RIVER OF FUNDAMENT
Writer/Director: Matthew Barney
Music Composer/Director: Jonathan Bepler
DRAFT 036 FULL 04/03/13
OVERTURE
EXT. ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S HOUSE - DAY
Nearby, exterior views of the ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S HOUSE are framed by the Wood River Valley. Apparently a typical alpine, wood panel house, closer views reveal the structure is cast concrete and has a trompe l'oeil paint application, simulating a wood grain.
Interior views reveal a furnished HOUSE, left intact following the death of the late writer, in 1961. At the end of the empty bed, a footlocker rests, with the HEMINGWAY name
From a wide, panoramic view of the HEMINGWAY HOUSE, a HUNTER leaves the house carrying a shotgun. He walks across the surrounding property, and arrives in a nearby field. A shot is heard, and from a wide view, a BIRD is seen falling from the sky.
EXT. INDUSTRIAL RIVERS OF NEW YORK CITY - DAWN
Opening shots of the film reveal the industrial rivers of New York City at dusk, as an instrumental overture begins. The Manhattan skyline is in the distance.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. BASEMENT (CAVERN) - DAWN
Establishing shots of a man wading, chest high, through septic waste water. It is dark, and the man remains obscure. As he passes through pools of dim light, the skin around his eyes and mouth appear irritated with infection. Solid waste has left rings around his upper torso, and hangs in chunks from his beard. This is the undead ENTERED APPRENTICE (M.Barney) from Cremaster 3.
The septic fluid is contained within a massive cavern with oxidized metal walls. Above the APPRENTICE hang a monolithic mass of earth. The severed remains of an electrical and plumbing riser emerge from the stone mass. Guided by the pipes and cables, he ascends into the darkness.
The APPRENTICE passes through a small opening in the earth, and emerges in what looks like the stone foundation of a house.
2.
The foundation and basement appears to be cracked away from the rest of the house, and is full of gardening supplies, some unused furniture, and a couple old bicycles. In the corner of the space, an eccentric drum set is partially covered with a tarp.
Near the remains of the basement, the APPRENTICE finds an entrance into a stairwell. The stairwell is collapsed, but he finds his way up to the next floor. Partial floor and ceiling sections have collapsed into the stairwell, making narrow passage for the APPRENTICE. The plumbing risers now appear to be holding these architectural fragments together.
A brass sluice way protrudes from a hole in the rafters, and sub flooring overhead. The sluice way is caked with organic waste, and hangs over a small herb and vegetable garden on the floor. Hydroponic light fixtures surround the garden, which is flourishing. The stairwell continues up, one additional floor ending at the entrance to the top floor apartment.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DAWN
From the landing at the top of the stairwell, the APPRENTICE enters the apartment of Norman Mailer. Photographs of the late writer and his family hang prominently on the walls, while bookshelves dominate the majority of the available wall space.
Late 19th century furniture, and American folk art objects fill every corner and cabinet top. A small book case holds the notated galleys and first edition copies of all of Norman Mailer's 11 novels.
There are two large sarcophagi at the end of the parlor, near the picture windows, where the curtains are drawn. One sarcophagus is made of salt and the other of sulphur. These are the sarcophagus of NORMAN 1 and NORMAN 2. The ceiling over the salt sarcophagus is leaking an intermittent drip of water, which has already started eroding the mineral surface. A vacant bronze platform for a third sarcophagus sits next to the two monoliths. A large dining room table, in the center of the parlor, is cluttered with stacks of dinner wear and utensils.
As the APPRENTICE continues to explore, he looks up to see a glassed in atrium in the center of the
3.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - KITCHEN - DAWN
In the kitchen, several CATERERS are preparing the kitchen, and organizing the apartment for an event, which is a wake for the late author. The APPRENTICE stops and observes the caterers. Voices of CHILDREN can be heard from one of the bedrooms, beyond the kitchen.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BATHROOM - DAWN
After some time, the APPRENTICE wanders into the bathroom. Here he snoops through the medicine cabinet, and reads the prescription labels on several pill cases. The APPRENTICE then opens the lid to the toilet. There is a long piece of feces floating in the bowl. He picks up the log and coats it carefully with a thin layer of gold leaf, taken from a potpourri on the toilet tank, and puts it back into the bowl.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - DAWN
Next door, in the master bedroom, The NOVICE (Aimee Mullins) from Cremaster 3, is sitting on the end of the bed. She is also undead. The door is closed. The room is dim, and there are photographs of the Mailer family clustered on the bedside tables and wardrobes.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS
He turns and pulls his pants down, as if preparing to sit on the toilet. Sensing something has changed, he turns around again to face the toilet.
Where the toilet had been, there stands an undead, elderly man. This is the Pharaoh, USERMARE (Stephen Payne). He is soiled with septic waste, and is wearing a heavily stained bath towel around his waist, and has a colostomy bag on his abdomen, which is full of feces. The flesh around his mouth is infected with lesions. Solid septic waste is caked heavily beneath his chin and hangs from his considerable beard. USERMARE parts his towel to expose his erect penis, which is gilded with a thin layer of gold. The APPRENTICE kneels and smells the penis of the Pharaoh, as his eyes fix onto the man's navel. Closeups show the swollen foreskin of the penis splitting the thin layer of gold into a mosaic of fissures. The feces in the colostomy bag starts to bubble.
Overture continues and is joined by 2 unseen male vocalists.
VOICE 1 (O.S.)
When the soul has departed, a man sees corruption.
(MORE)
4.
VOICE 1 (O.S.) (CONT'D)
He becomes a brother to decay and he sinks into a myriad of worms...he becomes nothing but worms.
VOICE 2 (O.S.)
Father, thou did not whither, Thou did not rot, Thou did not turn to worms. So will My member be everlasting. I shall not decay, I shall not rot, I shall not putrefy, I shall not see corruption. So will My sword remain drawn forever.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
A display of bullfighting instruments sits on top of an elegant wooden box, near the foot of the bed.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS
The APPRENTICE turns away from USERMARE, and the Pharaoh inserts his penis into the APPRENTICE's rectum. Droplets of mercury begin to emerge from the anus of the APPRENTICE, and fall to the floor.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
Overture is joined by unseen female vocalist.
FEMALE VOCALIST (O.S.)
She sought her brother without wearying
She wandered the country grief- stricken
She did not rest until she found him
She made a coolness with her wings, and wind with her feathers
In sadness, her thoughts drew tears whose fall gave birth to rain
The NOVICE looks toward to the door, at the light leaking onto the hardwood floor, and sees a rivulet of mercury crossing the threshold into the bedroom. She reaches for the festooned bullfighter's sword, and with a slow, graceful gesture, she makes a horizontal incision across each of her thighs.
5.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS
A pool of mercury forms on the bathroom floor, which is organized into an abstract geometry by the grout lines in the tiles.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
As blood pours down from the two wounds, the NOVICE reaches down and removes her two lower leg prosthetics and holds up her legs toward the door in a devotional gesture. The prosthetic legs are made of silicone rubber, and have a remarkable realness. Wider views show the NOVICE'S lower legs are now articulated with long, curved bullfighting swords. In close up view, blood drips down the length of the curved blades and pools on the hardwood floor beneath the bed, as the overture comes to an end.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - CONTINUOUS
An overhead view of the dining room table sees mercury flowing into a miniature river across the tablecloth, and through the valleys between the stacks of dinner wear and crystal.
From this domestic landscape, the film's title graphics appear: "RIVER OF FUNDAMENT".
HOUSE 1
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DUSK
-Widow pours herself tea.
-Opens front door but no one is there.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - CHILDREN'S BEDROOM - DUSK
- Honeyball pours powder and stirs tea.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DUSK
The wake has commenced, and guests have started arriving. As the guests arrive, they mill about the room speaking with one another in a quiet manner. Most of the guests appear to know one another, while the others are busy introducing themselves.
6.
The WIDOW of NORMAN 1 (Joan La Barbara), is offered condolences. They are offered a drink by a BARTENDER, stationed at a catering table near the kitchen. By wake standards, the mood is relaxed, though there is a formality surrounding the initial interactions between the guests and the WIDOW.
Around the parlor, the guests are eating, drinking and chatting. The camera's view follows a young girl, HATHFERTITI 1, is playfully moving from one group of people to the next.
A PRIEST (Jerry Giles), LAWRENCE WEINER, and TOMMY GALLAGHER, are standing in front of a Richard Prince car hood painting.
PRIEST
What's with the...
LAWRENCE WEINER (not having heard)
I'm sorry?
PRIEST
What's with that car hood? Kinda weird, having it on the wall like that. (with a derisive laugh)
I mean, who does that? What is it, a Trans Am?
LAWRENCE WEINER
That's not a car hood, Father. It's a painting.
PRIEST
What? No. Really? Wow, that's... I knew a guy in high school had a '79 Trans Am. I tell ya, that was one bitchin' car. Last of the true American muscle cars, am I right? 6.6 litres... 220 horses
LAWRENCE WEINER
That's a '72, not a '79. Prince never made a '79.
PRIEST
Prince? You mean, like, "Purple Rain"? (the others look at him, perplexed)
LAWRENCE WEINER
Richard Prince. The artist...
7.
PRIEST
(shrugging his shoulders)
You know, I used to run a Chrysler dealership in LA. We had this restored '79 Trans Am we'd bring out for special occasions...
TOMMY GALLAGHER
The Trans Am is a Pontiac, Father. That's General Motors. Not Chrysler... But what's the difference? The whole thing is a mess.
PRIEST (trying to keep up)
Oh, right, right - GM.
TOMMY GALLAGHER
The unions brought the industry to it's knees. Even as the economy went south, they kept demanding a bigger and bigger slice of the pie. It just couldn't be sustained. The heyday of the American Car is a thing of the past.
LAWRENCE WEINER
When the stars stand still, the sky moves
From a distance, a guest can be heard talking to FRAN LEBOWITZ.
LAWRENCE SCHILLER is seen speaking with NEPHTHYS (Jennie Knaggs). They are speaking about the Schiller's collaboration with Norman Mailer on, The Executioner's Song. NEPHTHYS is asking SCHILLER about Nicole.
Fran Lebowitz tells Gail Gerber that Mailer's greatest innovation was proclaiming his own brilliance.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - CHILDREN'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
Next to the master bedroom, in the children's bedroom, nine young CHILDREN of varying age are playing and singing. There are three bunk beds, with three beds each. The room is chaotic. It is filled with the toys and and a number of childrens' musical instruments. A nanny, HONEYBALL (Milica Nikcevic), is sitting in a chair in the corner, reading.
8.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
In the kitchen, caterers are preparing chapulines (fried grasshopper), nopales (fried cactus), and a salad with grub worms, as a starter. The HEAD CHEF (Luis Alvarez y Alvarez) is overseeing the cooking in the kitchen.
PREP COOK (Francisco Paez) is cutting the thorns off the cactus pads. He uses the knife with a swift efficiency.
FRY COOK (Hector Tecaxco) is preparing grub worms by rinsing them in a colander, and quickly checking each worm with a squeeze. A bit of fluid emerges from the rear end of the worm with each squeeze.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - CONTINUOUS
Jonas Mekas talks to Elaine Strich about getting Norman interested in cinema.
The camera's view follows the HEAD CHEF through the parlor and onto the terrace.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - CONTINUOUS
A suckling pig is slow cooking on a rotisserie by GRILL MASTER (Paulo Paguntalan). The HEAD CHEF stops the rotisserie and checks the temperature of the meat.
As the HEAD CHEF checks the thermometer, the GRILL MASTER playfully grunts and makes an inhaled pig squeal as he bastes the skin of the suckling pig with olive oil from a sprig of rosemary.
SALMAN RUSHDIE is standing at the terrace railing drinking a glass of wine. He is speaking with Lawrence Weiner.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DUSK
The musicians warm up.
SET and NEPHTHYS share a disdainful look.
LIZ SMITH explains Clarissa Dalrymple to why Norman liked her column.
The PRIEST removes a book and a small cupola from a cabinet.
9.
During the starter course of the buffet, ELAINE STRITCH stands, taps her glass with a knife, and begins to speak:
ELAINE STRITCH
Hi, Ok, We are here to celebrate Norman Mailer; a man who, as the song goes, did it his way. To his public, Norman never seemed afraid of his own mortality. They saw him following in the overgrown path of rugged individualists, sometimes even to the point of tilting at windmills. And yet, in reality, Norman was a deeply sensitive soul, full of doubt, with a healthy fear of the unknown world which he now inhabits. I think I speak for us all when I say, we loved him very much.
Norman wrote his own obituary a long time ago... he surely wasn't going to let somebody else do it. Though he had a hearty appetite for the vulgar, Norman couldn't take mediocrity.
I remember when Ancient Evenings came out in the early 80's. Nobody liked it. Here was this sprawling ambitious work, hurled into the arena by a literary lion and nobody bit. I'll admit it: not even me.
In typical fashion, Norman didn't seem to care. But I know he did. We all knew. The 80's were a strange time for New York. A difficult time for American writing. The world wasn't ready for a book like "Ancient Evenings". We didn't understand it then. But now we can, and do.
Several MUSICIANS, scheduled to perform at the wake, begin to open their instrument cases, and remove their mouthpieces. They begin to warm up quietly, intermittently, as ELAINE STRITCH continues to read.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D)
I'd like to read a passage from Ancient Evenings.
(MORE)
10.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D)
Though the protagonist in this story is called
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D)
(looking around the room)
If Norman's Ka is among us, we send you our warmest welcome.
Other guests laugh quietly, as the ELAINE STRITCH picks up a copy of Ancient Evenings.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D) "Many lights appeared above my head, and they were like a ladder of lights with many rungs. I seized the first, and began to ascend from the river. The ladder twisted and was not easy to climb, but, as it swayed, the fields of gold on the other bank receded from me, as did the waters, and I took the rungs of this ladder one by one, and each rung was as strong as the umbilical cord of each person I had known well, and I felt the embrace of their bodies. They came about me as I climbed and held my arms, and I could not move to the next rung until I lived with the honest thought of how I loved them or how I did not, and recalled all I loved most in each, and all I loved least.
As ELAINE STRITCH reads, the PRIEST has started setting up a miniature cupola on the table. He lights a match and ignites the cupola thru a small hole near its base. Next to the cupola, he empties a small pouch of white powder into a pile and begins to scrape the pile into a long line with his butter knife.
The WIDOW glares at the PRIEST. She is appalled with his lack of respect.
Two ASSISTANTS come to the table and begin to serve
11.
One of them washes down his brow with perfumed oils, while another climbs under the table and begins to wash his feet. HATHFERTITI 1 can't resist, and peeks under the table to watch.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D) "There was every loss in my limbs as I passed again through the early love of my mother, but I had to grapple up the rungs of her fear of me when I was no longer a child but her lover, and I wept for the Pharaoh that He had not become a greater man but a smaller one, and tasted His expiring love for Himself in the fatigues of my breath, yes, and I went up on the spirits of the dead until I was high above the Pyramid."
The ENTERED APPRENTICE and NOVICE (the Ka's of Norman) have entered the room. As they are undead, they are seen only by the Pharaoh
Around the room, the harp, guitar, and string quartet, continue to tune their strings and organize their sheet music. The trombonist and trumpet player warm up their mouthpieces, and the organist sets the stops on his organ.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D) "Now, the great women in my life were near, and I climbed as if the arms of Osiris were for my use, and the head of Ra was like my own. I saw again a vision of great cities to come, and knew the strength of the Ka must be great. For even as the tender force of the flower breaks through the stone, so would the strength of the Ka be immense if its true desire were opposed."
The PRIEST is loading the top of the cupola with the white powder and small pellets of metal.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D) I felt by the presence of our strength as I went up the ladder. I think all magic was at my feet.
(MORE)
12.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D)
As I climbed, I saw the moon, and Osiris was in it waiting for me, and either arm was Horus and Set. I was near to the Boat of Ra. All that was in me shifted, even Time itself."
The PRIEST removes a small rectangular mold from his jacket pocket and places it beneath the cupola, carefully lining up the cupola's pour spout over the small opening in the top of the mold.
Around the room, several guests begin to warm up their voices, quietly humming and whispering tones.
As ELAINE STRITCH continues to read, her words begin to be delivered more musically, with some words shifting in pitch, and others extending in tone.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D) "For, now, a comet approaches. I suffer the onslaught of a frightful wind. A pain is coming that will be like no pain felt before. I hear the scream of earth exploding. In this terror, vast as the abyss, I still know more than fear. Here at the center of pain, is radiance. May my hope of heaven now prove equal to my ignorance of where I go. Whether I am the second or the first Menenhetet, or the creature of our twice seven separate souls and lights, I would hardly declare, and so I do not know if I will labor in greed forever among the demonic or serve some noble purpose I cannot name.
