The Manchurian Candidate Page #12

8/18/03 57.

109 THE DOOR - ROSIE 109

breaks in -- sees the BLOOD smeared down Marco’s back --

ROSIE:

Oh Jesus.

-- and the razor in his hand -- she pushes him away -MARCO

-- loses his grip on the oblong thing before he can even get

a good look at it, and it goes into the sink --

MARCO:

SH*T. Oh no NO ...

-- and down the drain -- Marco twists the faucet off, and

DIVES TO:

FLOOR LEVEL - UNDER THE SINK

where he puts both hands on the fittings of the u-joint trap

and struggles to get them loose -- succeeding finally, water

spewing everywhere --

-- the trap falls to the floor, disgorging soap chips, slimy

hairballs and pipe corrosion and water ... but not the thing

he wants. It’s --

MARCO:

-- Gone. Sh*t.

MARCO -- rests his head on the cool tile, eyes far away.

Defeated. Rosie crouches next to him. A little scared.

She blots the blood from his back with the towel, and then

presses her ice pack against it.

MARCO:

Tell me you saw that.

Rosie just stares at him.

MARCO:

(hollow)

You didn’t. You didn’t see it.

ROSIE:

See what?

Marco closes his eyes.

MARCO:

Proof.

8/18/03 58.

ROSIE:

Of what?

MARCO:

My sanity.

110 EXT. ISOLATED WAREHOUSE - ON THE HUDSON RIVER - DAY 110

Stark building with a huge parking lot and only one car

parked in it. A CAB pulls through the open gate, stops.

Marco gets out.

DELP (V.O.)

Implant delusions. Number three on the

paranoid top ten list.

111 INT. WAREHOUSE STAIRWAY - DAY 111

Ben and RICHARD DELP ascend at a good clip. Delp wears a

lab coat, trappings of a medical researcher:

MARCO:

This wasn’t a delusion.

DELP:

That’s what they all say, Marco.

(then)

Some wicked sh*t got sprayed on you guys

during Desert Storm. Besides all the

depleted uranium, I mean ...

He stops, unlocks a door, and they go --

112 INT. DELP’S RESEARCH LAB - SKY BOOTH - DAY 112

A narrow, glassed-in space with a cluster of monitoring

equipment against the wall of darkened windows. Fluorescent

lights flicker on, revealing a CAVERNOUS SPACE BELOW, in

which an intricate MAZE of CAGES contains unhappy, SCREAMING

research MONKEYS with Orwellian stainless-steel hardware and

antennae bolted to their bisected skulls. Strange SOUNDS

and various LIGHTING EFFECTS emerge from the different

sections.

DELP:

... I personally know of a coupla Rangers

who swear that they see only in tertiary

colors now --

MARCO:

-- Delp.

DELP:

-- and can pick up sports talk radio in

their cortical block if they get too

close to a Con-Ed transformer.

8/18/03 59.

MARCO:

-- Delp. It’s not GWS.

Delp has known Marco too long, and too well, not to take him

seriously.

DELP:

A dozen years ago, the Army did this tiny

implantable I.D. thing -- you could imbed

it under the skin, then scan it like a

bar code for medical emergency

information, blood-type, DNA. Pentagon

ordered up half a million, and stuck

about five thousand experimentally into

high-risk soldiers and infantry. But the

scanners proved skittish and field

hospitals hated ’em, so the whole deal

got eighty-sixed and forgotten.

MARCO:

The Army never put one in me.

DELP:

That you know of, man. That you know of.

(then)

How’d you find me?

MARCO (V.O.)

I looked under Mad Scientists in the

yellow pages -- there was a full page ad.

DELP:

Ha ha.

Marco stares down into a big pit. Among the racks of

equipment are two primate-sized stainless-steel beds with

restraints and I.V. trees waiting.

DELP:

You seriously believe somebody’s messed

with your mother board.

MARCO:

What are you studying here, Delp?

DELP:

Fear.

MARCO:

For the Agency?

DELP:

Nah, CIA cut me loose in ’97 during the

Macedonian debacle. Now I got this

little grant from Wal-Mart.

8/18/03 60.

Wal-Mart? Fear? Marco looks at the monkeys. Doesn’t want

to know any more. He shifts his gaze back to Delp. Studies

him. Then:

MARCO:

Look, Delp. My experiences during the

war, in Kuwait ... feel dreamlike to me.

And my dreams? About what happened?

Feel as real as you and me, here, right

now.

Delp just waits.

MARCO:

It’s like ... I feel like somewhere along

the line, I’ve been ... brainwashed. Or

something. You know? All scrambled up.

DELP:

We’ve all been brainwashed, Marco.

Religion, advertising, television.

Politics. We accept what’s normal

because we’re told it’s normal and we

crave normalcy. Hell, look at the

Germans under Hitler. Disco, in the

seventies.

(beat)

And if you’re really worried about

somebody imbedding electric probes and

computer chips in your brain to make you

do things -- it’s horseshit, man. Turns

out Pavlov had it right from the getgo.

Dogs and all. A little ECT and sleep

deprivation will do the trick for a

fraction of the price. Ask the Uzbeks.

And you would remember it.

MARCO:

What about my dreams?

DELP:

(shrugs)

What if all this is the f***ing dream and

you’re still back in Kuwait?

MARCO:

You’re not helping me.

DELP:

I am. You’re not helping yourself.

Reality is consensual, man. You just

gotta prove it up. Or play it out.

113 OMITTED 113

114 OMITTED 114

8/18/03 61.

115 NEWS FOOTAGE - AIRPORT ARRIVAL (VIDEO) 115

TV115 Raymond emerges from a private jet, waves to a crowd of TV115

supporters behind a chain link fence --

116 EXT. TETERBORO AIRPORT - TARMAC - CHARTER ARRIVALS - DAY 116

Same. Raymond, his handlers, his Secret Service escort walk

a gauntlet of news cameras, REPORTERS lob questions from

behind a barrier:

REPORTER #2

Congressman Shaw! Why do you and Gov.

Arthur oppose deploying troops in

Indonesia?

RAYMOND:

We can’t clean up the world with dirty

hands.

MOVING WITH - MARCO

as he keeps pace with Raymond, walking, moving behind the

reporters, weaving through the crowd.

REPORTER #2 REPORTER #3

What about your mother’s Is your mother helping or

allegation that a nuclear hurting your campaign?

attack on this country from

a secret alliance of rogue

states is certain within two

years?

RAYMOND:

Guys, I gave up a long time ago trying to

second guess my mother. I’m just

surprised the rest of you haven’t.

MARCO:

Do you ever dream about Kuwait?

Heads turning to find Marco, folder under his arm -- strange

looks -- Secret Service poised to react, but Raymond slows,

looks -- sees Marco. A cloud passing over his features:

RAYMOND:

I can never remember my dreams.

MORE QUESTIONS lobbed out, overlapping, but Raymond ignores

them. Marco pushes through as Raymond assures Anderson:

RAYMOND:

-- it’s okay. I know him, it’s okay.

8/18/03 62.

117 INT. LIMOUSINE - DAY 117

Raymond and Marco in the back seat facing forward. Anderson

and campaign handler MIRELLA FREEMAN sit facing them,

talking low, on a cell phone, as:

RAYMOND:

I saw Mavole’s Mom and Dad in St. Louis.

I still visit them -- and Baker’s mom --

when I can. Do you keep up with anybody

from the unit besides Al Melvin?

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