"VICE" (2018)

VICE

Written and Directed by

Adam McKay

OPEN ON: BLACK

“The following is a true story.”

“Or as true as it can be given that Dick Cheney is one of the most secretive leaders in history.”

“But we did our fucking best.”

MUSIC: ROLY POLY by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.

The place is full of DRUNK LINE MEN, DRIFTERS, WEATHERED RANCHERS and a few ROUGH PROFESSIONAL WOMEN who flirt and dance.

Young DICK CHENEY, 21, liquored up and playing dice, screams to the heavens in triumph.

The RED TAIL LIGHTS of a battered 1949 Frazer Sedan SWERVE BACK AND FORTH ERRATICALLY. Dick is at the wheel. Very drunk.

POLICE LIGHTS FLASH behind him.

POV A HARSH POLICE FLASH LIGHT HITS THE DRIVER SIDE WINDOW AS DICK LEANS HIS HEAD OUT.

Dick gets out and IMMEDIATELY STUMBLES TO THE GROUND.

SFX: A LOUD BLARING ELECTRONIC SIREN

Older Cheney, 60, CONDOLEEZZA RICE and MARY MATALIN are watching CNN. ONE OF THE TWIN TOWERS IS SMOKING.

SUDDENLY A SECOND PLANE SOARS INTO FRAME AND HITS THE OTHER TOWER. Everyone gasps.

Secret Service Agent grabs Cheney and pushes him down the hall to the underground bunker.

SECRET SERVICE AGENT #2 (into ear piece) A plane just struck the Pentagon.

A TV in a hair salon shows the 9/11 coverage. LYNNE CHENEY, 59, stares at the twin towers in shock.

Cheney begins barking out orders.

JUMP CUT: Cheney, on the phone amidst the chaos, NORMAN MINETA, DAVID ADDINGTON, Condi Rice, SCOOTER LIBBY, KAREN HUGHES and a few others are there.

The Twin Towers burn on the television as Dick lowers his head into his hands.

Council looks at Cheney as he is about to pick up a call from POTUS.

Dick hangs up and we reveal Lynne, now standing behind him. She has her hand on Dick’s shoulder. He touches her hand.

Cheney points to the speaker phone.

He picks up the line.

Cheney holds up his hand.

Beat.

FREEZE on Dick Cheney.

Famous Photo of Men Playing Golf while the hillside behind them is on fire.

VT and Stills of people working at Amazon and Wal-Mart.

VT of people partying and dancing.

Cheney clasps his hands thinking in the 9/11 Bunker.

Quick shots of the Iraq war, torture, the Senate passing tax cuts etc.

Lynne puts her hand on Dick’s shoulder as we SMASH CUT to Jet Planes bombing a Middle Eastern Town with a ferocity.

FADE TO BLACK...

Young Cheney fly fishes in a river ALONE. Working his rod and the line... Over and over again.

YOUNG LYNNE CHENEY, in the back of a fancy car: Miss Mustang, in a sparkled cowboy outfit waving at the crowd in SLO MO. She’s a cross between a movie star and a goddess.

Young Cheney passed out in bed. His sheets and floor covered in vomit.

Dick strapped to a pole works on power lines with a cigarette in his mouth. It’s rough hard work.

In the distance, a Man SCREAMS. Dick looks down below.

LINEMAN #1 Man down!

Linemen gather around a FALLEN MAN who’s leg has snapped in half, a bone sticking out of his torn pants.

LINEMAN #2 His leg looks like an Elvis dance move.

The men laugh.

LINEMAN #1 Somebody give that poor son of a bitch a shot of whiskey.

Everyone walks away except Cheney who continues to stare at the writhing man.

Cheney takes a drag of his smoke and walks away.

Dick dances around the bar drunk with a giant smile on his face, taking shots and stumbling into other locals.

A SHIFTY CREW MEMBER keeps putting his arm around Dick’s shoulder. He’s trying to agitate Cheney.

Cheney slaps Crew Member’s hand off his shoulder.

Dick shoves him back and PUNCHES HIM.

From earlier, with the police officer’s help, Cheney stumbles out of the car. The crackle of the police radio in the background.

A lower middle class home. A dog barks in the distance.

DICK, WITH A BLACK EYE AND STAINS ON HIS SHIRT SITS ON THE COUCH.

LYNNE, 21, pretty and sharp, stands over him with a fury in her eyes.

Dick looks like he might be sick.

EDNA, Lynne’s Mom, starts to walk in.

QUICK FLASH BACK to Lynne’s FATHER yelling at her MOTHER in the kitchen. Her dad is scary and has been drinking.

Beat as Dick looks up. There is a GROWLING DETERMINATION IN HIS EYES.

QUOTE AGAINST BLACK

“Beware the quiet man. For while others speak, he watches. And while others act, he plans. And when they finally rest...he strikes.” - ANONYMOUS

OPENING TITLES

Dick graduating from U of Wyoming.

Dick and Lynne’s Wedding Day.

Lynne stands pregnant and Dick signs Vietnam Deferment papers.

Dick drives into Washington D.C.

MAIN TITLE: VICE

A theater with a podium is filled with FELLOWS from around the country. A MONOTONE CONGRESSMAN, 73 finishes a speech.

The 100 or so interns looked bored. A few clap politely. Cheney looks like he’s made a big mistake coming to DC.

DONALD RUMSFELD, 36, strides over with brash confidence. HE LIGHTS HIS PIPE and leans on the lectern.

A few people murmur yes.

THE ROOM LAUGHS. Dick Cheney laughs. Rumsfeld oozes charisma.

FREEZE ON RUMSFELD.