By this I am told that I must enter into the power of the word. For the first sound to come out of the will had to traverse the fundament of pain. So I cry out in the voice of the newly born at the mystery of my first breath, and enter the Boat of Ra.
The PRIEST takes a ballpoint pen from his pocket and sticks into the opening at the bottom of the cupola. Molten metal pours down the pour spout, and fills the mold.
We sail across dominions barely seen, washed by the swells of time.
(MORE)
13.
ELAINE STRITCH (CONT'D)
We plow through fields of magnetism. Past and future come together on thunderheads and our dead hearts live with lightening in the wounds of the Gods."
ELAINE STRITCH pauses, and looks to the WIDOW.
Norman you certainly will live on in the power of the word. But still, we will miss you
After the ELAINE STRITCH'S reading, the guests resume chatting and eating.
Place sweet oils and good odors in my head. Lay flowers on my limbs. Kiss the body of your sister, for she lives in your heart. Let the walls fall down.
Under the table
The ASSISTANT beneath the table holds
ASSISTANT
The gods adorn Themselves, and Thy name is Adornment.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DUSK
The PRIEST is opening the small silicone mold, and removing the metal casting. The casting is in the form of a demitasse tea spoon.
The PRIEST stands and knocks the teaspoon against his champagne flute, and waits for the attention of the GUESTS. The PRIEST places the spoon in the Hot Toddy, whereupon it immediately melts into a lump at the bottom of the cup. The PRIEST raises his glass upward, in what appears to be the initiation of a toast. The WIDOW is glaring at the PRIEST.
PRIEST
Friends, thank you all for coming today and bringing so much of yourselves. We are all here to say
(MORE)
14.
PRIEST (CONT'D)
Most of you don't know me. My name is Jerry. Norman and I met privately every week for the last
The WIDOW looks at the PRIEST. She is shocked and incensed by what he is saying.
GAIL GERBER and A GUEST glance at each other, amused by the PRIEST'S inappropriate behavior, but embarrassed for the WIDOW.
PRIEST (CONT'D)
Hey, I'd like to try something: Could we all join hands for a moment? Come on, don't be shy. Norman would have liked this. Let's try to feel a lightness in our hearts....
The WIDOW begins interrupting.
WIDOW
Lightness!!!???
PRIEST
Now let's try this.... Let's try to focus and give our attention to our Higher Power. Let's reach out from our hearts, from that safe place within us, and ask for our own forgiveness. Each and every one of us. After all, we are all creatures of light. Let us pull together now. Let us pool our collective consciousness and ask our Higher Power to show Norman the way, so that he may find peace with those eternal questions which haunt the human spirit.
WIDOW
Were you thinking that those were the words, those upright lines? Those curves, angles, dots? No, those are not the words!
(MORE)
15.
WIDOW (CONT'D)
The substantial words are in the ground and sea,
they are in the air, they are in you...
Human bodies are the words, myriads of words.... Air, soil, water, fire
What Higher Power summons us? We each loved Norman, that is all. Each in our singular, complicated ways. Death does not argue. It doesn't scream, persuade, threaten, or promise. Death makes no discriminations for some Higher Power to prevail.
Accouche! Accouchez! Will you rot your own fruit in yourself there?
Embarrassed and frustrated, the PRIEST steps away from the table, and we follow him as he walks into the kitchen. We INTERCUT between the PRIEST in the Kitchen and the WIDOW in the Parlor.
WIDOW (CONT'D)
Will you squat and stifle there? The earth does not argue,
Is not pathetic, has no arrangements, Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, Makes no discriminations,
has no conceivable failures, Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out,
Of all the powers, objects, states it notifies, shuts none out.
Some of the GUESTS begin to sing single words, and the string quartet begins to play a simple figure. This slowly develops into a sparse musical accompaniment. The WIDOW is now standing.
WIDOW & GUESTS
Sunshine, storm, cold, heat, forever withstanding, passing,
carrying,
The soul's realization and determination still inheriting, The fluid vacuum around and ahead still entering and dividing,
No balk retarding, no anchor anchoring, on no rock striking,
(MORE)
16.
WIDOW & GUESTS (CONT'D)
Swift, glad, content, unbereav'd, nothing losing,
Of all able and ready at any time to give strict account,
The divine ship sails the divine sea.
ELAINE STRITCH takes the WIDOW'S hand. The WIDOW sits back down.
WIDOW
Line in nature is not found;
Unit and universe are round;
In vain produced, all rays return;
Evil will bless, and ice will burn.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - KITCHEN - SIMULTANEOUS
The PRIEST has moved into the kitchen, and is watching the CATERERS.
The CATERERS are preparing more chapulines. PREP COOK pours live grasshoppers into a plastic bag, and places the bag in the freezer for the moment. The grasshoppers are then removed and placed into a hot frying pan, with oil and garlic. FRY COOK is cooking over the range.
The HEAD CHEF is dressing the chapulines with lemon, and sea salt, and carefully placing them inside squash blossom.
INTERCUT WITH:
-Shot of Highway besides LA River aqueduct.
-Shot of Impala driving on highway.
-Shots of Highway, Impala, Lila Downs,
and Ren Chrysler dealership.
-Shot of Chrysler manager in his office.
-Shot of Trans Am in showroom.
-Shot of salesman in office.
-Shots of marching drummers approaching dealership.
-Shots of Lila Downs near dealership.
REN 1
17.
EXT. REN CHRYSLER DEALERSHIP - DAY
A crowd is forming at the car lot. The Ren Chrysler dealership is hosting its seasonal promotional event. On a mezzanine level overlooking a long sales lot, SALESMEN mill through the crowd, past concession trucks, receiving guests. A DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS can be heard marching through neighboring communities, playing sparse mathematical patterns. An antiphonal surround effect ensues as the various sections of the band approach the dealership from all directions, moving into the crowd. Finally, they take formation and perform an intricate instrumental prologue. Images of the polluted L.A. River, the bubbling waters of the La Brea Tar Pits, and the drills of the L.A. City Oil Fields intercut with the prologue.
The music comes to an end. The catering trucks drive out of the lot, revealing a demolished 1967 Chrysler Crown IMPERIAL. Deep folds in the car body are encrusted with salt. Its front end is shrouded with a mask made from a pristine 1967 Imperial hood, grill, and fender panels, painted the same pale green as the demolished car. The hood is inlaid with a winged scarab amulet of lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, and gold. Impaling the back end of the IMPERIAL, a pale blue
The MANAGER of the Chrysler dealership introduces himself and addresses the guests, with the vacant emotion of a sales pitch.
MANAGER
Welcome to Ren Chrysler. Each season at Ren, we release a new generation of
Ren has been committed to the compact ever since.
In the Golden State, Khepera, the great scarab, burrows her glowing sphere beneath the earth in the darkness of the night, reemerging each morning to push a luminous ball across the sky, dropping it into the Pacific Ocean to create the evening.
Khepera's ball of dung gives birth to the new day!
18.
Close ups of the bubbling oil of the La Brea Tarpits intercut with the Manager's speech.
MANAGER (CONT'D)
In Los Angeles County, there is an aqueduct of feces as deep as a pit. Across it, the dead must swim. The Ka of all but the wisest, most prepared, or most courageous, will expire in that river, weeping for their mother. They have forgotten how they came out of her.
At the wake, the WIDOW begins to recite the same text. As the view returns to the car lot, her voice can be heard, over the MANAGER'S voice. Gradually, their words become lyrical and intoned, echoed by flourishes from the drum and bugle corps.
MANAGER (CONT'D)
Between piss and shit are we born, and in water do we die for the first time, slipping off to death on the release of our waters. But the second death is in the full pits of the Pacific. Do I sit before you and fart? Do you smell every odor of the constipated, the gluttonous, the sulphurous, the caustic, the fermentative, the infectious, the rotten, the corrupt, the putrescent? It is because I had to swim the river of feces, and succeeded in crossing only at a great price. The spirit of human excrement is now in the breath of my Ka, which is to say,
in my emotions, and in my irregular courtesy. Small wonder that every disproportion is also in my manner, yes, every happiness that was interrupted, every injustice to an honest endeavor, as well as all the squandered seeds of love that found no root. And this is not even to speak of energetic lust with no place to go but to the coils of one's digestion (although much of such lust turns to piss), enough! You have no gift for your trip to Southern California if you do not comprehend that shame and waste may be buried in shit, but so is many a rich and tender sentiment as well.
(MORE)
19.
MANAGER (CONT'D)
How then can this cauldron of emotion be more than a burial chamber? Is it not also part of the womb of all that is yet to come? Is not part of time reborn, by necessity, in shit? Where elese can be found those unresolved passions,
A group of DAY LABORERS moves through the crowd, under the supervision of the JOB BOSS (Luis Alvarez y Alvarez). With long hemp ropes, they drag the IMPERIAL down a ramp from the mezzanine level to the sales lot, followed by a procession of the DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS and the audience. The lot is festooned with balloons, and full of late model Chryslers.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BASEMENT - DUSK
Various shots of NORMAN 1 in the septic waters in the basement of the brownstone.
He explores the hydroponic garden.
NORMAN 1 walks up the stairs from the basement of the brownstone, to the entrance door. On the landing at the top of the stairs, NORMAN 1 leans his head against the door. Septic waste slides down the door and pools on the floor.
INT. REN CHRYSLER SHOWROOM - DAY
In the showroom, a serenading
LILA DOWNS
(English translation from Spanish)
Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before. Is this the fear that holds the universe? Is pain the fundament? All the rivers veins of pain? The oceans my mind awash?
(MORE)
20.
LILA DOWNS (CONT'D)
I have a thirst like the heat of earth of fire. Mountains writhe. I see waves of flame. Washes, flashes, waves of flame.
After crossing the long lot, the procession stops at the entrance of the showroom.
The DRUM CORPS falls out of formation, dividing into smaller groups, which move in and out of the
The DAY LABORERS remove the IMPERIAL'S ornamented hood, revealing a mangled 440 big block engine. They strip its chromium "Pentastar", "Imperial" and "Crown" nameplates and deliver them into the showroom, placing them into the concave surface of a cartouche that lies on the floor. The cartouche is a
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DUSK
In the parlor, we see close ups of water dripping from the ceiling, onto the salt sarcophagus. The dripping fluid from the ceiling has started to make a visible change on the top of the sarcophagus. A random pitting has started to form from the droplets, and small rivulets have eroded across the salt. We also see close ups of string players plucking their strings.
*As the name plates are stripped from the IMPERIAL in the REN performance, we begin to intercut with views of the APPRENTICE and NOVICE who are standing near the sarcophagus. The APPRENTICE and NOVICE fall into an embrace, first touching inside the right ankle, to inside right ankle. Second, they touch knee to knee. Third, breast to breast. The fourth point of contact is with the right hand to the small of the back.
HOUSE 1.5
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
In the parlor, we continue to see close ups of water dripping from the ceiling, onto the salt sarcophagus.
21.
Musicians are playing very sparse, detuned plucking sounds.
LILA DOWNS has wandered away from the guests at the table and is standing near the window behind the sarcophagi, watching the ENTERED APPRENTICE and the NOVICE who continue their slow dance, repeating the sequence of touching body parts. The guests cannot see the APPRENTICE and NOVICE. LT. WORDEN is near the sarcophagi and is watching LILA DOWNS.
DR. LONNIE SMITH now begins an instrumental. A band of instrumentalists surrounding him (trumpet, percussion, trombone, guitar). Guests at the table are enjoying the entertainment, while others are looking through the Mailer family albums.
Finally the APPRENTICE and NOVICE touch cheek to cheek, completing the Masonic Five Points of Fellowship, and the NOVICE whispers to the APPRENTICE the secret name of NORMAN 1.
NOVICE
(whispers to Apprentice)
LILA DOWNS turns eagerly to learn the secret name of NORMAN 1.
LILA DOWNS yells out and backs away from the APPRENTICE and NOVICE towards the window.
LILA DOWNS
The door to the brownstone apartment gently opens on its own accord. Several guests cower at the stench that passes through the open door into the apartment. A ship bell rings above the door. Moments later, the undead NORMAN I (John Buffalo Mailer) enters. (MU note: Worden begins to sing at Norman 1's entrance). His skin has decomposed around his mouth and eyes, and his white clothing is caked with septic waste.
NORMAN is subtly acknowledged by
22.
The BARTENDER winces at the odor coming from the door. He closes the door, trying to eliminate the smell.
HATHFERTITI 1 leans over to
HATHFERTITI 1 (whispering)
He's here!
NORMAN walks around the room, and begins to look at pictures of himself, and members of his family, on the wall. He looks carefully at a drawing by Hans Bellmer, depicting a orgiastic scene with an elderly man, and several younger women.
NORMAN 1 has arrived at the table and sits next to THE WIDOW, who cannot see him. He gently blows on her cheek, and smells longingly inside her ear. THE WIDOW begins to exhale a confused, haunting tone as she listens to the parlor music. NORMAN sits quietly with his hand on her thigh.
LT. WORDEN is looking out the window, singing to herself.
LT. WORDEN
Cold fires wash behind his sightless eyes
As his seven lights prepare to leave.
Nor do they take sudden flight, But depart with an even calm. All but one, the Ren,
His secret name, Who leaves at once
Even as a falling star Might fall through the sky.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. REN CHRYSLER DEALERSHIP - DAY
In the cacophony, the TRANS AM rolls out of the showroom, escorted by the tuba section, vacating the premises.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DUSK
JEFFREY EUGENIDES is in conversation with NEPHTHYS, and SET is listening. They are speaking about Detroit. SET interjects, "Detroit is a shithole", and walks away from the conversation.
Across the room, SET has approached the sulfur sarcophagus and is urinating on it. As the stream of urine begins to diminish in strength, SET coughs some phlegm from his throat.
23.
He spits the phlegm onto the eroded region of the sulfur surface, as he zips up his fly. JEFFREY EUGENIDES and NEPHTHYS have noticed SET's vulgar gesture. Close ups reveal the start of a chemical reaction, as vapor rises from the urine and phlegm soaked sulfur.
REN 2
INT/EXT. REN CHRYSLER SHOWROOM - DAY
The JOB BOSS calls for the DAY LABORERS to pick up the ropes and drag the IMPERIAL into the showroom. The crowd parts as the IMPERIAL enters and comes to a stop. Smoke suddenly emerges from the car's front end, and fire erupts from the IMPERIAL'S engine block. The SALESMEN usher the remaining public out of the showroom. As they work, the SALESMEN sing:
SALESMEN'S CHORUS
All is lost. His bowels quake with oceanic disruption, ready to jettison whole fats, sweet meats and gravies of the old pleasure- soaked flesh, frantic as a traitor springing his leaks under torture. Oh, he would give up anything to ride lighter in the next wave of odium, and in the darkness of waves of flesh smacking raw waters of sound.
The SALESMEN shut the showroom doors.
HOUSE 2
INT. NORMAN MAILER'S APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
PHIL MINTON is standing near the catering table in conversation with SISDEL ENDRESEN. He speaks loudly to be heard over the music, and with an erratic cadence. He seems mildly drunk or high.
PHIL MINTON
Ren, he's the director, the Secret Name, is your life story, your destiny
(MORE)
24.
PHIL MINTON (CONT'D)
And you know what that means in show biz: every man for himself!"
SISDEL ENDRESEN listens, but finds his story boring. She seems to have another story inside her head.
PHIL MINTON (CONT'D) Sekhem is my technician: Lights, Action, Camera! "Look boss we don't got enough Sek to fry an elderly woman in a fleabag hotel fire. And you want a hurricane! Well, Joe, we'll just have to start faking it." Well from a real disaster you get a pig of Sek: sacrifice, tears, heartbreak, heroism, and violent death. Always remember one case of VD yields more Sek than a cancer ward.
SISDEL ENDRESEN has started to mutter to herself, under her breath. Her muttering escalates into a
PHIL MINTON
Lot's of people don't have a Khu these days. No Khu would work for them.. "Get offa me, Khu crumb!
Worka for a living!" Ba, the heart, that's sex: Always treacherous. Suck all the Sek out of a man. Many Ba's have poison juices. The Ka is the only soul a man can trust. If you don't make it, he don't make it.
The Khu's are all transparent fakes. The Ba is rotten with AIDS. The Ka is paralyzed. Khabit sits on you like a nagging wife. Sekhu is poisoned with radiation and contaminants and cancer.
LARRY HOLMES is arriving with a small entourage which includes JAMES CARTER, who is carrying his saxophone in a case, singer TERRELL HOWARD, and JAMES TOBACK. They enter, surprised to see the upbeat mood of the reception.
