Coraline Page #3

CORALINE:

Hey Dad, how’s the writing going?... Dad?

He ignores her reflection in his computer screen as he

types away, green letters on black. She CLEARS HER

THROAT.

CHARLIE:

Hello, Coraline...

(notices doll’s reflection)

And... Coraline doll?...

CORALINE:

D’you know where the garden tools are?

He hears rain outside.

CHARLIE:

It’s pouring out there, isn’t it.

CORALINE:

Humph, it’s just raining.

CHARLIE:

What’d the boss say?

CORALINE:

(mocking)

“Don’t even think about going out,

Coraline Jones.”

CHARLIE:

Then you won’t need the tools.

Coraline GROANS, stamps her feet. Charlie just taps

harder on the keys. Pouting, she makes the door squeak,

opening and shutting it till he can’t take any more. He

spins around.

CHARLIE (CONT'D)

Uhhh, you know, this house is a hundred

and fifty years old.

CORALINE:

So?

CHARLIE:

So explore it!

He grabs a pen and pad, holds it out.

CHARLIE (CONT'D)

Go out and ... count all the doors and

windows and write that down. List

everything blue!

(begging)

Just let me work.

She rolls her eyes, takes paper and pen and leaves.

MONTAGE, VARIOUS - SAME

HALLWAY NEAR STAIRS

Coraline, with doll, jumps on BUMP in carpet that moves

with each jump.

LAUNDRY ROOM/WINTER GARDEN

She wipes off the misted glass so she and the doll can

see out, then writes in her pad: 7 leaky windows. A drop

of water lands on the pad, smearing the ink. She adds

really between 7 and leaky windows.

HALLWAY NEAR STAIRS

Coraline thumps the carpet bump again and pounds up the

stairs.

PARENT'S ROOM/BATHROOM

A FRAMED PHOTO sits in the foreground on a beside table.

It shows a younger, happier Coraline with her parents by

the BEAR FOUNTAIN at the Detroit Zoo. RACK FOCUS to

bedroom door as it swings into the room, with Coraline

hanging on it. She drops to the ground and, doll and pad

in hand, decides to check out the bathroom.

When she pulls aside the mildewed shower curtain she

finds a hundred skittering SILVERFISH BUGS.

CORALINE:

Ewww!

Disgusted, she jumps into the tub and smashes as many as

she can.

She turns on the faucet to wash her hands, only to get

soaked with rusty water from the shower head.

CORALINE (CONT’D)

Ahh!!

She shakes out her hair.

HALLWAY NEAR STAIRS

Coraline pounds down the stairs, spots the carpet bump

again in the hallway and jumps on it. A closet door

opens, a light on inside, and she goes to investigate.

WATER HEATER CLOSET

ANGLE OVER water heater on Coraline. She jots down one

rusty water heater in her pad. As she leaves, she flicks

off the light switch, not noticing a note taped beside it

that says:
Do not turn off!

INT. STUDY - SAME

Lights flicker and then Charlie’s computer dies. He

hollers.

CHARLIE:

No, no, no, no, no; GAAAA--!

INT. HALLWAY - SAME

CHARLIE (O.S.)

--AAAAAAA!

Coraline reacts with guilty alarm, runs back to the

closet and --

INT. CLOSET - SAME

-- spots the Do not turn off note. She flips the light

switch back on and gets out of there.

INT. LIVING ROOM - SAME

The room is faded and cold with bare windows looking out

on rain and gray. The floor is strewn with moving boxes,

a few pieces of furniture, Charlie's old Nordic Track. A

few garden tools lean against one wall; a cardboard

mattress box leans against a corner wall.

Coraline enters, counting windows and doors to note in

her pad. She sets the doll on a low table beside an open

moving box and smiles.

The box is filled with her mom’s collection of

SNOWGLOBES. She takes out her favorite - the BEAR

FOUNTAIN AT THE DETROIT ZOO - and shakes it. She studies

the globe and sighs with homesickness. She sets it

carefully on the FIREPLACE MANTEL, then unwraps the rest

of the snowglobes and places them beside it.

Over the mantel hangs a PAINTING of a CRYING BOY IN BLUE -

a scoop of ice cream melting on his shirt, his hand

holding an EMPTY CONE. Coraline takes up pad and pen and

adds to her list, muttering aloud.

CORALINE:

One boring blue boy in a painfully boring

painting ... four incredibly boring

windows ... and no... more... doors...

She turns to grab the doll off the table by the snow

globe box. It’s gone.

CORALINE (CONT'D)

All right, little me, where are you

hiding?

Scanning the room, she spots the doll LOOKING OUT FROM

BEHIND THE MATTRESS BOX leaned against the corner wall.

Perplexed, she walks over and kneels down to grab the

doll when she notices SOMETHING ON THE WALL behind the

box.

She shoves the box aside, and discovers the outline of a

SMALL DOOR that’s been wallpapered over.

CORALINE (CONT’D)

Huh?

Intensely curious, she calls to the kitchen.

CORALINE (CONT'D)

Hey Mom...

INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

Mom, typing away, ignores her.

CORALINE (O.S.)

Where does this door go?

MEL:

I’m really, really busy!

INT LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Coraline tries to open it but there’s no handle.

CORALINE:

I think it’s locked.

MEL (O.S.)

INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

CORALINE (O.S.)

Pleeeeeeeeease!

Mel gets up, really annoyed. Big sigh.

MEL:

Uhhh...

INT. LIVING ROOM - SAME

She walks over to Coraline, looks at the outline of the

door in the ratty old wallpaper.

MEL:

Will you stop pestering me if I do this

for you?

Coraline nods her head quickly, PANTING like a dog.

MEL (CONT’D)

Fine.

She heads back to the kitchen.

INT KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

Mel pulls open a drawer, pushes a bunch of loose brass

and nickel keys aside to find a small, sharp black key.

Holds it up.

INT LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Mel cuts the wallpaper around the door and sticks the key

in the lock. Coraline looks on, giddy with anticipation,

the doll at her side. Mel turns the key, unlocks the

door, and pulls it open to reveal ... an UNBROKEN BRICK

WALL. Coraline is totally disappointed.

CORALINE:

Bricks? I don’t get it.

Coraline scratches her wrist rash with annoyance.

MEL:

They must have closed this off when they

divided up the house.

Mel gets up to leave.

CORALINE:

You're kidding? And why is the door so

small?

Mel leaving room, turns back, and loses it.

MEL:

We made a deal. ZIP IT!

She exits. Coraline makes annoyed sound.

CORALINE:

You didn’t lock it.

MEL (O.S.)

AaaaaH!!!

Coraline pushes the little door shut, her head lowered.

EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT

WIDE ANGLE ON HOUSE. Pouring rain. We hear Charlie

singing a song about Coraline, badly.

CHARLIE (O.S.)

Oh, my twitchy witchy girl,

INT. KITCHEN - SAME

CHARLIE, using OVEN MITT to protect his hand, takes a

BURNED-UP CASSEROLE DISH from the oven while mom closes

up her LAPTOP. Coraline sits at the table with her doll.

CHARLIE:

I think you are so nice,

I give you bowls of porridge

And I give you bowls of ice -

CHARLIE sets the dish on the table.

CHARLIE:

(really bad note)

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