SUPER 8 FOOTAGE: A 20 year old DONALD RUMSFELD, in wrestling singlet and head gear poses for camera in a wrestling pose moving his hands around, ready for a take down.

SUPER 8 FOOTAGE: 24 YR OLD RUMSFELD, in front of a jet plane, removes his helmet, waves to camera and smiles.

VT: We see expert hands flipping around a butterfly knife.

VT: The knife slashes someone’s cheek. UNFREEZE: Rumsfeld continues his speech.

Bob chuckles, though it didn’t seem like good natured ribbing.

The STUDENT next to Dick turns to him. He’s got longish hair and a mustache.

Cheney knocks. Rumsfeld smoking a pipe, pours through papers. He doesn’t answer. Cheney knocks again.

Cheney enters. Rumsfeld doesn’t look up as he talks to him.

Cheney waits a beat.

Cheney starts to leave.

Cheney nervously exits.

Montage of Cheney working for Rumsfeld 1) Flipping Cards for a Congressional Committee 2) Flipping cards for Senators 3) Talking to a WHITE HOUSE MEDIA ADVISOR, 30, in a hallway.

FREEZE FRAME

UNFREEZE: Rumsfeld walks up as the Media Advisor leaves.

Rumsfeld throws the memo in a waste basket.

4) Dick and Lynne having dinner with Rumsfeld and his wife.

5) Flipping cards for Nixon in the Oval Office. 6) Flipping cards for cabinet members.

Rumsfeld continues down the hallway. Cheney follows.

FREEZE

They stop by Rumsfeld’s office.

Half beat.

Cheney enters his office. It’s basically a closet with a desk, phone and a chair.

He sits down and picks up his phone.

A DAD, 29 and MOM, 28 play with their SON, 2, on the couch.

Dick is talking to Lynne on the phone and beaming with pride.

Lynne is on the phone holding her new BABY MARY while LIZ, now 3 plays in the background with the TV on.

Intercut phone call:

FLASH TO ACTUAL STILL of Nixon with an odd smile posing for camera.

Rumsfeld and Cheney are walking down a hallway.

They both stop.

He motions to an office door.

GLANCING PIECES OF NIXON AND KISSINGER TALKING: A cigarette being put out in an ash tray. A polished shoe tapping, etc.

A peaceful Cambodian Village goes about it’s day to day life. We hear a WHISTLING SOUND far above.

We SNAP BACK TO THE HALLWAY. Cheney enthralled by the sense of power and reach Rumsfeld is expressing.

MASSIVE EXPLOSION. WE SEE BLOOD AND LIMBS AND HEAR SCREAMS JUST FOR A SPLIT SECOND, THEN CUT BACK to Cheney still looking at the office door.

Dick is struggling to ask Rumsfeld a question.

Rumsfeld starts to laugh and then laugh harder and harder.

He slams his door shut leaving Cheney standing in the hallway.

Dick teaches the girls how to string worms on a fish hook.

8YR OLD LIZ So is it a good trick we’re playing?

Dick and Lynne have just been awoken by the phone. They are dazed and tired.

Rumsfeld is tearing up papers and throwing them out.

Don hangs up.

Lynne walks out across the backyard looking ashen.

By a LARGE LAKE there is a car with both doors left open, a purse scattered all over and two Dachshunds running around loose. Police Cars pull up in SLO MO with sirens blaring.

Dick holds Lynne in his arms.

About 20 MOURNERS including Lynne, Dick, Dick’s parents, Liz and Mary and yes, Wayne, Lynne’s Father listen to a priest read from the Bible as a coffin is lowered into the ground.

THE FUNERAL HAS ENDED. WAYNE IS TRYING TO DO A HANDSTAND FOR LIZ AND MARY. Lynne stops him.

Dick walks over.

They leave. Dick is intense.

THERE IS A RESOLUTE LOOK IN DICK’S EYES. He stares at Wayne.

A tense beat. Then Wayne finally walks away.

Dick stares straight ahead. He has a resolute quiet power about him. He can feel it.

CLOSE UP: a basket of plain brown donuts, flaking croissants and one GLORIOUS DANISH WITH A BRIGHT YELLOW CENTER.

HANDS REACH IN and take a few brown donuts, a croissant. BUT THEY STAY AWAY FROM THE DANISH WITH THE YELLOW CENTER.

Finally, Cheney TAKES THE LARGE TREAT. FOUR WHITE MEN IN SUITS (CIA AGENT, SCOOTER LIBBY, DAVID ADDINGTON AND PAUL WOLFOWITZ) ages 35 to 55, all wait for him to speak. The room is his.

The Unseen Man’s hand flips through papers marked CLASSIFIED.

He holds up the danish he’s eating.

Everyone laughs a bit too hard.

POV: A DOOR OF A VAN SLAMS OPEN: A CLERIC, 40, with beard, wearing a Muslim taqiyah (cap) walks down an Italian street. THREE MEN IN ALL BLACK JUMP OUT, CHASE HIM DOWN AND PULL HIM INTO THE VAN IN A MATTER OF SECONDS.

QUICK CUTS: 1. Scissors slice off the Cleric’s clothes 2. He is struck hard in the face 3. A black hood is put over his terrified bloodied face. 4. A diaper is then put on him.

THE VAN DRIVES AWAY.

TV in the Cheney’s living room shows Nixon resigning as President.

Dick dials the phone.

MUSIC: Kicking 70’s horns come in. This is starting to feel like good news.

Rumsfeld gets into Cheney’s beat up black VW Bug in the airport parking lot. Both toss their cigarettes.

CLOSE UP ON TELEVISION.

