INT - MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

INT - PAINTING, BOSTON

KUROSAWA
(walking)

KUROSAWA
Hello.  Do you know where Larry Bird lives?

VINCENT VAN GOGH
You're looking for him?  He crossed the bridge and went that way.

KUROSAWA
Thanks.

VINCENT VAN GOGH
Be careful.  He's perfect.

KUROSAWA
What do you mean?

VINCENT VAN GOGH
I mean he's perfect.  He's on the Dream Team now.  He shoots three pointers so well you would not believe how well he shoots three pointers.

KUROSAWA
Why aren't you painting? To me this scene is beyond belief.

VINCENT VAN GOGH
A scene that looks like a painting does not make a painting. If you take the time to look closely... all of nature... has it's own beauty. When that natural beauty is there I just lose myself in it. And then, as if in a dream, the scene just paints itself for me. Yes, I consume this natural setting. I devour it completely and whole. And then when I'm through, the picture appears before me complete. But it's so difficult to hold it inside.   Also, I'm not actually Vincent Van Gogh.  I'm Kevin McHale in an elaborate disguise.

KUROSAWA
There we go.

VINCENT VAN MCHALE
Larry works, slaves, and drives himself like a locomotive.  He's a three time MVP.   A twelve time All-Star.  The man scored over 20,000 points.  Do you know how long it would take me to score 20,000 points?  I'm made out of balsa wood.   I'd have to play thirty more seasons.

KUROSAWA
Is that what it takes to be a perfectionist?

VINCENT VAN MCHALE
Being made out of balsa wood?

KUROSAWA
Sacrifice.  Giving up everything.  Holding on to the things you care about the most while the world full of people who don't care tell you to stop?

VINCENT VAN MCHALE
Maybe.  And also you have to be really good at three-pointers.

KUROSAWA
What is left for the perfectionist when their journey is through?

VINCENT VAN MCHALE
For Larry, it's winning the Olympic Gold Medal.  After this, it's over.  The accomplishments are all he can leave behind.

VINCENT VAN MCHALE (cont.)
Time's running out... So little time left for him to paint.