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lovelyleclercs · 2 years

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Chapter Two- Regina

George Russell x Fem!Reader

short summary: George uses little Jack to try to get your attention after you've been avoiding him all week.

warnings: small make out session, not proof read.

word count: 1779

March 1st - One Week Later

“Jack, did you find your shoes?” you asked the little five year old as you came running down the stairs.

Jack stood there staring at you, two different shoes on his feet. “Found em, sissy! Don't worry!”

Ever since little Jack could talk, he called you sissy. To Jack, you were his big sister. It was a title you were quite proud to have in all honesty. You had grown up being an only child, always begging your parents for a sibling, but with how much trouble your parents had even getting pregnant with you, they decided to just be grateful for the one little miracle they had. When you moved in with the Wolffs, Susie had just found out that she was pregnant with little Jack. You spent the next couple of months helping both Susie and Toto prepare for his arrival, doing as much as you could to take some stress off of their shoulders. The day Jack was born, you had gone to the hospital to meet him. When you held Jack in your arms, you couldn’t help but feel like you had finally gotten the sibling you always wanted, so when he called you sissy for the first time, you couldn’t help but cry. He might not be your brother biologically, but he most definitely was in your heart.

You laughed a little at Jack’s choice in shoes. The two of you had already been running late that morning, so you didn’t even bother trying to argue the matter. Susie and Toto had gone away for a charity gala in France, which meant that you were in charge of Jack and the factory while the two of them were gone. It had made the week hectic, but you were also thankful for it at the same time because it meant that you could avoid George all week.

When you arrived at the factory, you helped Jack get out of the car. “Grab your backpack! I put some special treats in there for you today so we don't want to leave it in the car, ok?”

Jack giggled and grabbed his backpack, putting it on his shoulders before he grabbed your hand tightly. The two of you made your way into the factory, greeting a few familiar faces on the way to your office. As you approached your office door, you saw two people standing outside of it. You couldn’t really tell who it was until you got closer- it was Lewis and George.

Taking a deep breath, you forced a smile and walked over to the two drivers. “Good morning, why are you two standing at my office door so early in the morning?”

Lewis laughed and hugged you before scooping up Jack. “well good morning to you, too. I just wanted to come see my two favorite employees. George wanted to tag along too I guess” he shrugged before turning his attention towards Jack.

‘Of course he did,’ you thought to yourself as you forced a smile towards George. “Nice to see you both, but I have a lot of emails to respond to today, so I really have to get going”

“Well what if I stay and play with Jack while you work? It must be really hard to respond to emails and play with a five year old. What do you say Jack? Do you want Uncle George to play with you?”

You could feel your jaw clench as George asked Jack to play. George knew you had been avoiding him all week, and now he was using Jack as his excuse to see you. Great. Just great.

“Yes!! Uncle George play cars with me!” Jack giggled, extending his arms out for George to take him from Lewis.

You looked at Lewis and then back at Jack. “Jack, how about you and George go play in George’s office?”

Jack shook his head. “No, sissy! I want to play in your office!”

You sighed and nodded, unlocking the door. This was a battle you were never going to win regardless of how much you tried to bribe or reason with Jack.

George followed you into your office, looking around at all of the photos and decor you had hung up. He smiled at a team photo you had hanging on the wall from the night of the post-season party. “Loved that night so much that you had to hang a photo from it?”

You glared up at George from your computer screen. “I didn’t put that one in here, Toto did.”

“Yeah but you could have taken it down. Admit it, you enjoyed what happened that night. That’s why you have been avoiding me all week. You know that if we get too close, i’ll-”

“You’re supposed to be playing with Jack, not talking to me. I have work to get done, unlike you. So if you want to continue to play in my office, you will not speak another word to me, otherwise you can take Jack down the hall to your office and play with him there. Understood?”

George smirked. “A feisty one, you are. Whatever you say, Regina.”

‘Seriously? A Mean Girls nickname?’ you thought to yourself as you rolled your eyes at George.

It took you nearly two hours to respond to all of your emails- a lot less time than you had originally planned, but still too much time spent staring at a computer. You checked the time, 12:32 pm. Toto and Susie would be back from their trip in about a half an hour. You got up from your seat and walked over to George and Jack. “Hey Jack, how about we go have some lunch? Then after lunch mama and papa should be home.. Sounds good?”

Jack’s face lit up and he nodded eagerly. “Yes! But can George come with us to lunch? He said that he wants to spend the whole entire day with me!”

Oh you could just punch George right now.