Both are smoking again as they pull up to the White House.

RUMSFELD CLOSES THE DOOR TO HIS BIG NEW OFFICE.

He pours two Glenlivet neats.

They clink and drink.

Ford talks with Kissinger, Rumsfeld and Cheney.

Long pause. Rumsfeld smiles a sly grin.

MORE MEMOS THROWN IN THE GARBAGE, PHONES HUNG UP, NAMES CROSSED OFF MEETING LISTS, LINES ON MEMOS REWRITTEN.

Lynne spins around her husband’s well appointed office.

She holds Dick. They kiss.

A SECRET SERVICE AGENT peeks in the door with Liz and Mary in tow.

They run into Dick’s arms.

Cheney talks to a YOUNG LAWYER at the OLC.

Cheney and Scalia both smile. This is what Cheney has been looking for.

MUSIC: GLORIOUS ORCHESTRAL STING.

VT footage of a Lion chasing a gazelle and catching it.

Narrator Dad plays with his son on the floor.

IMAGES OF THE WHITE HOUSE, THE SCALES OF JUSTICE AND SOLDIERS AT WAR.

FREEZE ON DICK CHENEY

Image of the super villain... GALACTUS

Ford, Betty Ford, Cheney, Lynne, Rumsfeld watch the returns on ABC NEWS with BARBARA WALTERS and HARRY REASONER. Cheney is chain smoking. They all sip cocktails.

TV SCREEN reports Carter winning presidential election

Maintenance workers install giant solar panels on the roof of the White House.

VT President Carter speaking to the press.

Cheney trudges through a river with fishing gear in hand in slo-mo. He is older, unsteady, but determined and focused.

A VFW IN A ONE STOP SIGN TOWN. A beat up Winnebago with a shabby “Cheney for Congress!” on it parked out front.

Cheney speaks to RANCHERS at a VFW. It’s hot.

Lynne coaches from the back of the room.

Lynne watches, pained. He’s not good at this. The Campaign Manager leans in.

Crowd applauds tepidly. Dick walks over to Lynne and his Campaign Manager. He’s rubbing his arm.

FADE UP ON AN ACTUAL HEART BEATING AND THEN STOPPING AND THEN BEATING ERRATICALLY BEFORE FINALLY IT STOPS.

QUICK CUT: A CUCKOO CLOCK STRIKING TWELVE: A cuckoo pops out.

Cheney is in bed, IV coming out of his arm, heart monitors beeping. Lynne is there by his side. A DOCTOR, 39.

A microphone stand on the back of a truck and a crowd of fifty HARD FACED MALE FARMERS AND RANCHERS waiting. A good ol boy RANCH OWNER, 59, intros.

Lynne walks up to the Podium. SHE IS TOO SMALL TO REACH THE MICROPHONE. THE CROWD LAUGHS. Lynne takes the mic off.

Awkward silence. The Campaign Manager tries to usher her off.

The crowd EXPLODES in applause. Lynne pushes the Manager’s hand away.

Crowd applauds lustily again. The Campaign Manager looks around “What the hell is happening?”

A VAN weaves through a windy dirt road.

A Ladies Auxiliary Meeting. Some women knit as Lynne gives a speech.

Crowd livens up, applauding hard.

Lynne and Dick toast to a table of CONGRESSMEN AND WIVES.

Everyone smiles and toasts.

CUTS OF: OLD MONEY PATRIARCHS getting out of limos in SLO MO.

QUICK CUTS: the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the CATO Institute, ALEC, etc.

CU of a document on a desk: “TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS: A study on reduced top tax rates as stimulus.”

PULL OUT to reveal a giant office with dozens of desks and PEOPLE. A BIG SIGN READS “THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE”

LITTLE LINES TYPE IN THE AIR OVER EACH DESK: “Welfare Fraud, America’s Hidden Epidemic” “OIL AND COAL: AMERICA’S FUTURE!” “Regulations Are Costing us Billions!”

VT. STOCK: RONALD REAGAN giving his ACTUAL nomination speech.

Crowd goes NUTS.

WORKERS unscrew solar panels from the roof and discard them into a pile.

Cheney walks confidently talking to Congressmen and Aides.

QUICK CUTS: CHENEY INSERTING HIS HOUSE VOTING CARD, A FEW RED “NAY” VOTES COMING UP ON THE BIG BOARD AGAINST A SEA OF GREEN “YEA” VOTES.

ACTUAL CLIPS of Nancy Reagan on Mr. T’s lap, Donald Trump, Aerobics.

Dick COLLAPSES IN THE HALLWAY, going to his knees.

MUSIC: OUT

White House CHRISTMAS PARTY. REAGAN AND NANCY (from behind) meet and greet celebrities, leaders and friends like Royalty.

REVEAL: Lynne and Cheney ENTER like a Duke and Duchess. Dick looks dashing in a tux and Lynne stunning in a tasteful gown.

ON SCREEN: “Dick Cheney House Minority Whip 1989” and “Lynne Cheney Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanitites 1986-1993”

Quick shots of people at the party CATCHING GLIMPSES OF THE CHENEYS, some whisper, some smile.

The couple she was talking to walks away.

VICE PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH SR. walks up.

FREEZE

QUICK CLIPS OF MORTON DOWNEY JR, RUSH LIMBAUGH, AND THEN A GIANT FOX NEWS ANIMATED LOGO “FAIR AND BALANCED.”

30’S FEMALE BLONDE ANCHOR AT A NEWS DESK

UNFREEZE: There’s a CRASH on the other side of the party. We see a LANKY DRUNK GUY who’s knocked over a tray of champagne glasses. A waitress is distraught.

