1408 (2007)

Samuel L. Jackson: Gerald Olin

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mike Enslin : [Olin gives Enslin the room key]  Most hotels have switched to magnetics. An actual key. That's a nice touch, it's antiquey.

  Gerald Olin : We have magnetic cards also, but electronics don't seem to work in 1408. Hope you don't have a pacemaker.

  Mike Enslin : [into his tape recorder]  General manager claims that the phantom in room interferes...

  Gerald Olin : I have *never* used the word "phantom."

  Mike Enslin : Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, spirit? Specter?

  Gerald Olin : No, you misunderstand. Whatever's in 1408 is nothing like that.

  Mike Enslin : Then what is it?

  Gerald Olin : It's an evil fucking room.

• Gerald Olin : You do drink don't you?

  Mike Enslin : Of course. I just said I was a writer.

• [the problem about Mike staying in 1408] 

  Gerald Olin : Look, I'm not telling you not to stay in that room for your own good or for the profit of the hotel. Frankly, selfishly, I just don't want to clean up the mess.

• Gerald Olin : The causes of death in 1408 range from heart attack, stroke, drowning.

  Mike Enslin : Drowning?

  Gerald Olin : Yes, one Mr. Grady Miller drowned in his chicken soup.

  Mike Enslin : That's hard to do, h - how did he do that?

  Gerald Olin : How indeed.

• Mike Enslin : Look man, just give me the key.

  Gerald Olin : Mr. Enslin, you...

  Mike Enslin : Just give me the key! Listen, I stayed... at the Bixby House. I brushed my goddamn teeth right next to the tub where Sir David Smith drowned his whole family, and I stopped being afraid of vampires when I was 12. Do you know why I can stay in your spooky old room, Mr. Olin? Because I know that ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties... don't exist. And even if they did, there's no God to protect us from them, now is there?

  Gerald Olin : So I can't talk you out of this?

  Mike Enslin : I think we've reached an understanding.

• Gerald Olin : [pats documents regarding 1408's victims]  I will let you have this, give you access to my office, you can take notes and put it all in your book. My only condition... is that you do not stay in that room.

  Mike Enslin : You'll let me look at all that stuff?

  [considering Olin's offer] 

  Gerald Olin : Hmm.

  Mike Enslin : I never did get that drink.

  [Olin pours a glass of the $800 whiskey, handing it to Enslin. Enslin takes a sip] 

  Mike Enslin : Ooh, that is good.

  Gerald Olin : [smiling]  Here, keep it. Compliments of the house.

  [hands bottle to Enslin] 

  Mike Enslin : [after dropping the bottle into his bag and taking another sip]  I'm still staying.

  Gerald Olin : [yelling]  Dammit to hell!

• Mike Enslin : The room's gotta be filthy. I mean, the sheets haven't been changed in... what, eleven years?

  Gerald Olin : No no no. We're very professional here. 1408 gets a light turn once a month. I supervise, the maids work in pairs. We treat the room as if it's a chamber filled with poison gas. We only stay 10 minutes and I insist the door remain open. But still... A few years ago a young maid from El Salvador found herself locked in the bathroom. She was only there for a few moments, but when we pulled her out she was...

  Mike Enslin : [sarcastically]  She was dead?

  Gerald Olin : No. Blind. She had taken a pair of scissors and gouged her eyes out. She was laughing hysterically.

• Gerald Olin : Why do you think people believe in ghosts? For fun? No. It's the prospect of something after death.

• Gerald Olin : What do you want, Mr. Enslin? You sought this room. Oh, that's right. You don't believe in anything. You like shattering people's hopes. Why do you think people believe in ghosts? For fun? No. It's the prospect of something after death. How many spirits have you broken?

• Gerald Olin : The first victim, Mr. Kevin O' Malley, sewing machine salesman, checked into the hotel the first week it opened, October, 1912.

  Mike Enslin : Cut his own throat, right?

  Gerald Olin : Well that's not the horrific part. Afterwards, in a fit of insanity, he tried to stitch himself back together using an old sewing needle before he bled to death.

  [leans over Mike] 

  Mike Enslin : Easy, man.

• Mike Enslin : Is 1408 a smoking room?

  Gerald Olin : As a matter of fact, it is. Yes.

  Mike Enslin : Good, one less worry in the watches of the night.

  Gerald Olin : Care for a cigar?

  Mike Enslin : No thank you, I don't smoke.

• Mike Enslin : It's good to be back. That's enough of that. Alcohol.

  [walks over to the mini-fridge and opens it, only to discover Gerald Olin talking to him] 

  Gerald Olin : I was just checking to see if the accommodations are exceeding your expectations.

  Mike Enslin : YOU KNOW GODDAMN WELL THEY ARE! What do you want from me?

  Gerald Olin : No, no, no. What do you want? What do you want, Mr. Enslin? You sought this room.

  Mike Enslin : It was a job, I was just doing the job.

  Gerald Olin : I beg your pardon?

  Mike Enslin : My job, I'm a writer.

  Gerald Olin : Oh, that's right, you don't believe in anything. You like shattering people's hopes.

  Mike Enslin : Oh, that's bullshit!

  Gerald Olin : Why do you think people believe in ghosts? For fun? No, it's the prospect of something after death. How many spirits have you broken?

  Mike Enslin : What do you want from me? Huh? What do you want from me? You...

  [starts violently ripping the fridge apart] 

  Mike Enslin : You little...

  [kicks the fridge repeatedly] 

  Mike Enslin : WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT?

  [slams the mini-fridge shut] 

  Mike Enslin : I want... my DRINK!

• Gerald Olin : Hotels are all about presentation and fertile creature comforts.

• Gerald Olin : Well done Mr. Enslin, well done.