The HEAD CHEF, FRY COOK, PREP COOK, and GRILL MASTER enter from the terrace, and walk the suckling pig through the crowd of GUESTS. Grunts and inhaled pig squeals can be heard from the GRILL MASTER.
25.
The band kicks off into an upbeat Jazz number with JAMES CARTER as soloist.
The PIG has gilded teeth, and his hooves are covered in silver leaf. Buds of white flowers fill its nostrils, and a pomegranate is in its mouth. GUESTS can be heard to remark on it as it passes.
GUESTS (variously)
Beautiful!....Ah, for the Night of the Pig!...Exquisite, isn't it?...Looks good enough to eat...Perfection!...Smells amazing!...
The soprano chorus is laughing in musical bursts. SIDSEL ENDRESEN is singing a non verbal solo.
The pig is placed on the catering table near the kitchen, and the HEAD CHEF cuts the tongue from the mouth of the pig. With this cutting gesture, the jazz music number ends and a quieter piece begins in the background.
James Toback makes a toast to Norman.
I take great pleasure to see you tonight, Norman.
NORMAN 1 bows his head subtly in a gesture of respect.
The HEAD CHEF places a plate with the tongue of the pig before
HEAD CHEF
The tongue of the pig, Pharaoh.
NORMAN 1
(in delicious response to Ptah)
Almost.
26.
The tongue of the pig is a great speciality, Norman. It is reserved for those who can absorb it's greatness.
Mm.
NORMAN 1
If the pig could taste you back, I wonder what he'd say.
JEFFREY EUGENIDES is standing near their conversation, and looking thru the many titles in Norman Mailer's library. JEFFREY EUGENIDES' POV tracks along one level of the bookshelf, as the conversation at the table continues.
Larry Holmes and his entourage have crowded around the pig to get a closer look.
(slowly; finding his way)
Norman, there is something I have been contemplating for years. I wonder... Would you tell me the
story of my ancestor, the great and revered Usermare?
NORMAN 1
(with a knowing smile)
I've waited a long time for you to ask this. How would you care to hear it?
NEPHTHYS is casually combing and braiding the NOVICE's hair into a single
27.
NORMAN 1
I can tell it like the Brooklyn kid who grew up to win the Pulitzer. Or as the jazz pioneer who tried to liberate percussion from its role as a timekeeper. I can sing it like a shaman who channeled fighting spirits into sick bodies. Or as the Lakota Chief who fought in the 82nd Airborne, who was wounded behind enemy lines on
Everyone here respects you, Norman. In some way or other. They certainly fear you. To some, you are the source of much derision. Do you know why that is?
HATHFERTITI 1 leans in, her interest in the conversation deepening.
NORMAN 1 (with the tiniest of smiles)
Derision. Is that a fancy way of saying I'm a degenerate who dined on human shit?
A beat.
HATHFERTITI 1
Ew.
HATHFERTITI 1 (CONT'D) Are you serious? You actually, like, ate poop?
NORMAN 1
It's pretty repulsive.
HATHFERTITI 1 (considers this for a moment)
Why?
28.
It may be easier to speak of him with derision than comprehend this habit.
HATHFERTITI 1
(rising)
Whatever. I'm going to go look at the pig.
HATHFERTITI 1 wanders off.
The two men regard each other in the silence of men who have said too much.
Did you do this in the practice of magic?
NORMAN 1
I wanted to learn what was learned in other lives.
Elsewhere in the room, the CATERERS have begun serving plates of the pig to the gathered GUESTS who nod at each other appreciatively as they eat.
NORMAN 1 (CONT'D)
For a few weeks, many years ago, I pursued the question. I ate it once. Then twice. And I found answers, though they were not what I expected. It should have ended then and there but someone told. I was betrayed. By the following night, all of Brooklyn knew. No one can be trusted. All I wanted was to use what I had learned
To what purpose?
NORMAN 1
(plainly)
To enrich the marrow of our failing lands.
29.
NORMAN 1 (CONT'D)
I sought to be the agent of Osiris. He spoke to me in the Land of the Dead. Only he, I believed, could save us.
Are you saying that I
NORMAN 1 solemnly bows his head in ascent.
At the Catering Table, HATHFERTITI 1 stands watching as the pig is being carved by a CATERER. She looks at the FACE of the pig.
Back at the dining table,
NORMAN 1
... For many years, medicines were made out of monkey's dung, the pellets of snakes, the manure of horses, cows, even human waste. Those parts of food which cannot be used, or perhaps we don't wish to use, are cast out. All that is too rich, too proud, too courageous.
NORMAN 1 looks toward the buffet where HATHFERTITI 1 stands, regarding the suckling pig.
NORMAN 1 (CONT'D) Food that nourishes hypocrisy is
quickly absorbed by their bodies, but virtue passes through.
Well said, Norman. That vile paste must offer strength to bear the loneliness of your hundred eighty years.
NORMAN 1
Knowledge is great company.
There is a room I would show you. Will you come?
30.
NORMAN nods.
You were not as alone in your thoughts as you supposed. You will see. You will be the first to witness what I have brought forth.
INT. BATHROOM/THRONE ROOM
The two men enter the bathroom. It is dark except for a glow coming from four gas lamps. From its previous state, the bathroom has been transformed into an alchemical throne room. A cast brass throne sits high on a dais. A charcoal fire is burning beneath the dais. Above the throne, there is a brass chamber, used to distill gasses. Beside it is a brass basin of water. Above, an elegant shaduf. A sluiceway leads from below the throne down through a hole in the floor.
It has been my habit to meditate each morning while I sit on my golden bowl.
NORMAN 1
So do we all, Pharaoh. What sort of thoughts?
I would brood upon the afflictions of my land. This narrow strip of cultivation between the suburbs of Long Island and the wasteland of New Jersey. In the days of Usermare, it was incomparable in it's fertility. But now...!
NORMAN 1
The City is not unlike the crack between two great buttocks.
Everyone says of me that I am lacking in sufficient piety to be a good Pharaoh, but a wise leader does not look to feel false respect.
31.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - CONTINUOUS
The chemical reaction on the sulphur sarcophagus has advanced, and bright shades of red and green have appeared in the bubbling mineral surface.
A metal tchotchke on the bookshelf has started to tarnish.
INT. BATHROOM/THRONE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
He steps closer to Norman 1.
32.
NORMAN 1
No one in New York can be trusted.
For a silent moment,
That was when I decided: as no Overseer could be trusted, I would entrust my excrement only to my namesake, the Great Ptah.
The water flushes through the sluice way.
As
INT. MAILER
PHIL MINTON is eavesdropping outside the bathroom door. He puts his ear to the door as he begins to vocalize, making sounds suggestive of toilet plumbing.
SIDSEL ENDRESEN is watching PHIL MINTON and begins to sing out to him from behind the catering table. Her song is wordless, yet suggestive of an interrogation.
INT. THRONE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
PHIL MINTON and SIDSEL ENDRESEN'S vocalizing can be heard through the door.
33.
NORMAN 1
They did.
As the powder burns, NORMAN discreetly takes some residual excrement from the upper sluice way, behind
It all calls for perfume, of course, which I use liberally.
NORMAN 1
Never.
The sound of PHIL MINTON and SIDSEL ENDRESEN'S vocalizing stops.
Not even my great and revered ancestor, Usermare.
(A beat. Almost tempting fate)
At least, I've never heard....
(A beat as he searches Norman's face for an answer)
I still wait on you to tell me about him.
NORMAN 1
For all your wisdom, Pharoah, why does he prey on your mind like this?
34.
NORMAN 1 looks deep into
Is it true He was more exquisite to the eyes than a beautiful lady?
Close up views of the sluice way show the foaming mercury thiocyanate is now branching and blooming out of the brass container.
NORMAN 1 (distant; remembering)
When I first saw Usermare, I knew I was looking at the son of
NORMAN 1 puts a hand on
NORMAN 1
Usermare was beautiful in the way twenty birds are one in the instant they turn. He was beautiful as the full moon when it lowers its head to go behind the veil of a cloud. Or as the sun when it rises and is so young, we can look into its face.
You ask why my mind preys on Him. Perhaps Norman because, for all my wisdom, for all this
NORMAN 1
(gently)
Do you wait for me to say you are?
NORMAN 1 and
35.
INT. REN CHRYSLER GARAGE - NIGHT
With a black veil over her face, the ENTERED NOVITIATE lies on top of the gold TRANS AM, at the center of the garage.
INT. REN CHRYSLER SHOWROOM - NIGHT
A rollup door inside the showroom opens, and a
In the adjacent, parts and service garage, a stark white space with dim fluorescent lighting, a fleet of fifty wrecked,
INT. REN CHRYSLER GARAGE - NIGHT
Behind the TRANS AM, LILA DOWNS waits. Six mechanics stand guard. A lone figure, KHEPERA, stands before the gold car.
KHEPERA is a creature with a human body, whose genitals are framed by a large black scarab. KHEPERA has no face, but a large ball of dung creates a forehead, sitting above a swollen, goitered neck, and below a perfectly coiffed shoulder lengthed hairstyle covered with swarming black beetles. On the garage floor, KHEPERA begins to rotate at a nearly imperceptible rate. LILA DOWNS begins to sing, moving towards KHEPERA.
LILA DOWNS (in Spanish)
Thirst is in the rivers of the body. The rivers burn but do not move.
36.
Back in the showroom, the shredder has burst the septic tank, and blue
The PARTS & SERVICE department, the MECHANICS now kneel behind KHEPERA. They part the cheeks of KHEPERA'S buttocks and remove an impossibly long sheet of black plastic from its rectum. They unfold the plastic and hold it taut over the Trans Am, over the body of the ENTERED NOVITIATE. In unison, the PARTS & SERVICE MECHANICS drop the plastic sheet, creating a floor length black veil over the body lines of the Pontiac.
REN 3
INT. REN CHRYSLER - SHOWROOM - DAY
The DAY LABORERS are now in the showroom, gathering the remains from the IMPERIAL, and separating them into piles of plastic, rubber, and metal. A young DAY LABORER climbs into the septic tank and drains the remaining oil from the 4- cylinder engine. He replaces the headgasket with a gold gasket. From a vial inside the tank, the young DAY LABORER pours mercury into the four cylinders, filling the crankshaft with quicksilver.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
DICK CAVETT is in a conversation with THE WIDOW. DICK CAVETT speaks of the feud between Mailer and Gore Vidal on his show.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR
NORMAN 1 sits next to HATHFERTITI 1, who is deep in conversation with NEPHTHYS. The NOVICE and NEPHTHYS are still seated.
HATHFERTITI 1 (in mid conversation)
What I liked the most about Norman is, he always told the truth. You know how people say, if you tell the truth, you've got nothing to hide?
(MORE)
37.
HATHFERTITI 1
Like this one time for Christmas, he gave me a knife from a bullfighter, and told me this story about a girl he had cut with it.
HATHFERTITI 1 turns to notice NORMAN 1 seated beside her.
HATHFERTITI 1 (quietly to NORMAN 1, smiling)
Hi, Norman.
NORMAN 1
Hi.
Something catches HATHFERTITI 1's eye and she looks down to see a ziplock bag full of feces hanging out of NORMAN 1's jacket inside pocket.
HATHFERTITI 1
Norman, what's that?
NORMAN 1
(awkwardly)
I took it from the throne of the Pharaoh.
HATHFERTITI 1
You stole it?
NORMAN 1
I am repurposing it.
HATHFERTITI 1
Isn't it wrong to steal.
NORMAN 1
Perhaps it is worse to deny your destiny?
HATHFERTITI 1 stares at NORMAN, trying to understand.
HATHFERTITI 1 looks out at the table at large. Slowly, her look transforms from one of uncertainty, to one of resolve and content.
HATHFERTITI 1 picks up a fork, stands, and taps her drinking glass with it.
HATHFERTITI 1 (CONT'D)
I'd like to sing the Ballad of the
Bullfighter.
38.
NORMAN 1 looks to HATHFERTITI 1 with a sigh and a look of disappointment.
NORMAN 1
Hathfertiti, do we have to do this?
NEPHTHYS picks up a ukulele and begins to tune it quietly.
HATHFERTITI 1 (whispering)
But Norman, you're dead... The past is behind us. We're here to celebrate everything that's great about you, but we have to remember the painful stuff too.....
(moving closer to Norman, still whispering)
....it's all true....
A CHILD (Sam Nivola) emerges from the kids' room, and begins playing a toy guitar. A guitarist in the parlor joins in, followed by percussionist.
HATHFERTITI 1 sings:
HATHFERTITI 1
O Norman, dear Norman, he would tell the Truth,
To the dusk of his death, from the dawn of his youth.
As a present he gave me a bullfighting knife,
And said, "I once used this to renew my life."
"Girl, keep your knife shrouded, don't do as I've done.
My remorse is unyielding, my conscience undone."
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - KIDS ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The remaining kids in the bedroom are all playing instruments, while HONEYBALL sings harmony with NEPHTHYS.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - CONTINUOUS
HATHFERTITI 1
"And it wasn't an accident, "he confessed,
And I heard a deep sigh from his oak barreled chest.
(MORE)
39.
HATHFERTITI 1 (CONT'D)
"One Saturday night, the 19th of November,
We'd been drinking for hours and hours in Brooklyn as I can remember."
"Girl keep your knife shrouded, don't do as I've done.
My remorse is unyielding, my conscience undone."
"Yes, a party in Brooklyn. Things just got out of hand
My dear wife she suddenly grew horns! I could not let it stand, So, with the bullfighting knife, you now hold in your hands, I opened her up, and I climbed right inside, as a man!
And as she lay bleeding, no tear could I cry, And, as she lay bleeding, my poor wife was a mother and the beautiful baby was, I.
Several musicians in the parlor have joined in and are playing along to HATHFERTITI 1'S song. NEPHTHYS and LT. WORDEN have started singing harmony.
"Girl, keep your knife covered, don't do as I've done.
My remorse is unyielding, my conscience undone."
She got to the hospital, her death surely loomed
And I just lay quiet, from inside her womb.
And they read her last rights, as my new life grew,
From some stroke of fate, she somehow pulled through!
...and me too
"Girl, keep your knife covered, don't do as I've done.
My remorse is unyielding, my conscience undone."
As HATHFERTITI 1 sings, SET watches with a look of disdain. He catches NORMAN 1's eye and they lock stares in brooding, hateful gaze.
SET begins bellowing out over Hathfertiti 1's song, mocking her. The other GUESTS in the room become uncomfortable.
40.
A few try to "shush" SET, but he continues. NEPHTHYS and the NOVICE look frightened by the tension in the room.
HATHFERTITI 1 (CONT'D)
Now Reborn, he did feel his own soul on a rack,
Young Norman he knew he could never look back.
He said, "Keep that knife in its sheath, unless you're really stuck. Or you'll spend your years fighting the bulls of bad luck."
HATHFERTITI 1 (CONT'D)
O Norman, dear Norman, he would tell the Truth,
To the dusk of his death from the dawn of his youth.
NORMAN 1
(to SET)
What the fuck do you think you're doing? Huh?
HATHFERTITI 1 has stopped, but SET continues to bellow.
LARRY HOLMES approaches SET.
LARRY HOLMES
Alright pal, that's enough. You don't want trouble. Trust me.
Larry Holmes puts his hand on SET's shoulder. SET leaps from his chair and pushes away from them and moves toward the terrace doors, bellowing with laughter.
HATHFERTITI 1, hurt and ashamed, stands looking at SET. Gently, slowly, she turns and exits into the Master Bedroom.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - NIGHT
DEBBIE HARRY is drinking champagne at the terrace railing, as SET slams the door exiting the parlor.
DEBBIE HARRY
The pig has put you in a foul mood,
Set.
SET
Not foul, poisonous! Poison is everything that they are not! Poison has a purity which does not cease.
41.
DEBBIE HARRY is humored by SET's words.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
HONEYBALL has left the children's room to see what the commotion is. She sees NORMAN 1 is troubled, and approaches him. He is now standing near the kitchen.
HONEYBALL
Darling..
NORMAN 1
Honeyball...
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - NIGHT
DEBBIE HARRY begins to sing as SET broods.
DEBBIE HARRY
The seed of Set
Is a heavy milk of silver.
You shot your seed
Into the reeds and rushes.
Natives of New York
Eat the foul meat of beasts,
Grazing on your poison.
Turning spineless in their will
By your mercury, your mercury.
Every wasted seed
From a god like you
Is the birth of a new disease.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - CONTINUOUS
NORMAN begins to touch HONEYBALL, stroking her shoulders, and touching her cheeks. HONEYBALL takes NORMAN'S wrists and gently pulls his hands from her face.
