Queen of the Damned Page #19

VOICE (O.S.)

Sorry, Grandpa!

Talbot crouches down and finds his glasses. Reemerging,

he senses something and looks up.

154 FULL SHOT - MARIUS 154

watching him at a distance. Next to the real thing, allthese fake vampires look ridiculous.

MARIUS:

(quietly)

Hello, David.

155 ON TALBOT 155

Speechless.

MARIUS:

I must show you my new paintingssometime.

Marius smiles. Talbot is awestruck -- the goal of alifetime's searching. He tries to say something, butit's too late. Flash. Marius is moving through thecrowd at unnatural speed. Enormous pipes spout flameshigh into the sky, run like a corridor of red lightalong the crowd, leading to two enormous Egyptianeffigies of Akasha and Enkil flanking a stage at thetop end. And before the stage stretches a mass ofhuman bacchanalian debauchery... Woodstock on mescaline.

Naked bodies, pierced and tattooed, mingle with thestrangest of fashions as crowds gather in circlesaround their own lit fires, drumming out awesome rhythms.

The whole place is an enormous flaming mosh pit -- nakedbodies walk across heads of people while others gettossed and thrown. This crowd is determined to getwhat they were promised... Nothing like they've ever

seen.

(CONTINUED)

99.

155 CONTINUED:
155

A new world, a world of the initiated who have somehow

managed to include themselves in the select number ofattendees to a sacred rite. And among the mortals arethe immortals. Amidst them we see the tattooed Vampires,

the Armani Vampire, the others, now dressed in cloakswhich they use to hide their knives and sickles.

156 HIGH ABOVE VALLEY 156

Standing on the strange rocks are the Ancient vampires,

except for Maharet. Some of whom can't help but smileat the scene below. Marius is now with them.

PANDORA:

(wistful, to Mael)

It's just like Nero's day.

They scan the horizon, the darkening sky.

MAHARET:

Akasha will not be able to resist

this...

The CROWD begins to CLAP -- DRUMS from different circlesbegin to impatiently BEAT into one deafening rhythm.

157 INT. BACKSTAGE - NIGHT 157

Backstage is all abuzz with pre-show energy; presseverywhere. Roger still worrying and sweating. James,

Alex and Maudy sit in their own circle, jamming withtheir unplugged instruments, psyching themselves up forthe biggest night of their lives.

158 INT. LESTAT'S HONEY-WAGON - NIGHT 158

Lestat stretches out with his eyes closed as the soundsof the DRUMMING crowd begin to make the whole vanshudder. Roger pops his head in.

ROGER:

They're getting pretty worked upout there.

159 INT. BACKSTAGE - NIGHT 159

Lestat emerges from his honey-wagon, splendid in his

concert costume. He looks ready for business, whatevermay happen. The band look at each other, then look to

Lestat. This is the moment. He smiles like a father

at them.

(CONTINUED)

100.

159 CONTINUED:
159

LESTAT:

Come on, children.

Alex, Maudy and James start beating out the rhythm withthe crowd as they move through backstage. The DRUM BEATS

RISE to a CRESCENDO.

160 BACK TO CROWD 160

Jesse makes her way through the throng, trying to getcloser to the stage. Suddenly the torches go out sendingthe place into utter darkness. A stunned moment. The

place goes berserk. We see the dim figures of the bandtake their places. Jesse desperately tries to pushtoward the front.

161 INT. BACKSTAGE - NIGHT 161

Lestat readies himself as he scans the valley from behinda speaker, and sees...

162 LESTAT'S POV - VAMPIRES 162

wait here and there in the audience, set to attack.

163 BACK TO LESTAT 163

who smiles to himself.

164 BACK IN CROWD 164

BOOM, the torches relight and an enormous CHORD surgesthrough the crowd louder than a jet on takeoff. The mass

surges forward... The stage lights up in a huge halo ofblood-red light. The band plays a hypnotic tune thatwould put the devil in a spell, as... We wait for Lestat.

The band keeps playing the pounding cadence, as...

The audience doesn't see Lestat anywhere and cheers overthe sound, and it seems as if the whole of Death Valleyis shaking, when... Lestat appears above the stage,

inhumanly levitating and...

LESTAT:

I'm so glad I decided to rise...

(shouting)

After tonight, Death Valley will

live up to its name!

(CONTINUED)

101.

164 CONTINUED:
164

The place erupts into one solid scream as the band kicksit in.

He swoops down through the air over the stage and intotheir very midst. Jesse, in the crowd, screams up tohim... But her voice is lost in the thousands of screams

for him. Lestat takes the microphone and leans his lipsinto it, letting his voice soar into an inhuman note,

filling the valley like a demon demanding heaven bereplaced with hell.

165 AT BACK OF CONCERT - MIXING BOARD 165

Two STUDIO ENGINEERS sit dazed.

ENGINEER #1

(Cockney accent)

Could we turn it down a tad?

The second Engineer looks to the mixing panel.

ENGINEER #2

His mic's not even up.

They stare, dumbfounded.

166 BACK TO CONCERT 166

The pulsing strain moves into a faster beat as the wholeplace resonates with the most incredible harmonics, theenergy throbbing, the crowd almost genuflecting in frontof this papal devil. All move and sway except for...

Jesse, desperately squeezing through bodies trying to getcloser and closer to...

Lestat, who commands the place with his echoing voice.

Lestat holds the place in the palm of his hand. Lestat's

dark soul seems ready to burst as he moves his voice intoan even higher unworldly octave, and then...

167 LESTAT'S POV 167

The vampires move through the crowd. Goth girls in thefront row, weeping... Maudy, James and Alex off in theclouds, playing the best music of their lives. The

place has gone wild, living off its own energy now aswaves of sound bounce through the valley band up intothe night sky.

102.

168 BACK TO SCENE

LESTAT:

You want more?!

The crowd screams...

CROWD:

Yes!

LESTAT:

This one's for those who've come

for me!

All yell that they have, but the covens know it's forthem. Lestat launches the band into a new number that

makes the previous song seem like a lullaby. He eyes thecoven-assassins here and there and sings straight tothem. His lyrics challenging the assassins, flauntingthem with satire. Jesse whirls around, spying theassassins in the crowd. She shakes her head no...

The covens need no more encouragement as they begin tomove through the crowd toward the stage. We RISE UP OVER

the crowd to see fifty assassins snaking at preternaturalspeed, unseen to all except us in our inhuman vantage.

CUT TO:

169 ANCIENTS - NIGHT 169

Marius spies the covens slipping through the crowd at astrange velocity. He looks to Lestat, worried...

170 BACK TO STAGE 170

The assassins approach closer -- Lestat assaults withrelentless lyrics... Reaching the stage, they aresuddenly on it -- roadies run in and are immediatelycast aside by inhuman powers. We speed into vampiretime as... (NOTE: In camera, no C.G.I.)

The assassins draw knives and lunge, determined todismember Lestat. Lestat does an acrobatic leap, dodgingthe knives. He rips the microphone from the stand andholds it up just in time... as an assassin is impaled.

The assassin squirms and convulses. The crowd goesinsane... Lestat snarls at the audience as if this

really were part of the performance... The assassinsattack again, this time hurtling massive light standslike they were small spears. Lestat dodges them.

The assassins BREAK GLASS BOTTLES, lunge with the deadly shards.

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