Lions Of Florence

LIONS OF FLORENCE by Kenneth White adapted from excerpts from "The Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone and "The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci" by Dmitri Merejkowski

Kenneth White 1108 Wellesley Avenue Modesto, CA 95350-5044 (209) 567-0600 [email protected]

1 FADE IN: TITLE CARD "He who, without Fame, burns his life to waste leaves no more vestige of himself on earth than wind-blown smoke, or foam upon the water" -- Dante, Inferno EXT. FLORENCE, ITALY - DAY Just across the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi gallery, stands the stately Palazzo Canigiani. The building directory lists the occupants. One name reads: "Editech Art Diagnostics." INT. PALAZZO CANIGIANI – OFFICE – SAME TIME In a high-ceilinged office, RESEARCH ASSISTANTS and UNIVERSITY INTERNS hustle about, busy working on a variety of projects. Two giant images shimmer on side-by-side, electronic display screens hung from the rafters. The displays are almost three-dimensional in depth and clarity. The image on the right is a sketch of men and horses locked in fierce combat over a flag. The image on the left is a sketch of naked men scattered along a riverbank, struggling into their battle armor. DR. MAURIZIO SERACINI, dressed in his usual tweed jacket and tie, chews on his fingernails. DR. MAURIZIO SERACINI Benvenuto Cellini called it the school of the world. Scuola del mondo. DR. CARLO PEDRETTI, impeccably dressed, sips espresso. DR. CARLO PEDRETTI Kenneth Clark christened it the birth of the Renaissance. The two scholars sit side-by-side, staring across the top of two high-resolution computer monitors. A digital version of each sketch is displayed on each monitor.

2 SERACINI Imagine, Leonardo and Michelangelo. Painting in the same room. Side-byside. PEDRETTI Two tortured, insecure geniuses. Obsessed with their legacy. SERACINI This was to be their signature achievement. (gestures expansively) These lions of Florence. New York Times reporter, MELINDA HENNEBERGER, perches in a chair beside the two men, taking notes on a portable computer. MELINDA HENNEBERGER A painting competition. How incredible. PEDRETTI Orchestrated by Niccolo Machiavelli, the master manipulator. SERACINI It just doesn’t get any better. Seracini calls up two new, digital images on the two monitors. These are thermo-graphic projections. SERACINI Vasari transformed the Grand Hall into the Granduke's hearing room. He built new walls and covered them with his own frescoes. PEDRETTI It was common to build a new wall instead of knocking down the old one. Seracini leans into the monitor, chin in hand, too absorbed to push up the eyeglasses that are nearly slipping off his nose. SERACINI We’re studying the hall’s walls using non-destructive, multi-spectral diagnostic imaging. By employing a portable echo-graph, we should be able to penetrate Vasari’s walls with lowfrequency sound waves.

3 PEDRETTI Simply put, we’re trying to identify the exact spot where Leonardo and Michelangelo painted their murals. SERACINI For sixty years, people came to admire the horses of Leonardo. PEDRETTI Though flawed, it was a beautiful fresco by a great artist. SERACINI They wouldn’t dare destroy it. A telephone rings. In the background, someone answers it. An ASSISTANT approaches Seracini. ASSISTANT (to Seracini) Line one for you, sir. A "Mr. Gates." Seracini winks at Pedretti. EXT. FLORENCE - PALAZZO VECCHIO – MIDNIGHT The Palazzo Vecchio—the Old Palace—was, and is, the center of Renaissance Florence. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – SALA GRANDE – SAME TIME The Sala Grande, or Grand Hall, is the dominant room in the palace. Seracini, Pedretti, and Henneberger stand in the center of the hall. SERACINI This is the Sala del Gran Consiglio of the Palazzo Vecchio. PEDRETTI It was the seat of power for the Florentine Republic. The city’s democratic council, the Gran Consiglio, met here from 1495 to 1512. SERACINI It was home to the Medici after they returned to power in 1512.

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PEDRETTI Politically speaking, this is where the Renaissance was born. SERACINI The paintings would have flanked the throne of the Gonfaloniere, the chief executive. PEDRETTI A man named Piero Soderini. One-by-one, they climb a metal ladder to the top of a rolling scaffold, rising sixty feet into the air. They stand in the middle of the platform. At one end of the platform, a collection of complicatedlooking equipment is carefully arranged on shelves bolted to the platform. SERACINI (gestures at fresco) When I was analyzing the Vasari fresco, I came upon a tiny green flag. There were words written in white paint. Cerca Trova. "Seek, and you shall find." Seracini points at the flag on the fresco. SERACINI I assumed it was a soldier's motto. As I continued my research, I realized there was no other writing on any of the frescoes in the entire hall. PEDRETTI Sounds inviting, yes? SERACINI It was a message, you see. A challenge.

PEDRETTI

HENNEBERGER You believe Leonardo’s fresco still exists?

5 SERACINI I do. And I intend to find it. It is the least I can do for my native Florence. PEDRETTI Yesterday, we found a discontinuity. A narrow space of some kind in the wall. There, behind the panel where Cerca Trova is written. HENNEBERGER A window to the past. SERACINI The fresco hasn't been seen for almost five hundred years. All three turn to gaze at the tiny green flag. EXT. ARNO RIVER VALLEY - DAY A Peregrine falcon floats over the beautiful Tuscan countryside of the Arno River Valley. The falcon drops down and skims along the surface of the river, as it flows into Florence. TITLE:

FLORENCE, 1503

EXT. FLORENCE - DAY 16th Century Florence is a city of commerce and violence, art and revolution. As they labor, WORKMEN sing verses from Dante's Divine Comedy. In the shops and banking houses, down-to-earth, fast-talking MERCHANTS haggle with sober, tight-fisted BANKERS. Bands of cock-sure MERCENARY SOLDIERS (condottieri) swagger through the streets, sweeping INNOCENT BYSTANDERS out of their way, or brutalizing those who stupidly stand their ground. CHILDREN and MAIDS run errands. Horses and hand-carts clatter across the stones. CITIZENS hurry to complete a task or transaction or transgression.

6 The spire of the Palazzo Vecchio thrusts upward into the lapis blue sky. In the square surrounding the Palazzo, a brace of lions pace in matching golden cages. A pair of stone lions guard the main entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. Two SOLDIERS spit on a manacled PRISONER, as they force him to kneel and kiss the ass of the lion of Florence. EXT. PIAZZA SAN MARCO – GARDEN - DAY The garden of the Piazza San Marco is an enormous oblong. Each of the four encircling walls of the garden are open, roofed galleries (loggias). Each loggia displays ancient Greek and Roman statues. Under each loggia, STUDENTS, SCULPTORS, PAINTERS, and MODELS study, sculpt, paint, and pose. A straight path, lined with cypresses, leads to a small building (casino). On the wide porch of the casino, PIERO DI LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, 32, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Il Magnifico— struts back and forth between the pillars of the porch. Sharp-faced, he’s a dark man with black hair and hard eyes. DE' MEDICI Florence is the most powerful citystate the world has ever known. We must celebrate the restoration of the Republic. PIERO SODERINI, 51, the Gonfaloniere de giustizia of the Signoria of Florence, nibbles on a pear. Moon-faced, he’s a plain man, with blonde hair bleaching white, and calm eyes. SODERINI I have called home all the artists scattered by Savonarola, including Leonardo and Michelangelo. DE' MEDICI Two artistic titans. Native sons of this magnificent city. They must leave us a legacy. NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, 34, secretary of the second chancellery of the Florentine republic, gnaws on his nubby fingers. Rat-

7 faced, he’s a little man, with close-cropped hair and shifty eyes. MACHIAVELLI I have a wicked notion. Quite poetic, actually. DE' MEDICI Speak plainly, secretary. MACHIAVELLI A contest. Commission each to paint a fresco in the Sala Grande. DE' MEDICI Ah, yes. To the glory of Florence. SODERINI Side-by-side, for all the world to see and marvel. DE' MEDICI Two frescoes by the two greatest artists of our time. It is brilliant. SODERINI It will distract the citizens from the French and Spanish invaders at our gates. DE' MEDICI It is rumored they despise each other. They cannot bear to be in the same room. SODERINI We must convince them this competition is worthy. For the sake of Florence. MACHIAVELLI Leave that to me. EXT. SANTISSIMA ANNUNZIATA – DAY'S END It is a neighborhood of high-walled, private villas. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO – SAME TIME The studio, bathed in the merciful, gentle light at the end of day, throbs with activity.

8 The Leonardeschi—SERVANTS, STUDENTS, ADMIRERS, and YOUNG DANDIES—speaking in all manner of tongues, scurry about their business or pleasure. It seems much more an aviary of humming-birds than a working studio. MUSICIANS accompany a TENOR, who sings a heartfelt love song. ACROBATS warm up in the wings, awaiting their turn to perform. POETS rehearse their rhymes. The sweet, sensuous activity swirls around LEONARDO DA VINCI, 52. Refined, self-assured, athletic, graceful, serene. A Renaissance dandy, as light and shadowy as sfumato, he’s attired in silk and lace. He steadies himself at an artist's easel with his right hand, while he paints with his left. Beyond the easel sits the enigmatic LISA DI ANTONIO MARIA GHERARDINI, 24, third wife of the prominent Florentine citizen and silk merchant, Francesco di Bartolommeo del Giocondo. Monna Lisa, La Gioconda, the quiet lady in her still pose, smiles that smile—a thing more divine than human. LEONARDO (caressing his beard) Does the music soothe you, my lady? MONNA LISA It does, Nardo mio. It does. LEONARDO Your smile tells me so. MONNA LISA It is a pleasant evening. LEONARDO The light is so forgiving, so merciful. Leonardo, his cool blue eyes twinkling, smudges the ridgeline of a mountain peak with his fingers, rendering the image soft and smoky, misty and mysterious, full of dark shadows. Sfumatissimo.

LEONARDO

EXT. SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE DEL DUOMO - DAY The cathedral, Il Duomo, dominates the Florentine skyline.

9 EXT. DUOMO - WORK YARD – SAME TIME The work yard runs the full width of the block behind the Duomo Works buildings. The front half of the yard serves as quarters for the ARTISANS who maintain the cathedral. In the middle of the rear half of the yard, bathing in the glorious Tuscan sun, stands the mammoth statue of David, mounted on a revolving turntable and surrounded by fifteenfoot scaffolding. Straddling the scaffolding is MICHELANGELO DI LODOVICO BUONARROTI SIMONI, 29. Reserved, severe, ill-tempered, solitary, surly. A brokennosed, jug-eared boxer with a bad attitude. Dressed in filthy workmen's clothes, his curly hair matted with dust and marble chips, he’s as hard and flinty as the stone he carves. He wears a lantern around his forehead which, when lit, makes him look like a Cyclops. His amber eyes bore into the eyes of the giant statue. Michelangelo slowly, caressingly polishes the face of the statue, coaxing an almost flesh-like color from the stone. ARGIENTO, his assistant, stares up in awe. ARGIENTO Your father will be proud. MICHELANGELO (tugging at his sparse goatee) He'll be paid his florins. Then he'll be proud. For him, money shines brighter than fame. ARGIENTO It is poetry. It is perfection. MICHELANGELO Perfection is unattainable, Argiento. Completeness is preferable. EXT. PIAZZA NAVONE - DAY VENDORS hawk their wares in the open marketplace. Leonardo, followed by a retinue of SERVANTS, ADMIRERS, and HANGERS-ON, glides down the aisles. He waves to those he knows and nods to those he doesn’t.

10 He abruptly stops in front of a stall selling wild fowl. A variety of BIRDS—crows, siskins, pigeons, hawks—are penned in cages. Their less fortunate brethren hang from poles— freshly dead, plucked, and smoked. BIRD VENDOR Fricassee, fry, or stew. A bird for every meal. A meal for every bird. Leonardo wrinkles his nose in disgust. LEONARDO I partake of no animal’s flesh. BIRD VENDOR Don’t know what ye’re fortakin’, sir. LEONARDO I will take them all. Leonardo gestures grandly for his SERVANT to pay the man. The servant, shocked, empties Leonardo’s silk purse, then digs into his own pockets. Unable to find even a moth in his own pants, he urgently solicits funds from those within arm’s length, until he has enough. He pays the vendor. BIRD VENDOR A banquet, then? Leonardo opens the cages, removes the birds, and tosses them one-by-one into the sky. No, freedom.

LEONARDO

Leonardo removes a notebook from his cape pocket. He wildly sketches the fluttering BIRDS from a variety of angles, madly bowing and dipping, like a news photographer snapping off photos at the scene of a disaster. EXT. PIAZZA SAN LORENZO - DAY Michelangelo shuffles through the Piazza, head down. A BLACK CAT, lapping stagnant water from a puddle, hisses at Michelangelo as he passes. A scrawny, THREE-LEGGED DOG roots around in some garbage. Michelangelo stops, pulls some stale bread from his pocket, kneels, and offers the morsel to the dog. The dog backs up, bares its teeth, and growls at Michelangelo.

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He throws the bread at the beast and storms off through the Piazza. INT. SANTA MARIA NOVELLA – CONVENT - DAY In is peaceful in the cell of the nunnery. Leonardo holds both hands of CATERINA, an olive-skinned, frizzy-haired little old woman. CATERINA You were a white fledgling in a nest of black crows, my little Nardo. LEONARDO I remember when father was away on business. I would crawl into your bed late at night. CATERINA With iceberg toes. LEONARDO You protected me from the night demons, dearest Mother. CATERINA That was a very long time ago. LEONARDO I am all that I am because of you. The old woman turns away, blushing. CATERINA I have some things for you. She crosses to a worn, wooden chest. She removes a packet wrapped in drawing paper and bound with hemp twine. She returns, presenting the package to Leonardo. He slowly unties the string, carefully coils it, and places it in his pocket. He unfolds the paper. Inside are two shirts of coarse gray linen and three pairs of wool stockings. CATERINA I wove the linen myself. Leonardo kisses both hands of this poor contadina from Vinci.

12 EXT. ST. PROCULUS STREET – HOUSE - DAY The modest house sits on the fashionable street, a block from the superb stone pile of the Pazzi Palace. INT. HOUSE – FAMILY ROOM - SAME TIME LODOVICO BUONARROTI sits in a black leather chair at the rear of the one-floor apartment. Michelangelo sits on a wooden stool across the room. LODOVICO If the Medici think you’re dry fruit, you will not make a single scudo. MICHELANGELO There's more than one family in Florence willing to patronize the arts. LODOVICO What has happened to your pride? MICHELANGELO Pride is a sin. LODOVICO Are you to earn nothing forever? I will earn. When? How? I don't know.

MICHELANGELO LODVICO MICHELANGELO

LODOVICO Two dozen times you have said "No," or "I don't know." When will you know? I don't know.

MICHELANGELO

LODOVICO I should beat you with a stick. When will you get some sense in your head? MICHELANGELO I'm doing what I must. That is sense. Lodovico slaps his own forehead with the flat of his hand.

13 LODOVICO You are an artist. Whoever heard of a Buonarroti an artist? I don't know any more what a man has sons for! Michelangelo stands, walks over to Lodovico's chair, and puts a hand lightly on his father's shoulder. MICHELANGELO Trust me, Father. I am not looking for wool on an ass. EXT. PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA - NIGHT Michelangelo and GRANACCI, his friend and mentor, emerge from a narrow side street into the blazing light of the plaza. The Piazza is aglow with orange light from the burning oil pots that hang from every window and droop from the top of the crenellated tower. Granacci walks around a pile of fine gray ash. Michelangelo stares, questioning. GRANACCI They burned Savonarola on this spot. The faithful place these ashes here each night to honor his memory. Michelangelo crosses himself and follows his friend. They cross the plaza to the broad steps leading up into the Signoria courtyard. Distracted by a noise, they stop at the base of the statue of Judith by Donatello, and turn. Leonardo saunters through the plaza, followed by his flock. Ah, Leonardo.

GRANACCI

Michelangelo scowls at Granacci's fickle hero-worship. Lovingly clinging to Leonardo's arm is a YOUNG BOY with features straight from a Greek statue. He is dressed in an expensive linen shirt and a cloak rich in silver brocade. MICHELANGELO Who's that with him?

14 GRANACCI Giacomo Caprotti, his apprentice . . . and companion. Leonardo calls him Salai—devil—because he acts so badly and looks so beautiful. MICHELANGELO (mutters, slightly embarrassed) He is lovely. GRANACCI Compared to Leonardo, Salai is dull. Tall and graceful, Leonardo is dressed in regal splendor and a disdain for convention: a rose-colored cloak barely covering his shoulders, and falling short at the knees. He wears his shirt and calze tight to the point of bursting, lace about his neck and wrists. Michelangelo shrinks back in the shadows, feeling hideous and malformed in comparison. He tugs at his ill-fitting, worn, and soiled clothes. GRANACCI Don't be fooled by the elegant exterior, Mic. Leonardo has a magnificent brain. MICHELANGELO With an ego to match. GRANACCI He has been dissecting animals for years, and keeping meticulous notebooks of his anatomical drawings. MICHELANGELO Humans as well, I hear. GRANACCI He is an engineer and inventor of amazing machines. Even now, he is completing experiments for a machine that will fly through the air as the birds do. MICHELANGELO God did not intend man to fly. If he had, he would've given us bird's brains.

