Hola, my friends.
I'm currently working on a rewrite of my script on the poet Federico Garcia Lorca at the director's request. This is an added scene.
Background: Lorca's plays and poetry were heavily influenced by gypsy legends, music and dance from his native Andalucia in Spain. In this scene, a young Lorca is initiated into the "duende", or creative, demonic power, at the heart of all great artistic endeavors by a mythical and mystical character in the form of a young gypsy boy, Duende-Jimenez (DJ). DJ appears at several points in the script, always the same age, and always in a surreal manner. This is not the opening to the story, by the way. It occurs near the end of Act 1.
I worry that the imagery may be twee, banal or cliché. Most of the images come from Lorca's poetry itself. Does it work as a dream/mirage/hallucination?
I'm currently working on a rewrite of my script on the poet Federico Garcia Lorca at the director's request. This is an added scene.
Background: Lorca's plays and poetry were heavily influenced by gypsy legends, music and dance from his native Andalucia in Spain. In this scene, a young Lorca is initiated into the "duende", or creative, demonic power, at the heart of all great artistic endeavors by a mythical and mystical character in the form of a young gypsy boy, Duende-Jimenez (DJ). DJ appears at several points in the script, always the same age, and always in a surreal manner. This is not the opening to the story, by the way. It occurs near the end of Act 1.
I worry that the imagery may be twee, banal or cliché. Most of the images come from Lorca's poetry itself. Does it work as a dream/mirage/hallucination?
Code:
[NOTE: The following sequence of scenes are accompanied by
flamenco music, from [i]cante jondo[/i] to [i]cante chico[/i] and range
from passionate to tragic to joyous to humorous]
INT. LUSH GROVE OF TREES OUTSIDE GRANADA - EVENING
Near sunset at the very base of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Lorca (12) sits beneath an olive tree and draws on a pad of
paper.
QUIET, except for the song of a nightingale. Lorca looks up
occasionally at the bird, who perches on a low branch not far
away, then back at his drawing.
SOUND: A young boy's GIGGLE. Bushes nearby RUSTLE.
Lorca puts down his paper and pencil and stands. He looks
around, curious, unafraid.
Another GIGGLE, then full laughter.
To Lorca's left: MOTION. A small figure RUNS between two
giant pine trees, but it's too quick to get a good view.
Lorca walks toward the pine tree, stops some ten feet away
and watches patiently: I know you're there!
Slowly, a head peeks out from behind the tree. DUENDE
JIMENEZ (DJ) -the boy from the opening scene- about 12 years
old, eyes wide, smiles mischievously at Lorca. Lorca smiles
back.
DJ steps from behind the tree. He's darkly tanned, beautiful
and nearly androgynous, barefoot, dressed in ragged burlap
pants tied with an old rope, and naked from the waist up.
DJ extends his hand and opens his palm. SUDDENLY, the
nightingale FLIES from its perch and lands in his hand. He
strokes its head gently with his forefinger.
He lowers his hand and then FLINGS the bird into the air. The
bird flies into the sky.
DJ runs to edge of a ravine, pauses and looks back at Lorca:
follow me! Then turns, JUMPS over the edge, and disappears.
Lorca hesitates only briefly, then strides quickly to the
edge, LOSES HIS FOOTING, and tumbles down the steep hill.
At the bottom, he HITS his head on a small rock.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. THE BOTTOM OF A RAVINE - NIGHT
Lorca's face: eyes closed, a tiny trickle of blood from his
forehead. He opens his eyes.
LORCA'S POV: Bright stars and a full moon.
He sits up slowly and rubs his forehead; looks at the blood
on his hand.
A short distance away, DJ appears from behind a clump of
large bushes. In his hand, a rope. Attached to the end of
the rope as a bridle is a beautiful WHITE MARE.
DJ and the horse walk toward Lorca and stop.
DJ extands both hands toward the horse and bows slightly: an
invitation to mount.
Lorca steps forward, DJ cups his hands for Lorca's foot, and
HEAVES him up and onto the horse's bare back. The horse
NEIGHS and shifts, but finally calms.
DJ pats the horse's flank, takes the rope, and they're off...
EXT. THE BATHS - NIGHT
MIST and STEAM.
They part to reveal two pools from which steam rises.
DJ, Lorca and the mare walk between them.
On their LEFT: 5 handsome young gypsy men, naked, water to
their waist. They SPLASH playfully, wrestle, LAUGH. One
WAVES at Lorca.
On their RIGHT: 5 beautiful young gypsy maidens, also naked.
They're happy, giggle. They wash each other's backs and
hair, playful.
One looks directly at Lorca and blows him a KISS.
DJ cups his hand over his mouth and WINKS at Lorca.
