Kate Beckinsale credited as playing...
Ava Gardner
- Ava Gardner: You listened to my phone calls?
- Howard Hughes: No! No! No! Honey I would never do that! I'd never do that! I... I just read the transcripts, that's all.
- Howard Hughes: Does that look clean to you?
- Ava Gardner: Nothing's clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?
- Howard Hughes: No, wait! Honey, you can't move! You can't move, you're safe here! You're in the germ-free zone now, y'understand?
- Ava Gardner: I'll take my chances.
- Howard Hughes: No, no! Honey, wait... wait, uh...
- [Ava removes the string barriers from the doorway and walks into the study. She turns on the light, revealing that entire room is covered with used tissues and string barriers everywhere. Silence for a moment]
- Ava Gardner: Love what you've done with the place...
- Ava Gardner: You don't own me, Howard. I'm not one of your teenage whores and I'm not some damn airplane!
- Ava Gardner: ...You can't buy me, Howard, so stop trying. Don't buy me any more diamonds or sapphires or any other damn thing. You can buy me dinner...
- Ava Gardner: [infuriated to learn that Hughes was tapping her phone lines to keep an eye on her] What do you wanna know, Howard? Was I screwing Artie Shaw last night? Was I screwing Sinatra the night before? You bet! Everyone told me you were a goddamn lunatic, but I didn't listen! It's no wonder Kate Hepburn dumped your demented ass!
- Howard Hughes: [exploding] Shut your goddamn mouth!
- [Howard knocks Ava to the ground, but she rebounds quickly and knocks him down]
- Ava Gardner: Get out, you pathetic freak!
- [he struggles to get back up, holding his cane; she follows him as he slowly heads for the door]
- Ava Gardner: Get Out!
- Ava Gardner: Look, you got girls stashed all over town. You got a damn harem just at the Bel-Air. Why don't you marry one of your bungalow girls?
- Howard Hughes: Those are employees. I'm not gonna marry an employee. Jesus Christ, how would that look?
- Howard Hughes: It's a Kashmiri sapphire. Best in the world! I had my boys all over the damn globe looking for this.
- Ava Gardner: Why?
- Howard Hughes: Because. Look. It matches your eyes.
- Ava Gardner: I am not for sale.
- Howard Hughes: For chrissakes, Ava, it's just a present.
- Ava Gardner: You can't buy me, Howard, so stop trying. Don't buy me any more diamonds or sapphires or any other goddamn thing. You can buy me dinner. How about that?
- Howard Hughes: Jesus, Ava.
- Howard Hughes: Look, honey, I'll have them take all the bugs out. You just have to understand that I need to know where you are.
- Ava Gardner: Why?
- Howard Hughes: Because I worry about you, that's why!
- Ava Gardner: Bullshit! What do you mean, "all the bugs"? What do you mean, "all the bugs"?
- Howard Hughes: There's more.
- Ava Gardner: How many?
- Howard Hughes: I don't know, twelve. Twelve, maybe, and on the telephones.
- Ava Gardner: Oh, Christ, Howard, on the telephone?
- Ava Gardner: Under my bed! You put a goddamn microphone under my bed!
- Howard Hughes: Now, listen to me. I am concerned about you, baby. I just wanna make sure you're okay. That's all.
- Ava Gardner: And who is in that car? That goddamn car's been with me 24 hours a day.
- Howard Hughes: That car is for your protection!
- Ava Gardner: The only one I need protection from is you - you sick bastard!
- Ava Gardner: Lots of shopping in Paris.
- Howard Hughes: I'll buy you anything you want.
- Ava Gardner: You can buy me dinner. How about that?
- Howard Hughes: Dinner, then. We got a date?
- Ava Gardner: Okay, baby, you got a date.