I hope I’m not plagerizing, but this is from Dan Brown’s: The Da Vinci Code. A fellow XXI Rev found this proposed script for the movie coming out who-knows-when:
91 EXT. CHATEAU VILLETTE - CONTINUOUS 91
Robert and Sophie wait expectantly. REMY, Leigh's
manservant, responds.
REMY (ON INTERCOM)
One moment please.
Sophie and Robert look to each other.
LEIGH (ON INTERCOM)
If you are really my friend, you'll be
able to tell me what year a Harvard
sculler outrowed an Oxford man at Henley?
Robert thinks hard, then relaxes.
ROBERT
Surely, such a travesty has never
occurred?
LEIGH (ON INTERCOM)
My dear Robert, I see you're still on
Boston time!
The gates open.
92 INT. CHATEAU VILLETTE, GRAIL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER 92
Sophie and Robert stand in a room filled with books,
paintings, and sculptures all related to the Grail.
LEIGH TEABING enters. He is tall, impeccably British, and
wears braces on his legs. He uses crutches to walk.
LEIGH
Robert! So sorry to keep you waiting,
but contrary to popular opinion I don't
sleep in these blasted things.
He signals the braces.
ROBERT
Our fault for knocking you up in the
middle of the night, I dare say.
LEIGH
Well, your English is improving, if not
your manners.
Leigh looks delightedly toward Sophie.
LEIGH (CONT'D)
Leigh Teabing. Call me Leigh, or Sir si
vous-preferez.
He kisses her hand. Sophie smiles.
ROBERT
Sophie Neveu, agent with the French
Police.
Leigh lets go of her hand and looks her over.
SOPHIE
(almost apologetic)
Cryptology department. The DCPJ.
LEIGH
(walking to his desk)
I suppose it takes all kinds, as they
say.
SOPHIE
Thank you for seeing us at so late-
LEIGH
Or early. Your English-
SOPHIE
I studied at the Royal Halloway.
LEIGH
Perhaps Robert mentioned that I read just
down the road at Oxford. Of course I
also applied to Harvard- it's always good
to have a safety school.
ROBERT
We need to talk to you about the Priory.
LEIGH
The keepers? So this is about the Grail.
ROBERT
First, I was hoping you could explain the
Grail to Ms. Neveu.
LEIGH
Robert, have you brought me a virgin?
ROBERT
(becoming uncomfortable)
On the Grail subject, yes.
LEIGH
How much do you know?
SOPHIE
I know about the Sangreal documents and
the Knights Templar. I know the Grail
isn't a Grail, but what it is-
LEIGH
Why, you've robbed her of the climax!
ROBERT
I thought you and I could-
He stammers at the thought of adding to the metaphor.
Leigh raises an eyebrow.
ROBERT (CONT'D)
Explain. I thought we could explain.
LEIGH
(smiling)
People ask me where the Grail is. That,
I fear, we'll never know. The key
question concerns what the Grail is. How
well do you know the Bible?
SOPHIE
Not well, my father worshipped Leonardo
da Vinci.
LEIGH
An enlightened soul! Da Vinci himself
was one of the keepers of the Grail.
SOPHIE
He was a Priory member?
LEIGH
He even made a portrait of the Grail, but
I'm getting ahead of myself. Now, how
important do you think Jesus the Christ
was when he was alive?
SOPHIE
Very.
LEIGH
Have you ever wondered why our Bible
includes only four gospels?
Sophie looks confused, but intrigued.
LEIGH (CONT'D)
The Bible was not like the Ten
Commandments, falling directly from God
into our outstretched arms. And the
fundamental irony of Christianity today
is that it was assembled by a Pagan,
Constantine the Great.
SOPHIE
I thought he was Christian.
She looks to Robert who shakes his head.
LEIGH
He was baptized on his death-bed, when he
was too weak to protest. In his day Rome
revolved around power, and he was clever
enough to capitalize on this upstart
faith, to take its power and make it
Rome's. Unfortunately for us, Rome
remade Christianity in its own image.
What used to be a faith based on equality
became a sexist, classist bureaucracy.
Rome was patriarchal and kept the lower
classes in their place. Sound familiar?
SOPHIE
The early church.
LEIGH
And the Priory made it their mission to
secretly keep alive the truths that the
early church committed nothing less then
theocide, theosophical genocide, to
destroy. Foremost of these was the
concept of the Sacred Feminine.
ROBERT
Since the dawn of faith we had viewed the
world as a balance of the masculine and
the feminine, with creation the result of
their union. The Sacred Feminine was
given even greater respect due to its
power to create and sustain life.
LEIGH
But how could a patriarchy like Rome
withstand such a faith? By changing it
to suit their needs and burning the
millions who tried to stand in their way.
Historians still marvel at the way
Constantine lured Pagans in by taking
their most sacred symbols and festivals
and Christianizing them.
