Catwoman Page #6

Season #1 Episode #2

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CLOSER ON THE SKYLINE. A HOWL rises --FIND MIDNIGHT, CRYING

from a rooftop. Unseen CATS join in, a feline TELEGRAPH.

EXT. EDNA'S HOME -NIGHT

The CAT CRY, just audible, far off. Then --a CAT squeezesout a WINDOW at the gap in the sill... more CATS SCRAMBLE outdormers... yet MORE SHOOT OUT the flapping CAT DOOR.

EXT. SUBURBAN STREETS -NIGHT

EDNA'S CATS scramble through alleyways, joined by STRAYSconverging from all directions, picking up the CHORUS. It's

like a flowing RIVER OF CATS.

EXT. MARSHLAND -NIGHT

ON MURKY MOONLIT WATER --CAMERA MOVES past floating TRASH, aCAR TIRE, BOTTLES and CANS. We hear the CRIES of the CATS

from nearby, approaching. LIGHTS of the CITY further away,

the BRIDGE visible.

CAMERA FINDS a nylon-encased FOOT... PAN OVER a woman's

CORPSE, her clothes TORN, SOAKED and MUDDY, strewn with RIVER

WEEDS. The body bobs amidst REEDS by this soggy shoreline.

We reach the woman's FACE --unnaturally pale, eyes fixed...

it's PATIENCE PRICE. Dead.

THE HOWLING is CLOSE now... THE CATS have gathered here,

parting for MIDNIGHT, a feline VIP. The Mau stepstentatively out onto Patience's corpse, careful not to get

too wet. She crouches on her chest, and -

CLOSE, BREATHES audibly into her parted lips. A brief,

barely visible GLOW flickers at Patience's mouth.

THE CAT shudders, then moves aside, BLINKS as if drugged.

ANOTHER CAT climbs out onto Patience to take Midnight's placeand perform the same ritual.

(CONTINUED)

29.

CONTINUED:

HIGH ANGLE. The crowd of CATS waiting in the reeds, morearriving by the minute, ready to take turns.

CAMERA ROCKETS DOWN AT PATIENCE'S FACE, into one DEAD EYE...

MEMORY MONTAGE -INT. PATIENCE'S HEAD

DARK, DISTORTED; QUICK IMPRESSIONISTIC IMAGES OVERLAP,

perhaps CAT POVS (LOW-ANGLE TRACKING and CLIMBING SHOTS)

mixed with human MEMORIES:

POV, a ROLLER-COASTER, PATIENCE'S PARENTS to either side -we

hear YOUNG PATIENCE'S LAUGHTER and SHRIEKS.

CLOSE TO GROUND, FATSO the KITTEN dashes after a BELL BALL.

POV, YOUNG PATIENCE at a mirror in a Halloween CAT COSTUME.

POV, CLIMBING A TREE in a suburban backyard. We see her MOM

below, searching for young Patience.

POV, TWO CLOSED COFFINS, surrounded by FLOWERS... now we hear

YOUNG PATIENCE SOBBING.

POV, the BLACK MERCEDES ROCKETS AT CAMERA and -

EXT. MARSHLAND -NIGHT (PRESENT)

--PATIENCE sits up INTO FRAME with a SCREAM.

She thrashes in the shallows of the marsh, gasping for air,

disoriented... reborn. There's no sign of the cats.

PATIENCE crawls onto shore amidst the reeds, slightly clumsyat first, almost like a newborn kitten. Her ragged, wetclothes cling to her body.

TIGHT on her terrified expression. She has no idea what

she's doing here --or who, or what she is. She opens hermouth to speak --all that comes out is a strangled CAT CRY.

She works her jaw, but can't produce human speech. She darts

her head, seems disoriented and overwhelmed.

HER POV --SOUNDS AMPLIFIED, IMAGE perhaps SOLARIZED, the

darkness BRIGHTENED, objects of interest HIGHLIGHTED as shetakes in the marshland. The EYES of any creature in sightGLOW. We'll call this CATVISION.