15 GRANACCI It is a dazzling performance he puts on, imitating a rich nobleman. He hopes to persuade the world to forget that he is the illegitimate son of a Vinci innkeeper's daughter. MICHELANGELO He's very convincing. An effective actor. Ah, yes, but Florence who you do. Look beneath that

GRANACCI he is the only man in works as hard and long as for the real Leonardo facade.

INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO – LATE AFTERNOON The OLD MAN poses, leaning on a stack of ledgers and holding rolls of parchment. He is the portrait of prosperity. Leonardo sketches his portrait in red chalk. Father?

LEONARDO

Ser Piero da Vinci rouses form his reverie. LEONARDO Look at me, please. I want to get the eyes right. Leonardo’s father stares at his son, a tinge of respect creeping into his face. PIERO DA VINCI You look well, my son. Even prosperous. LEONARDO (without conviction) My house is in good order. PIERO DA VINCI Although you are a grown man, I still worry. I know.

LEONARDO

PIERO DA VINCI Is there nothing I can do for you?

16 LEONARDO You have done enough. PIERO DA VINCI I have much to give and little time to give it. LEONARDO You will outlive us all. Save it for the inheritance. PIERO DA VINCI Ever the practical son. LEONARDO (mumbles to himself) For a bastard. PIERO DA VINCI I’m sorry, I did not hear you. My ears are almost as bad as my eyes. LEONARDO I said basta. Enough for the day. The light is leaving us. PIERO DA VINCI Ah, so it is. So it is. EXT. DUOMO - WORK YARD - DAY A slight, pale wisp of a YOUNG WOMAN with a piquant face strolls through the rear work area, her arm on the arm of a FAT MAN with a dead eye. Michelangelo’s eyes meet those of the woman. He stops working. She stops walking. MICHELANGELO (whispers to Granacci) Who’s that? GRANACCI Contessina. The only daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Sister to Piero. Why? No reason.

MICHELANGELO

17 GRANACCI You care nothing for girls. They might as well be radishes. You know nothing about what it means to be mattressable. Michelangelo glares at Granacci. The odd couple stroll around the work yard, inspecting the sculptures. They circle back toward Michelangelo. And stop in front of him. Contessina dabs at the sheen of perspiration on her nose with a blue silk handkerchief embroidered with the de’ Medici family crest. Michelangelo continues working, feverishly trying to concentrate on his work and not her. He carves a herringbone pattern on a pietra serena. CONTESSINA (to the fat man) The stone has a smell. MICHELANGELO (without looking up) Freshly picked figs. And this?

CONTESSINA

Contessina points to a piece of marble on the bench beside Michelangelo. CONTESSINA Does it smell of freshly picked plums? MICHELANGELO No, it has hardly any. Michelangelo chips off a piece of marble and awkwardly holds it out to her. MICHELANGELO Here, smell for yourself. Contessina recoils, crinkling her nose and laughing at him. Embarrassed, he suddenly begins furiously hammering at the marble with his chisel, sending stone chips flying. CONTESSINA Why do you work so . . . so furiously? It would exhaust me.

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MICHELANGELO Cutting stone doesn't take strength out, it puts it back. CONTESSINA It is a foreign land. MICHELANGELO Here, try it yourself. It's amazing how alive it becomes under your hands. CONTESSINA Beneath your hands, perhaps. Will you finish that for me? It’s nothing. I like it.

MICHELANGELO CONTESSINA

MICHELANGELO I will finish it. As Contessina walks away, she lets the silk handkerchief slip from her fingers. Michelangelo stares at the handkerchief for a moment, then leaps to his feet, snatches it from the ground, and ties it around his neck. Contessina glances back over her shoulder, sees what he has done, and smiles. INT. RUSTICI'S SCULPTURE STUDIO - NIGHT The gigantic studio overflows with food and drink. Eleven MEN stand together. A twelfth, ELDERLY MAN lies on a litter. Twelve SERVANTS kneel before their masters, each holding a container filled with fresh food. Leonardo towers at one end of the ragged line, next to SANDRO BOTTICELLI. This is the Company of the Cauldron, a cooking academy. A well-dressed MERCHANT raises his goblet. MERCHANT To the Company of the Cauldron!

19 The merchant is surrounded by the leading lights of Florence. The city’s renowned ARTISTS and ARTISANS, the MEMBERS of the Signoria, the BOARD MEMBERS of the Wool Guild and the Duomo, as well as Piero Soderini and Niccolo Machiavelli. CROWD To the Company! MERCHANT And the restoration of the culinary arts to the Pantheon of noble arts for the first time since Roman times. To food!

CROWD

MERCHANT Savonarola should have known better. Gluttony is not a vanity. To gluttony!

CROWD

Michelangelo, shaggy and unkempt, enters the studio still dressed in his filthy work clothes. He's escorted by Granacci. As he walks past Leonardo and Salai, Leonardo grimaces, then sniffs slightly. Michelangelo stops, clenching his fists. Granacci gently touches Michelangelo’s back, urging him forward toward the party. GRANACCI They are here to honor you, Mic. Do not embarrass us. Michelangelo, extremely ill at ease, sits down at the head of a long banquet table. On either side stand his friends and mentors. To his right, RUSTICI, to his left, Granacci. Arrayed along either side of the table are the storied CITIZENS of Florence. At the opposite end stands Soderini. He lifts a cup in toast to Michelangelo.

20 SODERINI To the David, Il Gigante. The first major commission agreed upon by all since the death of Savonarola. The crowd applauds. SODERINI To Florence. The first city of the world. The crowd hurrahs. SODERINI To our rebirth. The crowd shouts. SODERINI To Michelangelo. You are the midwife. Handle the baby carefully. The entire congregation toasts Michelangelo. Rustici and Granacci pound him on the back. Old ROSSELLI, the man on the litter, gestures for the throng to be quiet. He motions for the other eleven members of the Company to move closer so they can hear him. They do. ROSSELLI I am too old to enjoy these orgies of meat and drink any longer. The crowd vehemently and loudly disagrees. ROSSELLI As much as I dislike promoting anyone from a rival studio, I herewith resign from the Company. And nominate Michelangelo Buonarroti to succeed me. The crowd erupts in assent. The solitary Michelangelo, the unwanted loner, is moved to tears. The twelve members of the Company clasp their hands together. THE TWELVE Welcome to the Company! The crowd applauds the unanimous election.

21 RUSTICI You know what this means? You cook next month. The crowd roars with laughter. The room settles as smaller groups form to eat, drink, and talk. Michelangelo hears the voice of Leonardo speaking to a group behind him. LEONARDO I refused to compete for the David commission because, well, because sculpture is such a mechanical art. BOTTICELLI Perhaps it had more to do with your reputation for not completing commissions. Leonardo bristles at the tiresome and redundant accusation. ROSSELLI Surely you would not call Donatello a mechanic? LEONARDO In some ways, yes. Sculpture is so much less intellectual than painting. BOTTICELLI Still, for a commission as important as the David? LEONARDO No, no, I would never carve marble. At day's end, the marble carver is as filthy as a baker. His clothes stink. When I paint, I work in my finest clothes. I end the day as immaculate as I began it. No, sculpting does not suit me. No, indeed. Michelangelo feels his spine stiffen. Rustici places his hand on Michelangelo’s back. Michelangelo glances over his shoulder. Leonardo's back is to him. Again, Michelangelo's face flushes, a rage rising. He stares at his clenched fists, balled upon the table, grasping for control.

22 MICHELANGELO (mutters under his breath) One day I will make Leonardo eat those words. LEONARDO (oblivious) Sculpture is for laborers. Michelangelo abruptly leaps to his feet, kicking the chair out from under him. He spins to face Leonardo, who has turned around, startled by the ruckus. MICHELANGELO Sculpture is the first and original art. LEONARDO It was. Until the fine art of painting was developed. Carving is extinct. MICHELANGELO The sculptor comes closer to the truth. He carves from reality. The painter creates an illusion, a magical trick. You can walk around a statue. You can’t walk around a painting. LEONARDO The painter can portray the entire universe. The sky, rain, stars, rivers. The sculptor makes a man, a horse, then does it all over again. Monotonous. Tedious. Sculpture is a bore. Tears of frustration well in Michelangelo’s eyes. MICHELANGELO Painting is perishable. Stone is eternal. Show me a painting that’s as old as the Greek statues in the de' Medici garden. Or as cold.

LEONARDO

MICHELANGELO Isn't it true, Leonardo, that your equestrian statue in Milan is so colossal that it can never be cast? No wonder you talk against sculpture. You're not capable of finishing your work!

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A thunderous, uncomfortable silence envelopes the room. Leonardo raises his hand to his heart, stung by the cruel depth of this personal attack. Michelangelo storms from the room, kicking the door open as he marches into the night. EXT. DUOMO – WORK YARD - DAWN As the sun breaks over the horizon, Leonardo gingerly picks his way through the SLEEPING WORKERS. He approaches the giant statue of David, in bright relief against the brick wall. He looks around. Argiento lies on his straw mattress beneath a tree. Michelangelo sleeps on the top plank of the scaffolding that surrounds the statue, slumped in the spot where sleep finally triumphed the night before. The lantern is still stuck to his forehead. Hardened candle wax has splattered on the plank. Leonardo slowly walks around the Colossus. He removes a sketch pad and red chalk from a knapsack slung over his shoulder. He removes a silk handkerchief from his cloak, dusts off a low, wooden bench and carefully sits. Leonardo studies the naked, adolescent body. The veins on the right arm. The contracted eyebrows. The curls across the forehead. Leonardo begins to sketch. To disguise the copy and make it his own, he adds sea-horses around the feet, replaces the sling with a trident, and adds a garland of seaweed. He continues for several minutes, then finishes with a flourish. He writes "Neptune," then signs his name. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY A monumental cartoon (cartone) hangs from the rafters. It portrays the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and a Lamb. The face of the child resembles Leonardo. A CROWD of artists, merchants, soldiers, clergy, students, lay men and women admire the partially completed drawing. MERCHANT He is a master of self-promotion.

24 SOLDIER Narcissist. It’s all about Leonardo. It’s always about Leonardo. Michelangelo elbows his way through the crowd to get a better view of the cartoon. His face is flushed. His eyes drink in the mastery and the power. He moves to the end of the studio and sits on a bench. A folio rests on the bench. Michelangelo opens it. He sees a sketch of a male nude observed from the rear, with arms and legs outstretched. It is galvanically alive and convincing. MICHELANGELO (to himself) Leonardo has dissected. There is no doubt now. Michelangelo closes the folio, withdraws a folded sheet of wrinkled paper and a short nub of charcoal from his work shirt. He plunges into copying the three figures in the massive cartoon. EXT. TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE – DAY Leonardo and Salai sit on the edge of a rock wall bordering a deep pool of water that feeds a stream. A waterfall cascades into the still pool. Leonardo sketches the water as it rushes downstream over partially submerged rocks and tree trunks. LEONARDO Water is the essence of nature. It is to the world what blood is to our bodies. SALAI It nourishes and destroys. Leonardo stares at the swirling water. It begins to spiral downward, faster and faster, forming a whirlpool. LEONARDO The world will end in a flood. Leonardo lays down his sketch pad and removes some drawings from a leather folio. It is a series of sketches of canals and locks, a machine for excavating canals and a machine for raising water.

25 LEONARDO Machiavelli and I have designed a way to control the Arno. We will build a canal that connects the Arno to the sea. A series of locks will carry the water uphill to Florence. SALAI Magnificent. Truly original. Leonardo looks back at the water rushing downstream. LEONARDO The past flows into the present and feeds the future. It is all connected. EXT. RUSTICI'S VILLA – PORCH - EVENING Rustici and Michelangelo savor a candlelit supper on the porch overlooking the Arno. A YOUNG GIRL, blonde in the Florentine tradition, her hair plucked back to give her a higher brow, her breasts propped up in a gown of green taffeta, leans over Michelangelo to clear the empty plates. Her breasts linger on his shoulder. Michelangelo pulls away, startled and mildly annoyed. The young girl smiles a coy smile. RUSTICI That will be all, Vermiglia. Vermiglia bows and goes inside. RUSTICI If you don’t like Vermiglia, she has a buffet of cousins. Would you like her to choose one for you? Michelangelo blushes vermilion to the roots of his hair. RUSTICI I think she’s lonely here, Angelo. It would be a pleasant life. MICHELANGELO Thank you, caro. I have a way of life. As for casual affairs, what you put into the ladies at night, you can't put into the marble in the morning. Rustici sips from his goblet of wine, then stares out at the Arno.

26

RUSTICI Cesare Borgia is marching on Urbino. They say he’s helping incite a rebellion in Arezzo against Florentine rule. MICHELANGELO He will not be satisfied until he rules the entire peninsula. RUSTICI Leonardo has joined Borgia's army as an engineer. I detect the hand of Machiavelli in this. MICHELANGELO Leonardo is a traitor. He trades Sforza, the tyrant of Milan, for Borgia, the tyrant of Rome. RUSTICI Borgia pays him well. MICHELANGELO To draw war maps of Florence. We give him hospitality, commissions to paint, and that is how he thanks us. RUSTICI Leonardo is at loose ends. He can't seem to finish his painting of Monna Lisa. MICHELANGELO What else is new? RUSTICI He's more interested in testing his new war machines than his art. He doesn't understand politics, you know. MICHELANGELO Tell that to his fellow Florentines when his war machines batter down our walls. He says he respects all life, yet he designs the most terrifying weapons of mass destruction we’ve ever known.

27 RUSTICI He’s amoral, Angelo. He’s not interested in right and wrong as it applies to people. Only in the true and false of science and knowledge. MICHELANGELO I should be glad to be rid of him, I suppose. He fled once before, you know. RUSTICI Yes, that messy business with the male prostitute. He nearly burned at the stake for that morsel. MICHELANGELO I hope we can count on his absence for at least another eighteen years. Rustici shakes his head wistfully. RUSTICI You two stand like the Apennines above the rest of us, yet you hate each other. It doesn't make sense. Or does it? INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – SODERINI'S OFFICE - DAY The impressive corner office overlooks the Piazza and the rooftops of Florence. Elegant, paneled in dark wood, it features a broad ceiling painted with the lilies of Florence. Behind a massive oak desk sits Soderini. Machiavelli slouches in a low chair across from him. SODERINI Leonardo da Vinci is a great painter. MACHIAVELLI I have seen the Last Supper in Milan. It is tremendous. No one in all of Italy can equal him. SODERINI I am envious of Milan's fresco. You pledged one for Florence. MACHIAVELLI I am very close. With the right incentive, he will give Florence what he gave Milan.

28 SODERINI We may not have the strongest army, but we have the greatest artists. MACHIAVELLI Leonardo is as hard to hold as Proteus. The contract must be very specific. SODERINI Will he finish? Or, will he abandon it for another distraction? MACHIAVELLI I’ll bet my life on it. SODERINI You may have to. MACHIAVELLI (taken aback) Patience, Gonfaloniere. Patience. SODERINI You gave me your word, secretary. Where I come from, a broken promise can be lethal. MACHIAVELLI I will not disappoint. SODERINI What of Michelangelo? Is he committed? I have a plan. So be it.

MACHIAVELLI SODERINI

MACHIAVELLI Michelangelo is a melancholy young man, driven. He must be drawn out by kindness and flattery. He cares little for money, but his father has enough greed for them both. We can obtain his services for a song. SODERINI It is settled then. Let the game begin. INT. SANTO SPIRITO – LIBRARY - DAY PRIOR BICHIELLINI sits at a large table in his manuscriptlined library.

29

Michelangelo stands before him. THE PRIOR Leonardo is returned? MICHELANGELO Soderini has given him the keys to the Grand Hall of the Signoria. THE PRIOR He has accepted the commission, then? MICHELANGELO A fresco. For the wall behind the platform on which Gonfaloniere Soderini and the Signoria sit. THE PRIOR They pay him ten thousand florins for this? MICHELANGELO The largest commission since the death of Savonarola. Given to a man who would help Borgia conquer Florence. They only gave me four hundred florins for my David. THE PRIOR Do not be greedy, my son. MICHELANGELO I must have a greater commission. THE PRIOR What about the commissions you’ve already promised. They can wait.

MICHELANGELO

THE PRIOR By what right? What you have begun, you must finish! Do not be Leonardo. Honor your commitments. MICHELANGELO This is my great opportunity, Prior Bichiellini. I can create something glorious. I can shame Leonardo. The Prior pushes his papers aside, his eyes blazing behind his spectacles.

