Coraline

HEAD CREDIT SEQUENCE MYSTERIOUS SEWING ROOM - NIGHT,

A HAUNTING LULLABY plays against a black, star-pricked

sky when something appears in the distance. A BUTTON-EYED

DOLL floats towards CAMERA, through the open window of a

small sewing room where it lands in a pair of WAITING

HANDS, hands that are made of SEWING NEEDLES.

The doll - which resembles a YOUNG BLACK GIRL in old-

fashioned clothes, hair fixed with ribbons and braids -

is placed on a sewing table. An elaborate sewing kit is

opened, and, in flickering green light, the NEEDLE-HANDS

go to work. The doll's old clothes are cut away; button-

eyes torn off; hair pulled out. The doll’s stuffing is

removed and then the empty cloth body is pulled inside

out, turning from NUT BROWN to PALE PINK.

Sawdust is poured in the NEW DOLL's mouth; facial

features added; blue yarn hair punched in; and then a

fresh pair of shiny black button eyes is selected from a

button drawer.

The transformed doll, in a LITTLE YELLOW RAINCOAT, its

new button eyes affixed, is released out the window and

BACK INTO THE NIGHT.

LAST HEAD CREDIT APPEARS, THEN FADES.

EXT PINK PALACE, ASHLAND OREGON - DAY

WIDE ANGLE on a rambling old Queen Anne-style house with

tacked-on outside stairs. It's late winter, the sky a

damp, grey sponge. A SIGN in the foreground reads "Pink

Palace, Apartment for Rent".

MR. BOBINSKY - a seven-foot-tall blue-skinned man -

performs calisthenics on the rooftop, counting in

Russian.

MR. BOBINSKY

Dras, dva, tri, chetyri.

Dras, dva, tri, chetyri.

Dras, dva, tri ...

A BEEPING SOUND begins and he pauses. A tired MOVING VAN

backs into frame and up the muddy driveway. A VW BEETLE -

suitcases roped to its top - recklessly passes the truck

and disappears around the side of the house. Bobinsky

shakes his fist angrily after the car and shouts:

MR. BOBINSKY (CONT’D)

Mer-sa-vich!

He marches away indignantly. One of the MOVERS, unseen in

the truck, speaks to his companion.

MOVER 2 (O.C.)

We're here. Time to muscle up.

ANGLE ON moving truck's REAR DOORS as they're wrenched

open by two men - MOVER 1, tall and bear-shaped, and

MOVER 2, built like a brick top - to reveal a lot of

BOXES and BEAT-UP FURNITURE.

They haul out the LOADING RAMP towards CAMERA.

NEW ANGLE, EXTERIOR STAIRS to BASEMENT FLAT. APRIL SPINK,

a rotund little old English lady with bad legs, surveys

the MOVERS as they pass by her chair-lift with boxes and

furniture. The old gal can't wait to tell her flat mate

below about the young, strapping men.

MOVER 2 (CONT’D)

(efforts)

Got it? Almost there, just a few more.

Come on, now, LIFT.

ANGLE ON FRONT PORCH. The job finished, Mover 2 heads

down the front steps while Mover 1 waits for a signature

from the unseen-but-for-his-hands new tenant. Papers

signed, a tip of a single, grubby dollar bill is placed

in the outstretched hand of the disappointed mover, and

the door is shut.

EXT HOUSE, REAR VIEW - SAME

ANGLE from BACK YARD. Hiding behind shrubs, WE SHARE the

POV of a MYSTERIOUS SPY. With a CLICK, a close-up lens is

rotated into place to better see the movers quietly pack

into the truck and drive away. A MANGY BLACK CAT walks

right in front of the lens and looks at us with concern.

OFF-SCREEN, a door bangs open. WE FOLLOW the cat as it

races up a tree and out a branch towards the BACK PORCH

to investigate.

CORALINE JONES, 11, steps onto the porch in a YELLOW

RAINCOAT with a shoulder bag. WE - SPY’S POV - CLICK to a

CLOSE-UP to find this new tenant has BLUE HAIR and a

skeptical face.

