21 EXT. KELDYSH – DAY Brock and Bodine are watching Mir 2 being sweng over the side to start adive.BODINE
She's a goddamned liar! A nutcase. Like that... what's her name? ThatAnastasia babe.BUELL
They're inbound.Brock nods and the three of them head forward to meet the approaching helo.
BODINE
She says she's Rose DeWitt Bukater, right? Rose DeWitt Bukater died on theTitanic. At the age of 17. If she'd've lived, she'd be over a hundred now.LOVETT
A hundred and one next month.BODINE
Okay, so she's a very old goddamned liar. I traced her as far back as the20's... she was working as an actress in L.A. An actress. Her name was RoseDawson. Then she married a guy named Calvert, moved to Cedar Rapids, hadtwo kids. Now Calvert's dead, and from what I've heard Cedar Rapids isdead.
The Sea Stallion approaches the ship, BG, forcing Brock to yell over therotors.LOVETT
And everyobody who knows about the diamond is supposed to be dead... or onthis ship. But she knows about it. And I want to hear what she has to say.Got it?
CUT TO:
22 EXT. KELDYSH HELIPAD
IN A THUNDERING DOWNBLAST the helicopter's wheels bounce down on thehelipad. Lovett, Buell and Bodine watch as the HELICOPTER CREW CHIEF hands out aboutten suitcases, and then Rose is lowered to the deck in a wheelchair byKeldysh crewmen. Lizzy, ducking unnecessarily under the rotor, follows herout, carrying FREDDY the Pomeranian. The crew chief hands a puzzled Keldyshcrewmember a goldfish bowl with several fish in it. Rose does not travellight.
HOLD ON the incongruous image of this little old lady, looking impossiblyfragile amongst all the high tech gear, grungy deck crew and giganticequipment.
BODINE
S'cuse me, I have to go check our supply of Depends.
CUT TO:
23 INT. ROSE'S STATEROOM / KELDYSH – DAY
Lizzy is unpacking Rose's things in the small utilitarian room. Rose isplacing a number of FRAMED PHOTOS on the bureau, arranging them carefullynext to the fishbowl. Brock and Bodine are in the doorway.
LOVETT
Is your stateroom alright?
ROSE
Yes. Very nice. Have you met my granddaughter, Lizzy? She takes care of me.
LIZZY
Yes. We met just a few minutes ago, grandma. Remember, up on deck?
ROSE
Oh, yes.
Brock glances at Bodine... oh oh. Bodine rolls his eyes. Rose finishesarranging her photographs. We get a general glimpse of them: the usualsnapshots... children and grandchildren, her late husband.
ROSE
There, that's nice. I have to have my pictures when I travel. And Freddy ofcourse.
(to the Pomeranian)
Isn't that right, sweetie.
LOVETT
Would you like anything?
ROSE
I should like to see my drawing.
CUT TO:
24 INT. LAB DECK, PRESERVATION AREA
Rose looks at the drawing in its tray of water, confronting herself acrossa span of 84 years. Until they can figure out the best way to preserve it,they have to keep it immersed. It sways and ripples, almost as if alive.
TIGHT ON Rose's ancient eyes, gazing at the drawing.
25 FLASHCUT of a man's hand, holding a conte crayon deftly creating ashoulder and the shape of her hair with two efficient lines.
26 THE WOMAN'S FACE IN THE DRAWING, dancing under the water.
27 A FLASHCUT of a man's eyes, just visible over the top of a sketchingpad. They look up suddenly right into the LENS. Soft eyes, but fearlesslydirect.
28 Rose smiles, remembering. Brock has the reference photo of the necklacein his hand.
LOVETT
Louis the Sixteenth wore a fabulous stone, called the Blue Diamond of theCrown, which disappeared in 1792, about the time Louis lost everything fromthe neck up. The theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped too...recut into a heart-like shape... and it became Le Coeur de la Mer. TheHeart of the Ocean. Today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond.
ROSE
It was a dreadful, heavy thing.
(she points at the drawing)
I only wore it this once.
LIZZY
You actually believe this is you, grandma?
ROSE
It is me, dear. Wasn't I a hot number?
LOVETT
I tracked it down through insurance records... and old claim that wassettled under terms of absolute secrecy. Do you know who the claiment was,Rost?
ROSE
Someone named Hockley, I should imagine.
LOVETT
Nathan Hockley, right. Pittsburgh steel tycoon. For a diamond necklace hisson Caledon Hockley bought in France for his fiancee... you... a weekbefore he sailed on Titanic. And the claim was filed right after thesinking. So the diamond had to've gone down with the ship.
