A Monster Calls Page #4

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(makes squashing motion)

Boom!

She smiles and turns to the nightmare finally, a little

scared by the hole and the face he’s drawn, but she looks

closer. It has very realistic eyes. She’s very surprised and

impressed.

MUM:

What is this? Is that you?

Conor

No, Mum.

MUM:

Looks like you.

Conor shrugs.

MUM (CONT’D)

It's very good. Really, REALLY

good. The strokes of the pen... And

I love the reflection in the

eyes... Life is in the eyes, you

know.

(gentle beat)

What's it of? What's this scene?

Conor

(shrugs)

Nothing. Just... I made it up.

MUM:

Well, doesn't matter where it comes

from if it's true. That's what

artists do. They say the truth.

Conor smiles. Suddenly the mother realizes what time it is.

MUM (CONT’D)

Gosh, it's late, isn't it? Time for

us both to be asleep.

She bops him playfully on the head with the sketchpad.

37.

3 InT. conOR’S BEDROOM - night - conTINUOUS 3

Conor is back on his bed in the dark bedroom. He can´t get

back to sleep. He sits up and looks at his small DRAWING DESK

in the corner.

38.

3A EXT. churchyard hilltop - night - continuous 3A

A YEW TREE, huge, ancient, ominous looms on the hill

overlooking Conor’s house. Its needle-like leaves are sharp

in the moonlight, red berries clustered throughout its

branches. It sits in a small churchyard on a hilltop, a

graveyard stretching down the hill in front of it.

Down below, Conor’s bedroom desk light comes on.

39.

3B InT. conOR’S BEDROOM - niGHT - conTINUOUS 3B

Conor takes out drawing pencils and sharpens them. He takes

out an inexpensive SKETCHPAD out of a PAPER BAG from an art

store. Tired but awake, he flips through the earlier sketches

- fantastical things, superheroes, etc, they’re very good -

and finds a blank page.

He taps the pencil to his teeth, wondering what to draw. His

clock ticks over to 12.07, and as if on cue:

monster (O.S.)

(whispering)

Conor.

A monstrous voice, deep, old as the earth itself. Conor looks

immediately to the door. Did he actually hear that?

ConoR

Mum?

But it’s not coming from the door. He looks out his closed

window. It dramatically frames the hilltop with the yew tree.

Conor decides to draw it, making a frame on his page for the

window. A pencil starts to roll across the desk.

Conor sees it, looks back up to the window: the YEW TREE IS

NO LONGER THERE.

Conor is astonished, confused. Conor stands and looks out the

window. It’s shut but a breeze tousles his hair.

40.

3C

The yew tree is now standing farther down the hill. 3C

Conor stares in disbelief. As he watches, the tree begins to

change. It shifts and splits, twisting slowly, incredibly,

into the shape of a TOWERING MAN:

--two muscular arms made from branches twining together.

--a second leg placed down beside the trunk.

--the uppermost branches gathering into a great and terrible

face with huge, monstrous eyes.

Conor watches, amazed, but not overly afraid...

THE MONSTER, huge and impressive, strides across the rail

line, over Conor’s back fence and stands up in front of him.

MonSTER

Conor O’Malley.

The voice echoes and booms. The Monster suddenly FALLS

against the house, its hands on either side of Conor’s

window, lowering its head to peer inside.

41.

3D

The Monster pushes against the house. It creaks under the 3D

Monster’s weight.

MonstER (CONT’D)

I have come to get you, Conor

O’Malley.

Conor

(beat)

So come and get me then.

Monster

What did you say?

Conor crosses his arms.

CONOR:

I said, come and get me then.

The monster roars terrifyingly. Conor hides at one side of

his desk and puts his hands over his ears at the sheer volume

of the Monster’s voice.

MONSTER:

(taunting)

Why don’t you run, Conor O’Malley?

Why don’t you run for your mother?

Conor looks surprisingly defiant at this. He stands and

closes his bedroom door, as if to protect his mum.

CONOR:

(surprisingly defiant)

You leave her alone! I’m not afraid

of you!

A beat, as the monster, impossibly, looks surprised-

And disappears.

42.

3E

Then it ROARS and PUNCHES an enormous fist through Conor’s 3E

window, taking out a large section of the wall.

Conor at last tries to run, but the monster is too fast,

grabbing him up and pulling him out of his bedroom...

43.

3F

I/E CONOR’S BEDROOM - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS 3F

...lifting him high into the night. The Monster roars again,

still terrifying.

44.

3G

In the Monster’s grasp, Conor can barely breathe, but he 3G

looks surprisingly defiant. The Monster stops, perplexed.

The Monster gets an angry look.

MoNSTER

You will be. Before the end. I will

visit you again on further nights

Conor O’Malley. And I will shake

your walls until you wake. And then

I will tell you three stories. And

when I have finished my stories,

you will tell me a forth and it

will be the truth. Your truth.

CONOR:

(scared now)

What are you talking about?

MONSTER:

This truth that you hide.

(glowers)

The truth you draw, Conor O’Malley.

The truth you dream.

CONOR:

No. No way-

MONSTER:

For this is why you called me.

CONOR:

Called you? I didn’t call you-

MONSTER:

You will tell me the fourth tale.

You will tell me the truth.

CONOR:

And if I don’t?

Its mouth ROARS impossibly wide, and hundreds of branches

emerge from it like tentacles trying to reach Conor´s face.

Cut TO:

45.

4 Omitted 4

46.

4A Omitted 4A

47.

4B Int. Conor’S BEDROOM - dawn 4B

As credits end, zoom out from the drawing and Conor rips it

up. He empties the bag of sketchpad/supplies and starts

filling it with berries.

48.

5 INT. CONOR’S KITCHEN - MORNING - later 5

CONOR pokes his head around the door into his kitchen.

ConOR

Mum?

It’s empty. Good. He drags the PAPER BAG FROM THE ART STORE

to the BIN and shoves it deep inside. It opens a little; we

see that it’s full of YEW TREE BERRIES. Conor covers it with

other rubbish.

49.

5A Omitted 5A

50.

6 Omitted 6

51.

7 ExT. conOR’S HOUSE DRIVEWAY - MomenTS LATER 7

Conor drags the wheelie bin to the curb to leave it for the

dustmen, wipes his hands, looks back to the house.

ConOR

Right.

52.

25 Omitted 25

53.

26 Omitted 26

54.

27 Omitted 27

55.

27 NEW INT. CONOR’S BEDROOM - AFTERNOON 27 NEW

Conor enters his room and throws his rucksack to the floor.

He removes his clothes and checks out the bruises on his

chest and stomach.

He changes his clothes and looks out the window.

56.

28 EXT. conor’s bacK GARDEN - the next morning 28

The rain has stopped. It’s a cold, clear day. Conor warily

walks across his back garden to an OLD IRON GATE in the back

fence.

57.

28B EXT. HILL GATES - MORNING 28B

58.

28A EXT. TRAIN TRACKS - MORNING 28A

This LEADS ON TO THE RAILWAY LINE,

but a LOCK on the GATE has long since broken. The gate is

slouched open.

Conor approaches, all the time watching the tree on the

hilltop. He gets to the gate, stepping slightly through, hand

on the open half.

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