NEW ANGLE, non-spy reverse, on Coraline as she glances

furtively over her shoulder, then hops down the steps and

moves diagonally away from the house.

NEW Angle, SPY POV. We watch Coraline head towards the

WOODY SHRUB we've hidden ourselves in. We DUCK DOWN.

ANGLE on Coraline, non-spy, shrub by garden gate. She

reaches into the shrub and breaks off a FORKED BRANCH.

She removes the stick’s red leaves, aims it like a

DOWSING ROD and heads into the garden.

CAM PUSH IN to shrub as the SPY RISES UP, wearing a three-

eyed SKELETON MASK on his head and SKELETON GLOVES on his

hands. The black cat hops into frame, glances at the spy

and follows the girl.

MONTAGE VARIOUS EXT - SAME

AFISH POND IN GARDEN - SAME

Coraline explores the drained, crumbling pond. She finds

an old TURTLE SHELL in the muck and holds it up. After

rapping on it to make sure it's empty, she puts the shell

into her shoulder bag.

ANGLE ON CAROLINE, SPY POV. WE PUSH ASIDE dead vines from

the railing of the GARDEN BRIDGE for a better look.

Coraline aims her forked stick once more then follows it

up from the pond and out the BACK GATE. A gust of WIND

blows DEAD LEAVES into a swirling eddy WE TRACK high up

into the air.

DISSOLVE TO:

ROCKY PATH HIGH ABOVE HOUSE - LITTLE LATER

SPY POV on sky, now dark with GATHERING STORM. Hidden

behind a NATURAL WALL OF STONES, WE TILT DOWN to view

Coraline crossing frame on a STEEP HILLSIDE path. She

steps on an old RAILROAD TIE, and her foot SINKS into the

rotted wood, stopping her.

WE LEAN OUT for a better view, and DISLODGE some stones

that roll down past her. WE DUCK as she jerks her head

our way.

NEW ANGLE, non-spy. Unnerved, Coraline calls out.

CORALINE:

Hello?... Who’s there?

She throws a rock over the wall of stones, HITS THE

UNSEEN SPY, causing a CRY OF PAIN. ANIMAL? HUMAN? Freaked

out, she GASPS, runs up the trail.

NEW ANGLE, SPY POV. We rise up to watch and the black cat

hops onto the stone wall.

EXT. OVERGROWN ORCHARD - CONT.

Coraline races down past an OLD TRACTOR and into an

ORCHARD. WIND begins to blow.

NEW ANGLE as we move beside Coraline through the old

apple trees, where she nearly trips on the tongue of a

harvest cart.

DOWN ANGLE ON on Coraline as she BACKS INTO a circle of

TOADSTOOLS in front of a STUMP. BREATHING HARD, she looks

out for her pursuer.

NEW ANGLE. The black cat shoots past Coraline in the tall

grass. She can't see him but she knows something is

there. Already behind her now, the cat LEAPS onto the

stump with a loud, warning MEROWWW!

STARTLED, Coraline YELLS and whips around. She’s both

angry and relieved when she sees it’s just some cat.

CORALINE:

You scared me to death, you mangy thing!

Cat GLARES at her with BLUE OPAL EYES, makes a low growl

as she stands. She exhales.

CORALINE (CONT'D)

I’m just looking for an old well. Know

it?

Cat BLINKS EYES slowly.

CORALINE(CONT'D)

Not talking, huh?

The wind picks up. She grasps the forks of her stick,

closes her eyes, and, tracing a figure eight above her,

says:

CORALINE (CONT'D)

Magic dowser, magic dowser: show... me...

the well!

ANGLE ON CORALINE FROM HIGH BLUFF. The SPY moves into

frame, astride some kind of MOTOR-BIKE. He presses a

button on the handlebars and BLASTS a loud AIR HORN.

STARTLED, Coraline SPINS around.

UP ANGLE ON SPY. As LIGHTNING FLASHES and THUNDER ROLLS,

Coraline sees him for the first time. With his turret-

lensed SKULL MASK and SKELETON GLOVES and black FIREMAN’S

COAT flapping in the wind, he looks like a PSYCHO KILLER!

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