Sandy Patterson: You're diabolical. Diana: Thank you. Sandy Patterson: That's not a compliment. Diana: I know.
Catalog
Craig Mazin
[The Kremlin, Moscow: Legasov and Ulana Khomyuk explain the consequences of a nuclear meltdown with full water tanks] Ulana Khomyuk: When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.…
[Legasov and Shcherbina faces incredulous workers as they ask for volunteers in a suicidal mission to open the sluice gate valve] You'll do it because nobody else can. And if you don't, millions will die. If you tell me that's not enough I won't believe you. This is what has always set our people…
[Polissya hotel, Pripyat: Helicopters dropping sand and boron to extinguish the fire in the Chernobyl plant] Shcherbina: It's been smooth. Twenty drops. [notices Legasov's expression] What? Legasov: There are fifty thousand people in this city. Shcherbina: Professor Ilyin, who's also on the…
[Inside a military jeep, as Fomin and Bryukhanov prepare to meet Shcherbina...] Fomin: It's overkill. Pikalov's showing off to make us look bad. Bryukhanov: It doesn't matter how it looks. Shcherbina is a pure bureaucrat, as stupid as he is pigheaded. We'll tell him the truth in the simplest terms…
[Colonel General Pikalov returns from the testing to give his report] Pikalov: It's not three roentgen. It's 15,000. Bryukhanov: Comrade Shcherbina— Shcherbina: [Turns to Legasov] What does that number mean? Legasov: It means the core is open. It means the fire we're watching with our own eyes is…
[As Valery Legasov and Boris Shcherbina make their way to Chernobyl in a helicopter...] Boris Shcherbina: How does a nuclear reactor work? Valery Legasov: What? Shcherbina: It's a simple question. Legasov: It's hardly a simple answer. Shcherbina: Of course, you presume I'm too stupid to understand.…
[Legasov and Shcherbina's helicopter approaches the Chernobyl plant] Legasov: [Sees the reactor, horrified] What have they done? Shcherbina: Can you see inside? Legasov: I don't have to. Look. That's graphite on the roof. The whole building's been blown open. The core's exposed! Shcherbina: I can't…
[The Kremlin, Moscow: Valery Legasov enters the room with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and Deputy Chairman Boris Shcherbina] Mikhail Gorbachev: Thank you all for your duty to this commission. We will begin with Deputy Chairman Shcherbina's briefing, and then we will discuss next steps if…
[Ending scene: As Legasov is driven away from Chernobyl by the KGB, his voice on tape is heard] To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to…
[Legasov is arrested by the KGB for refusing to toe the party line and is led to a private interrogation room] Charkov: [reads file] Valery Alexeyevich Legasov, son of Alexei Legasov, Head of Ideological Compliance, Central Committee. Do you know what your father did there? Legasov: Yes. Charkov: As…
[As the courtroom is at a recess, Legasov meets with Shcherbina outside] Shcherbina: [Coughing] Do you know anything about this town, Chernobyl? Legasov: Not really, no. Shcherbina: It was mostly Jews and Poles. The Jews were killed in pogroms, and Stalin forced the Poles out. And then the Nazis…
[Pripyat, April 25, 1986 - twelve hours prior to the explosion] Fomin: I hear they might promote Bryukhanov. This little problem we have with the safety test, if it's completed successfully... yes, I think promotion's very likely. Who knows? Maybe Moscow. Naturally, they'll put me in charge once…
Legasov: No one in the room that night knew the shutdown button (AZ-5) could act as a detonator. They didn't know it, because it was kept from them. Kadnikov: Comrade Legasov, you're contradicting your own testimony in Vienna. Legasov: My testimony in Vienna was a lie. I lied to the world. I'm not…
Of course I know they're listening! I want them to hear! I want them to hear it all! [from outside, where Legasov and General Tarakanov can hear] Do you know what we're doing here?! Tell those geniuses what they have done! I don't give a fuck! Tell them! Go tell them! Ryzhkov! Go tell them he's a…
[An old woman milking a cow refuses to evacuate from a village near Chernobyl] Old Woman: You know how old I am? Soldier: I don't know. Old. Old Woman: I'm 82. I've lived here my whole life. Right here, that house, this place. What do I care about ‘safe’? Soldier: I have a job. Don't cause trouble.…
Legasov: [showing pictures of the damaged reactor] The atom is a humbling thing. General Nikolai Tarakanov: It's not humbling, it's humiliating. Why is the core still exposed to the air? Why have we not already covered it up? Legasov: We want to, but we can't get close enough. The debris on the roof…
[After a meeting with the Central Committee, Legasov confronts KGB official Aleksandr Charkov about Khomyuk's arrest] Legasov: She was arrested by the KGB. You are the first deputy chairman of the KGB. Aleksandr Charkov: [amused] I am. That's why I don't have to bother with arresting people anymore.…
[May 3, 1986: A Party official and two soldiers arrive at a coal mine in Tula, Russian SFSR] Mikhail Shchadov: Who's in charge here? Andrei Glukhov: I'm the crew chief. Shchadov: I am Shchadov, minister of coal industries. Glukhov: We know who you are. Shchadov: How many men do you have? Glukhov: On…