HONEYBALL
Have you remembered everything I taught you?
NORMAN 1
I..just can't remember....
HONEYBALL places her hands on NORMAN'S cheeks, and touches her forehead to his, and begins singing a wordless spell.
42.
She begins to steer him slowly across the room. NORMAN 1 closes his eyes and absorbs HONEYBALL'S energy.
The BARTENDER looks over and sees HONEYBALL singing her spell. In the BARTENDER'S POV, we see HONEYBALL standing on her own, with her hands on her own cheeks, speaking in tongues (he cannot see Norman).
NEPHTHYS is seen staring across the room at SET. SET looks back at NEPHTHYS with contempt.
Slowly, HONEYBALL guides NORMAN 1 toward the master bedroom door, as she continues to speak to him.
NORMAN 1's back in now on the bedroom door. HONEYBALL stops speaking and steps back. As she walks away and into the children's room. NORMAN 1 opens his eyes. He has a look of content and calm.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM
HATHFERTITI 1 sits for a moment on the edge of the bed, looking out the window.
She stands and walks toward the closet, where she changes into a nightgown. She takes a child's mask of a cow and puts it on, leaving it propped on her forehead.
HATHFERTITI 1 lies on the bed and stares up at the ceiling. She pulls the cow mask down over her face.
HOUSE 2.5
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
NORMAN 1 enters the bedroom, and stops to look at HATHFERTITI 1. The NOVICE has followed NORMAN, and is watching from the doorway.
The NOVICE offers her bullfighting knife to NORMAN 1
NOVICE
You'll need this.
NORMAN removes his soiled shirt and pants, and stands silently in his underwear. NORMAN 1 then lays on the floor next to the bed, and slides on his back under the bed, directly beneath HATHFERTITI 1. There, he pauses and meditates for a moment.
43.
Next, he carefully hooks his toes over the bed frame, and grips the cross supports for the box spring mattress with his hands, and pulls his body up into contact with the bed. His body starts to shake, as his muscles begin to exhaust. NORMAN suddenly lets go, falling back, and passing miraculously through the floorboards beneath him.
The NOVICE shrieks.
INT. BASEMENT (CAVERN) - NIGHT
From a view beneath the foundation of the house, NORMAN falls into the pool of septic water.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
Out in the parlor, the musicians in the room are now playing Suonas. The SUONA PLAYERS have surrounded the GUESTS and are playing intermittent, aggressive blasting chords.
DAVID AMRAM is soloing on one of the Suonas.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - KIDS ROOM - NIGHT
The younger kids are lying awake in bed, while the older kids are sitting around the room. Each of the nine kids are striking a chime bar with a wooden mallet. The ringing is heard throughout the apartment.
INT. BASEMENT (CAVERN) - NIGHT
NORMAN 1 is now floating on his back in the septic water. Struggling for air, in the thick fluid, he searches for something to hold onto. He finds the bloated body of dead COW floating near him, which he uses to raft to safety in the shallows at the edge of the iron barge.
THE APPRENTICE follows and watches NORMAN 1.
The sound of SUONAS is heard, coming from the sluice way above the herb garden in the basement. The sound dissipates as NORMAN approaches the end of the septic pool.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
In the master bedroom, The APPRENTICE is now sitting at the edge of the bed, with HATHFERTITI 1, while the NOVICE sits at the foot of the bed.
44.
A closeup of the radiator beneath the window reveal a mold is growing on the walls.
HATHFERTITI 1 removes her mask, and sits up.
HATHFERTITI 1 (curious, not frightened)
Who are you?
APPRENTICE (to the Novice)
She can see us?
NOVICE
She's still a child. Children can see us. Children and the dead.
APPRENTICE (to Hathfertiti 1)
You're not afraid, are you?
HATHFERTITI 1 considers this.
HATHFERTITI 1
No. You seem nice.
APPRENTICE
We are the Ka of Norman. We go where he goes. We see what he sees. We try to help.
NOVICE
We try to help him when he forgets things.
HATHFERTITI 1
You mean, you're like his shadow?
APPRENTICE
I suppose. In some sort of way.
HATHFERTITI 1 begins to yawn.
NOVICE (looking at the Apprentice)
Except sometimes we miss things, don't we? We can't know everything about Norman.
APPRENTICE
A Ka, is like a mirror. We have no memory, ourselves.
45.
HATHFERTITI 1 lies back.
HATHFERTITI 1
I'm sleepy.
The APPRENTICE looks to the NOVICE. Should they leave? The look isn't lost on Hathfertiti 1.
HATHFERTITI 1 No, don't go. I like you.
(pause)
You know Norman was a magician? Do you know all of his tricks?
NOVICE
Some of them.
HATHFERTITI 1
There was one I got to help him with. He knew that if he could find the right girl, and be with her when he died, he could be born all over again, inside her... he could be his own father...
HATHFERTITI 1 pulls down her mask, and begins to fall asleep. Softly, she sings:
HATHFERTITI 1
(singing)
I am the mother of Norman the Second....
She wakes slightly and looks at the Novice and the Apprentice.
HATHFERTITI 1 Wait, does that mean I'm your mother too?
INT. BASEMENT (CAVERN) - CONTINUOUS
There, NORMAN takes the bullfighting knife and cuts open the belly of the COW. Pressurized methane gas, and a sulfuric stench escapes from the COW'S gut, as the four stomachs, and large colon slide into the water.
NORMAN reaches deeper into the belly of the COW. As he slides his arms back out, he cradles the dead body of an unborn CALF. NORMAN kneels at the edge of the septic water, and gently lays the CALF into the fluid. The body of the CALF floats away into the darkness.
46.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BASEMENT - NIGHT
NORMAN 1 stands before the eviscerated cow, and screams out over the septic water. NORMAN 1 looks down at the cow and drops to his knees. Carefully, he climbs inside the womb of the COW.
INTERMISSION
INT. BASEMENT (CAVERN) - NIGHT
Down in the septic water, the belly of the COW begins to contort, and the head of NORMAN 2 (Milford Graves) begins to emerge from the COW. He looks fully alert, and possessed by his intention to come into the world. As his arms emerge, he begins to use the body of the COW as a percussive instrument, slapping the skin, and rubbing its hide. Covered with afterbirth, NORMAN 2 kneels next to the cow squeezing its teets, as if to divine the remaining energy from the body of the animal. Milk shoots through the air, as NORMAN 2 signs out with a childlike energy.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
HATHFERTITI 2 (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is asleep in bed. She is now an adult. She wakes up and stares at a Japanese mask hanging on the bedroom wall.
SEKHEM 1
EXT. DETROIT
Wide scenic shots of the Detroit
INT. GLUE FACTORY - DAY
In a nearby derelict glue factory, WORKERS stand in a line behind a long table, assembling simple boxes from scraps of sheet metal. Each box is fit onto a small cast iron chassis and connected to an iron neck, creating the structure for a basic musical instrument, a Metalin. WORKERS string the Metalins' necks, and assemble simple,
47.
BELITA WOODS
O D., As you are endowed with life, bring me this, for see, I have come.
Do you know those two rivers, Magic- man?
I know them. What are those two rivers,
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. CATHOLIC CHURCH - DAY
There is an investigation underway inside the church, where a gold 1979 Pontiac Firebird TRANS AM sits at the end of the church's interior. Two agents are scanning the interior of the car with an infra red light source. When they find a disturbance, they mark it with a gold sphere.
A forensic truck is parked under the altar. The truck has a gilded interior. Wearing a top hat and a gold suit, the APPRENTICE, in the costume of JAMES LEE BYARS, lies blindfolded inside the gilded truck. Unusually long sleeves cover his hands.
SET is seated in a car outside the church. He is uneasy as he sits, waiting. After preparing himself mentally, he exits the car.
SET enters the church, and approaches the forensic truck, opening it's rear doors, then returns to the TRANS AM. JAMES LEE BYARS stands and walks out of the forensic truck and toward SET. SET fastens the coat sleeves of JAMES LEE BYARS'
SET whispers to JAMES LEE BYARS:
SET
Five points make a man.
48.
The pipe organ in the derelict church comes alive, and begins to play a progression of atonal chords. Two Forensic Investigators seal the driver's side door closed with molten plastic. Suddenly, SET takes a wrecking bar and spears it through the windshield, knocking the gearshift into drive. The TRANS AM accelerates out of the church, descends the stairs, and follows an unmarked police car, which escorts the gold car at high speed through the streets of Detroit.
EXT. DETROIT STREETS - DAY
SET sings:
SET
Quietly lie down, and quietly get up.
EXT. BELLE ISLE BRIDGE - DAY
The TRANS AM now speeds onto the Belle Isle Bridge. The police escort has stopped and created a road block. The TRANS AM suddenly swerves to avoid the roadblock, and crashes through the bridge's guardrails. From a wide view from the riverbank, the gold car flies from the bridge, and dives down into the Detroit River. The Firebird hood emblem cuts through the water and the TRANS AM disappears into the depths of the river.
KHU 1
EXT. BANKS OF THE ROUGE RIVER - DAY
SET is standing on the banks of the Rouge River looking for something in the river. He appears to have aged significantly since we last saw him in the church. Views over the Rouge River in the industrial district of Detroit intercut with SET.
EXT. BANKS OF THE ROUGE RIVER - DAY
Along the banks of the Rouge River, a dog is seen foraging in the mud. The dog sees a scrap of gold fabric floating in the water and retrieves it, leaving it in a field next to the river. This is a sleeve of JAMES LEE BYARS' straight jacket. A group of river snakes slither into the sleeve.
SET is now seen watching over the scene, with an intensity in his face fueled by anger. He takes a head of lettuce and devours with a gluttonous aggression.
49.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR AND BASEMENT
A MONTAGE OF IMAGES IN THE HOUSE AND BASEMENT.
INT. CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
In a brown Ford CROWN VICTORIA Police Interceptor, Federal investigators, ISIS (Aimee Mullins) and NEPHTHYS (Jennie Knaggs) are driving through the River Rouge area. Nephthys is telling ISIS about the pollution in the River, and the questionable working methods of the Detroit Sewage Treatment Plant. ISIS gazes out the window, looking into the river.
EXT. MOUTH OF THE ROUGE RIVER - DAY
An investigation is underway further downriver at the mouth of the Rouge. A police helicopter hovers overhead. A crane barge is moored near the crime scene. Agents ISIS and NEPHTHYS arrive, in a 2001 CROWN VICTORIA Police Interceptor. LT. WORDEN introduces the agents to the evidence recovered thus far. A torn gold sleeve containing four river snakes has been found.
ISIS and NEPTHTHYS supervise the search the reeds along the shore. From the river's edge, ISIS notices a piece of metal protruding from the water, and boards a police boat with NEPHTHYS for a closer look. Four boats approach, each carrying a SAXOPHONE QUARTET and a PERCUSSIONIST. Chords are first heard from the distance, and the musical composition continues to develop, as the pilot boats arrive, surrounding ISIS' boat.
EXT. BARGE - DAY
ISIS, NEPHTHYS, and the team of investigators board the barge. ISIS directs the crane operator to pull the protrusion from the muddy water.
NEPHTHYS sings:
NEPHTHYS
Osiris, come to your house. Please your heart, all your foes are not.
Your two sisters guard your bier, call for you in tears.
Turn around on your bier. See the women, speak to us.
King our lord, drive all pain from our hearts.
(MORE)
50.
NEPHTHYS
Your court of gods and men beholds you, show them your face.
Let your face not shun our faces! Our hearts are glad to see you, King.
I am your beloved sister. Your foe is fallen, he shall not be.
I am with you, your bodyguard, for all eternity.
As the crowd looks on, the shredded remains of the 1967 Chrysler IMPERIAL from Ren have been dredged up from the river's bottom. At the sight of the IMPERIAL, ISIS vomits. NEPHTHYS wipes ISIS' face with a tissue.
From the IMPERIAL remains, the CHORUS of investigators has uncovered a bronze shaft covered in silt; an unearthed root with a similar, phallic silhouette; and a long shaft of cubic salt crystal. As the CHORUS wails in mourning, Nephthys laments:
NEPHTHYS
Isis is faint on the water
Isis rises on the water
Her tears fall on the water
See, Osiris enters His sister.
INTERCUT WITH:
SHOTS OF JAMES LEE BYARS AMBULANCE AND NORMAN 2 BEHIND DRUMSET.
EXT. BARGE - DAY - CONTINUOUS
The CHORUS has now found a late model Chrysler
ISIS
Dear Brother, it is part of the difficulties of our position that we cannot even talk to each other, or you will disappear again.
(MORE)
51.
ISIS (CONT'D)
And so. We will touch. We cannot talk, though there is so much to tell … Our position is most vulnerable. We must touch quickly. When there is need for gentle days, You may bring sugar to the fruit trees, and encouragement to the crops of the fields in Dearborn. But when you enter the Rouge by night, You will wear My winding sheet. Now, will My son be the golden Eye of the day, and the silver eye of the moon.
ISIS casts the mercury into the collection pan beneath the engine block, and stands as NEPHTHYS helps her back into her pants. ISIS walks away from NEPHTHYS and enters a construction trailer on the barge.
NEPHTHYS is now recalling her painful, broken marriage with SET, and the birth of her disfigured child, ANUBIS.
NEPHTHYS (over tender accompaniment)
The seed of Set is as dense as milk of silver, all of Set that has collected in my palm now is heavy, and brilliant like the moon that liquid silver, no more (and no less!) is a distillation of the seed of Set.
INT. CONSTRUCTION TRAILER - DAY
NEPHTHYS walks into the construction trailer, and stands apprehensively near the door. ISIS is glowing with happiness. NEPHTHYS' feeling of loss is exaggerated by ISIS' sense of well being. The barge is now underway again, steaming down the Detroit River.
HOUSE 3
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - VARIOUS
MONTAGE OF IMAGES OF BASEMENT, RADIATOR, TROMBONE, BOOKSHELF, SLOW DANCING, ARTWORK
52.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
A closeup view reveals the patch of black mold growing on the walls around windows and near the radiators, has become much larger.
HATHFERTITI 2 (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is still in bed. She is established from an overhead view. Her nightgown is unbuttoned and she is gently rubbing ointment on a long scar that extends from her sternum down past her navel. A close up view of her nipple shows that she is lactating.
NORMAN 2 is sitting on the side of the bed, lost in thought. He has a look of content. A close up view of his lip shows a droplet of milk.
The NOVICE is sitting on the other side of the bed watching NORMAN 2.
HATHFERTITI 2
(to Norman 2)
Were you frightened sweetheart?
NORMAN 2 looks back to HATHFERTITI 2, but does not answer. He looks out the window and considers her question.
HATHFERTITI 2 Sometimes I'm scared too. But I
know I have to be strong. I have to be here to take care of you, and that makes my fears go away.
THE NOVICE is now resting her head on HATHFERITITI 2'S chest, listening.
HATHFERTITI 2 hums quietly to NORMAN 2 and sings.
HATHFERTITI 2
The smallest sprouts show, There is really no death.
Or, I guess the grass is itself a child
The babe of the vegetation. And now it seems to me
The beautiful uncut hair of the graves.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
In the parlor, AXEL DOERNER is blowing air through his trumpet, in concert with the HEATING SYSTEM which has begun to hiss and sputter.
53.
The TROMBONE PLAYER inserts his modified trombone into a valve on the hot water riser which feeds the radiator system. He begins to blow into the riser.
The PERCUSSIONIST walks around the perimeter of the parlor, adjusting the valves of the radiators, changing the pitch of the hiss of the radiators. Considerable mold can be seen behind each of the radiators.
PHIL MINTON is vocalizing, in a wordless abstraction.
The guests at the wake have continued drinking, and the mood in the room has lost any sense of formality. The food on the table has started to mold. The suckling pig has small orange spores blooming from the exposed meat. The unfinished plates of vegetables have a pale green growth over them.
Some of the older guests are offering their final condolences to the WIDOW, and leaving for the night, while some of the younger guests continue drinking. LT. WORDEN and GEORGE STONEFISH are slow dancing near the sarcophagi.
Beneath the salt sarcophagus, crystals of evaporated brine have spread across the oak floor. The top surface of the salt monolith now resembles a deep canyon, in a dramatic arid landscape. The chemical reaction on the sulfur sarcophagus has proliferated, and some of the metal objects in the room are beginning to corrode. The table legs beneath the dining room table have started to oxidize, and a chalky white haze has bloomed around the pitted metal. The pants of
WIDOW
Have you had enough to eat?
Thank you. I have no appetite.
The WIDOW sits at the table. She watches his face. He stares blankly at the table top. Finally:
Read 'em and weep.
54.
