BEGIN MAIN TITLES OVER a wall of graffitti.
CAMERA MOVES OFF the wall as a massive train CLANKS past beyond -- its last car RUMBLING out of the way to reveal...
JOHN NADA. 30's. Rugged. Strong. An old sleeping bag and a pack of tools on his back. He's been riding the _rails. Homeless. They call them the working poor. — —.-- -____
He strides across the tracks. A big man. Proud. His eyes squinting at the sun...
CONTINUE MAIN TITLES. Nada walks along a street -- past
the trainyard -- toward the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles in the b.g.
CLOSE ON Nada, as a THUMPING SOUND in the sky grabs his attention...
HIS POV: a police helicopter drifts past downtown buildings...
LONG LENS SHOT: as Nada walks over a hill, down toward the canyons of skyscrapers below -- like a man descending down into hell...
MAIN TITLES CONTINUE. Nada enters the massive Unemployment office. He checks the board for job listings. Finds none. Then he looks over...
HIS POV: a packed house. The mass of gern paca eee waiting for job interviews, filling out endless forms. Some FAMILIES. Faces of every color.
for a job. The
h her job -~ she’s o many times today.--
' F , — CUT: Nada is being intervi vena INTERVIEWER sleepwalks throug conducted this same interview one to
REVISED 2/10/88
CONTINUED :
The Female
The Female
Interviewer shoots him a sleepy glance...
Interviewer writes offhandedly. Nada can tell
he's eating it -~ bad.
OMIT
out here. (beat)
Thank you very much,
mes I -
REVISED 1/27/88
Nada strolls into a city park. CONTINUE MAIN TITLES.
HIS POV: HOMELESS MAN sleeps on a park bench.
HIS POV: YUPPIE SECRETARIES on their lunch break sit on
the grass eating take-out sushi. Nearby lies a HOMELESS MAN sprawled as if dead. The Secretaries pay no attention...
ss #
st ~~
Se eS
callie
“HISPOVr a police car cruises slowly past the park... MOVE FOCUS to f.g. A BLACK VIET NAM VET sits dazedly, staring OE Sw nce
HIS POV: 2 EXPENSIVELY-DRESSED YUPPIE LAWYERS walk briskly along, chatting, oblivious to a BUM lying in the street at their feet...
HIS POV: a STREET PREACHER holds court. A small CROWD has gathered around him..
Nada moves closer now, up to the rear of the small crowd. HIS POV: the Street Preacher is black. And blind. It
looks as if his eyelids have been sewn shut over empty sockets. He is impassioned...
ae 8
A SKINHEAD, 20's, shaved head, olive drab army fatigues, Swastica pins and combat boots, seethes nearby...
{CONTINUED}
REVISED 2/10/88
A BLACK MAN yells at the Skinhead...
: BLACK MAN “> ~ Hey, pig! Get outa here!
The Skinhead and the Black Man begin a scuffle. A few punches are thrown, but nothing serious.
The crowd's loving it, as Nada glances over...
HIS POV: the police car has stopped. TWO COPS get out, come this way...
Now the crowd around Nada begins moving away fast...
As the cops pull their nightsticks...
Nada moves away too, along with the flow, glancing back over his shoulder...
HIS POV: as the Cops break up the scuffle, rousting the antagonists. A WOMAN leads the Street Preacher away to safety...
OMIT
li
a4
REVISED 2/24/89
A
OMIT
CONTINUE MAIN TITLES. A BLACK STREET KID, 18, stands staring at TV sets on the other side of a display
window. All the sets are tuned to the same station: Cable 54, See the Cable 54 logo. Imases of happy
Americans rejoicing, jumping up in the air and slapping hands in SLOW MOTION. Hear pulsing, ELECTRONIC MUSIC...
Nada walks past, across a dark intersection.. OMIT
Nada is tucked away against a retaining wall on a vacant lot. Other HOMELESS sleen around him. His sleeping bag spread out, he stares intz the Qarkness...
{CONTINUED)
ee?
tt
HIS POV: through the window of a nearby brownstone, see AN ELDERLY WOMAN sitting motionless watching TV. On the
screen a pretty INGENUE is emoting dreamily, accompanied by melodramatic MUSIC.
Nada look
HIS POV:
END MAIN
2xT CON A DLJ con qoing up. sunlight. Nada walk
sunburned
ue
beat, a
Nada
HIS POV:
We can just hear her dialogue..
INGENUE
{over TV) Sometimes when I watch TV I stop being myself. I'm the star of a series. I have my own talk show. Or maybe I'm on the news, getting out of a limousine ~~ geing someplace important. All I ever have to be is famous. People watch me and love me. 1 never grow old. I never die.
§ away, glances up.
a police helicopter moving by overhead...
You need anybody?
s the Foreman locks Nada over FOREMAN Maybe... tA sy I got my own tools.
This 15 a unic
glances over.
several CHICANCS
es)
REVISED 1/27/88
The Foreman just looks at him...
NADA
a sar? * —_ -- ate - os
—
a
TIME CUT: Now Nada is working...
SERIES OF SHOTS. He carries heavy stuff. Digs.
sweats in the sun.
FRANK, 30's, black, big, works nearby. He looks up and over at Nada...
Nada looks back. They exchange glances...
TIME CUT: end of the day. Workers leaving. Sun getting lower in the sky.
The foreman stops as Nada loads his tools into his bag...
The Foreman turns to walk away.
The Foreman turns back to Nada...
Although he doesn't like it much, Nada just watches as the Foreman strolis off... Now Frank comes up...
REVISED 2/1/88
CONTINUED: '
Nada doesn't reply. He continues packing up his tools,
and showers. Beat. No reply. FRANK
I'm goin' that way -- if you
Want me to show you. Nada gives no answer. Frank SHrugs, moves on,
Frank walks along the street. A block behind him comes Nada, following. Frank turns, notices him, but keeps
walking...
Now Nada is just 30 or so feet behind Frank. Finally Frank Stops. Waits for Nada toa catch up... FRANK I don't like nobody followin! me ~~ ‘less I know why. NADA {beat}
I don't join up with nobody -- ‘til I see where he's goin'.
They stare at each other for a beat. Then Frank grins...
Transient outpost.
A makeshift shower building.
REVISED 1/27/88
CONTINUED: '
Porto-potties.
A food line stretches from the back of the truck. FAMILIES
mostly. A few DRIFTERS. BUMS. All colors.
Some very All-American looking FAMILIES are living out of thelr cars...
—KIUS pray In the field...
Another area of the field: tents are set up. Lean-tos. Sleeping bags spread around...
Nada takes it all in, as he follows Frank up to GILBERT, 40's, Justiceville's main cop and handy man. He's working unloading old furniture from the back of a truck...
find it.
GILBERT
{to Nada}
Hi. Whaddya got in the pack? Tools?
caving in...
TIME CUT: Wada and Frank in the food line, filling their plates. A BROWN-HAIRED WOMAN serves them...
nm
TIME CUT: Nada and Frank carry their food across the ‘fietc.
leoking for a spot to eat...
is so filied with assholes. I de assholish things too, but I don't do them deliberately...
» + @
REVISED 1/27/88
oR. 18 CONTINUED: TIME CUT: Nada and Frank sit eating their dinner... FRANK Got a wife and 2 kids back in Detroit. Haven't seen ‘em in 6 months. Steel mills were layin' off people right ee Lt _ . and lef " Lat 4 . SS SS, Eee ESS
under. Frank takes a mouthful of food...
Now Frank stares out across the field...
{CONTINUED}
18 CONTINUED:
TIME CUT: Nada and Frank walk off their dinners, through
the field of tents, sleeping bags and makeshift shelters...
NADA
I deliver a hard day's work for my money. I jJust want the chance. It'll come.
(beat) I believe in America. I follow the rules. Everybody's got they're own hard times these days...
§4
REVISED 271/868
Then we heac his voice, JUDDERING, DISTORTED, coming out “ Foaowave of INTERFERENCE... BEARDED-MAN .
-.. OUr impulses are being
redirected. We are living
in an artifically induced
; - thet TSS e a
(INTERFERENCE)
Now Nada, thea Drifter and the Family Man all wince slightly, as if they had been suddenly awakened opt of a deep sleep.
IW
BzitzT! And the AUDIO cames aut af SIGNAL NOISE again...
{
Nada, the Mrifter an Mar cub their seads, lag:
sudgenly deve
Hackers spend months figuria’
this out. F.C.c. never
catches ‘em... But something catches Nada’s eye. He turns... RIS POV: a few yards away stands the blind Street Preacher from tne city park. His head tipped back siightly, he seems to have a strange, giddy smile on his face...
li.
+
TIME CUT: Nada sits alone. On the perimeter of Justiceville. Surreptitiously drinking a can of beer.
Campfires, flash-lights, the glow of mercury-vapor street- lights all around him.
Nada glances over...
HIS POV: a few feet away Frank is asleep on top of an old mattress. He's wrapped in layers of blankets. SNORES.
Nada takes a last guip of beer. Chucks the can ina paper sack. He glances up at the night sky...
HIS Pov: the Goodyear blimp Columbia glides majestically above the city, blinking and crawling with computerized lights...
TIME CUT: Nada walks across the Justiceville field. He can’t sleep. Wired and tired.
TIME CUT: the REC AREA. At the rear of the main shower building is a TV hooked up and plopped on top of an old
ad ery Gael Lies ClVver.
& FAMILY MAN and a DRIFTER sit on kitchen chalrs watchina a commercial for press-on nalis. Sa sto
wt tse
mm tu or og
tow
mom
eS ial
e for a moment, all three men 3ust staring screen...
we m +4
La
TY: a BEAUTIFUL UPSCALE GIRL plays tennis, jogs in an expensive outfit, rushes to work in a nifty, trendy dress.
BUCZZT...
Suddenly the commercial disappears into STATIC. Then another image pops on. We're looking at a BEARDED-MAN talking directly to CAMERA. He stands against a blank clapboard wall. The scene is amateurishly lit. There's no sound at first, Just the BUZZING...
{CONTINUED}
REVISED 2/1/88
CONTINUED: '
Then we hear his voice, JUDDERING, DISTORTED, coming out of a wave of INTERFERENCE...
——— resembles sleep...
(INTERFERENCE)
Now Nada, the Drifter and the Family Man all wince slightly,
as if they had been suddenly awakened out of a deep sleep.
B2iZT! And the AUDIO comes out of SIGNAL NOISE again...
Nada, the Drifter and the Family Man rub their heads, suddenly developing powerful headaches...
But something catches Nada‘'s eye. He turns... HIS POV: a few yards away stands the blind Street Preacher from the city park. His head tipped back slightly, he
seems to have a strange, giddy smile on his face...
