Work Text:
0:00.00 - 0:26.52
NARRATOR:
"In a world..."
We see only darkness spangled with twinkling lights. A dark silhouette glides by, blocking them out for a moment.
NARRATOR:
"...of fantasy held aloft by the thinnest of cords."
Curtains open onto a spot-lit stage. SABINE stands looking out as aerial acrobats fly past. She looks over her shoulder, smiling radiantly.
SABINE:
"Wanna give it a go, Joe?"
NARRATOR:
"Wings are cut."
SABINE on a trapeze glides by. The scene cuts to a rope stretched too taunt. It suddenly breaks with a shocking SNAP! Cut to a crowd of men, women and children. They all jump to their feet, gasping. Fade to black and fade back in on SABINE unconscious on the ground.
0:26.53 - 1:01.15
NARRATOR:
"Medicine tries to hold the world steady."
In a hospital hallway, PAUL is shaking hands with JAMES, an older man in a white coat.
JAMES:
"So you're Paul Webber? New doctor to the stars, huh?"
Cut to JAMES pulling PAUL in close.
JAMES:
"The Maniacal Magician? His name is Erik Lexi "
Cut to the front porch of an old colonial mansion. PAUL stands outside the front door with the Ace of Spades in his hand.
Voice over-JAMES:
"He only goes by Lexi."
PAUL looks around the porch as if a disembodied voice is speaking to him.
Voice over-JAMES:
"Don't call him Erik. His mother called him Erik."
PAUL turns back to the card in his hand which has inexplicably caught fire.
PAUL:
"Jesus!"
He drops the flaming card. The camera focuses on it. It has not burned up, but changed to a black square out of which glare a pair of yellow eyes. The words "The Maniacal Magician" are just visible as a silver etching. They seem to whisper.
Voice over-JAMES:
"If you value your sanity, only call him Lexi."
1:01.16 - 1:28.48
Cut to the interior of the house. PAUL stands facing a man sitting in a chair. The man looks ordinary; Caucasian , dark hair, wearing shades (even though he is inside and sitting where there is little light). There is something just a bit off about him.
PAUL:
"You have quite a file, Mr. Lexi."
PAUL turns his back to heft the folder off the kitchen island counter. The seated figure moves eerily in the blurred background.
PAUL:
"I haven't had time to review it yet..."
PAUL faces LEXI again - in place of the ordinary man is a corpse-thin figure with its face in shadow. The figure seems to have replaced the other in the blink of an eye. PAUL starts violently and drops the file, scattering papers all over the floor.
LEXI:
"You probably should have read it."
1:28.49 - 1:45.78
Cut to the interior of a seedy looking bar. PAUL sits with a PROMOTER who smokes a cigar
PAUL:
"What's with this guy?"
PAUL is looking at a garish poster for CirqueDarkMoon that features LEXI as only a dark shadow with yellow eyes.
PROMOTER:
"Greatest magician the world has ever seen...
Cut to a short montage of a garishly dressed, masked figure performing incredible feats of stage magic.
Voice over-PROMOTER:
"...'cept no one's really ever seen him."
1:45.79 - 2:20.14
NARRATOR:
"Not all wounds can be healed."
Cut to a brightly lit clinical space - stainless steel and white - antiseptic. PAUL is looking at a clipboard, then quickly up at something outside the shot.
PAUL:
"Lexi?"
A naked, skeletal figure steps into the scene and cages PAUL against the wall. Cut to a side view of PAUL standing rigid, Lexi leaning against him, his head on Paul's shoulder, face obscured by Paul's profile and the clipboard that is wedged between them.
Voice over - PAUL:
"He's like a hurting animal..."
Cut to the interior of PAUL's apartment. PAUL is raging and throwing things.
Voice over-PAUL:
"...you want to help him..."
Cut to the front porch of LEXI's house, PAUL banging desperately on the door.
Voice over-PAUL:
"... but you're just as afraid."
