Life as a House (2001)
Kevin Kline: George Monroe
Photos
Quotes
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George : You know the great thing, though, is that change can be so constant you don't even feel the difference until there is one. It can be so slow that you don't even notice that your life is better or worse, until it is. Or it can just blow you away, make you something different in an instant. It happened to me.
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George : Do I still Love you? Absolutely. There is not a doubt in my mind. Through all my mind, my ego... I was always faithful in my Love for you. That I made you doubt it, that is the great mistake of a Life full of mistakes. The truth doesn't set us free, Robin. I can tell you I Love you as many times as you can stand to hear it and all that does, the only thing, is remind us... that Love is not enough. Not even close.
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Sam : Whats wrong with your back? Do you have to have surgery on it or what? Because those pills you are taking are for a lot of pain. And you seem to be going though them pretty quick, that's all
George : Your not still taking any,are you?
Sam : No. But i count them. In a sock isn't exactly new,you know.
George : I'm having a problem with cancer.
Sam : I don't know what that means. What kind of problem?
George : The kind where there isn't any answer.
Sam : I still don't know what it means.
George : Sam I wanted us to... You know ,spend a few months together. Here. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Something bad to force something good.
Sam : So your dying. And you told mom today.
Sam : fuck you, ok fuck you.
Sam : You knew you were dying from the start?
George : We're all dying from the start. I just got pushed to the head of the line.
Sam : But you lied to me.
George : I would've lied to myself if i thought I'd believe it.
Sam : so this whole thing... this whole summer, having me here,was for your sake. You selfish fuck. Having me here trying to get me to like you.
George : No,Sam I wasn't trying to get you to like me. I was trying to get you to love me.
Sam : Well,congratulations... Because you fucking pulled it off.
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George : My dad used to play this game... I never really understood what it was until after he was gone...
Sam : I was holding for somebody else; it wasn't even mine!
George : THE GAME was to make me smaller than he was. Smaller. Always smaller. No matter what! He could be almost invisible as a human being, but... I still had to be smaller. So that i-if I got good grades in school, then I was a pussy for not playing football, or-or if I... cut my hair for him, it was never short enough. Or if I shaved my head then I looked like a psycho. I never won the game, never! And if he couldn't... make me smaller with words...
Sam : ...I'll have to pay him back.
George : Sam... I won't ever hit you. Ever. I don't want you smaller. I want you to be happy and you're not. Not here with me, not home with your mother, not alone, not anywhere. You're what I was most of my life, Sam. I see it in your eyes, in your sleep, in your answer to everything! You're barely alive!
Sam : [whispers] I'm not even listening.
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George : Sam, if you were a house, this is where you would want to be built. On rock, facing the sea, listening.
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Colleen : Does it give you some sort of perverse pleasure to expose your... penis in front of my 16-year-old daughter?
George : My... exposure does not face your windows.
Colleen : George, this is the third time.
George : The plumber's due out tomorrow.
Colleen : You will just have to explain that to the police.
George : You were the one neighbor I could tolerate.
[George goes to walk away, then turns back]
George : Colleen! Just how far out that window did you have to stick your head to be able to see my dick?
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George : I put a gun to my father's head once. Ever think like that? He was passed out. Had just been yelling at my mom over nothing. Under-cooked meat. I went to my room, I held the barrel right up to his ear, and then I chickened out again. Of course it was a BB gun but still it would have hurt like hell.
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George : I always thought of myself as a house. I was always what I lived in. It didn't need to be big. It didn't even need to be beautiful. It just needed to be mine. I became what I was meant to be. I built myself a life. I built myself a house.
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George : You're a great architect, and a miserable human being.
[Proceeds to smash one of his architectural models to bits]
Bryan Burke : [Angrily, holding the shattered model in his hands] You're not even a fucking architect, and you're a miserable human being!
George : You're right. You win.
[Calmly walks out]
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George : It's not my back that's killing me.
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George : Hindsight. It's like foresight without a future.
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George : I have hated this house from the moment my father put it in my name. Imagine, 29 years of hating what you're living in, hating what you *are*. This is the end of it, Sam. I'm finally building something of my own. Something I can be proud to give you.
Sam : Don't. I don't want it.
George : Fine. You can do what you want with it. All I want you to remember is that we built a house together.
Sam : You didn't build shit. You're just tearing your father down.
George : That's right. It feels good.
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George : [to Robin] I can tell you I love you as many times as you can stand to hear it, but all it does is remind us that love is not enough.
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George : I always thought of myself as a house. I was always what I lived in. It didn't need to be big; it didn't need to be beautiful; it just needed to be mine. I became what I was meant to be. I built myself a life... I built myself a house.
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George : [Sternly] Go get in the truck.
Sam : Go fuck yourself!
George : Listen to me... Listen! I want that thing out of your chin, okay? You got nipple rings, navel rings - those come out, too. And there's no makeup at my house. No glue sniffing, no huffing, no pills, no grass. You've worn out your welcome at this house, Sam. This may well be the worst summer of your entire life, but you've earned it. Now go pick up the suitcase, get in the truck, now!
Sam : I'll hate you for the rest of my life.
George : Well, you can't even begin to know how much I hate my father. Think of it as a family tradition!
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George : When does school let out?
Robin : Friday. Tomorrow. Oh, God. I hate the thought of him home all day.
George : I'll be by Saturday to pick him up.
Robin : He doesn't want to spend the weekends with you anymore.
George : Not for the weekend. For the summer.
Robin : One of you would end up dead.
George : Yeah, but at least we have a house to show for it.
Robin : Forget it, really. I'll survive.
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George : [to Sam] Everything about you is my business. What you smoke, what you sniff, what you swallow. It's all my business.
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George : Sam, do you ever... get like the slightest inkling that you might wanna help me instead of doing absolutely nothing?
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George : Build this house with me.
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George : You've worn out your welcome at this house, Sam. This may very well be the worst summer of your life but you've earned it.
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Bryan Burke : How's your wife?
George : Well, uh, when we divorced a decade ago she was very, very angry. Now she's just hostile.
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George : I almost saw Catalina!
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George : Your mom and the boys can come by anytime.
Sam : What? To check up on me?
George : I'll be there to check up on you.
Sam : Why would you be there?
[he lights a cigarette]
George : Well, I live there.
Sam : You live in Corey's parents cabin in Tahoe?
George : What are you talking about? Who's Corey?
Sam : Corey's my friend, I'm going to spend the summer, ok?
George : No, you're not going anywhere.
[he takes the cigarette from Sam]
George : You're spending the summer with me.
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George : [deleted scene]
[George struggles to move the couch out of the house]
George : Sam. Sam. Three minutes. Just give me three minutes.
[puts couch on the ground]
George : Never mind. I break my back, that's fine.
[Sam smokes a cigarette]
George : Don't smoke. Sam. I want you to put on some sunscreen.
[throws bottle of sunscreen]
George : You should wear that all over and I want you down here helping me. Now.
[Sam refuses to get down]
George : [George sprays water onto Sam]
Sam : It's cold! Fucking asshole.
George : Works with Guster.
[Sam climbs down the ladder]
George : [George grabs Sam's arm for attention] You know what else helped Guster? Neutering.
