INT. COURTROOM - PROCEEDINGS AREA, DAY

Mrs. Dubray is on the stand giving her testimony. There is a model of Howard’s design on a table beside the witness stand. The lawyer, Mr. Roberts, is putting on the additions to the design; the balconies, the front trimmings and porch.

MR ROBERTS

Now, we’ve already heard from Mr. Stone that these additions did not in any way detract from the soundness of Mr. Roark’s design, but how do you feel about these additions Mrs. Dubray - as someone who planned to live there?

MRS DUBRAY

Well, I didn’t care so much for this part, though I did like the idea of having a porch for when it rains... But really, for me, the balconies were very important.

MR ROBERTS

Why?

MRS DUBRAY

Well, in Devitt Tower you could air bits and pieces on clothes lines put up between the buildings and that wouldn’t be possible in Cortlandt.

MR ROBERTS

Why?

MRS DUBRAY

Because - well because the other buildings would’ve been too far away.

MR ROBERTS

So as a future resident of Cortlandt Homes do you feel that the additions added by Webb and Prescott improved the building?

MRS DUBRAY

Yes. We needed balconies.

MR ROBERTS

Mrs. Dubray, can you tell us a little about how the bombing of Cortlandt Homes has affected you personally?

MRS DUBRAY

Yes ... I live in Devitt Tower in Hell’s Kitchen. The conditions there... well it’s not fit for animals... We want to get it - get that one demolished. We need proper housing. ... Cortlandt Homes was like a dream come true. We arranged for Mr. Cortlandt to accept a lower deposit rate for Devitt residents. We had 47 families who had fully paid deposits to secure their places. And we’re not getting that money back. But that’s not the worst[]

MR ROBERTS

Sorry Mrs Dubray, but can you explain to us why you’re not getting your deposit back?

MRS DUBRAY

Yes. The insurance company won’t pay out because the details they were given weren’t correct. And now they say the insurance is no good.

MR ROBERTS

What do you mean?

MRS DUBRAY

Well, Mr. Keating & Miss Kirby submitted that man’s design under their name. - I know Mr. Keating & Miss Kirby very well and I can tell you, hand on heart, they did it with the best intentions. They had no way of knowing what that man would do. (to Howard) Do you know what you’ve done? Do even know!?!

JUDGE

Mr. Roberts, control your witness.

MRS DUBRAY

I’m sorry your honor. I just...

MR ROBERTS

Mrs. Dubray, tell us, tell the court what the bombing of Cortlandt Homes has done?

MRS DUBRAY

We lost money but much worse than that, we lost years, years and years of campaigning for proper housing. Mr. Cortlandt has lost everything he’s spent because the insurance won’t pay. We’ve lost money, we’ve lost time and we’re trying hard not to - but we’re losing hope.

Mrs. Dubray starts weeping.

INT. COURTROOM - SPECTATOR AREA, DAY

EDEE

(quietly to Rosie)

You don’t mess with Grammy Dubray.

ROSIE

(quietly)

Uh-uh. No sir.

Bill sneaks up to them. He kisses Rosie on the cheek who rises a little to greet him.

BILL

(whisper)

What d’I miss?

Rosie lets him in between Edee and she.

ROSIE

(whisper)

A stellar performance by Mrs. Dubray.

EDEE

(whisper)

Teach her the right song and Mr. Lloyd would snap her up.

ROSIE

(whisper)

Am I blue?

EDEE

(whisper)

You’d be too.

BILL

(normal voice)

Oh you tough Devitt girls.

The people in front of him turn around angrily to tell him to be quiet.

BILL

(whisper)

Sorry!

INT. COURTROOM - PROCEEDINGS AREA, DAY

MR. ROBERTS

- Let your verdict give us the answer. The state rests.

JUDGE

Very well, the defense may proceed.

Howard is defending himself. He stands up and addresses the court.

HOWARD

I shall call no witnesses. This will be my testimony and my summation.

COURT OFFICER

Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?

