prison, and 

all that is left is A Father's 

love for His Child. 

To the hell fires with Thulsa Doom. He's evil, a sorcerer who can summon demons. 

His followers' only purpose 

is to die in his service. 

There are thousands of them. 

This Mountain of Power where he lives 

is said to be impregnable. 

I have talked to Subotai and he agrees. 

Let's take what we have while we live. 

I have never had SO much as now. 

All my life I've been alone. 

Many times I face my death 

with no one to know. 

I would look into the huts and the tents 

of others in the coldest dark and 

I would see figures holding 

each other in the night. 

But I always passed by. 

You and I, we have warmth. 

That's so hard to find in this world. 

Please, let someone else 

pass by in the night. 

Let us take the world by the throat 

and make it give us what we desire. 

The children of Doom. Doom's children. They told my lord the way to the Mountain of Power. They told him to throw down his sword and return to the earth. Time enough for the earth in the grave. Once great men lived here. Giants, gods. Once, but long ago. It was here that I met my master. It was no accident. Nor is it mere chance that I am the teller of his tale. Hey! I'm a wizard, mind you. This place is kept by powerful gods and spirits of kings. Harm my flesh, and you will have to deal with the dead. Can you summon demons, Wizard? Yes! If I strike at you, I would summon a demon more ferocious than all in hell! The mounds have been here since the time of the Titans. Kings buried in them. Great kings. Domains once glittered like the light on a windy sea. Fire won't burn there. No fire at all. That's why I live down here in the wind. Do you care for these places? I sing to them. On nights when they wish I sing of the tales of battles, heroes, witches and women. Nobody bothers me down here. Not even Thulsa Doom. Do flowers grow around here? Flowers? Flowers. You've not come here as a pilgrim, have you? Oil the sword and feed the horse. Have you ever ridden one of those things before? No! Warrior! What are the flowers for? For a girl.

Can I cut A Hole in Your Fence?

You are Unwise to Lower Your Defences —

Can I cut A Hole 

in Your Fence?

Nick Roeg’s Heart of Darkness

Roeg-1

Plantation

“As in most households Hugh and Mary shared the extra work, drawing on mutual understanding and goodwill. To encourage this, the marital ideal was, according to one puritan writer, a 'continual stream of familiar conversation': honest, amiable chatting throughout the day about everything that needed doing. Mary collected eggs and fruit, weeded the garden and looked after the goats, whose milk they drank and sold." In the autumn she would be expected to help Hugh bring in the maize harvest. Her workload did not abate as her baby quickened inside her, and matrimony began to seem more like service - except with greater responsibility. 

Hugh, too, felt the weight of expectation. With a child on the way, he would have to make a crib, with a hood against draughts, or borrow one from neighbours enjoying a brief respite between births; but that was only the beginning. Reaching the estate of A Householder conferred esteem yet also put Manhood on trial, weighed it against custom. 

He had to balance Patriarchal Dominance with DEPENDANCE on His Wife - as hard to maintain as the temperature in a kiln. 

Order was everything. 

As one New England minister preached that year: 'You husbands, wives, masters, servants : remember if you are not good in your places, you are not good at all.' Falling short of ideals, however, was the more usual outcome.

Marriages were like flawed bricks that exploded during firing, or which looked sturdy but cracked and crumbled under pressure: often, things like a forthcoming harvest or the arrival of a child in a couple's lives. They may not have understood what was happening, what had changed.

It may have felt like some malign intervention, unseen and beyond reason or obvious heavenly design. After all, one reliable proof for Witchcraft, scholars taught, was 'when married people formerly loving very well, hate one another without any evident cause'. It was easier, perhaps, to imagine a curse inflicted from without than some affliction incubating within. Unhappy marriages were devastating to the reputations of men and women alike because in the sight of God and The Community it meant they had FAILED.' ”

Thee/Thou

‘Ishmael’ : 

Ahoy There! Someone aboard?

Is this The Captain 

of The Pequod?

Snooty Quaker Investor :

What Doest Thee want 

of The Captain?

‘Ishmael’ : 

We were thinking of shipping.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Thee art Thinking 

of Shipping…

‘Ishmael’ : 

I art.... I mean, 

I Doest.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Making Sport of Me, lad?

