Jackie Page #12

JACKIE:

No, only crass, self-indulgent

people kill themselves.

(beat)

I was just hoping...

(MORE)

73.

JACKIE (CONT'D)

if I walked down the street next to

Jack’s body maybe someone would bekind enough to do it for me.

PRIEST:

In front of the whole world... A

famous life, a famous death.

JACKIE:

I never wanted fame. I just becamea Kennedy.

EXT. PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE -WASHINGTON, DC

Jackie continues to lead the march. Bobby flanking her.

Mourners watching from the windows. Hats over their hearts.

EXT. PARK -OUTSIDE, WASHINGTON DC

JACKIE:

I've told everyone that I can'tremember.

(beat)

But that's not true. I can

remember. I can remember

everything.

And now, finally, we see the ASSASSINATION -

EXT. PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE -DALLAS, 1963

Jackie is back in that limousine in Dallas. She waves to the

cheering crowd.

EXT. PARK -OUTSIDE, WASHINGTON DC

JACKIE:

The first bullet.

(beat)

Boom.

EXT. PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE -DALLAS

And this time --the sequence continues:

CLOSE ON Jackie --everything that now follows tracking herexperience.

74.

BANG! --Jackie startles, confused. (In her mind, this was

the missed opportunity to act.)

JACKIE (O.S.)

Then boom.

BANG! --Jackie turns --eyes widening in horror as thePresident grips his throat. She's about to reach for him-

And BANG! --she is showered in BLOOD and GRAY MATTER as his

head explodes all over her.

EXT. PARK -OUTSIDE, WASHINGTON DC

JACKIE:

I could have saved him.

EXT. PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE -DALLAS

Jackie panics --climbing out of her seat, onto the back ofthe still-moving car.

She claws her way to the rear-bumper, hanging on for herlife.

EXT. PARK -OUTSIDE, WASHINGTON DC

JACKIE:

I should have known it was a

gunshot. I should have shieldedhim.

INTERCUT -

EXT. ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Bagpipers march. Marines stand in formation.

JACKIE (O.S.)

I tried to stop the bleeding. But

by the time we got to the hospitalit was...

She stands, watching through her black veil.

EXT. PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE

CLOSE ON Jackie --back in the car, where her husband’s bodyis slumped over, BLOOD pooling everywhere.

75.

Jackie resists, but Hill shoves her down into the carnage,

shielding her body with his.

Jackie lies prone, sandwiched between Hill and her dyinghusband --trapped in an unspeakable, visceral horror.

Jackie reaches out for Jack’s head --and tries to hold

together his shattered skull.

We stay with her --as the car now accelerates toward the

hospital.

EXT. PARK -OUTSIDE, WASHINGTON DC

JACKIE:

That night, and every night

since... I’ve prayed to die.

EXT. ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

The casket is carried through the mourners gathered.

JACKIE (O.S.)

Won’t God let me be with my

husband?

Marines fold the flag and hand it to her.

She stands staring at the casket. Remembering the horror of

the limo as it sped with his head in her hands.

The casket is lowered.

INT. KENNEDY COMPOUND -LIVING ROOM

Jackie sits with the Journalist.

JACKIE:

Can I look?

She slides Field’s notes to her side of the table.

JOURNALIST:

It’s just, I haven’t-JACKIE

--You don’t write very legibly, doyou?

He watches her read.

76.

INT. KENNEDY COMPOUND -KITCHEN -LATER

The Journalist paces as Jackie rewrites furiously.

JOURNALIST:

You left your mark on this country,

Mrs. Kennedy. These past fewdays...That’s the story.

(long beat)

Losing a President is like losing afather. And you were a mother toall of us. And that’s a very good

story.

(beat)

The entire country watched thefuneral from beginning to end.

Decades from now, people willremember your dignity, and themajesty...

(beat)

They’ll remember you.

CUT TO:

INT. MONROE ROOM -WHITE HOUSE (1962)

Collingswood and Jackie have reached the end of the tour -the

Monroe Room on the second floor.

JACKIE:

It will serve a definite purpose.

(beat)

My husband has so many meetings uphere, in this part of the house.

All the men who wait to see him,

now sit in the hall, with babycarriages going by them. So theycan sit in here and have a

conference around this table,

waiting for him.

COLLINGSWOOD:

Well, he’s going to come in and-

PRESIDENT KENNEDY --handsome, resplendent --enters the

room.

COLLINGSWOOD (CONT’D)

(excited)

Mister president...

They shake hands.

77.

PRESIDENT KENNEDY

Mister Collingswood.

COLLINGSWOOD:

Mrs. Kennedy has been showing us

about the White House and all the

changes she has made therein. What

do you think of the changes that

she’s made?

PRESIDENT KENNEDY

Well, I think that the great effort

she’s made has been to bring us

much more intimately in contact

with all the men who lived here. Of

course, I think anyone who comes to

the White House as a President

desires the best for his country.

CUT TO:

INT. STAIRWAY -WHITE HOUSE

Nancy leads Jackie down the stairs, out of the White Housefor the last time...

PRESIDENT KENNEDY (O.S.)

And I think he receives stimulus

from the knowledge of living in

close proximity to the people who

are legendary but who actually were

alive and were in these rooms.

Jackie notices --down the hallway, Lady Bird reviews newfabric swatches with Walton.

Walton catches her glance. A hint of shame in his eyes -but

this is no longer her home.

Jackie looks down and exits.

EXT. PORTICO -WHITE HOUSE -DAY

Caroline and John Jr head into a waiting limousine.

All around them, the chaos of the MOVERS continues.

NANCY:

Everything will be held in storage

until you decide where to settle.

The two women embrace. Jackie finally enters the car.

78.

She looks back through the window to the home she devoted somuch of her life.

Echoing the first scene of the White House tour --Nancyencourages her to smile.

CUT TO:

INT. KENNEDY COMPOUND -LIVING ROOM

The Journalist watches Jackie from across the room.

JACKIE:

There’s one last thing --more

important than all the rest...

(beat)

You know every night before bed, wehad this old Victrola. We'd listen

to a couple records. And his

favorite was Camelot.

JOURNALIST:

The musical?

JACKIE:

Oh, I'm so ashamed of myself.

Every quote out of Jack’s mouth waseither Greek or Roman. And that

last song, that last side ofCamelot

is all that keeps runningthrough my mind.

(beat)

"Don't let it be forgot, that forone brief shining moment there wasa Camelot."

CUT TO:

INT. BALL ROOM -WHITE HOUSE (1961)

A boisterous, glamorous party is in full swing. Jackie laughsin a red regal dress with elbow-length white gloves.

President Kennedy grabs her hand and they dance.

JACKIE (O.S.)

Jack loved history. It’s what made

him what he was. Imagine him...

this little boy, with scarlet feverin bed, reading history.

(beat)

(MORE)

79.

JACKIE (O.S.) (CONT'D)

King Arthur and the Knights of theRound Table. That’s what Camelot

is about. Ordinary men bandingtogether to fight for a betterworld. Don't misunderstand me...

(beat)

Jack wasn't naive. But, he had

ideals. Ideals he could rallyothers to believe in.

Rate this script:3.3 / 3 votes