The Birth Of A Nation Page #9

(CONTINUED)

5/8/15 - PINK 46A

60 CONTINUED:
60 60 CONTINUED: 60

CHERRY:

She did.

(CONTINUED)

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CONTINUED:
(2) 60 CONTINUED: (2) 60

Nat looks to Cherry puzzled. A beat before Cherry rises,

grabs the dress before returning to bed. She flips the bottomhem to reveal a square patch sewn into the fabric. A closerlook to reveal TWO NAMES AND A DATE.

NAT:

(reading)

Abigail Hayne

CHERRY:

My momma.

NAT:

Madison Hayne. Who’s that?

CHERRY:

That’s me.

(beat)

My momma put this dress on me theday they took me from her. Showedme this here patch. Told me tonever forget who I was. That I hada momma. And that she was somewhere

missin’ me and lovin’ me. I was

thirteen.

NAT:

I can call you Madison if you like?

CHERRY:

You can call me whatever you want.

NAT:

I’ll call you Queen.

Cherry smiles a beat before her look turns solemn.

NAT (CONT’D)

What’s wrong?

CHERRY:

...We gonna have a baby. *

NAT:

A baby? You sure?

Cherry nods. Nat slowly swings his feet off the bedside,

closes his eyes.

CHERRY:

You mad?

NAT:

Mad? Naw.

(CONTINUED)

60

He pulls her into a tight hug.

NAT (CONT’D)

I ain’t mad.

He holds her close. We PUSH IN ON NAT, Feeling the weight ofhis fortune.

5/8/15 - PINK 48

CONTINUED:
(3) 60

MONTAGE:

61 EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY 61

-- Nat and Samuel navigate the wagon on a country road.

62 INT. SLAVE BARN/CHURCH - NAT’S CABIN - DAY 62

A very pregnant Cherry lies with Nat as she sounds out wordsfrom the bible. Nat smiles, nods approval.

*

63 OMITTED 63

64 OMITTED 64

65 EXT. SLAVE QUARTERS - NANA’S CABIN - DAY 65

Cherry sleeps alone in a bed. Widen to reveal Nat in Nana’s

rocking chair. He holds an infant baby girl.

*

*

*

66 EXT. FOWLER PLANTATION - DAY 66

Nat pulls the wagon in front. Samuel looks around.

SAMUEL TURNER:

Wait here.

He drops from the wagon, approaches the front door.

Nat climbs down, strokes Jupiter’s mane when the horse

suddenly backtracks, spooked. Nat instinctively turns to find-

A GERMAN SHEPHERD races toward him, full tilt!

(CONTINUED)

66 CONTINUED:

5/8/15 - PINK 49

66

Nat falls to the ground, scurries backwards. Just as the doglunges, canines peeledHe’s

yanked back. The dog fights against the weight of a

choke chain, inches from Nat who retreats, pinned against thewagon wheel.

Nat glances up to find HANK FOWLER (early 30’s, a wad of chewwedged between rotted teeth). A bullwhip rests on one side ofhis hip, a pistol stowed against his other.

HANK FOWLER:

(calm)

N*gger, what you doing on my land?

Samuel arrives as Nat pulls himself to his feet.

SAMUEL TURNER:

He’s with me.

HANK FOWLER:

Who the hell are you?

SAMUEL TURNER:

Samuel Turner. Reverend Walthall

sent us.

HANK FOWLER:

You the fella with the niggerpreacher.

Hank regards Nat with a smug grin.

HANK FOWLER (CONT’D)

You lucky, boy. I like to’ve let

Buster rip yo’ ass to bits.

(then, to Samuel)

C’mon. Let’s go find Earl.

Hank, dog close, heads toward the tobacco fields. Samuel andNat follow.

67 EXT. FOWLER PLANTATION - TOBACCO FIELD - DAY 67

Hank leads Samuel and Nat across the plantation groundstoward the tobacco field. *

HANK FOWLER:

N*ggers is n*ggers, here. We don’t

treat none no different than

another. Preacher or no preacher.

