The Manchurian Candidate Page #6

MARCO:

From the landing. Every week it gets

longer. I’m worried about you.

He takes the romance novels out of his grocery bag and hands

them to her.

MARCO:

None of these involve slave traders or

sheiks, Abby. I checked.

WOMAN:

(blushes)

What do I owe you?

MARCO:

(sad)

A smile.

She does.

41 INT. MARCO’S STUDIO APARTMENT - NIGHT 41

He enters, and a visible exhaustion overtakes him. He turns

on the t.v., and sags to the sofa bed, drained.

BEHIND HIM - ON A BULLETIN BOARD:

yellowing newspaper clippings and wire photographs of

Raymond Shaw. SENATOR’S SON SAVES UNIT IN KUWAIT. "LOST

PATROL" FOUND AFTER THREE DAYS IN DESERT; ALL BUT TWO

SURVIVE ORDEAL. SHAW RECEIVES NATION’S HIGHEST HONOR. GULF

HERO HONORED AT WHITE HOUSE DINNER. SHAW WINS N.Y.

CONGRESSIONAL SEAT; WILL BE YOUNGEST MEMBER OF HOUSE ...

Marco’s not letting anything go.

TV41 ON THE TELEVISION TV41

News coverage, the crowded floor of a political convention:

8/18/03 14.

MARCO:

ROVING REPORTER:

-- with public anxiety rekindled by the

events of Bloody Friday, with the war on

terror marching into yet another year, no

end in sight --

Yawns -- his eyelids flutter -- he shudders awake, digs in

his grocery bag for the No Doz and shakes out half a dozen.

Which he swallows dry.

ROVING REPORTER:

-- the American people are looking for a

new agenda -- but because this party

remains deeply divided on so many issues,

the choice of a vice presidential nominee

may be the key unifying factor for the

delegates of this convention in much the

way Johnson helped Kennedy in 1960 ...

Then he’s up on his feet, moving to the kitchen through the

small, cramped space overflowing with books, unopened boxes

from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

42 INT. MARCO’S APARTMENT - LATER 42

TV42

Marco sits at a clearing on the tiny kitchen table, eating

instant noodles and trying to read Prizzi’s Honor.

VOICE/JORDAN

(on the t.v.)

We need to look inward -- attend to our

own house -- the danger to our country is

not from some terrorists at large --

terrorists we’ve helped engender with

twenty years of failed foreign policy --

An open cabinet door behind Marco reveals ROWS AND ROWS OF

INSTANT NOODLES in the cupboard.

ON THE TELEVISION

TV42

News coverage, the crowded floor of a political convention.

A poised, silvery, avuncular man, SENATOR THOMAS JORDAN

(according to the title on the screen) on the podium:

JORDAN:

-- no, the real danger is from suspending

civil liberties, gutting the Bill of

Rights, allowing our fear to destroy our

democratic ideals --

43 INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT 43

The same speech continues, largely ignored by Congressman

RAYMOND PRENTISS SHAW. Still intense and moody, the new

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