( CONTINUED]
REVISED 2/1; 88 L2aA.
19 CONTINUED:
ca ee ee ee
REVISED 21/88
CONTINUED: ‘
INTERFERENCE washes out the Bearded-Man's dialogue. * Nada's looking over, staring...
CLOSER: on the blind Street Preacher...
Now we see that he is actually mouthing the words in synch with the Bearded-Man, as if he's memorized them!
-BEARDED-MAN Their intention to rule rests with the annihilation of consciousness. We have been lulled into a trance. They've made us indifferent,
— oO ee
to ourselves, to others. We ® are focused only on our own gain...
(INTERFERENCE}
EXTREME CLOSE: blind Street Preacher...
His lips form the words along with the Bearded-Man, as 1f£ ne’s preaching a sermon on Sunday morning...
Drimary method of survival -- Keep us asleep, keep us selfish, keep us sedated...
Now the Drifter's on his feet, shuffling over to the TV, his hand on the channel changer...
DRIFTER
Blow it cut your ass. CLICK. He changes over to another station showing an old movie... and ammediately the headaches disappear.
REVISED 1/27/88
19 CONTINUED:
The Family Man and the Drifter return to their previous positions -- staring at the TV as if in some kind of trance. Nada looks over again... HIS POV: the blind Street Preacher is walking away from
_ ; _ _bhe Rec Area, toward 4 nai E =
a = Op to him. They talk intensely as Gilbert leads the * Street Preacher along... a TIME CUT: the Justiceville field, as Nada ENTERS FRAME... CAMERA MOVES WITH him across the field, slowly now, up to * the main entrance... He looks... HIS POV: Gilbert leads the Street Preacher to an old . clapboard church directly across the street: is
"AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL FREE CHURCH' Nagza watches... HIS POV: closer on the church... See the Street Preacher and Gilbert enter a basement door * at the side. Nada stares for a moment. Curseous. Then siowly turns back into Justiceviile... a ExT. CITY - DAWN
Swollen sun creeps up slowly cast the horizon.
Silhouetting the city...
At the main entrance. Nada comes up. He carries a lunch sack and his pack of tools.
Gilbert walks wearily across the street from the church into the main entrance, nodding a hello at Nada. He's been there all might...
NADA
Choir practice went on a little late last night.
Gilbert stops, smiles...
Hey, we're taking care of alot of people here..
Giibert walks off, as Nada stares after him. Now Frank comes up, *-oins Nada, and they start for work...
zl FaT,. ClTY STREET - DAY Nada and Frank walk on their way to work...
(CONTINUED}
REVISED 2/10/88
22 CONTINUED:
Other WORKERS tirckle in for the day's work...
“They begin
unpacking their tools...
Frank stares at him.
TIME CUT: Nada and Frank, working together, carrying cinderblocks from a huge pile over to a partially completed wall...
NADA
When I got back home things started fallin' apart. I
was Climbin' the walls. I spent hours starin'’ at the refrigerator. I could hear it playin’ "Twist and Shout". I couldn't sleep -- my ears kept ringin' all night long...
REVISED 2/10/88
1?.
STREET - DAY
Now Nada and Frank walk home from work...
BAR
- DAY
Nada and Frank have stopped off for a beer in a seedy
little bar...
REVISED 2/1/88
A serene smile comes over Nada...
$hrowiog.it against the wal}
bo
ww
“until I couldn't throw it anymore. I was just home from the hospital a week, man ~- there were pieces of toaster everywhere. My wife never says a word.
She just looks at me. MI Said, "The English muffins wouldn't go down, honey -- y'know?"
Nada and Frank sit by their bedrolls. Another night in homeless America...
NO repli.
ct i)
Nada. Another private smile. There's a resignation him, but not bitterness...
REVISED 2/1/88
John Nada. Nada is the Spanish word for “nothing”. What I got comin' to me
is already planned out -- by somebsty” somewhere -—
There's nothin' to be done about it, Like the turnin’ of the earth.
REVISED 2/10/88
Sunday morning.
A FEW KIDS play near a retaining wall on the perimeter. A 16-YEAR-OLD BOY looks thru an old, battered pair of binoculars...
HIS POV THRU BINOCULARS: LONG LENS VIEW sweeps Justiceville. Moving from PERSON to PERSON, -tent to lean-to. SPOP FOR
A BEAT on Gilbert having a conversation with the Brown- Haired Lady who serves food, then the VIEW moves on. Suddenly the VIEW STOPS again on a CLOSE-UP of Nada,
smiling INTO CAMERA, coming this way...
The 16-Year-Qld Boy lowers his binoculars, looks up... +». as Nada walks by and smiles at him...
REC AREA: the TV is on. The Drifter, Family Man and his 14-YEAR-OLD SON stare at the screen, again as if hypnotized. Gilbert walks up, begins work nearby on some sort of storage cabinet. A beer commercial in on TV...
Now STATIC starts again. The commercial goes in and out -- until the Bearded-Man suddenly pops on again. The hacker.
It's the same location for the hacker -- a blank wall behind him, amateur lighting and sound quality...
The wiewers in the Rec Area wince -- again as if they have been painfully awakened from some kind of trance...
CONTINUED; '
More STATIC, as the Drifter'’s on his feet, moving over to change the channel...
Don't change it. The Drifter stops, looks...
Nada's walked up...
14-YEAR-OLD SON Daddy, I have a headache.
Nada looks over... RIS Pov: as Gilbert stares intently at the screen...
BEARDED-MAN
they're dismantling the 7 leeping middle class. More * and more people are becoming * poor. We're their cattle. * w
We're being bred for slavery... Tne Orifter's hand 1s hovering py the rthannel changer...
Suddeniy the image disappears intc HARSY STATIC, replaced by a card: ‘PLEASE STAND 8Y'... Then a car commercial
comes on...
u fy td tn mM ws _ BY
ao os
Everyone suddenly comes out of their pain. Headaches gone.
But Nada's watching...
HIS POV: as Gilbert hurries away from the Rec Area, toward * the maln entrance... *
MAIN ENTRANCE: as Nada walks up, HEARS “Rock of Ages” as sung by a black choir and congregation, SOARING and SWELLING, coming from...
HIS POV: the AME Free Church across the street. Sunday morning services seem to be underway. And there's Gilbert entering the main doors into the sanctuary.
mm of
CLOSEP ANGLE: the church, as Nada moves up to the curb, Gown the sidewalk, around to the side of the church.
Nada stops. Looks... HIS POV: that side door to the basement is open slightiy. Nada stands there. Looking at 1t. He moves his gaze...
HIS POV: the windows of the church. "Rock of Ages" continues from the unseen congregation and choir inside.
Nada. Thinks about it. Bo I or don't I? Glances around. No one nearby. I1 do. He Starts toward the door.
HIS POV: MOVING TOWARD the basement door...
The door slowly opens. Nada peeks in. Looks around. No one here. He quietly steps in.
2?
REVISED 1/27/84
A FULL SHOT reveals stacks of cardboard boxes piled
around everywhere. And all the windows have been boarded-up from the inside.
Nada silently explores. Just past the stacks and stacks or cardboard boxes is a small area in the middle of the basement. What looks like a weird college chemistry lab has been set up on a longtebler+~—Ali-seorts uf stfangé —
Be
rea
equipment. Glasses frames. Stacks of optical glass. Cutting tools.
Nada looks it over, glances up...
HIS POV: past the lab set-up, more cardboard boxes, and Written across one wall of the basement in shaky, painted letters:
‘They live. We sleep.'
Nada moves toward the wall, then spots an old reel-to-reel tape deck sitting on a chair. Wires run from the tape deck up to the celling, through a hole, into the sanctuary above. Nada's eyes follow the wires up...
CLOSE ON the wires coming up through a hole in the flaer. CAMERA FOLLOWS the wires to a set of speakers. “Rock of Ages" if playing VERY LOUDLY...
NOw CAMERA MOVES TO REVEAL a video camera and a couvle of lights. There's the blank wall -- the set for that video hacker.
CAMERA MOVES TO REVEAL the sanctuary. There's no church Service going on. Nabody sitting in the pews. Just a small microwave transmitter pointed out one of the windows!
8 PEOPLE sit at a table near the front. Mostly Black and Latino. A couple Asians. And the Bearded-Man! And, of course, Gilbert. There's an urgent meeting going on here.
REVISED 1/27/88
24a.
BEARDED~-MAN
We don't have any other choice.
Now Nada's from above.
listening, trying to hear the faint VOICES He leans back, straining to hear, touching
the wall behind him...
-EVISED 1/27/08
WHAM! A panel in the wall suddenly falls open! Revealing more cardboard boxes tucked away in a little
Nada. Frozen. Listening. “Rock of Ages" continues from the tape deck, ECHOING LOUDLY from above. Maybe no one
29 CONTINUED: cubby hole! heard him..
No one did...
Quickly Nada moves the wall panel back into place. Jams
it an hard, so it won't fall again. He tries it a couple times. The Fucker won't move...
how he steps back guiretly, moves fer the door...
WHAM!
The blind Street Preacher 1s standing right behind him, reaching ovt to grab his arm!
It scares the shit out of Nada! He jumps back, out of the Street Preacher’s grip... NADA
Whoa! Naga continues to back away...
The Street Preacher moves slowly toward Nada...
And now the Street Preacher's coming up to Nada, putting his hands on Nada's face, running the end of his fingers
acrass Nada's cheeks. ~ -—
He takes Nada's hands and feels the calluses...
REVISED 1/27/88
Nada backs away, as the Street Preacher reaches in his coat, fumbling around for something...
Nada emerges from the basement, as a WHOPPING Sweeps over- head...
HIS POV: a police helicopter THUMPS BY right cover the cnurch, only about i009 feet in the air...
Nada moves away from the church, Back to the street... HIS POV: now, through the main doors, Gilbert anda Black Man step out, lock up. They both wear sunglasses. Now Gilbert looks over at Nada...
Nada, keeps walking, looking at Gilbert...
Nada moves back to the main entrance. Stops. Looks back.
HIS POV: the main doors. Gilbert and the Biack Man duck back inside...
As that WHOPPING SOUND draws Nada's gazé upward again...
HIS POV: the police helicopter makes a second low-level pass over the church...
fot
‘88
ro
REVISED
In f.g., a bull session is going down. Frank sits with the Family Man and the Drifter.
In b.g., as the dialogue plays, see Nada walking from the main entrance toward the field -- where those kids are playing. Frank notices him go by... DRIFTER
I‘ve been hearin’ somethin’
on the street last couple
weeks. Weird stuff. Some
kind of epidemic of violence
is what they're sayin’...
THE FIELD: where the 16-Year-OGld with the pinoctlars palys, as Nada comes up to him...