(to Lizzy)
See the date?
LIZZY
April 14, 1912.
LOVETT
If your grandma is who she says she is, she was wearing the diamond the dayTitanic sank.
(MORE)
LOVETT (CONT'D)
(to Rose)
And that makes you my new best friend. I will happily compensate you foranything you can tell us that will lead to its recovery.
ROSE
I don't want your money, Mr. Lovett. I know how hard it is for people whocare greatly for money to give some away.
BODINE
(skeptical)
You don't want anything?
ROSE
(indicating the drawing)
You may give me this, if anything I tell you is of value.
LOVETT
Deal.
(crossing the room)
Over here are a few things we've recovered from your staterooms.
Laid out on a worktable are fifty or so objects, from mundane to valuable.
Rose, shrunken in her chair, can barely see over the table top. With atrembling hand she lifts a tortoise shell hand mirror, inlaid with motherof pearl. She caresses it wonderingly.
ROSE
This was mine. How extraordinary! It looks the same as the last time I sawit. She turns the mirror over and looks at her ancient face in the crackedglass.
ROSE
The reflection has changed a bit. She spies something else, a silver and moonstone art-nouveau brooch.
ROSE
My mother's brooch. She wanted to go back for it. Caused quite a fuss. Rose picks up an ornate art-nouveau HAIR COMB.
A jade butterfly takesflight on the ebony handle of the comb. She turns it slowly, remembering.
We can see that Rose is experiencing a rush of images and emotions thathave lain dormant for eight decades as she handles the butterfly comb.
LOVETT
Are you ready to go back to Titanic?
CUT TO:
29 INT. IMAGING SHACK / KELDYSH
It is a darkened room lined with TV monitors. IMAGES OF THE WRECK fill thescreens, fed from Mir One and Two, and the two ROVs, Snoop Dog and DUNCAN. BODINE Live from 12,000 feet.
ROSE stares raptly at the screens. She is enthraled by one in particular,an image of the bow railing. It obviously means something to her. Brock isstudying her reactions carefully.
BODINE
The bow's struck in the bottom like an axe, from the impact. Here... I canrun a simulation we worked up on this monitor over here. Lizzy turns the chair so Rose can see the screen of Bodine's computer. Ashe is calling up the file, he keeps talking.
BODINE
We've put together the world's largest database on the Titanic. Okay,here...
LOVETT
Rose might not want to see this, Lewis.
ROSE
No, no. It's fine. I'm curious.
Bodine starts a COMPUTER ANIMATED GRAPHIC on the screen, which parallelshis rapid-fire narration.
BODINE
She hits the berg on the starboard side and it sort of bumps along...punching holes like a morse code... dit dit dit, down the side. Now she'sflooding in the
BODINE (cont'd)
forward compartments... and the water spills over the tops of thebulkheads, going aft. As her bow is going down, her stern is coming up...slow at first... and then faster and faster until it's lifting all thatweight, maybe 20 or 30 thousand tons... out of the water and the hull can'tdeal... so SKRTTT!!
(making a sound in time with the animation)
... it splits! Right down to the keel, which acts like a big hinge. Now thebow swings down and the stern falls back level... but the weight of the bowpulls the stern up vertical, and then the bow section detaches, heading forthe bottom. The stern bobs like a cork, floods and goes under about 2:20a.m. Two hours and forty minutes after the collision.
The animation then follows the bow section as it sinks. Rose watches thisclinical dissection of the disaster without emotion.
BODINE
The bow pulls out of its dive and planes away, almost a half a mile, beforeit hits the bottom going maybe 12 miles an hour. KABOOM!
The bow impacts, digging deeply into the bottom, the animation now followsthe stern.
BODINE
The stern implodes as it sinks, from the pressure, and rips apart from theforce of the current as it falls, landing like a big pile of junk.
(indicating the simulation)
Cool huh?
ROSE
Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine. Of course theexperience of it was somewhat less clinical.
LOVETT
Will you share it with us?
Her eyes go back to the screens, showing the sad ruins far below them.
A VIEW from one of the subs TRACKING SLOWLY over the boat deck. Roserecognizes one of the Wellin davits, still in place. She hears ghostlywaltz music. The faint and echoing sound of an officer's voice, Englishaccented, calling "Women and children only".
30 FLASH CUTS of screaming faces in a running crowd. Pandemonium andterror. People crying, praying, kneeling on the deck. Just impressions... flashes in the dark.
