Michael Jennings Quotes in Paycheck (2003)

Michael Jennings: [quoting from a fortune cookie strip] If you only look where you can't go, you will miss the riches below.

Shorty: Maybe we should just find Decker.

Michael Jennings: I can't talk to Decker.

Shorty: Why not?

Michael Jennings: He had an accident.

Shorty: An accident?

Michael Jennings: Yeah, he, uh, he fell out of his bedroom window.

Shorty: He fell out of his... He *fell* out of his bedroom window!

Jimmy Rethrick: There was a time when we were in school, we wanted to change the world?

Michael Jennings: I thought we said we wanted to *save* the world.

Jimmy Rethrick: Well, that's semantics.

[Michael begins to suspect that the woman with him isn't really Rachel]

Michael Jennings: What's my favorite baseball team?

Maya: What?

Michael Jennings: What's my favorite baseball team?

[Maya pulls out a gun]

Maya: Who cares?

[Rachel appears behind Maya and knocks her out]

Rachel Porter: That would be the Red Sox?

[last lines]

Shorty: You know what? I think now's probably a good time to discuss my commission, 33%.

Michael Jennings: I thought it was 5.

Shorty: No, 33 percent.

Michael Jennings: 33 percent!

Rachel Porter: He deserves it.

Shorty: It was found on my premises.

Michael Jennings: I'll get back to you. I'm gonna cash this in.

[arguing continues, indistinctly]

Rachel Porter: Michael, are you okay?

Michael Jennings: I'm all right.

Rachel Porter: Michael, I don't know what you saw in your machine, but I remember a few weeks ago, you came back from your lab and you were pale. You asked me the strangest question.

Michael Jennings: What?

Rachel Porter: If I knew it wouldn't work out for you and I, before we were together, would I have done it?

Michael Jennings: What did you say?

Rachel Porter: That I wouldn't trade our time for anything. It's all we are: the sum of our experiences. Besides, some of the best things in life are total mistakes.

[Shorty enters with a pair of caged birds]

Michael Jennings: I think I remember - are those OUR birds?

Rachel Porter: Yes, of course they are! We bought them together.

Shorty: Oh, you remember the birds! Well done! You could see into the future, and all you remember are, are Polly and Tweety over there. Why don't you remember something that would make us rich?

Shorty: But that's not the question you should be asking yourself.

Michael Jennings: No?

Shorty: The question that you should be asking yourself is, why did *you* give up all that money? That's the most bizarre part of this whole thing. 90 million dollars. Nobody changes that much in three years! Okay. All right, buddy. I wanna figure out what you built. All right, let's work backwards.

Michael Jennings: They told me that I was working on a design by someone named Decker.

Shorty: Decker?

Michael Jennings: Yeah.

Shorty: William Decker?

Michael Jennings: I think so.

Shorty: What I heard was, he was working on something Level 5 for the Feds when they came in one day and they just shot him down.

Michael Jennings: What was it?

Shorty: Consensus was a laser.

Michael Jennings: Why was that?

Shorty: Because Decker's drawings called for a mirror and a lens. Now, the only thing that uses those things is a laser. Some kind of satellite...

[Jennings is distracted by a wall television announcing the Lotto numbers]

Shorty: The lens required perfect optics. Uh, the mirror and the neutrino count... I mean, word was, the thing was going to cost 500 billion dollars. Now, who's going to spend 500 billion dollars just to see something?

[Shorty realizes Jennings has heard very little of his explanation]

Shorty: What?

Michael Jennings: There's no way I got out of that Extraction Room without the cigarettes and the glasses. I would have never gotten on that bus without the bus ticket. If I didn't have the diamond ring, I wouldn't have followed that kid to Reddy Grant.

Shorty: Right.

Michael Jennings: [excited] I gave up that money just to make sure that I would pay attention to these items.

Shorty: Why?

Michael Jennings: [whispering intensely] Because I know what you'd spend 500 billion dollars to see. The future.

[Astounded, Shorty looks at the winning Lotto numbers in Michael's hand, and then up at the TV]

Shorty: Look, if we know anything, we know that time travel's not possible. Einstein proved that. Right?

Michael Jennings: Time *travel*, yes. But Einstein was very clear that he believed time viewing, theoretically, could be accomplished.

Michael Jennings: If you love me, if you care about me, go. Have a good life. Remember me.

Rachel Porter: I want to save the world.

Michael Jennings: I don't think I'm your guy. But would you settle for someone who wants to help you change it?

Rachel Porter: Hmm, OK!

Michael Jennings: Good.

