IN THE COMPANY OF MEN : The Lost Scene from Playboy, here now!

Due to popular demand, I'm going to write out the scene on here for everyone.

IN THE COMPANY OF MEN: THE LOST SCENE

A Naughty Secret From The Confessions of Chad. Read It, But Don’t Tell Mom

The most disturbing movie of 1997 was also the most misunderstood. Written and directed by Neil LaBute, In The Company of Men rattled audiences with characters who utter things most men only think about and who do things most men only talk about. Though In the Company of Men is about alienation in the corporate world, it is often mistakenly labeled an exercise in misogyny. In it, the movie’s misanthropic antihero Chad(played by Aaron Eckhart) destroys his rival by recruiting him in a scheme to seduce a deaf girl and then break her heart. Even today a mention of Chad or the movie itself throws some people into a cold rage. Now there’s more–a climactic monolog in which Chad recalls a special lady in his life. It comes from LaBute’s original script but was never shot.
“Audiences always want to know, ‘Why?’ Or, ‘Where did you get the idea?’” says LaBute. “They also like to add, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ They are even more inquisitive when things aren’t tied up neatly at the end of the film. When faced with these questions–audiences always look for answers from the writer– I’m the ultimate fence-sitter. The biggest concerns with In The Company of Men involve Chad: ‘Why is he Chad, and how can he do the things he does?’ A writer likes to answer, ‘Why not? Why not explore– who says we can’t go there?’ As I fleshed out his character, I worked on detailing a day from his past. As a writer I needed this scene, but as a director I thought it was too overt. It wasn’t written as an explanation for Chad’s behavior. I didn’t want to assign everything in his personality to one episode in his youth, but invariably it would have been seen that way. Ultimately, it was useful only in giving both Aaron and myself a place to begin with Chad.
“For those who ponder this scene, it’s best to think of it as merely another piece of the puzzle that is Chad. If nothing else, consider it a Christmas card from me to you.”

YMCA POOL— EARLY EVENING

In a quiet corner of the lap pool at the neighborhood Y, CHAD is pulled up against the tile, holding on to the side and lazily kicking his feet in the blue water. A CO-WORKER drifts nearby. CHAD’s eyes are closed as he speaks.

CHAD

I’m lying in my bed, bunk beds we had at home, maybe 16 years old, and I’m jerking off. Normal, right? I’ve skipped school, home for the day, Gilligan’s Island is not coming on for another two hours, and I start playing with myself. [beat] So I’m doing it, going at it, looking at the poster of Farrah, and on and on......I glance up– God knows the actual time that’s passed–and my f#cking mom is standing at the door of my room, watching me. Jesus! I start sputtering, making up medical reasons for my hobby, and I’m not messing with you, she puts a finger to her lips, opens her....this is gonna sound crazy...opens her f#cking dress, not a word out of her mouth, and displays the two most perfect tits I’ve ever seen. [beat] Not coming over, abuse of any kind, weird sh#t of that bent, but she holds these boobs up for me to look at, as I’m going, “Huh?”

CO-WORKER is alert at this, looking skeptically at CHAD, who has the hint of a smile on his lips. Silence. CHAD doesn’t hesitate as he glances over only briefly.

CHAD

I know, I know, but what am I gonna do, right? My own mother, for Christ’s sake! This little smile on her face. And I falter, I do, but goddamn if I can’t find it in me to keep on...[beat] I’m watching her–not a flicker of movement, her nipples hardening, only slightly–and f#ck, I come, I’m serious, I nearly hit the window eight feet away, just the two of us staring at each other. After, I lay back, breath all gone and the shame starting up, and you know, I check Mom, out of the corner of my eye, but she’s already buttoned up. She whispers to me, “You rest now.” And off she goes. Don’t see her anymore that afternoon. [beat] Imagine that, huh? And I’ll tell you, I’ve puzzled over it, mused the hell out of the meaning of the gesture, but nothing. No idea. But I’m sure of at least one thing. Doesn’t matter who I’m with, rest of my days, I don’t ever expect to see a set of jugs like those. And that scares me a little. It does.

This is too much. The CO-WORKER can’t help but laugh and CHAD joins right in, just two young men relaxing in the water and having a good old giggle.

CHAD (continued)

Anyway, I do remember this–and I always found it kind of significant. She made me, my mom did, my favorite meal that night for dinner. Big roast, bunch of potatoes. A Bundt cake, I think. And Dad’s sitting there across from me, no clue whatsoever as he tries to keep up with Monty Hall in the next room...[beat] So was it wrong? Some Oedipal sh#t I’ll pay for in the end? Maybe so, I don’t know, but we must talk on the phone two, three times a week and I still get a Whitman Sampler off her every holiday, so I guess it didn’t do that much damage...right?

CHAD doesn’t wait for a reply but instead buries his head under the cool surface of the pool. He shakes his hair like a hound and then pushes off past his CO-WORKER, disappearing with long strokes into the humidity and haze of the dimly lit room.






The world's a hell, what does it matter what happens in it?