Bridge of Spies Page #13

shut...(and now he tries something

new) and, you never know, Abel might

want to see the sky again and start

to trade Russian secrets for very

small American favors.

SCHISCHKIN:

How can we know this. We little

men, we just do our jobs.

DONOVAN:

Like Lt. Powers. He’s just a pilot.

SCHISCHKIN:

He was making photographs from

seventy thousand feet when he was

shot from the sky. People in my

country consider this an act of war.

DONOVAN:

We have to get off this merry go

round, sir. The next mistake our

countries make could be the last

one. We need to have the

conversation our governments can’t.

Schischkin takes a moment to think. Donovan watches him and

waits.

SCHISCHKIN:

I will ask Moscow. Who knows what

they will say? A lot of people, Mr.

Donovan, don’t want this exchange to

ever take place.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 73.

CONTINUED:
(6)

He rises. As does Donovan.

SCHISCHKIN (CONT’D)

Can you come back tomorrow and

discuss their answer? Powers for

Abel.

DONOVAN:

And Frederic Pryor.

SCHISCHKIN:

(patient)

As I said, Pryor is in the hands of

the organs of state security of the

German Democratic Republic.

DONOVAN:

I’m confident you can make

arrangements.

SCHISCHKIN:

I am merely a secretary in the

embassy of a foreign power.

DONOVAN:

Okay.

SCHISCHKIN:

You’ll have to see Mr. Vogel. I’ll

give you his address.

Donovan looks at him for a beat.

DONOVAN:

...There actually is a Mr. Vogel?

SCHISCHKIN:

Why would you imagine otherwise?

It’s a short cab ride. (writing)

And please, Mr. Donovan, wear an

overcoat in this weather.

DONOVAN:

I had mine stolen from me.

SCHISCHKIN:

What did you expect? (handing him

the address) It was from Saks Fifth

Avenue. Wasn’t it?

On Donovan, as this sinks in.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 74.

BUILDING -- INNER OFFICE

A secretary shows Donovan in. A man better-dressed than his

office would lead you to expect, is pouring two scotches:

Wolfgang Vogel.

VOGEL:

Mr. Donovan!

DONOVAN:

Mr. Vogel.

VOGEL:

Please come in!

VOGEL (CONT’D)

Sorry about the embassy, the Soviets

decided not to host us, very

irritating.

DONOVAN:

I am still trying to grasp each

party’s...

VOGEL:

Status?

DONOVAN:

Yes. And interest, in the

proceedings.

VOGEL:

Yes, a new world, all very

disorienting isn’t it.

He hands Donovan one of the tumblers, and they both drink.

VOGEL (CONT’D)

Let me tell you what I have to

offer. I am a good friend --

friend, no, he is older -- protégé --

of the Attorney General of the

German Democratic Republic. Sit

down please.

They sit across from each other at Vogel’s desk.

VOGEL (CONT’D)

This unfortunate Frederic Pryor,

well, he was in the wrong place at

the wrong time. But every accident,

properly viewed, is an opportunity,

isn’t it Mr. Donovan?

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 75.

CONTINUED:

DONOVAN:

Well -

VOGEL:

Your country refuses to recognize

the German Democratic Republic.

They prefer to make up stories --

that the GDR doesn’t exist, for

instance.

Donovan signals that his glass is empty.

VOGEL (CONT’D)

Sorry.

He rises to refill it.

VOGEL (CONT’D)

As a means of forcing your

government’s recognition of this

real place, sir, in which you find

yourself -- the GDR. The Attorney

General is happy to negotiate with

you, as a representative of your

government, for Mr. Pryor’s return.

DONOVAN:

Mr. Vogel, I’m not here as a

representative of my government.

Silent beat.

VOGEL:

(sadly)

All right. I think that’s childish,

Mr. Donovan.

Donovan shrugs.

DONOVAN:

Well, I have no official status.

VOGEL:

...Fine, you do not represent the

USA, I do not represent the GDR. My

client is Lydia Abel, Rudolf’s wife,

and I have also -

DONOVAN:

Lydia is the daughter. Helen is the

wife.

A beat, Vogel resentful at having his thought derailed.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 76.

CONTINUED:
(2)

VOGEL:

Well. I -- am prepared to offer

Frederic Pryor’s exchange, for

Rudolph Abel’s.

Donovan stands, faces off with him.

DONOVAN:

Well let’s be clear. We will

produce Rudolf Abel. At the same

time, you will produce, the student

Pryor. At the same time.

VOGEL:

Absolutely.

Vogel takes a photograph from a file on his desk top. The

photo is of an incarcerated Pryor, looking very young and

very scared. He hands it to Donovan.

VOGEL (CONT’D)

The exchange on offer is a Russian

at the end of his life, for an

American student at the start of

his.

Donovan stares at the photo of the innocent young man.

SAFE HOUSE:

Hoffman strides toward Donovan, who is wrapped in a blanket

for warmth, and sets down a cup of tea for him and a bottle

of wine. Michener and Pinker read newspapers in the

background.

HOFFMAN:

“Schischkin”? He’s not an embassy

secretary. Ivan Schischkin is the

KGB’s chief in Western Europe.

DONOVAN:

Well -- okay. Whatever he is. He’s

relaying the proposal to Moscow and

they’ll decide -- could I borrow

your coat? I lost mine.

Hoffman stares at him, thrown by the veer off-course.

HOFFMAN:

How did you lose your coat?

DONOVAN:

You know. Spy stuff.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT

CONTINUED:

Hoffman gazes at him, deadpan. Finally:

HOFFMAN:

I’ll get you another coat.

DONOVAN:

Good. Good. So -- who is this

Vogel?

HOFFMAN:

Him we don’t know. He might be what

you said he is, friend of the

Attorney General. Just some guy the

GDR tapped to handle this. Sounds

like the East Germans are fighting

for a place at our table. The GDR

gets Abel back for the Russians,

winning their respect, and captures

the headlines for their cause.

Which of course puts East Germany on

the map. But we don’t care about

their map. Stick with the Russians.

Stick with the Russians. It’s

Powers for Abel.

DONOVAN:

So, does all this mean it might

actually -- happen?

HOFFMAN:

That’s what you seem to be telling

me. We’ll put Abel on a plane,

he’ll be here Friday. So if

Schischkin gets the okay, all that’s

left is the mechanics of the trade,

how we swap our guy for their guy.

DONOVAN:

Our guys. Two guys. Powers and

Pryor.

HOFFMAN:

No! Don’t go bleeding heart on me!

Powers is the whole ballgame.

Forget this Ivy League boy, who

obviously thought it was a good idea

to study Soviet economics in Berlin

in the middle of the Cold War.

Powers is who we need.

DONOVAN:

You don’t even like Powers.

Everybody hates Powers.

(MORE)

77.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 78.

CONTINUED:
(2)

DONOVAN (CONT'D)

He didn’t kill himself, he let the

commies parade him on television,

he’s the most hated man in America.

After Rudolf Abel, maybe. And me.

AN OVERHEAD LIGHT BURST ON

PRISON CELL:

Gary Powers, fitfully sleeping.

Two guards reach in to haul him up.

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