We got rules.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

67

The cost of breakin’ ‘em: stealin’

sassin’- or any other thing Earl orme thinks is worth dealin’ with’ll

be paid for in skin. You interferewith that, we’ll shoot you where

you stand.

5/8/15 - PINK

CONTINUED:

HANK FOWLER (CONT'D)

50

67

Hank stops, locks eyes with Samuel.

HANK FOWLER (CONT’D)

Any problems with that, you canstop right now and go on back towhere you came from.

Nat looks to Samuel who doesn’t budge.

Good.

HANK FOWLER (CONT’D)

PRELAP:

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

68 EXT. FOWLER PLANTATION - TOBACCO FIELD - DAY 68

Hank, Samuel and Nat arrive to find EARL FOWLER (Early 40’s)

on horseback, hurling his whip down at toiling slaves. Thewhip snaps like gunfire inches from the ears of men, womanand children as they pull leaves from the tobacco plants.

CRACK! CRACK!

Come on!

EARL FOWLER:

CRACK!

EARL FOWLER(CONT’D)

C’mon, nah!

CRACK! The whip cracks near the ear of a SLAVE TEEN MALE. Theteen picks faster. Earl dismounts, holsters his whip.

HANK FOWLER:

Earl, this here’s Sam Turner. Fella

with the n*gger preacher. *

Earl hardly glances in their direction. A long beat until he

dismounts, locks in on Samuel.

*

*

EARL FOWLER:

Where you say y’all come from?

(CONTINUED)

4/9/15 -WHITE 51

68 CONTINUED:
68 68 CONTINUED: 68

SAMUEL TURNER:

Here in Southampton. South of

Nottaway.

EARL FOWLER:

Nottaway huh? ...Lotta Yankees

makin’ their way down those parts.

Come down here, rabble-rousin’,

stirring sh*t on our way of life.

A quiet standoff as Earl locks eyes with Samuel, until-AnOVERSEER arrives on horseback, pulls Hank aside. Then-

HANK FOWLER:

Earl, got a little problem.

69 INT. FOWLER PLANTATION - BARN - BACK ROOM - MOMENTS LATER 69

Earl and Hank push in. Nat and Samuel freeze in the doorway,

their eyes fix on something we don’t yet see.

EARL FOWLER (O.S.)

Which one?

HANK FOWLER (O.S.)

That one there.

EARL FOWLER (O.S.)

How long?

HANK FOWLER (O.S.)

Said it’s been ‘bout a day or so.

REVERSE TO REVEAL

TWO MALE SLAVES chained to the wall. One wears an IRON

COLLAR, bells on the tips of its reaching horns. A scar bendsfrom his temple to his cheek. The other wears an IRON MASK,

saliva seeping from its sides. Earl squares up with thelatter, unlatches his mask. The broken slave can hardlystand.

EARL FOWLER:

You ain’t gon’ eat?

No response. Earl grabs the nearby bowl of cornmush, puts thespoon to the slave’s mouth. He turns away.

EARL FOWLER (CONT’D)

Aight.

(then, more to himself)

If it ain’t one thing, it’s the

other.

(CONTINUED)

4/9/15 -WHITE 52

69 CONTINUED:
69 69 CONTINUED: 69

Earl pushes past Nat and out of the room. ON NAT as hestudies the tortured men. Earl returns carrying a thickCHISEL, HAMMER AND FUNNEL.

EARL FOWLER (CONT’D)

(to Samuel)

You wonderin’ why we could use that

n*gger of yours, you’re seeing it

first hand.

EARL FOWLER (CONT’D)

(to Hank)

Open his mouth. Grab that cornmeal.

Nat and Samuel watch on horrified, as Earl hammers out the

male slave’s teeth.

EARL FOWLER (CONT’D)

If it ain’t the Yanks, it’s the

drought...

Hank holds the slave’s mouth open, as Earl forces the

cornmeal through the funnel and into the man’s throat. Blood,

teeth and cornmeal seep as he gags.

EARL FOWLER (CONT’D)

If it ain’t the drought, it’s

goddamn mutiny.

Earl wipes his hands, regards Nat without missing a beat.

EARL FOWLER (CONT’D)

Truth is, even the meanest n*gger

fears the gospel. A good word from

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