The Manchurian Candidate Page #20

MARCO:

I’m gonna stop this. We’ll go to the

Feds. You and me. And tell them a

story.

ROSIE:

Who’ll -- believe --

MARCO:

I don’t know. I don’t care any more.

It’s all I have.

Rosie bucks -- gets a hand free -- SLUGS, Marco, and they

tumble off the bed in a tangle of blankets and limbs --

ROSIE:

comes up holding a 9 mm revolver to Marco’s forehead.

ROSIE:

I am the Feds.

She coughs. Marco stares at her, dumbfounded.

ROSIE:

We’ve been watching you, trying to sort

this out. I mean, it’s either you’re

telling it straight and we’ve all got

something big-time to worry about, or

you’re crazy and dangerous -- either way

we’ve had to keep you on a short leash,

’cuz if we lock you up we’ll never know.

(beat)

And we can’t tell anybody because we

don’t know how deep this river runs.

(beat)

If there is a river.

(off his expression)

You got away from me.

MARCO:

Raymond Shaw murdered Senator Jordan and

his daughter.

ROSIE:

(shaking her head)

Oh Ben. The thing is? I want to believe

you. God help me, Ben, I do.

MARCO:

-- he’s a time bomb, ticking --

8/18/03 100.

ROSIE:

Everybody else wants you junked up on

Thorazine and just not a problem any

more.

MARCO:

I am clearer on this than I’ve ever been.

It’s rich guys, funding bad science, to

put a sleeper in the White House --

ROSIE:

Listen to yourself. You’re a poster boy

for paranoid fantasies.

Beat. Silence, broken only by their breathing.

MARCO:

I screwed up. Jordan was my trump card,

and I screwed it up.

(then)

Either help me, or shoot me, Rosie.

There’s no middle ground anymore.

He gets up -- Rosie’s not going to shoot him --

SMASH CUT TO:

169 NOYLE 169

frowning --

NOYLE:

Raymond -- Raymond --

TURN:

DREAMSCAPE - AS BEFORE

Raymond hands a service revolver past Noyle, to

MARCO -- who primes it, aims --

NOYLE (O.S.)

Captain Marco, would you please shoot

Private Baker so we can move on?

-- MARCO SHOOTS BAKER IN THE FOREHEAD --

170 INT. LIMOUSINE - MORNING 170

RAYMOND:

Aaaahhhhhhh --!

Raymond awakens with a startled about, face flushed,

sweating. Terrified --

8/18/03 101.

MIRELLA/ANDERSON

Aaaahhhhhh --!

-- Raymond finds himself in the back seat of his limo, his

campaign aide Mirella, her assistant, and Anderson, all

startled and shouting too -

MIRELLA:

You okay?

RAYMOND:

Yeah. Yes. Bad dream.

ANDERSON:

We’ve arrived, Congressman.

Raymond sits up.

RAYMOND:

Okay.

171

EXT. P.S. 16 - WESTCHESTER - DAY 171

Raymond emerges to cameras and fanfare -- it’s election day,

and he’s going to vote.

Anderson and other agents clear a path up the steps into the

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL VOTING SITE. Reporters shout questions

that Raymond just answers with his professional smile.

172

INT. P.S. 16 - GYMNASIUM - DAY 172

A temporary polling place. Flags, tables, not too crowded.

VOTERS stepping out of the way. POLL VOLUNTEERS pressing in

to shake hands and wish Raymond Shaw good luck. And

ROSIE:

on the edge. She badges Anderson, and talks to him. He

nods, moves over and talks quietly to Raymond as Raymond

signs his name in the voter registration log.

Then lets Rosie guide him to a booth on the end --

173 INT. VOTING BOOTH - RAYMOND 173

pulls the giant lever, the curtains close, finds --

A NOTE -- folded, taped to the machine.

RAYMOND -- opens it, reads it.

8/18/03 102.

