THE BORGIA APOCALYPSE
Written by
NEIL JORDAN
InkWell Publishing
Published in eBook format by InkWell Publishing
521 5th Avenue, 26th Floor
New York, NY 10175
Original Copyright 2013 by Neil Jordan
eBook Copyright 2013 by Neil Jordan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
INTRODUCTION
I first wrote about the Borgias as an historical film. It was the second historical subject I had attempted – the first was Michael Collins, the film I made for Warner Brothers about the Irish guerrilla leader and the Irish War of Independence. On Michael Collins, I experienced the dilemma of the historical screenplay – the mass of material that has to be encapsulated within a two-hour time frame. So when Dreamworks suggested that I develop a Borgia project as a cable series for
Showtime, I saw it as a unique opportunity to write a 40-hour film, about power, religion and sex in the Renaissance period. It would be as lurid and dramatic as any Jacobean drama, but over four seasons, long enough to do justice to the complexity of the times and the family.
Halfway through the shooting of the third season, I received word that the new regime at Showtime might not want to continue with the fourth. The series was expensive to produce, since we always did our utmost to do justice to the architecture, design and costume of the period, however free we allowed ourselves to be with the actual events. The ratings were steady, if not spectacular, but there was a large network of avid fans, who followed the machinations of the family, their loves, their losses, their tragedies with absolute devotion. As a compromise I proposed a two-hour film, which would bring the story of the family to a satisfactory and apocalyptic conclusion. For a variety of reasons, mainly cost, Showtime decided not to proceed with the two-hour film.
I am presenting this screenplay as an ebook to show those fans how the story they love so much would have concluded. Screenplays are not novels, not really even plays, they are like architectural sketches for an unconstructed city. But they do tell a story, through dialogue, and one of the great pleasures of writing The Borgias was the realisation that cable viewers and fans actually care about dialogue in a way that a cinema audience no longer does. This was a totally unexpected blessing to me as a writer, since I could return to the basic pleasure of words, and let the characters be defined, and refined, through the words they spoke.
So here we have the words. We don’t have the pictures, the costumes, the actors, but the fans at least can read how I would have concluded the story. And since the most avid fan of the series was myself, I should state that I am available to direct this, should Showtime ever change their minds.
- Neil Jordan
INT. ALPHONSO’S PALACE. DAWN.
A pair of white-slippered feet walk up the magnificent staircase.
A servant girl comes down, with a pile of bloodied blankets in her hands.
She steps back and bows, in confusion.
SERVANT GIRL
Holiness...
It is the Pope of Rome.
INT. LUCREZIA’S BEDROOM. DAWN.
The dead and bloodied body of Alphonso on the bed. The Pope enters, in the deep background.
He looks at the scene, shocked. He takes Alphonso’s dead wrist in his hand.
Then he falls to his knees, begins the prayer of Last Rites.
ALEXANDER
Requiscat in pacem...
And we hear a voice, O.S.
CESARE (O.S.)
Back the cart into the stable gates. We can’t leave a trace of-
And as he enters, with Rufio, the Pope raises his head.
ALEXANDER
What is this?
He gestures to the bed.
ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
This outrage? This crime? This unholy mess?
CESARE
I can explain, Father –
Alexander looks down at the body. The blood everywhere. The wound.
ALEXANDER
No. No-one can explain this.
Cesare turns to Rufio.
CESARE
Leave us –
Alexander stands.
ALEXANDER
Are you to become your brother? Who in the end could not be trusted with a public whipping?
CESARE
Father, he assaulted me –
And Alexander hits him, open palmed, across the face.
ALEXANDER
And you, what? Did him to death? Our son in law? Under our protection? In the palace we provided for his safety?
CESARE
I will clean up this mess, father –
ALEXANDER
Oh yes, you will. Another body will be fished from the Tiber. Another drunkard arraigned for some night- time brawl. You will wash this palace clean of blood. And you will recall your manservant...
CESARE
Micheletto?
ALEXANDER
Who alone could be trusted with such matters.
CESARE
He doesn’t speak to me. Of late.
ALEXANDER
Well then. Get him to speak to me...
INT. THE BORGIA VILLA. DAWN.
Lucrezia, in a bath. She is being bathed by her mother, Vanozza.
LUCREZIA
Take me out of here, mother.
VANOZZA
You would leave me here alone?
LUCREZIA
I am afraid of him now. The one I love most in the world.
VANOZZA
He would never harm a hair on your head.
LUCREZIA
No. But he would harm others. Anyone I come close to is doomed.
