Bridge of Spies Page #9

The pipe shears away from its tank and Powers separates from

the plane.

Man and plane continue to fall alongside one another. Then,

at 15,000 feet, Powers’ parachute automatically opens.

A piece of the fuselage barely misses him as he pulls off his

frozen face plate. He drifts down, the landmass of Russia

rising toward him.

Powers rips off his faceplate, sucks in air. Far below now,

the shattered tail of the U-2 shears off. Both wings are

torn clean off as the plane hurtles away.

SLOW DISSOLVE TO

A WHIRRING TABLE FAN

ANNOUNCER (V.O.)

The President announced that a NASA

weather plane disappeared four days

ago, north of Turkey...

PRISON RECREATION ROOM

Abel is working on a painting. The newscast continues, its

source the radio that Donovan gave Abel in their last

meeting.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 50.

CONTINUED:

ANNOUNCER:

...and the space administration

fears that its pilot died in the

crash...

A brush enters to continue working on the painting.

ANNOUNCER (CONT’D)

...Radar showed the plane wandering

off course, deep into Soviet

territory before contact was lost,

complicating any effort to recover

it or the remains of the pilot. Now

to news out of Washington: in a

close vote today the Supreme Court

affirmed the conviction of Russian

spy, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, five

votes to four.

The brush stops momentarily.

Wider on Abel, paused at his work.

ANNOUNCER (CONT’D)

...The case presented civil

liberties issues according to the

Russian’s lawyer, James B. Donovan.

DONOVAN HOME - KITCHEN

Mary stands at the open refrigerator, holding grocery items,

listening attentively to the same broadcast.

ANNOUNCER (CONT’D)

When asked how he felt about today’s

loss, Mr. Donovan simply said,

“Tired.” I’ll have more news for

you after this message.

Mary breathes a sigh of relief.

MARY:

(to herself)

It’s over...

WATTERS, COWAN & DONOVAN

Donovan walks through the busy office to a desk.

DONOVAN:

Marty, I’ll be danmed if I can find

the file on that Prudential case.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 51.

CONTINUED:

The young men stands.

MARTY:

I, uh...Mr. Watters asked me to move

it over to Jack Elwe’s office.

Along with the first draft of the

appeal.

DONOVAN:

He did?

MARTY:

He redrafted and filed it last week.

While you were in Washington.

CONTINUOUS:

Donovan approaches Watters’ office, where Tom Watters is in a

meeting with what appears to be the principal partners in the

firm.

WATTERS:

How long have we been together now,

and you act as if I’ve never closed

a deal? Set up a meeting, someplace

fancy.

The door stands ajar. Watters looks up and sees Donovan, who

waves. He meets Donovan’s look, without warmth, and

pointedly turns back to the table to continue.

WATTERS (CONT’D)

I’m betting Mr. Young would like

some of the finer things New York

has to offer.

Donovan listening -- no invitation to join. Natalie exits

with a tea pot and the door closes in his face.

Allison is sorting mail. As Donovan walks away she

approaches him with a letter in her hand.

ALISONL:

Do you know anyone from Leipzig?

DONOVAN:

More hate mail? From Germany now?

ALLISON:

From East Germany.

She hands it to him.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 52.

PRISON -- EXERCISE YARD

Abel is reading the letter. He still has the sniffles.

Donovan stands next to him, waiting for him to finish

reading.

DONOVAN:

Is it your wife?

ABEL:

No, no, no, no. She pretends to be,

but it’s not even good pretense.

He looks back down at the letter, reads:

ABEL (CONT’D)

...”I am taking this liberty to

write to you after having learned

from the newspapers about your most

humane attitude towards my beloved

husband, Rudolf Abel.”

He looks up, chuckling.

DONOVAN:

And do I write back?

Abel shrugs.

ABEL:

Ya, ya, ya -- what’s the next move

when you don’t know what the game

is?

He hands the letter back to Donovan.

HALL OF TRADE UNIONS -- MOSCOW

A man standing beside Powers, translating the Russian judge’s

voice that is being amplified by loudspeakers:

TRANSLATOR:

... U.S.S.R. laws on criminal

responsibilty for state crimes, to

ten years of confinement, with the

first three years to spent in

prison. The term of the

confinement...

He drones on as a stricken Powers absorbs the translation.

Widen to show the thousands gathered in the majestic hall,

now standing and cheering the sentence.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 53.

CIA HEADQUARTERS -- LOBBY

Donovan sits, waiting, and staring at the CIA seal on the

wall.

CIA HEADQUARTERS -- DULLES’ OFFICE

As Donovan enters.

DULLES (O.C.)

Mr. Donovan, thank you so much for

coming.

DONOVAN:

It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr.

Dulles. It’s an honor, sir.

Allen Dulles (70’s) hands Donovan a cup of coffee.

DULLES:

Nescafe, cream, two lumps.

DONOVAN:

Thank you.

Dulles lifts the letter from a sideboard.

DULLES:

Okay. This letter you received. It

seems pretty clear that the Soviets

are making an overture here.

They’re doing it through East

Germany because they still don’t

want to acknowledge Abel is a Soviet

citizen much less a Soviet spy. So,

a lot of fiction going on.

DONOVAN:

Yes sir. But -- to what end?

DULLES:

They’ve got our guy, our spy pilot,

we’ve got their guy.

He hands the letter to agent Hoffman.

DULLES (CONT’D)

A prisoner exchange. I think that’s

what they’re after. Which could

hardly be a surprise to you,

counselor:
it’s an eventuality that

I think you foresaw.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 54.

CONTINUED:

DONOVAN:

Yeah, I sure did. And I’m so rarely

right.

Dulles chuckles. The three men cross the large office to

Dulles’ desk, where he takes a seat and Donovan and Hoffman

do the same.

DULLES:

Well congratulations. Red-letter

day. Now, we have our man over

there, Powers -- a good man -- but

with a...with a head full of

classified information. Abel has a

head full of classified information,

too, but he hasn’t given us a lick.

DONOVAN:

And, sir, take it from me -- he

won’t.

DULLES:

Yes, we know that but the Russians

don’t. They want their man back

before he cracks and we want Powers

back for the same reasons.

DONOVAN:

I think you’re saying, sir, there

might be a happy ending for

everybody -

DULLES:

Yes, if we, um, indulge their

fiction.

He lights a pipe, studies Donovan.

DULLES (CONT’D)

We want you to negotiate the swap

because you’re a private citizen, so

it’s not governments talking. They

don’t acknowledge Abel as a Soviet

citizen and we don’t acknowledge

East Germany as a sovereign country.

We haven’t recognized East Berlin

since it was annexed by the Soviets

in ‘45.

DONOVAN:

So I act as negotiator, representing

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 55.

CONTINUED:
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