Purple Rain

She thrusts the dog into his arms – the Band laughs uproariously. Jill is beaming –
 

JILL

His hair...

Prince gazes into the mirror – and sure enough the dog's hair has been groomed to match his. He can't help smiling –

PRINCE

Shit...

JILL

(softly)

I wanted to cheer you up.

PRINCE

Thanks.

MATT

I'm hungry – where's the food?!

He grabs the dog, 'a la The Werewolf, starts chomping on it's neck. The Group busts up, starts fooling around.

Prince glances into the mirror – Vanity is there. He whirls around to the door – nothing. A huge smile sweeps his face instead. The Band continues fooling around, and Prince joins in with a relish.

EXT. ALLEYWAY #2, REAR CLUB – NIGHT

Vanity leans against a brick wall, hiding in the shadows. Suddenly FOOTSTEPS approach. Prince appears, gets on his Motorcycle –

VANITY

Hey...

He doesn't look up –
 

PRINCE

We have to go to your place.

VANITY

What for?

PRINCE

I want to show you something.

She's embarrassed by her apartment –
 

VANITY

No... no, we can't.

PRINCE

Why – is there someone there?

VANITY

Why do you always think there's somebody else?

He averts his eyes – kick STARTS his bike –

PRINCE
Let's go.

VANITY

(getting on)

Yeah – but we're not going to my place.

He remains silent, snaps the bike into gear, blasts down the ally into the street.

PRINCE'S HOUSE AND STREET – NIGHT

Prince and Vanity whip down a residential street. As he approaches his house he slows, moves past it quietly.

He makes a deft U-turn, crosses his house again – seems to be listening intently...

After a moment, he cuts down a narrow path, turns up a back alley. He rides to a wooden gate, detaches a hidden lever. The wood slats rotate like a garage door – Prince coaxes his bike through.

BACKYARD

Vanity's mesmerized. They ride down a narrow sidewalk, cut through a garden, and emerge from the back of a garage. He leans his bike against it –

VANITY

That was a grand entrance. Where am I?

He silences her with a look, moves quickly across the grass, comes to a window. He stands on a pipe, looks in –

PRINCE'S POV – INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

His Mother and Father in the living room. His Mother is sprawled out on the sofa, obviously drunk, her dress hiked along her thighs. Her head rests in his Father's lap.

EXT. BACKYARD – NIGHT

Prince hops from the pipe, leans coolly against the house. Intrigued. Vanity looks in –
 

VANITY'S POV – INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

The mother and father kissing tentatively, then violently, finally pulling away. The Mother seems to be taunting the Father, coaxing him into a trap. He kisses her mouth lustily – she pulls back snarling.

EXT. BACKYARD – NIGHT

Vanity's scared – tries to be cool –
 

VANITY

So – friends of yours?

PRINCE

Yeah – the freak show.

He walks off. She jumps off the pipe, follows.

SIDE OF HOUSE

As they emerge around the corner. Prince squats by a basement window, adjusts an old coal chute, then slides down it –

VANITY

Hey...

PRINCE (O.S.)

C'mon.

She hesitates a moment, then slides down too.

INT. BASEMENT, PRINCE'S HOME – NIGHT

He turns on a LIGHT, disappears into an ADJOINING ROOM. Vanity looks around amazed. She stands in a small ANTE-CHAMBER whose walls are covered with thick pads and foam.

Colorful MOBILES hang suspended from the ceilings – various INSTRUMENTS lie about: a drumset, an electric guitar, and a small upright piano. A stereo and cassette player. are perched on a shelf, and two speakers are recessed into the walls. The entire room looks hand-built, the wood carefully painted, or stained.

She peers through the doorway into the adjoining room. BLUE MOONLIGHT filters in through the casement windows. Various MURALS are painted on the walls, MOBILES are suspended from the ceiling. A bed sits in the middle of the floor, a vanity table and mirror nearby.

She stands idly a moment, then moves around the antechamber. Various KNICKNACKS catch her attention. Small wind-up TOYS lie about: a soldier, a bear banging on a drum, a tractor and car. A small MUSIC BOX sits on a shelf. She turns the handle, a little TUNE fills the room...

A cassette sits in the player. She snaps it shut, hits the play button. A DRUM BEAT fills the room, followed by a WOMAN'S VOICE, seemingly speaking in a foreign tongue. The combination is hypnotic and sensual – she finds herself drawn in...

Suddenly Prince grabs her by the waist, lets out a SHRIEK. She draws a out breath, jumps –

VANITY
If you think you scared me, you didn't.

PRINCE

Oh, yeah...

He puts his index finger directly in front of her nose, moves it back and forth hypnotically. She follows it earnestly with her eyes. Suddenly, he pulls his hand away, stretches it to the ceiling like an escaping bird. They both smile, lock eyes. Passion rings in their veins...

The Woman's VOICE begins to moan deeply, pleasurably –

VANITY
Who's the lucky girl? Sounds like she was having a good time.

PRINCE

She's crying – it's backwards. It makes me sad when I hear it. It sorta sounds like she's laughing, doesn't it?

VANITY

So what did you do to her? Do you always treat your women like that?

PRINCE

I don't have anybody right now.

Heat floods into her womb like soft fire –
 

VANITY

You look pretty...

She touches his chest delicately, fluffs up his hair –
 

VANITY

King Kong?

PRINCE

Stop.

She hesitates – but he reaches out tentatively, touches her breast –
 

VANITY

No.