30

THE PRIOR There is only a God-given number of years in which to work and fulfill yourself. Do not squander them in petty quarrels. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO – LATE AFTERNOON Leonardo works on La Gioconda’s portrait. It is only the artist and his subject. LEONARDO If I could only talk to Michelangelo for a while, face-to-face. He would understand that I am no enemy of his. There is no man who could come to love him as I. Monna Lisa shakes her head. MONNA LISA Would he truly understand? LEONARDO He would. He feels jealousy and fear because he is shy and unsure of himself. He has no reason to fear me. When I beheld his David, I could not believe my eyes. No one can imagine who he is, and what he will be. I feel that, even now, he is not only equal to me, but stronger. Monna Lisa gazes straight into Leonardo’s eyes with a smile filled with mystery. She smiles upon him with his own smile. MONNA LISA Messer Buonarotti may be as strong as the wind that shakes the mountains. But, he does not possess the still voice, the calm, wherein the Lord dwells. He knows this, and hates you because you are stronger than he is, even as the calm is more potent than the tempest. Leonardo turns back to the portrait. He adds a final brush stroke to the corner of the mouth, at the edge of the smile. LEONARDO It is finished.

31 In a mirror, we see a reflection of Leonardo. We turn our gaze from the mirror to look at the flesh-and-blood Leonardo. He’s dressed exactly the same as the Monna Lisa. The same gown, the same smile. We turn back to the mirror. Seeing it side-by-side with La Giaconda, we realize it is a self-portrait. INT. DUOMO HEADQUARTERS – UPSTAIRS LIBRARY – SUPPER HOUR The artists and artisans of Florence gather. EXT. DUOMO HEADQUARTERS – WORK YARD – SAME TIME Michelangelo hovers below the windows of the library facing the work yard. He overhears the hubbub of many VOICES above him as the artists greet one another. He climbs a back stair to a small vestibule adjoining the library. INT. DUOMO LIBRARY – SAME TIME Someone raps for order and it is silent. FRANCESCO FILARETE, herald of the Signoria, steps forward. FILARETE There is only one place for the Giant to reside and that is where the Donatello Judith stands. The Judith was erected under an evil constellation. We have gone from bad to worse since. INTERCUT LIBRARY AND VESTIBULE Michelangelo smiles and nods a mild assent. Another voice starts speaking. Michelangelo opens the door of the vestibule and peeks into the library. MONCIATTO, the woodcarver, surveys his peers. MONCIATTO The Giant was meant to adorn the Duomo. It would be a suitable ornament to Santa Maria del Fiore. Old Rosselli rises feebly from his litter. ROSSELLI Messer Filarete and Messer Monciatto speak the truth. However, I believe the best place is on the stairs of the Duomo.

32

Leonardo clears his throat and waits for everyone to focus on him. LEONARDO I choose the Loggia dei Lanzi to the west of the Palazzo Vecchio because the marble will be protected. Michelangelo scowls. MICHELANGELO (hisses under his breath) The back of the statue will be condemned to permanent shadow. The Loggia will dwarf my Giant, you old fool. GIULIANO DA SANGALLO adds his voice. DA SANGALLO My brother Antonio and I agree. It must be kept out of the rain. The marble is soft and has suffered already from exposure. SIMONE DEL POLLAIUOLO, the architect known as Il Cronaca, the storyteller, steps forward. IL CRONACA What about the Grand Hall? Where Leonardo's fresco is to be painted. Michelangelo glowers. MICHELANGELO (mutters) Isn't there one man here who will say I should have the right to select the spot? From his perch in the window, FILIPPINO LIPPI raises his hand and is recognized. LIPPI Everyone has said wise things. But, I am sure the sculptor will propose the best place. He has certainly considered longer, and with more authority, the location where the Colossus should be placed. A murmur of agreement ripples through the room.

33

Michelangelo grins, pumping his fist in the air. ANGELO MANFIDI claps his hands once. MANFIDI Before your magnificent lords decide where the statue ought to be placed, I suggest that you ask the advice of the Signori, among whom are many respected intellects. Gonfaloniere Soderini scans the gathering, nods to his colleagues of the Signori, and smiles. SODERINI In front of the principal entrance to the Palazzo Signoria, in the Ringhiera, where the Judith now stands. As a symbol of the valiant Republic. That will please the Republic. It will please the artist. It will please me. Michelangelo smiles, closes the door noiselessly, creeps down the back stairs to the yard, and out into the night. INT. LEONARDO'S WORKSHOP - DAY Leonardo theatrically storms up and down. He does nothing without a dash of drama. LEONARDO The haranguing place. The arrogance of it all. I will live to tell them all, "I told you so." SALIA Be calm, my lord. LEONARDO They have dubbed him my equal in sculpture. On what basis? One statue. SALAI A breathtaking statue. LEONARDO One nonetheless. I am replaced because I did not have the time to finish the Sforza statue. Or the money.

SALAI

34 LEONARDO Precisely. What now? Will he challenge me at painting? The audacity. SALAI He cares nothing about painting. He said as much before the Company. LEONARDO I will not let him win. They should be talking about me, praising me. I am the center of it all. La Giaconda will prove it. SALAI It shall be your masterpiece. Your legacy. LEONARDO If only I had accepted the commission for the David. If only he had not come along. If only the Giant had not been born. Leonardo slumps in an overstuffed, brocade-covered chair. Salai brings him a cup of tea. Leonardo waves him away. Two young APPRENTICES enter the room, carrying a tray of fruit, bread, and cheese. LEONARDO If only I could snap my fingers and it would all be gone. And things would be as they had been. If only. Leonardo cradles his head in his two hands. The apprentices turn to face each other and smile a diabolical smile. EXT. DUOMO – WORK YARD - DAY The David, encased in a cobwebbed net of enormous hemp ropes, rests inside a twenty-foot cage of wood. A series of slip knots running along the ropes, tighten under the statue's weight and slacken as the pressure eases, allowing the David to float easily in its cage. WORKERS rip out a portion of the brick wall behind the work shed in the rear yard.

35 YOUNG BOYS smooth the road leading away from the yard toward the spire of the Palazzo Vecchio. Using windlasses turned by a bar, forty MEN drag the huge crate forward and ease it onto greased, round logs. The human chain heaves against the rope. As the heavy frame inches its way forward, the rear log is released, picked up by WORKMEN who run forward, and place it under the front of the cage. The David, secured at the crotch and upward over the chest with ropes, sways slightly against the slip knots. PROCESSION The statue moves slowly, inexorably, out the yard and down the Street of the Clock to the corner. The workers maneuver the sharp turn into the Via del Proconsolo, and down that street a half block. Hundreds of CITIZENS watch. TRADESMEN place bets with MONEYLENDERS, wagering whether the Colossus will make the entire journey without incident. As darkness descends, the onlookers disperse, shouting as they go. CITIZENS Good night! Until tomorrow! Good luck! May God go with you! Glory be to Florence! EXT. VIA DEL PROCONSOLO - MIDNIGHT The David gleams ligament white in the moonlight. Michelangelo throws a blanket down inside the wooden cage, in the space behind the David where the right calf joins the marble tree trunk. There is just enough room for him to lie stretched out on the wooden floor. WOODEN CAGE - LATER Michelangelo, half asleep, is roused by the sound of running feet and VOICES. Suddenly, a barrage of stones smash against the side wall of the frame. Michelangelo springs up from the floor. Guards!

MICHELANGELO

36 He hears the running feet scurry down the Proconsolo. He jumps from the cage and gives chase, yelling at the top of his lungs. MICHELANGELO Stop! Guards! Stop them! The half dozen fleeing forms appear to be YOUNG BOYS. His heart pounding wildly, Michelangelo returns to the David. Two GUARDS, one with a broken nose and one with a dead eye, wait there, holding lanterns. BROKEN NOSE What's all the noise? MICHELANGELO (pointing at the David) He was being stoned.

He who?

Him.

DEAD EYE (looking around for someone) MICHELANGELO (frustrated, pointing)

BROKEN NOSE (scanning the night) There's no one here. The statue.

MICHELANGELO

Both guards finally look up at the face glowing in the moonlight. Stoned? By? I don't know.

DEAD EYE MICHELANGELO

BROKEN NOSE Did they hit it . . . him? MICHELANGELO (picking up a stone) I don't think so. I only heard these hit the cage.

37 DEAD EYE (nudging his partner in the ribs) You're sure you weren't having a bad dream? MICHELANGELO I tell you I saw them. And heard them. If I hadn't been here . . . Michelangelo dismisses the guards with a scowl and a wave of his hand. They leave, chuckling and nudging each other. Michelangelo circles the David, peering through the darkness, checking for damage. He climbs back inside and strokes the forearm of the Colossus. MICHELANGELO Why would anyone want to hurt you? EXT. VIA DEL PROCONSOLO – EARLY MORNING The statue continues its journey. Michelangelo, Soderini, and other dignitaries watch. Leonardo and Salai loiter at the edge of the crowd. SODERINI Do you have enemies? MICHELANGELO None that I know of. FILARETE We should rather ask, "Does Florence, does the Republic, have enemies?" MICHELANGELO (nods toward Leonardo) What of Leonardo? SODERINI Impossible. He’s above that sort of thing. MICHELANGELO He may not have picked the stones, but he certainly could’ve paid for them. MICHELANGELO To what purpose? MICHELANGELO Jealousy. Pure and simple.

38 FILARETE Of what? He has no equal. MICHELANGELO (glowers) Not yet. SODERINI (smiles a smug smile) We shall see. We shall see. MICHELANGELO Just let them try again tonight. Michelangelo scowls at Leonardo. Leonardo reacts, confused. EXT. PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA – LATER THAT NIGHT The cage rests at the bottom corner of the Piazza della Signoria, where Piazza San Firenze joins the large plaza. Michelangelo, again half sleeping, hears something. Several YOUNG MEN step from the shadows, rocks in hand. Just Eye, have them

then, concealed GUARDS, including Broken Nose and Dead leap from hiding. They attack the attackers and soon them face down on the street, hands tied. They yank to their feet.

Broken Nose and Dead Eye nod acknowledgement to Michelangelo as he steps up to face the young men. MICHELANGELO Why would you stone my statue? When no one speaks up, Broken Nose prods one of the younger men who wears no shoes. They made us.

BAREFOOT VANDAL

He nods at the older boys. An older boy, who has a red cross painted on his cheek, yanks away from the guards. RED CROSS VANDAL It is obscenely naked. Savonarola would have wished it destroyed. Another of the older boys, who wears a gold cross around his neck, steps forward to stand beside his compatriot.

39 GOLD CROSS VANDAL It is bad art. I wanted to show that some people know better. MICHELANGELO There is an old Tuscan saying. "Art has an enemy called ignorance." One of the older boys spits at Michelangelo’s feet. The guards drag the manacled boys off to the Bargello. EXT. PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA - RINGHIERA – MORNING CARPENTERS knock away the cage. WORKERS unslip the knots and remove the rope mantle. The statue of Judith is carried away. The David is moved to replace her in the haranguing area, at the foot of the steps to the Palazzo Signoria, facing the open plaza. Michelangelo and Granacci enter the piazza. Michelangelo catches his breath sharply, amazed by the sight. The David stands in all its majestic grace, lighting up the Signoria with pure white light. Exhausted and humbled, Michelangelo breaks into wracking sobs. INT. LEONARDO'S APARTMENT - DAY Leonardo lounges in his personal quarters, eating a fig. Salai fans him with a feathered fan. It is a scene from the Arabian Nights. Machiavelli sits uncomfortably nearby on an oversized silk ottoman. I am afraid.

LEONARDO

MACHIAVELLI Of what, maestro? LEONARDO Failing, as I did in Milan.

40 MACHIAVELLI The Last Supper was a noble experiment. As close to perfection as man can attain. LEONARDO I fear that above all. MACHIAVELLI What, dear sir? LEONARDO Perfection. Nature is perfect. I cannot compete with nature. MACHIAVELLI Pursue completeness, not perfection, Leonardo. Perfection is something man aspires to. Woman, on the other hand, inclines by nature to completeness. Leonardo ponders this, then glances at Salai. They share a smile. LEONARDO It is true. It is nearly impossible to be free of defect. MACHIAVELLI This time will be different. I am not sure.

LEONARDO

Machiavelli, sensing Leonardo's dilemma, leans closer. MACHIAVELLI (lying through gritted teeth) Michelangelo has been commissioned. LEONARDO Commissioned? For what? To paint.

MACHIAVELLI

LEONARDO He is a sculptor. MACHIAVELLI He says he will school you in painting.

41 LEONARDO School me? The great Leonardo. Impossible. The pupil would do well to learn from the master. MACHIAVELLI They say he is twice the artist you were at his age. LEONARDO "They" have much to learn. MACHIAVELLI He says you are a woman if you will not accept this challenge. Leonardo and Salai again exchange a smile. LEONARDO Who is he anyway? Machiavelli allows a small smile of triumph to color the corners of his mouth. MACHIAVELLI If, for whatever reason, you choose not to accept the commission, I may have something else of interest. LEONARDO Pray, what is that? MACHIAVELLI The French governor is seeking a military advisor. You would have duties similar to those you performed for Cesare Borgia when we first met. LEONARDO Do the French pay well? I have a lifestyle to support. MACHIAVELLI Better than the Pope. In cash. INT. MICHELANGELO’S WORKSHOP – COURTYARD - DAY Michelangelo chisels away at a chunk of marble. His father, Lodovico, sits in the shade of a tree, smoking a pipe. Machiavelli sits uncomfortably on a piece of cold stone.

42 MACHIAVELLI They have forgotten you. MICHELANGELO As I knew they would. MACHIAVELLI They take the magnificent David for granted. MICHELANGELO The city talks only of Leonardo and the new commission. LODOVICO You have had your day and it has passed. Michelangelo rubs his broken nose. MACHIAVELLI Florence has proclaimed Leonardo the first artist of Tuscany. MICHELANGELO Florentines are fickle. I’ll go where I’m appreciated. LODOVICO Where would that be? MICHELANGELO To Constantinople. To build a bridge across the Bosporus for the Ottoman. MACHIAVELLI The Turkish emperor is more capricious, and dangerous, than all the princes of Florence. MICHELANGELO I've had worse patrons. LODOVICO You give up too easily. You always have and always will. You haven’t the backbone. MACHIAVELLI This is the chance you’ve been waiting for all your life. To excel in Leonardo’s own field of art.

43 LODOVICO To show all of Florence, nay the world, that you are now the master. MACHIAVELLI To let them see with their own eyes. Your vision, side-by-side with his. It will be no contest. LODOVICO It will make you more valuable to your benefactors. Perhaps they will pay you what you’re worth. MACHIAVELLI Do this for our beloved city. Do this for the glory of Florence. MICHELANGELO Stop badgering me. My head hurts. MACHIAVELLI If you’re not the measure of this commission, I know of another opportunity. Michelangelo stops chiseling. Lodovico stops puffing. MACHIAVELLI I have spoken with the emissaries of Pope Julius II about you. He’s seeking someone to sculpt his tomb. I told them only one man can do the job. Michelangelo returns to chiseling. He hits a hard spot in the marble. He looks around for a bucket of water. What?

MACHIAVELLI

MICHELANGELO Water. I need water. Lodovico looks around as well. There is none.

LODOVICO

Michelangelo spits on the hard spot, then continues to sweep the chisel over stone. MACHIAVELLI What do you do when you run dry?

44 MICHELANGELO No good scalpellino ever ran out of spit. EXT. PALAZZO SPINI - SUNSET Opposite the Church of Santa Trinita, near the bridge, at the corner of the wharf and the Strada Tornabuoni, looms the enormous Palazzo Spini. Its roughly quarried, brownish-gray stones, with latticed windows and crenellations, recalls an ancient fortress. Along its walls stretch long stone benches. CITIZENS play dice and gossip. Michelangelo trudges past Santa Trinita. He’s been working day and night and looks it. Medusa-haired and raggedyclothed, his goatee is matted and dirty, speckled with marble dust and chips. The ever-present Cyclops-lantern is affixed to his forehead. As he passes, Michelangelo sees a GROUP OF MEN talking in front of the Spini. A TALL MAN leads the discussion. His back is to Michelangelo and he is obscured by the early evening shadows. Michelangelo stops at a distance to listen. His bloodshot eyes stare into the dying sun. LEADER (reads) "'Philosophy,' my master answered me, 'To him who understands it, demonstrates How nature takes her course, not only from Wisdom divine, but from its art as well. And if you read with care your book of physics, After the first few pages, you will find That art, as best it can, doth follow nature, As pupil follows master.'" Michelangelo smiles, recognizing the lines. MICHELANGELO (mutters to himself) Immortal Dante. Canto XI of the Inferno. Michelangelo continues on his way. As he moves past the congregation, some in the group stare at him, gazing past the discussion leader. Distracted by the stares, the leader turns to look as well. It is Leonardo.

45

LEONARDO Here is Michelangelo. He knows Dante very well. Better than I. He will explain the verses. Hearing his name, Michelangelo stops. Realizing that everyone is staring at him, he shrinks from their gaze, shy and suspicious. Michelangelo looks so much like a lowly laborer returning home from his work that some of the YOUNGER MEN around Leonardo begin to giggle. Leonardo smiles as well, ever the enabler. Michelangelo’s eyes blaze, his brow darkens, scorched by the laughter. MICHELANGELO Explain them yourself. You unnatural bastard! Leonardo's face flushes, flaming red with wonder and hurt at this unwarranted outburst. LEONARDO I was not mocking you. I asked in earnest. It is not my fault these others laughed. Michelangelo covers his burning ears. He strides away, head lowered and back bent, sputtering to himself. EXT. ROAD TO ROME - DAWN Granacci finds Michelangelo standing alone at the confluence of the Sieve and the Arno, on the road that leads to Arezzo and Rome. Granacci touches his friend on the shoulder. Michelangelo turns. There are tears in his eyes. GRANACCI What is it, old friend? MICHELANGELO (sobs) My dearest Florence has made it clear. I’ll never be Leonardo. I’ll never be as handsome, as graceful, as famous. Michelangelo slams his fist into his hand.

