5th most-quoted character in The Ghost Writer (2010): in 6 of its 53 quotes
Most scenes with: The Ghost (6)
Could you transcribe this as quickly as possible, please?
Amelia Bly Of course.
Amelia Bly How's it going?
Amelia Bly He always does that when he can't remember someone's name. There are sandwiches in the kitchen.
Who is it?
Mr. Rycart sent me.
Hold on.
Just gonna do a quick check, if you don't mind. Get your stuff together. We're leaving.
He's clean.
Thanks, Frank. Sorry about that. Please, get in.
It crossed my mind. You do work for Lang.
Yeah, for three days. I hardly know the guy.
Who does? I worked for him for 15 years, till he fired me, and I still can't fathom him.
Yeah, his wife said more or less the same.
There you go. If someone as sharp as Ruth can't get him, what hope do we have? Tough day?
Yeah, you could say that.
You have the book?
Yeah.
He's got it.
...
Before we go any further, I wonder if I might take a look at that book.
No. Before we go any further, there's a few things I'd like to know first. Such as, why did Mike McAra have your number?
Okay. Sure. He was helping me.
McAra? How?
Mike found the documents linking Lang to the torture flights.
What? It was McAra who gave you the documents?
Yeah, Mike McAra. The loyalest of the loyal.
But why?
He didn't like discovering he was working for a war criminal. Would you? Oh, I forgot. You are. The book?
Well, don't tell me you're gonna read it now.
Not all of it. Just the beginning. There's something very important about it.
Yeah. It's the cure for insomnia.
...
Mike said he'd discovered something new. It's the last time he called me. He said it explained everything that had gone wrong when we were in government.
What was it?
He wouldn't say over the phone. He just kept saying if anything happened to him, the truth was in Lang's memoirs. "It's all there in the beginning."
The beginning? Then he means Cambridge. [Rummages for photo and displays it]
What the hell's this?
Emmett? The Arcadia guy. So what?
On the day that Mike McAra died, he drove up to see Emmett, and I think he was murdered on his way home.
What?
I went to see Emmett today, and two guys followed me from his house. That's why I called you. At the time that this photograph was taken, Paul Emmett was an officer in the CIA.
Emmett?
Foreign Resources Division.
Oh, my God. You realize how important this is, don't you? This explains why Lang went into politics. Everyone knows he didn't have a political thought in his pretty little head. This is why he rose so quickly, with a little help from his friends.
Well, do you think it's possible...
Okay, a quiz for you. Name one decision Lang made in 10 years as Prime Minister which wasn't in the interests of the USA. Well, come on, it's not a trick question. Iraq, Middle East policy, Star Wars defense, buying American nuclear missiles, support of terrorist rendition. The sacking of any minister Washington didn't like, including yours truly. McAra was right. This explains everything.
Answer it.
Hello, Amelia.
Amelia Bly Good evening. I have Adam for you.
We're coming to get you.
What?
Ruth tells me you're stuck at the ferry terminal. We've just taken off from New York. Pilot says we can stop by and pick you up.
Really? There's no need.
We've got a book to write, remember?
Hold on a sec, Adam. He said he wants to pick me up in his private jet.
Say yes.
What if it's a trap?
If you refuse, he'll get suspicious. Tell him yes.
That'd be great, Adam. Yeah, thanks.
I'll get to the airport. See you there.
...
He sounds worried. I really don't think this is a good idea.
You have no choice.
Emmett must have told Lang that I'd been to see him.
So, what's he gonna do about it? Dump you in the ocean?
Well, it happened before!
Which means it can't happen again. He can't drown two ghostwriters, for God's sake. You're not kittens.
All this is just theory. We don't have any proof.
You'll get us the proof.
Me?
You're his ghostwriter. Presumably, he lets you tape him.
I use discs, actually. Discs, tapes.
You've got to confront him with this. Record his reaction. Even if he denies it, it's something.
I'm in a tricky position here. I signed a confidentiality agreement.
It's a bit late for that. It means the discs are his property. The court can subpoena them.
And what if I don't record any discs?
Then you'll be subpoenaed and forced to repeat this whole story.
Then I'll deny it.
Then I'll give them this. Frank is recording every word. Aren't you, Frank? Oh! Come on! Don't look so shocked. What did you expect? That I'd come into a meeting with a man working for Lang without taking any precautions? Except you're not working for Lang anymore. You're working for the good guys.