‘Ishmael’ : 

No. I just fell into that 

manner of Speech.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

If I weren't a Quaker and 

a Man of Peace, I'd fetch Thee 

clout on the side of Thy Head,

My Lad, just to make sure.

I see Thee art no 

New Bedford-man.

Doest know nothing at all 

about Whaling, I daresay.

‘Ishmael’ :

I've had several voyages

in the merchant service.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Merchant service? Flukes, man.

What takes Thee whaling?

‘Ishmael’ :

Sir, I want to see What 

Whaling is like.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Have You seen Ahab, 

The Captain of The Ship?

If You want to know 

What Whaling is, then 

You'll know by clapping 

an eye on Captain Ahab —

You'll see A Man torn apart 

from crown to heel and  

spliced-together with 

sperm whalebone in place 

of what's missing.

His looks tell more than 

any church-had sermon 

about the mortality of man.

‘Ishmael’ :

And a whale did that?

Snooty Quaker Investor :

A Whale as big as An Island.

Art Thee the Man to 

pitch a harpoon down 

a whale's throat and 

jump after it?

‘Ishmael’ :

I am, sir... if it should be positively 

indispensable to do so.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Come along, then.

Bildad, stir yourself.

This Young Man says 

He wants to ship.

Bildad :

Hast ever been a 

pirate, hast Thee?

‘Ishmael’ :

Never.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Didst not murder Thy 

last Captain at sea?

‘Ishmael’ :

Indeed not.

Bildad :

He'll Do.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

What Pay shall 

We give Him?

Bildad :

The 777th part.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Would not be too much?

Bildad :

For this strapping lad? 

Not half enough.

Snooty Quaker Investor :

Captain Peleg, Thee hast a generous heart.

But thee must consider the duty thee owest

to the other owners of this ship...

widows and orphans, many of them.

If we too abundantly reward

the labors of this young man...

we'll be taking bread from their mouths.

I'm putting him down for the 

300th part of the profit.

You hear, Bildad? 

The 300th part, I say.

"Lay not up for yourself

treasures upon earth, where 

moth and rust do corrupt."

-My last pay was--

-The 777th part seems 

fair enough to me.

-The 300th.

-Don't Thank me, lad. 

I only Do Thee justice.

What holds Thee? Sign.

‘Ishmael’ :

Sir, it's Captain Ahab.

What about him?

‘Ishmael’ :

Was not Ahab of old a very wicked King?

And when he was slain, did 

the dogs not lick his blood?

Look, lad — Captain Ahab 

did not name himself.

Sign the paper now, 

and wrong him not

because he happens to 

have a wicked name.

Now, for that Son of Darkness

that is Thy Friend --

‘Ishmael’ :

Queequeg, Step forward.

What Say You, Bildad?

I suspect Thee art not a Christian.

Doest Thee attend Church on Sundays?

Doest Thee know and obey

The Ten Commandments?

God, man.

Take the pen. Make Thy mark.

Sign now for a 60th part 

of Our Profit — Put there, quick.

Fleabag’s Dad

DR. GIBBON : 

I don't wish to upset you, Mr Marlow...

No, let me be more precise. 

I do not wish to upset 

you UNNECESSARILY. 

I think you need help.

I think you know that you need help.

And you're too intelligent or too 

aware of your condition to deny it.

Most chronic dermatological patients 

are on tranquillisers or anti-depressants, 

almost as a matter of routine.

Skin is, after all, extremely personal, is it not?

The temptation is to believe that the sins 

and poisons of the mind have somehow 

erupted on to the skin. "Unclean!" you shout, 

ringing your bell, warning us to keep clear.

The Leper in the Bible, yes?

But that's nonsense, you know.

DO you know?

Well, one part of you does, I'm sure.

You can be helped.

Moreover, Mr Marlow, 

I think I can help.

CARE

It hurts sometimes 

more than we can bear.... 

If we could Live 

without Passion,

maybe we'd know 

some kind of Peace. 

But we would 

be hollow. 

Empty rooms, 

shuttered and dank... 

Without Passion, 

we would be 

Truly Dead. 

