American Sniper Page #11

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FADE TO:

A THERMAL IMAGE. Cross-hairs on MARINES emerging from

tall grass. A SHOT FIRED. A MARINE FALLS. An Arabic

sickle & sword appears over the image. We are-

(03.18.14) 61.

79 INT. DEN, CHRIS’ HOUSE, CORONADO, CA - NIGHT 79

PAN ACROSS an Iraqi parcel on the coffee table. FINDCHRIS staring at the TV, livid, lit by Christmas lights.

TAYA (OC)

The baby is crying. I thought you were-Chris

lunges for the remote as another KILL SHOT PLAYS.

TAYA:

Don’t bother turning it off, I already

watched it.

He looks up at her, holding Colton.

TAYA:

I had to make sure you didn’t have an

Iraqi girlfriend sending sexy videos.

He lightens, touching her, eyes drifting back to the TV.

CHRIS:

This sniper is recording his kills.

Mustafa. They sell these in the street.

TAYA:

That day we were on the phone-Chris

nods, it was him.

TAYA:

You’re not protecting me by not talking

about it.

CHRIS:

I don’t want you thinking about it. I

don’t need you worrying.

TAYA:

My imagination is so much worse thananything you could tell me--

CHRIS:

(cutting her off)

No, it’s not. They’re savages.

Chris-TAYA

CHRIS:

They’re f***in savages.

His blood pressure pulses on his unyielding face..

(03.18.14) 62.

TAYA:

It’s not about them, it’s about us.

(hands him baby)

You have to make it back to us.

Her eyes trail off him as she steps into the kitchen.

Chris holds his son, taken with his ruddy innocence. Then

the BEDOUIN MUSIC swells, his arms tighten around his

son, and his eyes are drawn back to Mustafa.

“SECOND TOUR”

80 EXT. AL TAQADDUM AIRBASE, IRAQ - DAY 80

The tail of a C-17 draws down. YOUNG MARINES file off

leaving CHRIS, squinting into a dirty sunset as he tucks

his ring away like he’s stowing part of himself.

MASTER CHIEF MARTIN

(sharp-nosed, fit)

Welcome home, Petty Officer Kyle. Colonel

Jones is waiting. How was the flight?

CHRIS KYLE:

Slower than Christmas.

Chris is following him toward a Blackhawk when--

CHRIS:

Can you give me a second--?

MASTER CHIEF MARTIN

The colonel is waiting-

Chris is already striding across the tarmac toward-

A SQUAD OF MARINES

Loading onto a C-17 weary, injured, heading home. JEFF

KYLE doesn’t see Chris until he has hands on him.

CHRIS KYLE:

Hey, grunt--

Chris shakes him and pulls him into his arms.

JEFF:

Chris?

Jeff is slow to react, like he can’t see past the

atrocity branded on back of his eyeballs.

(03.18.14) 63.

CHRIS KYLE:

Y’alright? You in one piece?

He looks him over, undamaged but for the eyes.

MARINE LCPL:

Let’s go, PFC Kyle. Move your ass.

Marines on-board the C-17. Jeff is anxious, shifting-

CHRIS:

You okay? Jeff?-

JEFF:

I heard you’re kickin ass our here. All

the guys, that’s what they say--

Chris fixes Jeff’s collar: a tender gesture.

JEFF:

You’re my hero, bro. Always have been.

MASTER CHIEF MARTIN

Lets go, Kyle. Colonel’s waiting--

JEFF:

(swollen with emotion)

The Legend...

The four massive turbo-engines on the C-17 kick-on.

JEFF:

(over deafening noise)

I’m gonna miss my ride.

CHRIS KYLE:

What happened?

JEFF:

I’m just tired, man. I’m-(

swallows it)

I’m going home.

CHRIS:

I’m proud of you. You hear me?

He can’t hear sh*t over those fans.

CHRIS:

Dad too. He’s proud of you.

JEFF:

F*** this place-

(03.18.14) 64.

CHRIS:

(can’t hear him)

What?

