Cast Away Page #24

EXT. SUPERHUB - PLATFORM

Phil holds a plaque.

STEELE:

Four years ago we placed this plaque in

honor of Charles Noland, and two just

like it in honor of Al Morris and John

Durham, the two brave pilots who went

down with him.

As he talks, we stay on Chuck, who is taking in this amazing

scene, not really listening.

STEELE:

Chuck endured years of hardship and

loneliness. Like Lazarus, Chuck has come

back from the dead. Chuck, this is your

family, all of us. So it gives me great

pleasure...to take this plaque...and to

present it to our long lost son. Welcome

home.

He hands the plaque to Chuck. Chuck acknowledges the cheers

of the crowd.

CHUCK:

Thank you. Thank you very much...

Everyone applauds.

CHUCK:

Give me a minute. I've spent four years

looking out at an empty ocean.

He laughs, a short brittle laugh, composes himself.

CHUCK:

It's all so -- big. You never think

you'll miss -- all this. But I did. I

really, really did. And I missed all of

you.

He looks over at the hub.

CHUCK:

You've added some new belts, and what's

that?

He points at some high tech equipment on the edge of the

shed.

STAN:

Digital laser readers.

CHUCK:

Digital laser readers. Wow. Terrific.

He looks around at everyone, doesn't know what else to say.

CHUCK:

I've never heard it this quiet.

Shouldn't you all be getting back to

work?

The tension is broken. Everyone laughs. Phil Steele motions

with his hand. Let it be done.

ANOTHER ANGLE - WIDE

The vast, incredible machinery creaks to a start. Everyone

shakes Chuck's hand as he leaves the podium.

As he heads for the car, REPORTERS shout questions.

INT. CAR - MEMPHIS FREEWAY

We are assaulted by a surge of light, motion, activity.

Snaking lines of traffic in both directions, big overpasses,

the city rising beyond.

Stan drives with a certain aggressiveness. Chuck looks out

at the traffic, at all the activity, at the vast intricate

anthill of humanity going everywhere and nowhere.

CHUCK:

Take your time.

STAN:

What?

CHUCK:

That's what it's about.

STAN:

Being patient. Don't rush things. I get

it.

He swerves into another lane.

CHUCK:

Not just that. Take your time. Use it.

Live it.

STAN:

Deep, real deep.

He grins, cuts across to the exit.

STAN:

So where to? The office? The hotel?

The beach?

Chuck stares at him. Are you kidding?

STAN:

What, then?

CHUCK:

Deliver this package. Then, I dunno.

STAN:

(re:
the package)

You want that delivered, we'll deliver

it. That's what we do.

CHUCK:

I need to do it.

STAN:

Finish what you started. You haven't

changed, Chuck. It's still you.

Right.

CHUCK:

You want to help, help me find the woman

who sent this.

INT. OPERATIONS CENTER - DAY

Stan and Chuck are in the office of a TECHNICIAN who is

working away at his computer. The Technician pulls the bar

code from the Angel Wing FedEx box up on his computer screen.

TECHNICIAN:

Okay. After three years the PTR reverts

to tape storage, which is okay because we

access it through the CPC. Here it is.

(gestures at computer map)

Ten packages from the same sender. Baku.

Delhi. St. Petersburg. The guy was a

real road warrior. This package was

Kuala Lampur. No activity in his account

after this package. No forwarding

addresses after K.L.

CHUCK:

What about the sender?

TECHNICIAN:

Sure. Bettina Peterson. Marfa, Texas.

Let's run a current check.

He works some keys, waits.

TECHNICIAN:

Hmmm. Durango, Colorado; Asheville,

North Carolina, then...canceled her

account.

CHUCK:

Can you find her?

TECHNICIAN:

You're looking at a Level III search.

For your Level III, you gotta have E-4

authorization. I don't have it.

STAN:

I do.

He holds out a badge.

TECHNICIAN:

Okay, let's let it rip.

He starts to pull up the data.

CHUCK:

Thanks. For everything.

STAN:

No sweat.

EXT. CHUCK'S MOTEL - THAT NIGHT

Chuck leaves the motel, the Angel Box under his arm. He ties

it into a pannier on the side of a bicycle.

EXT. MEMPHIS - CHICKASAW GARDENS - NIGHT

Chuck sneaks up to a craftsman cottage and stands by a tree

with a swing on it. Inside we see Kelly making dinner for

her husband, who plays with their daughter. For a moment

Chuck watches through the window, and we watch with him.

Then the dog begins to bark.

EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT

Chuck walks through the cemetery late at night. He comes to

his gravestone, stares for a long moment at the inscription,

then takes out a spray can of paint and puts a HANDPRINT on

it.

He gets back on his bicycle and rides away.

EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY

Chuck rides his bicycle down a road leading into the South.

EXT. FREEWAY - DAY

Chuck negotiates an overpass crossing an Interstate Highway.

Headed in both directions, cars whoosh by beneath him.

EXT. HIGHWAY - DUSK - LATER

Chuck rides down a narrow road, shrouded in mist. Moss drips

from the trees reaching over the road. A car goes by. Then

another, their lights like halos in the fog. It's a mystical

scene, a passage.

EXT. ARKANSAS - NIGHT

Chuck gets off his bicycle in the rain and walks toward a

roadside cafe.

INT. CAFE - NIGHT

Chuck draws on a paper place mat as he waits for his meal at

a counter. Above the counter the television plays.

ANNOUNCER:

And here's more from Dingo Dodd, our

Australian correspondent, on the

extraordinary story of Chuck Noland, the

modern Robinson Crusoe.

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