“In the descent to madness, the false blanket Called reality merges with the simulacrum of the world we know. Down the picture show, the voyeur watches life unfold In a dark room, through the peep hole, behind the light of kaleidoscope eyes. Beyond la camara oscura, nothing in the mind can be created nor destroyed.”— THE DESCENT TO MADNESS, JENNIFER BRIGITTE
His head rings with the trump of a melody so handsomely beautiful, that he just has to hum along with it. He watches the room come alive. Down by the orchestra pit, he watches the mirage of a Conductor swiftly command his ensemble. They play the man’s melody. It’s all coming back to him now. Back to the beginning, where it all came alive long ago. The ensemble— more like an army of magnified silhouettes beaten against the wall play it all by ear. The life and times of EASTON MAXWELL CALDWELL, the creator of all this. He has never answered to nobody’s beckon call. He’s the God, the Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and it’s by his omnipotence that all this was even possible in the first place. Inside Caldwell’s masterpiece—
Lush velvet curtains cascade down the stage, nailing its hem on the floor. A bluish circular spotlight sits on top of the curtains, waiting for some action. The room could not be more stuffy. It is repulsively humid. The sticky air highlights the cigarette smoking and whiskey breathed room full of paging men. They all wait for the siren to cast a spell. The gin is hot in this joint. The old Edwardian Nickelodeon hall dims its light. The Cinema Paradiso, home of all the boozers and burlesque happy hours, jolts up its jazz. The steady strum of the guitar and oboe play as the flash of a gorgeous leg peers outside the pleated curtains. Feminine nail polished hands grip the fabric tight. The haunting melody that was once a figment of Caldwell’s feverish dream has come alive. The mystery woman, in all her curvaceous glory, makes her grand entrance, shrouded in the warmth of the blue tint spotlight. Nothing but her beautiful voice can be heard. The lady that sings the blues drapes her voluptuous flesh over the microphone stand. Those red fat bottomed lips do all the singing.
Dancing to the rhythm of an eclectic Latin percussion pop song, GEMMA VALENTINE strips down her fedora and tuxedo and into a sexy risque scantily clad sparkly little number. “Cruel Madness” is the song that opens the film. She implores the world to call her Lola. She’s your Virgin Americana. A Cleopatra. A Mona Lisa. A Madonna Espanola. A Nikita. A Femme Fatale on the prowl. All this she sings in her ode to being born again.
Away from the contained chaos, their agent ALPI KLEIN watches Gemma muster all her emotions to finish strong. It is a sight to see. Both Gemma and Alpi notices the shadow of a man inside the projector room. He is lit with a striking green light.
A text for the best agent since the Devil himself.
“Champagne tonight. Oscar campaign starts Monday morning. It’s become clear that Gemma Valentine is going to be the perfect Olivia Holiday for our December 24th release. Caldwell.”
The trail of light follows his owner wherever it goes. It never shines another color that isn’t bright green. His hope never falters.
The World He Created
In the beginning, God created the heaven and Earth and it was good. He created this world out of nothing, in ex nihilo because nothing on this planet, not even the canvas for which he makes his bread and butter from, can be created nor destroyed. It is as so he can manipulate the elements. In this world, he created his man after his own image so he can dominate. And from the rust and bone of his man, out bore a woman that would be his mirror image, in his own identity. This God, higher than the heavens a lie, washed his hands clean as they frolicked in sin in the garden of Eden.
Circling the scene, like a vulture looking for a carcass to feast upon, is the statuesque illusive red-headed It Girl PALOMA DIAMOND. She watches Easton with her hawk-like eyes. She has him underneath her spell.
As the premiere party for the new picture is underway with all the splendor of an old Hollywood orgy, LOVITZ makes his way towards the hot shot movie producer. Lovitz is Caldwell Studios’ is vicious head of the studios’ rival motion picture company. He was the man that dared to go toe-to-toe with Douglas Caldwell from the 70’s until his retirement in 2006 when he gave the studio to his only son, the ambitious Harvard and Yale graduate Easton.
