Bridge of Spies Page #8

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 44.

CONTINUED:

LIEUTENANT:

We’ll have detectives canvasing the

neighborhood, maybe we’ll find a

description of the car. I don’t

think it’s very - -

DONOVAN:

We’re going to need protection.

LIEUTENANT:

I have instructions to leave two

cars here, it’ll be pretty obvious

this is a secure-

DONOVAN:

For how long? I have to be in

Washington later on this week -

A uniformed cop nearby has been listening.

COP:

What’re you doin? What’re you doin

to your family?

DONOVAN:

Pardon me, officer?

COP:

You’re still defending this guy.

What’re you fighting for him for?

LIEUTENANT:

Okay, knock that off, officer -

COP:

Knock off nothing. I was in the

third wave at Omaha Beach. Wuddya

think about that, buddy?

DONOVAN:

I did my time in the service -

COP:

-- fighting these guys? And you’re

defending him? What am I not

gettin’ here?

DONOVAN:

Just do your job as an officer of

the law!

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 45.

CONTINUED:
(2)

LIEUTENANT:

Okay, I’m sorry

(to the cop)

Let’s get outside.

DONOVAN:

No, let’s forget about him -

COP:

What am I not gettin’ here?

LIEUTENANT:

Outside, officer.

56

He moves him down the stairs and two other uniformed cops

follow them into the street swarming with cop cars,

onlookers, reporters.

Donovan walks back into the now-quiet living room, where a

shell-shocked Mary, Carol and Becky lie together on the sofa.

Donovan returns to the open front double doors and slams them

shut.

PESHAWAR USAF BASE - HANGAR

Williams is briefing the pilots. He stands before a

blackboard -- a quick sketch of the U-2 instrument panel.

WILLIAMS:

Should it become necessary to

abandon the aircraft over Soviet

territory, then there’s a two and

half pound explosive charge

contained within the fuselage.

He picks up such an explosive from a nearby table and

demonstrates.

WILLIAMS (CONT’D)

First, you activate the circuits.

But to start the seventy-second

timer you need to flip the switch

marked destruct.

Williams points to a button marked DESTRUCT and he looks

meaningfully at the pilots.

WILLIAMS (CONT’D)

It is imperative that these flights

remain a secret and this equipment

does not fall into enemy hands.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 46.

CONTINUED:

POWERS:

And what about us?

Powers is smiling, a half-joke.

WILLIAMS:

I don’t know if you’re kidding,

Lieutenant, I’m not. What you know

about the plane is as secret as the

plane itself.

Silence as this sinks in.

WILLIAMS (CONT’D)

If capture is a foregone conclusion

you go down with your plane. If you

think you can ditch and get away --

if you’re close enough to a border --

fine, you know the ejection

protocol. But if you ditch...

He opens a balled fist to show a silver dollar.

WILLIAMS (CONT’D)

...you bring the dollar with you.

There’s a pin inside.

He withdraws the pin.

WILLIAMS (CONT’D)

Scratch your skin anywhere. It’s

instantaneous. If you think you are

about to be captured you use it.

Drivers, you understand me? Spend

the dollar.

OUTSIDE THE HANGAR

A suited-up Powers climbs into a jeep with Murphy and a

driver.

SUPER:
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

As Donovan walks up the white marble steps.

JEEP:

Pulling up to the U-2 on the airstrip with Powers.

The U-2, mechanics finishing their work in service.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 47.

DONOVAN:

Entering Supreme Court chamber.

POWERS:

Suited up, being fitted with a parachute by Murphy.

SUPREME COURT:

Deafening quiet. Donovan stands at the bench before the

justices.

DONOVAN:

Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please

the court. “The Cold War” isn’t

just a phrase, Your Honors. It’s

not just a figure of speech. Truly

a battle is being fought, between

two competing views of the world. I

contend that Rudolf Ivanovich Abel --

Colonel Abel as he was called even

by the men who arrested him -- is

our foe in that battle.

AIRSTRIP:

Powers in the cockpit, Murphy going over final checks with

him. Auxiliary power, oxygen supply...

SUPREME COURT:

Donovan continues speaking.

DONOVAN (CONT’D)

...He was treated as a combatant in

that war until it no longer suited

our government to so treat him.

Accordingly he was not given the

protections we give our own

citizens. He was subjected to

treatment that, however appropriate

to a suspected enemy, was not

appropriate to a suspected criminal.

AIRSTRIP:

Powers finalizes his checks. Murphy shakes his hand. The U-2

taxis and then soars into the sky, engine roaring.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 48.

SUPREME COURT:

DONOVAN:

I know this man. If the charge is

true, he serves a foreign power --

but he serves it faithfully. If he

is a soldier in the opposing army --

he is a good soldier. He has not

fled the battle to save himself; he

has refused to serve his captor, he

refused to betray his cause, he has

refused to take the coward’s way

out. The coward must abandon his

dignity before he abandons the field

of battle. That, Rudolf Abel will

never do. Shouldn’t we, by giving

him the full benefit of the rights

that define our system of

governance, show this man who we

are? Who we are:
is that not the

greatest weapon we have in this Cold

War? Will we stand by our cause

less resolutely than he stands by

his?

STRATOSPHERIC SPACE

A U-2 banks left into view, its single engine roaring.

U-2 COCKPIT

Powers moves his hand to the camera trigger, looking into the

lens.

The telephoto lens at the front of the U-2 lets fly, rapid-

firing as it focuses on the earth below.

U-2 COCKPIT

Powers is focused on his instruments.

A missile trail flashes past to the left: a miss.

A violent WHUMP in the cockpit. Powers holds his breath.

Powers checks his dials: everything is in one piece. Just

then he notices his right wing dipping. He pulls left on the

stick to level the plane and the plane responds: we seem to

be getting back to normal.

A deafening impact: more violent than the first.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 49.

CONTINUED:

Complete shaking, rocking, diving loss of control. The

canopy spiderwebs with cracks.

Powers looks down, his legs trapped under his instrument

panel. He tries to wriggle free as the U-2 drops at two

hundred feet a second.

As the plane continues to fall, the earth rushing into view,

Powers opens the DESTRUCT button and the canopy shatters,

sucking him out of the cockpit. Powers’ faceplate freezes

instantly in the sub-zero air. He falls alongside the U-2 as

it spirals downward and cracks apart, tied to the cockpit by

his oxygen tube.

The plane’s instrument panel begins to freeze over. The

DESTRUCT button remains open but unpressed. Power’s oxygen

pipe, secured to a tank in the cockpit, begins to rip loose.

Using the oxygen pipe Powers hauls himself back towards the

aircraft. He reaches for the DESTRUCT button but cannot

quite reach it.

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