Frankenweenie Page #2

MR. RZYKRUSKI

Well. That is bad. But he did

not get "hit by" lightning.

Lightning does not hit a person,

the way one is hit by a baseball

or a cabbage.

On the blackboard, he draws a diagram to illustrate his

point, starting with a big cloud.

MR. RZYKRUSKI

Lightning is simply electricity.

The cloud is angry, yes, making

storm. All the electrons are

saying, "I am leaving you. I go

to land of opportunity."

He draws the ground beneath it.

MR. RZYKRUSKI

The ground says, "Yes, we need

electrons trained in science just

like you. Come! Come! Welcome!"

So both sides start to build a

ladder.

(drawing stick

figure)

This man, he comes out to look at

the storm. He does not see the

invisible ladders. When the two

ladders meet, BOOM! The circuit

is complete and all of the

electrons rush to the land of

opportunity. This man is in the

way. Yiii!

January 2012

Final Shooting Script_2012_01_18_v2 8

He draws "shock lines" all around the stick figure. It's

pretty violent.

All of the students are watching in wide-eyed wonder.

Realizing that he may have gone overboard...

MR. RZYKRUSKI

But is very rare to have such

incident.

Victor raises his hand.

TOSHIAKI:

But it's not rare.

Lightning happens to people all

the time here.

There's a thunderstorm almost

every night.

BOB:

My dad got hit twice.

WEIRD GIRL:

They built New Holland on an

abandoned gold mine...

TOSHIAKI:

I heard it was a cemetery.

WEIRD GIRL:

That's where they buried the

miners.

NASSOR:

It's the windmill that does it.

REVEAL a view of the windmill through the classroom

window.

We PUSH IN on Nassor, the intense look in his eyes.

NASSOR:

Turning, turning the air until the

sky itself rages against the

night.

A beat.

WEIRD GIRL:

No. Cemetery. Definitely.

EXT. BACK YARD - DAY

Sparky amusing himself while Victor is at school by

playing with a tennis ball.

January 2012

Final Shooting Script_2012_01_18_v2 9

But “catch” doesn’t work too well without Victor and the

ball rolls through a broken plank in the bottom of Mr

Burgemeister’s fence.

Assuming it is lost forever, Sparky sits dejectedly

looking at the fence until he is startled to see the ball

suddenly roll back towards him.

He BARKS and goes to investigate.

Another dog BARKS BACK.

Surprised, Sparky backs off. There’s not usually a dog

next door.

He BARKS.

An ANSWERING BARK.

He SNIFFS the fence thoroughly. As he reaches the broken

plank, his nose touches ANOTHER DOG’S NOSE.

He jumps back.

Lies low in the grass to peer through.

On the other side of the fence is a similarly-sized

poodle named PERSEPHONE -- Elsa’s dog. She’s beautiful.

She drops the ball on the grass, staring back.

Sparky suddenly rolls over on his back, completely

submissive.

Persephone grabs the ball and runs away.

Sparky pops up, looking after her.

INT. CLASS - DAY

The bell RINGS. Students head for the door.

MR. RZYKRUSKI

Students on your way out, take a

permission slip for the Science

Fair.

Nassor takes a form. Reads it.

They are intrigued but don’t understand.

BOB:

(per the form)

First prize is a huge trophy!

January 2012

Final Shooting Script_2012_01_18_v2 10

EXT. SCHOOL / BIKE RACKS - DAY

CLOSE ON Victor, kneeling as he locks his bike to the

rack.

A SHADOW falls across him.

He looks up to see WEIRD GIRL standing over him. She has

a fluffy white CAT in her arms, which she strokes idly

like a James Bond villain.

WEIRD GIRL:

Hello, Victor.

VICTOR:

Hi.

WEIRD GIRL:

Mr. Whiskers had a dream about you

last night.

VICTOR:

How do you know?

WEIRD GIRL:

Because this morning, he made

this.

She holds out what looks to be a small rope of dried

clay, bent in shape of a V.

VICTOR:

Did you get that out of the litter

box?

WEIRD GIRL:

It’s an omen.

FLASH CUT:

EXT. VARIOUS LOCATIONS - DAY [PAST]

WEIRD GIRL (V.O.)

Last month he dreamed about Bob.

She shows BOB, a chubby classmate, a cat-poop ‘B.’

In a STYLIZED, OVERLAPPING SPLIT-SCREEN, we see Bob

walking down a sidewalk, eating an ice-cream cone.

WEIRD GIRL (V.O.)

He fell in a manhole.

Bob suddenly drops out of frame. TILT DOWN to see the

open manhole.

January 2012

Final Shooting Script_2012_01_18_v2 11

WEIRD GIRL (V.O.)

He dreamed about Toshiaki the day

he pitched a perfect game.

Weird Girl shows classmate TOSHIAKI a cat-poop ‘T.’

Wearing a baseball cap, Toshiaki stares intently, ready

to make his pitch.

WEIRD GIRL (V.O.)

...and Nassor the day he got

knocked unconscious.

Nassor, an intense boy with sinister eyes, pulls down a

catcher’s mask. A slit of light on his eyes.

Toshiaki throws. The ball hits Nassor square on the

mask, knocking him down.

EXT. SCHOOL / BIKE RACKS - DAY

WEIRD GIRL:

If Mr. Whiskers dreams about you,

it means something big is going to

happen.

She offers him the “V.”

VICTOR:

You can keep it.

The class bell RINGS. Side-stepping around her, Victor

heads in to class.

She holds the cat to her face.

WEIRD GIRL:

One day you’ll dream about me,

won’t you kitty?

Mr. Whiskers offers nothing.

EXT. TOWN - DAY

Victor hops off his bike and goes into the backyard where

Sparky has been waiting for him to come home.

VICTOR:

Hey boy. How you doing?

Suddenly the backyard gate bursts open.

E:

You'll be my partner, right,

Victor?

(MORE)

January 2012

Final Shooting Script_2012_01_18_v2 12

E (CONT'D)

Because you have to have a partner

for the science fair and whoever's

your partner is going to win. You

know the most about science. So

pick me as a partner. I have lots

of ideas. We could make a death

ray!

Victor holds up a permission slip, which lists all the

prohibited projects, including explosives, lasers,

nuclear devices and death rays.

VICTOR:

It says no death rays. See?

E:

Ah, man. I still want to do it.

(and yet...)

C'mon. Who else would be your

partner? You don't have friends

and neither do I.

He has a point. Victor gives in.

VICTOR:

I’m sorry Edgar. I just don’t need

a partner. I like to work alone.

INT. DINING ROOM - DAY

Dad is examining the permission slip. Mom is bringing

food in from the kitchen -- they're having fondue.

VICTOR:

Will you sign my permission slip?

MOM:

Dinner’s ready.

DAD:

Victor, have I ever talked to you

about what I do for a living?

VICTOR:

You're a travel agent.

DAD:

I sell dreams. I tell people, you

can sail to Italy. You can do the

hula in Hawaii.

VICTOR:

Will you sign my form?

DAD:

I'm getting to that.

January 2012

Final Shooting Script_2012_01_18_v2 13

VICTOR:

Okay.

Dad picks up two long fondue forks, using them to

illustrate his point.

DAD:

In my job, sometimes you have

people who don't want quite the

same thing, right. Say the

husband wants to play golf in

Scotland, but the wife wants to

paddle down the Amazon. Alright

you’ve got two conflicting ideas

here.

Rate this script:4.0 / 2 votes