"Death is stronger than all proud men and so Death snips proud men on the nose, throws a pair of dice and says: Read 'em and weep."
Sensing his sadness, the WIDOW gently pats PTAH's hand. He is grateful for the gesture.
I suppose I am a proud man. (a beat)
Your Norman was a good man.
WIDOW
I don't know if he was good. But there was certainly no one like him. Did you know Norman the Second? The older he grew, the more grew his strength. He was fantastic. His powers become truly magical.
PTAH-NEM-HOTEP
Do you prefer one of his incarnations over the rest?
WIDOW
(with a gentle, knowing smile)
They were all part of a greater whole.
I don't know. I don't know that I can believe that. I mean, what about you? Aren't you just as important? Why should you settle for such a tiny portion?
(A beat)
Look at me! Aren't I important?
This is clearly what has been bothering
WIDOW (singing)
Being part of the greater force of Being is part Discovery and part Acceptance.
(a beat)
There have always been many women in Norman's life.
(MORE)
55.
WIDOW
Am I proud to be among them? Sir, you must accept who you are.
PTAH considers this, and the implications she is making regarding himself. It is difficult for him to accept. Staring at the table again, he gently shakes his head. Finally:
I'm tired. I should be going.
WIDOW
(touching his shoulder; singing)
Of course. It's been a long day.
I don't know.
(A beat. Distantly remembering)
I remember when I was young. I was convinced I would be a great man some day.
(Looking at her, with a humble smile)
Instead, I merely grew to recognize greatness in others.
WIDOW
(gently; with kindness) That's important to know.
It's not enough.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
As the WIDOW and the PHARAOH continue to speak in the parlor, NORMAN 2 is tapping the wall with the edge of his extended hand in the master bedroom.
The NOVICE approaches NORMAN 2 and offers her bullfighting knife to him.
NOVICE
Please take this, Norman.
NORMAN 2 accepts the knife and puts it over his shoulder, and continues tapping the wall.
56.
His percussion seems to be testing the strength of the wall with a gesture that feels both shamanistic, and evocative of the martial arts.
A rhythmic, pulsating sound can be heard through the wall, from the kid's room, as if in response to NORMAN 2's percussion.
HATHFERTITI 2 watches with the pride and unconditional love of a mother. The NOVICE moves closer to NORMAN 2, and watches his hand closely.
With a sharp blow to the wall, NORMAN 2 passes through the wall, from the master bedroom and into the children's room.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - KIDS ROOM - NIGHT
A TEENAGER on the central, bottom bunk is making human beatbox sounds with his mouth as he masturbates under his bedsheet. As NORMAN 2 emerges through the wall, the TEENAGER abruptly stops, and sits up in bed to see who is there.
NORMAN 2 is covered in insulation and plaster dust. He begins a private ritual, dancing slowly in circles and calling out loudly.
The other KIDS are awoken by the sound, and begin to sit up to see who is there.
EXT. BARGE - DAY
VARIOUS SHOTS OF BARGE, SET ASLEEP, NEPHTHYS AND ISIS IN CONSTRUCTION TRAILER
ISIS gazes out the window holding her abdomen. ISIS knows she is pregnant.
HOUSE 3.5
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
Some of the remaining guests are asleep at the table, and on the sofas. The mold spores on the food on the table have spread, and the wine left in the crystal is teaming with floating green islands of mold.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
NOTE - NEED TO ADD DESCRIPTION OF QUAN AND ADRIANNA
57.
Some of the GUESTS at the table lick their fingers and begin to wipe the rim of the moldy wine glasses, creating a ringing chord (guests include: SET, LUC SANTE, STEVE DALACHINSKI, 3 CHORUS MEMBERS, PERCUSSIONIST).
GEORGE STONEFISH is standing at the catering table with LT. WORDEN. They are drinking. There is a flirtatious energy between them.
TERRELL HOWARD is sitting at the kitchen bar, smoking a cigar, and watching GRILL MASTER washing dishes. The kitchen is now full of mold, and the sink full of dishes with rotten food.
GEORGE STONEFISH begins to recite a poem to LT. WORDEN.
GEORGE STONEFISH
What's happening in Detroit is not what you fuckin think.
Nephthys helped her sister Isis find her man dead in the ditch, And now she's trying to hide it, but she's jealous as shit.
I've got to go a long way back, to explain all of this.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - CHILDREN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Music can be heard from the kids bedroom. NORMAN 2 is on a child's drum set tapping out a broken cadence. Kids are playing toy instruments. Some are playing 'bent circuit' electronic toys which produce unexpected sounds. The oldest of the children begins to perform a 'human beatbox', as he walks out of the bedroom and into the parlor.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - NIGHT
The TEENAGE BOY comes from the kids bedroom, and arrives at the catering table where he stands behind GEORGE STONEFISH and LT. WORDEN, continuing his percussive vocalizing.
GEORGE STONEFISH
You see, Nephthys had been boning her sister's man Osiris,
And when her man Set found out, he went fucking ape shit.
Well, Set dumped Nephthys, and went into a rage about Osiris.
As he continues to sing, LT. WORDEN walks over to the window, and looks out at the Empire State Building in the distance.
58.
TERRELL HOWARD begins to sing.
TERRELL HOWARD
Nephthys made sweet love to her brother
Over the River of Fundament
Isis turning sadly from her sister A resentful glance it couldn't miss her
As he continues to sing, LT. WORDEN walks over to the window, and looks out at the Empire State Building in the distance.
GEORGE STONEFISH
Set invited every guy in town to his house, free booze and food, He offered up a casket with gold and jewels all over,
For any motherfucker who could fit his ass in it.
Well all these fools at the party were too fuckin fat or too thin. Until Osiris layed his ass down within.
GEORGE STONEFISH continues to sing, as he walks into the parlor and around the table.
TERRELL HOWARD
Osiris layed in that casket,
Near the River of Fundament,
The crowd they were hailing,
King Osiris prevailing.
GEORGE STONEFISH
Set and his men rushed Osiris and closed the casket lid.
They sat their fat asses on the casket and glued up the lid.
Set yelled his secret name, as he pushed the box into the river. Isis screamed so fuckin loud, it made Belle Isle quiver.
TERRELL HOWARD
Poor Isis cried her tears
Into the River of Fundament
Her man dead and floating,
The banks overflowing.
GEORGE STONEFISH
Nephthys was keeping something from Isis, up until then.
(MORE)
59.
GEORGE STONEFISH (CONT'D)
Osiris had knocked her up, and now she was showing.
Not much time passed until Nephthys was ready to unload,
Good sister Isis, stood by her side, yet their bonds did erode.
TERRELL HOWARD
Nephthys started moaning
Over the River of Fundament,
And from the foam in her pussy,
A young head was showing.
GEORGE STONEFISH
What happened next to the sisters is fucking hard to believe,
Isis was holding Nephthys, offering her some relief.
Nephthys gave one final push, and blood dripped onto the floor, Isis' face had the look of bloody horror.
TERRELL HOWARD
The baby was coming,
Into the River of Fundament.
Isis yelled, "Nephthys, don't look what's coming!"
And a young dog fell from her plumbing.
LT. WORDEN stands by the window and sings, as GEORGE STONEFISH'S song continues. She sings in reprise to NEPHTHYS' lament.
LT. WORDEN
Isis is faint on the water
Isis rises on the water
Her tears fall on the water
See, Osiris enters His sister.
GEORGE STONEFISH
Nepththys passed out as Isis paced around the room,
She put the dog on her tit, and tried to figure out what the hell to do.
Nephthys woke up saying, "Bitch, throw that fucking dog out the door!"
Isis said, "Hell no Nepthythys, this dog is your blood, and your blood is a God!"
60.
TERRELL HOWARD
"Though you disrespected me!" Isis called to the River of Fundament,
"We're still sisters you see!" And the Dog was the girls' best friend.
GEORGE STONEFISH
The sisters are still together, but resentment runs deep,
Nephthys works for Isis, and the secret these girls keep.
One day she'll snap, and leave Isis in a fuckin heap.
Still looking for Osiris, her life incomplete.
As LT. WORDEN stops singing, the lights of the Empire State Building turn off.
KHU 2
EXT. STEEL MILL - DAY
The barge arrives at a massive derelict steel mill. Smoke billows from partially standing structures in the distance. Workers roam the dystopian worksite. As the barge approaches the docks, an angry SET emerges from a construction trailer.
SHOTS OF NEPHTHYS IN
INT. PARLOR/BASEMENT - NIGHT
SET
(looking at Nephthys with contempt)
How could you abandon our child like that?
NEPHTHYS (defensive)
What the fuck do you care, he's not your child anyway.
SET looks away. He begins to shudder with anger.
NEPHTHYS picks up a water damaged ukulele and begins to pluck an out of tune musical figure.
61.
NEPHTHYS (beginning to sing)
Osiris did cum inside me Osiris, he will come again
SET stands and begins to yell wordlessly at NEPHTHYS, and then out to the guests at the dining room table.
SET
I killed that fuck once
I'll kill him again
SET storms out of the room and descends the staircase. At the bottom of the stairs he looks out over the septic water, looking for James Lee Byars (Apprentice). He yells out over the water. James Lee Byars is seen at the far end of the septic waters.
EXT. STEEL MILL - DAY
A second SET (Herbert Perry), identical to the first, comes out of the construction trailer, and the two men stand side by side in opposition to ISIS and NEPHTHYS.
SET
What is this? ... A Chrysler? This must be a 1967 Imperial. Chrysler Imperial New Yorker?
CHORUS
Crown!
ISIS
This vehicle was removed from the River Rouge earlier today. There are no flammable fluids remaining in the engine. You don't need to be concerned. I need to remind you this is a matter of national security.
SET
1967 Chrysler Crown Imperial New
Yorker.
CHORUS
Crown Imperial!
SET
I killed this fuck once out west, and killed him again on Belle Isle.
(MORE)
62.
SET (CONT'D)
I'll take this fuck and kill him again! Give me that fuck! Osiris
...
NEPHTHYS sings, looking possessed:
NEPHTHYS
She sought her brother without wearying
She wandered the country grief- stricken
She did not rest until she found him
She made a coolness with her wings, and wind with her feathers
She brought her brother ashore, and erected his limpness
She received his seed, and formed his heir.
Two BREATH WORKERS board the barge and restrain ISIS, leading her to the dock. SET commands his crane operator to claim the IMPERIAL.
SET
Listen, here's how I want this done. We will cut him into 14 pieces! Cut across the firewall, behind the block, on line with the transmission head.
Cut the front axle in half, and remove the remaining tires. The driveshaft will remain in one piece. Remove the differential, then, we will quarter the chassis!
A crew of scrap ironworkers torch cut the IMPERIAL into 14 pieces. SET approaches ISIS and places a gold hood over her head.
ISIS
(shouting, struggling)
I am
And I am
I am
And
The part will be as the whole, and He will return to the Rouge in this nome of Detroit!
(MORE)
63.
ISIS (CONT'D)
Let the Ka of my brother come forth from the eyes and mouth of His new abode!
NEPHTHYS
An adoration of Osiris
Who did rise from the river,
He makes his Khu,
A visible form of his soul,
Rise like a powerful ghost.
The shining spectre of Osiris.
Hail Osiris!
ISIS has been locked in the back of the CROWN VICTORIA, which drives up a long ramp to an embankment wall overlooking a deep excavated pit. Five furnaces stand at the pit's back wall, resembling enormous termite mounds. Smoke billows from the furnaces as IRON WORKERS load them with limestone, coke, and iron. Five
The entire cast and ensemble has made its way into the pit. An accumulation of musical density builds as the furnaces continue to burn. LONG STRING PLAYERS bow and pluck
The IRON WORKERS now open the furnaces.
NEPHTHYS
Khu is a light in the mind of the living,
But in death, it must return to heaven
For the Khu is also eternal.
Out of the hovering of its wings, there comes a feeling,
Yes, of such tenderness one has never known
For any human, nor received in return—
Some sorrowful understanding Is in the hovering of the Khu.
The DJED and the molten iron remaining in the reservoir slowly fade from orange to grey, as the sky goes dark.
64.
A thick metallic gold fluid emerges beneath the figures of JAMES LEE BYARS and slowly flows down the five towers. Closeup views of ISIS, still hooded in the CROWN VICTORIA, show tears welling in her eyes.
(Intercutting from the "docking" scene in Khu)
HOUSE 4
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - MORNING
The few remaining guests in the parlor have picked up the many brass bells from around the room and are ringing them. The bells are heavily corroded.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
In the master bedroom, the NOVICE looks out the window. She is lost in thought.
HATHFERTITI 2 looks to the NOVICE and asks,
HATHFERTITI 2
Do you miss your husband?
Still lost in thought, the NOVICE says,
NOVICE
Osiris, show us your face.
HATHFERTITI 2 begins to sing:
HATHFERTITI 2
Though thou loved him as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though his parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive;
Heartily know,
When
The gods arrive.
Still gazing out the window, the NOVICE whispers,
NOVICE
Osiris, come to your house.
KHU 3
65.
EXT. STEEL MILL - DAY
The voice of BELITA WOODS is now heard as she stands before the CROWN VICTORIA carrying ISIS, on the grounds of the steel mill in Detroit. A VULTURE is perched on top of the CROWN VICTORIA.
BELITA WOODS
Pain took abode in the most brilliant light.
He was exposed to burning rock. Demonic,
The heat of the sun, and blood boiling in the veins.
Would it never be blood again? Cold fires wash behind his sightless eyes as he prepares to leave.
The VULTURE opens it's wings and the car interior fills with light, revealing the hooded ISI through the heavily tinted windows. The light immediately fades down again, and ISIS disappears from sight. The VULTURE suddenly takes flight, and flies out of view.
HOUSE 4.5
INT. TRANS AM - MORNING
Inside the TRANS AM in New Town Creek, ISIS is in a back bend in the back seat. She has mysteriously transported from the back seat of the CROWN VICTORIA, to the TRANS AM. Her head is protruding between the front seats, and her feet and lower legs resting on the top of the seat backs. Her head and body are partially submerged in the muddy river water, which is pooled on the floorboards, and she is still wearing her golden hood, placed onto her head by SET, in Detroit. Across the front seats, and transmission console, a live ALLIGATOR sits quietly in the shallow water, watching ISIS. The four top hats of JAMES LEE BYARS are submerged near the ALLIGATOR.
ISIS reaches up and slides her pants down to her knees, revealing her convulsing abdomen and pubis. Bubbles emerge though the holes in the gold chain mail over her submerged head, as ISIS pushes from her core.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - SIMULTANEOUS
The GRILL MASTER has woken up, and is gurgling from the back of his throat. His vocalizing can be heard over New Town Creek, and inside the TRANS AM.
66.
INT. TRANS AM - MORNING - CONTINUOUS
Her labia begin to open as a small feathered head crowns from her vagina. A baby falcon is being born from ISIS' womb.
The baby falcon falls onto the transmission console, and begins to take it's first breaths. This is HORUS. The ALLIGATOR'S eyes are fixed on HORUS.
INTERMISSION
HOUSE 4.75
EXT. EAST RIVER – EARLY DUSK
The barge and elevated brownstone is steaming down the East River with the towers of midtown Manhattan in the background. The crosstown streets on Manhattan, back lit, appear like deep canyons.
The sun begins to set in the west.
INT. NORMAN MAILER'S APARTMENT - PARLOR – EARLY DUSK
The remaining food on the table is now teeming with maggots.
At the table, HATHFERTITI 2 is seated with her back to the door. With her at the table are LT. WORDEN, and the WIDOW. The NOVICE stands opposite WORDEN, watching.
LT. WORDEN
Hathfertiti, you're glowing.
WIDOW
Isn't she beautiful?
LT. WORDEN
It's true. Your skin is shining.
NOVICE
(only Hathfertiti hears this)
Like a lotus.
WIDOW
You must be so proud.
67.
LT. WORDEN My heart would be doing
somersaults. Can you imagine?
LT. WORDEN, WIDOW, and HATHFERTITI 2 share gentle laughter.
HATHFERTITI 2
Is Norman safe?
NOVICE
(to Hathfertiti, quietly) Everything is as it should be. Norman is fine.
LT. WORDEN (to Hathfertiti)
Sweetheart are you ok?
HATHFERTITI 2
I'm fine. I'm so happy you're all here. To be able to share in this. Means a lot to me.
WIDOW
(to Hathfertiti 2)
You're so calm. I really admire that. The grace with which you give yourself. It must be difficult.
HATHFERTITI 2 (a smile; slightly blushing)
I don't know. No more than for you. It's kind of humbling, actually, being part of it all.
WIDOW (lovingly stroking Hathfertiti's cheek)
We each play our role in the journey. Through life, through death, through life once more...