You forced a smile and knelt down to little Jack. “Sure sweetie, that’s fine. Let's get going though, we don’t want to miss out on all the good food in the cafeteria”

Jack nodded and reached his hand out for you. “Let's go!”

As you went to grab Jack’s hand, he quickly moved it out of the way, causing you to accidentally grab George’s hand instead. Fantastic. You pulled your hand out of George’s quickly, glaring up at him as he was smiling from ear to ear. You looked over at Jack who was laughing hysterically as he unwrapped a piece of candy. As you saw Lewis walk by, you stopped him. “Hey Lew, would you mind taking Jack to the cafeteria for some lunch? I have to talk to George about something quickly”

Lewis nodded “yeah sure, I was headed that way anyways. What do you say, Jack? Want to go get some food with me?”

Jack nodded and grabbed Lewis’ hand. When the two of them were out of sight, you grabbed George by the ear and pulled him into your office, shutting the door behind you so nobody would hear you.

“Hey!! That hurts! Knock it off!!”

You let go of George’s ear and crossed your arms. “I know what you’re doing. Using a five year old to try to spend time with me isn’t going to work. It’s pathetic of you honestly. I mean bribing him with candy just so you get the chance to hold my hand?? Like do you even realize how absurd that looks and sounds? You should be ashamed of yourself, George. Absolutely ashamed.”

“You can’t tell me that what happened on that balcony three months ago meant nothing to you. Drunk actions are sober thoughts, Regina. Admit it, you have the hots for me.”

You scoffed and looked up at him. “You sound absolutely ridiculous right no-” but before you could finish your sentence, George’s lips had crashed against yours. Every thought you had going on in your brain at that point had vanished, your mind turning to mush as you felt George push you up against the wall. You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. “George…” you whispered

George backed away from you, allowing you to catch your breath and have some space. “You want this, I know you do. I want it too. Stop denying it. I’ll see you next week at the track, Regina” he said before walking out of your office, leaving you standing alone, a complete mess both physically and mentally.

George was right. You wanted him, but you knew that you couldn’t have him.

After making yourself look decent again, you made your way towards the cafeteria, running into Susie and Toto on your way there. “Hey you two! Welcome back! I missed you!” You said as you gave the two of them a big hug.

“We missed you too, darling. I’m relieved that the factory is still standing, however Jack is nowhere to be found, did you lose him on day one?” Toto said with a laugh, nudging you gently.

“Haha, very funny, Toto. He is in the cafeteria with Lewis. I had a phone call to return before I could have lunch today, but Jack was hungry so Lewis did me a favor.”

“Perfect, thank you again for watching him. Susie and I were actually hoping that you would be able to leave with us in a few minutes to head back home. We have presents for you and Jack, and we also figured you deserved some time off after a hectic week. What do you say?”

You smiled and nodded at Toto, relieved to hear him say those words. “Absolutely! I’ve finished all of my emails and phone calls for the day so i’m good to go, as long as my boss says it's ok”

Toto laughed and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. “Come on kid, let's go find Jack and head home”

As the three of you entered the cafeteria, Jack’s face lit up as he ran to his parents. “Mama! Papa! You're home!”

Toto and Susie both hugged their son tightly and expressed how much they loved and missed him dearly. You couldn’t help but smile at the exchange, the idea of one day having a child of your own briefly crossing your mind, however when George being the father of that child also crossed your mind, you couldn’t help but shake your head.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours? I can see the wheels turning in there” Lewis said with a laugh.

“Lew, I am so screwed”

#george Russell x reader #george russell x you #george russell fanfic #f1 fanfic #formula 1 fanfic #formula one fanfiction #george russell smut #off limits lovelyleclerc

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derl30 · 3 years

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ALTERED STATES REVIEW TIME!

OK, this tumblr is, today, a vehicle for me to review ALTERED STATES. And you (the one person who stumbled on this review two-hundred years from n- oh who am I kidding, when the aliens from A.I. who show up to thaw out Haley Joel Osment and the teddy bear who was the real hero of that movie find this) should be very excited about this. Because this movie is insane. And highly entertaining.

Yes, the movie poster looks like ass. If I told you this was a movie where William Hurt (not the William Hurt from that awful 90's Lost in Space remake, or the one who slept through an entire performance as Duke Leto in the Syfy miniseries of Dune. This is before the body snatchers got him) took ayahuasca and got in a isolation tank and it blew his mind so hard he started devolving into a neanderthal and creating dimensional portals and he couldn't stop because he was addicted to finding the truth of existence... Well you wouldn't get that from this poster, would you? So let's move on. Shall we?

