A 20 year old struggling actress is befriended by an 85 year old screen legend with a magic dress collection.

SYNOPSIS:

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2014/06/12/wardrobe/ The Wardrobe, a Hollywood movie with magical realism Screenplay by Lee A. Miller This script explores the unlikely cross-generational friendship between 21 year-old Brett, and the 85 year-old Balthazar, two actors whose worlds collide in Hollywood. Brett, an aspiring actress, spends her time getting high and caring for her Italian Greyhound, Starlet. While gorgeous and probably very talented, her career has gone nowhere. She has been in Hollywood a year and hasn’t landed even a commercial, stand in or job as an extra. Balthazar is a cranky old actor and film star who has been retired for 40 years. At the beginning of the film, he lives in a huge mansion, never leaves and hates people. Balthazar, a widower, passes his days alone, watching old films on TMC. On the internet, he spends some of each day debating the intricacies of the old films. Early in the story, everything with Balthazar is fine, but eventually he runs out of money. His accountant calls him and breaks the reality of living in a Hollywood mansion without a source of income. His life savings has been exhausted. He could sell his collected memorabilia. He could sell the house and pay the taxes but he is very emotionally attached to the property. The house symbolizes the time when he and his deceased wife were celebrities. He is emotionally attached to both the house and the memorabilia. He enters his wife’s closet and goes though some of her dresses. He goes though the evening gowns, ignoring the everyday clothes. He is looking for money it seems. He finds some. He looks at the bills carefully. They don’t look entirely right they are very old currency. Balthazar reluctantly leaves his home in his 1940 Cadillac Series 75 Limousine. He mutters to himself and his body language communicates that he is grumpy. He drives to a numismatic shop and sells the bills. Turns out they are 1941 issued and collectors items. He takes the money to the bank. Balthazar gets some mannequins out of the trash behind some department stores. He returns home. He puts his wife’s dress on them and then photographs them. As he takes the dress off the mannequins he searches them for money. He finds none. He is flustered and we think perhaps he is going to sell the dresses on Ebay. But nothing happens in this direction. He leaves his mansion again. We don’t immediately understand his purpose about town, but Balthazar encounters many young women all of whom seem to be looking for a film career. He encounters Brett, who is working at a cafe. He turns on the charm and befriends her. Brett is wary of his friendship chiefly because he promises to teach her how Hollywood works and how to become a star. She doesn’t know who Balthazar is or who he has been, but while in public some people gawk and stare. When someone finally asks for his autograph she is increasingly interested. As they talk about the film business, he guides her how to be seen in Hollywood. She is reluctant but does agree to attend a premier for a very low budget film. Balthazar influence is almost nil but he does manage to eke out an invitation. She feels that she doesn’t have the clothes for such an event. He explains that his wife had many appropriate dresses and they are still in his closet. Balthazar invites her back to the mansion to go through the wardrobe. Brett is curious about how long the wife has been dead. She has been dead for 15 years but the closet is still full of her 1940s clothes, which have come back into style. She thinks that is creepy but the clothes are so wonderful and the opportunity is just too good to pass up. She does some research and finds the dress Balthazar’s wife wore when she accepted her academy award. At the premier, there is a cheesy red carpet and very few photographers. However, with the internet bloggers and bottom feeding paparazzi, it does have the semblance of a larger event. Some of the photographers were paid by the producers to cover the premier. Balthazar and Brett have their photos taken. And inside Brett meets many connections that she feels can help her career. She has a great time and she is entirely convinced that Balthazar can make her a starlet. We now learn one source of Balthazar’s wealth and once upon a time fame. Every time the dress is photographed with a beautiful woman in it; a $100 bill is created. The new bill tickles Brett and she giggles and smiles each time she is photographed. After not long, she goes into the bathroom and takes the money out. Brett sleeps over in the guest room. She is exhausted by her day job and then a late night out. The next morning Balthazar looks on the internet for photos from the event. He finds many many photos and examines them studying them almost. He gets up from the computer and checks the evening gown what Brett had on the last evening. He finds a $100 that Brett missed. Balthazar sneaks into Brett’s room as she sleeps late. There are 18 crisp new $100 bills on the dresser. He thinks about taking the money. He