46

MICHELANGELO I am the best draftsman in all Italy. No one will believe it by my simply saying it. I must prove it. How?

GRANACCI

MICHELANGELO A fresco. Of the same proportions as Leonardo's. In the same room. He asked for the entire eastern wall of the Grand Hall. He was given the right half. I’ll ask Soderini for the left half. I’ll display my skill side-byside with the great Leonardo. I’ll prove that I can out-paint him, figure for figure! All the world will see and judge. Then Florence can say who is truly the first artist of our time! GRANACCI This obsession is a sickness, a fever. We must find some way to cure you. MICHELANGELO That’s not funny. GRANACCI I was not trying to be. What you cannot stand is Leonardo's proximity. MICHELANGELO The smell of his perfume, perhaps. Granacci glances at his friend's sweat-caked arms and legs, his shirt dirty from the smoke of his forge, his boots worn and grimy. GRANACCI There are times when a bath would not kill you. Michelangelo picks up a stone and shakes it at Granacci. MICHELANGELO Get out of my sight, you . . . you traitor!

47 GRANACCI I did not bring up the subject of smells, you did. Why bother yourself over his painting, when you have years of sculpture at hand? Forget him. MICHELANGELO He's a thorn in my side. GRANACCI Suppose you come out second best? What then? MICHELANGELO Trust me, Granacci, I'll come out first. I have to. EXT. MONTE CECERI - DAY Clouds encircle the peak of Monte Ceceri—Swan’s Mountain— above the town of Fiesole. Leonardo and Salai clamber up the steep path that runs up the side of the mountain. Salai carries a new set of artificial wings for testing. At a spot where the crag juts out and the wind is calm, Leonardo sits on a stone to rest. Salai sits beside him. They look down upon Florence, transparently lilac in the smoky haze of the afternoon sun. LEONARDO Ah, Tuscany. Eternally green. (recites) "Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." SALAI Florence sparkles like an amethyst. LEONARDO The apprentice is becoming a poet. SALAI I meant no offense. None taken.

LEONARDO

SALAI You feel at home here on the mountain, dearest Nardo.

48 LEONARDO It reminds me of Monte Albano and Vinci. I spent my childhood climbing its back. SALAI It's a good place to reflect. And escape. From what?

LEONARDO SALAI

LEONARDO Expectations. Loneliness. Despair. Over what?

SALAI

LEONARDO My reputation, my work. Questions whether it will ever be more than a worthless, unfinished mess. SALAI Your fame will outlive us all. LEONARDO (recites) "O vain glory, of all human powers, How briefly green endures upon the peak . . . In painting Cimabue thought he excelled And now it is Giotto that is celebrated And the fame of the first is growing dark." Dante? Dante.

SALAI LEONARDO

(he stands) Never place your hope on the morrow, sweet pea. They continue their ascent. As they climb, it grows colder and more windy. At the summit, Leonardo walks out onto a flat bluff. Salai helps his master attach his wings.

49 Just then, a GIANT WHITE SWAN floats up over the edge of the bluff. It hovers there, waiting. LEONARDO I knew you would come again. The swan drifts away from the edge of the bluff, beckoning Leonardo to join it in flight. Leonardo dashes towards the edge of the bluff and jumps. He flaps his wings madly. He hovers for a moment. Then drops like a rock. Salai and the swan glance at each other. Salai runs to the edge. The swan prepares to dive after Leonardo. Suddenly, Leonardo re-appears above the lip of the bluff, madly beating his wings. And flying. Salai and the swan sigh a sigh of relief. The swan waits for Leonardo. Together, they soar toward the sun. INT. SODERINI’S OFFICE – LATE AFTERNOON Michelangelo enters. He is bathed, barbered, and wearing a clean blue shirt. Soderini slouches behind his massive desk. Machiavelli lounges on a divan nearby. Michelangelo strides to face the gonfaloniere. His scent precedes him, enveloping Soderini. SODERINI (leaning away) Phew. What did the barber put on your hair? MICHELANGELO (flushes and stammers) . . . a scented oil . . . SODERINI (to a groom) Get a towel. The GROOM hurries to a sideboard and returns with a hand towel.

50 Soderini tosses it to Michelangelo. SODERINI Rub that out. Stick to your own smells. At least they're unique. MICHELANGELO I’ve always valued your honesty, Gonfaloniere. SODERINI Now, then, what brings you here on this warm afternoon? MICHELANGELO Troubles, Gonfaloniere. But, no one comes here to share his pleasures. SODERINI That's why I sit behind such a spacious desk. It can hold all the problems of Florence. MICHELANGELO It’s your shoulders that are broad. Soderini nods his head deprecatingly. MICHELANGELO I’ve come seeking a favor. Soderini gestures for him to continue. MICHELANGELO I wish a commission. Soderini glances at Machiavelli. They exchange sly smiles. SODERINI You have much on your plate now. Soderini plays Michelangelo like an expert sport fisherman plays a fighting fish. MICHELANGELO I have many stone works. I wish to paint a fresco. SODERINI You have no experience painting fresco. MICHELANGELO That’s never stopped me before, or others before me.

51

SODERINI (playing out some line) And, where would you like to paint this fresco? MICHELANGELO In the Sala Grande. Behind the podium from which you govern. SODERINI (playing out a little more line) We already have someone painting a fresco there. MICHELANGELO Leonardo, I know. Everybody knows. I wish to paint beside him. SODERINI Everyone knows you dislike him. MICHELANGELO What does it matter who, or what, I like or dislike? Soderini gets up and walks around his desk to stand beside Michelangelo. He covers his nose with a linen handkerchief. SODERINI You've told me yourself you never liked the fresco work at Ghirlandaio's. Michelangelo lowers his head, his voice dogged. MICHELANGELO I was wrong. I can paint fresco. Better than Leonardo. Are you sure?

SODERINI

MICHELANGELO I'll put my hand in fire. SODERINI Even supposing you can, why would you want to take the years away from the marble? Your Madonna for the Bruges merchants is divine. So is the Pitti tondo.

52 MACHIAVELLI Your talent is a gift from God. It’s Machiavelli’s turn to toy with the fish a little himself. MACHIAVELLI Why would you throw it away for an art you consider second-rate? MICHELANGELO You were so thrilled, Gonfaloniere, to convince Leonardo to paint your wall. You said the world would come to see it. And they will.

SODERINI

MICHELANGELO Why wouldn’t twice as many come to view two panels? One by Leonardo, the other by me? It would be a great palio, a great race. It would excite people. And bring great glory to Florence. SODERINI You think you can surpass him? MICHELANGELO On my mother’s grave. Soderini walks back to the gold-emblazoned chair and eases into it. SODERINI The Signoria will never approve. You already have a contract with the Wool Guild and Duomo to carve the Twelve Apostles. MICHELANGELO I'll carve them. But, the other half of the wall must be mine. I don't need two years, as Leonardo does. I'll do it in one year, ten months, eight . . . SODERINI No. I can’t let you get yourself into trouble. I won’t let you promise what you can’t deliver.

53 MICHELANGELO Because you don't believe I can do it? You're right not to believe, since I come here with only words in my hands. Next time, I’ll bring drawings. Then you’ll see what I can do. SODERINI (nettled in spite of himself) Come back with a marble Apostle instead. That's why we built you that workshop. To carve Apostles. Soderini turns his eyes upward and gazes at the lilies on the ceiling. SODERINI Why wasn't I content with two months as Gonfaloniere? Why did I take this job for life? MICHELANGELO Because you’re a wise and persuasive Gonfaloniere. MACHIAVELLI Who is going to get the city to pay for painting the other half of the wall. Moving to where only Soderini can see him, Machiavelli makes a gesture like he’s just hooked a big one. He begins reeling in the imaginary fish. INT. LEONARDO’S STUDIO – WORKROOM - NIGHT Leonardo stares through a magnifying glass in an observatory he has constructed beneath the skylight. He studies the moon. A stuffed bird, with moth-eaten wings, dangles suspended from a crossbeam. Drawings in various stages of completion lie scattered about the room. Heaps of old, dusty books climb to the ceiling. Jars filled with little monsters, pickled in alcohol, line the wall shelves. Brass quadrants, globes, various devices of mechanics, astronomy, physics, hydraulics, and optics rest among bones of human skeletons and the rusted parts of dead machines.

54 Leonardo crosses to his desk, sits, and writes in a notebook. He finishes a notation and looks across his desk at Machiavelli, who stands there patiently. LEONARDO My apologies, Niccolo. None required.

MACHIAVELLI

LEONARDO There is so much to do and so little time. MACHIAVELLI Your mind is insatiable, your energy unlimited. Excited, Leonardo unrolls a scroll, flattens it with a wooden model of a flying machine and a clay model of the Vitruvian man. LEONARDO I have sketched more ideas for our project to re-route the Arno away from Pisa. Our dream of making Florence a sea port is within reach. Leonardo fans out the series of drawings of machines to raise water and dig canals that he shared with Salai at the edge of the waterfall. MACHIAVELLI That’s what I’ve come to talk with you about. LEONARDO Has the funding run out again? MACHIAVELLI No, but the gonfaloniere’s patience has. The fresco?

LEONARDO

MACHIAVELLI The contract is clear. If you miss any deadlines, you forfeit the entire amount. LEONARDO I know, I know.

55 Absent-mindedly, Leonardo rummages around his desk for something. MACHIAVELLI I pulled many strings as secretary of the chancellery to get you this commission. Don’t make me look the fool. LEONARDO I cannot find . . . (stops rummaging) When is the first deadline? Already past.

MACHIAVELLI

LEONARDO And the second? Also past. Yes, I see.

MACHIAVELLI LEONARDO

MACHIAVELLI Do you? You must focus at the expense of all other projects! Machiavelli strikes the open scroll. LEONARDO Yes, I will focus. MACHIAVELLI Our necks are at stake. This statement gets Leonardo’s attention, finally. LEONARDO I said I would. MACHIAVELLI Would you prefer that Michelangelo finish his cartoon first? He will, you know. Because he works harder. How will that make you look? LEONARDO This contest is vulgar. MACHIAVELLI Michelangelo is eager for the duel.

56

LEONARDO I am too old to have to compete. MACHIAVELLI Michelangelo isn’t. LEONARDO The gauntlet is thrown? The challenge made? It is.

MACHIAVELLI

LEONARDO Then he will rue the day. Leonardo finally finds what he was searching for. It is a bird’s feather. INT. TAVERN – END OF DAY The tavern is a popular haunt for the working class. It is boisterous and drunken loud. We follow a SERVING MAN as he navigates the crowd, carrying a tray of tankards. A MONEY CHANGER snatches a tankard as the serving man passes. A WOOL DYER, one arm dyed blue the other red, sits across the table from the money changer. He’s surrounded by other ANXIOUS MEN, clamoring for attention, their outstretched hands filled with coins and bills. The money changer takes a swig from the tankard, licks his lips, and slams the tankard hard on the table. MONEY CHANGER Now I’m ready. Back to business. On the wall behind the money changer is a rustic dart scoreboard that has been crudely modified. On the left side is scrawled, "Mic." On the right is written, "Leo." Below each man’s name, a "0" has been scratched in white chalk. The wool dyer slides some coins across the table. The money changer carefully counts them. Your wager?

MONEY CHANGER

57

Ten florins. On? Broken-nose. To?

WOOL DYER MONEY CHANGER WOOL DYER MONEY CHANGER

WOOL DYER Shame the Milanese whore Leonardo. A YOUNG SOLDIER leans in over the back of the wool dyer. YOUNG SOLDIER Put mine on the whore, the putah. To school the boy. The gamblers erupt, each trying to get their bet in. GAMBLERS (at once) Leonardo! Michelangelo! The Vincan! Buonarroti! The lyre player! The quarryman! A BUTCHER, his arms glistening with animal fat, flings a tight wad of bills that hits the money changer in the chest. The money rebounds onto the table. BUTCHER A week’s wages that neither man finishes. This bold, yet not surprising, wager quiets everybody. MONEY CHANGER An interesting proposition. BUTCHER Consider their history. They are master procrastinators both. MONEY CHANGER It will be a battle of the titans.

58 BUTCHER And Florence will be the greater for it. The crowd of gamblers roars their assent. EXT. PIAZZA SIGNORIA - MORNING A well-dressed banker crosses the Piazza Signoria. A shabby, HAIRY MONK bellows at anyone who stops, or pauses long enough, to listen. HAIRY MONK Pietra mossa non fa muschio. A rolling stone gathers no moss. The banker pauses and thinks a moment. Struck with a thought, he pulls a nub of charcoal and a small piece of paper from his vest and scribbles something. He continues, veering suddenly down a muddy alleyway. The banker approaches a rusted metal door. A dangling wooden sign lists the sole occupant as a Dr. Lazerius—Necromancer, Diviner, Notary, Aromatherapist, and Bail Bondsman. Matchmaker has been scratched from the list. The banker enters. INT. LAZERIUS OFFICE – SAME TIME Bug-eyed, stuffed animals dangle from the rafters. A THREADBARE OWL sleeps on a worn perch. The room is claustrophobic with jars of pickled animals and human body parts, crocks of potions, drawers overflowing with dried herbs, hanging chains of amulets, various versions of pentagrams, and astrological charts. Dusty degrees, letters of thanks, and autographed portraits of the RICH AND FAMOUS who have frequented the establishment pepper the walls. Ambient, New Age, harp music plays in the background. Thick incense burns. A makeshift fountain gurgles in the corner. The banker steps into the main room, stops, and sniffs the air. BANKER Not Patchouli oil. Pop into the Sixteenth Century, my good man. DR. LAZERIUS looks up from a dusty book to gaze at the banker through his one good eye. The socket of the other eye

59 is filled with a badly painted glass eye. There’s something a little off about it. The banker sits down at a small, round table. Dr. Lazerius drags his chair to sit across from him. He whisks a silk scarf away, revealing a round, silver chalice filled with smoky blue liquid. I must know.

BANKER

LAZERIUS It is still too dark to see. BANKER I intend to place a sizeable wager. The future of my bank depends on certainty. LAZERIUS Uncertainty is the only certainty. BANKER Stop talking in riddles. LAZERIUS Riddles are what I know. BANKER Who will prevail? LAZERIUS It is a competition in lateness. BANKER Which man will finish before the other? LAZERIUS I still cannot divine. BANKER Who will be crowned the first artist of Florence? LAZERIUS Come again. Another day, Messer Zimmerman. INT. SANTA MARIA NOVELLA - HALL OF THE POPE - DAY Leonardo stands in the center of the huge Hall of the Pope (Sala del Papa), in the convent of Santa Maria Novella. The disused refectory has been retro-fitted as his studio for the fresco work.

60

LEONARDO Please open the doors. Let my adoring public see me at work. Salai and some STUDENTS fling open all the doors and windows. Unfortunately, it’s raining and there’s no adoring public to be seen. EXT. SANT'ONOFRIO – HOSPITAL OF THE DYERS - DAY The Hospital of the Dyers at Sant'Onofrio (Ospedale di Sant’Onofrio) is a charitable hospital, founded by the Art Guild of the Dyers. It fronts the Street of the Dyers, just a few blocks from Santa Croce. The gutters of the cobblestone-lined street in front of the hospital run blue, green, and crimson. DYERS hustle up and down the street. Some carry finished goods on their backs, others shoulder pots of dye. Patterns are scratched into the surface of their skin, with dyes rubbed into the wounds. They look like some kind of heathen tribe. INT. SANT'ONOFRIO - HOSPITAL OF THE DYERS – SAME TIME Michelangelo and Argiento stand in the center of a long, narrow, high-ceilinged room, which faces south onto the Arno. The room is bathed in bright sunlight. The long back wall is larger than the half of the Hall of the Great Council allotted to him for his fresco. MICHELANGELO Lock the door. I don’t want any distractions. Or witnesses. INT. SANTA MARIA NOVELLA - CONVENT LIBRARY - DAY Leonardo, Machiavelli, and AGOSTINO DI VESPUCCI, brother of explorer Amerigo, lean over a long table lit from above by a candelabra. MACHIAVELLI The Battle of Anghiari. It was a cavalry battle fought by the Tribes of the Dragon. LEONARDO Horses. I can paint horses.

61 MACHIAVELLI di Vespucci has written a narrative describing it. (turns to di Vespucci) Agostino. DI VESPUCCI The battle took place in the upper valley of the Tiber. On the flat plain between Anghiari and Sansepolcro. It was a battle for the bridge over the Anghiari. The Florentines defeated Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and the Milanese. LEONARDO Is this a joke, Niccolo? Some kind of test? Machiavelli smiles. I am confused.