Cut to LEXI'S bathroom. PAUL sits on the floor with LEXI thrown back against him, his head tilted at an acute angle back over PAUL'S shoulder. PAUL shouts for help into a cell phone - blood of an unknown origin streaks LEXI'S clothes.
2:20.15 - 2:37.49
NARRATOR:
"Doctors lose their way."
Cut to a hospital room. PAUL sits next to a hospital bed with his head in his hands. We cannot see if the bed is occupied.
Voice over-Apple's AI assistant SIRI:
"What is a Maniacal Magician?"
CUT to PAUL arranging SABINE in her power-chair. She is completely paralyzed. CUT to a close-up of her face. Her eyes flit about oddly. CUT to a screen in front of her where highlighted words are tracking her eye movements as she spells out "magician". In the background, a silent television is tuned to a news program showing flashes of PAUL being pursued by reporters followed by scenes of LEXI performing in CirqueDarkMoon Closed captioning on the screen reads "Dr. Paul Webber refused to comment on the status of the Maniacal Magician."
02:37.50 - 03:03:05
NARRATOR:
"...and just as all hope is lost..."
CUT to an unknown location. The PROMOTER and PAUL are standing outside on a sidewalk.
PROMOTER:
"Whata' ya mean 'he doesn't wanna wake up'?"
CUT to an unknown interior, a shot from the perspective of the ceiling looking at LEXI laying on his side, folded awkwardly as the bed is too short for his tall frame. The room is to dim to see him clearly, but a flash of lighting brightens the room and the audience receives the briefest view of his face.
CUT back to PROMOTER and PAUL.
PROMOTER:
"You get him to wake up!" The man jabs a finger at PAUL emphatically. "That's you're job!"
NARRATOR:
"...a path out of darkness opens."
Voice over - SIRI/SABINE:
"I can help."
CUT to a close up of SABINE'S face. Her eyes cut hard to PAUL.
03:03.06 - 03:13:.81
NARRATOR:
"Can two people..."
CUT to a tight close up of LEXI'S face, so tight that we only see his odd, yellow eyes and a hand pressed along his cheek.
Voice over-PAUL:
"She can't feel anything."
CUT to a tight close up of SABINE'S face, her eyes fixed on something, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she were going to smile.
Voice-over-LEXI:
"She can feel so much."
03:13:.82 - 03:55.67
NARRATOR:
"... who lived in and were broken by the spotlight..."
CUT to a rapid, musically charged montage - flashes of LEXI as a small boy locked in a cage; of SABINE being flung through the air in the midst of cruel laughter; of fireworks over burning circus tents; of a gaudily clad group raising their fists in protest; of a black painted mask shattering against a wall.
NARRATOR:
"...come together to make a whole?"
The montage continues: LEXI as the Maniacal Magician, holding tight to someone while whirling above the stage; a crowd jumping to it's feet; PAUL standing somewhere, yelling: "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER IN THE SHOW!"; children giggling while running alongside a dark car festooned with streamers; the hall of a hospital ward full of laughing patients...
NARRATOR:
"This summer, discover the magic..."
The montage continues: LEXI performing an amazing feat onstage; a scene of an elephant cuddling PAUL with its trunk; a glimpse of an astounding display of acrobatics; SABINE, surrounded by glittering filament, standing up from her mobility chair...
NARRATOR:
"...of CirqueDarkMoon."
03:55.68 - 4:14:27
TITLE CARD
BLACK SCREEN
CUT to PAUL standing nonchalantly at the kitchen island in LEXI'S house reading the newspaper. He is surrounded by flames!
PAUL:
"Lexi, could we do without the fire?"
LEXI walks through the shot behind PAUL (we almost see his face). He raises a hand as he passes and snaps his fingers loudly. The flames instantly disappear and it begins to snow!
PAUL (through clenched teeth):
"Better. This is better."
He flicks snow off the paper and continues reading.
END