Shorty: You never once asked me what I see when I erase your memory. Basically, the last two months just never happened for you.

Michael Jennings: So, what's to know? Twenty hours a day in a clean room, ripping off one guy's idea for a computer, selling it to somebody. You know. What'd you do, the last two months? You know what the last thing I remember is? Driving in Spain in the Aston Martin, learning to dive in Belize with, uh, what's her name. The Seven Stadiums in Seven Days trip; it's great! I mean, uh, my memories are basically highlights. It's good. It's a good life. The stuff you erase? I, uh, it doesn't matter.

[Jennings visits the bank to deposit his $92 million-plus dollars and to ask for some cash. Jane, the banker, hands him a large envelope, which he had mailed to himself]

Jane: Your personal items.

Michael Jennings: Yes?

Jane: [Smiling about the postage on the envelope] You only needed four stamps.

[He sees that there are five postage stamps with the picture of Albert Einstein on each one]

Michael Jennings: Oh. Well, I guess I can afford the extra fifty cents.

[She laughs. He shakes the items out of the envelope. They include a watch, a book of matches, a pack of cigarettes, sunglasses, a diamond ring, a bent piece of steel, a coin, and other items]

Michael Jennings: Um, I don't think this is my stuff.

Jane: It's not?

Michael Jennings: No.

Jane: I, I, I don't know what happened.

Michael Jennings: That's all right. Don't worry about it. I'll... um, it doesn't matter. Let's talk about my shares. Um, what I'd like to do is get some money now.

[They both laugh]

Michael Jennings: And, you know, put the rest away for long term, you know, to live off. So, how do we do that?

Jane: [puzzled] Mr. Jennings, you forfeited your shares.

Michael Jennings: I beg your pardon? What?

Jane: Yeah, uh, here. Uh, dated, um, four weeks ago. You surrendered the shares and stated to deliver only the envelope with personals. Don't you remember doing that, sir?

[Michael and Rachel have entered the inner sanctum, where the computer is which, presumably, Michael designed or reverse-engineered]

Michael Jennings: Let's take a look at the future before we destroy this thing.

[Jennings looks intense, then smiles as he discovers that he innately knows how to place his fingers and palms on the devices. But his smile turns to a frown as he discovers the same virus message that Brown has been receiving: ERROR - 41. He taps at some controls, then whispers:]

Michael Jennings: I bugged it! I rigged it, so Jimmy wouldn't use it against me.

Rachel Porter: Then you can fix it, right?

[He sighs and climbs down into the engineering section]

Michael Jennings: Where would I have planted that bug? Maybe I wanted the motherboards. Whoa! Whoa!

[He sees that Rachel has picked up a monkey wrench]

Michael Jennings: We won't be needing this, okay? You're dangerous with that thing!

[He seizes the monkey wrench and tosses it away onto the ground. Rachel's fingers curl against her bosom]

Rachel Porter: You must have given yourself something to help you find it.

Michael Jennings: I know. The only things left would be are the bullet and the, this.

Rachel Porter: The crossword?

Michael Jennings: Yeah!

Michael Jennings: [He studies it] Look at this: 12-Down.

[the clue is circled in ink and it reads: Used for changing connections in a circuit]

Michael Jennings: Maybe it's here.

Michael Jennings: [He counts circuits until he comes to the twelfth] Maybe it's a circuit diagram? I wouldn't have put it in the primary path. Twelve down.

[By placing the crossword puzzle over the grid, he discovers the bug; and he looks at Rachel with sly pride. They grin at each other. The virus warning turns into a pleasing display on the screen]

Michael Jennings: [In another room, Rethrick has been spying on them and has followed their progress]

Jimmy Rethrick: Take 'em.

Wolfe: Okay, Corridor 3, Level A: Jennings' lab.

[Rethrick arms his pistol and starts walking]

[after having his three-year memory erased]

Michael Jennings: What happened?

Rachel Porter: Hey, I said you were okay, okay?

Michael Jennings: Okay!

Shorty: Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't leave me alone.

Michael Jennings: What? You'll be okay. Talk. Mingle.

[leaves]

Shorty: [looks around] I don't want to mingle.

[Jennings sees Rachel at the party and is fascinated by her beauty; he leaves Shorty, who has no one else to hang out with]

Michael Jennings: Hello. I'm Michael.

Rachel Porter: I'm Rachel. Rachel Porter.

Michael Jennings: Is that Miss or Mrs?

Rachel Porter: Mm. That would be Doctor Porter.

Michael Jennings: Doctor! Well. Excuse me, Doctor.

Rachel Porter: [laughs] It's all right.

