Jonathan Demme and the Making of 'The Manchurian Candidate' Page #3

Like a long shot

catching the favorite

on the back stretch

of the Kentucky Derby,

Raymond Shaw has overtaken

Senator Thomas Jordan

to gain the vice presidential

nomination.

TV NEWSCASTER 2:

Raymond Shaw bears the lineage

of the fabled

Prentiss family dynasty.

Grandson of legendary industrialist

and diplomat Tyler Prentiss,

son of controversial

Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw,

who took over the seat

vacated by her husband,

the esteemed John Shaw,

when he died tragically

over 20 years ago.

For many, Raymond Prentiss Shaw

is an enigma.

The millionaire

Harvard honors student

who enlisted in the infantry,

refusing the officer's commission

to which he was entitled.

Media-shy and reclusive,

Raymond Shaw's life

was forever changed

on the killing fields of Kuwait,

where he won the Congressional

Medal of Honor for combat bravery.

Two members of Sergeant Shaw's

famed "Lost Patrol,"

PFC Edward Ingram

and PFC Robert Baker III,

were killed.

Their guide, a civilian contractor,

disappeared in the ambush.

But Sergeant Shaw

heroically fought off the enemy

and guided the shell-shocked

survivors of the Lost Patrol

across hostile terrain to safety.

Raymond Shaw is probably

the kindest, bravest, warmest...

Most selfless human being

I've ever known.

TV NEWSCASTER 2:

The celebrated war hero,

who dedicated himself to

public service after Desert Storm.

The Medal of Honor winner, beloved

by the men of the Lost Patrol.

TV NEWSCASTER 3:
He quickly

turned his energies to public service

in his adopted state of New York.

- The revolutionary science

of biogenetics,

which has literally transformed...

INGRAM:

Captain Marco!

MAN:
The revolutionary science

of biogenetics.

The revolutionary science

of biogenetics,

which has literally transformed...

INGRAM:
Captain Marco!

BAKER:
Raymond Shaw

is the most selfless

human being I've ever known.

Raymond Shaw is probably

the kindest, bravest, warmest...

Yet note the complexity

of the frontal lobe.

Nevertheless...

MELVIN:

Captain.

Help me.

Sergeant Shaw.

Captain.

Suffocate Private Baker. Kill him.

SOLDIERS:
Raymond Shaw is

probably the kindest, bravest, warmest,

most selfless human being

I've ever known.

[BAKER GASPING]

SOLDIER:

Raymond Shaw...

NOYLE:

Excellent, excellent. Go on, Raymond.

Good, good, Raymond.

SOLDIERS:
Raymond Shaw

is probably the kindest, bravest,

warmest, most selfless

human being I've ever known.

No offence, major...

...but it sort of chaps my ass

that we have to have a babysitter.

I'm just here to make sure

you don't get cornered

by some Air Force general's

unhappy wife.

Major Marco,

we should be so lucky.

WOMAN:
So nice to meet you.

RAYMOND:
Thank you.

WOMAN:
Thank you.

RAYMOND:
Nice to meet you.

Raymond Shaw.

Major Marco, this army of two

are gonna do some recon

at the no-host bar.

ELLIE:

- A failed foreign policy

which has only served

to galvanize our enemies.

Excuse me, please.

In fact, mobilizing an ersatz

army of malcontents...

WILSON:

General Sloan, you lead the charge.

SLOAN:

Absolutely.

William. Hi, how are you?

All right, good.

Have you met my wife, Pam?

PAM:
Hello, how are you?

- Hello, Bob Arthur.

I mean, isn't that supposed to be

the point of this great country of ours,

that everybody matters.

Not just the people at this party.

But perhaps more importantly,

those who can't afford to be here.

- Raymond. Sorry to interrupt.

- Excuse me.

- Bob. You know my daughter.

ARTHUR:
Tom, I can't believe it.

Of course.

Jocelyn, good to see you again.

ELLIE:
Mark.

- Eleanor.

Raymond, your granddad would be

so goddamn proud of you.

Thank you, Mr. Whiting.

Raymond, this is J.B. Johnston,

from Manchurian Global.

RAYMOND:
Hi. How are you?

- Pleasure.

ELLIE:
And David Donovan,

their managing director.

And co-chair of

the U.S. International Policy Caucus.

Strong supporters, congressman.

They're desperate to be

of service to you, darling.

Thank you, Mother,

I think you've earned your fee.

Oh, no. My plucky idealist.

So, gentlemen, how's business?

Not bad, Raymond.

Business is not bad.

It could always be better.

Any better and you guys

are gonna have

more assets than

the European Union.

Don't we already?

Every great society,

every great civilization,

always anchored by a great navy.

WOMAN:
Congressman Shaw.

RAYMOND:
Thanks very much.

Nice to see you, Bob.

Thanks for coming.

Congressman.

Ben Marco.

I know. Hello, captain.

How you doing?

- I need to talk to you.

- Okay.

JOCELYN:
Oh, my God, Raymond,

it's been so many years.

RAYMOND:
And?

JOCELYN:
And I've been married,

- I've been divorced.

RAYMOND:
Yeah.

Well, you may have noticed

I've changed a bit myself.

No. No, that's not...

No, yes, I have noticed.

I see. It's great.

Congratulations.

My feelings haven't, though.

Changed, I mean.

What feelings? What?

Jocelyn, I have never

stopped wondering

how things might have turned out

between us

- if my mother hadn't...

- Raymond.

Raymond, people can't just

rewrite their lives.

I haven't had a relationship...

...of any consequence

since we stopped seeing each other.

Doesn't that say something to you?

Yeah, that...

That you must be just about

the loneliest person on this earth.

Raymond, we were kids then. It must

have been, what, 15 years ago?

It was sweet, but...

Joce.

Yeah. I have to go.

Yeah.

Best of luck with the campaign.

Thank you.

Joce...

Sergeant Raymond Shaw.

I wanna talk to you too.

- Not now.

- Excuse me, sir.

I mean, I know you're busy,

congressman...

- Don't touch me.

- I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, it's just that, well...

Don't ever touch me.

ANDERSON:
Hello, major.

Have you tried the Pad Thai?

I'm told it rules.

MAN:
What were you hoping

Congressman Shaw would say?

I don't know, sir.

It's not so much what he said

or didn't say, it was more of his...

...attitude, his demeanor.

Are you taking your meds?

MARCO:
Lieutenant Colonel Howard,

with all due respect,

I've had over a dozen years

of experts telling me

that I have Gulf War Syndrome,

I have post-traumatic stress disorder

and every other mood disorder

that you can name.

In those 12 years,

I've been a good soldier.

And I've denied what

every nerve ending in my body

is telling me is more real than not.

I've had one dream,

not variations on a dream,

the same dream.

Night after night...

No. No. I'm sorry.

You're saying that an entire squad

of U.S. Army soldiers

was hypnotized into believing

that Raymond Shaw

deserved the Medal of Honor.

And that somehow,

thanks to your dream,

you're the only one

who knows the truth.

Major Marco, you will stay clear

of Congressman Shaw.

HOWARD:

And you are to resume your medication.

That is an order.

GARRET:

That will be all, major.

RAYMOND:
Somewhere right now,

an American soldier in the war on terror

is worried about his

family back home.

Somewhere right now,

in some small American town,

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