REVISED 1/27;88 za.
BACK TO THE BULL SESSION:
During this, Frank looks over...
FRANK'S POV: RETAINING WALL at the perimeter. Nada is half-crouched behind the wall, looking through those
binoculars...
REATINING WALL: CLOSE on Nada, as he watches...
HIS POV: THRU BINOCULARS -- the side of the church. nether station wagon is parked by the basement door.
Gilbert and the Black Man each carry several of the cardboard boxes from the basement to the open trunk.
They are hurrying along. "Christ the Lord Has Risen Today" comes from inside the church...
Nada, 285 Frank comes up...
NADA‘S POV: THRE BINOCULARS, as Gilbert closes the trunk and begins a hurried conversation with the Black Mans «4
REVISED 1/27/88
tape recorder.
NADA'S POV: THRU BINOCULARS, as the Black Man jumps in the station wagon and pulls away from the church, into the street, rushing away. PAN BACK as Gilbert disappears back into the basement...
But Frank's made up his mine...
He turns, walks away, and we HOLD on Nada just watcninc...
(Note: for budgeting and scheduling purposes, consider the descriptions on pages 30 through 37 as being 1 full page each.)
Frank sits by his bedroll. Glances over...
FRANK'S POV: Nada, still by that retaining wall at the perimeter, still looking through -those bin@eulars...
Frank. He locks away. No way he's getting involved...
RETAINING WALL: Nada's been here all day. He’s watching...
HiS POV: THRU BINOCULARS. That basement door. Now the THUMPING of another damn helicopter...
CAMERA WHIP PANS UPWARD as Nada's BINOCULAR VIEW SWINGS UP...
..-AND STOPS on a police helicopter. Moving by slowly. 50 feet above the church. The binoculars have brought the helicepter INTO CLOSE-UP...
-.and now we see A POLICE SHAPPSHOOTER crouched in the ear comparcument, staring down...
Fy «
REVISED 1/27/88
Nada lowers the binoculars. Stunned. Stares up at the helicopter. Then back down at the church. Binoculars up again...
HIS POV: THRU BINOCULARS. The basement door swings open.
5 MEN come racing out!
Rauling ass around to the parking lot...
And now the blind Street Preacher is led out by the Beardec-
Man and Gilbert. They move quickly away from the church. Across the street toward Justicevillel
Nada, lowering the binoculars, looking...
HIS POV: main entrance , as the Street Preacher, Bearded- Man and Gilbert enter Justiceville..
{CONTINUED}
Nada puts the binoculars to his eyes again, looks over.. HiS POV: THRU BINOCULARS. The street down from the church,
A POLICE SWAT TEAM, black uniforms, automatic weapons, moves toward the church!
CAMERA WHIP PANS ACROSS as the BINOCULAR VIEW SWINGS BACK ._._ TO: « «
The church,
3 cars ROAR out of the parking lot. Down the street, away from the police...
A couple Men run into the neighborhood, down alleys... Frank. By his bedroll. He looks up... FRANK'S POV: the circling helicopter above Justiceville...
Now Franx gets up, as several PEOPLE around him stir...
PEVISED 1:27:88
Nada. Looking through bineculars... HIS POV: the church.
The Swat Team arrives! Storms the church! In f.g., police cruisers SCREECH IN, bubble lights flashing!
Nada. On his feet. Moving now. Seeing...
HIS POV: the Street Preacher being led by Gilbert and the Bearged-Man across the field, moving further into the interior of Justiceville. See PEOPLE waking up, Jumping to their feet...
The Family Man and his Sor... On the move. Confused. Scared...
The Drifter Staring. Something near the main entrance has his attention.
Nada. Moving. Looks over...
HIS POV: main entrance...
Police cruisers pull up. Flashing lights...
A SlUAD OF RIOT COPS arrive at the entrance. Helmets. HMict shetyuns Storm troopers They move through the entranze
Nada. Moves out into the Field now. Peopie are starting fc Fun
Frank. Looking up...
ry 8)
RANK’ S POV: the police helicapter :5 coming down...
{ CONTINUED)
34,
Frank. Moves quickly to gather up his bedroll and tools...
Nada. Looking up at the helicopter. Following it down... HIS POV: the field, as the helicopter lands...
Nada. Moving now. Wind and dust swirling. Blown by- the Fotor blades..
HIS PCV: main entrance. Now a Bulldozer comes RUMBLING IN, its shovel lowering...
Nada. Moving...
Frank. Moving. Looks over, sees...
Nada. And he sees Frank...
But Frank guickly turns the other way -- and moves off!
Nada. Tries to fcllow after him. The dust and smoke obscure his vision. Peopie run in terror around him!
The Squad of Fiot Cops. Moving in @ line. Rousting everyone...
The coulldozer. Moving througn Justiceville. The shovei wiring everything out. Levelling tne place. Grinding througn the tramsient outpost -- cruncning tents, lean-tos,
the whole 9 yards...
REVISED 1, 27/88
Nada. Moving. Smoke now... Wild panic all around hin. He looks...
HIS POV: through the smoke, Gilbert yelis something to the Street Preacher and Bearded-Man, then takes off in another direction. The Bearded-Man helps the Street Preacher over a retaining wall...
Nada. Moving off...
The Grifter. Running from Cops, now seems to be trapped by them at the shower area...
The helicopter takes off again... Riot Cops marching through Justiceville... Nada, running now..
+
& POV: MOVING TOWARD the retaining wall..
N
oO
woup te the wall, over i1t..,
PEOPLE running! Drifting smoke. Nada enters. Looks.
HIS POV: the Street Preacher and the Bearded-Man hurry toward one end of the alley...
SUDDENLY they are surrounded by Riot Police!
__ Nada, watching...
HIS POV: through the smoke, see the Riot Police move in fast, begin CLUBBING the Street Preacher and the Bearded- Mant The beating is blunt -- violent -- fast! Now the Street Preacher and Bearded-Man fall to the pavement, surrounded by the ring of Riot Cops pummelling them, bludgeoning them to death!
Nada, as he is splashed with a powerful light from above...
HIS POV: that police helicopter moves over the alley, its Night Sun searchlight flickering down...
Nada. Ducks out of the searchlight. Runs down the other direction,
HiS POV: other end of the alley. A line of Swat Police start moving in on the Homeless rushing to get out... Tne alley is blocked from beth sides. SCREAMS! Pandemonium:
(CONTINUES
REVISED 1/27/88
Nada. He's trapped. He ducks into a small cul de sac. No way out. He looks around frantically...
Suddenly flattens himself against the wall...
as that Night Sun searchlight sweeps Rnreugs the cul
de sac, missing him . —-— - Now Nada moves behind some boxes..
and there's the 16-Year-Old Boy with the binoculars cowering in fear against a wall.
Nada grabs him, carries him to a half open window, climbs through..
REVISEC 1/27/88
Nada enters a dark, crumbling hallway carrying the boy. = Place looks deserted. Doors hanging open. Wallpaper ripped. Nada and the boy move on down the hall, stop * at an open door, enter...
“Wo lights. The room is completely trashed. Floor strewn with garbage, But there are others hiding in here... The Family Man and his Son, terrified, clinging to each other in the corner... A JUNKIE, eyelids fluttering, a cigarette with a long * ash hanging from his lips, lying against a wall. He's higher than a kite... BLACK JUNKIE Come on in, man. Join the party... Nada looks around. Takes the 16-Year-Old Boy and gives him * to the Family Man. Moves to a wall. Hunkers down... BLACK JUNKIE Somebody start World War III? NADA (whispers} Shutrup. They all look at him. At each other. As the SCREAMING, RUNNING SOUNDS of panic from outside continue, mixed in with the ROARING WHIRR of those police rotors... HOLD. SLOW DISSOLVE Te:
Morning.
ie
39 . CONTINUED: ' Quiet. Utter, complete desolation. Justiceville has been razed. No buildings stand. The place is a ruin. Smoke drifts. A few HOMELESS pick around, looking for their stuff.
Others stand dazed, broken...
REC AREA: torn apart, except the TV has been spared. It still on. A fashion show...
Nada walks along. Taking it all in...
Now Nada stops by the spot where his bedroll once lay.
It's ripped apart, halt buried under dirt. His tool bundle 1S Split open, toois gone...
He stares a moment. Then looxs up.
his race is a mask. Eyes staring.
Ee ee THURCH - DAY
Tne AME Free Church. Quiet. Front doors torn off. Smoke @rifts out of tne sanctuary. Windows shattered The place has been gutted.
Nada drifts across the street. Cars drive past. RUBBER- NECKERS slow to check things out. sBut l:fe goes on, and
they Crive away...
Nada moves around the side af tne church.
ta (+ Io ke ity Lt
The basement docr has been rioped off its hinges. om the ground...
A FEW BLACK NEIGHBORS stand in the parking lot, staring mutely at all the damage...
Now Nada moves for the basement door...
He steps inside. The boards have been stripped off the windows. All the boxes are gone. Nada moves through... Lab set-up. Gone. Broken glass on the floor. Tape recorder. Gone.
The graffitti on the wall has been painted over with white paint.
Nada. Thinking. Moving for...
That panel in the wall. It's still in place!
Nada bends down. Bangs on the panel. He did a good job before. It won't budge.
Nada stands up, glances out a window. No ane nearby. Back to the panel. Nada puts Als wnole body into it.
Se rat Ming . «.«
CA-CRACK! The panel fails open...
...and those cardboard boxes are still inside, hidden in
that littie cube. hole!
Nada peers out. He has one cardboard box tucked under his
arm. Now he ducks back inside...
..aS a Dolice car siowly cruises Dy the chu then moving on again...
& beat, and then Nada comes out of the basement...
He runs to the rear of the thurch. The Black Neighbors watch mim move through the parking lot, duck down 43 space between houses, away into tne neighborhood...
DISSOLVE Ta:
Nada moves across the bridge. He's on the edge of the Central City. Factories, vacant lots, freight yards, warehouses stretch in the distance. He moves on toward the downtown LA skyscrapers...
Nada walks down the dirty Skid Row street, past a couple WIiNOS asleep on the sidewalk...
A better section of town now, as Nada ducks iuntoa long, wide alley connecting two busy city streets.
Nada stops. Spots a little niche -- a cul de sac off the main alley. He steps in.
A trash dumpster and several large metal trash cans provide a barrier from the alley. It's a prime spot -- secret and private.
Nada hunkers down behine the dumpster.
Stares at that caradbsara box.
A peat, and then he rips it open...
INSERT: as the lid of the box flips open -- revealing 20 er sc pairs of sunglasses -- all the same style -- Simple frames...
Nada. He just stares at the sunglasses. Is this what this is all about?
