The world
is waiting
for you.
EXT. VIA DEL PLEBESCITO (ROME) – ROYAL PROCESSION – SUNRISE
A dual column of turquoise-uniformed honor guards on white horses escorts an elaborate horse-drawn carriage.
NATIONAL LEADER
We are convinced that this is a serious attempt. All the signs point to a very detailed plot, carefully designed to make a mockery of anyone attempting to stop it.
CONTINUING PROCESSION (ROME)
The column enters the Piazza Venezia, where girls in extravagant uniforms of purple and gold hold imperial flags. Behind them are Italian mounted police, magnificent in their flowing capes.
NATIONAL LEADER
At point after point, those who draw attention to the show’s serious purpose are made to look ridiculous, and anyone opposing the blatant and overt empire-building is characterized as a fearful reactionary, infringing on the creative rights and privileges of the people—and even children.
EXT. PIAZZA VENEZIA (ROME) – CONTINUING PROCESSION
Crowds gape at young people who act as honor guards wearing varying hues of turquoise and carrying scepters signifying power. There are a great many cameras visible, amateur and professional; advanced versions of the MovieScepters made for the Mirror Empire Social Show, along with body-worn cameras.
EXT. PIAZZA VENEZIA (ROME) – CONTINUING PROCESSION
The column passes by the majestic Il Gesu, comparable only to St. Peter’s, where a gaggle of priests crowds the door to gaze at the passing procession.
NATIONAL LEADER
This may be the most diabolical and unscrupulous attempt at power we have yet seen, surpassing even anarchist ideologies in its sheer disregard of consequences.
EXT. PIAZZA DELLA MINERVA (ROME) – CONTINUING PROCESSION
The royal carriage stops in front of the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.
NATIONAL LEADER
The whole enterprise is done in a light-hearted manner, as if the weighty questions of sovereignty, law, government and history were to be tossed in the wind as mere devices for a plot.
EXT. PIAZZA DELLA MINERVA (ROME) – CONTINUING PROCESSION
The carriage sits still.
Imperial viceroys from around the world are assembled in solemn formation. Military guards hold flags from many principalities. Little girls wearing golden tiaras await the descent of the passenger from the carriage.
NATIONAL LEADER
What we face now is a new enemy in a time of new enemies, but this one of an unexpected, and breathtaking, character. Here we see the spirit of levity infused into the solemn obligation of peoples and nations to choose principles, rulers, laws and magistrates with care.
INT. COURTROOM
JUDGE
This is an outrage. For you to sit here and tell us you didn’t know this would turn real, that you didn’t know the currency you were flooding the world with was going to be anything more than a prop, as if you have no responsibility for what’s happening—
TECH GIANT CEO #1
We were told it was just a movie, Congressman.
EXT. PIAZZA DELLA MINERVA (ROME) – ROYAL PROCESSION (STOPPED)
The door of the carriage opens and an elderly man, the EMPEROR, steps out.
A small girl welcomes him by handing him a golden scepter, assisted by a young man.
ANGLE – PANTHEON
Its bronze pediment and roof are restored.
EXT. PIAZZA DELLA MINERVA
The Emperor crosses the piazza. He is preceded by the small girl and followed by rows of little girls and elaborately-costumed men and women.
He enters the great bronze doors of the Pantheon.
JUDGE
A movie? When the script itself made a joke of the whole thing? When the central plot of the whole enterprise is about the movie turning real? And you want to tell me you never considered the possibility that just maybe —
TECH GIANT CEO #1
We never thought this could turn real. That seemed like a big joke.
INT. PANTHEON
A PRIESTESS stands in the center of the rotunda, flanked by ministers in the dim morning light. The procession of little girls splits in two and marches around the perimeter, followed by world leaders.
The Emperor approaches the Priestess.
FLASH CUTS – CORONATION WORLD AUDIENCE
- Faces in the piazza
- Crowds watch the scene on video screens
- Angry government officials watch on television
- People watch on mobile phones
- Friends and families in homes and pubs watch the scene on TVs
INT. PANTHEON
The Emperor kneels. The Priestess takes a crown from a pillow and places it on his head.