The parlor door opens and the undead Pharoah, USERMARE, wearing only a soiled towel around his waist, enters with several undead LITTLE QUEENS (Bobbi Starr, Eleanor Bauer, and Ekat) and EUNUCHS (Peter Badalamenti, Danny Wylde) in procession. Two of the LITTLE QUEENS are wearing gold, black and white tops, which are soiled in septic waste. They are wearing nothing from the waste down. The third LITTLE QUEEN (Ekat) is nude and caked with sewage, as are the EUNUCHS whose penises are bound with a soiled gold ribbon.
68.
NOVICE
(to HATHFERTITI)
Your father is here.
HATHFERTITI 2 (to the WIDOW)
I'm suddenly fading. I think I need some time alone. Can we do this again soon?
The NOVICE stands, and bows to the Pharaoh.
WIDOW
Yes sweetheart, of course. You've been through so much. Get some rest.
HATHFERTITI 2
I love you both.
The sexual LITTLE QUEEN (Bobbi Starr) and EUNUCH (Danny Wylde) clear the furniture from the center of the room and begin rolling around on the floor, on top of one another, moving throughout the room in a choreographed routine.
The dancing LITTLE QUEEN (Eleanor Bauer) and EUNUCH (Peter Badalamenti) begin moving in duet near the sarcophagi behind USERMARE. Their expressions are playful and relaxed. Their choreography is evocative of a living person carrying a dead person, stiff with rigor mortis. The LITTLE QUEEN tips the stiff body of the EUNUCH, as if to test gravity, leaning him like a plank against the sarcophagus, then standing him back up.
USERMARE stands in the center of the room between the sarcophagi and the dining room table. The third LITTLE QUEEN (Ekat) brings in a stuffed armchair and place it behind him.
Hathfertiti 2 remains seated. The Widow walks to the master bedroom. Lt. Worden walks out the front door.
HATHFERTITI 2 has not turned to see USERMARE
USERMARE
Will you not look on me?
USERMARE (CONT'D)
You disappoint me, Hathfertiti.
69.
USERMARE
I come to you, blood of my royal blood, flesh of my royal flesh, because you waste your soul's devotion on the resurrection of filth
HATHFERTITI 2
Father, Norman is not
USERMARE (silencing her)
Filth!
Chastened, HATHFERTITI 2 averts her gaze.
USERMARE (reminiscing)
In my day, Ra was neither old nor decrepit but the source of all radiance. Horus may have been weak in the legs but He was the Lord of the sky and His feathers were our clouds. His eyes were the sun and the moon. Even Set had the power to shake the heavens with thunder.
Slowly, HATHFERTITI 2 turns to face him.
C/U
HATHFERTITI 2
Your myths are wonderful, father. You know I've always enjoyed hearing them. Just as I enjoy hearing about Adam and Eve, or Apsu and Tiamat, Brahma, Wakan Tanka, Odin. (All those stories of how the world began.)
USERMARE
You enjoy, but do not believe.
Realizing he does not understand, HATHFERTITI 2 is silenced.
(Simultaneous to the dialogue) The sexual LITTLE QUEEN (Bobbi Starr) smiles and bows to the floor before USERMARE. She begins cleaning his toenails. She raises up her bare ass. A EUNUCH kneels down and begins spreading the LITTLE QUEEN'S butt cheeks and looking into her anus, curiously.
70.
USERMARE sits in the chair. The LITTLE QUEEN (Ekat) standing behind the chair crosses over to the dining room table and climbs up on it. She then goes into a backbend over the dishes of moldy food.
USERMARE (CONT'D) Since my death, the Pharaohs have
gone, and what have you brought in their stead? My land belongs to others. Now there are only weak Princes, sons of men from
HATHFERTITI 2
Father, you have to understand: I never asked for any of this. I never wanted it.
USERMARE
It is not for you to choose. It is the responsibility of your blood which you have shirked. And for what? For a mortal man? You make yourself the filth he is.
HATHFERTITI 2 regards her father with loving sadness for having disappointed him. But the sadness at his lack of understanding is even deeper.
USERMARE (CONT'D) Leave this place, Hathfertiti. There is nothing here for you but waste.
HATHFERTITI 2 stands and looks and then there is silence.
HATHFERTITI 2
I know you're afraid you won't cross the river again. You're scared of those terrible earth- beetles. I know.
(Simultaneous to the speaking) She crosses over to USERMARE and kneels before him.
On the floor beneath USERMARE, the LITTLE QUEEN'S nostrils flare and she grunts like a beast.
71.
SIMULTANEOUS OVERLAPPING DIALOGUES:
LITTLE QUEEN (muttering in pleasure)
Sesh! Sesh!... You are my bowels and my grave, my eyes and my mind. My death, my tomb... Write on me, inscribe me. Nek! Nek! You are my mud, my ooze, my robber, my enemy. Oh, go deep into the rot. Touch the dead! Oh, khat, khat, khat!
HATHFERTITI 2 Is today nothing? Is the
beginningless past nothing? If it isn't, then the future isn't
HATHFERTITI 2 takes a small step toward USERMARE, wanting to comfort.
She examines his face for signs of understanding.
HATHFERTITI 2
I believe in what most people call magic. I like to call it the evocation of spirits, even if I don't know what they are.
HATHFERTITI 2 (CONT'D) I believe in the power of creating illusions; in the visions of truth that we see when our eyes are closed.
USERMARE regards her with great sadness, realizing he has lost her.
USERMARE
Hathfertiti...
HATHFERTITI 2
It's wonderful! The way the borders of our mind are always shifting. Thousands of minds can flow into one another to create or reveal one single mind, one single memory: the memory of Nature.
(MORE)
72.
HATHFERTITI 2 (CONT'D)
Nature doesn't care about royalty, father. It's our soul she celebrates.
The sexual LITTLE QUEEN and EUNUCH collapse onto the floor into a spooning position.
HATHFERTITI 2 moves toward USERMARE and begins to clean the waste from his face and chest:
HATHFERTITI 2
I swear, I see now that every thing has an eternal soul! The trees have, rooted in the ground, the weeds of the sea have, the animals.
. .
I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
Simultaneous to the singing, the dancing LITTLE QUEEN lifts the rigid body of the EUNUCH over the head of USERMARE in a horizontal position, like a lintel over a doorway.
On the dining room table, the LITTLE QUEEN (Ekat) is still in a backbend. She begins to urinate onto the table, filling nearby moldy plates and dishes with urine. A close up view of her vagina reveals that she has
HATHFERTITI 2 (CONT'D)
That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering is for it, and all preparation is for it, and identity is for it, and life and death are for it. (Father), Fuckyeah. I am for it. . .!
USERMARE and HATHFERTITI 2 regard each other with great love.
HATHFERTITI 2 stands and exits into the master bedroom.
The scene ends with a close up view of USERMARE watching his daughter walking away.
EXT. EAST RIVER - DAY
The Barge steams down the river.
73.
BA INTRODUCTION
EXT. 44TH DRIVE - DAY
The scene opens with the brown CROWN VICTORIA driving slowly on 44th drive in Long Island City, with Manhattan in the background. A walking escort of two MECHANICS and two PLATERS leads the car. The CROWN VICTORIA wears the mask of the Chrysler Imperial.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. BACK STREET - DAY
TAYLOR STARR is seen walking along a back street near 44th drive.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI STARR is established in the taxi garage office. She is waiting for TAYLOR STARR. BOBBI is also pregnant, and appears to be an employee of the taxi garage.
EXT. BACK STREET - DAY
Manhattan is seen in the background. TAYLOR STARR is a young Muslim woman. She wears a headscarf, but otherwise wears casual American clothes. She is pregnant. As she walks she seems lost in thought.
EXT. 44TH DRIVE - DAY
The CROWN VICTORIA procession has moved further along 44th Drive and approaches Vernon Blvd.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI STARR stands at the window of her office and rubs her pregnant belly. She seems to be waiting for somebody.
EXT. DRYDOCK - ANOTHER ENTRANCE - DAY
HORUS (Brennan Hall) is walking through another section of the Navy Yard. HORUS is first seen in a close up of his eye.
74.
HORUS is accompanied by two BANJO PLAYERS, two PERCUSSIONISTS, two MANAGERS, and two BODYGUARDS. The musicians wear Mummers costumes with long feathers, and a falcon motif. HORUS carries a live falcon on his arm. HORUS has an intensity in his step, and a look of aggression in his face, though he sways slightly from side to side as he walks, making a display of his agility and grace. HORUS is also wearing a towel around his waist, and one over his shoulders. One of the MANAGERS holds a gleaming gold crowbar up over his head as he walks behind HORUS.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. DRYDOCK - NEAR ENTRANCE - DAY
SET (Herbert Perry) is seen walking through the back streets of the Brooklyn Navy Yard with a small ENTOURAGE. The group walks with intensity at a brisk pace. Within the ENTOURAGE, two FIDDLE PLAYERS and two PERCUSSIONISTS provide music for the procession. The musicians in the group are wearing Mummers costumes, adorned with feathers and sequins in an Aztec motif. On their backs they wear a Native American ornament. Two MANAGERS and two BODYGUARDS walk closer to SET. SET has a live dog draped over his shoulders. SET looks determined and seems to be rehearsing something in his head. The members of the ENTOURAGE glance to SET from time to time, checking on him with a look of support. SET has a towel wrapped around his waist and is wearing no shirt. One of the MANAGERS holds a gleaming silver crowbar up over his head, as he walks behind SET.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI watches TAYLOR through the window as she approaches.
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 1
A MECHANIC (Magno Gama) works determinedly.
EXT./INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
TAYLOR STARR enters the taxi garage, and makes her way into the office. She and BOBBI hold a long embrace. It appears they haven't seen each other in a long time.
INT. TAXI GARAGE - DAY
Sheets of brass are being heated and formed by mechanics in the taxi garage.
75.
EXT. TAXI GARAGE - DAY
A NYC Taxi garage on Vernon Blvd., near 44th drive is established. The skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan loom in the background. The
INT. TAXI GARAGE
Both MECHANICS (Magno Gama and Pablo Silva) are established working across from one another.
EXT. TAXI GARAGE - DAY
The Imperial Mask is removed on the front lot.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
In the office, BOBBI and TAYLOR STARR are watching through the window, as the MECHANICS and PLATERS are removing the mask. TAYLOR begins to massage the shoulders of BOBBI.
EXT. TAXI GARAGE - DAY
The CROWN VICTORIA now enters the taxi garage property.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI kisses the cheek of TAYLOR as the car enters.
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
The brown CROWN VICTORIA is raised on a hydraulic lift in bay #2. This bay is caged in with steel fencing. As the car ascends, the undercarriage can be seen to have a bright silver, zinc finish.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
A CROWD of people has gathered at the Navy Yard Harbor. The CROWD is in two large groups, and they are congregating outside the two entry gates at opposite ends of the drydock. A buzz begins to grow in the CROWD as they begin to look toward their respective gates. There is a feeling of anticipation.
76.
Through the two gates, HORUS and SET begin to enter with their ENTOURAGES. The crowd separates to form a long corridor through which the ENTOURAGES can pass.
HORUS and SET pass through the respective corridors, the members of the CROWD reach out to touch them, yelling out words of adoration and encouragement.
CROWD 1
Horus!
CROWD 2
Set!
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
SET and HORUS advance toward the drydock. The CROWD follows behind them.
INT. TAXI GARAGE
A hand formed brass instrument is heated by a blowtorch.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI lowers some clothing to expose TAYLOR'S pregnant belly.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. CROWN VICTORIA, BAY 2 - TAXI GARAGE - DAY
Inside the CROWN VICTORIA, AUTOWORKER 3 is peeling away the carpeting from the floorboard and exposing the gleaming zinc floorboard, which has an unexpected, elaborate system of metal pipework, winding back and forth over the width of the car.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
In the second bay, two MECHANICS (MMA fighters) are established in closeups. They glance toward one another with disdain as they work. MECHANIC 1 is removing the grill from the elevated brown CROWN VICTORIA. When the GRILL comes loose, the second, MECHANIC 2, jerks it away from his hands and carries it out of the garage, and into the plating room.
77.
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
Behind the garage, in plating room, MECHANIC 2 places the grill on the ground next to a large cast copper and iron effigy of the mold of the Djed column. MECHANIC 2 kneels on one knee, lowers his head, and swiftly crosses his heart in silent prayer, before standing again and walking back toward the door.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
At the edge of the drydock, SET and HORUS stop and turn toward one another in a stand off. They are surrounded by their ENTOURAGE. The CROWD gathers around the scene on 3 sides, creating a stage for the stand off. As SET and HORUS stare each other down, their bodies are heavily greased by their assistants. Each fighter begins to warm up, making a display of confidence and power.
Each CROWD group, with accompaniment from the musicians in their ENTOURAGE, sings out to the displays of their fighter.
In SET's camp, one of the MANAGERS steps forward and bends over. SET hooks his arm under the waist of the MANAGER and lifts the MANAGER in a gesture of sexual dominance. After holding this pose for several seconds, SET drops the MANAGER and resumes staring down HORUS.
CROWD 2 (intermittent/randomly)
Set!... Set will dominate! ...King of All Lands!
In HORUS' camp a MANAGER responds by placing his hands on the ground and arching his back with his rear end toward HORUS. With his long legs spread, HORUS stands stoically straddling the MANAGER. He fixes his eyes on SET, who is considerably shorter than HORUS.
CROWD 1 (intermittent/randomly)
Horus... Horus is King! ...Lord of the Living!
Each CROWD now envelops its fighter and directs him away from the "stage" area and towards the edge of the water. The CROWDS vocalize energetically. The ENTOURAGE MUSICIANS have remained at the stage area and play in accompaniment to this.
78.
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 1 - DAY
In bay #1, beneath a yellow taxi, an AUTOWORKER (4) is brazing brass sheetmetal into long fluted shapes. The metal shapes resemble long stemmed lotus flowers.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
TAYLOR STARR slides BOBBI STARR's shirt over her belly and reveals her pregnant belly. TAYLOR opens up her blouse, showing BOBBI her pregnant belly. There is a relaxed warmth between them. TAYLOR moves close to BOBBI and their protruding navels make contact. They hold their positions quietly and enjoy the moment of contact.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 4 - DAY
In the fourth bay of the taxi garage, AUTOWORKER 1 is lying face down in the corner, on top of a spare tire. His pants are down around his ankles, leaving his legs and butt bare. A brake line hose is in his mouth.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
The two MECHANICS arrive at bay 2 at opposite sides of the cage beneath the CROWN VICTORIA. They pause and look toward one another with an intensity.
EXT. EDGE OF DRYDOCK/OPPOSITE SIDES - DAY
SET's ENTOURAGE and CROWD is escorting him around the dock to the opposite side. SET's camp moves swiftly as a mass.
HORUS' ENTOURAGE and CROWD forms a swarming ball, and slowly moves him to the center of the dock's edge.
HORUS and SET emerge from their CROWD on opposite shores of the drydock. They stare each other down, once again. After a brief pause, they step down onto the drydock steps, until they are standing knee deep in the water.
As HORUS and SET move deeper into the water, the CROWD is becoming more silent.
79.
HORUS and SET step further down the steps of the drydock, and disappear into the depths.
INT. CROWN VICTORIA, BAY 2 - TAXI GARAGE - DAY
AUTOWORKER 3 is using a crowbar inside the CROWN VICTORIA. He stabs the crowbar violently into the dashboard and has punctured the fluid reservoirs of oil, brake fluid, anti- freeze, and power steering fluid. The fluids begin to hemorrhage from different locations beneath the car, around the fighting MECHANICS.
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
In bay 2, the two MECHANICS are standing beneath the CROWN VICTORIA and are shoving each other and provoking a fight.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BASEMENT
Norman 2 is sitting behind an oxidized drum set in the basement. He vocalizes across the septic waters, and begins to perform a drum solo. (this solo is heard through the entire sequence).
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
At the taxi garage, the two MECHANICS are squaring off, and they each begin looking for opportunities to take down their opponent. MECHANIC 2 strikes first with a Flying Guard. His legs wrap around the torso of MECHANIC 1, and he hangs from his waist in Guard Position, trying to gain hand control. MECHANIC 1 drops to his knees on the mat beneath the CROWN VICTORIA which is now soaked with fluids form the car. MECHANIC 1 manages to break free from the leg lock and the two fighters are on their feet again.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
DRYDOCK CUTAWAY #1: At the Navy Yard, the dock has drained to expose additional stairs leading down to the water. The CROWD begins to advance down the stairs. As they advance, the two CROWDS are yelling across the water at each other.
INTERCUT WITH:
80.