Sophie looks to Robert in surprise.
ROBERT
It's called transmogrification-
LEIGH
A Harvard word if ever I heard one-
ROBERT
Virtually all the elements of Catholic
ritual- the mitre, the altar, the
doxology, the communion, incense, robes-
were taken from Pagan mysteries.
LEIGH
The celebration of solstice, of the new
born Winter King, became Christmas, and
if you can find eggs and rabbits in the
crucifixion I'd be very impressed.
ROBERT
But they're a large part of spring
fertility rites.
LEIGH
Even the Christian holy day was taken
from Paganism. Originally, Christians
rested on the Jewish holy day of
Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to
the Pagan day of Sun veneration, Sunday.
SOPHIE
And this relates to the Grail?
LEIGH
Very much so. During this fusing of
religions, Constantine needed to solidify
the new traditions, so he held the
council of Nicea. Here aspects of the
Christian faith were put to a vote,
including the divinity of Jesus.
Sophie looks stunned.
ROBERT
Until that moment Jesus was viewed by his
followers as the Master, a teacher and
prophet, but a mortal man. The "Son of
God" title was proposed and voted on.
SOPHIE
So Jesus being divine came from a vote?
LEIGH
And a close one at that. But the Roman
church could only claim divine power if
the source of their faith was divine.
ROBERT
Some believe that the early church stole
Jesus from his original followers. They
got rid of such tenets as daily
meditation, abstaining from red meat-
LEIGH
Which did live on as meatless Fridays-
ROBERT
And regular fasting, and replaced them
with subservience to a power structure.
SOPHIE
(to Leigh)
I assume you get hate mail daily.
LEIGH
Why? The power plays of Rome don't
diminish the majesty of Christ's life.
He inspires millions to better lives!
But history tells us there were men who
took advantage of his power. And in so
doing banished thousands of documents
about his life as a mortal man.
SOPHIE
Other writings?
LEIGH
They rounded up diaries, gospels,
teachings- many written by his original
followers- and burned them, along with
anyone who chose the original gospels
over the new version.
ROBERT
This is when the term 'heretic' was
created. It comes from the Latin for
'choice.' Anyone who made their own
choice in the matter was killed.
LEIGH
Fortunately, some undiluted scriptures
survived. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the
Coptic scrolls of Nag Hammadi. In
addition to telling the true Grail story,
they highlight glaring discrepancies
between the official Bible and the
records of the age.
ROBERT
It's important to remember in all this
that modern Rome is a place of great
faith. They act only to protect what
they consider the truth.
LEIGH
Robert has a softer heart for Rome than
I. He actually has friends there.
Leigh gestures to a large fresco of The Last Supper.
LEIGH (CONT'D)
I assume you're familiar with this?
SOPHIE
Of course.
LEIGH
Then why don't we play a little game?
Close your eyes and tell me what they are
drinking.
SOPHIE
Wine.
LEIGH
And how many glasses are there?
Sophie hesitates.
SOPHIE
One. Jesus shares a single chalice.
Leigh smiles.
ROBERT
Open your eyes, Sophie.
Sophie opens her eyes and looks at the painting. Everyone at
the table has a glass cup of wine. There is no chalice.
LEIGH
A bit strange? When everything we know
about that night says there was only one.
SOPHIE
Does the fresco tell us what the Grail
really is?
LEIGH
(shaking his head)
Not what, Sophie. Who.
SOPHIE
Who? The Holy Grail is a person?
LEIGH
Now you've got it! Perhaps this is a
good time for the symbologist to-
Robert walks up.
ROBERT
You know the symbols for male and female?
Sophie nods and looks back to the painting to find them.
ROBERT (CONT'D)
No, those were originally the signs for
Mars and Venus. The original symbols for
man and woman were much simpler.
He puts his hands in the shape of an upward pointing arrow.
ROBERT (CONT'D)
This used to be the symbol for the
masculine, a rudimentary phallus.
SOPHIE
Quite to the point.
LEIGH
As it were.
ROBERT
It's symbol is also a sword.
(inverting it)
And this was the symbol for the feminine.
It symbolizes the womb, the sacred source
of life, and it's symbol is a cup or-
SOPHIE
(getting it)
Chalice. The Grail!
ROBERT
And the Holy Grail is another way of
saying the Sacred womb, or feminine. But
the church called women evil. There was
no Goddess in their world, only God. The
men claimed it proved their divine right
to rule over women. The Grail symbolizes
the banished Goddess.
SOPHIE
I'm sorry, I thought you meant it was an
actual person.
LEIGH
She is. Do you wish to see Da Vinci's
painting of her?
Sophie nods.
LEIGH (CONT'D)
Then turn back to The Last Supper.
SOPHIE
But there are no women in-
She stops. Leigh smiles.
Walking to the painting, Sophie looks closer.
