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CITIZEN
Current Draft By
Frank Darabont
Previous Draft By
Kurt Wimmer
White - Sept. 7, 2008
Blue - Sept. 19, 2008
LAW-ABIDING
WHITE - 9-7-8 1.
FADE IN:
1
OPENING CREDIT SEQUENCE. Images and sounds are surreal,
dreamlike, disturbing:
1
A HAND is trying to dial three simple numbers. Trembling
fingers miss, try again...we hear
boop-boop-boop
.
911 OPERATOR
(filtered)
911 operator, what is your emergency?
The phone rises, gripped tightly. Knuckles white. We're TIGHT,
it's dark, we see no face -- just slack, trembling lips.
Whoever it is, he can't talk. All we hear is breathing, all
we sense is grief and panic and deep shock.
OPERATOR (V.O.)
(filtered)
Hello? Can you hear me? Can you
speak?
...eyes...
CLYDE
OPERATOR (V.O.)
What? Can you speak up?
CLYDE
...her...eyes...
2
EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
2
Lights appear like phantoms over blacktop, flashing. Police
cars coming our way.
OPERATOR (V.O.)
Sir, what is the nature of your
emergency?
The man can't speak.
OPERATOR (V.O.)
Sir? Are you injured? Do you need
medical attention?
The cars blast by us...
3
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
3
TIGHT ON PHONE AND MOUTH:
CLYDE
...her eyes...she can't...
WHITE - 9-7-8 2.
4
EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT
4
POLICE VEHICLES converge in SLOW-MOTION, dreamlike. Doors fly
open, COPS jump out, weapons drawn as WE MOVE with them to:
Front door. RAMP TO NORMAL CAMERA SPEED as it opens, revealing:
BENSON CLYDE, phone still gripped. He barely registers the
weapons aimed at his face. CAMERA CLOSES IN ON HIM, as:
CLYDE
She can't...close her eyes.
He's pulled from frame. CAMERA KEEPS MOVING, following COPS
into the house...
Dark as hell inside. And tense. Arms training weapons. Moving
up a tight hallway, emerging into...
THE LIVING ROOM
...where the flashlight beams find blood-spatter patterns.
Furniture shattered and overturned. A kid's sneaker.
The flashlights play across TWO BODIES in the wreckage -- a
woman's pale hand, a child's motionless leg.
CAMERA DRIFTS AROUND to the cops' faces, as:
COP #1
(unsnaps shoulder radio)
Dispatch, we have multiple 10-55s,
need full response, 11-41.
5
EXT. HOUSE (SLO-MO) - NIGHT
5
Chaotic now, vehicles and lights. The eye of the storm is
Clyde on the lawn, hugging his knees, fetal with horror and
grief. He's screaming at the sky, but no sound is coming out.
EMS TECHS enter shot, steal the frame, race toward the door...
6
INT. HOUSE (SLO-MO) - NIGHT
6
TRACKING SHOT at floor level, photos being taken. FLASHES
bathe the foreground wreckage. FORENSIC TECHS step gingerly.
Uniformed cops hang grimly back, hugging the walls...
CAMERA BRINGS US TO CLOSEUP: A PROFILE IN DEEP SHADOW in the
foreground, face tilted obliquely in the wreckage.
A CAMERA FLASH reveals the face with shocking glare and
the
IMAGE FREEZES
. A TEN YEAR-OLD GIRL, eyes open, staring at us.
CLYDE (V.O.)
(prelap)
Her eyes. That's how they were.
Open like that. You see?
WHITE - 9-7-8 3.
7
INT. CITY HALL - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
7
Clyde is seated, speaking slowly and precisely. ANGLE WIDENS,
revealing the room, light filtering through blinds, as:
CLYDE
When I found my wife and child dead,
my little girl's eyes were open.
(pause)
The last thing she saw of this earth
were the faces of the men who took
her life. Can you understand that?
NICK (O.S.)
Yes. Yes, I can.
CLYDE
Can you? Really?
(looks to somebody else)
CANTRELL (O.S.)
Mr. Clyde. I don't see this helping.
CLYDE
No? You married? Children?
ANGLE HAS NOW WIDENED/DRIFTED to include D.A. JONAS CANTRELL,
Senior Attorney for the State. He wears thick glasses and is
suffering the early stages of macular degeneration.
CANTRELL
Divorced. I have a son and daughter.
Both in college.
CLYDE
My daughter was ten. I married late
in life.
Clyde spreads the crime scene photos further on the table.
ANGLE COMES AROUND to reveal the third man in the room:
NICK PRICE
The D.A. under Cantrell -- focused, exceptional at what he
does, the man you'd want on your side.
CLYDE
You, Mr. Price? Married? Kids?
Nick doesn't answer, stays focused on the task:
NICK
I've seen the crime scene photos,
Mr. Clyde. Many times. They're
horrifying. But they don't alter
the facts of the case.
You?
BLUE - 9-19-08 4.
CLYDE
Facts? Those men are guilty.
Both
of them. You know they are.
NICK
This isn't about what we know. It's
about what we can prove in court.
CANTRELL
Things have gone against us. Tainted
crime scene, evidence thrown out...
CLYDE
Maybe you just haven't tried hard
*
NICK
Look. We've had only one real break
in this case. The fact that one
asshole has decided to testify
against the other asshole.
CLYDE
In return for immunity. So he gets
away with it.
CANTRELL
The other man
doesn't
. He'll go
down for the crime. That has to
count for something.
CLYDE
Yes. It counts for half.
(pause, quietly)
Don't reward one of the men who
murdered my family. Please.
NICK
Mr. Clyde. I can't claim to know
what it's like to be in your
position. Losing your wife and child.
But please try to grasp how limited
our options are. This is how the
justice system works.
Clyde sits for a long moment, numb, absorbing this.
CLYDE
Ah. I see my mistake. I came for
justice. Instead I got a system.
8
INT. CITY HALL - HALLWAY - DAY
8
SARAH LOWELL, fresh out of law school, is waiting anxiously
for the meeting to end, arms full of file folders.
*
enough.
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