Lovitz has very disdainful visions of the young man. For one, he thinks Easton has the personality of a cult leader. He sees him as nothing but a Brat Packer who buys himself awards as trinkets to collect without really earning them. He does not see Born Again as a masterpiece that it should have been only because it has Caldwell’s name slapped on it. In his eyes, Easton sits on his name alone and not on his own intuition. A false perception that sets out a chain of reaction for him and the lives he gambles for that apex mastery of film. That project that will set him apart from the rest of the world, including his own legacy.
Caldwell dreams of butchering Lovitz in front of everyone but composes himself. He leaves his own party, leaving Alpi to do damage control with Lovitz.
Gemma finds her husband in the couple’s master bedroom. With his binoculars, he stalks his neighbors, or as he calls it “people watching.” Gemma never refutes him. She lets him believe that’s what he does in his spare time. He sits his laptop, typing nonsense on the device.
His wife sees he needs his space from her. She obliges. She does too. She leaves him alone to write what he sees and heads for a dip at the pool.
——–
SIX MONTHS PASS since the the premiere of Born Again.
The movie was a smash record-setter. A tour-de-force virtuoso film by the Studios. But Caldwell seems not interested in it. It’s clear Lovitz’s words got in his head.
At Easton’s office, he sees the beautiful Paloma wait for him. Together, they watch the world he is king of. The happy couple embrace each other.
Caldwell notices that his girlfriend holds a copy of The Descent to Madness in her hands. She is absolutely hooked. Easton intents her to play the sexy dirty girl Santana, Baby Anne’s alter ego.
The lovable duo breathlessly kiss.
Alpi Klein interrupts them. He is nice and fresh off a jet-setting vacation. He and his wife vacated in the South of France on his yacht.
Now he’s back to the grind and on his first day back, he finds himself in the throes with Caldwell himself. He is informed by Easton that his studio plans to finally produce The Descent of Madness.
This is met with anger and pleads from Alpi.
The older silver fox, an adopted son of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, has been a Hollywood heavyweight since his teens. Dubbed the Hollywood Fixer, Alpi paints the sordid details of the morbid script.
Patrick couldn’t care less what his real life does.
In 1975, Douglas Caldwell (Easton’s father) publicly condemned the Wilder script. In 2002, Wilder himself passed away. He never saw his scrapped masterpiece come to life.
After hearing the sordid past of the script and the deaths attached to it, both Caldwell and Diamond were convinced more than ever to do the film.
This leaves Alpi even more distraught. He realizes no matter what he tells his best friend’s son, he won’t change his mind. He will have to just let him fall and pick himself up again.
Paloma leaves the two men to their own debate. She, like Easton, is a gambler at heart.
She is excited to share the stage with the vibrantly talented Gemma under Patrick Quinn’s direction.
Easton is convinced the hearsay is what has caused this script to be “cursed.” He was destined to make this project happen.
Alpi, like Pontius Pilate, washes his hands clean.
——–
Alpi pacifies the film to Gemma but even with the promises of Oscars, Gemma is none to please. Ultimately Patrick agrees to head over to the Midnight Madness secret party and convince his wife to make the feature with him.
She knows how much a project like this means for her husband. After their agent leaves with his Macallan 1939 in hand, Gemma agrees to take the part. This solidifies the solid hold Patrick has on his wife. Her worries mean nothing to him.
——–
The Lost Weekend
In the Madness He Prays To
Patrick and Gemma reach their destination at Easton’s top secret location. It is nothing like they’ve ever seen before. Designed with all the opulence of a rich American Gothic landscape, the Quinns enter the dream-like horror that ushers them to the descent to their own madness. At the iron gates to their own personal hell, the Quinns are greeted by two of the oddest creatures they have ever seen. They were the living breathing incarnations of Grant Wood’s seminal art masterpiece “American Gothic.” The farm hands look down at them with gloom and pessimism. They clean them up from the debris of the accident and welcome inside the devilish party. Inside the lively events, it’s like the Roaring 20’s all over again.
The music reaches a fever pitch and ends with applause. Easton reveals himself as the Man in Green and takes the Quinns away from the hedonism in the ballroom.
——–
Inside the cancer of their Hellmouth, at the gates of hell, the gang are fixated with all the littles trinkets and drugs at their disposal. It’s a wonderful life for them. Cocaine blues. LSD trips. Molly escapades. Caldwell dances with his dream girl as his real life fantasy boils with the anger inside of her. They are done conforming to the norm here. They have reformed for so long, they can’t see straight. They are now imbibing all the drugs their little heart desires. Alpi joins them but the voice of reason is whoever they want him to be. Welcome to the Hellmouth.
