I have no criminal record in the state of New York.
And the single determining criterion for involuntary incarceration is danger.
Is the defendant a danger to himself or others?
You think you got the horses for that?
Well, good luck and God bless. But I tell you this:
The last place you want to see me is in court.
I'm not the enemy.
Then who are you?
We find the seed.
We shape the soil.
We speed the harvest.
We feed the planet.
We find the seed.
We shape the soil.
We speed the harvest.
We feed the planet.
What the hell is he doing?
We find the seed.
You've reached the voicemail of Arthur Edens at Kenner, Bach & Ledeen.
Please leave your message after the tone.
Yes!
Here we are, all together. Is everyone listening?
This is the moment you've been waiting for. A very special piece of paper.
So let's have a big, paranoid, malignant round of applause...
...for United Northfield Culcitate Internal Research Memorandum 229.
June 19th, 1991.
"Conclusion:
The unanticipated market growth for Culcitate...
...by small farms in colder climates demands immediate cost-benefit analysis. "
Would you guys like a little bit of legal advice?
Never let a scientist use the words "unanticipated"...
...and "immediate" in the same sentence.
Okay? Okay.
"In-house field studies have indicated...
...that small short-season farms dependent on well water for human consumption...
...are at risk for toxic particulate concentrations at levels...
...significant enough to cause serious human tissue damage. "
Well, this is a long way of saying that...
...you don't even have to leave your house to be killed by our product.
We'll pipe it into your kitchen sink.
- "Culcitate's great market advantage... - Give me the phone.
...that it is tasteless, colorless and does not precipitate...
...has the potential to mask and intensify...
...these potentially lethal exposures. "
Now, I love this.
Not only is this a great product...
...it is a superb cancer delivery system.
"Chemical modifications of the Culcitate product...
...the addition of a detector molecule, such as an odorant or colorant...
...would require a top-down redesign of the Culcitate manufacturing process.
These costs, while assumed to be significant...
...were not summarized here. "
Which, loosely translated, means:
"It's going to cost a fortune to go back on this, and I'm just an asshole in a lab...
...so could someone else please make the decision?"
"Clearly, the release of these internal research documents...
...would compromise the effective marketing of Culcitate...
...and must be kept within the protective confines...
...of United-Northfield's trade secret language. "
You don't need me to tell you what that means.
Goodbye.
- It seemed to warrant my coming to... - Yes.
You have to contain this.
- Contain? - Right.
Well, that's my question.
What are the? What's the option that we're looking at?
Along those lines.
You're talking about the paper, the data? I don't...
Well, I'm wondering if there is some other option.
I mean something I'm not thinking of?
We deal in absolutes.
Okay. I understand that. I do.
The material, the papers, I'm not a lawyer. We try, we do what we can.
Well, the other way?
Is the other way.
- Maybe you wanna bring Don in on this. - No.
This is nothing to do with Don. He's busy. This is nothing to do with Don.
Do you think it's doable?
Yeah. We have some good ideas. You say move, we move.
If the ideas don't look so good, we back off, reassess...
Okay.
Is that, "Okay, you understand," or "Okay, proceed"?
Are you 1? Are you 2? Are you 3?
Are you 4? Are you 5? Are you 6?
- Are you 7? Are you 8? Are you 9? - Come on.
Come, come on. Come on, I said. Hey!
Come on.
Go on, Dad, make a wish.
If I get what I wish for, it'll kill me.
You're a maniac. Unbelievable.
Give me a hand, Eddie, huh?
All right, Eddie.
Now, I did not make this myself and I don't wanna hear any complaints.
Happy birthday.
You have time for cake?
Yeah, yeah. I'll take one to go.
You going in?
- I'm late already. - Shit.
You're not both running out?
I got a situation.
- You can't hang? - You're going in.
- Yeah. I got a shift. - So do I.
Come on, man. You haven't been up here in months.
If you go back now, Mickey, Henry's staying here.
Good. You can drive him home.
Just stay for an hour.
The girls did all this stuff.
He'll be asleep by then.
Timmy's been calling me.
He's afraid to talk to you.
He should be.
- It closed out bad, right? - Is that what he told you?
The kids are freaking out.
The in-laws are freaking out.
Pammy can't stop crying long enough to start freaking out.
- She took him back. - So what? Fuck her and the kids?
No. Fuck Timmy. And nothing's closed, okay?
I sold everything and we're still short. So don't talk about Pammy and the kids.
I got my hands full.
If it was you, he'd be in traction.