DI VESPUCCI

LEONARDO I, a friend of Milan, am asked to paint the defeat of Milan? DI VESPUCCI Florence triumphed. That is all that matters. MACHIAVELLI This work is commissioned by Florence for the glory of Florence. For the Republic. LEONARDO It’s a reason. Not a good reason, but a reason. INT. SANTO SPIRITO - LIBRARY - DAY Michelangelo stands next to a tall writing desk. He faces the AUGUSTINIAN MONK who serves as curator. MICHELANGELO (stammers) I am seeking . . . wisdom. Um, information. CURATOR (humorless) We all are.

62

MICHELANGELO I wish to find a moment in history. A moment of glory and pride for Florence. A battle celebrating the power of the Republic. The curator gestures for Michelangelo to follow him. They walk down a long aisle filled to the rafters on either side with manuscripts. The curator stops and pulls a folio from the shelf. He walks to a reading desk and gently lays the manuscript down. The curator gently turns the pages. He stops. CURATOR (reads) "Cascina, near Pisa, 1364. On a hot summer day, the Florentine forces made camp on the banks of the Arno. Feeling safe from attack, a number of the soldiers had gone bathing in the river." MICHELANGELO The human body. I can paint the human body. The monk carefully turns the page. CURATOR (reads) "English mercenaries under the command of Sir John Hawkwood attacked. The Florentine soldiers scrambled from the river in time to repel three Pisan attacks and rout the enemy." (closes manuscript) It was a defining moment in our history. MICHELANGELO It shall be mine as well. INT. HALL OF THE POPE – LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY Leonardo sketches composition studies in red chalk. Heads of men in agony. Horses baring teeth. Smoke swirling. LEONARDO I am thinking of a continuous cycle. A large panoramic composition.

63 MACHIAVELLI The hall has windows. LEONARDO (quickly improvising) Divided into three sections . . . around the windows. Leonardo continues to talk as he sketches, becoming more animated. He shuffles through several drawings and fans them out like playing cards. A finished drawing depicts two soldiers, one with an upraised sword. Another drawing shows the Florentine cavalry charging. In the distance sits a town with tents, providing a backdrop for the fighting horsemen. MACHIAVELLI It is much less than the contract demanded. LEONARDO It is only words on paper. MACHIAVELLI Those words determine your compensation. Leonardo waves his hand, dismissing the thought. He turns his full attention to the sketches. LEONARDO I want the viewer to experience a story unfolding in a spatial and temporal direction. It doesn’t merely depict space, but time as well. MACHIAVELLI (impressed in spite of himself) Profundo. EXT. STREET OF THE STATIONERS - DAY Head-down, mission-in-mind, Michelangelo marches down the street. He enters the first shop he sees. INT. SHOP – SAME TIME Michelangelo buys the largest squares of paper he can find. He also purchases colored inks and chalks, as well as crayons of black, white, red, and brown.

64 INT. MICHELANGELO’S WORKSHOP – NIGHT Hunched over his work-bench, drawing swiftly, Michelangelo works feverishly at the composition study, organizing the scene on the Arno at Cascina. INT. SODERINI’S OFFICE – LATE AFTERNOON An exhausted Michelangelo stands across the room from Soderini. The two men stare at each other, then glance at the floor between them. Fitted together on the floor in front of the desk are a dozen large sheets of paper. Sketched across the overlapping sheets are twenty male figures. Michelangelo drops into the first of a single row of tall leather chairs lined against the side wall. He looks tired and beaten. Soderini studies the drawings in silence. He looks up. SODERINI I was wrong to discourage you. To be an artist, one must sculpt and paint with equal authority. This fresco can be as revolutionary as the David, and bring us the same joy. Michelangelo smiles, vindicated. INT. HALL OF THE POPE - LEONARDO’S STUDIO - DAY A large lizard, hobbled and tethered, lies still on a work table. It is covered with the scales of fish. Leonardo carefully attaches a set of silver horns. SALAI You’ll have your wish at last. To paint a herd of horses. Leonardo attaches a gossamer beard and wings filled with quicksilver, which quiver as the beast breathes. SALAI They expect a masterpiece. As do I.

LEONARDO

65 SALAI What if it fails their expectations? Can you stand to be second best? Can you bear the insults? LEONARDO Patience protects us from wrongs, just as clothes protect us against the cold. When we get cold, we add more clothes. When we are wronged, we increase our patience so the injustice cannot touch our soul. SALAI Get ready, doll. It’s going to be a cold summer. Leonardo un-hobbles and un-tethers the beast. It skitters across the table, a shimmering monster. EXT. BOBOLI GARDENS - DAY Michelangelo and Granacci stroll the labyrinthine gardens. GRANACCI How good can it get? You are going to paint a forest of Davids. So they say.

MICHELANGELO

GRANACCI (a touch caustically) You have been repatriated, Mic. You are once again our first artist, providing the fresco comes out brilliantly. I only hope you are not paying too high a price. MICHELANGELO A man pays what he must. GRANACCI You do not seem too excited. MICHELANGELO I am. I’ve been given an extraordinary opportunity to paint something magnifico. To demonstrate that the nude can be made the sole means of artistic expression. To prove forever and for all that no man can capture the nude figure as I can.

66 GRANACCI Ah, what would we do, what would we be, without ego. EXT. ANGHIARI - DAY Leonardo, Salai, Machiavelli, and an ENTOURAGE walk the flat plain between Anghiari and Sansepolcro. There are so many people and they are so animated and bubbly that they frighten the livestock away, forcing the angry HERDSMEN to chase after the skittish beasts. Leonardo stares at the open space of land. He closes his eyes. MIND’S EYE Leonardo flashes on a tornado of intertwined figures, a confused rage. Knots of frantic men and tormented steeds clustered in an ecstasy of wrath around the Standard, the Milanese banner. It is a fantasia of carnage, an orgasm of brutality. BACK TO PRESENT Leonardo opens his eyes, pale and shaking from the frightening vision. LEONARDO War is a most beastly madness. It runs counter to nature. It is evil. MACHIAVELLI A necessary evil. It is better for a prince to be feared than loved. He must combine force and shrewdness, the lion and the fox. That is how he triumphs. LEONARDO Man is an animal. EXT. TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE – SUNRISE Michelangelo and Granacci tramp the countryside. Michelangelo shoulders a saddlebag, Granacci a wicker basket. EXT. COUNTRYSIDE – LATE AFTERNOON Michelangelo and Granacci sit beneath a grape arbor eating lunch. Michelangelo stares at the Apennines. He closes his eyes.

67 MIND’S EYE Michelangelo flashes on a large group of men, young and old, with the water and the sun on them, galvanized into action; all of them at a moment of danger, of tension, of pressure, of psychological crisis. The moment is recorded not only on their faces, but in the bending, reaching, and straining of their bodies. BACK TO PRESENT Michelangelo opens his eyes and smiles. GRANACCI Why a battle? A triumph of any kind would do. MICHELANGELO I’m a patriot. Florence must show the wolves at our gates. We fear nothing and can take care of our own. INT. POPE’S HALL - LEONARDO’S STUDIO - DAY A large wooden frame, holding several large folios of paper hemmed with linen, hangs from the wall. A cartoon covers the folios. The smaller composition sketches we saw Leonardo working on earlier dot the wall on either side of the cartoon. There is also a drawing of a mercenary knight. There are several small clay models of men and horses. The room overflows with joyous activity. Free-flying songbirds sing, flowers lie strewn carelessly across the floor, minstrels play, poets recite, a fire roars in the fireplace. It is a warm, inviting place to work. Leonardo roughs in a black chalk head in three-quarter profile. SALAI He looks like you. It is me.

LEONARDO

SALAI He fights for Milan. So he does.

LEONARDO

68 Leonardo smiles and continues drawing. He works leisurely, almost carefree and nonchalant. He takes breaks to sip wine, play the lyre, sing a song, visit with friends, enjoy a manicure. The full impact of the nearly finished cartoon is overwhelming. "The Battle for the Standard" is a fantasia of carnage. LEONARDO There must not be a spot that is not trampled with gore. Pazzia bestialissima. SALAI War will never again be portrayed as romantic chivalry. INT. DYER’S HOSPITAL - MICHELANGELO’S STUDIO - DAY The long room in the Dyers’ hospital, now converted to Michelangelo's studio, is cold, bleak, and dank. An oblong strip of paper, cut to scale, covers a drawing table. Michelangelo sketches wildly, working in an absolute fury, driven by a force he cannot contain. It’s obvious from the bags under his eyes, the unkempt hair, and the lank, greasy clothes, that he’s been working nonstop and sleeping in his clothes. Michelangelo gnaws on a crust of bread as he works. The lantern on his forehead repeatedly slips down over his eyes, antagonizing him no end. Argiento offers a cup of water. MICHELANGELO I won’t be scolded for wasting time on canal pumps, flights of birds, and mechanized killing machines. Michelangelo draws a series of lines in chalk, dividing the oblong into a number of squares. He painstakingly transfers the sketches he showed Soderini to larger sheets of individual paper, representing each square of the master sketch. Argiento glues the separate sheets together.

69

Argiento, Granacci, ANTONIO DA SANGALLO, and Michelangelo tack the cartoon to a light wooden frame and prop it against the long wall of the hospital. MICHELANGELO Leonardo is misguided. War is not the most bestial madness. It’s a manly exploit. The struggle of heroes for the glory and greatness of their fatherland. "The Bathers" is a group of muscular nude warriors, locked in frantic but graceful gyrations. GRANACCI How strange that poor motivation can create such rich art. Michelangelo does not answer. GRANACCI You must open these doors and let everyone see what you have accomplished. MICHELANGELO I don’t want adulation. I don’t need approval. DA SANGALLO People grumble over your closed doors. GRANACCI Even members of the Company ask why you lock everybody out. DA SANGALLO Now that they can see the miracle you have created in such short time, they will understand. MICHELANGELO I would prefer to wait a little longer. Until I have the fresco completed in the Grand Hall. But, if you both say I must, then I must. INT. POPE’S HALL – LEONARDO’S STUDIO - DAY Leonardo hears steps resounding on the brick floor. He recognizes them, and, without turning around, makes a wry face.

70 SODERINI Messer Leonardo. I have an accounting question that requires clarification. LEONARDO (mumbles under his breath) He strangles me with his red tape. SODERINI There appears to have been a purchase of thirty-five pounds of Alexandrian white pigment that wasn’t entered into the account. Leonardo turns. LEONARDO I have not bought any white. SODERINI Then what were the moneys used for? I do not know.

LEONARDO

SODERINI That could be a problem. LEONARDO I will return the full amount to the treasury. On my word. SODERINI Don’t be so hard on us. Compared to the Sforzas and Borgias, we’re humble folk. I’m accountable only to the people. It’s a sacred trust. My apologies.

LEONARDO

This admission doesn’t slow Soderini. He’s on a roll. SODERINI The princes pay you in gold, we in copper. Don’t you prefer the copper of liberty to the gold of slavery? Leonardo listens in silence, feigning agreement. Soderini, affecting the pompous air of a connoisseur, begins studying the cartoon.

71 SODERINI Simply amazing. Look at those horses. They almost look alive. Leonardo rolls his eyes heavenward. Soderini glances at Leonardo, good-naturedly but sternly, like a schoolmaster counseling a talented, but insufficiently diligent, pupil. SODERINI However, I’ll say what I’ve said before. If you continue as you’ve begun, the end result will be too heavy, too depressing. Don’t be angry with me for telling the truth. (gestures at the cartoon) This was not what we expected. LEONARDO What was it, then, that you were expecting? SODERINI That you’d depict the memorable exploits of our heroes. Something that would elevate the soul of man. Leonardo listens in silence, stupefied by the monotonous sounds of Soderini’s words. SODERINI Art that doesn’t benefit the people is the amusement of idle men, the whim of the rich, the luxury of tyrants. LEONARDO To end this dispute, perhaps we should let the citizens of the Florentine Republic decide whether my picture can, or cannot, bring any benefit to the people. Ten or twenty thousand fools, convened together, cannot be mistaken. After all, the voice of the people is the voice of God. Soderini smiles in agreement, then suddenly realizes he is being mocked. His eyes narrow. SODERINI Let me just say that I’m confident Michelangelo’s painting will benefit the people.

72 INT. DYER’S HOSPITAL – MICHELANGELO’S STUDIO – DAY A CROWD cautiously enters the Dyers hospital, eyed caustically by Michelangelo. They carefully move as a pack to the foot of the cartoon. They stop in dumbstruck awe. Rustici, standing at the edge of the crowd, catches Michelangelo’s eye and gestures for approval to move closer to the cartoon. Michelangelo nods. As Rustici approaches the cartoon, Granacci crosses to join him. GRANACCI (whispers to Rustici) What you say will carry great weight. Consider your words carefully. RUSTICI (to Michelangelo) Leonardo painted his panel for the horses, you for the men. Nothing as superb as Leonardo's has ever been done of a battle scene. Nothing as magnificently shocking as yours has ever been painted of human beings. (gestures to the cartoon) The Signoria is going to have one hell of a wall. EXT. DUOMO STEPS – SUNDAY AFTERNOON A CROWD gathers on the cool marble steps of the Duomo to observe the Florentine pageant as it floats by. The blonde, slender GIRLS, carrying their heads high, wear colorful coverings on their hair and long-sleeved gowns, high-necked, with overlapping skirts pleated and full, their breasts outlined in sheer fabric. The OLDER MEN wear somber cloaks. The YOUNG MEN of prominent families create the greatest splash between the Duomo steps and the Baptistery by wearing their calzoni with each leg dyed differently and patterned according to the family blazon. Their suite of ATTENDANTS follow in identical dress. Granacci and Salai approach the steps from opposite directions. They try to avoid making eye contact, by quickly looking up, down, and all around. They fail miserably. Caught in the web and not wishing to appear rude, they stop and bow low to each other.

73

GRANACCI Messer Salai, good day to you. And to you.

SALAI

GRANACCI I trust your master is well? SALAI He is. And yours? GRANACCI The usual. He frets over the wall. SALAI Leonardo as well. GRANACCI It is quite the seductive spectacle, this duel. SALAI Indeed. It’s all the talk in the streets and squares. Both men pause to listen to the buzz around them. They nod in assent and shrug their shoulders. GRANACCI Our Florentines watch this contest with the natural curiosity of the mob seduced by a carriage wreck. SALAI They regard our masters as two starving dogs fighting over a bone in the street. GRANACCI Now they have spiced it with politics. They say Michelangelo stands for the Republic against the Medici. SALAI And Leonardo supports the Medici over the Republic. GRANACCI Why must it always be about politics?

74 SALAI For the Florentines, life without politics is like a meal without seasoning. GRANACCI The city has separated into two warring camps. SALAI And daily they do verbal battle. Both men stop to listen again. They smile and shrug once more. GRANACCI Michelangelo is a painter, not a politician. He chooses not to participate. SALAI Leonardo is a lover not a fighter. He refuses to lower himself. So be it. So be it.

GRANACCI SALAI

The two men bow and continue on their way. INT. POPE’S HALL – LEONARDO’S STUDIO - DAY The hall overflows with ADMIRERS—artisans, citizens, merchants, common men, and students. Leonardo stands beside his cartoon, explaining every nuance to an interested, lavishly-dressed OLDER MAN. In the middle of the crowd, a YOUNG MAN sits on a short stool, rapt in studying and copying the cartoon. He has the face of an immaculate Madonna with gentle, perceptive eyes; long, luxuriant hair, fastidiously kept. He carries himself confidently, with an expression of gracious warmth. He wears fine clothes, but no jewels. Leonardo, curious, approaches the young man, who stops sketching and nods to the master. Leonardo glances at the sketches. The young man allows him to, even tipping the pad so Leonardo can admire the work.

75 LEONARDO Quite good for one so young. YOUNG MAN Twenty-one this year, maestro. LEONARDO Where do you come from? YOUNG MAN I was born in Urbino. LEONARDO Who is your father and what is your name? YOUNG MAN My father is Giovanni Sanzi, the painter. My name is Raffaello Sanzi. I am a former apprentice of Perugino’s. Former?

LEONARDO

YOUNG MAN I seek commissions of my own. Leonardo looks again at the sketch pad. LEONARDO That should not be a problem. YOUNG MAN I must tell you something, maestro. I consider you the greatest of all the artists of Italy. LEONARDO What of Michelangelo? YOUNG MAN He is unworthy to tie the shoe straps of the creator of the Last Supper. LEONARDO I agree. But, let us keep that our little secret. Leonardo takes the young man’s sketch pad and fans through the pages. With each sketch, he is both impressed and unsettled.

76 LEONARDO My son, if you continue as you are, I predict you will some day be a great master. INT. DYER’S HOSPITAL – MICHELANGELO’S STUDIO - MORNING Michelangelo stares at the cartoon. Argiento and Granacci stand beside him. ARGIENTO A crowd of young men await outside the doors. MICHELANGELO What do they want? ARGIENTO They ask if they might sketch. MICHELANGELO Sketch what? These chicken scratchings? Yes.

ARGIENTO

MICHELANGELO I suppose. What harm can they do? Let them in. Moments later, the YOUNG MEN stand in open-mouthed awe of the cartoon, their drawing materials hanging loose in their hands. Michelangelo nods toward the handsome young man we just met in Leonardo’s studio. Who is that?

