Bamboozled Page #18

EXT. SLEEP 'N EAT'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

A Worker is painting over Sleep 'N Eat's name on the door

and replacing it with HONEYCUTT

MANTAN:

They don't waste any time, do they?

INT. CONTROL BOOTH - NIGHT

The phone rings next to Delacroix and he answers.

120.

DELACROIX:

Delacroix. What?! I'll be right

down.

Dunwitty looks at him.

INT. BACKSTAGE - NIGHT

Delacroix is met by BUNNING, the STAGE MANAGER.

BUNNING:

You better talk to him. He won't

listen to me.

Delacroix walks over to Mantan who stands in a corner.

DELACROIX:

Mantan, we got a show to tape.

MANTAN:

My name is Manray, goddamnit.

DELACROIX:

Kook and the Gang, it's Manray.

Let's do the taping. You go back

to your dressing room, get dressed

and blacken up.

MANRAY:

I'm not playin' myself no mo'.

DELACROIX:

How you sound?

MANRAY:

I won't do it anymore.

DELACROIX:

Manray, I'm very sorry about ya boy

Cheeba and Sloan. Believe me, it

gave me no joy pulling ya coattail

about her, just lookin' out for a

brother. I feel you, all this

stuff happenin' at once but you

can't let if affect your work. You

gotta be professional.

MANRAY:

I'm always gonna be that. But I

ain't doing no more buck dancing.

DELACROIX:

No costume. No blackface.

121.

MANRAY:

No. No.

Manray leads the way to the stage.

BUNNING:

I should notify Dunwitty.

DELACROIX:

And I should put my foot dead up in

yo' ass.

BUNNING:

I won't be held responsible.

INT. STAGE - NIGHT

Honeycutt stands in front of the drawn curtain.

HONEYCUTT:

We apologize for the holdup but

without further delay, ladies and

gentlemen, boys and girls, let's

give it up for Mantan.

A THUNDEROUS ROAR FROM THE STUDIO AUDIENCE.

HONEYCUTT (CONT'D)

C'mon, don't be niggardly, give it

up. Show Mantan some love.

The CURTAIN RISES and MANRAY stands before them in his

regular street clothes and NO BLACK FACE.

ON AUDIENCE:

The THUNDEROUS ROAR is CUT OFF LIKE the LIGHTS, LIKE CON

EDISON PULLS THE PLUG WHEN YOU DON'T PAY THE BILL.

INT. CONTROL BOOTH - NIGHT

Dunwitty is HYSTERICAL.

DUNWITTY:

Stop the tape. Stop the tape.

Delacroix. Get me Delacroix.

INT. STAGE - NIGHT

Manray speaks to the silence.

_

122.

MANRAY:

Cousins, I want all of you to go to

your windows. Go to your windows

and yell, scream with all the life

you can muster up inside your

assaulted, bruised amd battered

bodies.

ON MANRAY:

MANRAY:

I'm sick and tired of being a

n*gger and I'm not gonna take it

anymore.

ON VARIOUS AUDIENCE MEMBERS

Black and white. Male and female. Young and old. All in

black face.

ON MANRAY:

He collapses onto the stage and the AUDIENCE sits on their

hands. Manray gets up and begins to dance.

ON STAGE:

Dunwitty runs to Bunning.

DUNWITTY:

Drop the curtain. Drop the curtain.

Bunning drops the curtain. Security rushes onto the stage

and grabs Manray.

DUNWITTY (CONT'D)

Escort him out the building now!

MANRAY:

I wasn't finished doing my dance.

DUNWITTY:

But you are finished. Done.

Nigga's like you are a dime a dozen.

I'm gonna slide Honeycutt right

into ya spot. We won't miss a step.

Get him outta here.

The security guards move Manray as Dunitty glares at

Delacroix. Honeycutt is all smiles, he's being bumped to

the top.

DUNWITTY (CONT'D)

DeLa, I'll deal with you next.

123.

EXT. BACKSTAGE

The security guards toss Manray out the stage door. Manray

looks down the alley and it's empty except for a parked SUV.

