The Non-Actor (2025) Movie Script
[Click: High-pitched hum starts]
Bluff.
Baseball.
Sunset.
Lick.
Lot.
Jail.
Joy.
Wince.
Want.
War.
[She narrates] I traveled from New York
to Los Angeles for a trial.
My doctor had said the facility
was shaped like a seashell.
Like the cochlea.
"Isn't that so Los Angeles?" he said.
Wish.
[Low drone, street hum]
[She narrates] I had recently begun
to read, with some obsession
a forum on deafness.
To dial my expectations.
To match every moment to a moment
a stranger had already experienced
so I could know how to live
the moment when it arrived.
[Helicopter passes;
Distant siren wails]
In one entry a user, SmokeOut95,
said that while doing dishes
he could hear his upstairs neighbor
jumping rope.
[Rhythmic pounding]
That this neighbor always walked
the line of disrespect
but that when he shut off the water
he found it was the sound
of his own heart beating.
- [Muffled heartbeat]
- [Woman] Elliot.
Elliot!
It's nice to meet you.
- Thanks.
- Duh.
- It is hot.
- Yeah.
[Loud flapping, wind blows]
Thanks for letting me stay.
Oh my god, of course.
I really wanted to meet you.
So it's actually not generous.
It's selfish.
[Longing folk music, loud and tinny,
plays over car stereo]
[Elliot narrates] My ex
had moved to Los Angeles
and insisted I stay with him
and his new girlfriend.
[Horn honks]
But that morning, he wrote to say
he was stuck out of town on a job.
[Muffled] I have his old computer.
So I've seen a lot of photographs of you.
And it's funny. You actually look
different than I expected.
I mean, I knew you were beautiful.
So you can hear me.
[Music volume lowers]
I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
Oh, I said, so you can hear me.
Can you hear me?
I can, I can hear you.
I got kicked out of a silent retreat once,
I wouldn't stop mouthing words.
They were like, "You actually have to go."
[Music volume rises]
He calls me Imelda Marcos.
He's so sad he can't be here.
I have to quickly finish something.
- It'll only take, like, 30 minutes.
- Okay.
But please make yourself at home
like, really,
you know, whatever you need to do.
[Muffled] And also,
don't be afraid to let the bird out.
He likes to be out.
[Door shuts]
[Flowing water]
[Low rumble]
[Flow stops, low, high-pitched drone]
[Bird cries out]
[Fan drones]
[Bird cries out]
[Ambient muffles]
[Elliot narrates] On the forum I had
read an entry by Quicksand53 that said
Birdsong is often the first thing to go.
[Muffled bird call]
[Ambient swells]
That loss is a process
not a light switch
and good luck.
[Fan whirrs loudly]
In another entry
JawnGirl99 said
she could hear
metal music playing
when the fan in her room
faced her direction.
But if fan was on rotate/low
she would hear Silent Night,
which reminded her of church.
And she said that no offense
but she hates church.
[Distant, muffled speech]
[Bella, muffled voice]
I'm a very respectful person
and you make me feel
like a very disrespectful person
[Garbled male voice through speaker]
[Bella] I'm a very
respectful person
and you make me feel like
a very disrespectful person
[Male voice through speaker]
Let's do the line one more time...
with a little more air.
[Bella] I'm a very respectful person
and you make me feel like
a very disrespectful person.
[Soft music plays faintly]
[Water runs]
Did you always know
you wanted to be an actor?
Well I act. I'm only an actor
if somebody hires me.
And the only directors I want to work with
[muffled] only work with non-actors.
While we wait for the rice
I'm going to meditate.
[Whispering] Elliot!
[Music continues playing]
[Elliot narrates] In another entry
BESTDOG98 (Female, 17)
said that she had been afraid
to have sex since losing hearing.
That she had heard that women specifically
can sound like donkeys
Or worse, monsters.
[Music turns eerie]
In a reply, Beagles1 said
if you aren't sure how loud you are
when you come
you can set up a phone to record the sound
as you take care of yourself.
You will then know if the sound
is as bad as you fear.
[Insect medley, high ringing, highway hum]
I do feel guilty sometimes.
Like I care a lot about chronology.
What do you mean?
I mean, I respect it.
[Muffled] The order in which things happen
it's important to me.
He loved you first.
What, eight years?
[Utensils scraping]
- Luckily love is a present tense thing.
- Mm-mm.
I don't know, I think it's, like,
mainly a past tense thing.
It's like a moment, right?
It's a moment that we then simulate
and we simulate and we simulate
until it's been simulated
so many times it's...
unsimulatable.
- It's like so worn out.
- [Distant barking]
- [Distant firework pops]
- It's dust.
I think he's still simulating something
and it's not our simulation.
[Muffled] More tamari?
I'm not supposed to have too much salt.
