Carnage

1 EXT. PLAYGROUND IN PARK - DAY 1

WIDE ANGLE VIEW:
A playground in Brooklyn. A winter sun

shines brightly. Stark trees and patchy grass.

A boy of about 10 years stands apart from a group of kids

his age.

In his hand he is holding a large piece of tree branch,

twirling it absently, with the thick end out, for his own

amusement.

Another boy, with the support of the group, starts shouting

abuse at him. Though the words aren’t audible, it’s clear

that things are getting tense.

A verbal exchange is followed by some threatening gestures

on both sides. One boy shoves, the other shoves back.

It’s all pretty unremarkable until the first boy,

practically reflexively, strikes the second with the branch.

The wounded child is doubled over, his face in his hands.

The others crowd around him.

The boy who hit him also starts to take a step toward the

group of children. He seems distraught.

2 INT. LONGSTREET APARTMENT - DEN - DAY 2

A narrow room converted to a home office. Winter light

filters through the only window.

On a table against one wall there are some periodicals -

topical magazines about contemporary history and UNESCO

publications. There are also some assorted papers, a school

notebook, a few baubles and a laptop computer.

PENELOPE LONGSTREET is seated at the computer.

Her husband, MICHAEL, is standing by amiably, leaning over

and already prepared for the words which are to follow.

Also standing there, but a couple of steps back, are ALAN

and NANCY COWAN. They are dressed in business clothes. She

must have put her coat down somewhere, he has his on his

arm. They both stare at the screen.

It is clear from the start that these two couples are not

close. The prevailing mood is serious, cordial and tolerant.

PENELOPE reads out loud the words written on the screen:

2.

PENELOPE:

“January 11, at 2:30 PM.”

(with a glance behind

her toward the

COWANS:
)

You’ll make your statement

separately, this is ours.

“...following a verbal dispute in

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Zachary Cowan,

age eleven and armed with a stick,

struck our son, Ethan Longstreet, in

the face. In addition to the

swelling and bruising of Ethan's

upper lip, this act also resulted in

two broken incisors, including nerve

damage to the right incisor."

ALAN:

Armed?

PENELOPE:

Armed. You don't like armed? Michael,

what could we say? Carrying? Holding?

Carrying a stick, is that all right?

ALAN:

Carrying, yeah.

MICHAEL:

Carrying a stick.

PENELOPE enters the correction on the laptop.

PENELOPE:

Carrying.

She prints the single page and hands it to NANCY COWAN.

PENELOPE (CONT'D)

It's ironic, we always thought the

Brooklyn Bridge Park was safe.

Compared to Hillside.

MICHAEL:

True.

Once the paper is in his wife’s hand, ALAN COWAN tries to

cut the meeting short, starts backing up toward the foyer.

They continue talking as all make their way progressively

toward the front door.

MICHAEL (CONT’D)

We always said, Brooklyn Bridge Park,

fine. Hillside, no way.

3.

PENELOPE:

Only goes to show you. But hey, thank

you for coming. It's so much better

than getting caught up in that

adversarial mindset.

NANCY:

Well we thank you. Really.

PENELOPE:

I don't think we have to thank each

other. At least some of us still have

a sense of community, right?

ALAN:

Though the kids haven't got that

notion straight yet. I mean our kid.

NANCY:

Right, our kid!

Nancy walks into the living room to retrieve her coat.

3 INT. LONGSTREET LIVING ROOM - DAY 3

The LONGSTREET’s living room is modest and homey. There’s

a partial view of the elevated subway. The furnishings

are improvised and disparate, with a few ethnic touches.

There is a large bookshelf.

A few chairs and a sofa are arranged around a coffee

table, covered with art books.

There is a large bouquet of tulips in a transparent vase.

NANCY:

Those tulips are gorgeous.

PENELOPE:

It's that little florist way up on

Henry, you know? The one all the

way up.

NANCY:

Oh right.

PENELOPE:

They fly the bulbs in straight

from Holland, twenty dollars a

load.

NANCY:

That a fact?

PENELOPE:

You know the one? All the way up.

4.

NANCY:

Right, right.

The COWANS drift toward the foyer, followed closely by the

LONGSTREETS.

NANCY (CONT’D)

What about the tooth with the damaged

nerve?

PENELOPE:

Oh. Well they don't know. There's

still some question about the

prognosis. Apparently, the nerve is

not completely exposed.

MICHAEL:

Only part of it is exposed.

PENELOPE:

Right. There's a part that's exposed

and a part that's still protected.

So for right now, they're not going

to devitalize it.

MICHAEL:

They want to give the tooth a chance.

PENELOPE:

We would so like to avoid root canal.

NANCY:

Of course.

PENELOPE:

So there's an observation period

while they give the nerve a chance to

heal.

MICHAEL:

Meantime, he's going to need caps.

PENELOPE:

You can't have implants until you're

eighteen.

MICHAEL:

You can't.

PENELOPE:

The permanent implants can only be

done once you stop growing.

NANCY:

Naturally. I hope... I hope it all

turns out all right.

5.

PENELOPE:

We can only hope.

A slightly uncomfortable beat.

PENELOPE (CONT’D)

You know, he didn't want to tell on

Zachary.

MICHAEL:

No, he didn't want to.

PENELOPE:

I mean it was incredible to see this

child with no face left, no teeth.

And he just wouldn't talk.

NANCY:

I can just imagine.

MICHAEL:

He didn't want to tell on the kid.

Like his friends would say he was a

snitch. I mean let's be honest,

Penelope, it wasn't only a sense of

honor.

PENELOPE:

You could say that. But a sense of

honor requires a social context.

NANCY:

Naturally. So how did you..? I mean,

how did you finally get Zachary's

name?

PENELOPE:

Well because we explained to Ethan

that protecting this child was not

going to help him.

MICHAEL:

We told him, if this kid thinks he

can go on hitting people and getting

away with it, why should he stop?

PENELOPE:

We told him that if we were that

child's parents, we would absolutely

want to know about this.

NANCY:

Of course.

ALAN:

Yeah.

6.

ALAN’s cell phone vibrates. He quickly pulls it out of his

jacket pocket.

ALAN (CONT'D)

Excuse me one second.

ALAN walks away from the others. While he speaks, he takes a

newspaper out of the pocket of his overcoat.

ALAN (CONT'D)

Yes Walter, thanks for getting

back to me. So it's in this

morning's Journal. I'll read it to

you. "According to a study

published by British journal

Lancet, two Australian researchers

have identified neurological side

effects of TW Pharma's anti-

hypertension medication Antril,

including impaired hearing and

muscle coordination, and ataxia."

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

F***ing hell. How come nobody told

me about this?

ALAN:

Who the hell does your press

monitoring over there?

WALTER (O.S. - TEL)

This is going to be trouble.

ALAN:

Yeah, you’re in deep sh*t.

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