The Devil's Advocate Page #6

34.

39 CONTINUED:
39

KEVIN:

Look, I'm not sure I'm making myself clear here.

BOY:

Moyez.

(a French accent)

You need him. Speak wid him.

40 INT. DAHOUMEY BAKA - STAIRS - DAY 40

The Boy hits the lights. A naked bulb on the landing below. Beyond that, darkness.

KEVIN:

You're saying he's down here?

(incredulous)

In the basement? In the dark?

BOY:

(laughing)

Where? Where you think -- ?

Where you think me taking you?

41 INT. DAHOUMEY BAKA - BASEMENT HALL - DAY 41

The Boy, still laughing, starts down the stairs -- into the darkness. Kevin hesitates. Sucks it up. Crouching not to hit his head as he goes down into -42

INT. DAHOUMEY BAKA - BASEMENT - DAY 42

Around the landing -- the Boy still in front of him and-- down -- as another light comes up and the boy moves quickly through the space, turning on lamps here and there. No furniture. Mounds of bones. The walls

painted a deep, black red.

43 INT. DAHOUMEY BAKA - MOYEZ'S BASEMENT - DAY 43

Kevin waiting as the last light goes on -MOYEZ

(O.S.)

I thought I would recognize you,

but I do not.

Kevin, spooked, wheels around -

(CONTINUED)

35.

43 CONTINUED:
43

PHILLIPE MOYEZ squatting in the corner. Skinny and intense. His eyes opaque and piercing at the same time.

At once unassuming and terrifying. A plastic bag of fresh green roots in his lap. Ghat. Miraa. African

cocaine. His teeth black from chewing it.

KEVIN:

Mr. Moyez?

(as he nods)

We've never met. I'm a lawyer.

I'm here about the animals.

MOYEZ:

As you wish.

KEVIN:

I'll be arguing your case with the city. I need to ask you some questions.

(gets folder)

I've done a little preliminary research -- precedent -- cases in the past that dealt with Santeria and Voo-

MOYEZ:

No. This is not Santeria. We are

not Voodoo. Candomble.

Obeayisne. None of that. We are

much older. Before. Before all

of it.

KEVIN:

Okay. Is there a name? Or...

MOYEZ:

We have papers. At your firm. We

have the tax exemption.

KEVIN:

Okay. I'll get right into that.

(scribbling away)

The animals. Let's start with

that, then.

MOYEZ:

We have an investment in blood.

Think of it as spiritual currency.

Moyez stands. Starts slowly across the room.

KEVIN:

Look, Mr. Moyez, I'm going to need your help with this.

(CONTINUED)

36.

43 CONTINUED:
(2) 43

Yes.

MOYEZ:

That's very clear.

KEVIN:

Perhaps we could start at the beginning?

Moyez, ignoring him, moves to an old refrigerator beside the stairs. For an instant, the door is open -- just a glimpse. Meat. Bags of entrails. Jars of blood. Moyez goes to a workbench near the wall --

KEVIN:

Mr. Moyez?

MOYEZ:

What is the name of the man who

will prosecute us?

KEVIN:

(scanning file)

Merto. Assistant District

Attorney Arnold Merto.

MOYEZ:

La chemise noire. Vite!

The Boy already running up the stairs.

NAILS FALLING onto the workbench -The

sound of Bhalla.

KEVIN:

What are you doing, Mr. Moyez?

Moyez stands aside, wiping his hands on his trousers.

A huge beef tongue sits on the bench. The nails are

scattered around it.

MOYEZ:

You can go now. You will have all

the help I can give you.

Moyez now with a hammer. And the nail. Driving it into the tongue. Kevin backing away, as we -CUT

TO:

44 INT. KEVIN'S OFFICE AND HALL - DAY 44

Video monitor -- FULL FRAME.

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE - Rev. 11/2/96 37.

45 INT. DAHOUMEY BAKA BASEMENT - DAY 45

Hand-held footage of a police raid. We're running -through a building -- New York cops -- an animal control officer -- through a door -- voices yelling -- down some steps -- into a backyard -- people standing -

Here -- a scuffle starting -- voices rising -- the camera shaking -- we see Bhalla -- and the Woman -- and -

There -- in the middle, is a goat -- on its knees -- its throat has just been cut -- blood pouring into a pan and Moyez holding its head with one hand -- a knife in the other and this positively orgiastic expression on his

face, and on that image, we freeze frame.

46 OMITTED

&

47

48 INT. KEVIN'S OFFICE AND HALL - KEVIN - DAY

with the remote control. Pam there with him.

sour silence.