He picks himself up and does a joyous dance. This is

Manray's dance of Freedom.

ON STREET:

The Big Black Chevy Suburban creeps down the alley to a

dancing Manray and comes to rest right in front of him.

Manray tries to shield his eyes from the hi-beam headlights.

MANRAY:

Whaddup?

No one comes out.

MANRAY (CONT'D)

Whaddup?

The doors open and the Mau-Mau's file out.

BIG BLACK:

You truly are a dancing fool.

1/16TH BLACK

Yo Black, you looking for trouble.

MANRAY:

Don't start none, won't be none.

The Mau-Mau's are dying laughing. Manray tries to walk

through them. They block him. Manray attempts to climb

over the suburban. He's quickly nabbed, give a good ole

Brooklyn Beatdown, then thrown into the rear of the vehicle.

EXT. EMPTY BROOKLYN STREET - NIGHT

The Mau-Mau Mobile rolls up to an abandoned factory.

ON CHEVY SUBURBAN

The Mau-Mau's quickly carry Manray out from the back of the

vehicle into the factory.

INT. FACTORY - NIGHT

Manray sits, feet and hands tied, in the middle of a

cavernous space. A digital video camera stands on a tripod

in front of him.

BIG BLACK:

You is one dead n*gger.

124.

MANRAY:

What did I do?

BIG BLACK:

What did you do?

The Mau-Mau's laugh.

BIG BLACK (CONT'D)

Brothers, he asks what did he do?

DOUBLE BLACK:

If you don't know there is nuthin'

we can do for you.

BIG BLACK:

Nigga, you will be executed.

ON MANRAY:

His face says he can't believe this is happening.

MANRAY:

For singing and dancing?

1/16TH BLACK

You will be done in front of the

world.

MO BLACK:

The whole world will be watching.

1/16TH BLACK

Via the internet.

DELACROIX (V.O.)

The Mau-Mau's had come up with a

brilliant, sadistic plan to

broadcast Mantan's execution LIVE

over the internet.

1/16TH BLACK

We have pirated broadcasting

facilities. No way we can be found

out. We're in cyberspace.

JO BLACK:

Nobody will find you till it's too

late.

MONTAGE:

Various newsrooms, computer screens, people running,

shouting, yelling over phones.

125.

DELACROIX (V.O.)

The Mau-Mau's sent anonymous e-mail

proclamations to the websites of

CNN, ABC, MSNBC and CBS. It was an

invite to witness the Dance of

Death, 9 PM, prime time, tomorrow

night on a site to be designated at

a later date.

INT. FBI HEADQUARTERS - NIGHT

Delacroix and Cheeba are being interrogated in two adjoining

spaces. WE ARE seeing them through the two-way mirrors.

DELACROIX (V.O.)

It's no joke getting grilled by the

FBI for five houts.

Delacroix SCREAMS.

DELACROIX (CONT'D)

I don't know anything.

FBI AGENT:

We know you're involved in this

abduction.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT

CHEEBA:

You know more than me. Why would I

do something like that to my best

friend? Why?

FBI AGENT #2

You tell us.

EXT. FBI HEADQUARTERS - NIGHT

It's a mob scene as the media frenzy heightens. Delacroix

and Cheeba try to fight their way through the print and

broadcast journalists trying to question them as they leave

FBI headquarters.

DELACROIX (V.O.)

Somehow, someway, somebody had

tipped the sharks off. It was a

feeding frenzy.

Delacroix and Cheeba start pushing people out of the way as

they get in to their waiting car.

126.

INT. X-FORCE WAR ROOM - NIGHT

There is a flurry of activity - people man phones, computers

all HI-TECH.

DELACROIX (V.O.)

The X-Force was brought onto the

case. When something involves the

internet, these are the people IBM,

XEROX, the CIA, FBI, even the US

Government go to.

ON CLOCK:

It reads "T-minus 19 HOURS 22 MINUTES."

DELACROIX (V.O.) (CONT'D)

It was a race against time. The

Dance of Death.

Rate this script:4.0 / 8 votes