Cast Away Page #10

CHUCK:

No way on. No way off.

Chuck stares out to sea in every direction. Nothing.

CHUCK:

This is bad. Really, really bad.

The last rays of sun hit his face. The ocean turns a deep

reddish gold.

EXT. CLIFF - MOMENTS LATER

Going down is even scarier. It's dusk and the light is flat

and gray. Chuck stares at the ledge.

CHUCK:

Come on. Crawl if you have to.

Chuck crawls on his hands and knees across the rock bridge.

EXT. ROCKY SLOPE - MOMENTS LATER

Chuck stumbles over the rocks. The caves look ominous and

primal.

EXT. EDGE OF JUNGLE - NIGHT

It's getting dark now. The jungle seems impenetrable, the

dark wood of fable. Chuck hesitates, then plunges into it.

EXT. JUNGLE - NIGHT MINUTES LATER

The moon has just begun to rise, casting eerie light into the

jungle. The shadows reach out to grab Chuck, then real

branches and vines tug at him. He heads into thick

blackness.

EXT. BEACH - NIGHT - LATER

Chuck emerges around the rocks. He reaches the stack of

familiar FedEx boxes -- Ahh, home! He's breathing hard, from

both fear and exertion.

CHUCK:

Got to drink. Got to drink something.

With his last strength he opens a coconut on the stick. He

bangs hard on the shell and gulps down the milk. He stares

at the stack of FedEx boxes. What could be inside? He

reaches out and touches one.

CHUCK:

They don't belong to you.

Responsibility gets the better of necessity, and he takes his

hand away.

EXT. BEACH - MORNING

Face red from the sun, Chuck hacks at a palm frond with his

stone knife. He saws the palm frond off near the base,

leaving it about a foot long.

CHUCK:

Got to have shade. Got to have a hat.

He ties the loose fibers into a sort of circle, then sets it

upon his head. It looks amazingly like some sort of

primitive cap.

He grabs a couple of FedEx boxes and heads for the beach.

EXT. BEACH - LATER

Chuck finishes the P on H E L P, which he has spelled out

with the FedEx boxes on the beach.

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY - LATER

Chuck scrambles down a ravine. He kneels down and feels the

ground. It is dry, completely dry.

EXT. LAVA SLOPE - DAY

Chuck traverses the slope, determined to find water.

A FLAT ROCK - LATER

With a puddle of dirty water trapped in a tiny hollow.

Suddenly Chuck flops down into frame. He tries to scoop up

some water in his hands, but he just splashes it around. He

licks his fingers. Then he gets down on his stomach and laps

up the water with his tongue. Like an animal.

In the bottom of the small depression is some fine mud. He

rubs it on his reddened face and across his burned lips.

CHUCK:

Oh, God. Thank you.

EXT. BEACH - NIGHT

Chuck lies in darkness, his eyes reflecting the moon.

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY

Chuck is drenched in sweat. He is at the bottom of a hole

six feet deep. He takes one last dig with the flat stick,

then licks the moist clay that sticks to it.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

Chuck breaks open another coconut and gulps down the milky

liquid. With a stone knife he digs in the shell for some of

the meat, but it's dry and chewy and fibrous. He spits it

out, then lies back on the sand and stares at the first

stars. Half sings to himself.

CHUCK:

You deserve a break today...

He is desperately thirsty. Hunger gnaws at him.

EXT. BEACH - DAY - LATER

Holding a sharpened stick, Chuck wades in the shallows at low

tide, looking for fish. It's difficult to keep his balance.

Suddenly a shadow flashes by, glinting in the morning

sunlight. Chuck hurls the spear, which ricochets off the

water and floats away.

Chuck plunges into the water after the fish with his bare

hands. The fish reverses direction. Chuck leaps after it

and goes under. He comes up spluttering, on his hands and

knees in the shallows.

Suddenly a whole school of fish swims by him, moving in

unison, like one creature, splitting around Chuck like

mercury. He grabs at them desperately. Nothing.

CHUCK:

Damn fish!

On some rocks he sees clusters of limpets. He takes a rock

and tries to dislodge one, but it smashes into a soggy mess.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

Discouraged, he sits down on the beach and gets his breath.

Idly, Chuck takes out his wallet. The money is soaked. He

lays it out to dry. He finds a PHOTOGRAPH OF KELLY, soaked

and mushy.

He tries to smooth it out. For a moment he is overcome. His

face tightens, his eyes get moist. He stares out to sea.

CHUCK:

Wait a minute. Wait just a minute.

He picks up his wallet again and takes out a credit card.

EXT. BEACH - MINUTES LATER

Chuck wades in the water, stops by a rock covered with

limpets. He uses a CREDIT CARD to scrape off a limpet.

CHUCK:

Don't leave home without it.

With his finger, he prods around in the mucous-like meat,

then tilts up the shell and we see the gooey gray stuff slide

off the shell into his mouth.

CHUCK:

Yuck.

He starts to spit it out. Tries to make himself like it.

CHUCK:

Yumm.

And he swallow it.

EXT. BEACH - SUNSET

Chuck sits in the shade of a palm tree surrounded by a pile

of smashed coconut husks and a stack of limpet shells. He

checks his watch for a moment.

CHUCK:

Got to get this fixed.

But what's the point? Everything that was so valuable before

is useless now.

EXT. JUNGLE - LATER

Chuck digs yet another hole. He chants to himself, almost

delusionally.

CHUCK:

Water, water, everywhere, water, water

everywhere...

Covered in sweat, desperate and exhausted, he throws down his

wooden spade.

CHUCK:

Where's the water on this f***ing island?

He lies on his back, breathing hard. Pulls his hat over his

eyes.

CHUCK:

Just rest a minute.

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY - LATER

Chuck is lying in the hole. We find his feet. Slowly water

is oozing out of the clay, a puddle is building around his

toes.

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY - LATER

Chuck's eyes snap awake. He looks down at his feet. There's

a pool of muddy water there. He dips his hand in it, touches

a finger to his lips to be sure he's not dreaming.

He grabs his sharpened stone, begins to attack the clay.

CHUCK:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.

EXT. BEACH - SUNSET

Chuck carefully makes marks on a palm tree with his rock

knife. One for each day. Very neat. Very precise. Very

Chuck.

CHUCK:

Let's see, I waited two days.

(makes marks)

Then I buried Al.

(slowly makes another mark)

Al. You never made it home, buddy. Then

American Express got me those clam

things...

(makes another mark)

I dug all those damn holes, the clouds

over the moon...

(makes more marks)

And today, the historic discovery of H,

Two, Oh.

(makes a tenth mark and

underlines it)

Ten days. Sh*t.

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