George goes over to the young drunk man and ushers him out.

She rubs her hand against his back.

MARY CHENEY, now 17, leaves school SOBBING HARD. A TEACHER FOLLOWS HER.

She jumps in her 85 Honda Accord, tears out.

Mary speeds through a stop sign and BAM!! IS HIT BY ANOTHER CAR! She is dazed with blood coming down her face.

Mary, in a hospital bed. Dick and Lynne are there.

Beat.

Dick and Lynne are silent for a long time. Everything they’ve worked for hangs in the balance. Finally Dick moves towards Mary and hugs her.

Kurt the Narrator, drives an electric pallet cart.

Kurt the Narrator parks his cart and moves some boxes.

CLOSE UP: early poll results in Cheney’s hands. They show him dead last behind 11 other Republicans including Dan Quayle.

Lynne is there.

He crumples the paper, leaves it on the table and exits. Lynne looks at the paper.

SCORE: BITTER SWEET BUT STILL GLORIOUS ORCHESTRAL

CHENEY WALKS ACROSS THE DESERT WITH THE FAMILY OF SAUD.

ON SCREEN: “Dick Cheney would go on to become CEO of a large oil service company: Halliburton”

Dick, Mary, now 30, her partner HEATHER POE and Liz, 33 and her HUSBAND PHILIP (holding a newborn) with Lynne, all fish and sit by a beautiful lake. A GRAND DAUGHTER KATE, 4, runs around laughing with 2 DOGS.

ON SCREEN: “Lynne would publish several books on American History.”

Dick holds his newborn grand daughter and laughs with family.

ON SCREEN: “Dick had a choice between the Presidency of the United States and his youngest daughter. He chose his daughter.”

Mary chases Lynne with the fish, everyone laughs.

ON SCREEN: “The Cheneys would never again enter politics or the public eye.”

ON SCREEN: “Lynne and Dick are happy and wealthy and live in Virginia where they breed award-winning Golden Retrievers.”

The Cheneys walk together up to the their house for supper.

END CREDITS ROLL

SFX: Is that a phone ringing?

END CREDITS CONTINUE TO ROLL

The Phone ringing gets LOUDER.

END CREDITS KEEP ROLLING

THE PHONE RINGING IS NOW VERY LOUD.

A desk phone is ringing as Dick, now in his early 60’s moves towards it.

He answers.

He hangs up and stands there for a second. Lynne comes walking out of the kitchen.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

She walks away. Cheney stands there still in thought.

CU: Cheney’s polished shoes. He reaches for a copy of Time Magazine: The Cover a picture of Bush with the headline “President Bush?” A receptionist, THERESA, 28 approaches him.

CU of W Bush’s hand as it shakes Cheney’s. A signed Nolan Ryan baseball on a shelf, papers on the desk with a copy of Sports Illustrated, Cheney lowering himself into a chair, Bush tapping his finger on the desk to an unheard beat.

We see GEORGE W BUSH, 53. Handsome but boyish with a petulant fidgety edge to him.

QUICK FLASH: Cheney’s fishing line in a RIVER. He watches the water with a patient focus.

Beat. QUICK FLASH: a satchel is opened revealing fly fishing lures of all shapes and sizes.

Dick and Lynne brush and floss and prepare for bed. After a long beat Lynne finally speaks.

Beat.

Beat. Dick gargles Listerine for a very long time. Painfully long.

Cheney stares in the mirror.

FLASH BACK of Dick hugging Lynne and the children after they found out Lynne’s Mom died.

FLASH BACK of Lynne yelling at young Dick as he sits hungover on the couch with his head hung in shame.

Back to Dick and Lynne in the bathroom.

FLASH TO Tea cups wobbling as they are stacked higher and higher.

CUT TO BLACK.

Dick and Lynne get settled into bed.

Lightening Strikes as they embrace and kiss passionately.

CUT TO BLACK.

Back to the Bedroom with non-Shakespeare Dick and Lynne. Long beat of silence.

Dick rolls over, finally ready to sleep.

Liz, Lynne, Mary, Dick’s friend DAVID GRIBBIN and Dick work on the VP questionnaire. Laptops, papers are everywhere.

Mary is putting pizzas on the table.

The phone rings. Dick answers.

David Addington at his desk, phone crook’d in his neck.

FREEZE

UNFREEZE

Cheney and W walk towards a porch with a screen door slightly ajar at W’s Crawford Ranch.

They sit. W BUSH eats chicken while Cheney sips his ice tea.

Beat.

QUICK FLASH: a fishing line going TIGHT.

QUICK FLASH: a fishing line reels out for another catch.

W raises his glass.

They cheers ice tea.

BACKSTAGE: Dick and Lynne wait behind the curtains while we hear W Bush speaking.

The Cheneys enter. On stage we see Dick’s shoes walk towards the podium. A quick flash of the campaign’s slogan on the podium: “RENEWING AMERICA’S PURPOSE”

Crowd starts chanting “Cheney! Cheney!”

ON SCREEN: November 7, 2000, Bush vs. Gore

Room full of people watching the election results: Don and Joyce Rumsfeld, Lynne, Mary and Heather, Liz and Philip, Addington, Wolfowitz etc. In the back of the room Dick talks to SCOOTER LIBBY.

Half beat as Cheney processes.

News reporting on election results.

The room erupts. “No!” “He can’t do that!”

Addington, Liz, Mary, Lynne, Dick and AIDES work amidst tons of folders, files, cell phones in the Cheney kitchen..

Dick checks his blackberry.

Cheney wiggles two fingers around on his right hand.

Everyone circles around Dick.

