Lord of Illusions Page #13

BUTTERFIELD:

I could scoop them out.

VALENTIN:

Don't.

BUTTERFIELD:

So tell me where Nix is buried.

VALENTIN:

I don't know.

Butterfield pushes the blade into Valentin's skin.

CUT WIDE, as Valentin thrashes, his face obscured by

Butterfield's body.

VALENTIN:

Wait!

On Valentin again. There is a small cut beneath his eye, but

that's all.

VALENTIN:

I'll tell you.

BUTTERFIELD:

You'll do more.than that.

EXT. L.A. STREET - SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - DAY

A bad neighborhood, to judge by the state of the streets.

Harry gets out of his car and crosses to a gate, topped with

barbed wire. He peers through the bars.

Harry's P.O.V. of the STRANGER from the funeral disappearing

into the building. He glances back towards the street. We

get a glimpse of a bearded face beneath the brim of his hat.

Harry slides out of sight. Waits until the Stranger has gone

inside. Then he's up, over the gate, braving the barbed

wire.

INT. -SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - DAY

It's been a hospital. Now the echoing corridors and wards

are deserted, littered with reminders of old suffering.

Rotting mattresses; spilled boxes of surgical supplies.

Harry explores this tiled labyrinth, looking for some sign of

the Stranger.

He enters a shadowy room. Birds fly UP into his face!

As he retreats, another SOUND, a little distance from him.

GUN in hand, he heads towards it, and steps into

INT. SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - OPERATING THEATRE - DAY

Narrow shafts of light through the circular viewing window

fall on an operating table, and looming pieces of discarded

equipment. Eerie. Disturbing.

Harry scans the shadows as he advances into the room.

HARRY:

I knew you wouldn't be able tn stay

away.

Silence. Harry notices the beard and glasses on the

operating table.

HARRY:

You had to see who wept for you the

most.

Silence.

HARRY:

A lot of people are going to be

really pissed off when they

discover you're still alive.

SWANN (V.O.)

They'll never find out.

Harry looks up.

Svanrt is hovering in the air above him. The veins in his

temples bulge and throb. This trick requires a lot of

concentration.

HARRY:

Look, Ma, no wires.

SWANN:

You shouldn't have followed me,

D'Amour.

HARRY:

How the f*** do you do that?

SWANN:

Now I'm going to have to kill you.

HARRY:

I don't think so. You need me

alive.

SWANN:

Why? So you can f*** my wife?

Swann swoops down towards Harry, who levels his gun.

HARRY:

Be careful. Funerals make me

trigger-happy.

Swann stops, inches from the ground.

HARRY:

You know, it's such a f***ing

waste. You can do sh*t most of us

can only dream about, and you go

around pretending it's some trick.

SWANN:

Illusionists get. Las Vegas

contracts, D'Amour. Magicians get

burned.

HARRY:

Or murdered, like Nix.

SWANN:

He deserved it.

HARRY:

Maybe he doesn't see it that way.

Maybe he's digging his

way out of the hole you put him

right now. That's what you're

hiding away from, isn't it?

SWANN:

I did it for Dorothea.

HARRY:

Oh yeah?

SWANN:

Now that I'm dead, the spotlight's

off her.

Harry grabs Swann, literally pulling him down to earth. Now

they're face to face. Eye to eye. Swann, for all his

posturing, is afraid.

HARRY:

So Nix won't come looking for her?

SWANN:

It's me betrayed him.

HARRY:

And she shot him I I think that'd

piss me off if I were Nix.

SWANN:

(despairing)

I don't know what else to do.

HARRY:

Help me.

On Swann, his face a churning mass of rage and fear.

HARRY:

Listen. If he's back from the

dead, then he is some kind of god.

And he'll find you, wherever the

f*** you are.

And if he's just another phony

Messiah, then you can stage the

greatest come-back in history.

ON Swann. This doesn't sound like such a terrible idea.

EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON

A car comes to a halt outside the house, where six vehicles

are already gathered. The SNAKE-HANDLING Cultist gets out.

SNAKES seethe out of the open car door.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - LATE AFTERNOON

We MOVE THROUGH the shadowy interior, catching sight of

several CULTISTS as we go. They all have looks of barely

suppressed ecstasy on their faces.

We are moving towards the Sanctum, and it's getting darker.

A MATCH is struck, and an OIL-FLAME sputters into life. We

see NORMAN'S gleaming face. On the wall is a PICTURE of Nix,

floating over a scene of apocalyptic destruction.

Norman brushes away thirteen years' accrual of DIRT. Beneath,

Nix's expression is as rabid and terrifying as ever. Norman

grins.

CUT TO:

EXT. LIQUOR STORE - LATE AFTERNOON

A small, garishly-lit liquor store. Harry's car pulls into

the lot. Swann gets out, his disguise back on. Heads into

the store. Harry, agitated and impatient, follows him.

INT. LIQUOR STORE - LATE AFTERNOON

Swann is at the cashier's desk, with a bottle of cheap

brandy.

SWANN:

Is this the best brandy you've

got?

CASHIER:

If that's what's on the shelves.

Swann produces a thousand dollar bill out of thin air.

SWANN:

Can you change a thousand for me?

CASHIER:

(amazed)

You're shittin' me.

HARRY:

Can we go?

Swann starts to COUGH. A QUARTER falls from his mouth.

HARRY:

Oh Jeez.

SWANN:

Will that do? No?

Swann coughs again. Puts his hand to his mouth. A DELUGE of

QUARTERS runs between his fingers.

SWANN:

That better?

The Cashier gapes.

CUT TO:

EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - POOLSIDE - GROUNDS - DUSK

The house could not look more reassuringly calm. A SWAN

struts beside the pool. A long, HUSHED MOMENT...

SHOCK CUT TO:

DOROTHEA'S DREAM

A BABOON SHRIEKS, its mouth filling the frame.

CUT WIDE, to reveal the Baboon, racing around Nix's Sanctum,

crazed.

Hanging on the sculpture that swings from the roof is a

shadowy figure. Is it Nix? We can't quite see. Black BLOOD

runs from the figure and splashes on the ground.

NOW WE SEE DOROTHEA, being pulled by the Cultists towards the

falling gouts of dark fluid --

-- she struggles, SOBBING --

CUT TO:

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

She tosses around on the bed

BACK TO:

DOROTHEA'S DREAM

-- Dorothea has a GUN in her hand. The Cultists shake it

from her grip, and pull her directly under the BLOOD -- as it

SPLASHES on her upturned face --

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

A SOUND. Dorothea wakes, distressed by the dream. She gets

up and goes out onto --

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - LANDING - DUSK

Looks down the stairs.

DOROTHEA:

Who's there?

Silence. Then, Valentin speaks behind her. She jumps.

VALENTIN:

I'm sorry.

BLOOD runs from his cut face.

DOROTHEA:

Jesus. Valentin. What did you do

to your face?

BUTTERFIELD (V.O.)

It was me.

She turns. He's on her in a heartbeat, pressing her back

against the wail.

BUTTERFIELD:

Guess who we're going to see?

INT. HARRY'S CAR - DUSK

Harry drives. Swann takes a throatful of brandy. Then he

stares at Harry.

SWANN:

You think I'm an a**hole.

HARRY:

Didn't know you read minds.

SWANN:

(a warning)

I can do a lot of sh*t, D'Amour.

But you know that.

(an apology)

So I like playing games with

people. Gives them something to

wonder about...

HARRY:

Is that all?

SWANN:

I distract them from their banality

for a few minutes. It's like a

public service. It doesn't mean

much in the end. They're all going

to die.

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