He takes a pair out cf the box. Looks at them. Then jyust Flops back against the wall, exhausted, confused.
He sits for several] beats. Looks at the glasses again. Then he gets up. Takes the cardboard box of sunglasses, goes to one of tne
metal trash cans, buries the box down deep among the rubbish.
Nada comes out of the alley, starts walking down the street. He carries the sunglasses in his hands...
Now he puts on the sunglasses...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), the sidewalk. Everything looks weird. Everything's black and white.
Flickering. Grainy. And some kind-of weird interference moves across the lenses of the sunglasses...
Nada. Suddenly he gets a headache. He takes of the glasses. Now the headache's gone. He looks at them. Examines them again. Puts them back on...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a billboard across the street. The flickering effect again...
...and the billboard is odd: it's completely blank, white, excert for bold, black printing:
"WORK 8 HOURS SLEEP 8 HOURS PLAY 8 HOURS'
Nada. A headache again. He takes off the glasses... H1S POV: the billboard. Normal. Color. nd now the bilipoard shows an advertisement for a home somputer. We s@e a stylish, nign-tech computer, 1%ts5 screen snowing Vibrant business data. Bright lettering:
"ZEUS,
WHEN EXCELLENCE
He puts the sunglasses on again...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES {slack and white). That weird effect again. And printed on the billboard, somehow underneath the home computer ad, like some subliminal
message:
‘WORK 8 HOURS SLEEP 8 HOURS PLAY & HOURS '
Nada rips off the sunglasses, looks over... HiS POV: another billboard. Normal. An ad showing a Handsome Bronzed Man and an Incredibly Sexy Woman in a bikini cavorting in a fancy hotel swimming pool. Printed in glitzy letters:
"LAS VEGAS
THE GOOD LIFE'
Nada, as he raises the sunglasses again...
HIS POV: the second billboard. Normal. UP INTO FRAME come the sunglasses -- and WHAM! {Black and white} The
billboard changes to:
"MARRY AND REPRODUCE’ Now the sunglasses SLIDE DOWN OUT OF FRAME, and everything
becomes normal again. Color. And there's the Las Vegas advertisement...
Naca tust stands there a moment.
Dazed. He dcesn't know what he's seeing. He starts walking -- stops ata men's clothing store. A sign above tne ctor reads:
"ARMISI'S
MENS APPAREL’ Nada puts on the sunglasses...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES {black and white), the Mens Apparel sign now reads im boeid black letters:
"ND INDEPENDENT THOUGHT
44,
Nada looks down...
AiS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white}, a sign in the window reads:
"CONSUME ' Ofl come the sunglasses, and (in color) now the sign reads: 'CLOSE-OUT SALE'
Now Nada starts looking all around. He's stunned by what he sees..
HIS Pov: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and whitel, a stop sign. Biank. White. Reads:
"SLEEP '
HiS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a pedestrian crassing sign now reads:
"NO THOUGHT’ RIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (btlack and white), a stop light. Ail 3 lights are pulsing Aysnoticaliy in unison. Mounted on top of the stop light is a small surveillance device li“@ a radar dish, slowly rotating... “ala moves raggedly down the street, to a newspaper stannic. He stares
HiS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), the newsstand. Gn all newspapers and magazines, pictures and text have
Gisappeared! Only white pages with: "CONFORM! ‘OBEY Nada takes a magazine out of the rack. He flies through the pages.. FIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES {black and white). We see that al. the pages inside are biank too, except for: "CONFORM! ‘WATCH TV'
‘OBEY’ *BUY’ ‘DO NOT QUESTION
AUTHORITY '
...One slogan per page, printed in bolt type.
Nada lowers the sunglasses...
HIS POV: (color),
with ad art, print, pictures...
the magazine returns to normal,
filled
Nada slides the sunglasses back on, as the shoulder of He's a
a WELL-DRESSED CUSTOMER moves INTC FRAME. busliness-man, Journmal...
reaching for a ceopy of the Wall Street
Nada itooks at him. And his reaction is amazing! It's either Sod or the Devil he sees...
HIS POV: THRE SUNGLASSES (hlack and white}, the Well- ~resses Customer 1s a hideous ghoul! An airen! He's sti dressed in the mice suit and tie, but Als 5K1n 18 rotted, disintesrating, flesh corrupt, blacexe-rimmed eyes -~- lixe the Living dead, a herror! And as he speaks, his Jaw moves and vou can see through tc the back of his head!
What's your pr
Nada whios off the sunglasses
HIS POV: (normal, color) now the well-Cressed Customer is Simoly a well-to-dc middle-agec man locking at Nada stonily --_a briliiart diszuise! WELL<GRESSED CUSTOMER io said what's your problem?
Nada just stares at him...
{CONTINUED )
REVISED 1/27/86
The Well-Dressed Customer turns away, goes over to pay a disheveled-looking VENDOR, as Nada raises the sunglasses again...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) as the Well- Dressed Customer Ghoul shoots him a suspicious glance and pays the human-looking Vendor, then moves off...
Nada poits down fhe gqiasses...
HIS POV: (normal, color) as the Vendor doesn't change. He's human ~~ with or without the glasses. He moves toward Nada now...
Nada puts on the sunglasses...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES {black and white}, the Vender is still human, but the dollar bills in his hand are blank, except for:
‘THIS IS YOUR GOD’
Down come the sunglasses, and the money returns to normal.
Naga looks over...
HlS POV: (normal, color) as the Well-Dressed Customer walks to Nis Mercedes. He drops a full paper on the sidewalk, Keeps the business section, gets into the car. Sunglasses
come up OVER FRAME (black and white} and now it's a Weli- Dressed Hideous Ghoul who shoots Nada a final glance...
Nada numbly puts back the magazine. He's moving on auts pilot now, staggering past the Vendor who looks at him curiously. Moving on down the street...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white}, a BUSINESSMAN GHOUL, same awful face, stands at a pay phone...
REVISED 1:.27,88 47,
46 CONTINUED: HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a bus stop. Instead of the familiar advertising, there are slogans: 'STAY ASLEEP' "WATCH TV' AD ELOEELY MAN gap an AS TAN -WOMANIieit tor he se ——The yx ————-— seem dazed, asleep ~- but ANOTHER BUSINESSMAN GHOUL is a creature who hits a vending machine and gets a free U.S.A. Today... HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a fancy Cadillac waiting for the light to change. A GHOUL WOMAN talks to a HUMAN ELDERLY WOMAN in the passenger seat. GHOUL WOMAN . Can you believe? She didn't even go to La Mas class. I told her, for yourself and for the baby, go. Off come the sunglasses -- (normal, color) revealing a now-human-looking RiCH WOMAN in the place of the ghoul. Sne throws trash through the car window into the street. * Bacxwx on with the sunqlasses tbliack and white), yep, she's @ ghoul, but the passenger isn't... Nada glances intc a beauty salon window.., HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and whtie} a WOMAN GHOUL Slits under a hair dryer. HUMAN WOMEN sit next to her, oblivious... HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a CHICANA HALRDRESSER, human, combs out the long tresses of a DARK- HAIRED GHOUL LADY... Nada moves along the street now, comes to the entrance of a large convenience market. He stares at ali the signs and advertising, then wanders inside...
Nada enters, moves cast the ARAB CLERK behind the main counter -- staring at the store.
A portable TV is on the counter. Nada looks over at lt...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white}, a PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GHOUL jabbers away, inhuman jaw flexing, half- finished skin over skull flexing, witch-like fingers moving...
4?
REVISED 1/27/88
As he talks, there is a_ constant, pulsing SIGNAL being broadcast through the TV!
of it ali lt really beiis—dewn
to our ability to aceept. We don't meed pessimism. There
are no limits. We must look to the strength of our nation -- eur ideals -- a vision. We
don't want to just survive -- we want to succeed...
CLOSE on Nada. During the Candidate Ghoul's dialogue, we intercut a SERIES OF SHOTS of the convenience market as 1 looks through the sunglasses...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) -- all the products, packaging, signs -- everything in the store that once had a label or a picture or a brand name is now just blank with slogans:
"CONFORM '
"BUY '
'CONSUME'
*SUBMIT' CLOSE DETAIL SHOTS... POV: THRU SUNGLASSES {black and white} 2 HUMAN SHOPPERS, working class women, move somnambulistically through the
alsles. A GHOUL SHOPPER dressed in an expensive jogging suit gets himself some Yogurt...
POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) 2 GHOUL LADY SHOPPERS chat at the wine section...
:ST GHOUL LADY SHOPPER i was shocked she served Blue corn tortillas -- that's so dated...
(CONTINUED!)
POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) a DEPRESSED HUMAN SHOPPER, a man in his 30's, and a PERKY GHOUL SHOPPER, male, stand by the frozen food section...
POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) a LADY GHOUL pDreaks in line in front of a LATING LADY (human}...
{CONTINUEC }
Nada. Standing there. Sunglasses on. Taking it all in...
Something happens to Nada. He changes. This big “Gh, now-I-get-it" grin...
He's liberated, somehow. Crazy. He's been transformed
inte a dark, mischievous little hay. When he talks, it's — --
' lixe someone listening to earphones -=- they can't tell
that they're talkang louder than usual... NADA It figures it would turn cut to be somethin’ like this -=+ with all the bullshit in the world. The Arab Cierk looks at him...
Other Shoppers, including the now-human-looking JOGGING SUITED MAN, stare...
A RICH LADY in a Fur coat comes around a corner, pushing her Cart...
Ana the bottom of her cart SMACKS into Nada's shin! * ch Lady glances up at him, annoyed that he's in
J: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), the Rich eally a RICH LADY GHOUL...
Nada turns to a CUBAN LADY looking fearfully at him... NADA You don’t. You're okay. But this one...
He points directly at the Rich Lady...
{CONTINUED)
NADA
See, when I take these off, you look just like a person.
(he lowers
sunglasses) But when I whip ‘em back on...
{flips them
up} -.. formaldehyde face.
RADA'S POV: THR SUNGLASSES (black and white), the Rich Ghoul Lady holds up her wrist watch to her lips and seems to be talkine inta it...
FLIP-FLOP -- down come the sunglasses, and the world goes back to unfiltered non-reality (color), and the Rick Lady 1s [ust holding up her wrist watch to her ligs...
Nada backs away toward the exit...
His POV: THRU SUNGLASSES tblack and white), the Jagging Surted Ghoul talks into His wrist watch...
{CONTINUED}
REVISED 2/1/88
Nada comes out of the convenience market...
Suddenly grabs his head in pain! oR wave shoots through
his skull. The glasses are affecting him...
He staggers slightly. Dazed. A little dizzy.
