DONNIE BRASCO CHOSEN BY MICHAEL SHEEN
INT. LEFTY’S APARTMENT — NIGHT
Close-up on the television. A wildlife documentary
is playing.
VOICEOVER: Hyenas kill many young cheetahs.
Benjamin ‘Lefty’ Ruggiero (Al Pacino) is in
his armchair, smoking a cigarette. He’s dressed
in a suit.
The phone rings. Lefty answers it.
LEFTY: Yeah?
We don’t hear the other end of the conversation.
Michael Sheen: “This scene towards the end of
Donnie Brasco really stays with me. Al Pacino
has just found out that Johnny Depp’s character
was an undercover agent. Here he’s in his
apartment and he gets a phone call to set him
up to be killed. The whole weight and emotion
of the scene is in the mind of the audience and
you as an actor have to decide, how much do
you lean on that? How much do you play that?
Al Pacino makes all the right choices. It’s one of
the greatest pieces of acting I’ve ever seen,
because of what he doesn’t do.”
LEFTY: Yeah, alright. Alright, yeah.He doesn’t react. All he does is take another drag
of his cigarette. His wife, Annette (Ronnie Farer),
comes in. She’s towel-drying her hair, fresh out
of the shower.ANNETTE: Was that for me?LEFTY: Uh, no. It was a guy I gotta go see.ANNETTE: So late?LEFTY: What am I gonna do?Lefty gets out of his chair and walks towards her.
He puts his arm on her back and leads her out of
the lounge.LEFTY: Who knows with these people? Honey,
don’t wait up for me tonight.ANNETTE: No?LEFTY: Nah. I don’t know how long I’ll be.He opens the closet door and takes out his coat.LEFTY: And listen to me.As he puts it on, he continues to talk.LEFTY: If Donnie calls, tell him... tell him, uh...
if it was gonna be anyone, I’m glad it was
him. Alright?He hugs his wife. Kisses her on the lips.LEFTY: Look how beautiful you look. Goodbye.ANNETTE: [slightly taken aback] Bye, Ben.She goes into the bedroom, and takes one last
look back at Lefty.At the front door, Lefty checks his watch. He’s
about to open the door when he stops, and goes
back into the lounge. Keeping an eye on the
bedroom, he opens a drawer. He puts his watch
into it, and then takes off his wedding ring. Then
his lighter, followed by his keys.We see a close-up of the box as Lefty places
a roll of dollar bills inside it, and then his watch.Finally, he takes off the chain around his neck,
kisses it, and places it inside the box. He smooths
down his hair. He pulls open the box, so Annette
will see it, and walks toward the door. Reaching
into his coat pocket, he pulls out his glasses and
puts them on. He takes one look back at the
apartment he knows he will never see again,
opens the door, and leaves.