Cast Away Page #17

Slowly Chuck gets up, lifts up the water jar, and takes a

swallow. Then another.

GOODCHUCK:

Stop. Enough.

Then another.

EXT. RAFT - DAY - LATER

Chuck works to braid a new rope. He is focused,

concentrating as hard as he can, but everything is slow and

hard and he's weak and clumsy. He tests the rope, but it

doesn't hold.

GOODCHUCK:

Think. Got to use something else.

He gets an idea, starts to pull the signal kite in.

BADCHUCK:

If they can't see you, what's the point?

GOODCHUCK:

Survive today, that's the point.

The kite rope is much thinner than the rope he had used to

tie the logs, but it's all he has. He ties the log with the

kite rope. Exhausted, he lies back down.

EXT. RAFT - NIGHT

The moon is full. The waves cast off shadows on the ocean.

Chuck is staring into the sky, trying to find a star to

navigate by.

GOODCHUCK:

Polaris, where are you? Maybe I'm too

far south.

BADCHUCK:

You don't know where you are. You missed

the shipping lanes.

GOODCHUCK:

Moon's too bright.

We hear the fraying sound again.

EXT. RAFT - DAY

Chuck saws at the outer log with his stone knife. Across the

water comes a storm. We can see it like a waterfall moving

toward us.

BADCHUCK:

You're putting off the inevitable.

GOODCHUCK:

I'm putting it off.

He looks at the deteriorating rope, at the rotting sail.

BADCHUCK:

That's what's happening to you.

Chuck pushes the outer log away, then takes the loose rope

and begins to lash it around the center logs.

BADCHUCK:

You're rotting away.

The raft is rocking. The waves are stronger. It's hard to

tie the logs together.

Rain falls like a sheet on Chuck.

BADCHUCK:

Get water!

GOODCHUCK:

Fix raft first.

BADCHUCK:

Water water water --

Chuck works frantically in the rain, trying to tie the rope.

Finally he does.

Then he scrambles for his water collecting funnel, struggles

to pull it up. One corner is stuck and collapses.

Desperately he rights it, pulls the funnel up.

Drops begin to run down the sides and collect in the jar.

Soaked, Chuck stares at the water as it rises.

Then the rain stops.

We see the line of rain recede away from Chuck, spattering

the ocean. But all around him the ocean is calm again.

And out comes the sun.

EXT. OCEAN - DAY

The raft floats on quiet seas. The sky is blue, with few

high cirrus clouds so motionless they seem pasted on.

Chuck lies on the raft, sick and weak.

Suddenly, from the depths beside him, silently rises a huge

shape.

A SPERM WHALE, still mainly submerged. The blow hole is near

Chuck, wet and pulsing like giant lips. The eye of the whale

is only a few feet away. It looks upon Chuck out of an

intelligence deep and alien.

He slowly comes to his knees and stares at it.

The blow hole opens and WHOOSH, out shoots a geyser of fine

spray which settles on Chuck in a mist.

The whale rises farther, dwarfing the raft. From the whale

comes a deep sound like a foghorn.

Startled, Chuck jumps back, rocking the raft. He catches

himself, slowly reaches out and touches the whale.

The whale blows again, drenching Chuck in more spray.

Chuck touches the whale again.

GOODCHUCK:

You like that?

Very slowly it drifts along with the raft.

GOODCHUCK:

Lost your mate?

We look right into the whale's eye. Beneath the surface we

can see the huge jaws open and close.

GOODCHUCK:

You're beautiful. Marry me.

BADCHUCK:

You idiot, if he dives, he'll capsize the

raft.

Very slowly the whale moves ahead of the raft, its vast body

passing Chuck.

GOODCHUCK:

No, don't go. Look, I've got fish.

Chuck rips a fillet off the line and throws it in front of

the whale, which ignores it.

GOODCHUCK:

Please don't dive. Please.

The whale slowly sinks, then suddenly arches its huge back

and heads straight for the bottom.

For a moment, all that remains are the flukes, black and

vertical against the dark blue sky. With one swoop, those

flukes could destroy Chuck and his raft. But they don't do

anything except slowly sink.

Then it is gone.

We are on Chuck's face as he stares at where the whale had

been, the surface marked only by a ring of concentric ripples

that reach out and gently rock the raft.

EXT. OCEAN - DAY

Chuck checks the water. It is green and full of floaties.

It looks awful. He takes the jug, puts it to his mouth, and

drinks. Instantly he throws up back into the jug, barely

keeps from dropping it.

BADCHUCK:

Look what you've done.

He dips his hand into the ocean, splashes some sea water on

his face, splutters it out, then licks his lips. He is so

thirsty.

He looks at the water jug, full now with his own vomit, turns

away, begins to work on the sea anchor again.

But the work makes him even thirstier. He looks at the jug

again.

Picks it up. Takes a long drink.

EXT. OCEAN - DAY

The fish return. Chuck gets up with his spear, then puts it

down.

BADCHUCK:

What are you doing?

GOODCHUCK:

Can't kill another one. Can't. Can't

kill my friends anymore.

BADCHUCK:

You f***ing bleeding heart, you kill or

you die.

GOODCHUCK:

Why do they have to die for me?

BADCHUCK:

They'd eat you if they could. They're

laughing at you. Listen.

Chuck listens. Doesn't hear anything.

GOODCHUCK:

Got to eat.

Chuck picks up the spear, stabs it, misses.

Suddenly he has a fish on the end of the spear. It

struggles, he scoops it onto the raft, brutally pounds on its

head, twists the stone knife into its spine. The struggling

stops.

Chuck looks at the dead fish and begins to sob.

GOODCHUCK:

I am so sorry.

He cries uncontrollably. As he cries he cuts off the head,

pulls out the eyeballs, and eats each one. Then he sucks the

marrow out of the head.

Then takes the heart and eats that. Then eats the liver.

As he is chewing, he cuts the meat into strips.

When he is done, he takes the backbone, breaks it, and sucks

on it.

Fish scales shine in his hair, blood covers his chest.

EXT. OCEAN - NIGHT

The raft rocks gently. Chuck looks up. The strips of fish

are glowing. So is the deck where he killed the fish.

He reaches out to touch the fish strips. His hand is glowing

too.

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