Coco Page #2

5.

MIGUEL:

No, gracias.

ABUELITA:

I asked if you would like more

tamales.

MIGUEL:

S-sí?

ABUELITA:

That's what I THOUGHT you said.

MIGUEL (V.O.)

Abuelita runs our house just like

Mamá Imelda did.

CUT TO:

INT. OFRENDA ROOM - DAY

Abuelita adjusts the photo of her beloved Mamá Imelda. Then

she perks her ear at a hooting sound.

INT. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER

Miguel idly blows into a glass soda bottle. Abuelita takes

the bottle away.

ABUELITA:

No music!

INT. MAMÁ COCO'S ROOM - DAY

Miguel listens as a truck drives by the window, blaring radio

tunes. Abuelita angrily slams the window shut.

ABUELITA:

No music!!

EXT. STREET - EVENING

A trio of gentlemen serenade each other as they stroll by the

family compound.

MUSICIANS:

(singing)

AUNQUE LA VIDA--

6.

Abuelita bursts out of the gate and chases them away.

ABUELITA:

NO MUSIC!!!

Terrified, the musicians stumble as they run away.

MIGUEL (V.O)

I think we're the only family in

México who hates music...

INT. RIVERA WORKSHOP - DAY

We see the Rivera family tinkering in the shoe shop, no music

to be heard. Miguel jogs past them.

MIGUEL (V.O.)

And my family's fine with that...

He grabs his shine box, and heads out of the shoe shop.

MIGUEL (V.O.)

But me?

MAMÁ

Be back by lunch, mijo!

MIGUEL:

Love you, Mamá!

Once outside, Miguel makes his way through the small town of

SANTA CECILIA - MORNING

MIGUEL (V.O.)

I am NOT like the rest of my

family...

He passes a woman sweeping a stoop.

WOMAN:

Hola, Miguel!

MIGUEL:

Hola!

He passes a band of musicians playing a tune. Miguel joins

with some air guitar and the further down the street he goes,

the more instruments and sounds layer in. The bells of the

church chime in harmony, a radio blares a cumbia rhythm.

7.

Running past a food stand, Miguel grabs a roll of pan dulce

and tosses the vendor a coin.

MIGUEL:

Muchas gracias!

STREET VENDOR:

De nada, Miguel!

As Miguel passes all these scenes, the music synthesizes and

he can't help but tap out rhythms along a table of alebrijes.

The fantastical wooden animal sculptures each play a

different tone like a marimba. Miguel finishes with a SMACK

on a trash can, out of which a pops up a scrappy hairless

Xolo dog. The dog, DANTE, barks and jumps up to lick Miguel,

who laughs.

MIGUEL:

Hey, hey! Dante!

Miguel holds the pan dulce over Dante's head.

MIGUEL:

Sit. Down. Roll over. Shake.

Fist bump.

Dante obeys to the best of his ability.

MIGUEL:

Good boy, Dante!

Miguel tosses the pan dulce to his furless friend who topples

back into the trash can.

CUT TO:

MARIACHI PLAZA - MOMENTS LATER

Miguel rounds the corner toward the town square. Vendors

sell sugar skulls and marigolds, and musicians fill the

square with music.

MIGUEL (V.O)

I know I'm not supposed to love

music -- but it's not my fault!

(beat)

It's his:
Ernesto de la Cruz...

Miguel approaches a statue of a handsome mariachi at the

heart of the plaza.

8.

MIGUEL (V.O)

...The greatest musician of all

time.

A tour group and their TOUR GUIDE are gathered around the

base of the statue.

TOUR GUIDE:

And right here, in this very plaza,

the young Ernesto de la Cruz took

his first steps toward becoming the

most beloved singer in Mexican

history!

CUT TO:

CLIPS of de la Cruz in his hay day: playing as a young man in

the plaza, serenading bystanders in a train car...

MIGUEL (V.O.)

He started out a total nobody from

Santa Cecilia, like me. But when

he played music, he made people

fall in love with him.

MORE CLIPS from de la Cruz's films. He leaps from a tree

branch onto a galloping horse. He plays his signature skull

guitar with flourish and flair.

MIGUEL (V.O.)

He starred in movies. He had the

coolest guitar... He could fly!

A CLIP features de la Cruz dressed as a hovering priest, held

up by strings, in front of a cycling sky flat.

MIGUEL (V.O.)

And he wrote the best songs! But

my all-time favorite? It's--

A CLIP of de la Cruz performing in a fancy nightclub.

DE LA CRUZ:

(singing)

REMEMBER ME:

THOUGH I HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE

REMEMBER ME:

DON'T LET IT MAKE YOU CRY

FOR EVEN IF I'M FAR AWAY

I HOLD YOU IN MY HEART

I SING A SECRET SONG TO YOU

EACH NIGHT WE ARE APART

REMEMBER ME:

(MORE)

9.

DE LA CRUZ (CONT'D)

THOUGH I HAVE TO TRAVEL FAR

REMEMBER ME:

EACH TIME YOU HEAR A SAD GUITAR

KNOW THAT I'M WITH YOU THE ONLY WAY

THAT I CAN BE...

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