LEIGH
Seated in the place of honor at the
Master's right hand, dressed in a mirror
image of Jesus, with flowing red hair and
just the hint of a chest.
SOPHIE
That's a woman!
ROBERT
Da Vinci actually exhumed corpses to
study physiology - if anyone knew the
difference in painting women and men, it
was him. Even the facial structure-
SOPHIE
How? How did I miss-
ROBERT
Most people do. The original fresco had
been painted over many times, only a
restoration in 1954 revealed Da Vinci's
original work.
LEIGH
And of course there are countless
'versions' of the Last Supper out there,
all with the original meaning erased.
SOPHIE
Who is she?
LEIGH
Mary Magdalene. Wife of Jesus.
Sophie turns back from the painting in shock.
SOPHIE
But-
LEIGH
It's historical truth. The Gospel of
Philip dutifully records her role as
'companion' to Jesus. 'Companion' in
those days literally meant spouse.
ROBERT
(still looking at the painting)
See how their connected bodies actually
form the symbol for the feminine?
LEIGH
I won't go into the other sources now so
let's stick with reason. Jewish
tradition insisted on marriage for sons.
If Jesus had never married at least one
of the Gospels would have explained his
unnatural state.
ROBERT
But there's another complication. See
how Da Vinci has painted St. Peter? With
one hand slicing Mary's neck?
LEIGH
The unaltered gospels tell us that Jesus
had intended Mary, not Peter, to carry on
the faith. It was to her that he gave
instructions for continuing his work.
SOPHIE
But wasn't Mary a prostitute?
Offended, Leigh turns his back on Sophie, retrieving a book.
LEIGH
She was nothing of the kind. See here,
Mary had royal blood in her veins.
SOPHIE
(looking over the text)
A descendent of the Tribe of Benjamin?
LEIGH
And by marrying they fused two powerful
and ancient royal bloodlines. Any
offspring could make a legitimate claim
to the throne, restore the line of kings
as it was under Solomon.
SOPHIE
You mean children?
ROBERT
The cup that caught Christ's blood, the
womb that carried the royal bloodline.
That is the Grail story.
SOPHIE
But how could this be kept quiet?
LEIGH
My dear, it has been anything but quiet!
Magdalene's story has been shouted from
the rooftops for ages! Her story is
everywhere once you open your eyes!
SOPHIE
So the documents are about Royal Blood?
LEIGH
Literally. San greal means Holy Grail,
but divide that word one letter later-
SOPHIE
Sang real. Royal blood.
Dazed, Sophie walks along the line of books on the subject.
ROBERT
Don't just believe us, research it for
yourself. The evidence is substantial.
Sophie looks at the binding of a book.
SOPHIE
That rose, five petals.
LEIGH
She has a good eye! The church forbade
the speaking of Mary's name for years, so
the Priory developed this symbol.
ROBERT
The five petals represent the pentacle of
Venus, which itself represents the divine
union of creation, of male and female.
LEIGH
And the word rose, which is the same in
many languages, is an anagram of Eros,
God of sexual love.
ROBERT
It also has a visual tie-
Robert pauses as Sophie waits for him to finish the sentence.
LEIGH
Oh, please. What the prudish American
can't bring himself to say is that the
blossoming rose represent female
genitalia, the sublime source of life.
ROBERT
(getting back to the point)
Afraid for her life and that of her
unborn child, Joseph of Arimathea helped
Mary flea to France after Jesus' death.
Not long after arriving she gave birth to
a daughter, Sarah.
SOPHIE
They know the child's name?
LEIGH
More than that. The Jewish community in
France considered her royalty. They
protected her and recorded as much about
her life as they could. Including the
line of descendents, a cornerstone of the
Sangreal documents.
SOPHIE
I thought the documents were buried with
the Grail.
LEIGH
They are. The Sangreal collection
includes a sarcophagus. The quest for
the Grail has always been a quest of
humility, to pray before the outcast
Queen Mother, entombed with the evidence
of her family's rightful claim. To kneel
before the feminine face of God.
ROBERT
Later, they intermarried with another
royal line, the Merovingians.
SOPHIE
The family that founded Paris?
ROBERT
One of the reasons the Grail is so
beloved here. Do you know King Dagobert?
SOPHIE
Merovingian? Stabbed in his sleep?
LEIGH
Assassinated in an attempt to wipe out
the bloodline. But his son, Sigisbert,
escaped and carried on the lineage, which
later included Godfroi de Bouillon,
founder of the Priory of Sion.
SOPHIE
But historians could never prove every
step of this.
LEIGH
Nor can they prove every step of the
Bible, but it's had a voice in the world
for years. The Sangreal documents have
been waiting to tell their side.
Robert smiles.
ROBERT
"Our goal is not to make up anyone's mind
for them, but to make the agony of
decision making so intense, you can only
escape by thinking."
They stare at him.
ROBERT (CONT'D)
It's my sig file.