Coraline Page #10

EXT. OTHER HOUSE - SAME

Coraline, dressed in her FANCY NEW CLOTHES, steps onto

the FRONT PORCH and BURPS. It’s always nighttime in this

world.

A CAT MEEEROWS. Coraline looks up to see a BLACK CAT on

the porch roof above her.

Coraline raises her brows, studies the animal a moment.

CORALINE:

Hmmm... Wybie’s got a cat like you at

home. Not the quiet Wybie; the one that

talks too much. You must be the Other

Cat.

The cat LEAPS down and lands on the railing by the

basement stairs. He shakes his head and SPEAKS!

CAT:

No. I’m not the other anything. I’m me.

He tips his head to one side, opal blue eyes glinting.

Coraline is surprised.

CORALINE:

Um... I can see you don’t have button

eyes. But if you’re the same cat, how can

you talk?

The cat shrugs from the tip of his tail to his whiskers.

CAT:

I just can.

He leaps smoothly from the railing and onto a large,

FALLEN TREE.

CORALINE:

Cats don’t talk at home.

CAT:

No?

CORALINE:

Nope.

Climbs up the tree's upended roots, head held high and

proud.

CAT:

(dryly)

Well, you’re clearly the expert on these

things. After all, I’m just a big fat

wuss puss.

CORALINE:

Come back. Please? I... I’m sorry I

called you that, I really am.

Coraline forces herself to be polite.

CORALINE (CONT'D)

How'd you get here?

CAT:

I’ve been coming here for a while.

He DISAPPEARS behind one a thick root that sticks up,

then REAPPEARS from a large knot hole beside Coraline,

startling her.

CAT (CONT’D)

It’s a game we play. She...

(indicates house)

...hates cats and tries to keep me out.

But she can’t, of course.

He pokes his HEAD DOWN into the knot hole, then POPS IT

UP out of ANOTHER KNOT-HOLE, ten feet away.

CAT (CONT'D)

I come and go as I please.

CORALINE:

(skeptical)

The Other Mother hates cats?

CAT:

(contemptuous)

Not like any “mother” I’ve ever known.

CORALINE:

What do you mean? She’s amazing!

Cat climbs the tree's branches onto the roof.

CAT:

You probably think this world is a dream

come true. But you’re wrong. The Other

Wybie told me so.

CORALINE:

That’s nonsense. He can’t talk.

The cat looks at her, pitying her lack of intelligence.

CAT:

Perhaps not to you. We cats, however,

have far superior senses than humans and

can see and smell, and -

Suddenly, the cat drops into a crouch and freezes,

sensing something.

CAT (CONT’D)

(whispering)

Shhhh! I hear something! Right ...over...

He SCRAMBLES across the roof and disappears around the

corner.

Coraline shrugs, skeptical, and heads down to Spink and

Forcible’s, their door now circled with CHASER LIGHTS.

INT. MISS SPINK AND FORCIBLE’S OTHER APARTMENT - SAME

She pushes past elegant VELVET CURTAINS to discover an

enormous, darkened THEATER with dim rows of seats and a

high WOODEN STAGE.

A FLASHLIGHT comes towards her, carried by a black

SCOTTIE DOG with button eyes. He looks up at her, sniffs,

then leads her down the aisle past rows and rows of

BUTTON-EYED SCOTTIES, to a front seat by the Other Wybie.

She squeezes his arm hello, he looks back warmly.

CORALINE:

Hey, Wybie.

Light flash, the audience quiets, then the curtains open

on a SEASIDE SETTING with ROTATING WAVES. OTHER MISS

SPINK rises up on stage left, in a MERMAID SUIT, large

WIG, BUTTON EYES, and UKULELE.

CORALINE (CONT'D)

(shocked)

She’s practically naked!

And Miss Spink sings.

OTHER MISS SPINK

I’m known as the siren of all seven seas

The breaker of hearts by the bay.

A flat cut-out ship manned by cut-out men rows in behind

her.

OTHER MISS SPINK (CONT'D)

So, if you go swimmin’

With bow-legged women,

I might steal your weak heart away.

She bows her head and the audience of dogs THUMP their

tails.

Spink is LOWERED through the stage floor, the SCENERY

CHANGES, and on the right, a huge SCALLOP SHELL RISES up

with the OTHER MISS FORCIBLE, clad in the bare minimum -

her homage to Botticelli’s BIRTH OF VENUS. She's facing

the wrong way.

CORALINE:

(whisper, to Wybie)

Oh my God.

A dog HOWLS, alerting the near-blind lady, who turns to

the audience and begins the next verse.

OTHER MISS FORCIBLE

A big-bottomed sea witch may bob through

the waves,

And hope to lead sailors astray,

But a true ocean goddess,

Must fill out her bodice,

(indicates her ample bosom)

To present an alluring display.

The dogs thump and woof, Wybie and Coraline clap.

Spink, furious at the greater reaction, gets back in the

competition. Rising up, she makes it clear just who she's

dissing.

OTHER MISS SPINK

Beware of old oysters, too large in the

chest,

Let’s banish them from the buffet.

But Forcible is up to the challenge - the scenery starts

to change faster and faster as the ladies rise up and

down, competing.

OTHER MISS SPINK (CONT’D)

I’m far more nutritious

OTHER MISS FORCIBLE

You smell like the fishes

OTHER MISS SPINK

Did I hear a banshee?

OTHER MISS FORCIBLE

You’re sea-green with envy

OTHER MISS SPINK

This mermaid enchantress,

OTHER MISS FORCIBLE

No, I “Birth of Venus!”

The set rigging can't take it anymore -- ropes snap,

sandbags swing, scenery starts to fall.

OTHER MISS FORCIBLE

(CONT'D)

Will send sailors swooning --oh--!

OTHER MISS SPINK

Will send sailors swooning --oh--!

With a crash, the old ladies TUMBLE DOWN IN A PILE.

Coraline winces. The audience HOWLS with laughter as the

curtains close on the disaster.

DRUM ROLL. A SCOTTIE DOG pushes a large BUCKET OF WATER,

labeled “POOL”, onto center stage. Spotlights tilt up to

the top of very tall diving platforms WHERE THE OLD

LADIES NOW STAND. Coraline can’t stand it.

CORALINE:

(whispers)

I can’t look!

OTHER MISS SPINK

Ready to break a leg, Miriam?

OTHER MISS FORCIBLE

Our lives for the theater, April!

They begin to bounce on the diving boards. As they bounce

up, the two troupers unzip FAT SUIT DISGUISES from which

emerge their YOUNGER BEAUTIFUL SELVES which LEAP to catch

matching TRAPEZE BARS that swing into place.

Coraline LAUGHS with relief and amazement, Other Wybie

pleased. Dogs WOOF, MUSIC BEGINS and the TWO BEAUTIES –

eyes BRIGHT BUTTONS, SEXY BATHING SUITS striped pink and

green – SWING OUT over the stage.

YOUNG FORCIBLE:

What a piece of work is man!

How noble in reason!

They FLY past each other on their trapezes, double up,

catch one another hand to ankle. We notice a LARGE PEARL

RING on Forcible’s finger.

YOUNG SPINK:

How infinite in faculty!

In form and moving how express and

admirable!

In a SUDDEN change of direction, they SWING OUT over the

audience, trapeze bar LOWERING and PULL CORALINE INTO THE

AIR! She HOLLERS, terrified.

They expertly TOSS HER one to the other, FLIPPING AND

SPINNING, as they continue their lines. Her SCREAMS

become CRIES OF EXHILARATION.

YOUNG FORCIBLE:

In action like an angel!

YOUNG SPINK:

In apprehension how like a god!

CORALINE:

Ahhh!!!

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