INT. TAXI GARAGE - OFFICE - DAY
Taylor and Bobbi are kissing in
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 1 - DAY
AUTOWORKER (2) stands over AUTOWORKER (1) with a long clear tube. He takes the tube and inserts it into AUTOWORKER 1's rectum. A dark liquid waste enters into the tube.
AUTOWORKER 1 begins to drool brake fluid from his mouth. AUTOWORKER 2 blows into the clear tube, and the liquid waste begins to bubble. A stream of farting sounds issues from the anus and mouth of the prone AUTOWORKER 1.
EXT. DRYDOCK STEPS - DAY
DRYDOCK CUTAWAY #2: The water level has drained half way. The two opposing CROWDS are yelling to each other, making oppositional gestures. Views of both sides of the drydock interchange as the two CROWDS claim their fighter to be dominant.
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
MECHANIC 1 now takes control and throws MECHANIC 2 to the mat using a JUDO throw and applies a leg lock. He controls the head and arm of MECHANIC 2, and begins to strike him in the head. MECHANIC 1 chokes the head and arm of MECHANIC 2 and uses his free hand and pushes his thumb into the eye socket.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
In the office, TAYLOR STARR looks lovingly to BOBBI STARR as she removes her own glass eye. BOBBI is lying back on the desk, and she parts open her legs exposing her anus, which is gaping wide open. TAYLOR inserts her glass eye into BOBBI's anus.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY - CONTINUOUS
TAYLOR opens the door of the office and looks out to the fighting MECHANICS. BOBBI aligns the eye in her anus toward the open door.
81.
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 4 - DAY
In the corner of the garage, in bay 4, AUTOWORKER 1 is attempting to control the air escaping from his mouth from the brake line hose. His cheeks inflate as he tries to hold in the air. AUTOWORKER 2 is fitting a brass bell into the anus of AUTOWORKER 1, resulting in a sputtering brass instrument sound. In the clear tube, the waste water ebbs and flows.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE - DAY
In the garage, car horns can be heard. From the underside of the elevated taxis, the car horns are dangling from their electrical cables, and are playing intermittently.
EXT. DRYDOCK STEPS - DAY
DRYDOCK CUTAWAY #3: The water level is nearing the bottom of the drydock. On each side of the dock, the CROWD is now walking
INT. TAXI GARAGE - OFFICE - DAY
As she enjoy's TAYLOR's affection, BOBBI reaches into an ashtray and takes a
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
MECHANIC 1 takes control with a Guard Sweep and pulls MECHANIC 2's head toward the floor. In this position, MECHANIC 2 reaches into the pants of MECHANIC 1 and tears off his testicles.
82.
Blood floods from the crotch of MECHANIC 1 as a bloodstain grows in his pants. Retreating in pain, MECHANIC 1 drops MECHANIC 2 from Guard Position onto the mat.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
In the office, TAYLOR STARR has closed the door and returned to BOBBI who is still lying on the desk. The mood is playful between the two women. TAYLOR finds a cigar cutter on the desk, and severs the protruding cigar.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE, BAY 2 - DAY
MECHANIC 2 is bleeding profusely from his eye. The two men resume fighting, and soon MECHANIC 2 gains control with a Flying Arm Bar. With his legs wrapped around MECHANIC 1's arm, he pulls MECHANIC 1's hand toward his chin and bites down on his thumb, severing it. The thumb falls to the ground. MECHANIC 1 strikes at the head of MECHANIC 2 with his free arm, and breaks free from the Arm Bar.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE / INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
BOBBI STARR removes the severed phallus from her vagina and walks into the plating room. The Crown Victoria GRILL is still resting on the ground next to the copper Djed effigy. BOBBI takes the greased phallus and sticks it onto the face of the GRILL.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. DRYDOCK STEPS - DAY
DRYDOCK CUTAWAY #4: The water is nearly drained from the drydock. In a wide view, the drydock resembles an amphitheater, with the crowd filling the stairs on each side. The CROWD is uttering/humming softly in unison. On the floor of the dock, the gold 1979 TRANS AM is lying upside down in a pile of silt.
CROWD
We have seen the battle of Horus and Set. We wait for the judgement of our King. Crown Victoria!
83.
HOUSE 5 / KA 1
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR
HORUS is seated next to the NOVICE. They are silent and the NOVICE is holding his hand. In her other hand, the NOVICE holds Set's severed thumb.
HORUS' eye is bandaged and his face is bruised. He is wearing a towel around his waist and over his shoulders. The towels are stained with dried blood.
Behind them in the parlor, USERMARE sits in an easy chair, staring at Horus' back.
The LITTLE QUEENS are setting up a second row of chairs, behind the dining room chairs, around the dining room table.
SET stands near the catering table. His hand is still bandaged and bleeding. He is also wearing towels around his waist and over his shoulder. Dried blood covers his crotch, and blood spatter covers his torso and face.
USERMARE (with distaste)
Chaos.
USERMARE rises. During the following, he will move slowly toward the head of the table.
USERMARE (CONT'D) Chaos and Destruction!
(a beat.)
Like animals....wasted passions....
You are capable of anything! Your transformations depend on shit,
SET and HORUS begin to sing simultaneously. SET starts first.
SET
On the day that Horus and I made battle, victory should have been Mine. His head was in the carpet, and He was mine.
HORUS sings to the NOVICE,
HORUS
He's full of shit.
84.
SET continues,
SET
But by the use of My lost thumb, He slipped out of my grip – a trick taught by His mother. He has the blood like the milk of His mother. From that moment, no test was left but theft. You saw it.
HORUS continues,
HORUS
My uncle is a thin little man with a loud voice. He squawks like a bird. He lies. It is I who had the onus of traveling up his withered crack, and I did it for nothing better to do.
SET has also moved to the table, and sits opposite HOURS and the NOVICE. USERMARE addresses HORUS and SET. They listen in silence.
USERMARE
Enough! Both of you have fought and suffered much. Horus has lost his vision to look on his life. Set has lost the eye of his loins. You Gods bicker and fight, and yet it is the passion of Osiris to conquer chaos. And so, out of the mercy of this Court, Set will be given back his loins, and Horus, his eye. And tonight, we name a King of these Two Lands.
The NOVICE is watching USERMARE as HORUS sings. She has a look of concern. In her hand, the NOVICE squeezes SET's severed THUMB. SET winces with each squeeze.
SET AND HORUS
(in unison)
May I say He bleated like a sheep and cooed like a pigeon. He was My possession.
SET
Now, I tell you, I am the victor. For in the night, I rode in glory upon His back, and was a large as the tree that grows from the nut.
(MORE)
85.
SET (CONT'D)
The flood that rose out of my loins was emptied into the contemptible backhole of the boy Horus standing here beside Me.
HORUS
Try for all of one night, My judge, to listen to My uncle's farts. I confess that I would have done better to hurl a spear into a swamp. Old men are dirty.
SET and HORUS
(in unison)
May I say He bleated like a sheep and cooed like a pigeon. He was My possession.
SET
(sings to USERMARE)
So I say: Do not make him the Lord of the Living, or I will steal a secret each time I enter His bowels. It is better when great powers are given to the strong. Let Horus/Set serve as my assistant. His hips are weak!"
HORUS (sings to SET)
May I say, I fucked you like the bitch that you are!!
Aware that her son will not win this judgement without her help, the NOVICE begins to masturbate him under the table. She tries to remain inconspicuous and continues to listen to SET and HORUS continue to sing.
A LITTLE QUEEN (Bobbi Starr) and EUNUCH climb under the table with a head of lettuce, and position themselves beneath HORUS' crotch.
As HORUS climaxes, the LITTLE QUEEN catches his semen on the lettuce leaves.
USERMARE (bellows out)
Enough!!!
There is a silence in the room.
SET now smells the lettuce. He has stopped singing, and is focused on the smell of lettuce.
86.
The NOVICE places a leaf of
EXT. DRYDOCK BENEATH FLOOD GATES
The drydock is dried out and the terraced steps surrounding the dock are empty. The crowd is no longer present. Sparse bell and horn sounds can be heard from the river. HORUS stands beneath the flood gates. A small river of water flows over his feet where he stands. He looks to the middle of the dock.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
A group of DSNY WORKERS from the New York Department of Sanitation are walking onto the property of the drydock. Four of the WORKERS are carrying the zinc FLOORBOARD of the Crown Victoria. Another WORKER is carrying the zinc DRIVESHAFT. The remaining DSNY WORKERS are carrying the brass instruments which were made in the taxi garage. The long clear pipes with brass bells resemble heraldic bugles. The procession advances toward the drydock. A TANKER TRUCK from the Department of Sanitation of New York accompanies them. Warning labels on the truck read, "Molten Sulfur".
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
HORUS watches as an overhead crane lifts the TRANS AM out of the pile of silt. Low angle views show the top of the TRANS AM ascending upward and out of the drydock. A deep negative space has been left in the silt where the TRANS AM was lying.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
The DSNY WORKERS have descended into the drydock. One of the WORKERS is carrying a long hose connected to the TANKER TRUCK.
HORUS begins walking through the river toward the center of the drydock.
Four DSNY WORKERS are placing the zinc plated FLOORBOARD from the Crown Victoria at the edge of the TRANS AM impression.
The WORKER with the sulfur hose stands over the TRANS AM impression as a DSNY WORKER places the ZINC DRIVESHAFT into the deepest point in the mold.
87.
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
In the plating room at the taxi garage, the PLATERS and AUTOWORKERS have approached the copper casting and are forming a crude battery.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
A DSNY WORKER connects a steam hose to FLOORBOARD. Steam rises from the FLOORBOARD.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - DAY
The apartment door opens and a NATIVE AMERICAN JURY enters. They enter in two rows, with a formality of a supreme court. They sit at the table and listen to USERMARE'S declaration.
The JURY LEADER begins to vocalize in a high pitched wordless chant. The remaining members of the JURY join in after the leader establishes the song.
THE JURY
When the sun did fall behind Manha- ttan,
We then crossed the Ri - ver of Fundament
(The) bonds that held our li - ps closed in si - lence
They have been relea - sed by our
The door opens again and a council of seven ERNEST HEMINGWAYS burst into the room. They are dressed in hunting khakis. Some of the HEMINGWAYS begin to sing in chorus, as they walk in a circular path around the table, while others blow intermittently into elk calls.
THE HEMINGWAYS
We are here to summon the seed of
Set. Let the seed tell the truth.
The LITTLE QUEEN (Bobbi Starr) on the floor has started sprinkling iron dust onto the tip of the EUNUCH'S penis. The dust attracts magnetically to his penis head, and forms a
The LITTLE QUEEN waves her hand slowly over the bloom, magically making the magnetically charged iron filings dance.
After a lap around the table, THE HEMINGWAYS stop in a line behind USERMARE.
88.
Here, they each begin to blow into an elk call, simulating the high pitched, soaring sound of a bull elk.
There is a silence in the room.
USERMARE motions for HORUS to stand.
USERMARE
We speak to the seed of Set!
THE HEMINGWAYS
Tell Us where you are. Speak from the place where you find yourself.
There is a silence in the room. SET cannot believe it. He is incensed. The NOVICE embraces HORUS, who smiles in relief.
USERMARE motions for SET to stand.
USERMARE
We speak to the seed of Horus!
JURY
Tell Us where you are. Speak from the place where you find yourself.
A long, wet fart, with melodic modulations comes from SET'S rectum. SET looks embarrassed and surprised.
HORUS, NOVICE, USERMARE, the JURY and the HEMINGWAYS explode with laughter.
On the table, a close up view of a knife and fork shows the silver hotel plate oxidizing from bright silver to an iridescent black.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
HORUS approaches the TRANS AM impression and kneels next to the steaming FLOORBOARD. The DSNY WORKERS with the horns line up on either side of HORUS and begin to play.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
Molten sulfur begins to flow from the hose and into the TRANS AM impression enveloping the ZINC DRIVESHAFT. The molten sulfur has a translucent amber color.
89.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
Suddenly HORUS throws up a thick, bright yellow, sulfuric substance from deep in his throat. The sulfur lands on the FLOORBOARD, and the heat from the steam melts the lump of sulfur into translucent amber fluid, which trickles down into the TRANS AM impression.
HORUS chokes again, and a steady flow of the molten sulfur gushes from his throat and across the heated FLOORBOARD. The FLOORBOARD funnels the material into the TRANS AM impression enveloping the ZINC DRIVESHAFT.
The horns of the DSNY WORKERS begin to hemorrhage the same molten sulfur.
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
The PLATERS and AUTOWORKERS have approached the copper casting and are urinating into the copper cavity, activating an electrical current between the copper and the iron. A crude battery has been formed.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
In the drydock, the TANKER TRUCK, and the TRANS AM impression continues to fill with sulfur from HORUS' mouth.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
In the plating room at the taxi garage, the PLATERS are lowering the GRILL of the Crown Victoria with the severed phallus into an acid bath. They remove the GRILL from the acid bath and submerge it in the electroplating bath.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
In the drydock, the TRANS AM impression continues to fill. Sulfur now trickles from HORUS' mouth. The sulfur has hardened in the bells of the DSNY WORKERS horns, and the pitch and timbre of the instrument has changed.
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
In the plating room at the taxi garage, a PLATER is running an electrical cable from the copper casting to an electroplating tank on the other side of the room.
90.
The tank is full of fluid and has a copper anode positioned to direct electrical current into the bath. Eroded ingots of gold are suspended around the tank, partially submerged in the chemical bath.
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI removes TAYLOR'S clothing and prepares her body with oils.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
Molten sulfur begins to flow from the hose and into the TRANS AM impression enveloping the ZINC DRIVESHAFT. The molten sulfur has a translucent amber color.
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
In the plating room, the Crown Victoria GRILL emerges from the electroplating bath. The electroplater has left behind a gleaming gold finish on the phallus and the circular bezel at the center of the grill, while the rest of the object remains brown.
EXT. DRYDOCK - DAY
The mold is now nearly full. As the sulfur reaches the top of the mold, shallow trenches branch out from the perimeter of the impression, creating an array of radiating lines extending out from the impression of the car body.
The PERCUSSIONISTS from HORUS' ENTOURAGE stand around the perimeter of the drydock, striking pieces of metal, playing in support of HORUS.
With the mold now full, HORUS stands and looks out over the surface of the fluid. He has a beard of bright yellow, hardened sulfur hanging from his chin. The sulfur begins to crystallize randomly across the surface of the mold. Snowflake patterns form. As the sulfur cools it turns a brilliant acidic yellow. The circular sulfur casting, with its radiating beams resembles a sun.
HORUS begins to sing:
HORUS
"I come to my throne as Horus, And on my death I join Osiris. I descend from you, the sun.
Amon Ra! Amon Ra!
(MORE)
91.
HORUS (CONT'D)
You have taught me your ways and your might.
When you rise, I rise! When you set, I die!
You yourself are lifetime, one lives by you
There is no other who knows you, you are in my heart.
INT. PLATING ROOM - DAY
In the plating room, a PLATER hands the gold plated GRILL to
TAYLOR STARR. TAYLOR's eye is still missing from its socket. *
She is nude. TAYLOR holds the GRILL over the head of *
MECHANIC 2 in a gesture of victory.
MECHANIC 2's eyesocket continues to bleed.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. CROWN VICTORIA, BAY 2 - TAXI GARAGE
AUTOWORKER 3 continues to destroy the interior of the Crown Victoria.
INT. SPRAY BOOTH - DAY
Near the plating room, in a spray booth, yellow mist fills the air. Through the mist, a PAINTER can be faintly seen. He is spraying the body of the brown CROWN VICTORIA with yellow paint. A faint latin vocalise is heard under the spraying sounds.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. TAXI GARAGE OFFICE - DAY
BOBBI is now lying on the desk in her office. She is playing long tones from one of the brass instruments.
HOUSE 6 / KA 2
EXT. BROOKLYN BRIDGE - EVENING - LATE DUSK
The barge has now arrived beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Views from the barge show the Brooklyn Queens Expressway teeming with traffic beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and the former waterfront location of the Mailer brownstone.
92.
Liberty Island can be seen in the distance from a panoramic view of the New York Harbor. The recently completed Freedom Tower looms over the nearby financial district.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - LATE DUSK
NORMAN 2 is standing on the terrace of the apartment. He is flanked by SET. They are looking up at the towers of lower Manhattan. NORMAN 2 is striking the railings and balustrades on the terrace with the bullfighting knife, with an asymmetrical rhythm which rings out over the harbor.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
In the parlor, the APPRENTICE is kneeling behind USERMARE, who is sitting in his arm chair. The APPRENTICE is holding a heavily soiled towel in his hand, and is mopping the floor around USERMARE, and trying to clean the many stains from the lounge chair. He dips the towel into a bucket of septic fluid, and continues to wipe, making more of a mess on the floor.
