Jackie Page #6

FATHER KUHN:

Requiem .ternam dona eis, Domine,

et lux perpetua luceat eis. Tedecet hymnus Deus, in Sion, et tibireddetur votum in Ierusalem...

INT. WEST SITTING ROOM -WHITE HOUSE

The immediate family has retired to the White HouseResidence.

Jackie stands with Bobby and Rose, the matriarch of theKennedy clan. Caroline and John Jr. play with Maude nearby.

BOBBY:

That was a beautiful mass.

Jackie is drained and exhausted. The adrenaline of the

previous day and night has long since worn off.

And now Bobby notices --across the room, President Johnson'saide, Jack Valenti, waits in the doorway.

BOBBY (CONT’D)

Excuse me, mother. Jackie.

33.

As Bobby crosses the room and confers with Valenti, Jackieremains in her reverie. Rose turns to her...

ROSE:

Have you started on the guest listfor the burial?

JACKIE:

The what?

ROSE:

You’ll need to pare it down, dear.

We can’t possibly accommodate allthese people at Brookline.

VALENTI:

(hushed, but firm)

We need to discuss the funeral. We

all want to follow her lead. But,

we still don't know much about this

Oswald. There may be coconspirators.

BOBBY:

(impatient, dismissive)

I'll talk to her, but she makes the

call.

VALENTI:

There's also the matter of the

Oval.

BOBBY:

What do you want me to do first -plan

the funeral or pack thefurniture?

VALENTI:

I know this is all delicate.

That's why I'm approaching you.

(beat)

But a procession is insane.

JACKIE:

Brookline?

ROSE:

The family plot. I assume Jack

will be buried with the rest of us.

Jackie absorbs this, silent, staring across the room. Follow

her gaze to -

34.

VALENTI:

I just can’t have my Presidentwalking. Crowd full of people.

Given what’s happened.

BOBBY:

Your President?

VALENTI:

My President.

BOBBY:

Well, regardless of what happens,

my brother is going to be carriedin a box.

VALENTI:

And I am sorry sir-

BOBBY:

F*** off, Jack.

BACK TO -

Jackie watches Valenti leave the room.

Around her --a new conversation --Nancy, Mary, and hermother, Janet -

JANET:

Averell Harriman owns at least four

properties in Georgetown. I'm sure

he could loan out one of them?

Jackie seems completely oblivious -

NANCY:

I'll ask Sarge to look into it.

I'm sure we have time. They can'texpect us to move immediately, canthey?

JANET:

Of course not. Don't be silly.

And then suddenly -

JACKIE:

Lincoln's widow died destitute.

The others quiet, all turning to her.

35.

JACKIE (CONT'D)

She moved back to Illinois. Had to

sell all her furniture. And the

Van Buren's and the Tyler's too.

(beat)

She auctioned it off, piece-bypiece,

just to keep a roof over herhead.

NANCY:

That will never happen to you.

But Jackie's not listening...

JACKIE:

The collectors we bought it from...

Remember? Bill and I had to hagglefor every sofa and every chair.

(beat)

If I sell some of it back now,

maybe I can put Caroline and Johnthrough school?

CUT TO:

INT. STAIR CASE -WHITE HOUSE (1962)

Jackie and Collingswood stands at the bottom of the staircaseto the second-floor Residence.

COLLINGSWOOD:

This staircase goes up to thesecond floor, which I know are

reserved for the private living ofthe President and his family. Idon’t think any television camerasor motion picture cameras have evergone up there, cause that’s whereyou live.

JACKIE:

That’s right.

A beat, as she stares at the wall, lined with portraitstracking the slow deterioration of ABRAHAM LINCOLN-

JACKIE (CONT’D)

Here is what the White House did to

President Lincoln. Here is how he

changed.

(beat)

1861. The strong man with the

arched eyebrow.

(MORE)

36.

JACKIE (CONT’D)

(beat)

1865. One week before his

assassination.

INT. LINCOLN BEDROOM -WHITE HOUSE

Jackie leads Collingswood into the Lincoln Bedroom.

COLLINGSWOOD:

Mrs. Kennedy, do you spend a greatdeal of time in the Lincoln room?

JACKIE:

It was where we lived when we first

came here, when our rooms at the

other end of the hall were beingpainted...

COLLINGSWOOD:

It's a nice room. Was this a

bedroom during Lincoln's time?

JACKIE:

No it was Lincoln's cabinet room.

COLLINGSWOOD:

Are all the pieces from Lincoln’stime?

JACKIE:

Yes, they are. The most famous

one, of course, is the Lincoln bed.

It was bought by Mrs. Lincoln.

Along with the dressing bureaus,

and chair, and this table. She

bought a lot of furniture for thishouse which made her husband rather

cross because he thought she spenttoo much money.

Jackie turns to a small desk in the corner. A new reverence

in her voice -

JACKIE (CONT'D)

And on the table is the GettysburgAddress.

CLOSE ON --those hallowed words.

JACKIE (CONT'D)

This is probably the greatest

treasure in this room.

(beat)

(MORE)

37.

JACKIE (CONT'D)

And this sofa, and these two

chairs. They were sold in thatLincoln sale I was telling youabout. And they went to England andthrough all the descendants of theman who brought them there.

CUT TO:

INT. BOBBY KENNEDY'S OFFICE -WHITE HOUSE

Bobby sits behind his desk watching the ongoing marathon of

press coverage...

REPORTER (ON TV)

Here he comes, here he comes.

Bobby looks up to see Jackie standing in the doorway.

JACKIE:

Bobby?

REPORTER (ON TV)

Here he comes out and down the hall

again.

LEE HARVEY OSWALD (ON TV)

I really don’t know what thissituation is about. Nobody hastold me anything except that I’maccused of...

JACKIE:

I don't mean to upset your mother.

But Brookline is no place to bury aPresident.

Bobby looks at her. He’s tired. Quiet.

The TV interrupts them. A REPORTER shouting a question to

Oswald...

REPORTER (ON TV)

Did you kill the President?

LEE HARVEY OSWALD (ON TV)

No I have not been charged withthat. In fact, nobody has saidthat to me yet.

(MORE)

38.

LEE HARVEY OSWALD (ON TV) (CONT'D)

First thing I heard about it waswhen the newspaper reporters in thehall..

CUT TO:

EXT. ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY -DAY

A sea of familiar WHITE CROSSES --the 420 acres of ARLINGTON

NATIONAL CEMETERY are shrouded in RAIN and MIST.

A motorcade of BLACK LINCOLNS winds through the rows ofgraves, finally pulling to a stop.

Jackie strides forth under a canopy of umbrellas, accompaniedby Bobby and Walton.

She's greeted by the cemetery's SUPERINTENDENT JOHN METZLER -soaked

to the bone.

METZLER:

(nervous, awkward)

Welcome to Arlington, Mrs. Kennedy.

Jackie shivers in the damp cold.

JACKIE:

Thank you.

EXT. ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY -LATER

Jackie leads a long procession of AIDES and SECRET SERVICE -trudging

through the mud and endless graves.

METZLER:

The third option is just downthere. At the base of the hill.

Ahead is a sprawling green slope, atop of which is ROBERT E.

LEE'S MANSION, a massive Greek-Revival structure of white

marble, with 8 thick, imposing Athenian columns.

Metzler stops at the base of the hill, and the others surveythe surroundings.

BOBBY:

What do you think Ken?

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