Then he takes off the sunglasses...
Now, slowly, the headache seems to be subsiding. He leans against the side of a building, trying to recover. The sunglasses have caused a strong physical reaction.
He's sweating profusely...
An ASIAN MAN, 30's, comes up...
Now Nada's on his feet again, still breathless, trying tc get going, looking around...
OV: THRU SUNGLASSES, a LADY GHOUL EXECUTIVE checks
His P out her appearance in a reflected window (black and whitel. Nada, as the high from the sunglasses hits him... de
Stares crazily at the now-normal-looking LADY EXECUTIVE.
The Lady Executive shoots him a glance, moves away quickly...
{CONTINUED}
ww ro
WHAM! Something dressed in black grabs Nada and pushes him into...
a small alley. Nada staggers back. The figure in black turns out to be a BLOND-HAIRED CoP. BLOND-HAIRED Cop Ail right, boy. Suppose Wwe just settle down..
Nada moves back into the alley, away from him...
BLOND-HAIRED CoP That's far enough.
NADA'S POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white] -- he’s a BLONO-KATRED GEOUL COP,
BLOND-HAIRED GHOUL COP
I'll bet. Sack to no-glasses reality, as a police cruiser sulis us rite the alley entrance. A PARTNER COP gets out, comes around the cruiser into the alley...
NADA'S POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white!, the Partner COp is really a PARTNER GHOUL COP talking into his wrist Watch...
Nada's half-crazed, half-excited grin gets bigger...
49 CONTINUED:
The Blond-Haired Cop pulls a pair of handcuffs from his belt, and Nada takes another step back, takes off his sungiasses and puts them away...
The Blond-Haired Cop puts his hand on the gun in his holster, as his Partner Cop comes forward...
Nada doesn't move. The 2 Cops stand together now. No Way out fcr Nada...
BLOND-HATRED COP
Good bev. Cust take 1t easy. You've stambied into a little semething here -- and may5e we can all benefit from tnis Slight misunderstanding. Now Let's go someplace quiet -- SO we can talk this over. As the Fartner Cop watches, the Blond-Haired Top moves For Nada, opening tnose handcuffs, reaching out for Nada’s
Nada grabs the Blond-Haired Cop, jerks him torward, ines him!
The Blond-Halred Top goes Acricontal from the impart! Falls to the pavement, his nead shitting with a SHARP CRACK! The Partner cop goes for his gun...
But Nada Lunges -- with 2 Fingers...
Poxes the Partner Cop in the eves -- hard!
ast
rv?
The Partner Cop is momentarily blinded, in pain...
And Nada delivers 4 fast, vicious PUNCHES to his face...
The Partner Cop goes down...
Nada quickly leans over him, takes his gun out of its helster -- then suddenly spins around -- revealing...
The Blond-Haired Cop! Getting up, wobbling, nis gun coming out!
Nada FIRES! whe Biond-Haired Cop flaps to the pavement -- dead! NADA S50 you bastards die just
like we do...
The Partner Cop sits up behind Nada! Pulling out Ais
mightstick. Swings! WHACK! Hits Nada's shoulder...
TAs
Nada turns and BLASTS HIM!
The Partner Cop rolls over -- dead.
Neaca gets up. Russ his shoulder. Goes sver to the Biond- Haired Cop. Takes his gun.
Then moves to the police cruiser. Opens the passenger door, Reaches in...
INSICE THE CRUISER: as Nada unclips the riot shotgun frem under the dash...
4&4 small CROWD is starting tc a Tnev'ive heard the gunshots and
BOOM! Our steps Nada. Sunglasses back on! Inte the st Cautiously scans the area. 2 .38 revolvers stuck in his belt. He cocks the shotgun -- iooking like your worst fucking nightmare!
{CONTINUED)
mn
un a
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES. FAST CUTS. (All black and white}
Anotner stop sign: "CONFORM '
2 HUMANS back away fearfully. Behind them is a billboard reading:
‘OBEY AUTHORITY' A pulsing stop light... A RICH GHOUL LAWYER, staring at Nada... RICH GHOUL LAWYER (whispers)
You can see...
KABLAMMO! Nada opens up with the shotgun...
The FICH LAWYER {2m no-glasses-reality) goes flying...
te PANIC! SCREAMS! The crowd goes crazy! Runninc e cee
Maca starts moving up the street...
AS another police cruiser suddenly comes around a corner... Nada ducks into a doorway...
The cruiser SCREAMS BY down the street -- gumballs flashing!
Naca backs i the dsors from the panic in tne street. he turns, looks...
HIS POV: THRE SUNGLASSES, a small stock exchange. Usscale. FAST CUTS: (All black and white).
if
eOmbuterized tlcwer...
A GHOUL behind tne main desx...
REVISED 1,27, 88
A STOCK BROKER GHOUL in a suik...
A RETIRED INVESTOR, human, standing next to a BROKER GHOUL...
A SMALL CROWD of humans backing away...
Nada ~- his eyes invisihle hehind those sunglasses —_
NADA'S POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), as a GHOUL SECURITY GUARD springs forward, gun drawn, FIRING!
The shot hits on the wall next to Nada! He OPENS FIRE! KABLAM!
Human-looking SECURITY GUARD {in no-glasses reality) is alrberne from the impact of Nada's shotgun!
FAST CUTS: (all normal, in cclor) Customers dive for cover...
Computerized ticker, as it SISINTEGRATES with a BLAST! Security camera on the wall, as it SLOWS APART!
Customers run out the front doors...
Qut the back way...
As Nada KEEPS BLASTING AWAY! He turns around...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a GHOUL STOCK
BROKER tucked away in the corner talks into his expensive gold wrist watch...
GHCUL STOCK BROKER
white male. 39's. Long hair. Wearing sunglasses. NADA
Momma don't like tattrletales.
~—
a
REVISED 2/10/88 : DF
And as Nada takes aim...
No-glasses reality (color). The human-looking STOCK
BROKER turns a dial around the edge of his wrist watch face...
FLASH! The Stock Broker has simply and suddenly vanished into thin air! 7 a
Nada’s stunned...
Then POLICE SIRENS SCREAM!
Flashing bubble lights pull up right outside... And Nada takes off through the rear...
Nada emerges into another alley...
Pushes a huge trash dumpster. Rolls it up against the doors, blocking them!
Starts moving. Looks up...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white -- animated),
a small robot spider probe, another surveillance device -- a medicine-ball-sixed metallic globe with sensors and video lenses all over it -- comes crawling down the side of the alley on long, arachnid-like metal bug legs.
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white -- animated), CLOSER ON the spider probe as it comes to a stop. The camera lenses begin focusing, sensors WHIRRING...
Ln owt LA Lith fe lat
SPIDER PROBE POV: {color) scan lines, numbers, and Nada down there in the alley, as seen from the spider probe...
Nada grins...
Nada OPENS FIRE with the shotgun!
HIS POY: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white -- animated) as the spider probe EXPLODES!
In unfiltered reality, we hear the fragments SHOWERING down -- but they're invisible...
As a LONE COP comes running into the alley, gun drawn! Nada spins around, shotgun pointed...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) as the stiil- human Lone lop slowly drops has gun...
Beat your fee
And tne Lone Cop runs away, back down where he came fron, as a TRUMPING SOUND goes overhead!
NADA'S POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white) as a police cpter
heliccet moves by overhead... And Nada takes off. Fast... OMIT
OMIT
OMIT
“rt wget
om -
Nada comes around the corner, moving fast.
Down another alley.
He checks the shotgun. Empty. Tosses it.
.38 revolver...
_ And that pain suddenly hits_again! _
584,
PANAGLIDE SHOT,
Pulls out a
Nada tries to shake it off. He ducks off the alley...
wn ve)
FULL SHOT.
Parked cars. Nobody around. The distant WAIL OF SIRENS -- getting LOUDER, CLOSER...
HOLLY THOMPSON enters FRAME.
She takes notice of the distant sirens. Fumbles in her purse for her keys. Walking to her car. Holly is iate 20s, early 30s. Intelligent. Upwardly mobile. Equal
doses of warmth, ambition, sensuality.
She arrives at her car. Unlocks the door.
The sounds of MORE SIRENS ECHOING get her attention for a second...
WHAMMO! Nada's arm springs out, grabs Holly from behind, jerks her down...
Nada holds her against the side of the car. He's hurting From the effects of the sunglasses...
NADA'S POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black ans white) Holly. human. Nada holds one of the .33 revolvers us. Boesn't point it at her, but lets her know he has ait...
Take it easy... fwinces in pain from his headache! Io just want a little ride outa here...
INSIDE THE CAR: as the door opens, and Nada crawls in Ilrst, across the seat to the passenger side, dragging Holly in after him.
“4 a.
mm
She closes it. She's fear-rigid. Terrifi
ht
He rics off the sunglasses, his nead throbbing.
(CONTINCED}
Holly doesn't look at him. She starts the engine.
As Holly's car pulls out of the parking garage on to the street...
Police cars are ZOOMING BY...
Hoily’s car pulls down the street, past 4 RIOT POLICEMEN on foot running the other way...
Holly drives. Expression of stone.
Naca's head 15 on fire. mim... Just kKeeo drivin
NACA
You married?
Yes.
{CONTINUED}
This time tne heacache stays witn
Fy ro
61 CONTINUED:
No reply, but it's clear that she does...
The Hollywood Hiils. Above Sunset Boulevard. Peaceful.
Mediterranean houses.
HOUSE - DAY
Ty tad By te rd ga t
t qd io Us
Holly ’s car pulls into the driveway of her spacious nome.
The place is rigged for security. Bars on the front windows. Home security sign in the carport...
INSIDE HOLLY'S CAR: as Holly turns off the engine. Nada looks over...
HIS POV: Holly's NEIGHBOR, 40's, middle-class, is watering
the flowers in front of his house. He looks over at Holly's
car..
_Nada, putting an those sunglasses again, wimcing-in pain
as the ferocious headache hits him...
HIS POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), the Neighbor 28 human.
CLOSE: Holly. She doesn’t wave back...
CUuOse: Holly's Rand creeps slowly toward the door handle... SLOSE: Holly. Not looking at Nada. She's breathing in 29ng, slow, measured breatchs...
TLOSE: Hollw's hand, as she grabs th c
deor handle to spen at and masxe a break, only the door s
for ner...
OUTSIDE THE CAR: and Nada is there, holding the doer for ner, his hand encircling her upper arm, still in enormous palin...
Hi...
Holly unlocks the front docr. She and Nada ent
The Neighbor stares curiously...
Nada closes the front door. Locks it.
er.
He looks around. Expensive digs. The trappings of a
monied life.
It's a cantilevered house. A deck off the front room.