EXT. NUNNERY - NIGHT
A three-sided lean-to with a flaming cross above.
A gypsy woman in a black nun's habit sits on a small stool
and embroiders. Her chemise is open to reveal one breast.
To her left, a handsome young man in uniform is kneeling.
Beside him is a rope ladder that rises into the darkness
above. He stands and bows deeply to the nun.
As our trio passes, the man ascends the ladder.
EXT. MARCH OF THE DONKEYS - NIGHT
The path opens to a dirt road that leads directly to the base
of the mountains.
Marching toward us, 6 donkeys heavily laden with brilliant
yellow sunflowers. Keeping pace with the donkeys, four gypsy
girls in green and yellow dresses, playing crystal
tambourines, dance beside them.
As they pass, one of the girls breaks off a wilted sunflower
bud and hands it to DJ. It immediately REVIVES in his hand
into a beautiful bloom. DJ hands it to Lorca, who's
delighted.
EXT. CITY OF GYPSIES - NIGHT
The road leads in the distance to a small village in the
mountains.
Hundreds of GREEN LANTERNS hang from windows and roofs.
The trio enters the outskirts of the city.
They pass men, women, children who carry flowers, spices,
bundles of beautifully dyed cloth, baskets of oranges.
DJ suddenly stops and looks behind. Lorca turns to look.
A cloud of dark smoke BILLOWS into the city from the road,
engulfing everything.
SOUND: Steel on steel; SCREAMS; THUNDER, PISTOL SHOTS.
DJ holds his hands over his ears.
The smoke finally ENGULFS them.
They catch glimpses of:
-Children RUNNING.
-A woman crawls by on the ground with a dead baby under one
arm.
-An old man, his ear CUT OFF, stumbles by.
-Sinister men in black capes and tri-corner hats with pistols
and swords. They TWIST and TURN, furious whirling dervishes.
DJ HUGS the horse's neck, terrified. Lorca's eyes, WIDE.
AFTER A TIME: the smoke begins to clear. Quiet settles.
Tears in DJ's eyes. He takes the rope and they walk slowly
forward.
IN A DOORWAY: a beautiful young WOMAN (17) sits. DJ stops and
the three watch her.
She is NAKED from the waist up. Where her breasts were, two
bleeding, gaping wounds.
She holds a silver PLATTER, upon which her severed breasts
lie.
Her tears are BLOOD and her MOANS deep and guttural.
The last wisps of smoke obliterate her and they move onward.
EXT. THE FORGE - NIGHT
On a path, they ascend the mountain. Behind them, the City
of Gypsies burns. The grass about them is black and dead.
Trees are charred and twisted.
Ahead: a clearing and in the center is a primitive FORGE.
The trio approach and stop.
Beside the forge, three gypsy smithies, broad-shouldered,
powerful arms, covered in grime.
The first smith feeds the fire with coal.
The second smith works a giant bellows.
Four women in white dresses, garlands of red flowers around
their necks, stand in front of the forge's opening.
The third smith carefully OPENS the forge.
INSIDE: Blue flames, shimmering light. In the CENTER of the
forge, the WOMAN with severed breasts (now restored),
seemingly asleep.
She's GOLDEN, from head to toe.
The second smith helps the first smith, both with bulky
gloves, gently REMOVE the golden woman.
The first smith approaches with a bucket of water and pours
it over the woman. HISS AND STEAM. She's still golden.
The four gypsy women in white approach. The men reverently
pass the woman to their hands.
They carry her a short distance and gently place her on her
back onto the black grass. They kneel beside her.
As the golden woman's eyes OPEN: the color gold runs from her
body to the grass, then to nearby bushes, then to all the
trees and transform them to GREEN and HEALTH.
The woman in gold is now a pale, healthy color. She sits up.
The women move in close, cover her with a shawl, and HUG her.
A brilliant SMILE on DJ's face.
He turns and leads the horse and Lorca away.
EXT. MOUNTAIN TOP - NIGHT
VIEW: Granada in the moonlight, fields and forests and lakes.
DJ and horse and Lorca stand watching, framed behind by a
GIGANTIC alabaster moon.
SOUND: the song, once again, of the nightingale.
FADE TO:
EXT. THE BOTTOM OF A RAVINE - MORNING
Sunrise.
On a dewy branch, the NIGHTINGALE sings.
CUT TO:
LORCA'S FACE IN FULL-FRAME
He's asleep, the blood from the cut in his temple dried.
The SINGING wakes him. He rises carefully onto one elbow and
considers the bird.
It suddenly FLIES to his shoulder. He smiles and touches its
head with his finger. In his other hand: a sunflower bloom.
FADE TO:
Great work as always.