The Justices enter, sit. Whip pan reveal: JUSTICE SCALIA.

Clips of Washington D.C.

OVERHEAD SHOT OF A PROCESSION OF 5 BLACK LIMOS DRIVING INTO THE HEART OF DC.

Cheney walks the halls of the White House alone.

He stops at a CLOSED DOOR. Looks at it. REACHES OUT AND TURNS THE HANDLE. Reveal: THE EMPTY OVAL OFFICE.

Dick doesn’t enter but looks at the office for a long beat.

As he stands there we FLASH BACK TO THE DAY DICK FIRST GOT HIS OWN OFFICE IN THE NIXON WHITE HOUSE AND CALLED LYNNE.

They laugh.

They laugh and giggle. And then the memory is gone.

Dick stands in the doorway shrouded in darkness and silence.

Cheney, Scooter, Addington, Mary Matalin, PAUL WOLFOWITZ, 52, and Rumsfeld all sit in Cheney’s office.

MUSIC: DRUM BEAT

A GIANT HAND PUTS A “GEORGE W BUSH GAME PIECE” (LIKE STRATEGO) DOWN IN THE OVAL OFFICE.

A GAME PIECE OF SCOOTER APPEARS IN THE ROOM.

GAME PIECE OF MATALIN APPEARS.

GAME PIECE OF ADDINGTON APPEARS.

GAME PIECES OF THOSE THREE APPEAR.

Their PIECES GET SWEPT OFF THE BOARD BY A GIANT HAND. BUSH IS NOW SURROUNDED BY CHENEY GAME PIECES.

More GAME PIECES GO ONTO A GAME BOARD that shows the Pentagon, DOJ, White House, and all of DC.

The game board is flooded with pieces everywhere. Some of them have corporate logos on them.

Beat. It gets uncomfortable for a second.

Don and Dick walk through the hallways together just like old times.

QUICK FLASHES of a car racing around Capital Hill.

SPED UP TRACKING SHOT down the halls of the Capitol.

Tracking stops, door opens. It’s DENNIS HASTERT, 60.

Camera TRACKS AWAY SUPER FAST AGAIN DOWN HALLS TO THE SENATE.

INTERCUT: Curt the Narrator jogging and camera fast tracks through Capital Hill.

Door opens and SENATOR TRENT LOTT is there.

Camera tracks away FAST AGAIN.

Down a HALLWAY OF THE PENTAGON. OFFICE door opens...

Reveal a bottle of Glenlivet on the desk.

CAMERA SPEEDS AWAY AGAIN down the hall.

CAMERA SPEEDS DOWN HALLWAY TO OPEN DOOR. GEORGE TENET 57, the garrulous head of the CIA stands inside.

SPEEDS AWAY AGAIN...

GAME BOARD: ONE PARTICULAR BUILDING LIGHTS UP.

HUNDREDS OF GOP CONGRESSMEN, LOBBYISTS AND MEMBERS OF THE RIGHT WING MEDIA are seated and waiting.

Dick and Lynne enter and THE WHOLE ROOM STANDS.

GROVER NORQUIST, 48, roundish, bearded, starts the meeting.

FRANK LUNTZ, 42 and portly stands up.

FRANK LUNTZ, 42, stands in front of a DOZEN REGULAR PEOPLE.

One guy raises his hand.

ALL TWELVE HANDS GO UP

Frank turns to the two-way mirror to give a DOUBLE thumbs up. Then we flash to another focus group already in progress.

ALL TWELVE HANDS GO UP

Track past cars, hearing their RADIOS. A mixture of sports talk, classic rock and a fair amount of RIGHT WING RADIO.

QUICK CUTS TO WEB PAGES: DRUDGE REPORT, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, NEWS MAX: “DEATH TAX MUST GO!”

Kurt the Narrator plays on the floor with his son while Mom makes lunch in the kitchen. Reports on the Death Tax blares on the TV with our BLONDE ANCHOR at the desk.

30’S FEMALE BLONDE ANCHOR AT A NEWS DESK

Libby, Addington and Cheney sit in Cheney’s office.

Tense beat

Addington picks up the phone and dials.

CU: NAME TAG READING “DOUG.” Some guy in a Men’s Warehouse suit, DOUG, 24, sitting in the corner of a conference room.

Cheney and Addington sit at the large table very far away.

Two men walk in, FACES PIXILATED AND VOICES DISTORTED.

They all shake hands and have a seat.

Doug now listening to music on his head phones gives a chipper thumbs up.

CU of hands opening a large envelope and removing copies of maps that are laid on a table.

CU on a MAP OF ALL THE IRAQI OIL FIELDS with OIL COMPANIES’ NAMES ON THEM...

We pan over the map. Seeing names like Exxon, BP, Shell etc.

TV SCREEN: ACTUAL DiTech Commercial for mortgage consolidation that was playing on 9/11, is interrupted by BREAKING NEWS.

Cheney, Condi Rice and Mary Matalin are watching CNN. ONE OF THE TWIN TOWERS IS SMOKING. SUDDENLY A SECOND PLANE SOARS INTO FRAME AND HITS THE OTHER TOWER. Everyone gasps.

SECRET SERVICE AGENTS rush in.

Cheney is transfixed by the smoking towers. He doesn’t move.

THE SECRET SERVICE AGENT GRABS CHENEY BY THE BELT AND LIFTS HIM OFF THE GROUND. Everyone rushes to the door and down stairs. They make their way into a Cold War era bunker. The Secret Service Agent straggles behind with another AGENT.

A TV in a hair salon shows that the Pentagon has also been hit. Lynne is there arguing with her SECRET SERVICE detail.