The film opens in 1967 with William Hurt's character, psychopathologist Edward Jessup, already immersed in a sensory deprivation tank, whilst his colleague and “buddy” Bob Balaban (he's just Bob Balaban in everything I'm not giving you his character's name look it up yourself if it's bugging you so much) oversees.

Now, you may notice I put buddy in quotes. The reason for that is that Jessup is a self-obsessed ass who seemingly has no reason to be around other people unless he can expound to them one of his various monologues. Bob Balaban barely gets a word in edgewise throughout the entire film. Bob Balaban.

See, Jessup loves the sensory deprivation tank experience. Unsurprisingly, as it allows him to be completely alone with himself for hours.

Later, at perhaps the lamest party ever, a bunch of faculty are chilling out and listening to the Doors. Everyone we see is talking about Jessup. Why? Well, much as Jessup is obsessed with himself, everyone else seems to follow suit by being obsessed with him. One young woman, Emily, (Blair Brown) is introduced to him in this very shot below as he arrives at the party:

Notice how is framed in holy light? There is a closeup after, of him framed in blinding glowing light followed up with a zoom in on Emily's face, enraptured with this incredible dynamic man. So much so that the moment he tries to make a goddamn sandwich she starts grabbing his celery (get your mind out of the gutter) and flirting with him. Which for these two that means talking science, immediately. Talking more at each other than with each other. This is often the way with Paddy Chayefsky's scripts.

PAUSE

Paddy Chayefsky is doubtless one of the great American writers for the screen. He wrote Marty, The Hospital and Network (which is a fucking incredible piece of work). He got an Oscar for all three. He also wrote this movie (Altered States, remember? Good lord) and disowned it completely three weeks in to production. His scripts tend to have very intelligent, driven characters at the center, who monologue extensively at each other. These scripts are not attempting to sound naturalistic.

Ken Russell, however, directed the film. He, like Chayefsky, is top notch at what he does (Direct. I said he directed the film like a second ago, come on keep up). His films, like Women in Love, The Devils, (which was banned in several major countries upon release and has never been shown publicly in its full, uncut form (by the way it's a masterpiece)) the Who's Tommy, Gothic, and Lair of the White Worm are all fucking gonzo nuts. I mean like, when you gave this guy the reins, you were going to Overthetopsville and there will be no stops on this trip. And god bless! I love directors who GO for it!

You're getting the chance to make a movie. Stop hemming and hawing and hit me over the head with what you want to say! Film is a visual medium, USE IT!

I feel I might have made my feelings clear here. So, moving on...

Ken Russell and Paddy Chayefsky immediately started butting heads, right from the start. Chayefsky was a BIG deal, and he wanted control over the picture in a BIG way. Ken would listen to his suggestions on everything to lighting and set dressing, and politely tell him, “No.”, and continue being the director of the film. Chayefsky hated him pretty quickly.

He had much more control over films like The Hospital. Which, if you watch The Hospital, well, it shows. You've got great actors (George C. Scott, Dame Diana Rigg (Dame may be the greatest official title of all time)) saying great dialogue. But its just two very witty bitter people sort of expounding on topics and speaking at each other and suddenly admitting they are in love and discussing what drapes they will have to buy for their new home. It's utterly preposterous, and it doesn't work in the way Sidney Lumet got it to work in Network, by literally making one of the lead characters realize his life is turning into a ludicrous soap opera.

So of course Ken tried to humanize, naturalize, the dialogue sequences. And it works! The film feels more human than the Hospital or Network. Despite the fact that Jessup is literally becoming more and more inhuman throughout the film. One of the ways he does this is by having the character's eat, drink, and work on other things during the dialogue sequences. This is perfectly normal in film, it's called giving the actor “business” to do, during the scene. Chayefsky HATED this. “They are mumbling my precious dialogue! Chewing through it! Sucking it through a straw!” Sorry, Chayefsky buddy. It works for the picture. Chayefsky also felt the actors were too emotional with his dialogue. Right. See, they call that acting.

UNPAUSE

Which brings us back to the first meeting of Emily and Jessup at the party. They are eating during this important scene! I can just picture Chayefsky seeing this, and running to the studio brass to tattle and get Ken Russell fired (as he got Arthur Penn of Bonnie and Clyde fame fired before Ken Russell came on board).

Emily and Jessup are, true to Chayefsky form, extremely intelligent, driven people and hearing them discuss topics such as anthropology and schizophrenia is quite interesting. It's just that what is to come, film being a visual medium, will eclipse just about any dialogue, no matter how good, from our mind thingys.

The two give up on the science talk and go straight to banging on her couch. After, she asks what he was thinking about. His answer is priceless. “God. Jesus. Crucifixions.”

