Looking for Richard Page #8

CONWAY:

What are you talking about, Richard?

You mean Richard wear the crown?

BRYGGMAN:

I think it's the only way.

- Think about it.

- Let me tell you something.

I'll have this crown...

...this crown ripped off...

...and shoved into a cow's belly...

...before I would allow that scum

to defile the crown...

...by putting it on his head.

SCHOLAR 3:
The text is only a means

of expressing what's behind the text.

If you get obsessed with the text...

This is a barrier to American actors...

...who get obsessed with the British

way of regarding a text.

That isn't what matters. What matters

is that you have to penetrate...

...into what, at every moment,

it's about.

So at this point, Hastings does not

take the threat of Richard seriously?

KIMBALL:

Absolutely not.

Anything can go on.

You think that this guy...?

PACINO:
So now we've got Stanley.

Lord Stanley.

He's a friend of Hastings

and he's trying to convince him...

... they should get out of the country

because Richard's planning a takeover.

Some treachery,

at the council meeting...

... to pick the prince's coronation date.

My noble lords. The cause why we are

met is, to determine of the coronation.

In God's name, speak.

When is the royal day?

- Is all things ready for the royal time?

- It is, and wants but nomination.

To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day.

Tomorrow has been prepared

as a great feast day...

...of coronation and requires only

that we at this table say yes.

We think we have been brought together

just to rubber-stamp the prince.

PACINO:
It's a fait accompli,

the prince will be king.

They're just there to pick the date.

SPACEY:

Who knows Richard's mind in all this?

Who is the most inward

with the noble duke?

On the duke's behalf

I'll give my voice...

...which, I presume,

he'll take in gentle part.

In happy time,

here comes the gentle duke.

My noble lords and cousins all,

good morrow.

I have been long a sleeper.

But I trust...

...my absence doth neglect no design,

which might have been concluded.

Had you not come, my lord...

...William Lord Hastings

had pronounced your part...

I mean, your voice...

...for crowning of the king.

PACINO:

Than no man might be bolder.

His lordship knows me well,

and loves me well. My lord of Ely!

When last I was in Holborn...

...I saw good strawberries

in your garden there...

...I do beseech you send

for some of them.

KIMBALL:

Marry, and will, my lord.

Cousin of Buckingham,

a word with you.

Remember we talked the other day

about a gathering of dons, in a way.

There's a lot of suspicion in this room.

I think there's a danger

to be in this room.

All of us in one spot.

And it's like somebody says,

"Just wait here, I'll be back. "

Or, you know, "Wait in this room... "

And it's been like, "What's going on?"

PACINO:
It's simple.

They have to cut out Hastings...

... and only Richard

has the power to do it.

He's royal, a York,

but he must move fast.

It's his last chance to stop Hastings

from making the prince king.

KIMBALL:
They'll suck in Hastings

using his mistress, Jane Shore, as bait.

Provoke him to say the wrong thing.

PACINO:
Then everyone has to make a

choice, either Richard or Hastings.

Where is my lord, the Duke of Gloucester?

I have sent for these strawberries.

His grace looks cheerfully

and smooth this morning.

There's some conceit

or other likes him well...

...with that he bids good morrow

with such spirit.

There's never a man in Christendom

can lesser hide his love or hate than he.

For by his face straight

shall you know his heart.

What of his heart perceive you

by any livelihood he show'd to-day?

Marry, that with no man here

he is offended.

For, if he were,

you'd seen it in his looks.

I pray you all...

...tell me what they deserve...

...that do conspire my death...

...with devilish plots

of damned witchcraft...

...and that have prevail'd

upon my body...

...with their hellish charms?

The tender love I bear your grace,

my lord, makes me most forward...

...in this princely presence to doom

the offenders, whosoe'er they be.

I say, my lord,

they have deserved death.

Then be your eyes

the witness of their ill.

Look...

...how I am bewitch'd.

Behold mine arm...

...like a blasted sapling, wither'd up.

And this is Edward's wife...

...that monstrous witch...

...consorted with the harlot

strumpet Shore...

...that by their witchcraft...

...thus have marked me.

- Lf they have done this deed...

- If!

Lf...

...thou protector of this

damned strumpet...

Talkest thou to me of "ifs"?

Off with his head!

Now, by Saint Paul...

...I swear, I will not dine

until I see the same.

Lovel and Ratcliffe,

look that it be done.

The rest, that love me...

...rise and follow me.

MAN 9:

Stan...

Stanley!

Stan...

Woe for England!

Not a whit for me.

For I, too fond,

might have prevented this.

Come, dispatch.

'Tis bootless to exclaim.

Bloody Richard!

PACINO:

Hastings was the fly in the ointment.

The path is clear

for Buckingham and Richard.

They got the inner circle. They've

intimidated all the dukes and earls.

So now...

... all that's left is winning the people.

SPACEY:
Every time there's an election

in this country, whether for mayor...

... president or city council...

...the fact is people are tired of the way

it's been and want a change.

How now, how now,

what say the citizens?

Now, by the holy mother of our Lord,

the citizens are mum.

I expected them to be boisterous,

and that they would come and rally.

- Did they so?

- No...

...so God help me,

they spake not a word.

But, like dumb statues, stared each

other on, and look'd deadly pale.

And did they so?

No!

What, are you deaf?

I'm saying, whatever their reaction...

...we had this plan.

- We still had it.

SPACEY:

So they're being told...

... that here, right before your eyes,

is the man who will make it better.

And, see...

...a book of prayer in his hand,

true ornaments...

...to know a holy man.

Irony is really only hypocrisy with style.

Here again, we love

Richard's irony, in a way.

We know he's as hard as nails,

that he's only pretending to be religious.

PACINO:
They canvass like politicians.

Complete with lies and innuendo...

... they manage...

... to malign this young prince,

who is the rightful heir to the throne.

And they know it.

Infer the bastardy of Edward's children.

And they say he was a bastard...

... that his father was a bastard.

It's an act, and these people buy it.

It's a complete lie.

SPACEY:

We heartily solicit you...

...to take on the kingly government

of this your land...

...not as protector, steward, substitute,

or lowly factor for another's gain.

But as successively

from blood to blood...

...your right of birth,

your empery, your own.

Since you will buckle fortune

on my back...

...to bear her burden,

whether I will or no...

...I must have patience

to endure the load.

CROWD:
Long live Richard,

England's worthy king!

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