NORMAN 1
Pharaoh, have I not served you well?
NORMAN 1 (John Buffalo Mailer) is kneeling in front of USERMARE. NORMAN 1'S head is resting in USERMARE'S lap.
USERMARE
Your service was once of great value to me, Norman.
(a beat)
But the Present Moment is little more than the excrement the Past leaves behind. It only repulses us until it too becomes the Past.
In close up view, we see NORMAN 1 has gold leaf on his face, surrounding his mouth. The lesions from septic infection that surround his orifices are gilded.
NORMAN 1
Usermare, you and I have both crossed the River of Feces. We have seen the dead treading there, hopelessly. All but the wisest, most courageous, drown and expire in that river. But you and I have reached the other side, and we share this distinction.
93.
USERMARE
The stench of your mouth is caustic. Corrupt. It's sulphuric stink augurs but shame and waste.
NORMAN 1
The noble spirit of excrement now lives in my breath and the breath of my Ka.
USERMARE
This isn't the breath of the river. This isn't the voice of a noble spirit, but the slow decay of weakness and filth,
If I have survived, Norman, it is because I have overcome all that afflicts you. I have surpassed that which you abhor.
The APPRENTICE continues to mop the floor beneath USERMARE. He finds small pieces of gold, which he picks up in his soiled fingers and puts into his mouth.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - LATE DUSK
In the master bedroom, the WIDOW is sitting bedside with a now older HATHFERTITI 3 (Ellen Burstyn) lying in the bed. HATHFERTITI 3 is having a nightmare. We watch her in close up view as her dream escalates to a terror.
HATHFERTITI 3 opens her eyes abruptly and inhales desperately for air. She is terrified. The WIDOW grasps her hand to comfort her. Taking a small blanket on the bed, she wraps HATHFERTITI 3's shoulders.
The NOVICE sits watching at the foot of the bed. Next to the NOVICE is a young Native American Woman, who is the KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN.
HATHFERTITI 3
It's nearly time.
WIDOW (singing)
Yes, my darling.
HATHFERTITI 3
I'm going to die.
WIDOW
Are you ready to cross the river?
94.
The WIDOW gently, lovingly, squeezes HATHFERTITI 3'S hand. HATHFERTITI 3 looks at her, helpless.
HATHFERTITI 3
(sings)
When I heard the
My avarice cooled
Like lust in the chill of the grave.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - LATE DUSK
On the terrace NORMAN 2 continues his percussive improvisation. In response to NORMAN 2's calls, a distant pounding cadence can be heard in response, coming from the stairwell.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
USERMARE walks across the parlor. NORMAN 1 follows him. They pass HORUS, The HEMINGWAY COUNCIL, and the NATIVE AMERICAN JURY are seated at the dining room table. USERMARE, NORMAN 1, and the APPRENTICE ascend the ladder near the kitchen, disappearing up into the atrium.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
The NATIVE AMERICAN JURY and the COUNCIL OF HEMINGWAYS are moving the dining room table from the center of the room.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - LATE DUSK
NORMAN 2 concludes his percussive improvisation. SET exits the terrace.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - BASEMENT - LATE DUSK
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
SET enters from the terrace. The NATIVE AMERICAN JURY and the COUNCIL OF HEMINGWAYS have formed two lines, forming a gauntlet of oppositional pairings of people down the length of the room. SET and HORUS pair off at the end of the gauntlet.
95.
NORMAN 2 enters from the terrace and stands at the end of the gauntlet, continuing his rhythmic calling by clapping his hands and striking his chest. The apartment door opens and an all female STEP TEAM marches in cadence into the room, moving through the corridor of people.
STEP TEAM
He's the man with a quick hand He's got the high fringes of the palm tree
He ties his sword with a belt of leather
Norman, of the sharp silver sword!
Hoe is the child of Norman
Axe is the child of Norman
Gun is the child of Norman
Salute of iron on stone
The blacksmith of all heaven He washes himself with blood
Sudden as lightning, he terrifies the lazy!
We see you, Norman!!
We see you, Norman!!
The STEP TEAM pauses in the center of the room, holding their fists together in front of their chests in a static pose for several seconds.
Together, they begin stomping and clapping in unison, in a synchronized choreography. They move together, in the space between the two rows of people, calling out occasionally to NORMAN 2. They end their routine in the same static pose with their fists held together in front of their chests.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
HORUS, SET, THE JURY, AND HEMINGWAYS begin to vocalize.
The STEP TEAM begins a repeating cadence, then fall into two lines within the gauntlet. HORUS takes the point position at the head of the gauntlet, and joins in the step routine with his crowbar staff.
NORMAN 2 approaches the ladder, where he ascends to the mezzanine and across the catwalks, through the apartment's exposed atrium.
96.
Along the way, he passes USERMARE and NORMAN 1 who are standing by the many stacks of books in Norman Mailer's library. The Brooklyn Bridge looms overhead through the skylights in the atrium.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
USERMARE and NORMAN 1 are looking down into the parlor floor, from the railing on the mezzanine.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - CONTINUOUS
NORMAN 2 has now reached the top level of the atrium where a small writing den is situated. In the antechamber to the writing den, a freshly killed, dead female ELK lies on the floor. The APPRENTICE is holding the antlers of the ELK.
NORMAN 2 takes the bullfighting knife from its sling and begins to cut open the ELK.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - LATE DUSK
HATHFERTITI 3 stares into the WIDOW's eyes. The NOVICE and the KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN continue to watch.
HATHFERTITI 3
Have I lived a good life?
WIDOW (singing; holding
Hathfertiti 3's hand) Yes, my darling.
HATHFERTITI 3
There's no reason to be scared, is there. The smallest sprouts show there is really no death.
WIDOW
And if there ever was, it led forward life.
HATHFERTITI 3
All goes onward and outward. And nothing collapses. And to die is different from what any one supposed. And luckier. (A beat.) Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? It is just as lucky to die and I know it.
(MORE)
97.
HATHFERTITI 3 (CONT'D)
I have passed death with the dying and birth with the
A beat. She smiles at the image. A small laugh at a private thought.
HATHFERTITI 3
Isn't it miraculous? Two tiny cells meet. They come together. They grow into a baby. A person. Life! It keeps going. Past making us who we are, past filling our bodies, past wearing us out. From one container to the next and the next
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR/MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
Some members of the COUNCIL OF HEMINGWAYS are on the parlor floor surrounding a dead BISON, while others stand on the mezzanine level. They rig the BISON in a rope that had been part of the apartment's nautical decor, and begin hoisting the BISON up through the atrium.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - LATE DUSK
Up in the writing den, NORMAN 2 enters the body of the ELK. The APPRENTICE helps him into the womb.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
The HEMINGWAYS have landed the BISON on the mezzanine level.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - LATE DUSK
HATHFERTITI 3 and the WIDOW exchange a look in silence. A bond. A farewell.
THE NOVICE
It's time.
HATHFERTITI 3 and the WIDOW look to the NOVICE. The KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN watches on.
THE NOVICE
Are you ready?
98.
HATHFERTITI 3
I am.
WIDOW
I am.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
The master bedroom door opens and HATHFERTITI 3 enters the room, hand in hand with the WIDOW. The parlor is now empty. (during this time, The HEMINGWAYS, STEP TEAM, NATIVE AMERICAN JURY, HORUS, SET have all departed. The NOVICE and KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN remain in the bedroom)
The WIDOW and HATHFERTITI 3 walk into the parlor where HATHFERTITI 3 stops, now standing alone. The WIDOW continues past the sarcophagi and out into the terrace.
HATHFERTITI 3 is now alone in the parlor. USERMARE stands at the railing of the mezzanine looking down onto the parlor floor, watching HATHFERTITI 3. HATHFERTITI 3 sits with her back to USERMARE.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
USERMARE
Put this behind you, Hathfertiti.
Come away.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
HATHFERTITI 3 (still looking away; simply)
You have to let me go.
HATHFERTITI 3 turns and makes several steps toward USERMARE now looking up to him.
HATHFERTITI 3 I am an acme of things
accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be. Immense have been the preparations for me, faithful and friendly the arms that have helped me. Before I was born out of my mother, generations guided me. My embryo has never been torpid
(MORE)
99.
HATHFERTITI 3 (CONT'D)
All forces have been steadily employed to complete and delight me. Now, I stand on this spot with my soul.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
USERMARE (pleading again for Hathfertiti 3's allegiance)
Hathfertiti, my daughter, when you pass away, we could sail together across dominions barely seen, washed by the swells of time. We could plow through fields of magnetism. Past and future would come together on thunderheads and our dead hearts would live with lightening in the wounds of the Gods.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
HATHFERTITI 3 steps toward the atrium, looking upward toward her father.
HATHFERTITI 3
(singing)
I bequeath myself to the dirt, to grow from the grass I love. If you want me again, look for me under your
HATHFERTITI 3 exits the parlor.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - LATE DUSK
In the writing den, NORMAN 3 (Chief Dave Bald Eagle) is sitting at the desk. He is covered with afterbirth from the womb of the elk. He is an elderly Native American man. Next to him at the desk a live IBIS is perched.
100.
A close up beneath NORMAN 3's feet, reveals that he has defecated through the can chair he is sitting in.
NORMAN 3 pulls a feather from the tail of the IBIS, and proceeds to dip the feather into the pile of stool on the floor. With his excrement, he brushes a simple Djed column onto the desktop with the edge of the feather.
NORMAN 3 sings softly:
NORMAN 3
"Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before. Is this the fear that holds the universe? Is pain the fundament? All the rivers veins of pain? The oceans my mind awash? I have a thirst like the heat of earth on fire. Mountains writhe. I see waves of flame. Washes, flashes, waves of flame."
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
USERMARE (singing)
I suffer the onslaught of a frightful wind. A pain is coming that will be like no pain felt before. I hear the scream of earth exploding. In this terror, vast as the abyss, I still know more than fear... Here at the center of pain is radiance.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
The KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN is climbing the ladder up toward the writer's den.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - LATE DUSK
THE NOVICE and the KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN open the bedroom door for HATHFERTITI 3, who walks into the room and lies down in bed. She is feeble. The NOVICE helps her into bed.
101.
HATHFERTITI 3
"I ascend from the moon, I ascend from the night, I perceive of the ghastly glimmer the sunbeams reflected, And debouch to the steady and central from the offspring great or small. There is that in me
HATHFERTITI 3 then falls to sleep.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - LATE DUSK
The WIDOW is singing, as she looks out at the Brooklyn Bridge.
WIDOW
Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.
I hear you whispering there, O stars of heaven,
O suns! O grass of graves! O perpetual transfers and promotions! If you do not say anything, how can I say anything?
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - LATE DUSK
In the writer's den, the BISON is now laying where the ELK had been. NORMAN 3 begins to climb into the body of the BISON. The APPRENTICE helps NORMAN 3 into the bison.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - LATE DUSK
As NORMAN 3's body disappears into the abdomen of the BISON carcass, the KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN approaches from across the catwalk and recovers the bullfighting knife from the APPRENTICE.
The APPRENTICE watches on, as the KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN holds the knife to the neck of the BISON, and slits its throat. She then steps behind the BISON, and thrusts the knife between the animal's shoulders, at the top of its back.
102.
Black fluid pours from the neck of the BISON, pooling on the low pile carpet, and beginning to seep across the floor toward the open atrium.
As the bleeding continues, the APPRENTICE crosses the plank and begins to climb back down the ladder.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MEZZANINE - LATE DUSK
Black fluid has started pouring from the edge of the writer's den and is dripping down past the mezzanine.
The APPRENTICE approaches USERMARE and hands him the bull fighting knife. As USERMARE runs his fingers over the blade, the APPRENTICE continues down the ladder toward the parlor.
USERMARE begins to cut out his navel. A thick, dark, inhuman blood drips from his opened flesh.
USERMARE (singing)
At the center of pain is radiance. May we hope of heaven now prove equal to my ignorance of where I go.
As the piece of his abdomen falls to the floor, NORMAN 1 kneels before the bleeding USERMARE, and eats his severed navel.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - LATE DUSK
The KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN is sitting at the writers desk. We see her in close up view through the window of the writer's den. She begins to sing.
KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN
Tenderly will I use your curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
And what do you think has become of the men and women?
They are alive and well somewhere, The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward in life.
(MORE)
103.
KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN (CONT'D)
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed,
And luckier.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - MASTER BEDROOM - LATE DUSK
The NOVICE is still sitting at the side of the bed next to HATHFERTITI 3, who has passed away. After a quiet moment, the NOVICE opens her mouth, and puts two fingers inside. When she retracts her fingers, they are covered in gold. The NOVICE then extends her fingers and gently places them between HATHFERTITI 3's lips, as if to part them open.
After retracting her fingers, the NOVICE slowly slides the bedsheet over HATHFERTITI 3'S face and head.
INT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - PARLOR - LATE DUSK
The APPRENTICE walks across the parlor floor, as the black fluid from the BISON drips down the walls of the atrium. The fluid trails across the curved ceiling in the parlor, and drips onto the sarcophagi, as the APPRENTICE walks toward the door.
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - TERRACE - LATE DUSK
The WIDOW is now looking back up at the Brooklyn Bridge. She asks quietly:
WIDOW
Mother of the lands,
Did you wait for your poet?
Did you wait for one
With a flowing mouth
And indicative hand?"
EXT. NORMAN MAILER APARTMENT - WRITER'S DEN - LATE DUSK
The KA OF THE KA OF NORMAN sings:
KA OF KA OF NORMAN
Mother of the lands,
Did you wait for your poet?
Did you wait for one
With a flowing mouth
And indicative hand?
104.
INT. BASEMENT CROSSCUT WITH INT. MASTER BEDROOM - LATE DUSK
The APPRENTICE exits the apartment, and makes his way down the broken staircases below. The NOVICE lies back into bed, next to the veiled HATHFERTITI, as the APPRENTICE wades back into the septic pool beneath the foundation of the apartment.
BANK OF EAST RIVER - BENEATH BROOKLYN BRIDGE - SIMULTANEOUS
LT. WORDEN is standing at the edge of the river looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge. The barge sits beneath the bridge. LT. WORDEN sings softly:
LT. WORDEN
I bequeath myself to the dirt, to grow from the grass I love. If you want me again, look for me under your
KHAIBIT (epilogue)
EXT. COLUMBIA RIVER - MORNING
A stark symphonic score begins with the opening shot of the scene. Views of the Pacific Ocean are illuminated by the sun rise from the mouth of the Columbia River. The river gorge frames the ocean like a gun site, and streaks of sunlight penetrate the river water. Underwater, the SOCKEYE SALMON are leaving the Pacific, and swimming upstream, into the Columbia. There are thousands of FISH, heading eastward.
From wide panoramic views, the Columbia River gorge is cutting through the arid landscape, and the SALMON are approaching the first of several dams on their path to the spawning grounds. The monolithic, cast concrete dam resembles an ancient temple in the high desert surroundings. Close ups follow the SALMON, as they leap from rung to rung, up the fish ladder which enables them to cross the dam.
EXT. AERIAL VIEW - SNAKE RIVER, IDAHO - MORNING
The landscape is changing as the elevation increases, and the banks of the river gorge are becoming more wooded.
105.
As the SALMON progress through the Hell's Canyon region of the Snake River in Idaho, the river cuts a deeper ravine through the earth. A deep narrow canyon is seen from an aerial view, intercut with serene views from the river's edge.
Underwater, the bodies of the SALMON have started to change color, and are turning a bright orange, while their heads remain a green grey. A BALD EAGLE is seen pulling a SALMON from the river and eviscerating it on the banks.
The SALMON pass through a second and third dams, and are starting to become exhausted. Larger groups are seen in the shallows, struggling slowly upstream.
EXT. UPPER SALMON RIVER/RED FISH LAKE - DAY
The landscape has become alpine in the Upper Salmon River region, as the SOCKEYE SALMON approach their spawning grounds. Some FISH are seen grounded on the rocks in the shallows, failing to complete their epic journey. The view advances into Red Fish Lake in the Sawtooth Mountain Range where the spawning begins. Underwater the SALMON are seen laying their eggs on the lake bed.
The male SALMON are now seen underwater in the lake, inseminating the eggs on the lake bed. Other SALMON have already completed their job, and have died from exhaustion. They can be seen lying on the edge of the lake.
EXT. WOOD RIVER VALLEY - DAY
In the field in Wood River Valley, the fallen, dead BIRD is seen in close up. The BIRD is an IBIS. Alternating views of the BIRD, the dying SALMON, and the headwaters of the Salmon River complete the film's musical score.