Angels and Demons

ANGELS & DEMONS Written by Akiva Goldsman April, 2008 INTPAPAL APARTMENTDAY CLOSE ON an ornate ring.It's intricately carved with a seal, an image of St. Peter casting a net.The ring is carried on a satin pillow through a darkened, regal apartment.In the distance, BELLS ARE TOLLING-- the slow, solemn tones that announce a death. A dozen men in scarlet cassocks, ROMAN CATHOLIC CARDINALS, bend down to inspect the ring, nodding in affirmation, part of an ancient ritual. A younger man (the CAMERLENGO) in a black cassock takes a silver knife and scratches the ring's seal twice, once horizontally and once vertically, in the sign of the cross. Now the ring is placed on a lead block.The Camerlengo raises a silver mallet and SMASHES it down, shattering the ring into a thousand tiny pieces. As the Cardinals confirm to their satisfaction that the ring has been destroyed, the HUSHED VOICE of a NEWS REPORTER comes over the image. REPORTER -- the Ring of the Fisherman, which bears the official papal seal and by Vatican law must be destroyed immediately following the Pope's death. IN THE HALLWAY JUST OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT, the Cardinals file out in a solemn procession. Behind them, the Camerlengo closes and locks the doors to the apartment entrance, helped by an AIDE who stretches red silk across the doors in the form of an X. REPORTER (O.S.