An interview with Madam Coyne

Today's update is on the screenplay side - "Who is Wallace Intrubé - Part 2" now runs for approximately 10 minutes, as a rough estimate. Today the interview with Madam Coyne was finished, featuring an in-depth account of her time as the Intrubé's former maid. Enjoy!

Who is Wallace Intrubé - Part 1: The Life of Wallace

Madam Coyne interview

[shot of outside the interview room]

Madam Coyne: Now the producers have asked if I’ll sit in for an interview so that they can ask me a few questions about my time as Wallace’s carer. It’s not something I usually do as a historian; I’m mostly out on research... 

[looks back to interview room door]

...but I’ve agreed to it because I know a lot of information that’s valuable to this project.

[shot of Madam Coyne taking her seat in a brightly lit room, possible shot of the interviewer – who cannot be any of the 'historians'. Must be male]

Interviewer: Madam Coyne, welcome

Madam Coyne: Hello

Interviewer: Well, first of all, glad you could make it, we have a lot to get through today, so thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule.

Madam Coyne: You're welcome

Interviewer: So, first of all, we want to know a little about how you came to be the Intrubé's maid. From our records, the family has a tradition of employing East European slaves exclusively, and you are neither a slave nor East European. How did you get the job?

Madam Coyne: Well first of all it's certainly not a coincidence I got the job. I don't think anybody else has quite the same qualifications as I have.

Interviewer: You were a nanny in Sabden I believe?

Madam Coyne: Yes. It was my job to tame the children whose minds had been so corrupted by fundamentalism and war. There really are few places where you will find more barbaric children.

Interviewer: What did you do after that?
Madam Coyne: I travelled to Transylvania. I wanted a better challenge.

Interviewer: You wanted a better challenge?

Madam Coyne: I wanted a better challenge.

[Very long pause]

Interviewer: Care to elaborate on this challenge?

Madam Coyne: Oh certainly. May I have a cup of tea?

Interviewer: Of course.

[someone random gets her a cup of tea]

Madam Coyne: I was a pet tamer, if you will. I looked after the animals which the aristocratic families possessed, but the nature of these animals.....they were monstrous. I was paid highly – I was the only one willing to do the job.

Interviewer: What does that make you, then, officially?

Madam Coyne: The most accomplished tamer in the world.

Interviewer: Well, this clearly explains why you were hired by the Intrubés then. What was Wallace like?

[eerie music begins]

Madam Coyne: He was unlike any child you have ever imagined. There was something in him which was utterly malevolent. I remember my first day at the Intrubé mansion.

[switches to an echoey, slow montage of dark scenes, first Madam Coyne arrives at the door, nice parents welcome her in, then she is introduced to the baby Wallace, who first seems nice, but when the parents have left, is pure evil]

….I had to tame him as best I could. He was just a baby, and had no real power. But I knew that he loathed me – I knew he loathed everyone.

[shots of outside the house. Long drawn-out echoey screaming]

….I taught him language, I managed to teach him some manners. But I could never teach him affection. He is almost.....inhuman. There is an evil in there that is not his,

[portraits of Wallace as a young boy]

and if it were removed, he might be human again. I could see a part in him was longing for something, and I began to realise 

[cut back to Madam Coyne, either as an 'old scene' or her at the interview, stop music] 

- his mind depends on the success of his family. Until he conquers everything, he will remain a cursed spirit.

[pause]

Interviewer: When did you leave the Intrubé household?

[Wallace Intrubé theme from Part 1 begins]

Madam Coyne: The moment I saw he was too strong to be contained – his fifth birthday. By then he could lift the back end of a car. I also knew that he would be soon attempting to lift my skirt. I got out while I could.

Interviewer: Did they hire a replacement maid?
Madam Coyne: No.

Interviewer: And you left on the 15^th March, 1998?

Madam Coyne: Yes.

Interviewer: Thankyou for your time, Madam Coyne.

[rising to leave] Madam Coyne: You 're welcome.


More to come as the script evolves!