(CONTINUED)

30.

CONTINUED:

WHIP PAN TO a nearby CRICKET perched on a blade of grass -then

UP TO an OWL in the distance, soaring over the park.

WHIP DOWN TO its prey, a SCURRYING MOUSE. THE OWL swoopswith a SCREECH, nailing the MOUSE, we hear its SQUEAL.

PATIENCE, frightened at first, becomes increasingly delightedby her heightened senses. She spots -

MIDNIGHT in the tall grass. The cat turns, looks over her

shoulder once --her EYES catch moonlight and GLOW. Patience

is clearly meant to follow.

PATIENCE follows MIDNIGHT on all fours, tenuously at first.

But as she proceeds, her shoulders and hips roll indistinctly feline fashion. Her body seems slimmer, moremuscular. She rises on two legs, moving in a slinky crouch.

MIDNIGHT pauses to sharpen her claws on the bark of a gnarledold TREE. PATIENCE follows Midnight's lead, leans forward

against the trunk, arms straight out, head arched back. She

stretches her neck, her back --her every movement isgraceful, sensual, the awkwardness gone.

She tries to pull her hands from the tree --but can't for a

moment, finding her FINGER-NAILS stuck into the bark (like acat at a scratching post).

A DOG BARKS --without thinking about it, PATIENCE scramblesup the side of the tree like a streak.

HER POV FROM TREE --A LARGE DOG tugs on its OWNER'S leash,

some distance away. The dog walker yanks the dog onward.

PATIENCE takes this in, hears a MEOW -

MIDNIGHT is perched above her, very Cheshire Cat-like.

PATIENCE looks around, self-conscious for a moment --what is

she doing up a tree? Bad idea to think. She loses her

balance, clutching at branches, tumbles out of the tree -

IN MIDAIR for an instant, she flails spastically, letting outa SHRIEK --then her body instinctively TWISTS and -

PATIENCE LANDS on all fours, one leg kicked out, hauncheslow. MIDNIGHT lands beside her, nods approvingly at herlanding. Then the cat darts away again, Patience pursues.

31.

EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD -NIGHT

MIDNIGHT leaps to the top of a FENCE, staring down atPatience --"come on." Patience hesitates, then crouches and

SPRINGS UP (with more than human ability), lands triumphantlyon the fence --then teeters and TUMBLES to the other side.

MIDNIGHT looks disappointed. Patience jumps up againquickly, as if pretending this never happened, this timemanaging to hold her balance.

MIDNIGHT gives her a look and leads onward. At first she's

like a tightrope walker, careful of falling, but her stepsbecome more confident. Soon she's moving as quickly andsmoothly as the cat.

MIDNIGHT leaps off the fence and darts across a road,

PATIENCE follows.

EXT. PUBLIC GARDEN/ZOO -NIGHT

A tall wrought-iron FENCE surrounds greenery and distantcages in an urban area. A SIGN: "ARBORETUM -ZOO."

MIDNIGHT squeezes through a gap between the uprights.

PATIENCE hesitates --this is too narrow for a normal human.

MIDNIGHT waits impatiently on the other side, tail twitching.

PATIENCE makes a dubious SOUND, but manages to slip a foot -then

a leg --into the opening, twisting and contorting.

Amazingly, she's succeeding, her torso ripples and contracts

as she insinuates herself between the bars. Finally only herhead is on the wrong side. With a final TUG, she's through.

MIDNIGHT crouches low, stalking. PATIENCE copies thebehavior. MIDNIGHT slowly approaches -

A MOTH, fluttering near a FLOWER in this botanical garden.

MIDNIGHT sneaks up close, then POUNCES, but the MOTH flies

out of the cat's grasp.

PATIENCE GIGGLES, MIDNIGHT turns on her and HISSES. The

woman and the cat roll together in this neat BOTANICALGARDEN, playing and batting at each other. CAMERA MOVES TO a

small sign nearby, which labels this planting as "CATNIP."

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