Shells

The Qliphoth/Qlippoth/Qlifot or Kelipot 

(Hebrew: קְלִיפּוֹת‎, the different English spellings are used in the alternative Kabbalistic traditions of Hermetic Qabalah and Jewish Kabbalah respectively), literally “Peels”, “Shells” or “Husks” (from singular: קְלִפָּה‎ qlippah “Husk”), are the representation of Evil or Impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism, the polar opposites of the holy Sefirot.

The Realm of Evil is also termed 

Sitra Achra/Aḥra (Aramaic סטרא אחרא‎, 

The “Other Side” opposite holiness) 

in Kabbalah texts.

INT. FRED'S OFFICE - DAY 

Wesley is packing Fred's personal 
effects in a box with bubble-wrap. 
He takes a commemorative plate off 

the wall where it hung next to 

the Dixie Chicks poster. 

ILLYRIA 
(standing in the doorway) 
You grieve still... 

for a single Life.

WESLEY 
(without turning to look 

at her, shuts his eyes tight  and 

speaks through gritted teeth) 

Why are you here?

ILLYRIA 
I... I'm uncertain.  
(looks around) 
This place... was 

part of The Shell.

WESLEY 
(snaps) 
Don't call her —  
(breathes deeply) The woman 

you killed had a name.

ILLYRIA 
This is important to you. 
Things have Names. 
The Shell... Winifred Burkle... 
She can't return to you.

WESLEY 
(packing her things, tearfully) 

I know.

ILLYRIA 
Yet there are fragments. 
When her brain collapsed, 

electrical spasms channeled 

into my function system...

memories.  

(holds up her fingers, making a gap between 

her thumb and index finger where 

an electrical spark forms) 

(as Fred) 
Please...Wesley, 

why can't I stay?

WESLEY 
(turns away, nearly sick, crying) 
No.  
(looks out the window) 
Leave.

ILLYRIA 
I've nowhere to go. 
My Kingdom is long dead.  
(softly) 
Long dead. There's so 

much I don't understand. 
I've become overwhelmed. 
I'm unsure of my place.

WESLEY 
(turns to her, angrily) 
Your place is with 

the rest of Your People: 
Dead and turned to ash.

ILLYRIA 
Perhaps... but 

I exist here. 
I must learn to 

Walk in This World.  
(slowly approaches Wes) 
I'll need your help... Wesley.

WESLEY 
(frowning, choking back tears) 
If I were to help you find your way... 
you have to learn to change. 
You mustn't kill.

ILLYRIA 
You killed the Qwa'ha Xahn 

in defiance of Your Leader.

WESLEY 
(shakes his head, then looks at her) 
He murdered the 

woman I love.

ILLYRIA 

And that made it just.

WESLEY 
No. It wasn't just.  
(sighs, puts his hands on his hips) 

I'm probably the last man 

in The World to teach 

you what's right.

ILLYRIA 
But you will. If I abide, 

you will help me.

WESLEY 
(softly) 
Yes.

ILLYRIA 
Because I look 

like her?

WESLEY 
(looks at her with tears 

in his eyes, whispers) 
Yes.

ILLYRIA 
(stands beside Wes, looks out 

The Window to the lab below 

where her sarcophagus lies) 
We cling to What is Gone. 

Is there anything in 

This Life but Grief?

WESLEY 
(looks out at the lab) 
There's Love. 

There's Hope...

for some. 

There's hope that you'll 

find something worthy... 
that your life will 

lead you to some joy... that 

after everything... you can 

still be surprised.

ILLYRIA 
Is that enough?  
(looks at Wes) 
Is that enough 

to Live on?

Co-Interactive MeMe/Gene Co-Evolution

"I would make this response, here, about the difference between MeMes and Archetypes --

Archetypes are there, whether we have MeMes or not —”

"Yes, That's True."

“All of that History of Evolution is there; 

so, we have ideas about Sex Differences, or ideas about -

- Dominance is a very good example - 

- that don't require MeMes — 

they can then BECOME MeMes,

and MeMes by Definition, as  Dawkins started it out, is, 

"That which is Imitated.", or, 

"That which is Copied from 

Person to Person."

So The IDEA of Dominance Hierarchies can be a MeMe;

and all of the 

ideas we build 

on top of that,

so long as we are 

passing them 

from Person to Person." 