31 Rose Looks at another monitor.
SNOOP DOG moving down a rusted,debris-filled corridor. Rose watches the endless row of doorways slidingpast, like dark mouths.
32 IMAGE OF A CHILD, three years old, standing ankle deep in water in themiddle of an endless corridor. The child is lost alone, crying.
33 Rose is shaken by the flood of memories and emotions. Her eyes well upand she puts her head down, sobbing quietly.
LIZZY
(taking the wheelchair)
I'm taking her to rest.
ROSE
No! Her voice is surprisingly strong. The sweet little old lady is gone,replaced by a woman with eyes of steel. Lovett signals everyone to stayquiet.
LOVETT
Tell us, Rose. She looks from screen to screen, the images of the ruined ship.
ROSE
It's been 84 years...
LOVETT
Just tell us what you can--
ROSE
(holds up her hand for silence)
It's been 84 years... and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china hadnever been used. The sheets had never been slept in.
He switches on the minirecorder and sets it near her.
ROSE
was. It really was...
As the underwater camera rises past the rusted bow rail, WE DISSOLVE /MATCH MOVE to that same railing in 1912...
CUT TO34 EXT. SOUTHAMPTON DOCK – DAY
SHOT CONTINUES IN A FLORIOUS REVEAL as the gleaming white superstructure ofTitanic rises mountainously beyond the rail, and above that thebuff-colored funnels stand against the sky like the pillars of a greattemple. Crewmen move across the deck, dwarfed by the awesome scale of thesteamer. Southanmpton, England, April 10, 1912. It is almost nnon on ailing day. Acrowd of hundreds blackens the pier next to Titanic like ants on a jellysandwich.
IN FG a gorgeous burgundy RENAULT TOURING CAR swings into frame, hangingfrom a loading crane. It is lowered toward HATCH #2.
On the pier horsedrawn vehicles, motorcars and lorries move slowly throughthe dense throng. The atmosphere is one of excitement and generalgiddiness. People embrace in tearful farewells, or wave and shout bonvoyage wishes to friends and relatives on the decks above. A white RENAULT, leading a silver-gray DAIMLER-BENZ, pushes through thecrowd leaving a wake in the press of people. Around the handsome carspeople are streaming to board the ship, jostling with hustling seamen andstokers, porters, and barking WHITE STAR LINE officials.
The Renault stops and the LIVERIED DRIVER scurries to open the door for aYOUNG WOMAN dressed in a stunning white and purple outfit, with an enormousfeathered hat. She is 17 years old and beautiful, regal of bearing, withpiercing eyes.
It is the girl in the drawing. ROSE. She looks up at the ship, taking it inwith cool appraisal.
ROSE
I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than theMauretania.
A PERSONAL VALET opens the door on the other side of the car for CALEDONHOCKLEY, the 30 year old heir to the elder Hockley's fortune. "Cal" ishandsome, arrogant and rich beyond meaning.
CAL
You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic. It's overa hundred feet longer than Mauretania, and far more luxurious. It hassquash courts, a Parisian cafe... even Turkish baths. Cal turns and fives his hand to Rose's mother, RUTH DEWITT BUKATER, whodescends from the touring car being him. Ruth is a 40ish society empress,from one of the most prominent Philadelphia families. She is a widow, andrules her household with iron will.
CAL
Your daughter is much too hard to impress, Ruth.
(indicating a puddle)
Mind your step.
RUTH
(gazing at the leviathan)
So this is the ship they say is unsinkable.
CAL
It is unsinkable. God himself couldn't sink this ship.
Cal speaks with the pride of a host providing a special experience.
This entire entourage of rich Americans is impeccably turned out, aquintessential example of the Edwardian upper class, complete withservants. Cal's VALET, SPICER LOVEJOY, is a tall and impassive, dour as anundertaker. Behind him emerge TWO MAIDS, personal servants to Ruth andRose.
A WHITE STAR LINE PORTER scurries toward them, harried by last minuteloading.
PORTER
Sir, you'll have to check your baggage through the main terminal, roundthat way--
Cal nonchalantly hands the man a fiver. The porter's eyes dilate. Fivepounds was a monster tip in those days.
CAL
I put my faith in you, good sir.
(MORE)
CAL (CONT'D)
(curtly, indicating Lovejoy)
See my man.
PORTER
Yes, sir. My pleasure, sir. Cal never tires of the effect of money on the unwashed masses. LOVEJOY
(to the porter)
These trunks here, and 12 more in the Daimler. We'll have all this lot upin the rooms.
