12 Years a Slave Page #24

in Orleans that knowed just as

much as any n*gger I got. Yah'd

call them fellers citizens, I

s'pose?

BASS:

Look here; you can't laugh me down

in that way. These n*ggers are

human beings. If they are allowed

to scale no higher than brute

animals, you and men like you will

have to answer for it. There's an

ill-

104.

B155

(CONTINUED)

1/24/13 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 105.

B155 CONTINUED:
(4) B155 B155 CONTINUED: (4) B155

EPPS:

Ahhh!

BASS:

A fearful ill, resting on thisnation-

EPPS:

You betray yourself a foreigner!

BASS:

That will not go unpunishedforever. There will be a

reckoning yet.

EPPS:

You like to hear yourself talk,

Bass, better than any man I knowof. Yah'd argue that black waswhite, or white black if anybodywould contradict you. A fine

supposition if yah lived amongYankees in New England. But yahdon't.

(pointed)

You most assuredly do not.

155 EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION - DAY 155

It's the Sabbath. The slaves are left to themselves to

do their own chores. At the moment the female slaves are

washing their clothes in large cauldrons, slapping theirclothes against washing boards and hanging them up to drynear to their living quarters behind the plantation. Itis a sight of ritual. Missing from the field of labor isPatsey, for whom Epps hollers.

EPPS:

Patsey... Patsey!

A drunk Epps asks of the slaves:

EPPS (CONT'D)

Where is she? Where is Patsey?

No one answers.

EPPS (CONT'D)

Talk, Damn you!

PHEBE:

We know nothin' of her, Massa.

EPPS:

The hell you don't! You know

where she is! She run off, ain'tshe? She's escaped, and youmiserable black dogs stand like

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

1/24/13 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 106.

155 CONTINUED:
155

EPPS (CONT'D)

the deef and dumb. Speak! Speak!

155 CONTINUED:
155

EPPS (CONT'D)

the deef and dumb. Speak! Speak!

Not a word spoken.

EPPS (CONT'D)

My best cotton picking n*gger! Mybest.

A beat.

EPPS (CONT’D)

I'd give yah all up for her.

Where she gone?

The slaves say nothing. There is nothing for them to

say. They don't know where she is. Eventually Eppsdrops into true sorrow.

EPPS (CONT’D)

She gone... My Pats gone.

156 EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION - LATER 156

Epps sits on the piazza looking quite forlorn. He looks

up only to see PATSEY RETURNING TO THE PLANTATION. Eppssteps up to greet her, with anger rather than relief.

As they hear his angry voice, the slaves step around fromwhere they are hanging their laundry to dry. Treach is

near as well.

EPPS:

Run off. Run off, did you?

PATSEY:

Massa Epps-

EPPS:

You miserable wench! Where youbeen?

PATSEY:

I been nowhere.

EPPS:

Lies to your misdeeds!

PATSEY:

The Sabbath day, Massa. I took me

a walk to commune wit da Lord.

EPPS:

Bring the Lord into yerdeceptions? Yah Godless...

Shaw's. Comin' from Shaw's

plantation weren't yah?

(CONTINUED)

1/24/13 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 106A.

156 CONTINUED:
156 156 CONTINUED: 156

PATSEY:

...No...

(CONTINUED)

1/24/13 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 107.

156 CONTINUED:
(2) 156 156 CONTINUED: (2) 156

EPPS:

Yah took yerself ta pleasure Shaw.

Yah gave baser passion to thatunblushin' libertine!

Solomon tries to intervene:

SOLOMON:

Master Epps-

EPPS:

Now yah speak? Now that yah wantto add to 'er lies yah find yertongue.

Epps goes to strike Solomon, but Patsey pulls his armback.

PATSEY:

Do not strike him. I went to

Massa Shaw's plantation!

EPPS:

Yah admit it.

PATSEY:

Freely. And you know why.

Patsey takes soap from the pocket of her dress.

PATSEY (CONT'D)

I got this from Mistress Shaw.

Mistress Epps won't even grant meno soap ta clean with. Stink so

much I make myself gag. Five

hundred pounds 'a cotton day in,

day out. More than any man here.

And 'fo that I will be clean; thatall I ax. Dis here what I went to

Shaw's 'fo.

EPPS:

You lie...

PATSEY:

The Lord knows that's all.

EPPS:

You lie!

PATSEY:

And you blind wit yer owncovetousness. I don't

lie, Massa.

If you kill me, I'll stick tathat.

EPPS:

I'll learn you to go to Shaw's.

Treach, go get some line.

(CONTINUED)

1/24/13 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 108.

156 CONTINUED:
(3) 156

Treach runs quickly to the tool shed. In short order he

returns with the rope in hand.

EPPS (CONT'D)

Strip her. Strike her bare 'n

lash her to the post.

Mistress Epps has now come from the Great House. She

gazes on the scene with an air of heartless satisfaction.

Now tied to the post, Epps stands behind Patsey with hiswhip.

EPPS (CONT'D)

Yah done this to yerself, Pats!

Epps hoists the whip to strike, holds it high...but nomatter his rage, Epps cannot bring himself to deliver theblow. He looks to Mistress Epps who now stands gloatingand spurring him on.

MISTRESS EPPS:

Do it! Strike the life from her.

Epps again hoists the whip. It trembles in his hand

ahead of the act... But he does not have it in him to

deliver such a beating. Turning to Solomon, thrustingthe whip at him:

EPPS:

Beat her.

Solomon doesn't move. Epps shoves the whip into hishand.

EPPS (CONT'D)

Give her the whip. Give it all to

her!

Patsey, begging to Solomon:

PATSEY:

I'd rather it you, Platt.

EPPS:

Strike her, or yah'll get the

same!

(CONTINUED)

1/24/13 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 109.

156 CONTINUED:
(4) 156 156 CONTINUED: (4) 156

Solomon takes a step back. He unfurls the whip... He

begins to whip Patsey. Lash after lash, Patsey squirmsbefore it. Epps eyes fill with tears, he is nearly toodistraught to watch.

But the Mistress... She is not satisfied with Solomon's

half-hearted effort.

MISTRESS EPPS:

He pantomimes. There ain't barely

a welt on her. That's what your

n*ggers make of yah; a fool fer

the takin'.

Epps's grief is replaced by fury. EPPS GRABS THE PISTOL

FROM TREACH'S HOLSTER and draws down on the slaves.

EPPS:

Yah will strike her. Yah will

strike her until her flesh is rent

and meat and blood flow equal, or

I will kill every n*gger in my

sight!

Solomon can't strike a blow, even if it means his life.

But from the ground, from Patsey:

PATSEY:

Do it, Platt. Don't stop until I

am dead.

What else can he do? Solomon begins to whip, to trulywhip Patsey. Her back welts, then tears... Patseyscreams in agony. Solomon strikes again and again...

After a full thirty lashes Solomon looks to Epps, who isnot satisfied.

EPPS:

Until I say no more! I ain't said

nothing!

Solomon strikes another ten to fifteen times. By now, aspromised, Patsey's back has been reduced to LITTLE MORETHAN TORN MEAT AND BLOOD.

Finally, Solomon holds low the whip. He can and will do

no more.

EPPS (CONT'D)

Strike her! Strike her!

Solomon will not. Epps takes up the whip and whipsPatsey with "ten fold" greater force than he had. The

painfully loud and angry curses of Epps load the air.

Patsey by now is terribly lacerated, literally flayed.

The lash wet with blood which flowed down her sides and

dropped upon the ground. At length Patsey ceasesstruggling. Her head sinks listlessly on the ground.

Rate this script:4.2 / 13 votes