Spectacular view of the L.A. basin.
Nada puts on the sunglasses again -- headache and all -
looks areund for surveillance devices. He Finds a CAT sunning itself in a window. He checks the kitchen.
Bathroom.
Tren rettrns cto the front room Takes off pis sun Slumnis in a@ chair. Exhausted HOLLY LOOK. I don't Know what vou want. NADA Mulet. He leans back in his chair. Hands to forehead, to slowly rub his temples. Seems to ignore Holly. Silence.
Sne goes cover to a chair and sits.
Finally Nada looks at her.
tasts
tlOONTINUED}
o4.
He's tired, rambling -- unsure how to explain it all...
NADA
I'm sorry... 12 needed you to get away...
Naca locks at ner fer a beat...
Holly is very scared rignt now, We shoot the following in... HOLLY'S POV: Nad@a, sitting actress the room. Sunglasses and guns. Psycho-city. NACA We're in trouble The whole world's in uble,
They're all arzand us anda we never knew...
He hoids up the sunglasses...
{CONTINUED}
EVISES 2/1/88
ot in
Now Holly’s sure she has a very, very serious crazy on her hands...
I'il do whatever you want. Whenever you want.
(beat) Just don't hurt me. Please. NADA Listen to what I'm sayin’... HOLLY (carefully) Okay. {beat} You're fighting... the faorcres oc evil? (beat} That none of us can sée. (beat)
Without sunglasses.
(TORTINUED})
Nada withdraws the sunglasses...
{beat}
Can't you just get out of here -- leave me alone?
Nada’s starting to pass out now. His eyelids flicker...
Nada appears to have fallen asleep. Holly. A long beat.
Nada. Asleep.
itt
Now Holly slowly starts ta det up out cf ner chair...
ra “4
(eyes closed) Don't fuck with me,
ec -
She sits back down..
{CONTINUED}
PEVISED 2/ffa/ea
CONTINGED: HOLLY (beat) I'm thirsty. NADA
Go ahead.
He opens his eyes, watches her get up, walk unto the Kitchen...
Then he leans bacx in his chair again. Tired. Blasted.
Now Nada looks back over, as Holly comes out of the kitchen pouring herself a glass of wine from a bottle.
She goes over to a large picture window...
Neo Tesponse.
tt 1) tr a0] M
wearily, Naga gets up out of tne chalr, comes over
Nada's still fighting off the vestiges of that heacache...
HOLLY
et der ter
Assistant program director. Table 54,
Now this gets his attention...
{CONTINUED )
on un
_ ..._There's some kinda signal comin' out of TV sets...
Nada spots the remote control for the TV set by the picture window...
Re leans over to grab it...
With all her might Holly swings the wine bottle and SLAMS 4t over Nada's head!
Tt connects with a LOUD THWACK!
The sunglasses go flying out of Nada’s hand, across the room...
Anc one af his cuns hits the floor,. Before Nada can even react...
Holiy shoves him!
w
ugnt out through the picture window!
CA-CRASEH!
AS Nada falls downward!
Some 40 feet...
ke Wa Ih iat) fo be
Ta the shrubs and trees on the hillside below! 4 is broken by leaves and branches...
Glass shard rain Gown all around him...
om ‘1
As Holly picks up the telephone...
Nada rolls on the ground... Glass all around... Fe‘s been cut... He finally manages to get up on his knees...
HOLLY (into telephone)
Bolly Thompson. 1329
Circleview Drive...
Nada gets to his feet -~ slowly... LookS up... Is POV: Holly's house, 40 feet above him...
Now he reaches down for his cther gun...
Must have Lost it during the fall...
He starts frantically looking around the hillside ‘for the gun
And slips...
Tumbles down the hills:ie!
Siiding. Falling.
Trying to grab on to something ~- stop himsel=...
TC.
and falls down the rest of the hillside to the bottom -- on to a nice, quiet, deserted Hollywood Hillis
Street...
Yes, I'll hold...
{(CONTINCVED}
Fi
~
Ly
As she looks over... HER POV: Nada’s sunglasses on the floor...
Nada staggers across the street... The distant SOUND OF POLICE SIRENS...
He clambors down some steps beside another fancy, cantilevered house -- down another hillside...
As Holly bends down, picks up those sunglasses off the sloor, stares at them curiously...
The secluded, wooded area under a Hollywood Hills stilt
house ~- the part you never see.
Junk piled around. Pipes. Boards. Trash.
Nada moves over to a spot ty some bushes. Collapses.
He Locks Sut.
Hl POV: the street below, as several police cruisers wind thelr way up into the hills...
Their SIRENS get Nada to move... He crawls away through
the bushes... DISSOLVE:
Twinkling lights of downtown L.A., as seen from the Hollywood Hills.
And then flashing strobe lights. THUMPING. Dark shape ef a police helicopter moving across the sky...
REVISED 2/24/88
Nada moves along the dark, lonely street. He staggers. Glances around for cops. Moves on...
Swings. Concrete buildings: restrooms. Huge concrete structure: tunnels, bridges, ramps -- a place for children to play...
Nada comes up, finds a spot to hide inside a concrete tunnel...
CLOSE: Nada. Hidden. And the distant sound of POLICE SIRENS doesn't stop him from finally passing out...
LONG LENS. Big red sun over the freeway. Cars are already starting to Jam the lanes...
CLOSE on Nada in the concrete tunnel.
tie opens his eyes. Looks like shit. Blood taked on his face
He meves fis head. Ouch!
LOOKS over...
HIS PCV: 2 TEENAGE RUNAWAYS are huddled in another tunnel a few feet away. They both stare at Nada..
The same appliance store we saw in the beginning, with TV sets on the other side of the glass window all tuned to Cable 34.
This time the sound is turned down, but Nada's picture flashes on ali the screens during a news broadcast. It's an cider photo. He has short hair.
(CONTINUED!
REVISED 1./27,88 Las
Here comes Nada. Out of an alley. Moving past the appliance store. Not seeing himself on TV,
He checks the intersection for signs of police. Crosses the street...
Frank. Working. Wiping his brow. Putting down his tools and disappearing behind a half-completed wall...
BEHIND THE HALF-COMPLETED WALL. Frank stops for a drink of water...
And Nada emerges from behind a pile of cinderblocks...
Frank drops his cup of water..
tt]
i ae Gay
in
Now Frank backs away from him... FRANK I don't want notnin' to dco with you.
Nada stares at him...
{CONTINUED}
a
Get outta here.
And Frank meves off...
Nada watches him for a beat,
the cinderblock wall...
then slowly creeps away behind
Bl
B2
rank walks back over to where he was working, Picks up his tools. Then looks back over where Nada was.
His face softens for a moment. Then tightens back into anger...
That long, wide alley connecting two city streets, _
Nada enters from the street. Looking around for cops... Moves to the cul de sac...
Past the trash dumpster, up to the trash can where he left those boxes of sunglasses...
and the can 1s empty!
No! Nada turns, comes out of the cul] de sac...
HIS POV: at the other end of the alley is a trasn truck. A SANITATION WORKER dumps trash into the compacter in the rear...
Naca goes for the trash truck... Down the alley...
FOV: the Sanitation Worker hasn't seen him. He puts sans back, circles around to the cab...
7G ‘yo m ti
Nada moves faster... Reaches the truck... Leans in the rear...
Mountains of trash inside. Nada grabs on to the truck. Fulis himself up. Crawls 1n the compacter...
As the truck starts up, moving forward...
INSIDE THE COMPACTER: Nada searches through garbage, digging down...
KACHUNK! The compacter starts up! Now the garbage 1s moving, pushed by the giant shovel...
Desperately Nada digs...
..-and finds that box of sunglasses! There are only four glasses left inside...
And Nada half-stumbles, half-jumps out of the back of the truck, just as the compacter crushes the garbage inside...
Nada moves against the wall of the alley, as the trash truck pulis out into the street beyond...
Now Nada starts back down the alley in the other direction, taking out a pair of sunglasses...
As Frank steps out from behind a trash dumpster. Nada stops. Looks at him...
Frank stares. Hard. Then pulls a folded stack of bills from his pocket and tosses it toward Nada...
The money fiops on the pavement... PRANK One week's pay. Best I can do.
Frank turns away to leave...
Nada puts on the sunglasses.
HIS POV: THROU SUNGLASSES {black and white) that interference again. But there's Frank -- human. NADA Walt.
Frank turns back to Nada...
na one ever finds you.
Nada moves toward Frank, taming out a second pair of sunglasses from the box...
{CONTINUED)
B2
Hey, get away from me...
77,
But Nada grabs ahold of Frank and pushes him up against
the wall... NADA I'm tellin’ you, you dumb son of a bitch -- try ‘em on! and Frank responds. He hauls off and delivers a HARD
RIGHT ¢o Nada's chin!
Nada‘s knocked back a foot or two. His sunglasses orf He just looks at Frank.
Nada strikes! SMASHES a fast right into Frank... Sending Frank to the pavement...
Frank sits up, looks at Nada,
fiy
B2
Slowly Frank gets to his feet..
And we begin the fight in the alley, go at each other...
7B.
as Nada and Frank
{CONTINUED)
Be
The fight.
Continued.
{CONTINUED)
B2
The fight.
Continued.
The fight.
Still continued.
al.
The fight. Continued.
Finally, after Nada and Frank have beaten each other all over the alley...
Nada barely manages to get the best of Frank...
A few fast_punches.. : : _ oo
—————
Finished off with a side suplex, as Nada lifts Frank up and SLAMS him down hard an the pavement...
Both men are exhausted. Beaten.
But Nada keeps Frank pinned, puts those sunglasses on him!
Then he picks Frank up, drags him to the end of the aller.
Frank looks around. Goes nuts! Sees the world as it really is. Sees everything.
Nada pulls Frank back into the alley. Holds him against the wali...
FRANK'S POV: THRU SUNGLASSES (black and white), a LAWYER GHOLL walks past on the street...
Frank starts to bolt. Nada holds on to him... RAGA Held on. You're not the
first son of a bitch to wake up outa their dream.
B2
B3
ad
B5
BEé
But now Frank's looking up...
Nada grabs a pair of sunglasses, puts them on...
_THEIR POV: (black and white) fanimated) anather spider —
robot surveillance probe crawls across the roof of one building to another. It's too far away to have seen them.
Nada pulls Frank out of the alley, into the shelter of the cul de sac. He grabs Frank's wad of bills on the Way...
Frank takes off the sunglasses, fights the headache, stares at Nada in complete dumbfoundment...
Nace and Frank come down the street. Both wearing sunglasses. 2 desperate figures. Bruised. Cut. Watching for police, for surveillance probes. Thev ster over 2 SLEEPING DRUNKS
and enter the lobby of a transient hotel...