"Well, so you can certainly think of Hierarchies of MeMes,

you know, from once they're 

no-more than fads, 

that wash across The Culture, 

to where they become 

more Permanent and Enduring."

" We have The First Replicator 

on The Planet : Genes;

And we know the consequences of that --

Producing all these Organisms.

But, the idea about MeMes, 

is that they are a SECOND Replicator --

So, Genes are copied by chemical processes in bodies,

MeMes are copied by Imitation, 

and other kinds of interactions between 

Human Beings, and

very little in ANY other species at all --

and THAT'S what gives rise to Hunan Culture (it now seems quite pleasing to you — )

(or what passed for it, back in The Dog Days, of Long ago and blesséd Memory —)

So, the whole 

Theory about MeMes 

is ONE, of MANY ways of trying to 

understand 

The Evolution of CULTURE(s)."

The Death of Gods

Dave, The Giant-Killer

of Planet-4.

Let us sit upon The Ground

and tell sad stories

of The Death of Gods --

Testes

BRANDT

We've had some terrible news. Mr. Lebowski is in seclusion in the West Wing.

DUDE

Huh.

Brandt throws open a pair of heavy double doors. The music washes over us as we enter a great study where Jeffrey Lebowski, a blanket thrown over his knees, stares hauntedly into a fire, listening to Lohengrin.

BRANDT ANNOUNCES, AMBIGUOUSLY:

BRANDT

Mr. Lebowski.

Jeffrey Lebowski waves the Dude in without looking around.

LEBOWSKI

It's funny. I can look back on a 

life of achievement, on challenges met, competitors bested, obstacles overcome. 

I've accomplished more 

than most men, 

and without the use of my legs. 

What. . . What makes a 

Man, Mr. Lebowski?

DUDE

Dude.

LEBOWSKI

Huh?

DUDE

I don't know, sir.

LEBOWSKI

Is it. . . is it, being prepared 

to do the right thing? 

Whatever the price? 

Isn't that what 

makes A Man?

DUDE

Sure. That and a 

pair of testicles.

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes —

[Hotel room]

RIKER : 

There's also one other thing, 

a diary with obviously made 

by Colonel Richey.

PICARD [OC]: 

Can you read it?

RIKER: 

Yes.

“ I write this in the hope that it 

will someday be read by human eyes. 

I can only surmise at this point, 

but apparently our exploratory shuttle was contaminated by an alien life form which infected and killed all personnel except myself.

I awakened to find myself here in the Royale Hotel, precisely as described in the novel I found in my room.

And for the last thirty eight years I have survived here. 

I have come to understand that the alien contaminators created this place for me out of some sense of guilt,  presuming that The Novel we had on board the shuttle about the Hotel Royale was in fact a guide to our preferred lifestyle and social habits. Obviously, they thought this was The World from which I came.

I hold no malice toward my benefactors. 

They could not possibly know the hell they have put me through, for it was such a BADLY WRITTEN book, filled with endless cliché and shallow characters —

I shall welcome Death when it comes.”

RIKER [OC]: 

A bizarre incident just took place.

PICARD: 

The shoot-out between the bellboy and Mickey D.

RIKER: 

Yes, and Mickey D 

just walked out the door. 

How did he DO that?

PICARD: 

It's on page 244.

RIKER: 

In the novel. Right. 

How does it end?

PICARD: 

A bad love affair ends 

in a bloody shoot-out, 

The Hotel gets bought out, 

and life goes on, 

such as it is.

RIKER: 

The Hotel gets bought? 

By whom?

PICARD: 

It isn't specific. It simply 

refers to foreign investors. 

Sale price, twelve point five million United States Dollars.

They return home, leaving the assistant manager in charge.

RIKER: 

Captain, that's how 

we're getting out —

We're BUYING 

this place.

DATA: 

Commander — these cubes 

are improperly-balanced. 

I believe their final resting position would be —

RIKER: 

Can you REPAIR them?

DATA: 

I believe so — (to the pit-boss) 

I will make another attempt.

(He gives the dice a good squeeze to even them up)

DATA: 

Baby needs a new 

pair of shoes— (ROLL)