The Speed of Thought (2011)
Nick Stahl: Joshua Lazarus
Quotes
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[first lines]
[There is a long aural montage of strangers talking, presumably overheard in their thoughts by Joshua]
Emily : [Emily is chatting on the phone while walking down a busy street at night] I'm supposed to trust you? Trust is earned, my friend. Anyway, get your ass down here. If you take too long, I may be gone.
Joshua Lazarus : [She enters a nightclub and sits at the bar. Joshua approaches her] Hi. My name is Joshua.
Emily : I'm Vanessa.
Joshua Lazarus : Vanessa. You are a...
[he rubs his forehead with his index finger]
Joshua Lazarus : ...Virgo.
Emily : I'm not an obvious Virgo.
Joshua Lazarus : It was obvious to me.
Emily : [She smiles] You're very intuitive.
Joshua Lazarus : You could say that.
[He pauses]
Joshua Lazarus : Vanessa. You're name's not really Vanessa, is it?
Emily : [She's embarrassed] Emily.
-
Joshua Lazarus : That was the Argentinean Finance Minister. They want me to bankrupt him because he's not playing ball. They can't have that.
Sandy : That's awful. I should just say no when they ask to hire one of you. And they always ask for you or Kira. You're the only scopers they consider level-headed. Anyway, I'm sorry to make you do these abominable government jobs, but the Home needs the money.
Joshua Lazarus : You don't have to justify yourself to me, Sandy. You saved my life.
-
Joshua Lazarus : I started hearing the voices again.
Sandy : Can you control them?
Joshua Lazarus : For now.
[He pauses]
Joshua Lazarus : How long do I have?
Sandy : From the recurrence of the voices, sanity is generally lost within a month. I'm so sorry.
Joshua Lazarus : Don't be. I've had enough time. Thank you for being straight with me, Sandy.
Sandy : [Sandy rises and pulls a pill bottle out of his pocket] Here. These are stronger. They should help a little. Make sure you take them regularly!
[He grimaces]
Sandy : I'm needed back at the Home, Josh.
[He pulls some papers from his inner coat pocket]
Sandy : So... you should decide this now. Don't make the same mistake Bobby made.
Joshua Lazarus : [Josh looks unhappy] You decide for me. I mean it.
Sandy : Have you visited Bobby recently?
Joshua Lazarus : No. I can't.
Sandy : The NSA insists on permanent restraints, even with the sedation.
Joshua Lazarus : Yeah. Just...
[He picks up a pen. A tear rolls down his face]
Joshua Lazarus : Nothing, uh... sentimental with, uh, with the ashes.
[He wipes his eye]
Joshua Lazarus : You promise me?
Sandy : When you feel like the voices are becoming too much, come back to the Home.
-
[Josh and Anna run into each other at a market]
Anna Manheim : Hi!
Joshua Lazarus : Hey.
Anna Manheim : You're staying on the outside?
Joshua Lazarus : We don't believe in being in people's heads if they don't want us there. Unless they're normals.
Anna Manheim : Who's 'we'?
Joshua Lazarus : There are others like us. Not many.
Anna Manheim : You know, when I said, yesterday, "Get out," I didn't mean you had to get out of the house. I meant, get out from...
[she touches her forehead]
Anna Manheim : ...here. I wasn't prepared for it.
Joshua Lazarus : You are now?
[He focuses, and they appear, facing each other, in the dark, dreamy area that is telepathy]
Joshua Lazarus : Better this time?
Anna Manheim : Better.
Joshua Lazarus : You're fuzzy, you know.
Anna Manheim : I know - I thought it had to be this way, but you're not.
Joshua Lazarus : [He smiles] We'll fix it for you.
Anna Manheim : I'm - it's okay, it doesn't bother me.
Joshua Lazarus : Don't worry. It's an easy technique.
-
[Joshua has just met Anna in the market and returns to the car, where Bridger is waiting for his report]
Bridger : What'd you get?
Joshua Lazarus : Well, some vodka for me, and...
[teasing her]
Joshua Lazarus : ...for you, a laxative. Cherry flavor.
Bridger : [She's not amused] What did you get from the girl?
-
[Joshua is in a restaurant when Anna enters and takes a seat, many tables away. She shuts her eyes and concentrates. He enters her mind, where she is sitting in a room with rectangles of different colors on the walls, as in paintings by Mondrian]
Joshua Lazarus : Nice place you have here. Very... organized.
Anna Manheim : [Teasingly] Are you talking to me? I don't recall inviting you in.
Joshua Lazarus : No, I was talking to the busboy. He's a telepath, too.
-
Joshua Lazarus : We need order. It's how Sandy teaches us to deal with the chaos.
Anna Manheim : Who's Sandy?
Joshua Lazarus : Sandy taught me everything. Who trained you?
Anna Manheim : What do you mean?
Joshua Lazarus : I mean, who taught you to use your abilities?
Anna Manheim : No one.
Joshua Lazarus : That's not possible. You can't fight the voices on your own.
Anna Manheim : You don't have to fight them. It took me years to learn that.
Joshua Lazarus : I don't follow you.