A post-Victorian dump. Dilapidated. A few DRUNKS and HOMELESS cluster around an old flickering black-and-white TV set...
The DESK CLERK is nodding off. He comes to as Frank approaches. Nada stays off to the side, trying tc
Keep his face hidden..
Nada and Frank make their way along the run-down hallway.
An old ratty room. Stained walls. A bed. A window looking out on the RUMBLING street below...
Frank closes the door. Locks it,
The 2 men look at each other. They've just beaten each other to shit. Both are fugitives.
TIME CUT: Nada’s by the sink. He has his shirt off. He splashes water on the glass cuts on his back and shoulders. He looks around.
Frank stands by the window. Stares out at the skyline. Puts on the sunglasses. Winces from the pain. Looks at the world outside...
knife turnin’ in your skull.
Frank takes them off. He looks dazed now. Stunned. FRANK Bow long have they been here? NADA
Who knows?
B64
REVISED 2,1/88 B5.
TIME CUT: Night. A day or so later. Frank sits by the window. Staring out.
Nada's sitting in an old chair. Still exhausted. Burned out. He's bandaged. But his eyes glow...
told me ‘bout the power and the glory. And then I got saved. (beat) He tried to cut me once. Big ‘ol buck knife. Held the blade right across my throat. I said, "Daddy, please..." He moved the blade bacx and fortn. Right across here. (touches his
throat) He changed when I was litte. I never knew why before -- but
I've been tearin' at the world ever since.
Ba.
As Frank enters, carrying a sack of groceries, wearing his sunglasses...
He moves across the lobby to the stairs...
And CAMERA MOVES OVER to reveal Gilbert, the transient from Justiceville, wearing an identical pair of sunglasses, sitting in a chair. Gilbert recognizes Frank... — -
As Frank moves up to the door...
Frank turns.
Gilbert stands there a moment, then comes down the hall toward him.
Nada and Frank sit listening to Gilberc...
He scrinocies down the address on a piece of paper...
He hands the paper to Frank...
{CONTINUED}
a
REVISED 2/1/88
phone it in.
_ Nada and Frank walk down a dark, lonely street. — — —
Up to an old, crumbling brick warehouse. Frank knocks on the door.
It opens. A HELL‘S ANGEL steps out. Looks over Frank and Nada. But he's not wearing sunglasses.
Nada anc Frank look at him suspiciously...
Rada anc Frank enter the warehouse. There are GUARDS at the windows. With GUNS. J2is. Shotguns. Some scan with binoculars. But noboecy wears sunglasses.
About 30 or so PEOPLE, clustered in groups, are spread around. Some stand in frent of a TY set showing a videotape. Others just taik intensely. They are WORKING WOMEN, VIET NAM VETS, ASIANS, LATINCS, BLACKS, HANDICAPPED (including a MAN in a wheelchair), GANG KIDS, EX-CONS, BIKERS, HOMOSEXUALS, COLLEGE PRIFESSORS, an assorument of YOUNG CHILDREN.
Nada and Frank stop at a tatle. The Brown-Haired Lady who served food at Justizteville hands them each a small packet.
REVISED 2/10/88
CONTINUED: '
They take off their sunglasses. Wince from the resulting
pain. A scruffy- blonde man walks by in b.g. handing out xeroxed sheets...
Safe houses...
“Nada opens the small packet.
Inside are contact lenses.
Nada and Frank put the contact lenses in their eyes.
Now Nada and Frank begin walking through the warehouse, taking it all in...
TV set. The Bearded-Man from the church sits against that blank background...
Offs. 5 NADA They killed him that first night. FRANK Who is he? NADA
I don't know...
91 CONTINUED:
Nada and Frank, moving on now... TV set:
Nada and Frank, as Gilbert comes up to them...
FRANK
You mean people are joining up with them?
{CONTINUED)
REVISED 2/10/88
Now they're drawn to the TV set again...
BEARDED-MAN s We humans use the forests and the land -- they use us. We're like a natural resource to them. Deplete one planet, move on to another. They want benign indifference. They want us drugged. We could be pets, we could be food -- but all we really are is livestock...
A table filled with weapons. All kinds. Rifles, pistols, machineguns, grenades -- as Nada, Frank and Gilbert come >
up.
Now Gilbert moves off, as...
a a id
REVISED 2/1/88
9OA,
Nada and Frank begin loading up with weapons, as the Black
Man from the AME Church examines anh expensive gold Rolex
wrist watch nearby...
FRANK
{indicates the watch} What's that?
92 CONTINGED:
really two-way radios. You can listen in to their broadcasts...
He offers it to Frank, whe takes the watch and examines it...
BLACK MAN
But there's something else. Some kind of secret code, oer a hidden control. TPhey push a button -~ all of a sudden, bang, they're gone. I've been trying to figure lt out...
Now Nada's looking off...
A large group has gathered around Gilbert. He seems to be the leader...
be mcre careful -- stay
aware of keeping up appearances. Go to work. Punch your time clock. Do what's expected of you. We've gotten reckless
and the movement's suffering
for it...
Someone at the rear of the crowd moves, revealing the Family Man from Justiceville...
A wave of energy goes through the crowd. They're up for BE. -
{CONTINUED ]
The crowd settles down...
And there, across the room, stepping forward, is Holly. She stil. carries Nada's original sunglasses in her nands.
Nada sees her.,
And now sne sees him. She looks shaken, vulnerable. As the meeting continues o.s. she takes a couple steps toward him. Stops.
Nada stares at her, then leans over to Frank...
{CONTINUED)
Pu.
REVISED 2/1/48
HOLLY
I thought I'd killed you,
in Fa
fay She takes a tentative steo toward him... R
Look, I just w Can we just...?
vt O
KABLAMMO !
The wall EXPLODES!
Debris flies through the air! Holly is knocked backwards!
Nada is hit with debris. Falls.
All heli breaks loose in the warehouse!
(TONTINUED)
REVISED 2/1/88
A Guard at the window is riddled with bullets!
The front door EXPLODES! People running!
Holly. Dazed. Being swept off in a crowd of frenzied people...
Nada gets to his feet. Sees her. Moves for her...
Holly, reaching for Nada, being carried off by the flow of the crowd, through the smoke...
Frank comes up to Nada, as the Family Man is hit! He goes down...
Frank drags Nada alongs...
ae
By
- r. em”
a
REVISED 2/10/88
NIGHT
Nada and Frank exit.
The small alley between the warehouse and another building is right in the middle of a huge firefight!
Drifting smoke.
“Broken water pipes spew water!
RIOT POLICE surround the alley on fire escapes and brick walls above, FIRING DOWN!
People are running! FIRING BACK at the Riot Police!
Blazing GUNS!
Nada and Frank, BLASTING AWAY, moving back down the tiny little alley...
ANOTHER PART OF THE ALLEY: smoke, fire. And there's Holly. Looking for Nada. She can't find him. Ducks the GUNFIRE!
BACK TO: Nada and Frank. SHOOTING wildly. There's Gilbert with an Uzi, BLASTING!
Gilbert is hit! Falls
Nada and Frank round a corner...
ANOTHER PART OF THE ALLEY: Holly. Running from the drifting smoke, away from the firefight...
REVISED 2/10/88
BACK TO: Nada and Frank, backing into the end of the
alley, trapped now! They FIRE!
Riot Police fall from the walls and fire escapes!
Nada and Frank. Only the 2 of them left. a barricade of junk and debris...
A ferocious FIREFIGHT!
Trapped behind
Now the FIRING STOPS... Quiet. Drifting smoke.
Nada and Frank -- staring out -- hearing the DISTANT SOUNDS of SCREAMING, GUNFIRE...
a FRANK = They're killin’ everybody...
Nada starts forward, but Frank holds him back...
NADA
I gotta see if she's all right... But Frank pulls Nada back into their little barricade...
Now Frank fumbles that fancy wrist watch out of his pocket...
POV: DOWN THE ALLEY. Here comes another SQUAD OF RIOT POLICES...
THEY OPEN FIRE!
Nada and Frank duck!
REVISED 2/10/88
CONTINUED: 98.
INSERT: as the wrist watch falls to the pavement -- and ‘
flashes!
But their barricade is RIDDLED WITH GUNFIRE!
They RETURN FIRE!
— = . ——_ = -—-- o -—— or
ee cs] ss
CLOSE: (effect) the wrist watch on the pavement. It's actually glowing, pulsating -- then flashing! The SCREEN GOES WHITE! And there, suddenly, in the alley floor,...
~.. is a weird tunnell It glows with blue light!
And it goes right down through the ground, six, seven feet!
Down below, through the tunnel, is a concrete floor!
A strange, filtered FEMALE VOICE echoes weirdly from inside the tunnel...
THEIR POV: coming down the alley toward them, the RIO COPS are a line of FIRING soldiers moving inexorably toward them!
93-
REVISED 2/10/88
99. -
HIGH ANGLE, LOOKING DOWN: as-Frank jumps -steaight down
into the tunnel, falling out of sight!
Nada. Lets FIRE with another couple BLASTS! And drops down into the tunnel... FEMALE VOICE
»-» 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds...
OMIT
Nada falls to the concrete floor... and WHAM! A flash of light from above...
... and the tunnel in the ceiling just disappears!
Silence.
Nada and Frank find themselves standing in what seems to be a funky underground passageway. Concrete. Overhead lights. Pipes and wires running along the ceiling. High- tech it isn't. The passageway looks like it goes on forever...
The voice comes from an old speaker in the ceiling. Now the Female Voice repeats the instructions in a strange, alien language -- Ghoulese.
Be RP. Y 346s REVISED 2/10/88 * howe
FRANK
What language is that? And where the hell are we?
Nada's on the move, Frank following...
And they move off down the hall...
TIME CUT: another section of the alien passageway, where one corridor intersects with another. Nada and Frank approach a corner. Slow. Stop. They listen -- as CAMERA MOVES TO REVEAL a GUARD STATION just a few feet down another passageway. 2 GUARDS (both human-looking in no-contact-lenses-reality) dressed like Green Berets. Fatigues. Sidearms. Berets. One of them talks into a futuristic-looking walkie-talkie...
Now the 2 Guards give each other a ‘high 5°’, turn and walk away... as CAMERA MOVES BACK OVER to see Nada and Frank listening. Now they guickly slip across the corridor intersection, unseen, and move off down another passageway...
TIME CUT: as Nada and Frank come up to another intersection. This time Nada stops and glances o.s. down one corridor...
REVISED 2/10/88
102 CONTINUED:
They cautiously enter the corridor...
effort to make this division
the success story it is tonight.
CHEERS APPLAUSE.
