The Death of Stalin Page #3

---

have commandeered a tank.

MALENKOV:

You know we produced 5000 T-64

tanks last year?

KHRUSHCHEV:

If I have to watch this f***ing

movie again, drive one over my

head.

20 May 2016 Draft 10 11.

BERIA:

I can have that arranged. Ach,

little sleep tonight. My men are

bringing in lots of lost sheep...

KHRUSHCHEV:

Anyone we know on the list?

MALENKOV:

(admonishing)

Hey, we’re supposed to be watching

Shitcoach.

They look up to see if Stalin is listening.

KHRUSHCHEV:

(quieter)

Any good ones?

BERIA:

One of his guards. Says his wife

gave him some slippers to wear so

he wouldn't make any noise. The old

man’s convinced it’s so he can

creep up on him in his sleep and

kill him.

KHRUSHCHEV:

Where will it end? Are we arresting

anyone with feet?

Malenkov laughs.

BERIA:

Nikita. I’m having a man shot for

“acquiring slippers”. Never joke

about something so serious.

Stalin comes towards them.

MALENKOV:

(loudly, to alert Molotov)

Ah, you're just in time for the Red

Indian attack.

He does a loud, clumsy hand-over-mouth war cry.

Molotov wakes and panics.

MOLOTOV:

He.. the horse.. I was.. thinking..

important.

MALENKOV:

You were asleep.

MOLOTOV:

No. Focussed... on the soundtrack.

20 May 2016 Draft 10 12.

He yawns, and we go into slow motion again.

Dramatic MUSIC Again.

Under Molotov, the caption: "Vyacheslav MOLOTOV. Foreign

Secretary".

Under Malenkov, laughing, is "Georgy MALENKOV. Deputy General

Secretary".

Back to normal speed.

BERIA:

(to Molotov)

You'll soon have plenty of time to

sleep, comrade.

He turns to the others. A look of enigmatic menace.

23 INT. MOSCOW APARTMENT CORRIDOR - NIGHT 23

Men in nightshirts are marched out of doorways by NKVD.

CUT TO:

24 EXT. MOSCOW APARTMENTS - NIGHT 24

Men and women in their nightclothes led into vans by NKVD.

CUT TO:

25 INT. MOSCOW APARTMENT - ROOM - NIGHT 25

BORIS BRESNAVICH and MRS BRESNAVICH are asleep. There's a

loud banging at the door. They switch on the light,

terrified.

MRS BRESNAVICH:

Don't open. Don't open it!...

BRESNAVICH:

They'll kick it down...

Mrs Bresnavich goes to the window and sees A MAN being led

away by NKVD OFFICERS. She starts to cry.

Bresnavich has pulled on a dressing gown and slippers over

his pyjamas. The couple hug and kiss like people who know

they may never see each other again.

BRESNAVICH (CONT’D)

I love you...

20 May 2016 Draft 10 13.

MRS BRESNAVICH:

(distraught)

Oh my God, your things....

He clasps her hands.

BRESNAVICH:

Say whatever you have to say to

them. Say it. It doesn’t matter.

Bresnavich heads to the hallway. Through adjoining windows,

he sees another MAN being led away. Still the knocking.

26 INT. MOSCOW APARTMENT - HALLWAY - NIGHT 26

Bresnavich opens the door to a friendly-looking CONCERT

DIRECTOR in a dinner suit. In the hallway, two people are

being led away.

CONCERT DIRECTOR

Comrade. Deepest...

(he bows)

Radio Moscow requests your presence

immediately. Please. You’re

Moscow’s finest and... nearest

conductor.

(a little desperate)

We must hurry.

27 EXT. STALIN'S DACHA - FRONT OF BUILDING - NIGHT 27

Beria, Khrushchev, Molotov and Malenkov are walking together

to their limos, drunk, tired.

BERIA:

(to Malenkov)

Nice work mentioning Polnikov.