SECRET SERVICE AGENT #2 But Mrs. Cheney I’m being told no one is to go to the White House. It’s not safe.

Sirens blare in the background as Secret Service escorts Lynne to a car.

Cheney, on the phone amidst the chaos, Norman Mineta, Addington, Condi Rice, Scooter Libby and Karen Hughes and a few others are there.

Dick hangs up a call with the President.

Cheney points to the speaker phone.

He picks up the line.

Beat.

Condi and the Staffer make eye contact.

Addington leans to Cheney. They talk in hushed tones.

Karen Hughes tries to get Cheney’s attention.

CLIP: The Twin Towers crumble to the ground.

Lynne leans into Dick.

Dick clasps his hands and considers the question.

L/3 “The Unitary Executive”

STOCK: EXT. New York

People running through the streets covered in ash.

W Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, RICHARD CLARKE 53, Scooter Libby, Condi and George Tenet all convene.

L/3 “Colin Powell: Secretary of State”

Bush looks around the room. Uncertain for a beat.

Tenet gives Rumsfeld a glance. Don is not happy.

Everyone gets up to leave.

A LARGE HELICOPTER TAKES OFF. Two SECRET SERVICE AGENTS holding machine guns stand and watch.

SECRET SERVICE AGENT #2 Angler? That’s the VP? I thought only the President could land and take off from the south lawn?

Dick, Lynne, A MARINE GUARD and a DOCTOR are in a small craft GOING DOWN AND DOWN INTO THE DARKNESS...

Intel Officers, NSC members surround a table. CHENEY IS ON A SCREEN OR SVTS (sivits), TELECONFERENCING IN FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.

SLOW PUSH IN ON CHENEY’S FACE AS HE HEARS THE RAW INTEL BEING READ BY THE GROUP. The collage of intel becomes denser and denser, mixed with static ridden Arabic and other languages.

SCORE: A SINGLE LONG DARK NOTE

As we get to a grainy close up of Cheney’s eyes on the screen we see something that hasn’t been apparent before: FEAR.

Lynne and Dick lay in bed in a giant DARK CAVERN with spare furniture and telecommunications equipment.

In the darkness Cheney is just a black silhouette.

FLASH TO: A stream. Cheney stands in it fishing. BY A ROCK, UNDER THE WATER IS THE SHADOW OF A HORRIBLE CREATURE.

VFX: CHEST POUNDING EXPLOSIONS dot a mountainside in Afghanistan as US FIGHTER JETS screech across the sky.

5 US SOLDIERS lead a row of 12 TALIBAN PRISONERS towards an old stone wall. The Taliban fighters are dirty and dusty and look spent. One of the US SOLDIERS IS OUR NARRATOR TALKING TO CAMERA. HE HAS ENLISTED.

Sign: “The Office of Legal Counsel.” David Addington sits across from two OLC LAWYERS. Cheney TELECONFERENCES in.

JOHN YOO, 34, an Asian American lawyer with a deliberate professional manner sits across from them. JAY BYBEE, 48, the Assistant Attorney General for the OLC is next to Yoo.

Beat.

MUSIC: GLORIOUS AND INTRICATE

John Yoo is at the computer. David Addington paces. Occasionally Bybee walks in with case files.

QUICK CUT: Soldiers punch prisoners.

QUICK CUT: Prisoners are pushed into boxes.

Cheney, Addington, W Bush, Tenet and Rumsfeld.

QUICK CUTS SHOWING:

1. A MIDDLE EASTERN MAN naked and being water boarded. He howls and cries.

2. The CLERIC from the beginning having his genitals shocked with wires. He screams as much as a person can scream.

4. A MAN WITH HIS WIFE AND KIDS IN FRONT OF HIM. A CIA AGENT SCREAMS AT HIM.

TRANSLATOR#2 (Translates in Arabic)

A TRANSLATOR yells the translation. The Man, his family SOB.

A fancy WAITER, 54, lists the specials to Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Addington at a lavish table.

They hand the Waiter their menus.

FOCUS GROUP LEADER, 34, an upbeat woman talks to a DOZEN AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN OF MIXED AGES.

A 60 YEAR OLD MAN in a football jersey answers.

60 YEAR OLD GUY Don’t we just have to get Osama bin Laden? He did it. So why are they calling it a war? A war with who?

19 YR OLD GIRL in a half tee raises her hand.

19 YR OLD GIRL I don’t get what this Al Qaeda is. Are they a country? Why can’t we just bomb them?

Most hands go up.

ON SCREEN: These focus groups happened in February 2002. They were overseen by the Pentagon and headed by PR and Marketing execs.

60 YEAR OLD GUY Damn right. I’m angry as hell. We gotta fuck someone up.

Most hands go up.

Beat.

They all smile and laugh.

SCORE: GIANT ORCHESTRAL PIECE

Cheney talks with W Bush.

A half dozen of Cheney’s people work at desks, reading and writing at the OFFICE OF SPECIAL PLANS: WILLIAM LUTI, DOUGLAS FEITH, ABRAM SHULSKY, and Paul Wolfowitz barking out orders.

Condi Rice is being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer.

CUT TO: SNIPPETS OF CSPAN, CNN, ABC, CBS. Various Politicians across party lines supporting the war on Iraq.

BILL O’REILLY (SOT) (on TV) We gotta get rid of this dictator. He’s got anthrax. He’s got all these weapons.

TV CLIP FROM SURVIVOR

The President, Rove, Condi, George Tenet, Hughes, Powell, Cheney and Rumsfeld are all talking about the war.

Cheney is quiet.