I'm sorry about your ears.
I hope that they help you here.
[Car speeds past, loud muffler]
I read your emails to each other.
You are a great writer.
Like, even your emails
are really nice to read.
We're just really open with each other
about everything, and
I just really wanted to understand
your connection.
You look tired.
I'm okay, actually.
[Gentle bossa nova plays]
Here we go.
So, anyway, I come
from this long line of suicidal
very good looking women.
And, uh, well, two of them successfully...
But for some reason,
I don't know, I'm just like,
a more content person.
It's almost like a defect.
My happiness.
Historically, I feel like I've been
a happy person, but...
I really don't like change.
Do you see those two things
as being in opposition to each other?
Well, yeah, eventually, yeah.
I love change.
Like, I hold on to things really tightly.
And when I let go,
I really let go.
Yeah, I don't even like it
when things I don't like change.
Like,
I miss things that I don't even like.
[Bossa nova continues, flute swells]
[Faint] Maybe that's because you actually
do like the things you miss.
Sorry. What did you say?
Maybe that's because you actually
do like the things you miss.
Do you miss him?
I thought no one would ever
know me as well.
And I was afraid that
if no one ever knew me as well,
then no one could ever love me
as well.
And now?
Does anybody know you as well?
Well,
I don't even know if I think
that's important anymore.
Well, I thought about it.
And I think I'd rather die than go deaf.
[Elliot] Yeah.
You know, I realized something about
silence is, once I reach it,
I'll finally have something
that's constant.
Yeah.
You know, like,
something that actually won't change.
So now I think about it as
like a goal.
You know, like something to achieve.
Reaching the top of a mountain.
Or like the center of a maze.
Well, I love mazes.
And I love mountains.
Same.
Your eyes are really far apart.
Do you ever have this thing
when you are close to someone?
They have three eyes.
No.
No, like, your eyes unfocus and they
they put another eye on their forehead
like right between their eyebrows.
Like right now you have three eyes.
[Song ends]
[Pressurized silence]
[Bossa nova plays over headphones]
[Elliot] Sorry, what did you say?
[Bella] Maybe that's because
you actually do like the things you miss.
Do you miss him?
[Recording cuts out]
Do you ever have this thing
when you are close to someone?
They have three eyes?
[Music cuts out]
[Both moaning]
[Pleasure intensifies]
[Ecstatic gasps]
[Climax]
[Recording ends]
[Longing folk music returns]
Bluff.
Baseball.
Sunset.
Lick.
Lot.
Jail.
Joy.
Wince.
Want.
War.
[She narrates] I traveled from New York
to Los Angeles for a trial.
My doctor had said the facility
was shaped like a seashell.
Like the cochlea.
"Isn't that so Los Angeles?" he said.
Wish.
[Low drone, street hum]
[She narrates] I had recently begun
to read, with some obsession
a forum on deafness.
To dial my expectations.
To match every moment to a moment
a stranger had already experienced
so I could know how to live
the moment when it arrived.
[Helicopter passes;
Distant siren wails]
In one entry a user, SmokeOut95,
said that while doing dishes
he could hear his upstairs neighbor
jumping rope.
[Rhythmic pounding]
That this neighbor always walked
the line of disrespect
but that when he shut off the water
he found it was the sound
of his own heart beating.
- [Muffled heartbeat]
- [Woman] Elliot.
Elliot!
It's nice to meet you.
- Thanks.
- Duh.
- It is hot.
- Yeah.
[Loud flapping, wind blows]
Thanks for letting me stay.
Oh my god, of course.
I really wanted to meet you.
So it's actually not generous.
It's selfish.
[Longing folk music, loud and tinny,
plays over car stereo]
[Elliot narrates] My ex
had moved to Los Angeles
and insisted I stay with him
and his new girlfriend.
[Horn honks]
But that morning, he wrote to say
he was stuck out of town on a job.
[Muffled] I have his old computer.
So I've seen a lot of photographs of you.
And it's funny. You actually look
different than I expected.
I mean, I knew you were beautiful.
So you can hear me.
[Music volume lowers]
I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
Oh, I said, so you can hear me.
Can you hear me?
I can, I can hear you.
I got kicked out of a silent retreat once,
I wouldn't stop mouthing words.
They were like, "You actually have to go."
[Music volume rises]
He calls me Imelda Marcos.
He's so sad he can't be here.
I have to quickly finish something.
- It'll only take, like, 30 minutes.
- Okay.
But please make yourself at home
like, really,
you know, whatever you need to do.
[Muffled] And also,
don't be afraid to let the bird out.
He likes to be out.
[Door shuts]
[Flowing water]
[Low rumble]
[Flow stops, low, high-pitched drone]
[Bird cries out]
[Fan drones]
[Bird cries out]
[Ambient muffles]
[Elliot narrates] On the forum I had
read an entry by Quicksand53 that said
Birdsong is often the first thing to go.
