Fantastic 8 x 10.5 Mead college-ruled notebook containing eight single-sided pages of Prince's handwritten working script for the 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon, plus a handwritten and signed title page. The red notebook cover is marked in Prince's hand in black ink, "Under the Cherry Moon," and is followed by the title page, neatly written and signed by Prince in pencil: "'Under the Cherry Moon,' by Prince."
Prince's draft of the screenplay begins on the next page, headed "Under the Cherry Moon." It begins with the very opening of the film: "Camera opens on strange painting of a woman with no facial features, pulls back 2 reveal other painting, a woman posing half-dressed, Camera pans slowly. 'Christopher, how much longer, my neck's getting tired?' '13 minutes more.' 'U said that 30 minutes ago. (reaction shot) Guess what Katy told me u did last night.' 'I haven't the faintest guess.' 'She told me that u put your hand between her legs. (reaction shot of him—unaffected) Did u?' 'I don't remember.' (screaming) 'What do mean u don't remember Did u or didn't u…'" They bicker back and forth a bit, then Christopher says: "'Can't we just have fun (he reaches 4 drink. Huh? (takes a sip) (She says yes over & over) I mean… (He strokes her hair & looks at her camera pullback) Can't we just have fun? (camera pull back more as they sit on floor hugging, rocking, she cries. TITLES, music."
Later, in a restaurant scene, the dialogue references the film's title: "'Hey, look over there.' (They see a young woman obviously wealthy from the gold on her person. The woman is attractive…dark, mysterious. She has 2 friends with her. Much older.) 'My God, she's wonderful. That's the one.' 'The one?' 'The one in the song. Under the Cherry Moon, 'A kiss is so much sweeter.' I always thought that one day I would meet someone and I would have 2 have that someone and that's what it says in the song. A kiss is so much sweeter under the cherry moon. Wait here. Cover me,' he says eyes glued 2 this stranger. We watch from a distance as he walks 2 her. Tricky pays the check. Close-up on Christopher. 'Hi,' says he. 'Hello,' says she. 'I'd very much like 2 paint your picture.'" Like the previously described scene, this does not make it into the final version of the movie. After a "Fade 2 Black" on the last page of the script, there is another page with a single line in Prince's hand from the lyrics for 'Temptation': "Workin' my body with a cool hot flash of animal lust." The remaining pages are blank, with the exception of brief a note written to Prince about a birthday gift of champagne. In fine condition, with creasing to cover and bits of staining to the first three pages. From the collection of an early Prince insider.
Unlike the Under the Cherry Moon notebook we previously sold, this example is very much a rough draft—it offers brainstormed dialogue and direction, and is not organized in the more formal screenplay format (for example, multiple characters' lines of dialogue run together without denoting who says what). Very little of what is written here seems to have made it into the final film, and it sets up "Katy" and "Jill" as the potential love interests opposite Christopher and Tricky. Although "Katy" plays a small part in Under the Cherry Moon, "Jill" is nowhere to be found. Christopher Tracy is also introduced as a painter, which does not come up in the film. Needless to say, this is a tremendously interesting piece that may very well be Prince's first conception of Under the Cherry Moon put to paper. It offers extraordinary insight into his creative process, and exists as the cornerstone upon which Under the Cherry Moon was built.
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