——–
The horror thrusts Patrick out the door. Gemma walks into a yellow door and is doused in the Old Hollywood gray. She sees Alpi’s White Rabbit multiply before her eyes. She envisions her tormentors tear her dress apart but it is all a fantasy.
The floor illuminates as she walks inside the glowing purple door.
Gemma and Paloma mimic each other inside a dark cave. The gagging hole above their heads rip apart. They escape the horror of the cave.
——–
——–
In the Throes of Madness
The World He Designed
IT’S BEEN THREE MONTHS SINCE THE DEATH OF PALOMA DIAMOND.
The illusive white dove is gone but the madness still permeates.
Darkness has taken over. Light has been rarely seen since the days of the macabre event.
Tosses and turns in the warmth of his bed, something within him summons Patrick to come back.
Sleepwalks his way to the Quinn’s office. In tune with his wife, he power writes scenes for a movie.
A speculative Descent to Madness perhaps.
He cannot get over the characters once created by Wilder and updated by him. He continues to seep through it.
His mad fingers type away…
“In the heart of darkness, walking down the streets of LA. No name. Just cruising down the dirty pavements looking for a john tonight.”
As he types his magnum opus, his wife Gemma wanders around the streets of Hollywood. She works the grind looking at all the grime Los Angeles has to offer. Moonlighting at the red light district, Gemma watches the pimps and hookers discuss payments at the Red Light District.
A red cruiser circles around, spying on Gemma.
“The girl is dead to the world…. Passing through the red lights. Zipping through the hookers and pimps. Moonlighting in her finest street clothes. Cheap makeup. Pretty baby.”
Everything culminates in a millisecond. Gemma and the cruiser almost collide in a head-on collision.
The eye beams in the car almost blind her, leading to Patrick feverishly type at his home.
As their worlds come together and wind down, Gemma walks home and relaxes.
A sudden jolt.
A shrieking violent scream blasts through Gemma’s soul.
Everything culminates in a millisecond. Gemma and the cruiser almost collide in a head-on collision.
The eye beams in the car almost blind her, leading to Patrick feverishly type at his home.
As their worlds come together and wind down, Gemma walks home and relaxes.
A sudden jolt.
A shrieking violent scream blasts through Gemma’s soul.
Peaking through the newly rewritten edits, Gemma reads the story her husband has just told her. The pain and anguish consume her.
It is a brand new horror she now calls normal.
——–
Walking down the stairs, Patrick senses a looming danger.
Detached from sleep and sanity, he hears the doorbell ring. It’s rather late in his head. Who can it be at this time at night?
Grabbing a weapon to protect himself, Patrick opens the door.
Alpi stands in all his glory. Commanding and and foreboding.
The men set around the Florida room.
Alpi notices Patrick is fidgeting. Not seeing him for who he is. Twitching.
He brings up that Patrick has dismissed any of his calls.
Slowly but surely we see the deterioration of Patrick’s senses.
In his mind, the pervasive conversation allude to putting his wife “in her place” as if his state of mind was all her fault.
Gemma cries alone, away from it all, as she overhears his conversations with a very imposing Alpi. It’s all her fault he blames. She forbids him to go back to work on that project. He sees it as a trap when God knows she just wants to protect him.
——–
Alpi suggest to write in an accident for Gemma to have. Many movies predict such accidents to its stars.
Patrick wants to win back his control and power over her. In some ways, he feels overshadowed by her cult of celebrity. Just once he wants to bash her skull in and be good and done with her.
Alpi encourages him, uttering “You have control. You direct it. She deserves it anyway.”
Those stinging words linger in Quinn’s head.
He wants to finish the movie. He is pushed over the edge. He really needs this film, he believes. But it’s Gemma. She has him on a tight leash, he believes and putting her in her place would silence his madness or so he believes.
Gemma staggers him to relax only to see her husband talk to himself.
Is Alpi there or is the one losing her mind?
You’ll decide for yourself.
——–
That’s what causes a glitch inside Easton, so to speak.
He doesn’t care for the violence and chaos on his set as long as the job gets done and it gets done well. His money is precious and such as disorder wastes it.
