The Manchurian Candidate Page #21

MARCO:

Raymond, stay focused. The irrefutable

fact is that Jocie was a mistake, and

we’re gonna make ’em pay for it.

RAYMOND:

I dream you, Ben. You kill Private

Baker.

(into the phone, pleasant:)

Hello?

MARCO:

What are you talking about?

RAYMOND:

(into the phone)

Yes mother.

A class BELL RINGS --

178 INTERCUT - CORRIDOR - DAY 178

Students flood the hallway -- Laurent Tokar walks right past

Rosie and Anderson, heading toward the special ed room --

179 RESUME - THE SPECIAL ED ROOM 179

MARCO:

Hang up.

RAYMOND:

(into the phone)

Yes, he’s right here.

Raymond extends the phone to Marco.

RAYMOND:

She wants you.

Marco hesitates. Me? But takes the receiver --

180 INTERCUT - ELLIE’S PLAZA HOTEL SUITE - MORNING 180

on the phone in her lavish room:

ELLIE:

Is this Major Marco?

8/18/03 106.

MARCO:

Yes it is, Senator.

ELLIE:

-- Major Bennett Marco --

Marco reacting quizzically -- sound of the distant windstorm

building --

EXTREME CLOSE UP - MARCO - HIS EAR -- at the phone:

MARCO:

Yeah ...?

MARCO’S EYES flicker to Raymond’s eyes --

ELLIE:

Bennett Ezekiel Marco --

-- Marco’s senses are quickening -- the light literally

changing around him -- that terrible LUMINOSITY -- as --

SOUND of fabric, in the wind -- the SANDSTORM RAGING --

Marco’s eyes shining now, hyper-alert -- a warrior’s eyes --

MARCO:

Yes.

ELLIE:

-- Listen:

CRASH:

181 INT. P.S. 16 - CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER 181

The happy chaos of screaming kids. Raymond emerges,

smiling. Surrounded immediately by Anderson and his secret

service detail, and escorted out of the building.

ROSIE:

fights through the throng of students --

-- to the office door. Now it’s locked. She bangs on it --

KICKS it open --

182 INT. SPECIAL ED. OFFICE - DAY - ROSIE 182

Empty. Marco gone. The Noyle File lies open -- and empty --

on the floor. She rushes through a connecting door -183

INT. AUDITORIUM - CONTINUOUS 183

-- third-grade students loud, happy, rehearsing a patriotic

"Abe Lincoln" election day skit -- no Marco here -- she’s

lost him --

8/18/03 107.

184 INT. SPECIAL ED. OFFICE - CONTINUOUS 184

Rosie comes back through, out into the hallway and stands,

in the river of children -- she’s lost Ben --

185 EXT. P.S. 16 - FRONT STEPS - DAY (VIDEO) 185

TVA185News footage of Raymond emerging from voting, waving, and TVA185

heading back to his car --

TV185 NEWSCASTER #6 TV185

Candidates made ritual trips to the

voting booths today ...

186 EXT. ANOTHER POLLING PLACE (VIDEO) 186

TVA186SIMILAR footage of Arthur emerging, waving to the cameras.TVA186

TV186 NEWSCASTER #6 TV186

... Governor Arthur, casting his ballot

in North Platte, will spend election

night in the Big Apple, with running-mate

Raymond Shaw ...

PULL SLOWLY BACK:

187 EXT. THE PLAZA - LATE AFTERNOON 187

SWOOPING ACROSS on an entrance jammed with cabs and

limousines ... then RISE UP --

-- to the WINDOW of a suite high above the street, where

sunlight still lingers on the glass, shimmering gold, and

PUSH IN -

188 INT. PLAZA HOTEL SUITE - LATE AFTERNOON 188

TV188 A beautiful suit laid out on the king-size bed ... shoes TV188

... the television ON, but silent: network election night

coverage ... numbers flashing. Arthur/Shaw are exit poll

winners in Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New

York ...

ELLIE (V.O.)

The bullet will pass over your shoulder,

just missing your head on the way to its

target ...

189 INT. BEDROOM - LATE AFTERNOON 189

where Raymond sits, stripped to the waist, watching the

mirror as his mother looms over him, in a beautiful Chinese

silk dress, combing his damp hair.

ELLIE:

... because, of course, the assassin --

the deranged, obsessed, tragically

(MORE)

8/18/03 108.

ELLIE (CONT’D)

paranoid, lone gunman -- is trying to

kill you.

RAYMOND:

The Major is an excellent marksman.

She touches his bare shoulder, leaves her hand there.

RAYMOND:

But what will happen to him?

ELLIE:

(gentle)

The assassin always dies, baby. It’s

necessary for the national healing.

She takes his shirt off a hanger, he stands up, and she

starts to dress him --

ELLIE:

I’m sure you will never entirely

comprehend this, darling, and I know, the

way you are right now, this is like

trying to have a whimpered conversation

with someone on a distant star ... but it

must be said, Raymond -- I did this for

you -- so that you could have what I

could not, what your father didn’t want --

what your grandfather dared to dream

possible --

She runs her hands through his hair. Tears fill her eyes.

ELLIE:

-- when you ran away to join the Army,

after that girl, after Jocie -- when you

swore you’d never speak to me again, I

felt your father’s shadow pass across us,

and I couldn’t let him run you the way

he ruined himself.

(beat)

That’s when Mark Whiting came to me with

talk of extraordinary scientific

breakthroughs ... Attitude adjustment ...

Reconciliation ... Greatness. So I let

them take you, and change you. Not too

much. Not so much that you’d notice.

Just enough to bring you back to me.

RAYMOND:

Yes, mother.

ELLIE:

And look what you have, now! Look how

far we’ve come! It’s working, darling --

they think they own you, but they are

very, very wrong. You’re not something

they can buy and sell, Raymond, not for

(MORE)

8/18/03 109.

ELLIE (CONT’D)

any price -- we’re one, and there’ll be

no stopping us now, will there? We’re

going to save this country in the hour of

its greatest need.

Raymond is dazzled by Eddie’s radiance.

RAYMOND:

Yes, mother.

She straightens his tie. Her hands caress her son’s

shoulders.

ELLIE:

How much you look like my father, now --

you have his hands, and you hold your

head in the same proud way. And when you

smile it’s like I’m a little girl again,

and --

(impulsively kisses him)

When you smile -- when you smile --

Raymond moves to her -- their embrace is all consuming --

190 INT. REGENT WALL STREET - GRAND BALLROOM - DUSK 190

A DIZZYING OVERHEAD SHOT, slowly twisting: campaign

volunteers milling through empty chairs, dozens of t.v.

monitors glow with early election coverage, a STAGE BAND

warming up, bass thumping, the room festooned with "SECURE

TOMORROW" banners, and --

TWO VAST FLOOR-TO-CEILING, VIRTUAL WALL-TO-WALL SCREENS,

specially installed for the occasion, define the entire east

and west walls of the ballroom. They glow pure blue, as if

waiting -

191 INT. DISUSED PROJECTION BOOTH - HIGH ABOVE THE FLOOR 191

A LAMINATED ALL-ACCESS SECURITY BADGE dangles from

Anderson’s neck as he pushes the last screw back into a

cooling vent along the wall.

192 INT. SERVICE CORRIDOR 192

Anderson emerges as another SECRET SERVICE AGENT comes down

the hallway --

ANDERSON:

All clear.

He closes the lighting room door.

193 OMITTED 193

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