Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
Melissa McCarthy: Lee Israel
Photos
Quotes
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Lee Israel : I have been living in a state of enormous guilt and anxiety for the past year. Not because I felt like I was doing something wrong, but because I was always afraid of being found out. I can't specifically say that I regret my actions. I don't. I thoroughly enjoyed writing these letters, living in the world of Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward, pretending I was something I am not. In many ways, this has been the best time of my life. It's the only time recently I can remember being proud of the work I was doing. But it wasn't my work, was it? I was hiding behind these people, their names. Because if I'd actually put myself out there, done my own work, then I would be opening myself up to criticism. And I'm too much of a coward for all of that. I've lost my cat, the only soul that truly loved me, maybe ever. And I lost my friend, who might have been an idiot, but tolerated me, and was nice to have around. And I've realized that I'm not a real writer. In the end, it was not worth it.
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Jack Hock : You're a horrid cunt, Lee.
Lee Israel : I love you too, Jack.
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Lee Israel : Can you keep a secret?
Jack Hock : Who would I tell? All my friends are dead.
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Lee Israel : You were friends with Julia...
Jack Hock : Steinberg. She's not an agent anymore - she died.
Lee Israel : She did? So young.
Jack Hock : Or maybe she didn't die. Maybe she just moved to the suburbs - I always confuse those two. No, that's right. She got married and had twins.
Lee Israel : Better to have died.
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Lee Israel : I'm writing a book about Fanny Brice.
Jack Hock : Who's Fanny Brice?
Lee Israel : Are you sure you're a fag?
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Lee Israel : I trusted you. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I don't do that. And you have reminded me why that is.
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Lee Israel : I'm a 51-year-old who likes cats better than people.
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Lee Israel : This is a celebratory drinking session, not a wallowing one.
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Gossipy Office Worker : [first lines: as Lee drinks whiskey at her desk] I swear she's older than my mom.
Cubicle Worker : Fuck, kill me if I'm still doing this at her age.
Lee Israel : Kill you now if you ask me nicely.
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Lee Israel : Jack Hock, you said?
Jack Hock : That's me. The renegade, the rebel. Jack Hock, big cock.
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Lee Israel : I have figured out a way to pay my bills, without shoveling shit, and it is a good feeling.
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Lee Israel : [Finishing her drink at the bar] I need another.
Craig : That's debatable.
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Lee Israel : You pissed in a closet.
Jack Hock : I did what?
Lee Israel : You pissed in a closet. Now I remember. Nobody could stop talking about the English gentleman...
Jack Hock : Why thank you.
Lee Israel : Who was so shit-faced, he mistook the closet for the can. You ruined thousands of dollars worth of furs. Those old biddies didn't know what hit them!
[both laugh]
Lee Israel : Oh the disgusting furs covered in piss. Dogs followed them home!
Jack Hock : [laughing] Oh I'm glad somebody found it amusing. Some folks stopped talking to me after that night.
Lee Israel : Well, fuck 'em!
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Lee Israel : Give me one good reason why that cocky shit gets three million dollars and you can't give me ten thousand? Are you that bad of an agent?
Marjorie : Toni, could you please close the door? Miss Israel have some sensitive business to discuss.
Lee Israel : Yeah, God forbid you have to hear an adult conversation, Toni!
Marjorie : I'll give you three reasons. Number one, Tom Clancy is famous.
Lee Israel : Oh, here we go!
Marjorie : Yes, you have written a couple of successful biographies and you've managed to disappear behind your subject matter. But because of that, nobody knows who you are!
Lee Israel : Because I'm doing my job!
Marjorie : Number two, Tom Clancy does every radio show. He does Larry King, he goes to book signings, he plays the game. Meanwhile, you have destroyed every bridge I have built for you.
Lee Israel : See that is beside the point, I am doing good writing!
Marjorie : Number three, nobody wants a book about Fanny Brice! There is nothing new or sexy about Fanny Brice. I couldn't get you a ten dollar advance for a book about Fanny Brice!
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Lee Israel : So what do you do, Jack Hock?
Jack Hock : Oh this and that. Mainly that.
