Irresistible (I) (2020)

Chris Cooper: Jack Hastings

Photos 

Quotes 

• Gary Zimmer : Richard and Ginnie Peeler are hosting. He's a hedge fund swell.

  [smile creases Jack's face] 

  Gary Zimmer : She's been saving the Hudson for about 25 years.

  Jack Hastings : Richard Peeler.

  Gary Zimmer : Yeah?

  Jack Hastings : Got it.

  Gary Zimmer : Are you, like, 12?

  [both chuckle] 

• Jack Hastings : I'm just very impressed with all this. You... you do the polling.

  Kurt : Uh-huh. In fact...

  Gary Zimmer : There it is.

  Diana Hastings : What is that?

  Gary Zimmer : No, who is that? Elton Chambers.

  Diana Hastings : The Rocket Man?

  Gary Zimmer : The billionaire Rocket Man, yes.

  Kurt : Jesus Chr... I thought he was dead.

  Tina : Well, he is dead.

  Gary Zimmer : No, no, no. A series of micro-strokes. It's all good.

• Gary Zimmer : So, um, we can't win. The people in this town are pretty set in their ways. And we lost the eight nuns. That wasn't good. So, we can't win.

  Jack Hastings : Uh... y-you know, we appreciate all you done. I mean, the campaign and, uh... I'm just sorry we let you down, but...

  [relieved] 

  Jack Hastings : well, all I can say is thank you.

  Diana Hastings : Really, Gary, thank you for everything.

  Jack Hastings : It was a hell of a ride.

  [Jack and Diana laugh] 

  Gary Zimmer : Are... you shitting me? All I have to say is we can't win, and you're... you're through, you're out.

  Diana Hastings : You said we can't win.

  Gary Zimmer : Unless. We can't win unless... You didn't let me finish. We can't win unless it turns out that this town isn't the Mayberry everybody thinks it is. I just got a little piece of intel that's kind of intriguing. So, the mayor's brother Ziggy,

  [Jack steps back] 

  Gary Zimmer : he had an Oxy problem.

  Jack Hastings : Well, he was a roofer and got hurt on the job.

  Gary Zimmer : Yes, well, what you might not know is that the mayor pulled some strings, kept him out of jail, got him into rehab. That is abuse of power, nepotism. Probably some clerical shit in there.

  Diana Hastings : [scoffs]  Come on. Gary. But we're the good guys, right?

  Gary Zimmer : [flatly]  Yeah, we're the good guys.

  Diana Hastings : When they go low...

  Gary Zimmer : We go high.

  Diana Hastings : Unless we also need to go low, apparently.

  [chuckles incredulously] 

  Gary Zimmer : Only to keep those who would go lower out of power.

  Diana Hastings : So, when they go low, we go higher, incrementally, in relation to how low they went.

  Gary Zimmer : Regrettably, yes.

  Diana Hastings : When they go low, we go almost as low, but we feel worse doing it.

  Gary Zimmer : You think they thought twice about making your dad look like a PTS nutcase? And I'm going low because I'm gonna tell the truth about the mayor?

  Jack Hastings : His brother's fragile, Gary.

  Gary Zimmer : This town is fragile. The whole area is fragile. Our democracy.

  Diana Hastings : [exasperated]  Stop. We're not doing it. Okay? People are gonna get hurt.

  Gary Zimmer : I'm sorry... I really am... but sometimes good people have to do shitty things in service of the greater good. Isn't that right, Colonel?

  [exits] 

  Diana Hastings : Hey.

  [follows Gary] 

  Diana Hastings : Hey.

  Gary Zimmer : Yeah?

  Diana Hastings : Gary, stop.

  Gary Zimmer : What? Is this politics?

  Gary Zimmer : It's not politics anymore, Diana. It's... it's math. That's what an election is. It's just math. We need what they get plus one. That's all. And if I can't get that by getting more people to vote for your dad, then I have to get fewer people to vote for Braun.

  [sighs and exits] 

• Jack Hastings : [walks to the microphone at a city council meeting]  Excuse me, fellas.

  Mayor Braun : Jack, I already told you, you can widen that easement on Hamburg...

  Jack Hastings : Um, actually, it's about that resolution you're thinking about passing.

  Mayor Braun : With all due respect, Colonel, that discussion has ended.

  Jack Hastings : Yeah, yeah. So I heard. But, uh... the thing is that, um... it's a bad idea.

  Big Mike : Y... you can't... Uh, okay, well, I already seconded, but whatever.

  Jack Hastings : I know we're in a bad spot, but... you can't bring it back by throwing these people under the bus.

  Mayor Braun : Whoa, we're not throwing anybody under anything, Jack.

  [scoffs] 

  Mayor Braun : Money was tight when the base was still open, but now... I mean, we just got to be smart. We got to eliminate cheating the programs.

  Jack Hastings : There's not a damn soul using those programs that doesn't need 'em, and you know it.