MICHELANGELO

ARGIENTO They call him . . . Raphael. Michelangelo likes Raphael immediately. Michelangelo claps his hands, startling the collection of admirers. Their drawing materials clatter to the floor simultaneously. MICHELANGELO You came here to sketch. Start sketching.

77 The students pick up their materials and rush to find the best vantage point. Raphael does not move. He stares at Michelangelo, then turns to the cartoon. In a moment, he turns his gaze back on Michelangelo. His eyes are not so much admiring, as incredulous. His expression says he cannot believe it could possibly be Michelangelo who had really done all this, but some outside, supernatural force. Raphael walks up to Michelangelo and speaks in a soft-spoken voice lacking the slightest shred of flattery. RAPHAEL This makes painting a wholly different art. I shall have to start again, at the beginning. Even what I have learned from Leonardo is no longer sufficient. Michelangelo is nettled by the comparison, but flattered nonetheless. RAPHAEL With your permission, maestro. I would like to work here, before the cartoon. Antonio da Sangallo and his nephew, SEBASTIANO, come up behind Raphael, who still awaits Michelangelo’s answer. ANTONIO DA SANGALLO My nephew has asked to terminate his apprenticeship with Perugino and work here. With your permission, I intend to grant his wish. Michelangelo is bewildered. GRANACCI Whether you want it or not, Mic, you are now the headmaster of a school of talented young apprentices. INT. POPE’S HALL – LEONARDO'S STUDIO - NIGHT A MAN dressed as a laborer scurries from the hall. There is something odd about his look. It is Leonardo, but the clothes hardly fit the man. He sniffs and turns up his nose. He retracts his body within the clothes, trying desperately not to allow his body to touch the filthy fabric encasing him.

78 He casts a glance over his shoulder and looks around him, furtively. He gingerly drapes a shabby cloak over his shoulder, then dashes down a side street. INT. DYER’S HOSPITAL – MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - SAME TIME A MAN dressed as a man of wealth exits the hospital. It is Michelangelo. He is comically costumed in what he would consider the clothes of a gentleman. The wig he wears seems to have a mind of its own. He disappears into the shadows. EXT./INT. DYER’S HOSPITAL – MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - LATER Leonardo sneaks up to the hospital. He clumsily crawls through a window, hoping no one will see him. But, there’s no one there to discover him. He creeps furtively along a back wall, then stops. He looks up at the massive cartoon. LEONARDO Incredible. The quarryman can paint. Leonardo hears something. Startled, he turns. Argiento, curled up on the stone floor, snuffles then goes back to sleeping quietly. Leonardo wraps the cloak tighter around his shoulders and scurries from the room. EXT./INT. POPE’S HALL – LEONARDO'S STUDIO - SAME TIME At the exact same moment that Leonardo sneaks into the Dyer's Hospital, Michelangelo sneaks into the Pope’s Hall. Michelangelo mingles, as best he can, with the others visiting there. He accepts a goblet of wine and a delicacy, but doesn’t quite know what to do with either one. He wrestles with the wig and his clothes, then suddenly stops. He stares at the cartoon. MICHELANGELO Tremendous. The lyre player can paint. Fearing he may be unmasked, and uncomfortable amongst the finery and revelry, Michelangelo hurries from the room. INT. SANTA MARIA NOVELLA - DAY The two cartoons mounted in their wood frames, lean against a wall, side-by-side, cheek-to-jowl, as they will appear in the Grand Hall.

79

A STREAM OF FLORENTINES—tailors, bankers, merchants, weavers, painters, and artisans—course through the doors. Caught up in what could almost be described as religious frenzy, they worship at the base of these holy relics. Leonardo stands in front of his cartoon, surrounded by his entourage and fawning ADMIRERS, his back to Michelangelo. Michelangelo stands in front of his cartoon, also surrounded by ADMIRERS—mostly quarrymen and stonemasons—his back to Leonardo. At the exact same moment, Leonardo and Michelangelo both glance over their shoulders at their rival’s artwork, then at each other. They lock eyes for a moment, then quickly look away, embarrassed to be caught looking, let alone staring. Leonardo and Michelangelo return to their conversations. They each talk to their gallery, but they are speaking to one another. LEONARDO True beauty is inspired by nature. MICHELANGELO True beauty is inspired by God. These two men are as different as the sun and the moon. INT. LAZERIUS OFFICE - DAY The banker sits facing Dr. Lazerius across the chalice of smoky blue liquid. LAZERIUS Hello, again, Messer Zimmerman. ZIMMERMAN I have again, as instructed. Lazerius holds out his hand for payment. ZIMMERMAN Not a florin without an answer. Lazerius waves his hands over the bowl, gazing into the liquid. He realizes he’s trying to look through his bad eye and rotates his head to stare with his good eye. He strains so hard to see that his bad eye pops out of its socket and into the blue liquid, splashing dye all over the fine clothes of the banker.

80 Lazerius, smiling meekly and shrugging, fishes the eye from the chalice, dries it off, and casually pops it back home. Suddenly, the liquid begins to roil and boil. It begins spinning like a crazed whirlpool. An endless torrent of water explodes from the bowl. Geysering upward and cascading down, it floods the entire room. Papers, jars, globes, the banker, and Lazerius—anything that can float—all bob atop the foaming blue liquid. The neardead owl dances along its perch, flapping its wings in a futile attempt to avoid the rising tide. LAZERIUS You have your answer. ZIMMERMAN What does it mean? LAZERIUS A hard rain is gonna fall. INT. SANTO SPIRITO – PRIORY – HOSPITAL - DAY A CADAVER lies on a shrouded table. Dissecting tools are arrayed neatly on a side table. Leonardo enters the room from a door on one side of the room, carrying sketching materials. At the exact same moment, Michelangelo enters through a door on the opposite side of the room, also carrying sketching materials. They stop, confused. LEONARDO There must be a misunderstanding. I was scheduled to dissect today. MICHELANGELO There must be a mistake. Prior Bichiellini promised I could dissect today. After a brief moment of silent speculation. LEONARDO There are equal halves. Perhaps we can share. MICHELANGELO I’m willing if you are.

81 Leonardo nods and gestures for Michelangelo to approach the body first. Michelangelo gestures for Leonardo to approach first. They both nod and approach simultaneously. LEONARDO A most handsome young man. Leonardo plucks up a scalpel with his left hand. MICHELANGELO A Moor, I believe. Michelangelo plucks up a scalpel with his left hand. LEONARDO I did not know you were mancino, too. Leonardo raises his left hand and brandishes the scalpel. MICHELANGELO You know little about me. LEONARDO (genuinely excited) Do you write left-handed as well? MICHELANGELO I do everything with my right hand, except things that require force. Or, when I’m tired. Then I use both. LEONARDO I have developed an ingenious way of writing. Like the Hebrews. All-ebraica. I call it mirror writing. Leonardo holds up a notebook filled with his writing. LEONARDO The hand moves with less effort. Because it always leads the writing, it does not smear the ink. Leonardo pulls a mirror from his satchel and demonstrates. LEONARDO It is harder to decipher, but easier to keep a secret. MICHELANGELO You have too many secrets.

82

LEONARDO Who calls the kettle black? You, who works behind locked doors. Touché.

MICHELANGELO

LEONARDO The devil’s hand. They call it the devil's hand. Leonardo stares at his left hand. LEONARDO Do you believe that? MICHELANGELO Sometimes. When the burden of expectations becomes too great. LEONARDO The life of an artist can be lonely. MICHELANGELO Absolutely. But, it’s the life we’ve chosen. LEONARDO The only life we would live. MICHELANGELO My sole ambition, my whole life, has been to be a slave to art. LEONARDO I gladly share your chains. Michelangelo touches the dead body. MICHELANGELO It’s already decaying. LEONARDO (recites) "He who, without Fame, burns his life to waste leaves no more vestige of himself on earth than wind-blown smoke, or foam upon the water." MICHELANGELO (mildly irritated, but touched) Dante again.

83 Leonardo also reacts as the memory of their previous encounter washes over his face. LEONARDO I know in my heart and deep in my soul that one painting on a cloister wall in Milan will scarcely secure my legacy. MICHELANGELO You're too harsh on yourself. LEONARDO My mother, Caterina, died not long ago. In this very hospital. It makes one think of mortality. MICHELANGELO Sometimes I wish my father would die. LEONARDO Is it that bad? MICHELANGELO I am his quarry. INT. SANTA MARIA NOVELLA – DAY The CROWD viewing the two framed cartoons at Santa Maria Novella has grown in size and excitement. More STUDENTS sketch. The RICH AND POWERFUL, attended by SERVANTS and accompanied by LARGE RETINUES, move through the hall, awed and quieted by the magnitude of the works. A young student sits on his haunches, sketching madly. It is six-year-old BENVENUTO CELLINI. Raphael approaches. Cellini feels his presence, stops, and looks up at his fellow artist. He stands and gestures to the two paintings. CELLINI It is the school of the world. Scuola del mondo. INT. SANTA MARIA NOVELLA – DAY WORKERS carefully carry the two framed cartoons out opposite doors.

84 RAPHAEL (V.O.) Neither man will ever surpass it. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY Leonardo sits in an ornate chair that resembles a king’s throne. He sucks on a cluster of grapes. He stares at his cartoon, safely returned to its nest. There is a flurry of activity in the room, but it swirls away from Leonardo, leaving him isolated. One of the GAMBLERS FROM THE TAVERN sidles up to Leonardo. He leans down and whispers into Leonardo’s ear. GAMBLER Maestro, a man of some means, an acquaintance of mine, has asked me to convey a proposition. LEONARDO (roused from his reverie) What? Say what? GAMBLER A proposition, sir. LEONARDO What kind of proposition. GAMBLER The party I represent would be willing to pay you five hundred ducats. In gold. Leonardo blanches at the amount, choking on one of the grapes. He coughs and slingshots the grape across the room. LEONARDO That is a great deal of money. Leonardo recoils mildly, finally taking in all of the ruffian beside him. GAMBLER It must not be taken lightly, sir. LEONARDO What must I do to receive this bounty? Stop painting.

GAMBLER

85 Leonardo stares back at the man, confused for a moment, unsure of what he’s just heard. LEONARDO Painting? Stop painting what? The gambler points at the cartoon. LEONARDO I have only just begun. GAMBLER Then it will be easy to stop. LEONARDO I have a contract. GAMBLER You’ve been known to break contracts. Besides, what do contracts mean to the great Leonardo? LEONARDO I have been challenged. By Michelangelo. I must demonstrate who is rightfully, and forever, the first artist of Florence. GAMBLER Everyone in the city, nay the world, knows you are. What need have you to prove it? Pride.

LEONARDO

GAMBLER Hubris has humbled greater men than you. Leonardo leaps to his feet, insulted, huffing and puffing like a blowfish in mock anger. LEONARDO (waving his arms) You insult me in my own home. Leave at once. Shoo, you cockroach. GAMBLER (as he leaves) As you wish. But, you’ll live to regret it.

86 INT. MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - DAY Michelangelo sits on an edge-worn wooden stool. He gnaws on a crust of bread. He stares at his cartoon. The troublesome lantern has been crudely stitched together to fit his forehead more tightly. Argiento sits on a stool beside his master, staring at him, like a dog waiting for some kind gesture—a word, a bone, a stroke—from its owner. The SAME GAMBLER that visited Leonardo enters the studio. He shivers and pulls his cloak tighter. The room is cold, dark, bleak, and silent. The man approaches Michelangelo. GAMBLER (teeth mildly chattering) Maestro. Michelangelo does not answer. GAMBLER Maestro, a moment of your time. Michelangelo says nothing. Maestro . . .

GAMBLER

MICHELANGELO Stop babbling! I heard you the first time! GAMBLER Apologies, maestro. MICHELANGELO I don’t deserve to be called maestro. GAMBLER Few would agree. MICHELANGELO What do you want? Can’t you see I’m working. Mildly confused, the gambler stares at Michelangelo, then looks at the cartoon, then looks back at Michelangelo, then glances over at Argiento, who shrugs. GAMBLER I’m the bearer of a message, m . . . Signor Buonarotti.

87

MICHELANGELO Be quick about it. GAMBLER I represent a group of men. From the finest families in Florence. Men of great influence and power. MICHELANGELO (tensing) I’ve nothing in common with their class. GAMBLER These men think very highly of you. This gets Michelangelo’s attention, despite his resistance. GAMBLER In fact, they think so highly of you they’d like you to join them. In what?

MICHELANGELO

GAMBLER A secret society of sorts. MICHELANGELO And what do they expect in return? GAMBLER Something you can afford. MICHELANGELO Get to the point, man. You waste my time. And take my air. The gambler takes a deep breath, shrugs apologetically to Michelangelo, and finally exhales. GAMBLER (gestures at the cartoon) They would have you walk away from this contest. MICHELANGELO You confuse me with Leonardo. I never walk away from a job.

88 GAMBLER What about the statues for the Wool Guild? What about the bronze Hercules? What about . . . Michelangelo leaps to his feet and begins thrashing the gambler mercilessly about the head. The gambler cowers. Michelangelo knocks him to the floor and begins kicking him. Argiento grabs his master by both arms and pulls him away before he can do more damage, or even kill the man. The gambler, bleeding from the nose and mouth and ears, stands, a bit wobbly. MICHELANGELO Nothing, no man, not even the Pope, can make me abandon this work! GAMBLER Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Michelangelo picks up his stool. MICHELANGELO I should kill you. Cut you open before you die. Just to study your final moments. The gambler scurries for the door. The stool clatters in his wake as he dashes out the door. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY Leonardo sits at his work table. A framed, painted portrait by Jan van Eyck sits on an easel on the table. Leonardo studies it, then makes notes in his notebook. MACHIAVELLI (O.S.) The Flemish masters are fascinating. Leonardo jumps, startled by the silent intruder. He turns. LEONARDO Ah, Machiavelli. I did not hear you come in. Machiavelli just smiles. Leonardo turns back to the portrait.

89 LEONARDO They continue to develop amazing new paints and techniques. If only I were as brilliant. Machiavelli pulls a large, leather-bound book from behind his back and drops it onto the table. You are.

MACHIAVELLI

Leonardo runs his hand over the words on the leather cover. LEONARDO Pliny the Elder. Machiavelli opens the volume to a book-marked page. MACHIAVELLI Someone, an ally, told me of a technique for fresco that’s both unique and startling. Machiavelli stabs a dirt-encrusted fingernail at a passage in the book. LEONARDO (reads) "A layer of granular plaster is applied and primed to a hard flat finish. Over this is added a layer of resinous pitch, applied with a sponge, onto which the paint is applied. It requires heat to fix the colors onto the plaster. The effect is to heighten the brilliance of the colors by producing a very glossy effect." MACHIAVELLI It’s an experiment, a risk, but you’ve never shied from an experiment. LEONARDO I am the disciple of experiment! In his notebook, beneath the notes on the Flemish painters, Leonardo signs his name with a flourish and adds "Disciple of Experiment" below his signature. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL - DAY Michelangelo and Granacchi survey the walls.

90 GRANACCI You have never painted fresco, Mic. MICHELANGELO Oil painting is for flowery young men who smell like women. Fresco is the method of men. GRANACCI True fresco, buon fresco, is difficult to master. The potential for disaster is great. MICHELANGELO You question my mastery? Or, perhaps my masculinity? GRANACCI Painting on wet plaster requires preparation and precise timing. Once you begin a section, you cannot change your mind. You cannot procrastinate. MICHELANGELO I’m not a schoolboy, Granacci. I understand the risks. GRANACCI Many great artists have conceded when faced with a fresh wall of plaster. MICHELANGELO If Leonardo can master fresco in Milan, I can master fresco in Florence. Granacci looks doubtful. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY ASSISTANTS and APPRENTICES carefully unpack and arrange a wagon-load of new supplies. Leonardo inspects each barrel and container, pot and sack. LEONARDO Quicklime, sand, linseed oil, Greek pitch, Venetian sponges, and Alexandrian white. Leonardo claps his hands and the assistants begin mixing quicklime with water. They trowel the wet plaster onto a piece of wood the size and shape of a standard portrait, which lies flat on a long, wooden work table.

91 Leonardo mixes a batch of pigments with water in individual pots. He stirs a crock of pitch methodically. He adds solvent, then gum. The mixture begins to thicken. Leonardo carefully sponges a layer of pitch over the wet plaster. He sketches in the face of Monna Lisa and applies paint to complete the portrait. An apprentice lights two braziers of coal that sit on the table on either side of the painting. Leonardo watches as the freshly applied paint fuses with the plaster and the plaster dries to stone, leaving a shiny, brilliant finish. Leonardo smiles. Machiavelli, standing off to the side, smiles also, but his is a smile of malevolent deceit. INT. MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - DAY It is a cold, drizzly January day. PERUGINO enters the hall. Twenty-five years older than Michelangelo, he has the lurching gait of a country man, a face scarred with gullies from years of toiling in the sun and rain. MICHELANGELO (whispers to Argiento) Perugino. My mentor. Michelangelo approaches Perugino and hugs his old master, warmly. Perugino does not seem to notice this uncharacteristic gesture of affection from his former student. He stands near the windows of the oblong hall in silence. After a time, he advances slowly toward the large cartoon. His face has turned charcoal, his eyes seem glazed, his lips flutter as though in an effort to force out words. Michelangelo picks up a stool, puts it behind Perugino. MICHELANGELO Please . . . sit down . . . I'll get some water. Perugino knocks the stool out from behind him with a savage backward kick. Argiento scuttles off to a far corner of the room. PERUGINO (sputters) . . . beastly . . .

