Lord of Illusions Page #8

Harry looks past Eddison and sees an ashen, tearful Dorothea

being taken into another office.

HARRY:

Are you finished with me?

EDDISON:

For now. Are you planning to go

back to New York?

HARRY:

(watching Dorothea)

No. Not yet...

INT. POLICE STATION - OTHER OFFICE - NIGHT

Dorothea sits alone, staring at the wall. Harry enters.

HARRY:

Are they treating you okay?

DOROTHEA:

(nods)

I heard what happened. It looks

like somebody murdered him.

HARRY:

I'm sorry I got into this too late.

But if you want me to stick around,

maybe dig where the cops don't

look...

DOROTHEA:

I don't know where you'd start.

HARRY:

Well... how about some of the other

illusionists?

DOROTHEA:

They won't tell you anything.

HARRY:

I can be very persuasive.

DOROTHEA:

(a beat)

Yes. I think you probably can.

(another beat)

We'd need to talk about your fee.

HARRY:

Forget the fee. If I find

Butterfield, maybe we'll talk about

money. If I don't...

(he shrugs)

...my gamble. Either way... I

get to spend some time... here.

The way he says this, it's plain "here" doesn't mean L.A., it

means near -Dorothea. And by the tiny smile on her face,

it's also plain she knows it.

CUT TO:

EXT. MAGIC SHOP - HOLLYWOOD BLVD. - DAY

Noon. Bright sun. Busy street. Harry, now wearing a

bandage on his cut face, enters.

INT. MAGIC SHOP - DAY

A wonderland for illusionists. Books, props, masks, tricks,

etc. Two or three CUSTOMERS browse. Harry glances at them

all, then targets a MAN in late middle age, who is browsing

through books, one-handed. His other hand constantly

manipulates a card, concealing and revealing it in a dozen

ways. He doesn't even look at his hand. His name is WALTER

WILDER.

Harry stands beside him. Scans the shelf.

HARRY:

Where'd you learn that?

WILDER:

What?

HARRY:

(points)

That.

WILDER:

At birth. I don't know you --

HARRY:

Harry D'Amour.

WILDER:

I know all the kids coming up. Got

to stay ahead of the game. But I

don't know you.

HARRY:

I'm in from New York. I came to

see Swann.

WILDER:

What a tragedy. It was just a

matter of time, of course, but it's

not good for the business.

HARRY:

Was he taking a lot of risks?

WILDER:

You don't know the half of it. I'm

Walter Wilder, by the way.

HARRY:

Not the Walter Wilder?

Walter beams.

WILDER:

The one and only.

He hands Harry a card.

WILDER:

Want to try?

Harry tries to emulate Wilder's card manipulation through the

rest of this conversation.

WILDER:

You know Vinovich?

HARRY:

(not a clue)

Sure. Vivovich.

WILDER:

He knew Swann way back. He says

there were a lot of drugs, a lot of

crazy sh*t.

HARRY:

I'd love to... you know... hang

with some of you guys.

WILDER:

People are pretty cagey. Who do

you know?

HARRY:

For what?

WILDER:

For an introduction.

HARRY:

Well... nobody.

Wilder takes a moment to assess Harry, who is attempting to

manipulate the card he's been given with charming ineptitude.

WILDER:

(magnanimously)

You do now.

EXT. MAGIC CASTLE - DUSK

The castle is faux, of course, but it has a Gothic charm.

Harry and Walter wander towards the front door. Harry is

knotting a newly-bought tie.

HARRY:

I only wear ties for funerals.

WILDER:

You don't get in without one. It's

like a gentlemen's club for

illusionists. Except most of us

aren't gentlemen.

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - CORRIDORS - NIGHT

The interior is murky and atmospheric, the walls covered with

illusionists' posters.

Walter leads the way through the long corridors, past rooms

where illusionists are performing close-up magic for

audiences of well-heeled patrons. Walter nods and waves to

half a dozen people on their way through the house, up the

stairs and towards the bar.

