Concussion
1.
OPEN ON EXTENDED TITLES, A CUT ASSEMBLY OF HOME MOVIE AND TV
FOOTAGE:
1
1) Rhinelander High, Wisconsin. 1970. Rockwellian Americana:
football cheerleaders, full stands in tribal green & white,
convoys of yellow buses. Then-
2
2) A teenage MIKE WEBSTER playing for the Hodags. Biggest
thing on the field, an unstoppable machine. Now-
3
3) Mike has broken his arm, holds up his cast, big smile,
proud warrior. Then-
4
4) Mike is 22, wearing Pittsburgh Steelers practice uni,
first day in camp. Alone against the mountainous men, a
hazing. Infamous “nutcracker” drill - percussive hits like
car head-ons, gun-shots. Coaches screaming: “Who’s a man?!
Who’s tough?! Who’s gonna hit somebody!?”
5
5) Webster - now 27, thicker, less joyful - wins ABC Wide
World of Sports’ “Strongest Man in Football” contest. Then-
6
6) Footage of the interior game. Steelers vs. Somebody.
Webster vs. The World. Men as big as walls, and when Webster
hits his, shovel-sized hands clap his ear-holes. Lightning
bolts through his body, face in paralytic shock, and now-
7
7) Webster showers in post-game confetti winning his fourth
Super Bowl ring. Shoulder-presses the Vince Lombardi
championship trophy. His countenance primal. Now-
8
8) Back to that hit: Webster’s helmet knocked off, left arm
briefly hangs numb. Somebody’s screaming, “That’s it! Now
that’s how you gotta hit him!” And now-
9
9) A suddenly old-looking Webster roughing it through the
“nutcracker”. This time steamrolled by a new young Steelers’
bad-ass, bearded, mountain-sized. Then-
10
10) The hit again. Webster getting up slow. Through his haze,
hears:
“That’s it! Kill the head the body will die! KILL THEHEAD THE BODY WILL DIE! Now run it again!” Now we find-
11
11) Webster after a game, older, wandering off the field. Now-
WEBSTER (OVER)
(intoning)
This Hall of Fame class of players
is a tremendous group. Tremendous
people. Not perfect people-
12) Webster is 45 but looks 60. Delivering his Hall of Fame
speech in Canton, OH--
CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 2.
WEBSTER (CONT’D)
Not people who are pretentious or
whatever. Real people. And that’s
what the game of football is about.
And more manic, rambling scree. The game he loved. The owners
and coaches. CUTS to crowd - family, players - embarrassed,
wanting this to end.
Then it does. Titles end. Music ends. We cut to black, and-
MAN SINGING (PRE-LAP)
(Debarge’s ‘I like it’)
I've been thinkin'/'bout you for
quite a while/You're on my mind
everyday and every night/My every
thought is you, the things you
do/Seems so satisfying to me/I must
confess it, girl-
(voice big, melodic if not
great, continuing as we
come up to--)
13 EXT. PITTSBURGH - ESTABLISHING - DAYBREAK
The rust-belt wakes. Iron bridges like spokes of a wheel.
Wrecked fallow mills, reclaimed by nature. The massive brand-
new grounded UFO that is Heinz Field, where the Steelers
play. The converging three rivers aflame all the way to the
picket fence of Allegheny Mountains beyond.
TITLE:
SEPTEMBER, 2002MAN SINGING (OVER)
Ooh...and I like it/You send chills
up my spine every time/I take a
look at you/Ooh...and I like it-
(now we go into--)
14 INT./EXT. BENNET’S CAR (MOVING)/PITTSBURGH
A blue Mercedes E320 sedan and find BENNET OMALU, 35,
shamelessly and sweetly singing.
BENNET:
I like the way you comb your
hair/And I like those stylish
clothes you wear/It's just the
little things you do/That show how
much you really care-
(singing his way through-)
CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 3.
The Hill (ramshackle ghetto). Then Shadyside (leafy wealth).
Then the Strip (industrial hipsterville)--
BENNET (CONT’D)
Like when I'm all alone with you
You know exactly what to do-
Over a span of iron into a downtown of metal and glass-
BENNET (CONT’D)
Ooh... and I like it/You send
chills up my spine every time/I
take a look at you/Ooh... and I
like it/Ooh... and I like it-
(and--)
15 EXT. ALLEGHENY COUNTY CORONER - PITTSBURGH
Bennet pulls up beside his car’s silver twin. Same make and
model. In the shadow of a Victorian stone monolith chalked by
steel-mill soot. Itself in the shadow of a cloverleaf of
humming freeway. And Bennet gets out. And we see-
He’s incongruously - exquisitely - dressed. Tailored suit.
Crisp shirt. Expensive tie (Presidential knot). Down a ramp
into a gaping basement, receding down a dark tunnel, we-
HEAR - IN PRE-LAP - PEOPLE SINGING (badly) “HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
Happy birthday to you--”
16 INT. ALLEGHENY COUNTY CORONER - PITTSBURGH - MORNING
Four TECHNICIANS celebrating a heavyset man's 50th. Cupcake
scrawled, “Happy Birthday Joe!” Balloon bouquet, a candle.
The break room. With a window letting out on the slabs. Where
a shitbox TV plays Wheel of Fortune.
We’re in the POV of someone watching. The figure coming into
focus in f.g., quarantined, isolated-
It’s Bennet. Standing - in scrubs now. Watching the others’
lips moving, laughing. Now grabbing portable CD player, and
back to-
BENNET:
(pausing at the party)
Gracie, may we begin, please?
(and turns into--)
CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 4.
INT. AUTOPSY CHAMBER - MORNING
Soaring tiled chapel-like chamber, floors sloped toward
drains. Three steel slabs with fresh corpses in various
states of disrepair, four more in bags against the walls.
While in the b.g., DR. CYRIL WECHT, 60’s, in scrubs, steps
back from a slab to let a TECH finish up. Bennet and Wecht
meet in the middle of the room--
BENNET:
Good morning, Cyril-
As Wecht pats Bennet on the shoulder, moves to table to fill
out forms. Bennet checks the clipboard-
BENNET (CONT’D)
(checking the clipboard)
Rachel Green first, please.
GRACIE - early 20’s, blue ribbon (matching her uniform)
twisted through her hair - goes to what was a pretty WOMAN,
like her, early 20’s. Still dressed for last night’s party.
GRACIE:
Full or partial, Dr. Omalu?
Bennet reviewing the girl’s file. Police report. Holding up
her driver’s license. Roots around in her purse.
In b.g., prepping his own table, is DANIEL SULLIVAN, 50.
Chief Pathology Supervisor. Bald, dark pouches under his
eyes. Steelers stuff under lab gear. Countenance of an ill-
humored butcher.
SULLIVAN:
Open-shut O.D.-suicide. Full room
today. We need to cycle them
through.
Bennet, moving slow, ignoring him, over the girl’s face, as
if listening.
BENNET:
I need your help, Rachel. We’re in
this together. Tell me what
happened to you.
And a hand on the body’s forehead, another over the heart. He
opens her eyes. Stares into them. Connection.
SULLIVAN:
Oh here we go.
CHERRY PAGES 1.21.15 4A.
WECHT:
Danny, c’mon. Let him do this
thing. I hired him for a reason.
(to Bennet)
I need to talk to you. Come see me
in my office when you’re done-
BENNET:
Full autopsy. We’ll need the tissue
dissection station.
Sullivan stops. Glares from his table. As a TRAINEE TECH, 25,
rolls a trolley over.
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"Concussion" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/concussion_304>.
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