92

Stunned and dumbfounded, Michelangelo stares at the old man. PERUGINO Give a wild animal a brush, and he would do the same. You will destroy us . . . all we have spent a lifetime to create! MICHELANGELO (sick at heart) Perugino, why do you attack me? I admire your work . . . PERUGINO My work! How dare you speak of my work in the presence of this . . . this filth! If my work is painting, then yours is . . . debauchery! MICHELANGELO (ice-cold) You mean the technique is bad, the drawing, the design . . . ? PERUGINO You know nothing of such matters! You should be thrown into the Stinche and kept from destroying the art that Godfearing men have created! MICHELANGELO Why am I not a God-fearing man? Is it that I’ve painted nudes? That this is . . . new, revolutionary? PERUGINO Don't talk to me of originality. I have done as much as any man in Italy to revolutionize painting. MICHELANGELO (trying to control his temper) Yes, you’ve done much. But, painting doesn’t end with you. Every true artist re-creates the art. PEREUGINO You go backward. Before civilization, before God.

93 MICHELANGELO (eyes narrow) You sound like Savonarola. PERUGINO You will never get one figure of this immorality up on the Signoria wall. Not if I have anything to say about it. Perugino storms from the hall. Michelangelo rights the stool and sits down, trembling. Argiento creeps to his master's side, carrying a bowl of water. Michelangelo dips his fingers, touching them to his feverish face. EXT. DYER'S HALL – SAME TIME Outside the hall, Perugino passes Machiavelli, who nods. Perugino returns the nod and continues on his way. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL - DAY Salai stares at an unfurled scroll he holds at arm’s length. Sketched on the scroll is a detailed drawing of a moveable scaffold. The engineering-type drawing shows the scaffold from a variety of different perspectives and illustrates how it can be raised and lowered using double-threaded wooden screws. SALAI It’s an ingenious design, maestro. Leonardo takes Salai by the hand and leads him closer to the scaffold. Leonardo gestures for the workers to raise the platform. LEONARDO The screws have a double-threading, you see. To the right and to the left. One raises, the other lowers. Marvelous.

SALAI

LEONARDO It will save these weary old bones from too much wear and tear.

94 SALAI (affectionately kisses Leonardo) Look who’s talking of old. EXT. MARBLE QUARRY - SUNRISE Standing alone, Michelangelo smiles up at the jagged ridges, the sloping white walls of marble, the zigzagging paths that daring workers have dug to reach the higher deposits of rock. He strides toward the path. EXT. MARBLE QUARRY – MORNING Michelangelo works among the STONECUTTERS, joyously revisiting familiar tasks. He tests the stone, choosing a block according to purity and lack of veins. He detaches it from the exposed quarry wall, squares the block, and prepares to lower it with ropes. Then, ever so carefully, he guides it as it slides down the slope, rolling across timber logs. EXT. MARBLE QUARRY - AFTERNOON Michelangelo dangles like an alpine goat from the peaks along the steep walls of the mountain. He works with the TECCHIAIOLI, as they detect and dislodge the tecchie, or splinters of marble, that could kill or maim the workers below. It is a labor worthy of eagles, with men suspended halfway between earth and the purest sky in all of Tuscany. EXT. MARBLE QUARRY - EVENING Michelangelo shares a meal of bread and cheese, mixed with the all-invasive marble dust, with his humble CO-WORKERS. He laughs, mouth open and full of food, looking totally alive and at ease. The marble clings tenaciously to his hair and nostrils. He smiles. MICHELANGELO (mutters to himself) What a fool I’ve been. I should never have left sculpting. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL - DAY The Grand Hall is a beehive of activity. The space reserved for each fresco has been measured out and marked off. Each measures twenty-one feet high by fifty-four feet long. ASSISTANTS mix quicklime with water and sand. OTHER ASSISTANTS trowel wet plaster onto the wall.

95 PLASTERERS work their floats over the wet plaster, smoothing it out and creating a new work surface for each fresco. In a corner of the Hall, inside a square, wooden frame bordered on all sides by heavy black fabric, Leonardo stands in front of an easel. STUDENTS cluster around him in the darkened space. He traces the upside-down image of HERCULES, as he floats on the canvas. It is so real.

DARK-HAIRED STUDENT

LEONARDO It is called camera obscura. If someone stands outside bathed in light, their exact image can be projected through a concave lens inside onto a canvas. Upside down like this. (he traces) One INQUISITIVE STUDENT peeks through a gap in the fabric and gazes out over the sill of the wide, low window, where he sees Salai dressed and posing as Hercules. The likeness on the canvas is incredible. INQUISITIVE STUDENT It is more real than nature. LEONARDO (frowns momentarily) Nature is the only reality. SHORT-HAIRED STUDENT It is witchcraft. It is art.

LEONARDO

BLONDE-HAIRED STUDENT Beware the eyes of the church. LONG-HAIRED STUDENT Leonardo is untouchable. INT. MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - DAY Michelangelo balances on his haunches, staring at the Taddeo tondo. The door opens. Raphael enters, crosses to Michelangelo, and quietly stands by his side.

96 MICHELANGELO (over his shoulder) Why have you come? You’re Perugino's countryman. You studied in his studio. RAPHAEL I came to apologize for my friend and teacher. He has had a shock, and is now ill . . . Michelangelo stands and stares into Raphael's sympathetic eyes. MICHELANGELO Why did he attack me? RAPHAEL When he saw the Bathers, he felt exactly as I had. That this was a different world. That one had to start over. For me, it was a challenge. But, I am not yet twenty-two. Perugino is fifty-five. He can never start over. MICHELANGELO I appreciate your coming here, Raphael. RAPHAEL Then be generous. Ignore him. MICHELANGELO I’ll hold my tongue. For now. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL - DAY Leonardo tinkers with an olive press he has modified to grind material into pigments for his oil paints. Salai stands beside him. LEONARDO It is none of my business. SALAI If art is business, then it’s your business. LEONARDO What is it to me? SALAI Defend him and, perhaps, he’ll befriend you.

97 LEONARDO I have no time for their petty squabbles. SALAI It’s great art. It must be seen. LEONARDO If it is meant to be, it will be. SALAI It’s censorship of the worst kind. How would you feel if the shoe were on your foot? Leonardo reacts as a memory washes over his face. LEONARDO It is not the first time the smallminded have attempted to destroy something they do not understand. SALAI You were lucky then. You had friends. LEONRDO He does not want us to be friends. SALAI Then stand beside him . . . in the name of freedom. INT. RUSTICI'S STUDIO - EVENING The Company of the Cauldron meets for dinner. Everyone is there, including Leonardo and Salai, Soderini and Machiavelli. The room bubbles with excitement. Michelangelo enters the studio. The laughing banter ceases, replaced by restrained silence. At that moment, Perugino enters the studio. SODERINI You've both been summoned here to put an end to this petty squabbling. MICHELANGELO He attacked me. PERUGINO He deserved it.

98 SODERINI Enough. I declare a truce. Now. A stifling, deadly quiet envelopes the room. SODERINI The harm you've done each other is cruel, but reversible. The damage you've done Florence is not. Soderini strides toward Michelangelo and Perugino. They fall back. SODERINI We’re known around the world as the capital of the arts. We can’t allow our artists to indulge in quarrels that hurt us. The Signoria orders that you both apologize. That you desist from attacking each other. And, that you both return to the work from which Florence draws its fame. Perugino, crestfallen, approaches Michelangelo and holds out his hand. Reluctantly, Michelangelo takes it. Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s eyes meet. There is a moment of sympathetic recognition. Leonardo turns away. EXT. SANTA TRINITA - DAY Leonardo crosses the bridge opposite the church of Santa Trinita. On the bridge, he’s overtaken by a spry and meanly, humpbacked DWARF. Leonardo continues walking, paying no heed to his fellow wayfarer, who keeps pace with him—hopping, skipping, and running ahead of him like a little dog—trying to catch his eye and start a conversation. DWARF Tell me, Messer, you haven’t, of course, finished the portrait of La Gioconda as yet? LEONARDO I have, sir. For now. What concern is that of yours?

99

DWARF I was simply curious since you have been struggling with this one picture for many years. To us, who know no better, it seems even now so perfect that a greater work we could not even imagine. Leonardo glances at him, clenching and unclenching his fists. DWARF What is the future fate of this picture? LEONARDO The lady and I will decide. DWARF Ah, then you haven’t heard yet, Messer Leonardo.

Heard?

LEONARDO (croaks)

DWARF Ah, my God, you do not know. What a misfortune! Poor Messer Giocondo is a widower for the third time. The Madonna Lisa has departed this world, by the will of God. Leonardo stops and leans against the stone railing of the bridge. He begins to cry. Mission accomplished, the messenger scutters away and off the bridge. MONTAGE - CHANGE OF SEASONS The clear light and soothing blossoms of Florence in Spring surrender to the deadening humidity of Summer. EXT. ARNO RIVER - DAY The Arno has receded within its banks. Leonardo, Machiavelli, and Salai survey the putrid quagmire. The excavating equipment, water locks, and canal lie in shattered pieces.

100 Leonardo throws a handful of sketches to the ground and storms off. The wind unfurls the pile of sketches to reveal the drawings of Leonardo’s vision for the canal connecting Florence to the sea. INT. MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - DAY Michelangelo, Granacci, and Argiento stare at the gigantic rectangle of marble. Michelangelo caresses the stone like a lover caressing his beloved. MICHELANGELO There’ll be no Hercules to stand beside my David. The giant must remain in his tomb of stone. INT. SODERINI'S OFFICE - DAY Soderini sits behind his desk. Standing before him are Leonardo and Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Granacci. SODERINI You’re the two greatest artists of our time, titans each, and I have to scold you like schoolboys. Oblivious, Leonardo steps forward, excitedly brandishing a notebook. He opens it and spreads it on the table before Soderini. LEONARDO Gonfaloniere, I have sketches. For the statue of Hercules. The drawings show multiple views—front and back—of a standing, vigilant Hercules. The face in the sketches is obviously Salai. LEONARDO It will rival the David, standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. Twin towers of freedom. Leonardo glances over his shoulder at Michelangelo, who scowls. Soderini studies the drawings, obviously impressed. Suddenly, he slams the notebook shut and pushes it away toward Leonardo.

101

SODERINI I don’t want to see sketches for new projects. Soderini looks squarely at Leonardo, then Michelangelo. SODERINI I want to see the current projects completed. I simply wish you to finish what you’ve started. Your reputation, no, your very lives, depend upon it. The veiled threat does not go unnoticed by the men facing him. EXT. PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA – MOMENTS LATER Leonardo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Granacci exit the Grand Hall into the Piazza. Leonardo and Machiavelli go in one direction, Michelangelo and Granacci in the opposite. LEONARDO Who cares about reputation. I have bills to pay. MACHIAVELLI We should go where we’re appreciated. To France. LEONARDO Yes, to France, and a more friendly clime. Granacci and Michelangelo walk around another pile of fine gray ash marking the death of Savonarola. MICHELANGELO I’ve let Soderini down. I’ve let everyone down. GRANACCI It is of no importance. MICHELANGELO How can you say that? This is my home.

102 GRANACCI (whispers) I have been told by those who know. The Pope has heard of the cartoon. The Holy Father plans a massive fresco in the Sistine Chapel. (pauses for effect) And, he wants you to paint it. Michelangelo can barely suppress a smile of excitement. EXT. ARNO RIVER VALLEY - SUNRISE A summer storm brews. It’s a dark, ominous morning. Thunder clouds roll across the valley. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL – MORNING WORKERS roll Leonardo’s movable scaffold into place in front of the blank rectangle on the right side of the wall. ANOTHER GROUP OF WORKERS assembles a traditional scaffolding, made of wooden planks lashed to wooden support poles with leather thongs, in front of the blank spot on the left side of the wall. Each rectangle has a new coat of dried plaster marking out the dimensions of the "canvas." Leonardo and Michelangelo enter the hall from opposite corners, like prize-fighters prepared to go fifteen rounds in a championship fight. The confident Champion versus the cocky Contender. A section of Leonardo’s cartoon lies on a work table behind his scaffold. ASSISTANTS prick tiny holes in the paper, following the lines of the drawing. An APPRENTICE fills a small bowl with water and gesticulates to ward off the evil eye. LABORERS stoke several large warming pans with straw. Salai plays a triumphant march on the lute. A section of Michelangelo’s cartoon lies on another work table behind his scaffolding. APPRENTICES stand by, watching their brooding master. Argiento fills a small bowl with water, also gesturing to ward off the evil eye. On either side of the two blank "canvases," MORE ASSISTANTS mix quicklime with water and sand. High up on each platform, PLASTERERS trowel a half-inch layer of wet plaster onto a small section of the dry surface of new plaster covering the entire canvas. Other PLASTERERS smooth the fresh plaster evenly with their floats.

103 On Leonardo’s side of the wall, workers crank the screws and the plasterers descend and dismount the scaffold. Leonardo, followed by his apprentices, mounts the scaffold. The workers crank the screws and the scaffold ascends. One of the workers sponges a fresh coat of pitch onto the section of fresh plaster. The apprentices place the pricked cartoon of the Standard up against the fresh plaster and pitch. While two hold the cartoon, a third strikes the cartoon with a pounce bag filled with charcoal powder. The apprentices carefully pull the cartoon away. A perfect reproduction of the cartoon appears in the wet plaster. On Michelangelo’s side of the wall, plasterers clamber down the rungs of the scaffolding, while apprentices scamper up the scaffolding with a section of the cartoon of the Bathers. Michelangelo slowly moves to the farthest edge of the hall. He suddenly turns and sprints toward the scaffolding. He jumps as high as he can, grasping the top of the scaffold platform with his left hand, then his right. He swings and pulls himself up onto the platform. As the two apprentices hold the cartoon in place, Michelangelo carefully traces over the chalk lines of the cartoon with the point of a stylus. The apprentices remove the cartoon to reveal traces in the fresh plaster which exactly reproduce the cartoon. Leonardo steps up to face the freshly powdered, fresh plaster. To his right is a wooden tray attached to the rail of the scaffold. There are pots of different colored paints, a crock of pitch, sponges, several brushes of different sizes, pieces of cloth, and a small incense burner, which wafts scented smoke into the air around the scaffold. Leonardo cups the smoke, pulls it toward his face, sniffs, and smiles. Michelangelo steps up to face the freshly etched, fresh plaster on his side. To his left is a small shelf crudely nailed to the floor of the platform. There are pots of paints, brushes, and rags. Michelangelo snorts, choking, as the scented smoke from Leonardo’s side drifts across his face. Leonardo snatches up a brush in his left hand, flourishes it like a baton twirler, and strikes a dramatic pose. Michelangelo grabs a brush in each of his two hands, spreads his legs to ground himself, and prepares to attack the canvas.

104 Leonardo dips his brush in a pot of lapis lazuli paint and turns back to face the wall. Michelangelo dips one brush in black paint, one brush in white paint, and turns back to face the wall. At the exact same moment, Leonardo and Michelangelo turn to face each other, nod, and turn back to the wall. The contest begins. MONTAGE – THE COMPETITION The two men work all day. Leonardo in his reserved, relaxed style. Michelangelo in his furious, attacking style. BACK TO PRESENT – DAY'S END The Grand Hall grows darker as the end of day, and the gathering storm, approach. Michelangelo methodically adds some highlights. He stands back to admire his work. Leonardo continues to tinker with his, smearing some of the paint with his fingertips to achieve sfumato. Below him, at the foot of the fresco, workers light the warming pans filled with straw. Suddenly, a blob of wet plaster slaps Leonardo up alongside the head. It sticks to his beautifully coiffed hair, then slowly drips down the side of his face and onto his immaculate, beautiful clothes. Stunned, Leonardo grasps some of the foreign substance with his fingertips, holds his fingers in front of his face, examines the material, sniffs it, and slowly turns to face Michelangelo. Michelangelo, his left hand caked in wet plaster, sneers at Leonardo. Leonardo gingerly grabs a pot of paint and flings it at Michelangelo. Michelangelo ducks and tosses a pot back at Leonardo. Leonardo’s workers begin turning the screws rapidly. The scaffold lurches, nearly upending Leonardo, and begins descending. He javelins several of his paintbrushes at Michelangelo. Michelangelo leaps to the edge of his scaffolding. He begins climbing down. As he descends, he flings a salvo of

105 paintbrushes, pulling them from his shirt like an Indian pulling arrows from his quiver. Leonardo and Michelangelo leap from their scaffolds onto the floor at the same time. They fire off another round of paint pots before ducking behind the protection of their own scaffold. Suddenly, the workers and apprentices for each artist, including Salai and Argiento, join the fray. They run together into the open space between the two scaffolds and begin biting, kicking, punching, and tossing all manner of objects. Leonardo and Michelangelo scamper out from behind their scaffolds, heading straight for each other. They stop and begin bitch-slapping each other up and down the length of their entire bodies. Then they begin pulling one another’s hair. It’s a full-scale, hissy-fit, catfight. Suddenly, a clap of thunder shakes the building. Everyone stops. Another, more resounding blast of thunder shakes the walls. Everyone looks up. EXT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL – SAME TIME It begins to pour rain. Day turns to night. Church bells clang, VOICES IN THE STREETS outside the Palazzo begin to wail. In the thunderous, darkened sky above the city, the shapes of daggers and crosses appear. A PAIR OF GREEN EYES glower down on the Piazza and Palazzo. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL – SAME TIME Leonardo stumbles back to his side of the hall and beneath his scaffold. Michelangelo covers his head and retreats to his side of the hall, beneath his scaffolding. Another rolling rumble of thunder, more powerful than the last, causes the walls to quake and the floor to roll. On each of the tables behind the scaffolds, each of the bowls of water spill, soaking each of the cartoons and causing the lines of charcoal and chalk to smear. Rain water gushes through the windows and doors, flooding in a wide river along the floor.