She smiles.

Bwahahaha! Oh Paddy Chayefsky, you sure know women.

He admits he used to have religious visions. She listens to him from the sweaty couch whilst he sits naked on the floor, and starts going on about his father's horrible death of cancer and his loss of faith. And he admits to her that he's a nut. Her response is to call him a fascinating bastard. I think Lucas may have taken notes for Padme and Anakin.

So naturally, they get married immediately.

But none of that matters because Jessup gets back in the sensory deprivation tank and has his first vision. A nightmare of his dying father and lost faith in christianity. It's pretty great, filled with foreboding hospital rooms, his father's face being covered in a burning Shroud of Turin, everything covered by horrible blood red clouds and then THIS FUCKING THING SHOWS UP AND ITS ALIVE AND WRIGGLING

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

excuse me...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

The many-eyed goat is slaughtered over a gold bible and suddenly Jessups screwing Emily again and we enter a blood vessel looking thing and the vision ends and he never mentions this again. Oh. Okay,

Emily continues on about what a nut Jessup is as they make marriage plans. Her monologue:

“You're an unmitigated madman. You don't have to tell me how weird you are. I know how weird you are. I'm the girl in your bed the past two months. Even sex is a mystical experience for you. You carry on like a flagellant... Which can be very nice, but I sometimes wonder if it's me that's being made love to. I feel like I'm being harpooned by some raging monk in the act of receiving God. (Emphasis mine)

"And you are a Faust-freak Eddie! You'd sell your soul to find the great truth. Well, human life doesn't have great truths. We're born in doubt. We spend our lives persuading ourselves we're alive. And one way we do that is we love each other, like I love you. I can't imagine living without you. So let's get married, and if it turns out to be a disaster, it'll be a disaster.”

It's a disaster.

As in, by the next scene. It starts off happy enough looking, they have kids and people are smiling. And hey, wow it's seven years later! But, well, see, whoops, they are getting a divorce. Well, not they. See, he is divorcing her because he considers the seven years with her a complete waste.

She still loves him, desperately. He doesn't give a shit about her or the kids. He tells Bob Balaban this, straight up. And then starts bugging him about deprivation tanks and Hinchi Indians in South America who have sacred mushrooms that can really fuck you up.

It's at this point you would like for Jessup to be hit by a Mack truck. But the movie continues on. By the way, this is one of the kids he doesn't give a crap about:

That's right. Drew Barrymore's first role is a kid that William Hurt doesn't give a shit about. Something that William Hurt would make a career out of with narcoleptic performances in Lost in Space and Syfy's Dune. So, Emily takes the kids to Africa for her anthropology work while Jessup goes to South America to go deeper into his own creepy mind.

The Hinchi Indians agree to allow him to participate in the drug ritual. They enter their holy cave.

This shot is beautiful. At this point the film becomes increasingly gorgeous. Ken Russell has started to go into overdrive, ladies and gentlemen. Buckle. Your. Seatbelts.

The Indians grab Jessup's hand and cut him, freaking him out. They pour his blood into the drug mixture. They begin to drink. Then he takes a sip. The intensity of the film here has quadrupled. The vision begins, fireworks going off all around him. He sees cave paintings of humans and komodo dragons and this:

The proper life he left behind with Emily. He's convulsing, sweating. The Indians are all around, masked. Snakes. He's laughing in pain. Energy spills from the void. A snake under the parasol strikes and begins to strangle him. He and Emily march toward a nuclear explosion as energy pours from the cut on his hand, becoming a lizard. From within a sandstorm, Emily watches him, naked. Jessup looks at her, entranced, as the soothing sands cover them both, slowly.

It's a beautiful sequence. A perfect film sequence. I can't overstate how strong the vision sequences are from this point forward. Great visual effects work and the madman mind of Ken Russell create something unforgettable, with it's own pace, independent from the rest of the film.

Jessup awakens with a komodo dragon laying before him, ripped to pieces. The Indians and the others all claim he killed it in rage. Jessup remembers nothing, takes samples of the drug to reproduce it, and goes back home.

Back home, Jessup keeps doing as much of the drug as he can and having Bob Balaban record results. They can't up the dosage any more so Jessup hops back in to the self deprivation tank to create a more extreme experience.

In his next session, Jessup states he is having a vision of early man, hunting a deer and killing it. Suddenly he states he is one of them, killing the deer. He begins to grunt like an animal. The two pull him out. He's incredibly pale, blood seeping out of his mouth. He can't speak, and has difficulty breathing. He insists they do an X-ray. It shows that there is a vocalizing lump in the front part of his throat. Jessup claims that his body had begun to revert to a simian state. The medical doctor agrees, stating the throat X-rays looks like that of a gorilla.

Luckily his throat returns to normal. So Jessup finishes up his day by having over a student of his and sleeping with her.

Our hero, people!

At this point we hardly feel sorry for him as his body suddenly begins to twist and bulge in the middle of the night, shifting in and out of neanderthal shapes. It's a horrific sequence, disturbing as hell. You certainly didn't expect the film to shift into body horror.

Jessup feels normal after a while. but sees visions of lava explosions, the birthing of the Earth all around him. Not a good sign.

He goes to pick up Emily from the airport the next day. She asks how he is doing.

“Oh, fine.”

Yeah right.

Emily has been told what Jessup has been doing and is worried, which of course pisses off Jessup even more. The guy is obviously obsessed with reaching the truth and root of existence, much as Emily surmised earlier, and we see he has no fear of even losing his own soul, again true to her word. The only thing that allows us to give a shit about him at this point is that Emily cares for him and she's decent people, okay?

So back Jessup goes into the tank with his ayahuasca or whatever it is. Alone. The tank door opens from the inside.

The hand that pushes it open is covered in thick hair. He's devolved.

Ape-Jessup escapes the tank room and chases a janitor around the building. Again, this scene is fucking freaky as hell. We can't get a good look at this screaming animal that was Jessup.

The janitor gets a guard to help and chases after him into the boiler room, where we finally get a good look at him when he assaults the security guard and escapes.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Ape-Jessup runs through the city at night, making his way to the zoo where he kills a antelope and eats it. The Ape-Jessup sequence goes on way too long, but is nonetheless unforgettable. The makeup is much more convincing than the above picture suggests, and whoever performed Ape-Jessup did an admirable job.

The cops find an unconscious Jessup in the zoo and bring him in. Emily picks him up and questions him. Jessup admits everything that he can remember. He also admits that he probably killed that security guard. And once again doesn't seem to give a shit. Prick. He calls it the most supremely satisfying time of his life.

Even Emily seems disgusted with him. But, she's also fascinated with what he's accomplished. As an anthropologist, his transformation fascinates her. And so, she agrees to help oversee his next session. Big mistake.

Before the big session Emily and Jessup romantically reconnect, and then into the climactic session we go!

Get your popcorn ready!

After a few hours in to the session, the video monitor shows Jessup begin to literally melt apart like goo, reverting to primordial ooze, the very beginning of existence. An attempt to open the isolation tank doors blasts everyone unconscious, as light and energy pour forth. Emily is the only one left. She sees Jessup's life energy pulse from within the tank.

Rain pours down around them. The pipes on the walls twist and turn like jelly. The ground is covered with a pool of swirling fog and energy. Emily advances toward the vortex of the tank.

In the emptiness of the beginning of everything, Emily seizes the energy before her and reconstitutes Jessup.

They take him home. While he sleeps, Emily rages over the fact that she loves such a insane bastard, and can't get over him. And, then, after Bob Balaban leaves, leaving Emily alone, Jessup wakes up.

He sweetly admits that the truth he learned was that there was no learnable truth, just unknowable horror, and all that's real is human experience. And he'll be a good boy from now on. Well too bad!

Because that horrible truth isn't done with him, and it's back to goo-Jessup! Emily tries to help him, grabbing him, but this in turn effects her, turning her into a shimmering lava form of herself. Both of them begin to self-destruct as Jessup, enraged, watching her in pain, struggles to retake his humanity, slamming himself into the wall, reforming himself through sheer will and physicality. He grabs her and brings her back, mirroring what she did for him during the final session. They embrace naked in the hallway. He finally admits, “I love you, Emily.”

Fade to credits.

Awww true love!

What can I say to sum up? Awesome 80's practical effects. Genius wacko go-for-it Ken Russell directing. Out of this world vision sequences. A awake and actually remarkable performance from William Hurt. An occasionally turgid but often fascinating script by the ever ornery Paddy Chayefsky. Whats not to like?

Well, the ending is a little rushed. The ape sequence goes on for a little too long and takes up perhaps too much of the films overall running time. The central love story is, well... a little hard to swallow, but hey, I guess there really is somebody out there for everyone. Even self-absorbed, deadbeat, cheating, sensory deprivation loving, ayahuasca dropping, Harvard teachers with a messiah complex!

And on that note, aliens from A.I. Artifical Intelligence, have a good day, and don't leave poor Teddy alone with no one to keep him company!

Sayonara!

#altered states #ken russell #movies #review #funny?

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