PAM:

What do you think?

KEVIN:

It's a health code case. And it's

a loser. So what's the point?

(watching her)

It's a test, right?

PAM:

Isn't everything?

KEVIN:

The smart thing to do is make a deal. Plea him out and suppress the tape.

PAM:

I'm sure the D.A.'s waiting for your call.

KEVIN:

Yeah, well, let him wait.

(beat)

And you can tell Milton too.

(beat)

I didn't come to New York to plea bargain.

46

&

47

REVERSE TO:

48

A long,

CUT TO:

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE - Rev. 11/15/96 38.

49 INT. LOMAX APARTMENT - DAY 49

Jackie rejecting Mary Ann's color choices.

CUT TO:

50 INT. KEVIN'S OFFICE AND HALL - NIGHT 50

Law books stacked around. An associate wheels in a

trolley with more books.

CUT TO:

50A INT. LOMAX APARTMENT - NIGHT 50A

Mary Ann eating fried chicken. She doesn't like the

wallpaper. She's tearing it off, as we -

CUT TO:

50B INT. KEVIN'S OFFICE AND HALL - NIGHT 50B

Kevin working late. Across the hall Pam is going home.

PAM:

It's only a health code case.

CUT TO:

51 INT. MANHATTAN COURTROOM #2 (MOYEZ COURTROOM) - DAY 51

Bench trial. No jury. JUDGE THEO SKLAR and staff.

A.D.A. MERTO at his seat. Pam sits with Moyez. Other

than that, it's empty.

A rump roast slaps down onto a table.

KEVIN (O.S.)

That's a veal roast, Your Honor.

U.S.D.A. approved and stamped.

Eight days ago, in Kansas City,

two men pushed a calf into a steel frame as a third man fired a high-

voltage staple-gun into the animal's skull. Men kill animals

and eat their flesh. Phillipe Moyez

killed a goat. He killed a goat.

And he did it at home, in a manner

consistent with his religious beliefs. Now some people may find it bizarre.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE - Rev. 11/15/96 38A/39.

51 CONTINUED:
51

KEVIN (O.S.CONT'D)

It's certainly not a religious

practice performed by everyone.

It's not as common as, say,

circumcision. It's certainly not

as common as the belief that wine

is transformed into blood. It's

not even as common as the handling

of poisonous snakes to prove one's

faith. But Phillipe Moyez isn't

two thousand miles away in a

stockyard. He doesn't use

electricity to kill. And worst of

all...

(holding up

the roast)

Phillipe Moyez is not shrink

wrapped.

Merto begins to cough. Quietly at first, but...

KEVIN:

Your Honor, the city timed this

police action to catch my client

exercising his constitutionally-

protected right to religious

freedom.

Merto's coughing getting worse as he tries to stop...

JUDGE SKLAR:

This is a law protecting Kosher

butchering.

KEVIN:

Exactly, Your Honor. And I'd like

to move at this time for an

immediate directed verdict for

dismissal.

Moyez staring a hole in Merto, and the man cannot stop coughing...

JUDGE SKLAR:

I happen to know a little bit

about Kashrut law, Mr. Lomax.

(CONTINUED)

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE - Rev. 11/2/96 40.

51 CONTINUED:
(2) 51

KEVIN:

I'm aware of that, Your Honor,

which is why I feel confident in requesting a dismissal.

JUDGE SKLAR:

Mr. Merto?

Merto can't speak -- wheezing and coughing, as we -CUT

TO:

52 INT. MOYEZ COURTHOUSE HALLWAY - DAY (TEN MINUTES LATER) 52

Empty and dark. Kevin, Moyez and Pam leaving the

courtroom. All smiles. Moyez shaking his hand and thanking him, and then, from behind them, the sound of one person CLAPPING -MILTON

(coming toward them)

Bravo, Kevin. Bravo.

(as he arrives)

Pamela, you're looking lovely.

(to Moyez)

Satisfied, Phillipe?

MOYEZ:

Always.

MILTON:

Kevin, what can I say?

(smiles)

Outstanding.

Kevin, trying to look modest and failing, as we -CUT

TO:

53 EXT. CANAL STREET (CHINATOWN) - DAY (LITTLE LATER) 53

A street-food stall. Milton paying for Kevin's eggroll.

And they're walking...

MILTON:

Best street food in the world.

Try that. Tell me it isn't great.

(as Kevin eats)

New York. What a scene, right?

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

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