Yeah, he's sick, all right?
- He's sick. It's a sickness. - There's a fresh perspective.
I've seen a lot of people falling off the wagon lately. It's going around.
Is that pointed at me?
When do I see you? How do I know what you're up to?
I haven't bet on a game in over a year.
I haven't been in a card room in 10 months.
I gambled on the bar. I bet on Timmy and he wiped me out.
That was my big play, all right?
I put up my walk-away money and it's gone and I'm scrambling.
Okay. Okay.
Cool down. I hear you.
I'd be pissed off too.
Just hang for an hour.
- Okay? - Yeah.
Ready? And, lift.
Ready and go.
Wipe.
You better hit it.
We're good.
Okay, I found it. That's his number.
Dr. Mullien. See if you have any more luck.
If I can. As soon as I get a chance.
It's Medicaid. They're running us in circles. I can pull the file...
Let him go, Steph. He's got a date.
I've got a date with a maniac attorney.
- Take a night off, Mickey. - You look tired.
- I'm okay. See you soon. - Be good.
- All right. Bye. - Bye, Hen.
- Bye, Pop. - Bye.
- Uncle Timmy, hey! - How you doing, Henry?
Henry, get in the car.
Good to see you, Hen.
- What do you want? - I've been sober eight days now.
Been back at the meetings. I wanted you to know.
In front of the kid?
Mickey, please. I know how bad I did, I swear.
I don't know how to make it right again. It's all I think about.
What do I do? I don't know what to do.
Get Stephanie her tires back.
- Is he crying? - I don't know.
Because of drugs, right?
That and everything else.
What?
Your Uncle Timmy...
...and I mean this, on his best day, is never as tough as you.
I'm not talking about crying or the drugs or anything.
I'm talking about in his heart, in his heart. You understand me?
And all his charming bullshit, this Big Tim, Uncle, Boss bullshit...
...and I know you love him, and I know why.
But when you see him like that...
...you don't have to worry. That's not how it'll be for you.
You're not gonna be someone that goes through life...
...wondering why shit keeps falling out of the sky around them.
I know that. I know it.
Okay?
I see it every time I look at you. I see it right now.
I don't know where you got it from, but you got it.
Okay?
Hello?
The neighbors came by. They're renovating the loft downstairs.
They had water flooding from his bathroom down to their place.
His front door, fire escape, he had everything locked up pretty good.
It took our guys 10 minutes. They had to knock the thing down.
There's pills all over the place.
Just the scene alone is pretty definitive for suicide.
Then I spoke to some of your partners...
...who ran down these problems he'd been having lately, so...
- Is there a note? - No. They looked.
It could be an accident or he was gonna write a note and just messed up.
Can I get in there?
His place? Not now. It's sealed.
Once the seal goes up, it's frozen. We're gonna try and reach his daughter.
I guess she's off in Europe. But she's gotta come in.
Or the M.E.'s gotta come back with a toxicology report.
That's a couple of weeks at least that it's gotta stay like that.
Sorry.
Sure.
Okay.
I know your brother a little. My wife works the 190 out in Queens.
I'll tell him hello.
If something comes in, I'll get back to you.
Yeah. I appreciate it.
I'm sorry for your loss.
- Michael. - Jeff.
This is tough.
Yeah, it is. He in here?
Dumb son of a bitch.
What a thing.
- Hold on. - I don't even know...
- I'm so sorry. - Yeah. All right.
I didn't even get a chance to talk to him.
That crazy goddamn bastard.
What a waste. What the hell was he thinking?
Marty? I gotta set this up.
Go. Go.
You okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
Come on, let's get you a drink.
I just keep replaying all this back. Like, did I push him too hard?
Not a chance.
I just couldn't get through to him.
What, you scared him to death? Come on. The man was a bull.
- Never happened. - Why does he fold, then? Why does he?
It's gotta be an accident.
No, no. Arthur without a note?
He couldn't piss without leaving a memo. Has to be an accident.
I don't get that. I don't understand that either.
One minute he's gonna take on the whole world...
...and then 12 hours later, he's sucking down pills. Why?
Why?
Because people are fucking incomprehensible. "Why?"
Thirty years I know Arthur.
Good years.
And what I feel right now, if I'm honest?
I can't even say, it's so awful.
You can say it.
We caught a lucky break.
We did, didn't we?
Marty? We need to get up to the office.
- They accepted? - In principle.
Don Jeffries wants us on the phone in half an hour.
I tried to explain about Arthur, but they're short on sympathy.
Wait a minute. U/North is settling?
They see a window. They wanna try. It's their show. What are we gonna do?
You did what you could, Michael. We all did.
It's...
It's what we got.
- You need a ride? - No, thanks, I'm fine.
Hello.
Hello. Hi. I'm looking for Anna Kysersun.
Who is this?
Michael Clayton. I'm an attorney in New York. I got your number from Arthur.
- You have got some nerve. - Excuse me?
You get her all the way to New York City and then leave her at the airport?
This is not a complicated person.
This is a girl who's never been farther than Milwaukee.
- Wait a minute. Now, wait. - No, you wait.
She's coming home tomorrow and when she does, if you call here again...
Are you telling me she's in New York right now?
This is a young girl, do you hear me?
She's in the city right now?
What kind of people are you?
Listen. You just stay on the phone one second. One second.
Anna.
Anna?
My name's Michael Clayton. I'm a friend of Arthur's.
I spoke with your sister. She told me you were here.
Please open the door, Anna.
What are you thinking?
I don't know. I'll watch the door. You check his car. Let's get some details.
He didn't want to say exactly what it was.
Just that when I got here, he would pick me up...
...and show me, and I would see...
...that it was something that would win the whole case.
Even this morning...
...I mean, I thought:
"Okay, if I get to the airport and the ticket's not there, then I'll know.
Okay, you're stupid, and you can go home now. "
But it was there and he paid, like, 800 dollars...
...for a first-class ticket.
And I just...
I got on the plane.
I believed him.
You think maybe he was in some way disappointed?
Let's say that he knew that you told somebody else about all of this...
...and, I don't know, in some crazy way, he was disappointed by that?
- But I didn't. - You must have told somebody else.
No.
He made me promise.
You didn't tell anybody else about this? Not one other person?
No.
He really was crazy, wasn't he?
- You talking about this? - Let me see.
- You know what that is? - Yeah.
You said a favor. That's more than a favor.
Well, nobody's gonna know where it came from.
- Are you that jammed up? - What are you talking about?
Who asked for this? It's the restaurant, right?
One of these guys you owe? "Get me a seal. "
You really wanna know?
This just gets better and better.
What are we doing?
Freeze!
Right there, asshole! Don't move!
- It's all right, I'm a friend! - Get your hands up!
Get your hands up now! Now!
- What's in your hand? - It's a book.
Drop it! Drop it, now! Drop it!
- Turn around. Slowly. - All right. All right. Okay.
- Who else is here? - Nobody.
- I said, who else is here? - Nobody's here!
Check in there.
You move, I'll take your head off.
Now I owe this scumbag and his wife... Who's a complete piece of shit in my unit.
- Now I owe them both my balls. - I'm sorry.
- You know I am. - "Nobody will know it's me. "
You know what happens they don't bury this, that I gave you this?
It's bad. I know it.
I'm 18 months away from my 20. You just put my pension in jeopardy.
- You made your point. - It's not a point!
- Who called 911? - What?
The building was empty. I was quiet. I wasn't there very long.
Who called it in? Does that make sense to you...?
This never happened.
You got these cops thinking you're a lawyer.
You got these lawyers thinking you're a cop.
You got everybody fooled, don't you? Everybody but you.
You know exactly what you are.
We tried calling you six times.
But your machine must be busted or something.
We gave it our best shot.
We ran out of red covers. We only had 2000 in stock...
...so we did the other thousand in blue.
Is everything all right?
It's fine, yeah.
You have a van or something? Because I have 25 boxes back there...
Do me a favor. Hang on to them.
I'll come back and pick everything up next week.
- Seriously? Thanks, man. - Yeah.
Hello.
Don. You go ahead. I'll catch up to you.
What?
Do you know Michael Clayton?
Yeah, why?
We have a situation.
Hey, did they find you?
- Who? - Marty. I don't think they've gone in yet.
Marty.
Your phone's off. There's too much going on for your phone to be off.
- I need a minute. - Yeah, well, we're late...
We never got to finish last night.
Did you close the place? You look like hell.
- No, I left right after you left. - Lf you say so.
We've been here all night. We had to make an announcement.
Jean! I need the thing, the envelope.
I wanted your input. I couldn't get you. I had to pull the trigger.
I put Bob Nast and Kim, probably a mistake.
They're gonna pull together a memorial service by the end of the week.
I told them to call you if they need any help.
No, no, no. The other one. The other one.
So we cut you a check this morning.