HARRY:

Are they all in the business?

WILDER:

It's not a business. Harry. It's a

vocation.

Wilder points to a locked door.

WILDER:

That's what they call the

Repository. Every magic secret

known to man's locked up in that

room.

HARRY:

Have you been in?

WILDER:

No. There's only three keys.

Vinovich has got one, of

course.

(beat)

He's a little crazy, by the way.

And he's a mean drunk. Otherwise,

he's a real charmer.

CUT TO:

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - BAR - NIGHT

Later. A drunken VINOVICH is holding court. He's in his

40's:
a flamboyant and loquacious man with a heavy (and

fake) middle-European accent. At the table - besides Harry

and Walter - are: Vinovich's starlet/nymphet girlfriend

LAURA; an Asian-American illusionist called BILLY WHO; and

two of Vinovich's adoring courtiers, an overblown,

overdressed female illusionist - DEBRA DEVINE - and a thin,

waspish fellow in a spangly suit: the AMAZING QUENTIN.

In the conversation that follows we go back to Harry

repeatedly as he studies this extraordinary group.

VINOVICH:

It's more than entertainment. We're

opening people's heads up. Putting

miracles back into their boring

little lives.

BILLY:

But they're fake miracles.

VINOVICH:

Houdini believed he had spirit

guides.

HARRY:

You believe that?

VINOVICH:

I think we walk a narrow path,

between... between...

HARRY:

Heaven and Hell?

Vinovich stares hard at Harry, trying to figure out whether

he's being sarcastic or not.

VINOVICH:

Trickery and divinity.

HARRY:

Are you saying that sometimes

the miracles are real?

VINOVICH:

No. I'm saying they were always

fake. The saints, the messiahs,

they were just illusionists.

HARRY:

So could you walk on water?

VINOVICH:

(deadly serious)

I could reproduce any miracle

that's ever been performed, with a

little preparation.

HARRY:

What about Swann's miracles?

The smug smile on Vinovich's face dies. Furtive glances are

exchanged around the table. Only Billy Who makes a tiny

smile.

VINOVICH:

They weren't worth a damn.

HARRY:

(goading)

I heard he was the best.

VINOVICH:

If he was so good why's he so dead?

Vinovich begins to look suspicious.

HARRY:

You tell me. No? I thought you'd

maybe have a theory.

VINOVICH:

Oh, I've got plenty.

HARRY:

I'd like to hear them.

Vinovich rises.

VINOVICH:

I'm not saying another word.

(to Wilder)

You damn fool. He's a

journalist.

HARRY:

Just tell me about Swann. Or are

you too scared?

VINOVICH:

He was a freak. Everything he did

was tainted.

Harry rises. Looks straight at Vinovich, unintimidated.

HARRY:

With what?

VINOVICH:

Evil. He was evil.

(to Laura)

Come on.

She rises.

VINOVICH:

(to the rest)

Say nothing to this man if you wish

to keep my company.

He stalks away. Harry calls after him, across a now-

silenced bar.

HARRY:

Great accent, by the way. Is it

Brooklyn?

VINOVICH:

(pure Brooklyn)

F*** you.

EXT. MAGIC CASTLE - PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Harry heads to the car.

BILLY (V.O.)

Harry!

Harry turns. Billy approaches, glancing behind him to see

that he's not being watched.

BILLY:

I gotta be careful. If Vinovich

sees me talking to you. He's an

a**hole, but he's a powerful

a**hole.

HARRY:

They go together.

BILLY:

(lowered voice)

I've heard a name. Someone they

talk about in whispers.

HARRY:

Who?

BILLY:

Nix.

HARRY:

Nix?

BILLY:

Like in nothing. Nobody. Nix.

HARRY:

Who is he?

BILLY:

I think maybe he taught Swann.

(hands Harry a card)

This is me. See ya around.

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