[Muffled bird call]
[Ambient swells]
That loss is a process
not a light switch
and good luck.
[Fan whirrs loudly]
In another entry
JawnGirl99 said
she could hear
metal music playing
when the fan in her room
faced her direction.
But if fan was on rotate/low
she would hear Silent Night,
which reminded her of church.
And she said that no offense
but she hates church.
[Distant, muffled speech]
[Bella, muffled voice]
I'm a very respectful person
and you make me feel
like a very disrespectful person
[Garbled male voice through speaker]
[Bella] I'm a very
respectful person
and you make me feel like
a very disrespectful person
[Male voice through speaker]
Let's do the line one more time...
with a little more air.
[Bella] I'm a very respectful person
and you make me feel like
a very disrespectful person.
[Soft music plays faintly]
[Water runs]
Did you always know
you wanted to be an actor?
Well I act. I'm only an actor
if somebody hires me.
And the only directors I want to work with
[muffled] only work with non-actors.
While we wait for the rice
I'm going to meditate.
[Whispering] Elliot!
[Music continues playing]
[Elliot narrates] In another entry
BESTDOG98 (Female, 17)
said that she had been afraid
to have sex since losing hearing.
That she had heard that women specifically
can sound like donkeys
Or worse, monsters.
[Music turns eerie]
In a reply, Beagles1 said
if you aren't sure how loud you are
when you come
you can set up a phone to record the sound
as you take care of yourself.
You will then know if the sound
is as bad as you fear.
[Insect medley, high ringing, highway hum]
I do feel guilty sometimes.
Like I care a lot about chronology.
What do you mean?
I mean, I respect it.
[Muffled] The order in which things happen
it's important to me.
He loved you first.
What, eight years?
[Utensils scraping]
- Luckily love is a present tense thing.
- Mm-mm.
I don't know, I think it's, like,
mainly a past tense thing.
It's like a moment, right?
It's a moment that we then simulate
and we simulate and we simulate
until it's been simulated
so many times it's...
unsimulatable.
- It's like so worn out.
- [Distant barking]
- [Distant firework pops]
- It's dust.
I think he's still simulating something
and it's not our simulation.
[Muffled] More tamari?
I'm not supposed to have too much salt.
I'm sorry about your ears.
I hope that they help you here.
[Car speeds past, loud muffler]
I read your emails to each other.
You are a great writer.
Like, even your emails
are really nice to read.
We're just really open with each other
about everything, and
I just really wanted to understand
your connection.
You look tired.
I'm okay, actually.
[Gentle bossa nova plays]
Here we go.
So, anyway, I come
from this long line of suicidal
very good looking women.
And, uh, well, two of them successfully...
But for some reason,
I don't know, I'm just like,
a more content person.
It's almost like a defect.
My happiness.
Historically, I feel like I've been
a happy person, but...
I really don't like change.
Do you see those two things
as being in opposition to each other?
Well, yeah, eventually, yeah.
I love change.
Like, I hold on to things really tightly.
And when I let go,
I really let go.
Yeah, I don't even like it
when things I don't like change.
Like,
I miss things that I don't even like.
[Bossa nova continues, flute swells]
[Faint] Maybe that's because you actually
do like the things you miss.
Sorry. What did you say?
Maybe that's because you actually
do like the things you miss.
Do you miss him?
I thought no one would ever
know me as well.
And I was afraid that
if no one ever knew me as well,
then no one could ever love me
as well.
And now?
Does anybody know you as well?
Well,
I don't even know if I think
that's important anymore.
Well, I thought about it.
And I think I'd rather die than go deaf.
[Elliot] Yeah.
You know, I realized something about
silence is, once I reach it,
I'll finally have something
that's constant.
Yeah.
You know, like,
something that actually won't change.
So now I think about it as
like a goal.
You know, like something to achieve.
Reaching the top of a mountain.
Or like the center of a maze.
Well, I love mazes.
And I love mountains.
Same.
Your eyes are really far apart.
Do you ever have this thing
when you are close to someone?
They have three eyes.
No.
No, like, your eyes unfocus and they
they put another eye on their forehead
like right between their eyebrows.
Like right now you have three eyes.
[Song ends]
[Pressurized silence]
[Bossa nova plays over headphones]
[Elliot] Sorry, what did you say?
[Bella] Maybe that's because
you actually do like the things you miss.
Do you miss him?
[Recording cuts out]
Do you ever have this thing
when you are close to someone?
They have three eyes?
[Music cuts out]
[Both moaning]
[Pleasure intensifies]
[Ecstatic gasps]
[Climax]
[Recording ends]
[Longing folk music returns]