The White Star man looks stricken when he sees the enormous pile of steamertrunks and suitcases loading down the second car, including wooden cratesand steel safe. He whistles frantically for some cargo-handlers nearby whocome running.
Cal breezes on, leaving the minions to scramble. He quickly checks hispocket watch.
CAL
We'd better hurry. This way, ladies. He indicates the way toward the first class gangway. They move into thecrowd. TRUDY BOLT, Rose's maid, hustles behind them, laden with bags of hermistress's most recent purchases... things too delicate for the baggagehandlers.
Cal leads, weaving between vehicles and handcarts, hurrying passengers(mostly second class and steerage) and well-wishers. Most of the firstclass passengers are avoiding the smelly press of the dockside crowd byusing an elevated boarding bridge, twenty feet above.
They pass a line of steerage passengers in their coarse wool and tweeds,queued up inside movable barriers like cattle in a chute. A HEALTH OFFICERexamines their heads one by one, checking scalp and eyelashes for lice.
They pass a well-dressed young man cranking the handle of a wooden Biograph"cinematograph" camera mounted on a tripod. NANIEL MARVIN (whose fatherfounded the Biograph Film Studio) is filming his young bride in front ofthe Titanic. MARY MARVIN stands stiffly and smiles, self conscious.
DANIEL
Look up at the ship, darling, that's it. You're amazed! You can't believehow big it is! Like a mountain. That's great. Mary Marvin, without an acting fiber in her body, does a bad Clara Bowpantomime of awe, hands raised. Cal is jostled by two yelling steerage boys who shove past him. And he isbumped again a second later by the boys' father.
CAL
Steady!!
MAN
Sorry squire!
The Cockney father pushes on, after his kids, shouting.
CAL
Steerage swine. Apparently missed his annual bath.
RUTH
Honestly, Cal, if you weren't forever booking everything at the lastinstant, we could have gone through the terminal instead of running alongthe dock like some squalid immigrant family.
CAL
All part of my charm, Ruth. At any rate, it was my darling fiancee's beautyrituals which made us late.
ROSE
You told me to change.
CAL
I couldn't let you wear black on sailing day, sweetpea. It's bad luck.
ROSE
I felt like black. Cal guides them out of the path of a horse-drawn wagon loaded down with twotons of OXFORD MARMALADE, in wooden cases, for Titanic's VictuallingDepartment.
CAL
Here I've pulled every string I could to book us on the grandest ship inhistory, in her most luxurious suites... and you act as if you're going toyour execution. Rose looks up as the hull of Titanic looms over them...a great iron wall,Bible black and sever. Cal motions her forward, and she enters the gangwayto the D Deck doors with a sense of overwhelming dread.
OLD ROSE (V.O.)
It was the ship of dreams... to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship,taking me back to America in chains.
CLOSE ON CAL'S HAND IN SLOW-MOTION as it closes possessively over Rose'sarm. He escorts her up the gangway and the black hull of Titanic swallowsthem.
OLD ROSE (V.O.)
Outwardly I was everything a well brought up girl should be. Inside, I wasscreaming.
35 CUT TO a SCREAMING BLAST from the mighty triple steam horns on Titanic'sfunnels, bellowing their departure warning.
CUT TO:
36 EXT. SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS / TITANIC – DAY
A VIEW OF TITANIC from several blocks away, towering above the terminalbuildings like the skyline of a city. The steamer's whistle echoes acrossSouthampton.
PULL BACK, revealing that we were looking through a window, and backfurther to show the smoky inside of a pub. It is crowded with dockworkersand ship;s crew.
Just inside the window, a poker game is in progress. FOUR MEN, in workingclass clothes, play a very serious hand. JACK DAWSON and FABRIZIO DE ROSSI, both about 20, exchange a glance as theother two players argue in Swedish. Jack is American, a lanky drifter withhis hair a little long for the standards of the times. He is also unshaven,and his clothes are rumpled from sleeping in them. He is an artist, and hasadopted the bohemian style of art scene in Paris. He is also veryself-possessed and sure-footed for 20, having lived on his own since 15.
The TWO SWEDES continue their sullen argument, in Swedish.
OLAF
(subtitled)
You stupid fishhead. I can't believe you bet our tickets.
SVEN
(subtitled)
You lost our money. I'm just trying to get it back. Now shutup and take acard.
JACK
(jaunty)
Hit me again, Sven.
Jack takes the card and slips it into his hand.
ECU JACK'S EYES. They betray nothing.