There's some strings attached. And Barry...
There's no way around this, Barry's gonna have to be involved.
What if Arthur was on to something?
What do you mean? On to what?
U/North. What if he wasn't crazy? What if he was right?
Right about what? That we're on the wrong side?
Wrong side, wrong way, everything, all of it.
This is news? This case reeked from day one.
I gotta tell you how we pay the rent?
What would they do? What would they do if he went public?
What would they do? Are you fucking soft? They're doing it.
We don't straighten the settlement out in 24 hours...
...they're gonna withhold $9 million in fees.
Then they'll pull out the video of Arthur doing his flashdance.
They'll sue us for legal malpractice.
Except there won't be anything to win because the London merger will be dead...
...and we'll be selling off the goddamn furniture.
That's 80.
We're calling it a bonus.
Three-year contract at your current numbers.
That's assuming this all works out.
You're doing this now?
Look, I agreed to this, okay? But there's rules now.
You want the contract, you sign a confidentiality agreement.
It's gonna be bulletproof and retroactive.
Because Marty's too nice to say it...
...but with all you know about this place, the clients and people who work here...
...it makes it a little weird when you ask for 80 grand.
If I was gonna shake anybody down, I'd come to you...
...and it wouldn't be for 80 grand. Is this him or you?
- Lf I'm wrong, I apologize. - You're way the fuck wrong.
So there you go.
Enough. Okay? Everybody.
He's an asshole, but he knows it.
And you're on the record. Okay? Everybody happy?
- Don Jeffries is here. - We're on the way.
Call Bob Nast. Just see if they need help with this thing.
You're welcome.
You said 12. This is 75.
Well, don't get too excited. You want a drink?
No. I'm working.
So we're square, then. No bad blood.
You're just doing your job.
That's right.
Take it easy, Gabe.
Michael.
Check.
- Check. - Half the pot. Two hundred.
Two hundred to go.
So, what happened with the bar?
You just had to be a rock star, huh?
What are you doing? You just got here.
Guy plays nine hands, walks away.
I scare you away? What did I do? Did I scare you away?
Get out.
Get out of the car now.
- Walter? - Michael.
- Michael. Thank God you're there. - Yeah.
You have eight...
...six, five...
...four, three...
Get out of the car.
- Tell him to stay off the phone. - All right. But you're on it?
Am I clean?
Just keep walking.
You copy. Am I clean?
Just keep moving. He's walking to the car.
- To let him know you're on the way. I'll get back to you with the details.
- Just give me two minutes. - I'll be in the car.
I didn't finish. It's in, but I don't know.
It's loose. I got a pulse. He's up there somewhere, but...
Let's find a way to boost the signal.
- I don't know what Walter promised you... - A miracle worker!
That's Walter on the phone, 20 minutes ago. Direct quote, okay?
"I'm sending you a miracle worker. "
- Well, he misspoke. - About what?
About the fact that you're the firm's fixer? Or that you're any good at it?
We're up. Just got a signal.
There's nothing back this way. What's he doing?
Maybe he's lost.
- Wait a minute. - That's him.
He was alone, right?
- Yeah, I think so. - Call it, yes or no?
We gotta turn around.
Talk to me.
It's strobing.
No, we're good. I think we're good. Just keep going.
No, he turned. Somehow he turned.
- Where? - He took...
- He took a left. - I don't have a left.
- East. He's southeast. - What, so we missed it?
- Or the grid is wrong. - Hang on.
- We gotta go back to one. - One is what? Where's our one?
Half a mile straight ahead. Just keep driving. Just go.
It says we're closing. But that's west. It can't be west.
The signal or the grid?
- It's both. It just keeps dropping out. - Goddamn it.
Give me the cell.
Our signal's good.
What?
Thanks, Mickey.
Just get me out of here.
I wanna get a meeting scheduled on this, soon as we can. Thursday at the latest.
I think we should have someone from the equity group there. Maybe McDonnell...
- Yeah? - Did you hear?
- Yeah, yeah. They closed U/North. - No. Michael Clayton.
What?
Car bomb. Upstate. This morning. He was killed.
What?
Holy shit.
It has been and it remains the U/North position...
...that this lawsuit is baseless and without merit.
Our reluctance to negotiate was anchored by this belief...
...and reinforced by the plaintiffs' demand for settlement...
...in excess of 3 billion dollars.
The reason that we are all here today is...
...that several key elements in the case have changed.
You all have a tentative proposal packet...