She begins to cry.
LUCREZIA (CONT’D)
Have we become the family from hell, mother?
VANOZZA
Perhaps. Since we were given the keys of Heaven.
LUCREZIA
I need to hide. Until I gather my thoughts again. My spirits. You must know a nunnery. That can hide a troubled soul.
VANOZZA
There are many. And there is only one way to get you safely there.
INT. SHABBY ROOM. PAPAL BARRACKS. DAY.
The body of Alphonso, laid out on a wooden trestle. Rufio is there, with two rough henchmen.
Cesare enters.
CESARE
He was a drunkard, you understand?
RUFIO
We do my Lord.
Cesare pulls a knife.
CESARE
And an incompetent brawler.
He stabs the body of the dead Alphonso.
CESARE (CONT’D)
In a fight over a tavern whore –
He stabs the body many times.
CESARE (CONT’D)
They stabbed him like a wine bag-
He stabs it one last time.
CESARE (CONT’D)
Till he could bleed no more.
He turns.
CESARE (CONT’D)
Now dump him in the Tiber –
EXT. TIBER. NIGHT.
Rufio slips in the body of Alphonso.
INT. BORGIA VILLA GARDENS. NIGHT.
Lucrezia there, dressed in a nun’s costume.
Vanozza enters through the back door, and a familiar figure comes behind her.
Micheletto.
MICHELETTO
I would not have taken this summons from anyone but you.
LUCREZIA
And this is true, mother.
VANOZZA
On your child’s life, it is...
The boy now is led into the gardens.
MICHELETTO
May I?
When Lucrezia nods he takes him in his arms.
MICHELETTO (CONT’D)
And you will tell me where we are headed?
VANOZZA
A nunnery, south of here.
Micheletto tweaks the child’s cheek.
MICHELETTO
This boy? Among nuns?
VANOZZA
No. Giovanni will stay with me.
EXT. NUNNERY. DAY.
A convent, situated amongst rolling hills.
Micheletto leads Lucrezia towards it.
LUCREZIA
You will stay with us?
MICHELETTO
It is a nunnery, my lady. I cannot.
LUCREZIA
But I will be safe here?
MICHELETTO
No word of where you are shall pass my lips.
LUCREZIA
Even if my brother demands it?
MICHELETTO
I have not seen your brother. For months now.
LUCREZIA
But my father has summoned you, no? And when the Pope summons, even you must attend?
INT. CONFESSIONAL. NIGHT.
The Pope, sitting alone in his confessional. A figure slips in on the other side of the booth.
Micheletto.
MICHELETTO
I cannot beg for forgiveness, Holiness –
ALEXANDER
Why not?
MICHELETTO
Because my sins are numberless. And you are asking me to resume this life of... crime...
ALEXANDER
I am asking you to serve as manservant to the Gonfaliere of the Pope of Rome...
MICHELETTO
I killed one dear to me in your son’s service. It left me with a wound that is hard to heal.
Pray to God then to salve that wound. And put yourself in His service once more...
MICHELETTO
God does not speak to me of late. If He has ever...
ALEXANDER
He hears the pleas of all, Micheletto. Even one who must serve Him in the shadows, like you.
MICHELETTO
Ah. So the knife and the garotte are part of God’s plan?
ALEXANDER
We rule God’s kingdom for Him, Micheletto. His enemies wield those weapons. And sometimes so must we.
MICHELETTO
I will not be serving God, Holiness. I will be serving your son, Cesare Borgia.
ALEXANDER
And he needs you. He misses you.
On Micheletto’s face. He misses Cesare as well.
ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
He is weaker, in your absence.
INT. VATICAN PALACE. DAY.
The French ambassador, before the Pope, in full ceremonial mode. Cesare stands behind the Pope, as a kind of consigliere.
FRENCH AMBASSADOR
King Louis of France is already on his way, Your Holiness.
ALEXANDER
More French armies? This is all that Rome needs.
FRENCH AMBASSADOR
He comes in peace, as your Holiness well knows. He would swear eternal loyalty to Rome, to God and his Pope. And he would discuss with you the troubled issue of Naples.
ALEXANDER
Are the French slow learners? Did the last invasion of Naples teach them nothing?
CESARE
Father –
ALEXANDER
Oh of course. We have a grander design here. We restructure Italy between us. Is that the game?
FRENCH AMBASSADOR
I am not party to the king’s deeper intent –
ALEXANDER
A pity. We enjoy such games. And have proven rather adept at them, in the past –
FRENCH AMBASSADOR
In fact, Your Holiness, I must now say a goodbye of kinds. I must relinquish my post.