HOWARD

I do. [pause] Thousands of years ago the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake, he taught his brothers to light. But he left them a gift they had not conceived. And he lifted darkness off the earth. Throughout the centuries, there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. The great creators, the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors stood alone against the men of their time. Every new thought was opposed every new invention was denounced but the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid, but they won. No creator was prompted by a desire to please his brothers. His brothers hated the gift he offered. His truth was his only motive. His work was his only goal. His work, not those who used it his creation, not the benefits others derived from it the creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all men. He went ahead whether others agreed with him or not with his integrity as his only banner. He served nothing and no one. He lived for himself and only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement. Man cannot survive, except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon, but the mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. The man who thinks must think and act on his own. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be subordinated to the needs, opinions, or wishes of others. It is not an object of sacrifice. The creator stands on his own judgment. The parasite follows the opinions of others. The creator thinks. The parasite copies. The creator produces. The parasite loots. The creator’s concern is the conquest of nature. The parasite’s concern is the conquest of men. The creator requires independence. He neither serves nor rules. He deals with men by free exchange and voluntary choice. The parasite seeks power. He wants to bind all men together in common action and common slavery. He claims that man is only a tool for the use of others that he must think as they think act as they act and live in selfless, joyless servitude to any need but his own. Look at history. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights without personal ambition without will, hope or dignity. It is an ancient conflict. It has another name. The individual against the collective. Our country, the noblest country in the history of men was based on the principle of individualism. The principle of man’s inalienable rights. It was a country where a man was free to seek his own happiness. To gain and produce, not to give up and renounce. To prosper, not to starve. To achieve, not to plunder. To hold as his highest possession a sense of his personal value and as his highest virtue his self-respect. Look at the results. That is what the collectivists are now asking you to destroy as much of the earth has been destroyed. I am an architect. I know what is to come by the principle on which it is built. We are approaching a world in which I cannot permit myself to live. My ideas are my property. They were taken from me by force, by breach of contract. No appeal was left to me. It was believed that my work belonged to others to do with as they pleased. They had a claim upon me without my consent that it was my duty to serve them without choice or reward. Now you know why I dynamited Cortlandt. I designed Cortlandt I made it possible I destroyed it. I agreed to design it for the purpose of seeing it built as I wished. That was the price I set for my work. I was not paid. My building was disfigured at the whim of others who took the benefits of my work and gave me nothing in return. I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone’s right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy, nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim. It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing. I came here to be heard in the name of every man of independence still left in the world. I wanted to state my terms. I do not care to work or live on any others. My terms are a man’s right to exist for his own sake.

PART OF THE CROWD, including Dominique, STARTS CLAPPING ENTHUSIASTICALLY, while the DEVITT RESIDENTS are appalled and bewildered that anyone could view the destruction of their future home as a noble act of someone defending man’s independence and integrity. After an initial moment of silent shock they start SHOUTING THEIR DISSENT AND PROTEST at Howard and his supporters.

Bill is so incensed he stands up, moving towards the centre aisle.

All the while the judge is calling for ORDER.

BILL

(shouting over the crowd at Howard)

Now, wait a minute. Just wait a minute! You - you talk about rights and independence well what about the rights and independence of these people whose homes you’ve destroyed?

Gail looks on at the ruckus. He’s amused by the good cheer and battling spirit of the Devitt residents but he’s also upset for Howard. He decides to leave.

The Devitt residents quieten down to listen to what Bill has to say.

BILL

Don’t you see how destroying homes is destroying independence? How can you talk about destruction of someone else’s private property as if it were some heroic act? So you didn’t get paid? You chose not to take any financial payment. That is not the same as being a slave. I sometimes give Marty, my neighbour, a ride into work. He doesn’t pay me. It’s something I chose to do. Am I his slave? Or have I the right to punch him whenever I feel like it, as my chosen payment? And how come your rights to your ideas are worth more than these people’s or Mr. Cortlandt’s rights to Cortlandt Homes? Can you tell me that Mr. Roark? Can you even tell wrong from right Mr. Roark? Well can ya?

The Devitt residents are cheering him on. A couple of jurors start cheering also.

JUDGE

YOU’RE IN CONTEMPT, SIR! OFFICERS ESCORT HIM OUT! - Jurors, remember your duty!

The jurors quieten down while Bill is dragged out by a court official all the time shouting YOU JUST DON’T GET IT ROARK!!! except when he looks at Rosie.

BILL

SORRY HONEY.

ROSIE

Never been prouder!

The Devitt residents are still cheering.

Howard is a little surprised by what is happening.

JUDGE

ORDER! ORDER! I WILL HAVE ORDER IN MY COURT!

The crowd won’t quieten down.

JUDGE

I WILL HOLD YOU ALL IN CONTEMPT IF YOU DON’T STOP THIS RACKET.

Rosie stands up and WHISTLES, the crowd falls silent.

ROSIE

Sorry your Honor.

JUDGE

That’s al- Oh, Miss Red! ... Why that’s fine, absolutely fine.