106 Leonardo and Michelangelo jump onto the bottom of the scaffolding to avoid the running water. They are both visibly shaken. A mighty wind blows through the hall, blowing out candles and braziers and plunging the entire hall in darkness. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY Leonardo sketches at his work table. On yet another project. In a heap on the table sits a contraption with a leather mask featuring two eye-holes of Venetian glass, cane hoses joined together with leather, and a suit made of pig skin. A closer look at the sketch reveals a man wearing this outfit. And walking underwater, with the cane hoses extending to the water’s surface. It is the world’s first deep sea diving suit. SALAI Charles d’Amboise, the French governor of Milan, has written again. Salai places a letter directly in front of Leonardo’s eyes on top of the sketches. LEONARDO He is nothing, if not persistent. Leonardo pushes the letter off to the side. SALAI He wishes to resurrect what the Sforzas began. Since you helped start it, he’d like you to help finish it. Leonardo pulls a letter from his cloak pocket. LEONARDO Have you seen this? Salai nods. SALAI Soderini is an ungrateful fool. Allow me.

LEONARDO

Leonardo holds a magnifying glass up to the letter.

107 LEONARDO (reads) "The actions of Messer Leonardo are most unworthy. Having taken a large sum in advance, and scarcely begun work, he has dropped everything, and has behaved in this matter like a traitor to the Republic." Leonardo finishes reading and slams the letter on the table. LEONARDO A traitor. He accuses me of treason. After all I have done. SALAI He’s a small-minded bureaucrat. LEONARDO I offered to re-pay the commission. I borrowed money. From friends. From you. He refused it. SALAI He’s incapable of forgiveness. LEONARDO I promised I would return to finish the fresco. Three months. That is all I asked. Salai gives him a look. LEONARDO I know, I know. I have a reputation. SALAI Your promises are like footprints in the sand. LEONARDO I am condemned to be an eternal wanderer. INT. MICHELANGELO'S STUDIO - DAY Michelangelo stands in front of a block of marble. Granacci stands at his elbow. GRANACCI The Pope wants you to come to Rome at once. He has sent one hundred florins as a travel allowance.

108 MICHELANGELO It’s a bad time to leave. I must finish the painting for the Signoria wall while it’s still fresh in my mind. GRANACCI It is the Holy Father, Michelangelo. INT. LEONARDO'S STUDIO - DAY An empty room adjoining Leonardo’s studio is lit by the light from the candle held aloft by Salai. Leonardo stands before an easel. He flings back a heavy cloth to reveal the Monna Lisa. It glows, almost alive. It’s so real.

SALAI

LEONARDO I have heard of portraits so alive that when pierced with a poisoned needle, the portrayed dies. SALAI She will live forever. It scares me.

LEONARDO

SALAI She is so distant from fear. LEONARDO Like her, I wonder if the entire labor of my life has been a delusion. SALAI Like her, your name will echo through time. LEONARDO I recall something Machiavelli once said to me. (quotes) "The most fearful thing in life is not cares, nor poverty, nor grief, nor disease, nor even death itself. It is tedium. Boredom is truly this century’s malaise." Outside the apartment, the INHUMAN VOICES OF THE NIGHT surround them in the loneliness of blind darkness.

109 INT. SODERINI'S OFFICE - DAY Michelangelo stands once again before Soderini, who once again sits behind his enormous desk. MICHELANGELO Perhaps I should go north, maybe to France. Then I’d no longer be your problem. SODERINI You can’t run from the Pope. His arms reach across Europe. MICHELANGELO Why am I so precious to the Holy Father? I’m only a grain of sand in the eye of the Colossus. SODERINI What is harder to obtain becomes more valuable. MICHELANGELO I just want to be left alone. SODERINI Too late. You lost that right the day you finished your stone satyr in Lorenzo’s sculpture garden. MICHELANGELO I’d be content to live out the rest of my days working in Florence. Soderini studies Michelangelo's face carefully, for a long time. SODERINI One cannot refuse the Pope, Michelangelo. If Julius says "Come!", you must go. His friendship is important to us in Florence. MICHELANGELO And my house . . . the two contracts . . . ? SODERINI We will hold them until you learn what the Holy Father wants. The contracts must be honored.

110 MICHELANGELO I understand, Gonfaloniere. I understand. EXT. MONTE CECERI - SUNSET Leonardo and Salai sit on the bluff overlooking Florence. A small meal of bread, roasted chestnuts, dried figs, and a flask of wine is spread on the grass between them. Leonardo slices a piece of cheese with his folding knife and passes it over to Salai. He then cuts a piece for himself and begins to chew carefully. Salai looks closely at his master as he masticates, realizing that Leonardo has suddenly grown old. Salai blinks back the tears welling in his eyes. Suddenly, Salai jumps to his feet, startling Leonardo, who spills wine on himself. Salai rushes to a large wooden cage behind Leonardo. SALAI (an excited child) Let’s release her. Now! Leonardo slowly rises to his feet. He walks to Salai. The cage is slung onto a wooden pole. Leonardo and Salai hoist the pole onto their shoulders and carry the cage to the edge of the bluff. Leonardo opens the cage and a GIANT SWAN steps out, looks around, and makes eye contact with Leonardo. The enormous white bird noisily and joyously waves its wings, turning rose-colored in the last rays of sunset, and flies straight toward the sun. Leonardo watches it fly away, his eyes filled with sorrow and longing. SALAI You once said man will undertake his first flight on the back of an enormous swan. LEONARDO I just realized something. I will never fly again. Leonardo looks down upon his beloved Florence.

111 LEONARDO (whispers) Goodbye. INT. PALACE - DAY Michelangelo bounds up the circular stairs three at a time, followed by a YOUNG MAN. He enters the bedroom, perspiring from the climb. Contessina lies in bed, covered by several quilts. Her pale, exhausted face rests on the pillows, her eyes cavernous. (gasps) Contessina.

MICHELANGELO

Contessina beckons him to her bed, patting a place for him to sit. Michelangelo crosses to the bed and sits. He takes her hand, white and fragile. She closes her eyes. When she opens them again, there are tears. CONTESSINA Remember the first time we met? In the Duomo yard. Michelangelo unbuttons his shirt and removes the blue silk handkerchief stitched with the de’ Medici crest from around his neck. Contessina sees it and smiles. CONTESSINA They all said how much you frightened them. You never frightened me. I saw how tender you were, under the scowl. They stare at each other. CONTESSINA We have never spoken of our feelings. Michelangelo runs his fingers gently over her cheek. MICHELANGELO I loved you, Contessina. CONTESSINA I loved you, Michelangelo. I have always felt your presence. Her eyes light up for a brief instant.

112

CONTESSINA My sons will be your friends. Contessina glances at the young man who led Michelangelo to her room. She’s seized with a coughing spell that shakes the bed. As she turns her head away from Michelangelo, raising a handkerchief to her lips, he sees the red stain. He waits, gulping back the tears. She does not turn back to face him. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL - DAY Leonardo stands on the scaffold, which sits back, slightly away from the wall. He stares at the fresco. Salai and Machiavelli stands beside him. MACHIAVELLI You followed the instructions carefully? Machiavelli stifles a mischievous grin, which plays around the edges of his lips. SALAI The paint refuses to dry. Machiavelli smiles a conspiratorial, all-knowing smile. An ASSISTANT lights a huge fire in a brazier at the base of the wall. LEONARDO I am hoping the heat will finally set the colors. They watch closely as the fire grows and sends heat up the wall. Leonardo holds out his hand to feel the warmth as it climbs. On Michelangelo’s side of the wall, WORKERS disassemble the scaffolding. OTHER WORKERS finish mounting all the pieces of the cartoon of the Bathers onto a fir-tree frame. They carry it from the Grand Hall. INT. SODERINI'S OFFICE - DAY Soderini’s face is grave. Michelangelo’s face is defiant.

113

(waves I’ve received Vatican. Full send you now,

SODERINI documents) three briefs from the of threats that we should by fair means or foul.

MICHELANGELO They’re empty threats. This is Florence, not Rome. SODERINI In Rome, you could be of considerable help to Florence. Defying His Holiness, you become a source of potential danger to us. You’re the first Florentine to defy a Pope since Savonarola. I'm afraid your fate may be the same. MICHELANGELO (shivers involuntarily) Which means I'll be hanged in the piazza, then burned. Soderini smiles for the first time. SODERINI You’re not guilty of heresy, only of stubbornness. In the end, the Pope will have his way. MICHELANGELO Gonfaloniere, all I want is to remain in Florence. I'll start carving the St. Matthew tomorrow, so I can have my house back. SODERINI His Holiness would consider it a personal insult. No one can employ you, not Doni, or Pitti or Taddei, without incurring the Pope's wrath. Soderini touches Michelangelo gently on the shoulder. SODERINI You’ve tried the Holy Father as the King of France wouldn’t have done. He’s not to be kept begging any longer. We don’t want to go to war with him over you. Prepare to return.

114 MICHELANGELO I seem to be a source of constant sorrow for the Republic. SODERINI Your talent outweighs the aggravation. MICHELANGELO And the Bathers? Can I finish the fresco? I am not done with Leonardo. Soderini slowly puts the documents down and stares at Michelangelo. SODERINI You’ve not been in the Grand Hall? MICHELANGELO The groom brought me through your apartment. Come with me.

SODERINI

INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL – MOMENTS LATER Soderini and Michelangelo enter the Grand Hall. They walk directly to the wall where Leonardo had painted the Battle of Anghiari. MICHELANGELO (groans) Dio mia, no! The entire lower half of Leonardo's fresco is in ruin. The colors have run sharply downward, as though pulled by powerful magnets. Horses, men, spears, trees, rocks—all have flowed into each other in an indistinguishable chaos of color. MICHELANGELO What could’ve gone wrong? We Tuscans have been the masters of fresco for over three hundred years. Gonfaloniere, how’d this happen? SODERINI He was trying to show his young rival who the true master of Florence was. MICHELANGELO (shudders, then sighs) All that time and effort wasted.

115 SODERINI Leonardo ignored an important detail. Pliny didn’t recommend applying the process . . . to walls. MICHELANGELO The mistakes of the brilliant are always mistakes no fool would ever make. SODERINI He made a very small beginning of a very great thing. And, now, it’s over. INT. VILLA – MOMENTS LATER A SERVANT ushers Michelangelo into a large, beam-ceilinged room filled with art works, musical instruments, tapestries, oriental rugs, free-flying birds, plants, and flowers. Leonardo, in a red Chinese robe, writes in a notebook at a high, ledger-like desk. He looks up, sees Michelangelo, puts the notebook into a drawer, and locks it with a key. Leonardo walks toward Michelangelo. An edge of his shining beauty has faded from his face, his eyes hold a touch of melancholy. He seems a brave, though defeated, man. MICHELANGELO Leonardo, I've just come from the Grand Hall. I want you to know how sorry I am about the fresco. Such a shame. LEONARDO (cool, defensive) You are kind. MICHELANGELO I wanted to apologize for the things I’ve said about you, about the statue in Milan . . . LEONARDO You were provoked. I said unkind things about marble carvers. Leonardo begins to thaw. Color returns to his alabaster skin. MICHELANGELO That’s still no excuse for such rudeness.

116 LEONARDO Your cartoon of the Bathers is truly magnificent, Michelangelo. I sketched from it, even as I did from your David. Should you finish it, it will become the glory of Florence. MICHELANGELO I don't know, Leonardo. I fear I've lost all appetite now that your Battle of Anghiari will not be fought beside mine. LEONARDO There are many rivers between us. Indeed.

MICHELANGELO

LEONARDO We are more alike than different. We will always be outsiders. Two southpaws.

MICHELANGELO

Leonardo and Michelangelo clasp their left hands together, lightly, momentarily. LEONARDO We will show them, will we not? MICHELANGELO They’ll not see the likes of us for a very long time. LEONARDO I suspect we will never be friends. MICHELANGELO Too late for that, I suppose. LEONARDO There is no one I would prefer to supplant me than you. There is no one I respect, or fear, more than you. Michelangelo bristles lightly at this presumption, then softens momentarily. MICHELANGELO I’m profoundly grateful.

117 LEONARDO Amusing is it not? How we spend all this time and energy to create a reputation and secure our legacy. And the only one we can never impress is the one person who matters the most. Ourselves.

MICHELANGELO

LEONARDO This city, our birthplace, treated us both so badly, in so many ways, for so long. MICHELANGELO Now, they can’t deny us. LEONARDO I fear Florence is too small a town for both of us. MICHELANGELO I'll be going to Rome. To work on the ceiling of the Pope’s chapel. LEONARDO I am off to France. To be court artist and engineer to the King. MICHELANGELO Florence has always been our home and now we’re both leaving her. LEONARDO They say I cheated Soderini and embarrassed the Republic. It was never about the money. MICHELANGELO They say I threatened the Republic by not bowing down to Pope Julius. I’ll obey the man, but I’ll not be his slave. Small minds. Little hearts.

LEONARDO MICHELANGELO

118 LEONARDO May God go with you. And you.

MICHELANGELO

EXT. CHATEAU - DAY The chateau of Cloux is located near Ambroise in the south of France. INT. CHATEAU – STUDIO - SAME TIME Leonardo reclines on a divan. Under his silk dressing gown he wears the coarse gray linen shirt his mother made him. He stares at his Monna Lisa. EXT. SISTINE CHAPEL - DAY The Sistine Chapel is located on the east side of the Vatican. INT. SISTINE CHAPEL – SAME TIME Michelangelo stands in the center of the empty chamber. He is dirty and unkempt. He wears the familiar lantern about his forehead. And the blue silk handkerchief with the de’ Medici family crest. He stares up at the blank expanse of ceiling. INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL - DAY On Leonardo's side of the wall, a chunk of plaster, painted with the soldier in three-quarters profile, drops to the floor. INT. MEDICI PALACE – GREAT UPPER HALL - DAY A WELL-DRESSED MAN cuts the Battle of Cascina into several small pieces. He hands them out to a number of different DIGNITARIES, MERCHANTS, and STUDENTS. Each scurries from the hall with their treasure. INT. TAVERN – END OF DAY The score on the rustic dart board remains "0-0." SERACINI (V.O.) They never finished.

119 INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO – GRAND HALL – PRESENT DAY Seracini, Pedretti, and Henneberger stand on the rolling scaffolding in front of the Vasari fresco. The collection of equipment on the scaffold shelves hums in mindless, monotonous activity. SERACINI An incredible loss to the world. PEDRETTI Can you imagine having frescoes by Leonardo and Michelangelo side-by-side in one room today? HENNEBERGER I really can't. SERACINI The only record we have of Leonardo’s work are the few sketches that survive. PEDRETTI And a handful of reproductions done by Rubens and others. Seracini points to copies of several sketches taped to the shelves holding the equipment. SERACINI They buried Leonardo's fresco because it was a threat. PEDRETTI They cut Michelangelo’s cartoon into pieces because it was too good. SERACINI They erased all traces. HENNEBERGER I guess that's the price of perfection. PEDRETTI Or the price of fame. A ping sounds from the scanning equipment. Seracini leans in closer. He looks at a hi-res monitor as it is fed images by the sonogram, which continues to mindlessly scan the area where Cerca Trova is written. SERACINI There! Do you see it?

120

The screen displays a discontinuity, a gap behind Vasari’s wall. Though not clear, there appears to be an image of . . . A HORSE'S HEAD EXT. FLORENCE – DAY The spire of the Palazzo Vecchio thrusts upward into the lapis blue sky. The city of Florence goes on about its business as it has for thousands of years. The Arno River flows through the Tuscan valley, wending its way to the sea. TITLE CARD "O vain glory of all human powers How briefly green endures upon the peak . . . In painting Cimabue thought he excelled And now it is Giotto that is celebrated And the fame of the first is growing dark." --Dante, Inferno FADE OUT. THE END