...which outlines the details, but the bottom line is this:
Over the past several months we had gotten word...
...that the plaintiffs were growing impatient...
...and were in the process of revising their settlement numbers.
We also learned...
...that the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees were capped at 32 percent...
...up to 400 million dollars...
...above which, their fees dropped to 24 percent.
So we knew that there would be this motivational dead zone for them...
...in the middle there.
Finally...
...our finance team informed us that they had run the numbers...
...and that the tax benefit...
...provided that we bring the settlement in under 600 million...
...and within this fiscal year...
...that the write-off on this settlement would essentially pay for itself.
The package that you have before you represents, in my judgment...
...the strongest possible position for our company under the circumstances.
And, as chief counsel...
...it is my recommendation that this proposal be confirmed.
Thank you, Karen. If you just give us a few minutes to talk about it.
Certainly. I'll be right outside.
Well...
How'd it go in there?
Pretty freaky, huh?
Did you see Arthur? He's wandering around here somewhere.
I'm kidding. Lighten up.
You got one of these? It's a great memo. It's an oldie but a goodie.
Got your heart racing, don't I?
I don't know what it is you think you're doing.
What do you think I'm doing?
The suit's over. We have a deal.
Whatever that is, it's meaningless at this point.
You think? I must have gotten it wrong. I thought you had a tentative proposal.
I didn't realize you'd signed all those checks.
That's a drag. I got a thousand of these. What am I gonna do with them?
I'm calling Marty.
Good. Good. Do it. That's a great place to start.
Let's find out who told him Arthur was calling Anna Kysersun.
Let's find out who tapped those phones.
This memorandum, even if it's authentic, which I doubt, I highly doubt...
- I know what you did to Arthur. - It's protected. It belongs to U/North.
- I know you killed him. - It's attorney-client privilege.
See, now, that's just not the way to go here, Karen.
For such a smart person, you really are lost, aren't you?
This conversation is over.
I'm not the guy that you kill. I'm the guy that you buy.
Are you so fucking blind you don't even see what I am?
I'm the easiest part of your whole goddamn problem and you're gonna kill me?
Don't you know who I am? I'm a fixer. I'm a bagman.
I do everything from shoplifting housewives to bent congressmen...
...and you're gonna kill me?
What do you need, Karen? Lay it on me.
You want a carry permit? You want a heads-up on an insider-trading subpoena?
I sold out Arthur for 80 grand and a contract and you're gonna kill me?
What do you want?
What do I want?
I want more.
I want out.
And with this, I want everything.
Is there a number?
Ten is a number.
Ten? Ten what?
Ten million?
Where do you think I'm gonna get 10 million dollars?
You know what's great about this?
Did you read it to the end? You see who signed it?
Let's go in and ask Don Jeffries...
...if he wants to pass the hat for a worthy cause.
This would have to be a longer conversation...
...and would have to take place somewhere else.
Where? My car?
All right.
I'm gonna make it easy. Let's make it 5.
Five and I'll forget about Arthur.
Five is easier. Yeah, 5 is something that we could talk about.
Good. And then the other 5 is to forget about the 468 people...
...that you knocked off with your weed killer.
Let me finish up this meeting. I'll talk to Don...
Do I look like I'm negotiating?!
Karen?
- One second. - Everything okay?
Yes.
Ten million dollars. Bank of my choosing. Offshore. Immediately.
- Yes. - Say it!
Ten million dollars, your account, the moment this meeting is through.
- Karen! Everyone's waiting. - I'm coming, Don.
You have a deal.
You're so fucked.
What?
- You're fucked. - What do you mean?
- Take a wild guess. - Is there a problem?
- I don't understand. - Let me get a picture while I'm at it.
- You don't want the money? - Keep the money. You'll need it.
Is this fellow bothering you?
Am I bothering you?
Karen, I've got a board waiting in there. What the hell's going on? Who are you?
I'm Shiva, the god of death.
Ron! Ronny, I need security out here immediately.
All right. Here we go.
That guy right there, stop him. Grab that guy.
- What are you doing? - We're detectives with the N.Y.P.D.
Come back with us and we'll explain everything.
Check on her. Make sure she doesn't need any medical attention.
You guys go into the ballroom. Nobody leaves.
Have your guys cover every exit.
Will you please explain to me what's going on here?
Did you get all that?
Yeah. Got it.
- You okay? - Yeah. Just gotta get some air.
Sure.
Just stay close, okay?
Okay.
So, what are we doing?
Give me 50 dollars' worth.
Just drive.