Big Fish Page #8

JENNY:

(matter-of-fact)

It’s not a woman, it’s a fish. No one

ever catches her.

Given the day he’s had so far, Edward isn’t inclined tofollow up on the issue. He starts to wade back to the bank.

41.

JENNY (cont’d)

Fish looks diff’rent to diff’rent

people. My daddy said it looked likethe coon dog he had when he was kid,

back from the dead.

Edward climbs up onto the shore, completely drenched. He

pulls up his pant legs to reveal three shiny leeches clingingto his skin.

EDWARD:

Shoot.

He starts to work pulling them off.

EXT. PATH BACK TO TOWN - NIGHT

Edward and Jenny walk back.

JENNY:

How old are you?

EDWARD:

Eighteen.

JENNY:

I’m eight. That means when I’m

eighteen, you’ll be 28. And when I’m

28, you’ll only be 38.

EDWARD:

(a little wary)

You’re pretty good at arithmetic.

JENNY:

And when I’m 38, you’ll be 48. And

that’s not much difference at all.

Eager to get off this subject...

EDWARD:

Sure is a lot now, though, huh?

EXT. MAIN STREET - NIGHT

As Edward and Jenny approach Main Street, they find“downtown” has been transformed. Lanterns and streamers hangon cables across the street, and a small stage has been builtat one end to hold FIDDLERS.

The whole town is there in celebration of its newest citizen,

Edward Bloom. Before he can protest, two WOMEN have grabbedhim by the arms, pulling him in to dance with them.

42.

The resulting dance number seems both choreographed andcomplete chaos. From FARMER to BAKER’S WIFE, everyone wantsto dance with Edward, who finds himself tossed around like astick caught in a whirlpool. Still, he’s having a blast.

Jenny grabs both his hands, and they spin wildly.

Beamen plucks his LAUGHING daughter away to dance with her.

Then Mildred cuts in to dance with Edward. It’s hard to hear

over the MUSIC.

MILDRED:

Jenny thinks you’re quite a catch. We

all do.

EDWARD:

(not hearing)

What?

MILDRED:

I said you’re quite a catch!

Edward stops dancing. A beat, then he heads for the edge ofthe crowd. Beamen is there, with Jenny on his shoulders.

EDWARD:

I have to leave. Tonight.

BEAMEN:

Why?

EDWARD:

This town is everything a man could askfor. And if I were to end up here, I’dconsider myself lucky. But the fact

is, I’m not ready to end up anywhere.

BEAMEN:

No one’s ever left.

JENNY:

How are you gonna make it without yourshoes?

EDWARD:

I suspect it will hurt a lot.

And with that, Edward walks down Main Street. The

townspeople stop dancing, disbelieving, some shaking theirheads.

Poor Edward Bloom’s gone crazy.

43.

BEAMEN:

(calling after him)

You won’t find a better place!

EDWARD:

I don’t expect to.

Jenny runs to him. She’d tackle him if she could.

JENNY:

Promise me you’ll come back.

EDWARD:

I promise. Someday. When I’m reallysupposed to.

It’s not good enough, but it will have to do. Edward keepswalking.

EXT. THE DARK FOREST - NIGHT

VARIOUS SHOTS:
Edward negotiates the thorns in his barefeet. It’s horrible. Almost unendurable.

And then it gets worse.

The trees ahead are moving. At first, it just seems to bethe wind blowing the branches, but as we hear the woodCRACKING and GROANING, there’s no mistaking it: they’retrying to block him.

Snake-like WHITE ROOTS shoot out of the ground, grabbing forhis ankles. He leaps up, kicking off one tree trunk to grabanother one’s branches. He swings off, lands and rolls. Now

all the trees are moving to block him, their dark shapestowering over him in the flashes of LIGHTNING.

EDWARD (V.O.)

As difficult as it was to reach

Spectre, I was fated to get thereeventually. After all, no man canavoid reaching the end of his life.

As he ducks under branches, the chain holding the Key to theCity gets caught. He’s almost strangled, but the chainfinally breaks. The silver key disappears into the mud.

Scrambling forward, he looks for a way out. But the trees

have encircled him, their spiky crowns bending down to crushhim.

He SCREAMS up at the night, until his breath is gone.

44.

EDWARD (V.O.) (cont'd)

And then I realized, this wasn’t theend of my life.

With a sudden calm...

EDWARD (cont’d)

(aloud)

This isn’t how I die.

Another lightning FLASH, and suddenly the trees are back

where they’ve always been. Edward is lying shoeless and torn

in a muddy puddle, staring up at the rain. And LAUGHING.

EXT. THE ROAD - DAY

His bare foot steps onto asphalt.

A DEEP VOICE:

Friend!

Edward turns to see

KARL:

to his right, coming down the larger, paved road.

KARL:

What happened to your shoes?

Edward looks down at his muddy, bloody feet.

EDWARD:

They got ahead of me.

With that, the men start walking down the larger road.

CROSSFADE TO:

INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Edward and Will sit at opposite ends of the table, withSandra and Josephine in the middle. Although Edward has asmall plate of food in front of him, he hasn’t touched it.

He’s exhausted from the trip downstairs, but determined tomaintain the family dinner ritual.

The other three eat awkwardly, each CLINK and SCRAPE of aknife or fork resonating. Will finally breaks the silence.

WILL:

I don’t know if you’ve seen it, butJosephine has some photos in the mostrecent Newsweek.

45.

SANDRA:

Really! That’s wonderful.

JOSEPHINE:

I spent a week in Morocco for thestory. It was incredible.

SANDRA:

We’ll have to pick up a copy.

A beat. As Will scoops out another serving of potatoes,

Edward suddenly speaks:

EDWARD:

I don’t know if you’re aware of this,

Josephine, but African parrots, intheir native home of the Congo -- theyspeak only French.

All three stop to listen.

JOSEPHINE:

(amused)

Really.

EDWARD:

You’re lucky to get four words out ofthem in English. But if you were towalk through the jungle, you’d hearthem speaking the most elaborateFrench. Those parrots talk abouteverything: politics, movies, fashion

-everything but religion.

Taking the bait...

WILL:

Why not religion, Dad?

EDWARD:

It’s rude to talk about religion. You

never know who you’re going to offend.

A beat.

WILL:

Josephine actually went to the Congolast year.

EDWARD:

Oh, so you know.

46.

INT. GROCERY STORE - NIGHT

Will shakes a shopping cart free from the pile-up while hismother checks her list.

AT THE PRODUCE SECTION

Sandra starts to bag string beans.

WILL:

Mom, would you say you understand Dad?

SANDRA:

Of course.

WILL:

What I mean is, do you really knowwhat’s going on in his head?

SANDRA:

Yes.

WILL:

How is that possible? I mean, you tryto ask him a question and suddenly it’sanother one of his stories.

(decidedly)

You can’t honestly say you know him.

SANDRA:

Yes, Will, I do. And don’t presumethings you don’t know.

She’s more amused than annoyed, but Will is enteringdangerous territory.

SANDRA (cont’d)

Would you say you understand Josephine?

WILL:

Yes. But that’s a different...

SANDRA:

No it’s not. It’s exactly the same.

Your father and I met, we dated, and wemarried -- we chose each other --

because we understood each other on

some fundamental level. Just the same

as you two.

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