The Speed of Thought (2011)

Nick Stahl: Joshua Lazarus

Quotes 

• [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.

• [last lines] 

  Joshua Lazarus : You're here...

  Anna Manheim : I'm here.

• [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.