-
Joshua Lazarus : You missed my birthday, by the way.
Kira : Happy belated condolences.
Joshua Lazarus : Both made it to 28, huh? What are the chances of that?
-
Joshua Lazarus : I'm... I'm... good.
Kira : [She looks skeptical] You're "good."
[Referring to scopers:]
Kira : We don't do "good."
-
[Bridger - who's a woman - corners Joshua in the men's bathroom]
Bridger : [Referring to the "unknown scoper" whom Joshua knows is Anna] Who is it?
Joshua Lazarus : I don't know yet.
Bridger : Well, that's bullshit. I mean, you got a lousy poker face, Lazarus. You're lucky you can cheat.
Joshua Lazarus : You spend a lot of time here in the men's room. Is there something I should know?
-
Joshua Lazarus : You ever think about what it'd be like to grow old?
Kira : Nope. Just like I don't think about what it'd be like to be a frog - 'cause it ain't gonna happen.
-
Anna Manheim : I've been wanting to ask you, how could you be so unethical with my father? It's not like you.
Joshua Lazarus : [He looks down, then meets her eyes] I'm just doing my country's bidding. The NSA loves us. We're like wiretaps without wires. No warrant required.
Anna Manheim : Give me a real answer, Josh.
Joshua Lazarus : Sandy teaches us that these jobs are for the greater good, and the NSA payments he uses to help other scopers.
Anna Manheim : I don't like that term, "scopers." It's an ugly word, and you use it to justify the ugly things they make you do. How would you like it if I were cheating your father?
Joshua Lazarus : I haven't seen my father in twenty years, so...
-
Anna Manheim : You've been taught to keep everyone out, but if you let everyone in, you'd be happier.
Joshua Lazarus : No thanks. All that selfishness, the million petty hatreds and prejudices, it's too much.
Anna Manheim : There is the other side. There is the rose that blooms in the lover's heart.
Anna Manheim : [She smiles at him] You just have to let yourself see it.
-
Anna Manheim : [Referring to the postcard she gave him] Look on the other side.
[He turns it over. She has written, "To many years together." He looks up at her and her smile fades]
Joshua Lazarus : Anna, I should... I should tell you more about Windman's Syndrome. You have a chance. You're only 26. Maybe they can find a... a cure in time for you.
Anna Manheim : I'm not actually 26. I'm sorry. I made you think I was 26.
Joshua Lazarus : [He is stunned] You can't lie in a merge.
Anna Manheim : Well, I kinda did.
[She giggles]
Joshua Lazarus : So, then, how old are you?
Anna Manheim : [softly, but smiling] I just turned 31.
Joshua Lazarus : That's not possible.
-
Joshua Lazarus : Anyway, they don't... they don't trust me anymore. They wanna send me back to New York.
Anna Manheim : Then I'm coming with you.
Joshua Lazarus : They'll be watching me. They always are. If they see us together...
Anna Manheim : What else can I do? I'm in love with you.
Joshua Lazarus : I'm so used to being alone. I thought it had to be that way.
Anna Manheim : I think we deserve some happiness.
Joshua Lazarus : We don't have much time left.
-
[after 20 years, Joshua finds his father in a temple]
Joshua Lazarus : Hello, Abba. It's me, Abba.
[His father hugs him and begins to weep]
-
[after re-introducing himself to his father, Joshua agrees that he was taken away from his parents for being "sick," using the Russian word]
Ephraim Lazarus : [delighted] So! You remember some Russian, too!
Joshua Lazarus : A little bit.
Ephraim Lazarus : And what else you remember?
Joshua Lazarus : I remember the... the numbers.
[He frowns down at his father's arm, where the sinister numbers have been imprinted]
Ephraim Lazarus : Yeah.
Joshua Lazarus : I remember trying to rub them off, but I couldn't.
-
Joshua Lazarus : Just because you save people's lives, doesn't give you the right to kill them.
-
[On the verge of Windman's Syndrome, Joshua is confronted by a voice in his sleep that eventually appears before him as a circus clown]
Clown : Fine. You want face-to-face? You got it. You want me to take off the mask?
[the clown removes its mask but the same mask is beneath it]
Clown : Get the point?
Joshua Lazarus : Exactly what do you want from me?
Clown : You have to leave. Soon. Get away.
Joshua Lazarus : How?
Clown : That's your problem.
Joshua Lazarus : Why?
Clown : Because you know something you shouldn't. I have to go now.
Joshua Lazarus : I'm just supposed to take your word for it?
Clown : I'm just telling you what you already know. Just think of me as your conscience talking. Make sure you take the girl. She knows it, too.
Joshua Lazarus : What does it matter if I'm going to be dead in a couple...
Clown : You have more time than you think.
-
Joshua Lazarus : This is weird, having to guess what you want. No wonder normals are so terrified of sex.
-
Bridger : Hello, Lazarus. Oh, you look a little too conscious for my liking. It's amazing how these drugs keep you mind-reading freaks talking, even when you're semi-comatose.
Joshua Lazarus : What'd I get?
Bridger : Hmm? Oh, you're more coherent when you're conscious, but then, of course, you're much less cooperative.