JEFF:

F*** this place.

Chris ignites with rage at what they did to his brother.

81 INT. BLACKHAWK - DAY 81

LT. COLONEL JONES is a clear-eyed Ivy grad: the new-

school leadership changing of the guard.

COL. JONES

You made Chief. Congratulations.

CHRIS KYLE:

Thank you, sir.

COL. JONES

Gronski’s gone. A lot of top-brass are.

We’re working off a new playbook now.

The Blackhawk lifts off, ZOOMING across the desert floor.

COL. JONES

I’ve studied insurgencies for the last

decade. I know every stone thrown since

before the first century. These wars are

won and lost in the minds of our enemy.

He hands over an AQI BOUNTY POSTER with an illustration

of a SNIPER RIFLE and GALLIC CROSS and a reward.

COL. JONES

That you?

Chris rolls his sleeve, showing his Gallic Cross tattoo.

COL. JONES

You’re now the most wanted man in Iraq.

MASTER CHIEF MARTIN

That’s $80,000 on your head.

CHRIS KYLE:

Don’t tell my wife, she might take that

number right about now.

COL. JONES

I understand you wanted to put together a

direct-action squad to hunt The Butcher.

(03.18.14) 65.

CHRIS KYLE:

Yes, sir.

COL. JONES

We plugged the rat-hole that is Fallujah

and flushed them into Ramadi. We got some

intel indicating his area of operations.

As they cross the Euphrates the SLUMS OF RAMADI are laid

out before them like a blanket of chaos.

COL. JONES

I want you to put the fear of God in

these savages, and find his ass.

82 INT. OP SEC TENT, SHARK BASE - NIGHT 82

CHRIS stands in front of Team Three, armed with a 60-inch

monitor and a TuffBook. They’re chanting, “Power-point.”

CHRIS:

You guys know how I hate this sh*t so

shut your traps. Our target is Amir

Khalaf Fanus aka The Butcher.

(clicks first slide)

We’ll be heading in under cover of

darkness, sector P13, north of the river-

They’re cracking up. He turns to see his slide has been

hijacked with A PHOTO OF HIS BACHELOR PARTY; the “best

men” pose with a spray-painted groom. They look so young.

Chris turns back to his men and, for a moment, their

smiling faces appear immortal in the feeble light.

TIME FADE:

Brief finished, TEAM THREE file out past Chris-

BIGGLES:

You give good power-point, Legend.

--grabbing ass and cracking jokes until one remains.

MARC LEE:

Is this thing bulletproof?

(holds Chris’ Bible)

You never open it so I assumed...

CHRIS KYLE:

God, country, family, right?

(03.18.14) 66.

MARC LEE:

You got a God?

CHRIS KYLE:

You getting weird on me?

MARC LEE:

We had this electric fence around our

property in Oregon and us kids used to

see who could grab it and hang on the

longest. War feels like that, it puts

lightning in your bones, makes it hard to

hold on to anything else.

CHRIS KYLE:

You need to sit this one out?

MARC LEE:

I just wanna believe in what we’re doing-

CHRIS KYLE:

Evil lives here, we’ve seen it.

MARC LEE:

It lives everywhere-

CHRIS KYLE:

You want to invite these motherfuckers to

come fight in San Diego? Or New York?

We’re protecting more than this dirt.

Marc adopts his zeal, letting it fill him.

MARC LEE:

Hooyah then. Lets go kill this f***er.

He bangs out. Chris is alone. Lightning in his bones.

83 OMITTED 83

84 OMITTED 84

86 OMITTED 86

87 EXT. STREET/NEAR FAHIMA HALAL - PRE-DAWN 87

Neon shimmers across wet empty streets. TEAM THREE

trundle past shops largely unbombed. TONY checks his GPS-

(03.18.14) 67.

TONY:

(whisper-mic, pointing)

This building, any apartment on the eastside, will look down Fahima Halal.

88 INT. HALLWAY, 4TH FLOOR, BUILDING - CONTINUOUS 88

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