  Mayor Braun : And all they need to do is produce the acceptable I.D., and the benefits will be...

  Jack Hastings : And you know they can't do that.

  Mayor Braun : Well...

  [scoffs] 

  Mayor Braun : I don't make the rules, Jack.

  [all eyes look at the Mayor] 

  Mayor Braun : I mean, I do, I guess. Not by myself, but... this is over.

  [Jack turns and begins to exit] 

  Mayor Braun : Okay, we have a motion that has been seconded. It is time to bring it to a vote.

  Jack Hastings : [Jack turns about-face and returns]  Uh, you know, uh, just curious... you know, when the river backed up and the folks you think might be cheating stood shoulder to shoulder with us stuffing sandbags for three days straight, ended up saving your store, you check their I.D.'s then?

  Mayor Braun : Discussion's closed, Jack!

  Jack Hastings : You checking I.D.'s when they're bringing food to the church

  [Mayor bangs gavel] 

  Jack Hastings : potlucks, Walt?

  Mayor Braun : Enough, Jack. You had your say.

  [sighs] 

  Mayor Braun : Look, we got rules here, but that don't make us bad people.

  Jack Hastings : I'm not saying you're a bad person, Billy. I'm saying you're scared. Hell, we all are. Damn town went from 15,000 to five overnight, and business went with it. We're not bringing it back by... by turning on each other. Corps taught me the chain's only as strong as its weakest link. And Father Heuvel here taught me that I am my brother's keeper.

  [...] 

  Jack Hastings : Whatever you do for the least of us, you do for the Lord.

  [...] 

  Jack Hastings : The point is, it's easy to be strong of character in the good times. The test is the bad times. If you can't live your principles then, well... I guess they aren't principles; they're just hobbies.

• Mr. Peeler : You know, our politics seem broken. Colonel, what do you see is the system's greatest weakness?

  Jack Hastings : Hmm, well, I guess, for one thing, this. Here, tonight. And I mean

  [inhales] 

  Jack Hastings : no disrespect. I just think this seems a bit crazy. I want to help my town. I want to be mayor, some town in the middle of Wisconsin. So, instead of being home working on some smart things to help my town, I have to fly here to your town and convince you that my town's worth saving. And

  [inhales] 

  Jack Hastings : that I'm worth it. And that saving it is worth it to you. All so you can give me some money. Not for my town, but for me. To help convince my town that I'm worth it. I mean...

  [inhales] 

  Jack Hastings : I don't know, it just sounds so stupid.

  [sighs] 

  Gary Zimmer : [...]  Money. Oh, God, their money is the problem? Oh! You should've seen their faces.

  Jack Hastings : I saw.

  Gary Zimmer : They ate it up. We could've named our price.

  [giddy] 

  Gary Zimmer : Oh, no way Faith matches.

  Jack Hastings : And why is that, now?

  Gary Zimmer : Oh. Because they're spending to stop something, and we're spending to start something.

  Jack Hastings : Hmm.

• Gary Zimmer : You know Kurt Lehman, polling and modeling.

  Jack Hastings : Yes. Hi.

  Kurt : Hi.

  Gary Zimmer : He gives us a window into the electorate.

  Diana Hastings : Hi.

  Kurt : How are you?

  Gary Zimmer : Best in the business. When everyone was predicting Hillary in a landslide over Trump, Kurt was the one guy who had her just barely beating him.

  Kurt : My models just picked up the trend lines, so...

  Gary Zimmer : If the election had taken place a month or two later...

  Kurt : My numbers would've been 100% on the money.

  Gary Zimmer : Mm-hmm.

  Diana Hastings : Wow. Impressive.

  Kurt : Well...

  Tina : Well, he was the least wrong.

  Gary Zimmer : Tina Kuryev, analytics. She gives us a window into the voters.

  Tina : Good to meet you, sir.

  Diana Hastings : Oh. I thought, uh, polling did that.

  Kurt : It does.

  Tina : Well, he tells you how he thinks they feel. I tell you how they really feel.

  [pause] 

  Tina : People are liars.

  Kurt : Here we go.

  Tina : He can tell you how often people say they go to church.

  Gary Zimmer : She can tell you if they actually go.

  Tina : I can tell you if God is in their hearts.

  Kurt : [under his breath]  Oh, my God.

  Gary Zimmer : Tina's in online analytics.

  Kurt : Hey, can I just say... we take deception into account, too, okay? Yeah, polling is an art form, but, you know, there's plenty of science to back it up.

  Tina : Says the guy still calling landlines. People tell computers the truth, right? Their desires, their prejudices. Every search, every transaction... it's an unguarded private moment. So there's no, uh, margin of error, you know? The digital footprint is your true self.

  Diana Hastings : But, surely, people are more complicated than their online transactions.

  Tina : Well, says the woman with three cats and an intense search history of the herpes virus.

  Diana Hastings : [protracted pause]  One of the cats... Is this legal?

  Tina : Law enforcement or in the eyes of God?