VOTING BOOTH - MOMENTS LATER

the curtain opens and Raymond steps out, smiling again.

Cameras flash, video crews wave boom mikes, expecting a

sound bite:

RAYMOND:

I was on the fence when I walked in there

... but then I saw my name on the ballot

and I knew what I had to do.

Laughter. He whispers to a poll volunteer, and she points

him down a hallway --

174 INT. P.S. 16 - CORRIDOR 174

Raymond, Rosie and his Secret Service detail -- Rosie leads

them to a doorway, holds it open for Raymond, but puts her

hand lightly on Anderson’s chest when he starts to go in to

sweep the room --

ROSIE:

It’s clean.

175 INT. P.S. 16 - SPECIAL ED. ROOM - DAY 175

Small, and private. Raymond turns on the light. Marco is

in the corner, waiting. His Noyle File in one hand.

MARCO:

How’s your back?

It hurts.

RAYMOND:

MARCO:

I’m sorry.

Raymond locks the door, turns, takes in the room: tiny

chairs and tables, walls covered with kids’ drawings, and

nearly every object in the room named and labelled with 3x5

cards.

RAYMOND:

I’ve been having the dreams, Ben.

MARCO:

That’s good.

RAYMOND:

Good? They’re inside my head. They got

inside, the way you said they would --

MARCO:

We’ll get ’em out.

8/18/03 103.

RAYMOND:

They’re all ... twisted together -- and I

dream things, terrible things, that can’t

possibly have happened. I’m gone, Ben --

I’m losing it --

MARCO:

No -- you could have had me locked up --

and you didn’t. That’s a sign.

RAYMOND:

Of what?

MARCO:

That they don’t control everything. We

can fight it. I mean -- I’m still out

here because you decided I should be --

which means there’s a part they can’t get

to, deep inside -- the part where the

truth is, and they can’t touch us there.

That’s what we need to tap into, Raymond,

that’s the part where, you and me, we’re

gonna take them out.

RAYMOND:

Jocie’s dead.

MARCO:

I know.

RAYMOND:

-- and the Senator.

MARCO:

Yeah.

Beat.

RAYMOND:

Did I do it?

MARCO:

I think so, yeah.

RAYMOND:

I don’t remember. I don’t remember it.

Raymond looks up at Ben. Emotionless. Uncomprehending.

176 INTERCUT - CORRIDOR - ROSIE AND ANDERSON 176

down the hallway, standing sentinel. Anderson checks his

watch, glances uncomfortably back at the door -- then at

Rosie, who just stares him down.

8/18/03 104.

177 RESUME - SPECIAL ED. ROOM - RAYMOND 177

Tears run down his face, but his voice is normal, he stays

expressionless. He rubs his eyes with the heel of his hand.

RAYMOND:

I’m all inside-out.

KNOCKING on the door.

ANDERSON (O.S.)

Mr. Shaw?

RAYMOND:

Just a minute.

Raymond’s cell phone RINGS.

RAYMOND:

All I’ve ever done is what I was supposed

to do. What I was told to do --

MARCO:

Raymond --focus -

RAYMOND:

-- What others want me to do.

MARCO:

Did they tell you what they want you to

do, Ray? We gotta know what’s gonna

happen, we gotta know when’s it gonna

happen -- you can help me do this --

RAYMOND:

You don’t think they saw this coming?

You don’t think they factored you in?

(matter of fact)

I need to die, Ben.

MARCO:

What? No -- no, man, they’ve got big

plans for you --

RAYMOND:

I’m the enemy, Major Marco, and the only

way to stop me is to kill me. I thought

you were smarter than this.

MARCO:

I can get the Feds, the police. Come on,

Ray -- fight it -

RAYMOND:

Are we friends?

8/18/03 105.

MARCO:

Raymond, you gotta work with me here --

Raymond takes the ringing phone from his inside pocket, and

checks the number of who’s calling.

RAYMOND:

I want to believe we’re friends.

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