But their mutual desire is too strong. Their lips seek one another out timidly, almost deferentially... then fervently.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. BEDROOM – LATER – NIGHT

Vanity sits at the foot of the bed, Prince stands before her. Her dress is hiked along her thighs, her stockings attached to garters. Their hands search delicately across the contours of their bodies, drawing quick breaths from their lips. They kiss one another ardently, then quickly, like sparrows pecking seed. She goes to remove her dress, but Prince stays her with a gesture, moving his hands along her thighs, touching delicately that spot between her legs. A low, whispery moan escapes from her lips.

Vanity lies back, drawing Prince toward her. His lips move across her mouth, her neck, her breasts. She moans softly, pulls her dress above her thighs, goes to remove it. Once again he stops her, slowly turns her onto her stomach.

She stands.on her knees, her head resting on a pillow. His hands move up along the back of her thighs, past the garters to her panties. He tugs at them gently, then rubs his hand firmly between her legs. She moans suddenly, the shudder moving through her like a whirlwind...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. BEDROOM – LATER – NIGHT

MOONLIGHT glows through the casement windows. MOBILES stir gently in the night breeze.

Prince and Vanity are asleep. He rests on his side, his hands gently supporting his face. She lies behind him, one leg dangling off the bed, one shoe discarded on the floor

Suddenly a distant MOAN... QUICK FOOTSTEPS – A DOOR SLAMS. Vanity SNAPS awake! Fear sweeps her like a shadow from a passing cloud. She listens intently, then –

– Another DOOR SLAM, QUICK FOOTSTEPS, and Prince's Mother CRYING in the dark –

MOTHER (O.S.)

(upstairs)

Please!

A bottle CRASHES to the floor. Then silence...

... deep silence like snow in the room...

Vanity's racked with fear. She sits up slowly, her eyes searching out Prince – he's sleeping...

Suddenly more FOOTSTEPS, a DOOR SLAMS and the father's CRY –

FATHER (O.S.)

No!!

WHACK! Something heavy CRASHES to the floor...

Vanity rises from the bed in a panic! She smoothes down her dress, searches for her other shoe. She shoots another look to Prince, but he sleeps peacefully. Casting a glance upstairs, she climbs throuch the casement window, disappears into the night.

Prince is resting on his side, his eyes opened.

EXT. PRINCE'S HOUSE AND STREET – NIGHT

Vanity moves quickly along the side of the house, trying desperately to find her way. Suddenly a HAND reaches out of the darkness, GRABS her by the throat. She SCREAMS, swings her bag desperately – something CRASHES, into the bushes –

VOICE
Damn, baby, hold it! Hold it!!

(wails)

Oh, God – God! You broke my nose!

She sees it's Morris – she's beside herself with fear and rage –

VANITY

You shit! What the hell are you doing here?

He struggles in the bushes – DOGS start BARKING –

MORRIS
Shh! Shh! Shh! oh, Lord help me outta here.

(a beat)

Hee, hee – I know you wouldn't want to spend the whole night with ol' pencil dick.

VANITY

Your nose alright?

MORRIS

My nose is fine, I'm just wondering if I fucked my shoes up...

(a beat)

C'mon...

They cut across the yard, head to the street. The CADDY is parked at the curb. Jerome leans against it, reading a newspaper –

VANITY
Hi, Jerome. Wow! Nice hubcaps.

He grins proudly from ear to ear – the Caddy sports new chrome wire wheels –
 

JEROME

You like them, huh?

VANITY

Beautiful.

Morris MOANS dismally –

MORRIS
Jerome... you think these can be fixed?

His shoes are badly scuffed, the leather torn across the top –
 

JEROME

I think they're dead, man.

VANITY

God, I'm sorry.

MORRIS

Shit – it's so rough out here.

Just then a PATROL CAR cruises by. The COP regards them suspiciously. Morris and Jerome snap to attention –

MORRIS
You lock the door, baby? Let's go!

They pile into the Caddy, pull out.

EXT. HIGHWAY – NIGHT

The CADDY blazes by in the night. The CITY LIGHTS glimmer spectacularly in the distance.

INT. / EXT. CADDY – NIGHT

Jerome drives. Morris and Vanity sit in the backseat. He gazes at her ardently –
 

MORRIS

Jerome!

Jerome snaps a look in the rear-view – Morris gives him a deft nod. Jerome opens the glove compartment, searches through the cassette tapes. He finds the one he wants, snaps it into the player. RESTAURANT AMBIANCE fills the car...

Note: The restaurant ambiance will grow in volume, and will be followed by exaggerated dinner music, punctuated with strings and delicate cymbals. The MUSIC plays throughout this scene – and Morris times his words to the ebb and flow of the piece to insure the proper dramatic effect.

... dinner MUSIC begins –

JEROME
Cocktails before dinner?

MORRIS

Yes – two piña coladas.

VANITY

Uh... make mine a virgin.

JEROME

Okay...

Jerome braces his knees against the wheel, pours two premixed coladas into plastic glasses –
 

JEROME

(to Morris)

Will you be having a virgin as well?

MORRIS

Ye-es! For dessert!! Whawhak!

Jerome stifles a laugh, pours a rum miniature into Morris' glass. He hands them back –
 

MORRIS

Thank you. Here you are, dear.

They savor their drinks – Morris' fervor grows by leaps and bounds –
 

MORRIS

Jerome, uh, get your pad and pencil, I think it's gonna be kinda right. If my judge of character is correct, it's going to be about loving tonight.

(a beat)

Stop me when I get to seventeen.

Jerome places a pad by his side, pencil at the ready. He settles the Caddy to a cruising – Morris looks deeply into Vanity's eyes –

MORRIS

Excuse me, baby... I bet you didn't know I had a piece of this restaurant, did you?

(a beat)

May I taste that?

He takes Vanity's drink, slurps a little, burps –
 

MORRIS

Huh, excuse me, that's kind of weak... here, try mine.

She does, and begins coughing violently –
 

VANITY

Good God!