103 OMIT 104 OMIT 105 OMIT
END OF THE CORRIDOR: beyond is a huge an expensive hotel.
Slowly, Nada and Frank step in.
They are in the back of the ballroom, PEOPLE seated at tables. Humans. In
® ballroom, as in ~ t unseen by over 100 © tuxedos. They sa
APPLAUD a MANAGER who addresses them from behind a lecturn. The crowd is mostly white. Male. A couple Women. It's . like a convention of Yuppies or a small version of the
Academy Awards...
gains have been substantial,
for both ourselves, and you, the human power elite.
CHEERS. APPLAUSE.
Nada and Frank move cuatiously along the rear wall of
the ballroom, watching...
REVISED 2/10/88
THEIR POV: THRU CONTACT LENSES (black and white). SEVERAL SHOTS OF...
A FEW GHOULS mixed in among the Humans, listening to... A GHOUL MANAGER in his tuxedo...
-__ - . ---GHOUL MANAGER | 2 a et You have given us entre to the resources we need in our ongoing quest for multidimensional expansion. And in return, the per capita income of you here tonight has grown, in this year alone, by an average 398%!
BIG CHEERS. APPLAUSE.
CHEERS. APPLAUSE.
(CHEERS)
As of this moment, we are off crisis alet. The situation is normal again...
Nada and Prank watching, as a hand suddenly ENTERS FRAME and touches Nada's shoulder!
They turn, startled -- and it's the Drifter from Justice ville! He's dressed in a tuxedo too.
REVISED 2/10/88
106 CONTINUED: DRIFTER
Hiya doin', boys? I didn't know you'd been recruited.
Nada and Frank are speechless...
boys shoulda dressed for the party -- now that you can afford it. {glances at the 7 gathering) I'm just proud to be here. . Have you seen the whole place?
And the Drifer leads them over to another concrete passage- * way leading off the ballroom...
They move along...
FRANK « Excuse me, but where the hell are we?
DRIFTER bi Backstage at the show, boys. I know it's a little funky but it serves the purpose. (beat) How'd you get here? Use one of these portable jobs?
The Drifter admires his expensive gold wrist watch...
{CONTINUED)
REVISED 2/10/88
1g5. 107 CONTINUED: DRIFTER I know we're only supposed to * use ‘em in case of emergency -- but they're so much fun... He leads them to another corridor junction, entering a * Side passageway... ee Pe DRIFTER | * Not if you think that's neat, take a look at this. They take a few steps down the corridor, stop... THEIR POV: END OF THE HALLWAY (matte painting). The walls, *
the floor and ceiling end in a massive loading dock. And beyond the loading dock is blackness. And millions of stars!
Nada and Frank are frozen, staring in speechless wonder. *
DRIFTER Ln Go on, take a closer look.
Nada moves forward a couple steps cautiously...
HIS POV: LOADING DOCK (matte painting). Outer space! La Two glowing suns in the distance, side by side... DRIFTER © That's where they came from. Now Nada moves back to Frank and the Drifter... . DRIFTER .
I don’t know how it works
exactly. Some kinda gravitational lens deal -- bendin' of light or somethin’. But you can move from place to place, world to world
if you want. Works like a big airport.
And they're off again, down the passageway...
REVISED 2/24/88
Now Nada, Frank and the Drifter come to the end of the
passageway, which is a low-lit, complex control room of a TV station. A sign identifies it as Cable 54.
The Drifter leads them in, and CAMERA FOLLOWS THROUGH several rooms of equipment and monitors... Bustling PEOPLE (human-~looking) go about their jobs...
They turn a corner, and there are 2 MORE GUARDS {both human-looking} dressed like Green Berets who stand in front of a window looking into the Cable 54 set! 2 NEWS ANCHORS are reporting the nightly news...
Never been inside a TV Station before. And you seem to be the gentleman
to ask. DRIFTER Sure. No problem. {andicates the guards) These guys are friends of mine...
The Drifter walks up to the First Guard...
CONTINUED :
Nada and Prank tense slightly as the Guards look their Way...
NADA'S POY: THRU CONTACT LENSES (black and white) the FIRST GHOUL GUARD and the Drifter...
1ST GHOUL GUARD Be serious. (to Nada) You have your authorization cards?
And Nada pulls out his 9mm...
He and Frank OPEN FIRE!
Both Guards, now human-looking again in no-lenses reality, are hit! Fall!
The Drifter looks stunned -- as Frank shoves the barrel of his gun right in the Drifter's face.
Nada moves to the window. No one in the set heard the gunshots...
cs DRIFTER
The roof, I think. NADA (to Frank) Holly works in there. If she made it -- maybe we can find her -- then go up there
and break the signal!
REVISED 2/24/88
108 CONTINUED: DRIFTER Wait, boys, wait. You're
makin' a big mistake.
The Drifter is on the move now, making a desperate pitch...
Spain sendin’ ships to the new world for spices and gold. (beat) I don't think you boys get it, do you? Ain't no countries any more. No good guys. They're runnin’ the whole show. They own everything. The whole planet. They can do whatever they want. {beat] So why not have i1t good? They'll * let us have it good if we help ‘em. They'll leave us alone -- let us make some money. (beat) You could have a littie taste of the good life too. I know you want it. Hell, everybody does.
* - # H# 4 #
WHAM! As a GREEN BERET GUARD jhuman looking) steps through the doorway behind them, aims a pistol...
Nada's on the move, spinning around -- BLAMMO! *
The Guard is hit! Falls back...
As the Drifter lifts his gold wrist watch, his hand around the dial, a grin on his face...
FLASH! And the Drifter's gone! Disappeared!
Now Nada pulls the pin on a grenade... Throws it down a stairwell...
KABLOOM!
INSIDE THE SET: suddenly the door EXPLODES! The News Anchors react!
CAMERAMEN SCREAM!
Jump for cover!
And out of the doorway step Nada and Frank. Guns drawn.
NADCA'S POV: THRU CONTACT LENSES (black and white) 2 GHOUL NEWS ANCHORS...
THRU CONTACT LENSES: (black and white) HUMAN CAMERAWOMAN and PROGRAM DIRECTOR GHOUL ducking behind a desk...
THRU CONTACT LENSES: {black and white) another GHOUL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR by a water cooler...
Nada and Frank OPEN FIRE! BLAM! BLAM!
BLASTING the News Anchors, Program Director...
REVISED 2/24/88
109 CONTINUED:
The Advertising Director is hit! Goes into the water cooler...
Others race for the doors! Dash off down hallways! _.--An_ALARM BELL sounds! — Now Nada and Frank are on the move...
NADA * Let's go!
lll
11d.
Frank and Nada. Moving down a hallway.
2 Green Beret GUARDS {human-looking) appear out of a doorway!
Nada and Frank BLAST THEM!
Behind, 4 MORE GUARDS (human-looking) come running! A wild GUNFIGHT!
People SCREAMING!
Running!
Nada and Frank keep moving...
Around a corner!
Faster and faster!
More GUARDS!
GUNFIRE!
‘ip ahead af them GUARDS appear!
Nada and Frank BLAST their way through...
Turn a corner...
REVISED 2/24/8686
ll2 INT. ANOTHER HALLWAY ~ NIGHT Nada and Frank running! FIRING at Guards behind them!
CAMERA PANAGLIDES ALONG WITH them! Racing along.
NADA'S POV: UP AHEAD, down the hall, Holly steps out of a ___ sOOrway. — —-- -
She stares at them as they approach...
Nada grabs her on the run...
And now she's running with them! They come to the end of the hall.
2 GUARDS at the top of the stairway. They OPEN FIRE! Frank grabs Holly to protect her! Nada BLASTS the Guards! And charges up the stairs... Frank starts to follow...
but Holly suddenly pulls a gun, puts it _to Frank's temple, and...
BLAM!
Nada emerges from the stairwell door.
Moves across the roof to...
{CONTINUED)
-.:a huge satellite dishl
Nada comes up to it...
NADA'S POV: THRU CONTACT LENSES (black and white), there, at the base of the dish, is the glowing, throbbing master Signal panel, a huge HUMMING console that can only be seen through the glasses or lenses... .. _ -
Assuming Frank and Holly are right behind him, Nada takes alm at the panel!
Come back inside.
Now, across the roof, rising up from below the edge, comes a police helicopter!
The helicopter just hangs there, hovering -- and another police chopper rises up right next to it!
Nada, Standing there. He looks back over at the master signal console.
REVISED 2/24; 88 Ll2a,
Then looks over at Holly again. It’s over.
He drops his gun.
Looks down.
Then suddenly pulls a hidden snub nose .,38!
And FIRES!
Holly is hit!
She gets off a SHOT as she's blown backward through the door, down the stairwell!
But she missed Nada. He turns... Pull the pin on a grenade!
And holds it over the satellite dish!
One of the helicopters moves abruptly...
Nada smiles. He knows he has them...
Now he takes the snub-nose .38, aims it down at the master signal...
KABLAMMO!
{CONTINUED)
114 CONTINUED: HIS POV: THRU CONTACT LENSES (black and white) as the master signal EXPLODES! It SHATTERS! FIZZES! SPREWSL | ee ee = ee FLASHES! As a fountain of sparks and smoke spew up into the night sky...
FAST CUTS: fall in color)
TV SET: a GHOUL is now visible! It's a NEWS ANCHOR GHOUL giving a report...
Now there are PEOPLE running by CAMERA, YELLING...
INSIDE A BAR: a BARTENDER looks at a TV set that shows 2 GHOUL MOVIE CRITICS like "At the Movies" with Roger Ebbert and Gene Siskel.
AT THE BAR: a GHOUL DRINKER is now visible among all the HUMAN DRINKERS who react to him! They can now see him!
WORKING CLASS HOME: WIFE, 30's, watches in amazement...
TV SET: the Cable 54 logo, except now a Happy American Human is jumping up and slapping hands in SLOW MOTION
_with a HAPPY GHOUL. —
Wife looks over. Yep! She has a GHOUL HUSBAND who slowly turns to her...
MIDDLE CLASS HOME: 3 TEENAGE GIRLS (human) watch,
TV SET: MTV, except a GHOUL ROCK STAR performs in a video...
APARTMENT: dark. TV in B.g. Showing a GHOUL ina commercial for a new car...
in f.g. is a WOMAN. 20's. Naked. Obviously in the throes of passion. On top of an unseen partner below. She looks over. Sees the Ghoul on TV. Then looks down at her oartner in horror.
Her sartner is a GHOUL LOVER. They've been making love and now he is visible! He looks up at her...
THE WAR FOR THE WORLD BEGAN THAT NIGHT.
IT WAS LED BY A HOMELESS MAN CALLED JOHN NADA.
ROLL END TITLES.