Dead Poets Society Page #22

The other boys have sensed an extra presence in the room.

They back away from Charlie. Suddenly Charlie stops and sees

Mr. Keating.

CHARLIE (CONT'D)

Hello!

Keating calmly takes the letter from Charlie and folds it.

KEATING:

A woman is a cathedral, boys. Worship

at one every chance you get.

He OPENS a drawer.

KEATING (CONT'D)

Anything else you'd care to rifle

through, Mr. Dalton?

CHARLIE:

I'm sorry. I, we

Keating puts the letter in the drawer and closes it. Charlie

looks around for help. Neil steps forward.

NEIL:

Oh Captain, My Captain, we came here so

I could talk to you about something.

KEATING:

Okay.

NEIL:

Actually, I'd like to talk to you alone.

Charlie and the others are glad to be let out.

PITTS:

I gotta go study.

OTHERS:

Yeah. See you, Kr. Keating.

They hurry to leave.

KEATING:

Drop by any time.

BOYS:

Thank you, sir.

PITTS:

(low, while exiting)

Damn it, Nuwanda. You idiot.

CHARLIE:

(also exiting)

I couldn't stop myself.

Keating can't help but smile to himself. Neil and Mr.

Keating are alone. Neil paces, looking around.

NEIL:

Gosh, they don't give you much room

around here, do they?

KEATING:

(wryly)

Maybe they don't want worldly things

distracting me from my teaching.

NEIL:

Why do you do it? I mean, with all this

seize-the-day business, I'd have thought

you'd be out seeing the world or

something?

KEATING:

Ah, but I am seeing the world, Neil.

The new world. Seeing a student like you

take root and bloom. It's worth

everything. That's why I came back here.

A place like this needs at least one

teacher like me.

(smiles at his joke, then:)

Did you come here to talk about my

teaching?

NEIL:

Mr. Keating, my father is making me quit

the play at Henley Hall. When I think

about carpe diem and all that, I feel

like I'm in prison! I mean, I can see

his point. We're not a rich family like

Charlie's. But he's planned the rest of

my life for me and he's never even asked

me what I want!

KEATING:

You can't live a life for someone else,

Neil. You can only live for yourself.

Have you told your father what you just

told me? Have you shown him your passion

about acting?

NEIL:

Are you kidding? He'd kill me!

KEATING:

Then you're playing a part for him too,

aren't you? A dangerously self-

destructive one.

Keating watches Neil pace anxiously.

KEATING (CONT'D)

Neil, I know this seems impossible but

you have to go to your father and show

him what you're feeling. You have to let

him see who you are- It's your only

chance.

NEIL:

I know what he'll say. He'll say that

acting is just a whim and that it's

frivolous and that I should forget about

it. He'll tell me how they're counting

on me and to put it out of my mind "for

my own good."

KEATING:

Well, if it's more than a whim, then

you'll have to prove that to him. You'll

have to show him with your passion and

commitment that it's what you really want

to do. If that doesn't work, at least by

then you'll be eighteen and able to do

what you want.

NEIL:

Eighteen! That's two years! What about

the play? The performance is tomorrow

night!

KEATING:

Give your father the benefit of the

doubt. Talk to him. Let him see who you

are.

NEIL:

Isn't there an easier way?

KEATING:

Not if you're going to stay true to

yourself.

Neil sits there for a long time.

90/91 OMITTED 90/91

92 INT. CHARLIE'S CAVE - NIGHT 92

The boys sit in the candle-lit room. Charlie blows notes on

his saxophone. Knox sits in the corner, mumbling to himself,

working on a love poem to Chris. Todd sits writing something

too. Cameron is studying. Pitts is scratching a quote out of

a book into the wall. Knox looks at his watch.

KNOX:

Ten minutes to curfew.

Nobody responds. Knox looks at Todd.

KNOX (CONT'D)

What are you writing?

TODD:

I don't know. A poem.

KNOX:

For class?

TODD:

I don't know.

Charlie keeps playing the sax. Todd keeps writing. Knox

looks at his love poem to Chris. He slaps it on the side of

his leg.

KNOX:

Damn. Damn! If I could just get Chris

to read this poem!

PITTS:

Why don't you read it to her? It worked

for Nuwanda.

KNOX:

She won't even see me, Pitts.

PITTS:

Nuwanda recited poetry to Gloria and she

jumped all over him... right, Nuwanda?

Charlie stops blowing on his sax. He thinks a moment about

his answer.

CHARLIE:

Absolutely.

He starts blowing notes again. Off in the distance, we hear

a bell ring. Charlie finishes his melody, puts his sax in its

case, and moves out. Todd, Cameron, and Pitts exit too. Knox

stands there, alone, looking at his poem. then exits

determinedly.

KNOX:

Damn! Goddam! If it worked for him,

it'll work for me.

93A EXT. THE WELTON GROUNDS - EARLY MORNING 93A

The dawn rises over the frozen Welton campus. Snow covers

the ground. The school bagpiper stands, playing a haunting

melody.

93 EXT. THE JUNZOR DORMZTORY - SAME 93

Knox comes out of the dorm building, bundled against the

freezing weather. Be hurries onto his bike and speeds away.

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