(Malenkov impression)

"Whatever happened to Polnikov? And

Trotsky, I liked him."

MOLOTOV:

"I miss the tsar"...

MALENKOV:

What is this, the Malenkov Pogrom?

I’m drunk. I can’t remember.

KHRUSHCHEV:

A tip, Melanie. When you go home,

get your wife to write down

everything you think you said. Then

in the morning you know what you're

dealing with. Khrushchev’s Law!

20 May 2016 Draft 10 14.

MOLOTOV:

Good night, comrades! Long live the

Communist Party of Lenin-Stalin!

Long live John Wayne and John Ford!

Molotov drives off in his limo. He waves. They wave back.

BERIA:

(does throat cutting

gesture)

Goodbye, old friend. Goodbye

forever.

They all register the shock.

MALENKOV:

Really?

BERIA:

Yep. On the list. It would be

simpler and cheaper if they just

drove straight into a river.

Sweet dreams!

CUT TO:

28 INT. CONCERT HALL - MAIN AUDITORIUM - NIGHT 28

It's fuller now:
some in overalls, one with a dirty brush,

beside more smartly dressed concert-goers. A BIG WOMAN eats

pickled onions. Some are filing up to the balcony.

ANDREYEV:

(shouting at people on

balcony)

You... no, YOU! Yes, keep going

along! Fill it up!

The orchestra warm up. Andreyev starts clapping. The

audience, ushers, Concert Director and security guards join

in. Andreyev wants it louder. The audience oblige.

Maria enters, bows and takes her seat at the piano.

Andreyev keeps the applause going as Bresnavitch enters with

a conductor's baton, still in his dressing gown and slippers.

MUSICIAN 2

Sh*t. Was Chaplin busy?

MUSICIAN 3

Bresnavich can't do Mozart! He has

no feel for nuance.

MUSICIAN 2

He’s in his dressing gown. I’d say

“nuance” is f***ed.

20 May 2016 Draft 10 15.

Bresnavich turns to face the orchestra and loses a slipper.

He gropes for it with his foot as he taps his baton to begin.

The orchestra starts playing, from the very beginning.

CUT TO:

29 INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - BEDROOM - NIGHT 29

A MAN desperately "over-dressing" - putting layers of clothes

on top of each other. He grabs a roll of money and stuffs it

in his underwear. The door is kicked open to reveal NKVD men.

INTERWOVEN WITH:

30 INT. KHRUSHCHEV'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT 30

Khrushchev slowly, drunkenly, taking off his clothes. His

wife, NINA, sits on the bed taking notes.

KHRUSHCHEV:

I joked about the farmers. Stalin

laughed. I joked about the navy. He

didn’t laugh.

31 INT. LUBYANKA - CORRIDOR - NIGHT 31

Beria, yawning, strolls along, cleaning his pince-nez. Behind

him an NKVD guard, ILYIN walks with a crying WOMAN in her

20s.

BERIA:

I'll see you again in twenty

minutes.

Beria gestures to a cell door and the guard pushes her in.

Further back, another door opens and an unconscious prisoner

is dragged out by 2 NKVD men. They lift the prisoner’s hand

up and wave it at the other occupant in the cell - goodbye.

32 INT. KHRUSHCHEV'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT 32

Back with Khrushchev and Nina.

KHRUSHCHEV:

I mentioned Polnikov.

NINA:

You fool!

KHRUSHCHEV:

No, I got away with it. Then

Malenkov mentioned him again,

Stalin hated that.

20 May 2016 Draft 10 16.

33 INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - STAIRWELL - NIGHT 33

A MATRONLY WOMAN desperately scrubs blood off stairs, crying.

34 EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - LANDING - NIGHT 34

A YOUNG MAN points some NKVD to the front door of a building

with a distinctive design.

35 EXT. MOSCOW STREET - NIGHT 35

Several people are brought out of the distinctive building by

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote