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
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.
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.
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
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?
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-
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"Coraline" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/coraline_221>.
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