The Night Manager Page #2

People shouting slogans, TV cameras, women putting spent

military bullet cartridges on their fingers to show to the TV

cameras, burnt out cars, roars of a distant crowd, men

running, women screaming, the echo of bullets, buildings

burnt and looted. PINE navigating it without fear and with

some skill.

An explosion nearby! PINE walks on fast hearing the

increasing roar of bullets, the heat of danger in the air.

Faces stare out of alleyways, friends or foes? Who can say?

He walks on.

7 EXT. CAIRO. NEFERTITI HOTEL. FORECOURT. DAY. 7

PINE walks across the forecourt of the Nefertiti Hotel, one

of Cairo’s finest and most expensive. PRIVATE SECURITY MEN

guard the perimeter, tension in the air. He shows ID, they

let PINE through and he walks fast into the hotel.

8 INT. CAIRO. NEFERTITI HOTEL. FOYER. DAY. 8

PINE walks into the panicked foyer, filled with anxious

guests trying to leave, journalists trying to arrange

transport. It’s bedlam.

The MAITRE D sees him. French Arab.

MAITRE D:

You’re not due here til eight.

PINE:

Thought you might need some help

getting people out...

MAITRE D:

How did you get here?

PINE:

I walked.

MAITRE D:

Through that? Are you completely

mad?

He shows PINE the TV which is on an international channel and

shows the revolution in full surge. Wounded being rushed to

hospital. Rage on the streets.

PINE stares at it all with a strange affection. He shrugs.

PINE:

It’s a beautiful evening.

TNM Ep1 PRE-SHOOTING SCRIPT 15-3-15 7.

9 INT. CAIRO. NERFERTITI HOTEL. FOYER. EVENING. 9

PINE is on the phone organising taxis to airports whilst

dealing with several anxious guests. All this consummately

achieved. The HALL still packed with people arguing, trying

to get to safety. Still the pace is frenetic. The heat

searing.

PINE:

The British government has

chartered a plane which will arrive

in three days. (to AMERICAN WOMAN)

Excuse me madam I’m just dealing

with this lady.

AMERICAN WOMAN:

You have to get us out now! Do you

hear?

PINE:

The hotel is the safest place for

you to be madam...

AMERICAN WOMAN:

If you won’t get me a taxi to the

airport, I’ll get one on the

street.

PINE:

I really wouldn’t advise that.

She’s about to defy him. Then PINE senses something, grabs

her. She turns.

AMERICAN WOMAN:

Get your hands off me.

At which point an explosion rings out close - in the streets

outside. Panic in the hall. The AMERICAN WOMAN grabs PINE’s

hand in pure terror.

PINE:

Maybe madam would like to wait in

the bar? The cocktails are

complimentary.

She obeys, scuttling off. PINE moves fast, talking calmly to

the BELL BOYS.

PINE (CONT’D)

Get them away from the windows.

He walks fast to a phone. The ex-soldier clicking in.

PINE (DOWN THE PHONE) (CONT’D)

Yes this is the Nefertiti hotel in

the Corniche.

(MORE)

TNM Ep1 PRE-SHOOTING SCRIPT 15-3-15 8.

PINE (DOWN THE PHONE) (CONT’D)

We have tear gas grenades going off

in the street fifty yards west of

here, and I have several guests

extremely keen to leave.

Then he turns and sees her. A WOMAN, Arab, forty, shades,

elegantly dressed. Walking towards the lifts. Where

everything else is fast, fractured, she is cool and slow, a

Pekinese dog in a small bag in her arms. MAITRE D leans over.

Whispers.

MAITRE D:

Look who’s here. (in arabic)

Shlokeh. (The whore.)

PINE stares at her unflappable beauty.

10 I/E. CAIRO. NEFERTITI HOTEL. FOYER. NIGHT. 10

It’s night. The HALL is full of empty luggage. A few waiting

tourists, tense and exhausted. PINE is helping some tourists

into an evening taxi to the airport, SECURITY everywhere.

PINE approaches a BARMAN.

PINE:

Louis, anyone comes in for a drink,

don’t let them stand at the bar.

Tell them to take a seat. And when

you serve them, try and get them

facing away from the windows.

BARMAN:

(Dubious) Then I’ll be facing

towards the windows.

PINE:

(Cheery smile) Yup.

PINE stares at the city. Distant gunfire. PINE walks back in.

To see the ARAB WOMAN standing in the reception area. SOPHIE.

40 years old. Beautiful. Slim. Dark eyes.

SOPHIE:

Busy day for you.

PINE:

Everyone’s trying to leave. We’re

doing our best to help them.

SOPHIE:

Everyone except me.

PINE:

Is Madame requiring some more

Flurazepam?

TNM Ep1 PRE-SHOOTING SCRIPT 15-3-15 99.

She pauses. Looks round.

SOPHIE:

Make me a coffee would you Mr Pine?

11 INT. CAIRO. NEFERTITI HOTEL. BREAKFAST ROOM. NIGHT. 11

PINE pours an immaculate coffee into a china cup.

He brings it to the table in the deserted breakfast room,

already made up for the morning.

SOPHIE:

Sit with me.

Beat. Something strange about this.

PINE:

I’m afraid I can’t. I’m trying to

find taxis for various guests.

SOPHIE:

How many coffees have you made for

me?

PINE:

I don’t know.

SOPHIE:

One every night for one year and

three months. I come down to the

lobby. You serve me. I thank you.

You look at me but we barely speak.

Sit down.

He sits.

SOPHIE (CONT’D)

What do you know of me?

PINE:

Your name is Ms Sophie Alekan,

you’re staying in the Hatshepsut

suite. And you have trouble

sleeping.

SOPHIE:

And do you know who is footing my

bill?

Beat.

PINE:

Yes.

She looks at the TV in the room. The footage is of Tahrir

Square. Empty. Curfew in place.

TNM Ep1 PRE-SHOOTING SCRIPT 15-3-15 1010.

SOPHIE:

Freddie Hamid is everything the

protestors hate. Old Egyptian

family, in with the powers that be,

corrupt to the core. The Hamid

family owns half the city. And

Freddie Hamid owns me.

He stares at her.

PINE:

Are you concerned for your safety

Madame?

She sips the coffee.

SOPHIE:

Tell me what you do at weekends?

PINE:

Not much now.

SOPHIE:

Before this all started I saw you

sailing at the Cairo yacht club.

PINE:

That’s only when I’m invited. Which

isn’t often.

SOPHIE:

Who invites you?

PINE:

The second man at the British

Embassy.

SOPHIE:

Name?

PINE:

Ogilvey.

He stares at her. What does she want? Why is there an edge to

her voice?

SOPHIE:

And he’s a friend of yours, this Mr

...?

PINE:

Ogilvey. No.

SOPHIE:

But you trust him?

PINE:

I trust him not to capsize a boat.

TNM Ep1 PRE-SHOOTING SCRIPT 15-3-15 1111.

Then she reaches into her bag. And pulls out an envelope.

SOPHIE:

I would like you to copy some

personal documents for me.

He stares at her.

PINE:

We have an executive services

bureau across the lobby. It’s

available 24 hours a day.

SOPHIE:

The documents are confidential.

PINE:

Mr Ahmadi is perfectly dependable.

SOPHIE:

I would prefer to use your office.

She stares at him. And slides across the documents. There are

quite a few, maybe twenty pages. She stares at him, firm

desperation. He nods and they walk together to his office,

past waiting tourists, journalists on the phone.

TOURIST:

Excuse me!

PINE:

I won’t be a moment sir, I’m just

helping this lady contact her

family in Paris.

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