But is Gemma. She is the victim of the chaos and that breaks him away from the prideful box he has put himself in. Caldwell beats Patrick in a duel. The men challenge each other among the heap of garbage that is their shared rubbish of a decaying film.
Caldwell fires him. He can’t take it anymore but the firing is not bulletproof until the end of the shoot. Meaning, Patrick needs to finish Madness before he blackballs him indefinitely.
It’s a weird lock. Easton cannot divorce himself completely to this insanity.
He folds inside. Caldwell leaves the set and drives to the beach and watches the ocean waves crash to the surface. His soul is on fire. All this must be worth it for his empire to stay alive.
All he wants is to accelerate the process. He imbibes speed and quickly rolls with the hallucinatory schizophrenic paranoia of his life.
He sees his body contort with the fires of his own personal hell, the one in which he is personally responsible for destroying the lives of those around him. He cries for the bloodshed in his hands and the more that it’s come if he continues on the roller-coaster film.
The wedding rings are off once again and this time it was permanent. All she wants Patrick to do is pick a personality and keep it.
Patrick can’t have the control of his property and muse slip out of his hands. He grips his leather riding crop and chases his wife down the stairs.
Corners her inside the Florida room. To her horror, the words “Piggy” dripping in fresh red paint is scrawled all over the walls. He rips her dress once again but this time nobody is there to save her. She disappears inside as he multiplies himself in vision.
Gemma escapes inside the world of Madness. Speeding through a 25 foot high caravan, cruising down LA, Santana and Anne drive her husband wild. They smoke from the poisoned apple and shamelessly dance the beats of the intoxicating song. They are the crown jewels of the generation that goes nowhere but the crush candy they snort.
“The life of the manic pixie girl is that she really doesn’t exist. She is a fable like Marilyn. She is the female fixation from the heaps of tabloid trash I piss on. The vampire’s kiss is enchanting but so are her dead eyes. They spark life that I never had. I live life vicariously through her. She’s my dark light, my tunnel vision.”
——–
The Cult of Celebrity
The World He Watched Burn
Licking his wounds in the comfort of his home theater, Easton is drawn in by the captivating images of Gemma and Paloma.
Alpi watches his obsession in disgust. He sees the man fade away to the madness that is replacing him.
Easton has disassociated. Nothing is personal anymore.
Alpi wants to hear of this pact for the first time and the horror it brings him when we revealed.
Easton manipulated Patrick to telling him he wanted out of his marriage. That he wanted to be bigger than Gemma ever was because he made her, therefore, he is entitled to be above her. She was a persona to his person brewing inside soul.
Easton tells Alpi that the death of Patrick is written, set in stone and fire.
Alpi wants to cut the cord but it’s not up to him to decide. After all, isn’t that why he’s Hollywood’s greatest fixer. This could very well be his greatest fix of all time.
How to kill the greatest living director of this generation and make it seem like an accident?
It’s a matter of killing your ego to get what you want.
——–
Patrick dies in front of his cast and crew, leaving a Gemma in a childlike bewilderment. She watches her husband lie on the floor and cannot fathom a world without him— now it’s a foregone conclusion set in the ice of a carcass before her eyes.
The cruelty is that this is what Easton wanted— Patrick to walk away from the picture, to leave Gemma open and free. But in a tragic twist, to divert the bloodshed away from his hands, he put the gun in the woman’s hands. Let the beauty kill the beast and take blame for his sin.
It’s a simple sin that ties in with a seductive sacrifice. Easton, the real white collar devil of the tale, gave Patrick his legacy as part of his pact. What he didn’t tell him was that he was going to take away his sanity, his job, his stability, his power, and most of all, the girl—- the complex muse that will transcend time and space. It’s easy to say Easton did this for the girl. For Gemma Valentine, but Gemma is one piece of the puzzle in the grand picture, Easton did to cement his own forged history and legacy— set apart from that of the men before him.
Was it through cowardice and manipulation? Yes. But just like the music and lyrics from Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleeban’s “What I Did From Love” from The Chorus Line, the love he gave was borrowed and he can’t regret his grievances now.
“In the descent to madness, the lines between what you want and what you need loses all meaning. Life dies when you lose yourself to the mind.” — THE DESCENT TO MADNESS, JENNIFER BRIGITTE
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