leaves her the money and then goes back. He takes most of the money, but not all of it. This is the only element of magical realism in this film; every photograph creates $100 inside whatever Brett is wearing from the collection. It was this way for Balthazar’s wife, a famous actress. There isn’t any explanation why or how. Balthazar doesn’t question the phenomenon. It is simple a magical element in his actually very normal life. Our protagonist Brett and Balthazar are “reacting” to the pressures of their changed world. In the Hollywood tabloids, Balthazar is criticized for dating such a young woman and must explain that he is a grandfather figure helping a new talent. Secretly of course he wants to be young again. Brett is criticized for dating such an old man. Brett becomes aware of the money and how it suddenly appears in the evening bag. It occurs to Brett that Balthazar is only using her for the money. But Balthazar shows her how her skills in front of the camera have improve. She does some commercial work and some short films. Balthazar begins to forget to collect the money and the cash is left to her sometimes. Her career is still stagnant until she expresses her fear to Balthazar that she might not have what it takes. Balthazar begins to teach and coach her more intensely and the work pays off. Brett’s career explodes. She gets an agent, quiets her waitress job. She is hired to make some important commercials. She does some magazine modeling. Brett wears her new clothes when photographed and no money arrives. But her career is rewarding. She wants to go out every night as her career takes off. She is invited to more and more Hollywood events and parties. She owes her new found fame to Balthazar. Occasionally, when she goes out with Balthazar, she wears the deceased wife’s clothes. She realizes that the magical evening dresses bring her the cash. She confronts Balthazar with the phenomenon and he admits that he has been paying the bills from the money. She is shocked at first but forgives him. Soon, Balthazar is out of immediate financial problems. He owes his financial recovery to Brett. But as he is and feels like an old man, he is reluctant to go out every night. He calculates the amount of money he needs to keep the house until he dies. When he has that amount, he returns to a more sedentary life. Brett makes a feature film and then another and it propelled into the Hollywood spotlight. Brett has a crisis. It’s no wonder many celebrities, especially those in the film industry are sometimes stressed, exhausted and frazzled. They need to stay up late because they need to unwind after filming, get up early, have to answer the same interview questions day after day, not eating right because they are dieting. They are on the road or a location and the list goes on. There is a constant, around the clock pressure. Brett’s instinct is to fix this by overindulging. Balthazar helps her deal with celebrity. Balthazar also has a crisis. He becomes depressed. He calculates the years he has left to live and the money he will need in that period of time. His life is nearly complete and he is solemn about it. Balthazar’s health takes a bad turn. Balthazar comments to Brett that he always felt inadequate. He mentions that the money appeared in his wife’s evening bag and not his wallet. He feels that her stardom created the magic money. He feels that his wife was the real star and he really didn’t do anything with his own career. Sure his wife loved him but he feels that it was because he was reliable. Brett convinces Balthazar otherwise and that he was instrumental in her success. Instead of going out nights, she comes to the mansion only to watch the old movies with Balthazar. They go online and review movies that are sometimes 70 years-old. He is teaching her and she is proving her savvy for drama and filmmaking. She sometimes states, “They should have filmed that scene…” and has a constructive comment. Balthazar is very proud of her progress. Balthazar was always discounted at the “lesser known husband of the star” but we learn that he is a film genius. He is the ultimate teacher; he teaches Brett the acting and the business. Brett makes him feel better by pointing out how much he did for his wife’s career and more recently how he has given her priceless advice. Balthazar dies and leaves the house and the dress collection to Brett. There is a funeral. She wears one of the deceased wife’s black dresses. There is many paparazzi out in front of the church. They aren’t there for Balthazar they want Brett’s photo. Inside of course there aren’t supposed to be paparazzi but one sneaks in and takes a photo of Brett as she looks into the open coffin. As she leaves the funeral, there are paparazzi again and they 100s of photos. THE END OPTIONAL ENDING – At the mansion after the burial, Brett is troubled and finds only a singe $100 bill in the dress. It wasn’t the dresses that were magically creating the $100 bills. She understands that it was Balthazar being in the photograph that created the $100 bills. She smiles.

THE WARDROBE

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2014/06/12/wardrobe/