You know all this is pointless, don't you? In the end, he'll just retire over here with his CIA pension, and he'll tell you and the bloody war crimes court to go and **** yourselves.
...
Good evening, sir. Hatherton welcomes you aboard.
Thank you. It's my first time in a private jet.
Well, let's hope it's not your last.
Hi, man. Take your seat.
Thanks.
Hey, bring my ghost a Calvados.
Yes, sir.
Leave it off for now. Ruth said you were in New York to see Maddox.
That's right.
How was he?
He was fine. Full of energy?
You know John.
Yes, I do know John. As a matter of fact, I was just with him.
You never saw him today, did you?
No.
Do you have something to tell me?
I went to see Emmett.
That windbag! Why?
I know about you and Emmett.
Me and Emmett?
I know that he was your...
My?
...handler, if that's what they're called.
My handler?
Yeah, that he was your handler in the CIA.
Oh, my God. You're serious, aren't you?
When McAra found this, he went to Boston to show it to Emmett, and he died on the way home, and I think he was murdered.
I think you've had a few too many of those already.
It was McAra who believed that Emmett told you to go into politics in the first place.
Emmett? I barely knew the man.
And that story of yours about why you joined the party and Ruth and the canvassing, well, the dates don't fit.
I got the dates wrong. Big deal!
Then when he found this photograph, and he heard the rumors about Emmett being in the CIA...
Rumors?
It's on the Internet.
I've never heard such utter balls in my entire life. Mike would never have believed such crap. He was too clever. Too loyal. Mike betrayed you to Rycart. How do you know that?
He told me.
Rycart? He's lying.
This phone number on the back of the photograph, it's Rycart's. The handwriting, that's McAra's.
Mike. Mike, Mike.
And you knew he was disillusioned. You had a big row with him just before he died.
Yes, I know, but he never mentioned this. This is just... This is grotesque. I've never taken orders from anyone. Whatever I did, I did because I believed it was right.
What, even supporting illegal kidnapping for torture?
Oh, for God's sake, spare me the bleeding-heart bullshit! Do you know what I'd do if I was in power again? I'd have two queues at airports. One for flights where we'd done no background checks, infringed on no one's civil bloody liberties, used no intelligence gained by torture. And on the other flight, we'd do everything we possibly could to make it perfectly safe. And then we'd see which plane the Rycarts of this world would put their bloody kids on! And you can put that in the book! [Assistant staff stare at them]
Amelia Bly Here we are.
Oh, here we are.
Amelia Bly I'm sorry. I think I'm over it, and then suddenly I realize I'm not.
Are you sure this is all right?
Amelia Bly Of course. My invitation said plus one.
Only I wondered if you might've wanted to bring your husband.
Amelia Bly That didn't work out. I hadn't appreciated quite how bored he was with being my plus one.
Shall we go in?
Amelia Bly Yeah. Amelia Bly, plus one. [To attendant when entering book launch party] Thank you.
That was a bit of a turn-up, for the books, you calling me.
Amelia Bly I heard you weren't invited, and I thought you should be here.
Ghosts are never invited to the launch party, as a rule. We're an embarrassment. Like a mistress at a wedding.
Amelia Bly Sorry. I brought you a present.
Thank you. That's very funny.
Amelia Bly I thought, seeing as you were so keen to hold onto it, you might like it as a souvenir. Between you and me, it wasn't us, it was the Americans. They thought the book was a potential threat to national security.
But there's nothing in it.
Amelia Bly Something about the beginnings. I think that's what I heard.
The beginning?
Amelia Bly No, beginnings. The beginnings.
Beginnings? [Has a moment of epiphany]
Amelia Bly You all right?
Do you know that man? The one who's speaking to Ruth.
Amelia Bly Paul Emmett?
What's he doing here?
Amelia Bly Well, he was Ruth's tutor at Harvard when she was a Fulbright scholar. Why shouldn't he be here?
Amelia Bly Are you ill?
No, I'm aging. This place is Shangri-La in reverse.
I'd never guess you smoked.
Amelia Bly I only allow myself one. In times of great stress or contentment.
Which is this?
Amelia Bly Very funny.
It's my first time in a private jet.
Amelia Bly Let's hope it's not your last.