CLOSE ON FABRIZIO licking his lips nervously as he refuses a card.
ECU STACK in the middle of the table. Bills and coins from four counrties.
This has been going on for a while. Sitting on top of the money are two 3RDCLASS TICKETS for RMS TITANIC.
The Titanic's whistle blows again. Final warning.
JACK
The moment of truth boys. Somebody's life's about to change.
Fabrizio puts his cards down. So do the Swedes. Jack holds his close. JACK
Let's see... Fabrizio's got niente. Olaf, you've got squat. Sven, uh oh...two pair... mmm.
(turns to his friend)
Sorry Fabrizio.
FABRIZIO
What sorry? What you got? You lose my money?? Ma va fa'n culo testa dicazzo--
JACK
Sorry, you're not gonna see your mama again for a long time... He slaps a full house down on the table.
JACK
(grinning)
'Cause you're goin' to America!! Full house boys!
FABRIZIO
Porca Madonna!! YEEAAAAA!!!
The table explodes into shouting in several languages. Jack rakes in themoney and the tickets.
JACK
(to the Swedes)
Sorry boys. Three of a kind and a pair. I'm high and you're dry and...
(to Fabrizio)
... we're going to--
FABRIZIO/JACK
L'AMERICA!!!
Olaf balls up one huge farmer's fist. We think he's going to clobber Jack,but he swings round and punches Sven, who flops backward onto the floor andsits there, looking depressed. Olaf forgets about Jack and Fabrizio, whoare dancing around, and goes into a rapid harangue of his stupid cousin.
Jack kisses the tickets, then jumps on Fabrizio's back and rides him aroundthe pub. It's like they won the lottery.
JACK
Goin' home... to the land o' the free and the home of the real hot-dogs! Onthe TITANIC!! We're ridin' in high style now! We're practically goddamnedroyalty, ragazzo mio!!
FABRIZIO
You see? Is my destinio!! Like I told you. I go to l'America!! To be amillionaire!!
(MORE)
FABRIZIO (CONT'D)
(to pubkeeper)
Capito?? I go to America!!
PUBKEEPER
No, mate. Titanic go to America. In five minutes.
JACK
Shit!! Come on, Fabri!
(grabbing their stuff)
Come on!!
(to all, grinning)
It's been grand. They run for the door.
PUBKEEPER
'Course I'm sure if they knew it was you lot comin', they'd be pleased towait!
CUT TO:
37 OMITTED
38 EXT. TERMINAL – TITANIC
Jack and Fabrizio, carrying everything they own in the world in the kitbags on their shoulders, sprint toward the pier. They tear through millingcrowds next to the terminal. Shouts go up behind them as they jostleslow-moving gentlemen. They dodge piles of luggage, and weave throughgroups of people. They burst out onto the pier and Jack comes to a deadstop... staring at the cast wall of the ship's hull, towering seven storiesabove the wharf and over an eighth of a mile long. The Titanic ismonstrous.
Fabrizio runs back and grabs Jack, and they sprint toward the third classgangway aft, at E deck. They reach the bottom of the ramp just as SIXTHOFFICER MOODY detaches it at the top. It starts to swing down from thegangway doors.
JACK
Wait!! We're passengers!
Flushed and panting, he waves the tickets.
MOODY
Have you been through the inspection queue?
JACK
(lying cheerfully)
Of course! Anyway, we don't have lice, we're Americans.
(glances at Fabrizio)
Both of us.
MOODY
(testy)
Right, come aboard.
Moody has QUARTERMASTER ROWE reattach the gangway. Jack and Fabrizio comeaboard. Moody glances at the tickets, then passes Jack and Fabrizio throughto Rowe. Rowe looks at the names on the tickets to enter them in thepassenger list.
ROWE
Gundersen. And...
(reading Fabrizio's)
Gundersen.
He hands the tickets back, eyeing Fabrizio's Mediterranean lookssuspiciously.
JACK
(grabbing Fabrizio's arm)
Come on, Sven. Jack and Fabrizio whoop with victory as they run down the white-paintedcorridero... grinning from ear to ear.
JACK
We are the luckiest sons of bitches in the world!
CUT TO:
39 OMITTED
40 EXT. TITAIC AND DOCK – DAY
The mooring lines, as big around as a man's arm, are dropped into thewater. A cheer goes up on the pier as SEVEN TUGS pull the Titanic away fromthe quay.
CUT TO:
To be continued…
1 comment:
Great Articles, we thankfull for "Titanic" Exclusive Screenplay.
Victor j Fleming
Washington, USA
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