ALEXANDER
Your name again?
FRENCH AMBASSADOR
Archbishop D’Ambroise, ambassador to the French King.
ALEXANDER
Of course. You are to join us here. As cardinal. From the frying pan into the fire. And your successor?
FRENCH AMBASSADOR
I have not been graced with his name, Your Holiness –
INT. CESARE’S QUARTERS. DAY.
Cesare in a bath, being attended by some man or woman servant. His father stands in the background.
ALEXANDER
So. Another Neapolitan invasion. This time with our compliance.
CESARE
We must ride the dragon of events, father.
ALEXANDER
The dragon of events. Does he breathe fire? The Spanish will be breathing fire, when they get wind of it.
A figure appears behind the Pope. Micheletto. Cesare doesn’t know he is there.
The Pope holds a hand up, to make sure Micheletto keeps quiet.
ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
Though if we offered to divide the kingdom...
CESARE
Naples? Ruled by Spain and France?
ALEXANDER
Stranger alliances have happened. And it would keep them off our backs. Occupied, so to speak, in the Neapolitan swamp.
The Pope turns, and puts a finger to his lips. He tiptoes out, leaving Micheletto there, looking at Cesare’s broad back.
Cesare keeps the conversation going.
CESARE
It would be a sweet revenge, would it not? Their king deposed? Or can we hope for his hanging?
MICHELETTO
We can hope.
Cesare turns.
MICHELETTO (CONT’D)
You see I know him of old.
Micheletto gives a half smile.
MICHELETTO (CONT’D)
As I know you?
CESARE
You would surprise me, my friend? Naked, like this?
He stands out of the bath.
CESARE (CONT’D)
Then you must embrace me.
Micheletto walks forwards and embraces him.
CESARE (CONT’D)
What brought you back?
MICHELETTO
Your father. The game.
You have been away too long...
INT. CHAPEL. NUNNERY. DAY.
Lucrezia and Pia, a young demure nun, are scrubbing the floor in the chapel.
PIA
Take care, between the cracks, sister –
She looks at Lucrezia.
LUCREZIA
I told you. I have not yet taken vows.
PIA
Yet everyone has a name. A name they were born with, one they adopt.
LUCREZIA
I shall become... sister Angela...
PIA
Good. I can call you that.
LUCREZIA
The Reverend Mother examines between the tiles, then?
PIA
Yes. With her fingernail. And any dirt will be punished-
LUCREZIA
With a whipping?
PIA
She does not whip, but her words are worse than any lash.
And Lucrezia scrubs fiercely.
LUCREZIA
My crack then shall be cleaner than yours - ever was –
Pia smiles nervously. And we do not know if she gets the pun.
INT. CASTEL ST ANGELO. DAY.
Catherina Sforza, asleep on her plain bed. She looks up in amazement, at something out of shot.
BY THE BARS OF HER PRISON –
A white-gloved hand stretches in, with a ring, inviting a kiss.
CATHERINA
You will have to have my legs broken, Holiness. If you want to see me kneel.
ALEXANDER
A kiss might suffice.
CATHERINA
A kiss?
ALEXANDER
Rather than a genuflection.
We see Alexander now, in the flickering torchlight.
ALEX
ANDER (CONT’D)
Your legendary beauty is fading in here. It is starved of daylight. It pains us to see such a wonder be so reduced.
CATHERINA
Send me home then.
ALEXANDER
Without a formal surrender? Without a pledge of eternal service to the Pope of Rome?
CATHERINA
Without me kneeling...
ALEXANDER
That is impossible, I am afraid.
CATHERINA
Not only must I be defeated, I must be seen to be defeated.
ALEXANDER
And the whole world must see it.
CATHERINA
But the whole world knows, Your Holiness. My lands have been seized, my castle ravished, my body...
ALEXANDER
Your body ravished? By whom?
CATHERINA
Well, your son had his way with it some time ago. But then I also took my pleasures on his...
ALEXANDER
So he confessed.
CATHERINA
To you?
She smiles.
CATHERINA (CONT’D)
How intimate…
ALEXANDER
We share most things.
And she is beginning to see an opening.
CATHERINA
So I have heard.
She walks closer to the bars.
CATHERINA (CONT’D)
Might I suggest, Holiness?
ALEXANDER
Yes?
CATHERINA
You have tried brute force. You have tried chains, prison walls, and none have made me kneel to you.
What you have not yet tried is. . .