COLIN POWELL RUMSFELD (CONT'D)

What about the intelligence. Oh come on! You know you’re Has anybody thought about the wrong, you’re just a chicken intelligence? You break it, shit. you bought it. You break it, you bought it!

Dick is next to W across the room. He speaks to him quietly.

After a quarter beat W turns back to the group.

Dick pulls Tenet aside.

FREEZE: as the report is handed to Cheney.

Zarqawi walks toward OSAMA BIN LADEN. They sit and talk.

Cheney and Scooter Libby talk to a female CIA ANALYST, 28.

Powell storms down the hallway holding some papers. He stops COLONEL WILKERSON, 57, Powell’s Chief of Staff at State.

Scooter on the phone.

David Addington enters and silently listens.

Zarqawi and some of his followers clean their guns and talk.

Actual VT: Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister, addresses the General Assembly.

Zarqawi and five other TERRORISTS watch Powell on a laptop.

Powell shuffles his papers.

FADE TO BLACK:

Dick Cheney, Lynne, Liz, Philip, Mary and her girlfriend Heather eat a LAVISH FISH DINNER with the grandkids. They laugh and talk over each other.

MARY LIZ (CONT'D)

We watched it at your house. I watched it sitting next to

you.

Everyone is drinking and laughing

LIZ DICK (CONT'D)

I don’t know. You cut off his nose.

STOCK FOOTAGE: The skyline of Baghdad explodes with rockets.

W Bush talks to camera addressing the nation.

W Bush’s leg bops up and down nervously under the desk.

An IRAQI FAMILY cowers under a table. The Father’s leg also bounces up and down.

POV VT FEED: A CRUISE MISSILE HITS THE APARTMENT BUILDING

US SOLDIERS run alongside a tank. Bodies burning in the street.

MONTAGE - EXT. IRAQ -DAY

A CROWD OF IRAQIS pull down the statue of Saddam and put an American flag over his head.

ACTUAL VT: WIDE SHOT: W BUSH lands on the aircraft carrier in his flight suit (STOCK FOOTAGE/HEAD REPLACEMENT).

Lynne, Dick, Liz, Philip, Mary, Heather, RIDE ACROSS A FIELD ON HORSES IN MODERN WESTERN GARB. They stop and pose in a line. We FREEZE. It is magnificent.

PUMPED UP AMERICANS with USA caps and beer, chant to camera.

Kurt the Narrator talks to us into a video camera.

ACTUAL VT: W BUSH speaks from a podium. (STOCK FOOTAGE/HEAD REPLACEMENT).

Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and TWO GENERALS meet.

GENERAL #1 We have concerns over Halliburton KBR’s billing practices. (MORE)

GENERAL #1 (CONT'D) As you know, the no-bid contracts they received were quite sizable and now-

Birds fly across a late morning Texas sky.

We hear a SHOTGUN BLAST AND A SCREAM. Tilt down to reveal a lawyer, 78, HARRY WHITTINGTON with blood all over his face.

It is a hunting group: PAMELA WILLEFORD, Cheney, holding a smoking gun, a RANCH HAND, SECRET SERVICE AGENTS and OTHERS sitting in town cars parked across from the hunting blind.

KATHERINE ARMSTRONG, late 50’s and her sister run up.

CU OF AN EMPTY BEER CAN.

TV SCREEN: BREAKING NEWS MSNBC - DAY

Cheney and Scooter look at the famous Op-ed in the NY Times by Joe Wilson questioning the yellowcake intel.

“ONE YEAR LATER”

A road near some Iraqi apartments. A CONVOY OF AMERICAN HUMVEES MAKES THEIR WAY DOWN THE ROAD. Two SOLDIERS, 19 AND 29 sit in the front of one of the vehicles.

SOLDIER #1 Okay, okay, like... they don’t care about their dogs. They’ll shoot em, let em run wild... What kind of people don’t love a dog?

SOLDIER #2 People in India love cows. They would look at us and how we treat cows and think the same thing.

SOLDIER #1 Captain, with all due respect that is some liberal ass scratchin bullshit if ever I’ve heard it-

EXPLOSION GOES OFF UNDER THEIR FRONT WHEEL.

The vehicle is thrown up in the air. QUICK FLASH OF THE YOUNG SOLDIER DEAD, HIS RIGHT HALF BLOWN CLEAN OFF.

Rumsfeld, holding a piece of paper in his hand, walks with a head of steam towards the Vice President’s office. He walks right past his SECRETARY.

Rumsfeld bursts in. Cheney and Scooter are there.

He hands Cheney a CIA CLASSIFIED BRIEFING. Flashes of words “building insurgency” “Zarqawi” “using former Iraqi Military” “Zarqawi” and once again, “Zarqawi.”

Libby is now reading it.

XT. WIDE CITY VIEW OF BAGHDAD - DAY - 2004

THE ANCIENT CITY LOOKS NORMAL, with traffic, and yes, a military presence but still, fairly hum drum.

An explosion erupts in the distance. We hear sirens.

Another explosion in the distance. More sirens.

We pan off a blood stained and blackened wall of a subway car and down to the floor where a blood smear from a body being dragged makes it way across the floor. There is a briefcase with scattered papers, a purse, a child’s lunch box and shoe and a severed hand laying about.

We follow the smear down the aisle and out to the door where it meets the platform and becomes dirt and blood mixed together. We see the legs of 2 POLICE OFFICERS IN THE BACKGROUND.

Next to a giant bed, a shelf full of dusty VHS tapes of American movies.

Pan past copies of RED HEAT, TURNER AND HOOTCH etc.

Cheney walks through the crowded Senate floor, shaking hands.