Michael Jennings: What kind of, uh, doctor are you?

Rachel Porter: I'm a biologist.

Michael Jennings: Really.

[Across the room, Shorty sees a waiter passing with a tray of hors d'oeuvres and gestures that he would like one, but is ignored. He grimaces]

Michael Jennings: Do you work for Jimmy?

Rachel Porter: [nodding] Mm-hm.

Michael Jennings: So it must be very top-secret biology that you practice.

Rachel Porter: [with a sly, sexy look] Oh, yes. Isn't everything?

Michael Jennings: Let's go.

Rachel Porter: Excuse me?

Michael Jennings: I mean, I'm happy to continue blathering on and trying helplessly to charm you, but I thought maybe, you know, cut to the chase and just, you know, go somewhere.

Rachel Porter: [laughing] I'll tell you what, Michael. I'm gonna walk over there and talk to a friend of mine. If you get the urge to have a real conversation, you'll know where to find me.

Michael Jennings: Okay. Fair enough. It was nice to meet you.

Rachel Porter: Giving up so easily? You don't believe in second chances, now, do you?

Michael Jennings: In my experience, no, I don't.

Rachel Porter: I, um, I brought you some clothes. I thought you might need them. It's okay.

Michael Jennings: Thank you. These are mine?

Rachel Porter: You don't remember?

Michael Jennings: No.

Rachel Porter: You don't remember me, do you?

Michael Jennings: Well, uh...

Rachel Porter: These are for you.

Michael Jennings: If you show someone their future, they have no future.

[Michael is focusing on the Einstein stamps on the envelope of items]

Rachel Porter: What?

Michael Jennings: You know, when I checked this envelope out of Reddy Grant, they told me I signed in twenty items. But there were only nineteen.

Rachel Porter: I don't understand.

[He picks up a magnifying glass and examines the Einstein stamps. One of them has a strangely pixelated eye. The camera cuts to a laboratory in which Jennings is examining the stamps under a microscope while Rachel stands behind him. The pixels turn out to be Seattle newspaper headlines, such as "Machine Predicts Future" and "Stock Market Panic."]

Rachel Porter: [frightened] What are these pictures of?

McGruder: Who the fuck is he?

Michael Jennings: You wanna know who he is? Try this: delve down into the deepest bowels of your soul. Try to imagine the ultimate fucking nightmare. And that won't come close to this son of a bitch when he gets pissed.

Michael Jennings: Go ahead! Shoot me, go on! SHOOT ME, you fucking COWARD! You haven't got the fucking GUTS!

Forrest Taft: I wouldn't dirty my bullets.

Michael Jennings: [seeing all his workers fleeing for their lives] You're a bunch of GUTLESS PRICKS! ALL OF YOU!

Michael Jennings: [seeing a worker close to him running away] You! Come help me!

Oil worker: FUCK YOU!

Michael Jennings: You yellow BASTARD!

Forrest Taft: Whoa! My long lost friend Michael!

Michael Jennings: [referring to Masu] Who's this? Is this the slope bitch you've been banging?

Forrest Taft: Nah. Not her.

Michael Jennings: Is this the one who's got you all concerned about the dirty snow? Jesus, Forrest! You and me, we bought hookers better than this for five bucks in Bangkok!

McGruder: [McGruder is protesting the presence of the FBI] I thought you wanted us to KILL this motherfucker, Mr. Jennings? How are we supposed to shoot him with all these cops standing around, huh? I don't think so.

Liles: McGruder! It is essential that we have the FBI here to cover ourselves legally! And it sure as hell will help with the press. They'll take the fall for anything that happens.

Michael Jennings: Look, don't worry about the FBI. We all know they couldn't find a hooker in a whorehouse anyway.

McGruder: But seriously. He'd have to be out of his fucking mind to try to get into this place now.

Michael Jennings: Then we should COUNT on that, Mr. McGruder! Forrest Taft is the patron saint of the impossible. And if you had only done your job like you're supposed to, it wouldn't have COME TO THIS!

Stone: I want you to protect this entrance like it was your sister's cherry, Tonto!

Rook: Yes, sir.

Stone: Put people over here and over here.

Michael Jennings: Stone! I'm going to the rig. I'm going to put Pump 3 on line, that'll be enough for me to keep my leases!

Stone: Right.

Michael Jennings: Without any help from YOU PRICKS!

[Jennings leaves]

Stone: You're in charge here, Tonto. Do not let that SON OF A BITCH IN HERE!

Michael Jennings: Fuck those animals stink!

Michael Jennings: [about Forrest] He'd need a miracle to stop us now.