The Ice Rink

There is the sound of a helicopter approaching.

The extras look up in the air.

The helicopter appears in the sky above Cinecittà, slowly starts its descent.

The shooting is interrupted, the assistants curse the helicopters with their megaphones.

Utter confusion reigns on the set.

The extras watch the helicopter land. Their thin clothing flies in the wind, their hair gets mussed up. They bend under the increasing pressure of the wind, crouch down, plaster themselves against the earth.

The helicopter lands in a huge racket.

The sliding doors open and the editors get out of the aircraft, jump to the ground and start running with the film cans in their hands, followed by the producer and the director.

They cross the set, step over the extras lying on the ground, jump over the tracks of the tracking shot.

While running, they look for the right way, ask a crew member where the screening room is, then they ask a bishop.

The producer (to the bishop)

Signore. Scusi, signore...

The bishop (correcting her)

Monsignore!

The producer

La sala di proiezione, per favore?

The bishop

Per di là, per di là.

62. EXT. STREETS OF ROME - DAY

Siren blaring, the ambulance races through Rome, passes Saint Peter's Square, speeds along the river.

63. EXT. CINECITTA FILM STUDIOS - DAY

The ambulance enters Cinecittà at full speed.

On the main set the assistants reposition the extras for The Rape of the Sabine Women.

The ambulance, siren blaring, enters the set, stopping just in front of the helicopter.

The ambulance driver gets out, followed by the assistant to the director of the Festival, who screams at the helicopter pilot, ordering him to move.

The assistants negociate with the pilot.

The assistants and the extras crowd around the tinted windows of the ambulance, trying to see who’s inside.

64. EXT. SCREENING ROOM - DAY

The producer, the director, and the editors run up to the doors of the screening room.

65. EXT. CINECITTA FILM STUDIOS -DAY

On the set of the decomposing Poussin painting, the extras run away as the helicopter takes off to allow the ambulance to go under him.

The siren blaring, the ambulance gets through, on its way.