A Dem Senator PATRICK LEAHY, 60’s approaches him.

Cheney turns to him with his crooked smile.

Dick Cheney, wearing a Nationals jacket comes exits the dugout to throw out the first pitch.

The crowd boos Cheney.

An AIDE walks down a long hallway as we hear snippets of news, radio and pundits.

The AIDE reaches the end of the hallway, knocks on a door.

The Aide turns and walks away.

SAME TIME

Cheney is on the phone in his study. Cut back and forth.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

Long beat.

Rumsfeld hangs up.

THE INAUGURATION OF BARACK OBAMA. Cheney, in a wheelchair, and W Bush walk out for the ceremonial changing of power (STOCK FOOTAGE/HEAD REPLACEMENT).

Our NARRATOR jogs while talking to camera.

Cheney, looking very thin is in a hospital bed with Mary, Liz and Lynne around him. A DOCTOR is there.

The family laughs while crying.

Lynne comes over to Dick and they share a quiet moment together.

Our NARRATOR, continues jogging.

A CAR HITS THE NARRATOR IN A CROSS WALK. Throwing him with a bone crushing thud onto the hard macadam of the street. BLOOD POOLS BEHIND HIS HEAD.

QUICK CUTS: 1) A HEART BEING PUT ON ICE IN AN ORANGE COOLER. 2) A MEDICAL HELICOPTER TAKING OFF 3) A SURGICAL ROOM BEING PREPPED.

Cheney is wheeled into the surgical room.

The NARRATOR WITH CROSS HATCHED STITCHING ACROSS HIS CHEST, nude, lays on a morgue slab.

A helicopter lands on the roof of the hospital. A doctor runs with a cooler.

The SURGEON AND TEAM make an incision in Cheney’s chest.

CU of a phone. We hear a RECORDING OF MAN’S VOICE coming through the receiver.

Liz, in tears puts down the phone.

The Surgeon has the chest spreader out and opens up Cheney’s chest, revealing his heart.

Liz being interview by male news anchor.

Cheney and Lynne watch. Cheney is silent.

Mary is on the phone with Heather behind her. Their children’s toys scattered on the floor.

Lynne is on the phone.

Dick sits in the background.

The Surgeon removes Cheney’s heart. We see Cheney on the table. A hole where the heart should be. Even the Surgeon takes a beat to take in the image.

QUICK CUTS SHOWING:

1) A Soldier’s body in a casket as a group of soldiers salute. 2) Bodies burning in the streets of Iraq. 3) Rumsfeld alone in the Pentagon basement office. 4)George W standing alone thinking. 5) A solider taking a thumbs up photo with a dead Iraqi. 6) Focus Groups raising their hands. 7) A news office reporting of various stories. 8) Stills of Americans yelling. 9) Kids in American cages.

A heart is placed in Cheney’s chest.

Liz waits for Dick’s response to the push poll about her sister.

Lynne looks at Dick...who after a beat, NODS “DO IT.”

Mary’s wife rubs her back as she cries.

QUICK CUTS/STILLS SHOWING:

1)Iconic Crying Border Girl 2) Cops pulling guns on a group of black teenagers 3)High school graduates being arrested. 4) Alex Jones from INFO WARS 5) A family praying 6) Dick walking out to fish.

Push into the trees til we focus on one tree with an aged worn carving in it of a HEART WITH: DICK + LYNNE

We hear a heart monitor beeping.

Pan to the side table where CHENEY’S OLD HEART SITS, SCARRED FROM IT’S MANY HEART ATTACKS AND TWICE THE SIZE OF A NORMAL HEALTHY HEART.

“Lynne and Dick split time between their home in Wyoming and Virginia.”

“In 2016, Liz was elected as Wyoming’s sole representative to the House of Representatives.”

“Mary Cheney was asked in 2015 whether she and Liz had mended their relationship. She replied, “I don’t have to answer that.””

CUT TO BLACK:

Camera crew surrounds Dick and Martha the interviewer.

OVER BLACK:

“4,550 US Soldiers were killed in the Iraq war with over 32,325 casualties. Suicide among American soldiers has increased 31% since 2001.”

”More than 600,000 Iraqi civilians died as a result of the war.”

“ISIS is responsible for the deaths of an estimated 150,000 civilians in Syria and Iraq with more than 2,000 murdered in international terror attacks.

Camera crew surrounds Dick and Martha the interviewer.

Dick takes a drink of water.

Beat.

Dick struggles then turns to camera.

Dick gets emotional.

CUT TO BLACK:

“In the years following the invasion of Iraq, Halliburton stock rose 500%”

“The Bush-Cheney White House claimed to have lost 22 million emails, including millions that were written in the run up to the Iraq war.”

“It was found that there were “Blackout” periods, when there were no emails available from the office of Vice President Cheney.”

“The memos Yoo wrote on torture and warrantless surveillance give the President almost unlimited power under the unitary executive theory.”

“These memos are in the Justice Department’s computers to this day.”

“Any President can still cite them if he or she wishes.”

MUSIC: America from WEST SIDE STORY

CREDITS ROLL

THEN AFTER AWHILE THEY ARE INTERRUPTED BY A HASH AND A CHANNEL CHANGE...

Our FOCUS GROUP LEADER in front of the group again.

Guy in the Bucs jersey (Mark).

Two other hands go up.

TURNER MARK

Ok, first of all, Hillary’s Chicken shit! not President! Ok, the orange cheeto that you hired is the President. And he’s ruining the country that you claim to love!

Mark lunges for Turner. The fight. People jump up and break them apart. A Young Woman screams.

CUT TO BLACK: