Life Of Pi Page #18

Pi walks beyond the throng of meerkats toward a pond, pausing

to examine the fish bones that litter the edge of one of the

ponds. The edge is steep; he gets too close, slips down the

side and into the water. Pi tastes the water. He begins a

gentle, blissful breaststroke across the pond.

Pi hears a commotion. He lifts himself up to peer over at the

meerkats. In the distance, Richard Parker blazes a trail

through the meerkats, catching, pinning and eating as many as

he can. Pi smiles, watching the tiger.

LATER:

164 EXT. THE TREE - SUNSET 164

Pi sits cradled in a nest of branches, rigging a hammock. As

the last rays of the sun disappear, he hears a commotion

below on the island and pushes aside branches to see better.

The meerkats are abandoning the ponds, scurrying up onto land

and running for the forest, their collective stampede noisier

than a herd of elephants. Richard Parker, in the meantime,

runs for the shoreline, scrambling down the ridge as fast as

possible and leaping into the lifeboat.

62.

The trunk beneath Pi is swarmed as meerkats settle upon all

the branches in the tree. Several invade Pi's hammock,

sitting on him, climbing over him, making themselves

comfortable at his expense.

PI:

Hey! Hey! Hey c'mon. Hey! Hey-get

away. This is my bed!

Pi shoves them off as best he can and settles in for the

night.

165 EXT. UP IN THE TREE - NIGHT 165

Pi sleeps, nestled in the branches of the tree.

Meerkats snore - at least one of them in the branches beneath

Pi does. Pi wakes up, staring grumpily into the darkness at

the noisy offender.

He is amazed to discover that what he can see of the island

from his perch is bioluminescent. The leaves of the tree

around him and the seaweed below all glow in gentle greens,

while the ponds beneath seem to shimmer like liquid silver -

it is a scene at once beautiful and threatening.

Pi hears a burbling noise coming from the pond at the center

of the tree. He looks down; fish bubble to the surface. One

of the larger fish writhes in agony at the surface before

falling still along with the others.

Pi watches as the water below begins churning with the bodies

of the dead fish, the surface of the water aswirl with the

flash of fins - then gradually the fish begin to disappear,

as though slowly dissolving in the water. Pi stares at the

mysterious pool, then looks out over the island to where the

lifeboat is anchored along shore -

Richard Parker is visible, sitting in the boat, staring up at

the island.

166 EXT. THE LIFEBOAT - NIGHT 166

CLOSE ON RICHARD PARKER staring into the night.

168 EXT. LIFEBOAT - NIGHT 168

WIDE ANGLE - looking over the tiger's shoulder, taking in the

entire island. From this distance, it looks - and sounds - as

though the island is gently expanding and contracting with

the tides... as though it is breathing.

63.

169 EXT. UP IN THE TREE - NIGHT 169

Pi notices fruit growing on one of the branches above his

head. He looks around at the rest of the tree, but the fruit

only seems to grow along the one branch. Pi plucks one of the

fruits and examines it. Each stem that he pulls causes a leaf

to peel off. He reaches the center of the ball, peeling back

the last of the leaves, to reveal a tooth.

FLASH FORWARD:

TO:

170 INT. PI'S HOME, MONTREAL - LATE AFTERNOON 170

WRITER:

It was human tooth?

ADULT PI:

Don't you see, the island was

carnivorous.

WRITER:

Carnivorous? Like... a Venus

flytrap?

ADULT PI:

Yes, the whole island - the plants,

the water in those pools, the very

ground itself. During the day,

those pools held fresh water, but

at night, some chemical process

turned the water in those pools

into acid - acid that dissolved

those fish, that sent the meerkats

scurrying into the trees and

Richard Parker running to the boat.

WRITER:

But where did the tooth come from?

ADULT PI:

Years ago, some poor fellow just

like me must have found himself

stranded on that island.... And

like me he thought he might stay

there forever. But all that the

island gave him by day, it took

away again by night. To think - how

many hours spent with only meerkats

for company? How much loneliness

taken on?

(MORE)

64.

ADULT PI (CONT'D)

All I know is that eventually he

died, and the island digested him,

leaving behind only his teeth. I

saw how my life would end if I

stayed on that island. Alone and

forgotten. I had to go back to the

world, or die trying.

171 EXT. ISLAND/LIFEBOAT - DAY 171

Pi loads the boat with water and meerkats; the tarp is piled

high with roots and seaweed.

ADULT PI (V.O.)

I spent the next day preparing the

boat. I filled my stores with fresh

water, ate seaweed until my stomach

could take no more, and brought as

many meerkats as I could fit into

the storage locker for Richard

Parker. I couldn't leave without

him, of course - it would mean

killing him. And so I waited for

his return. I knew he wouldn't be

late.

He blows his whistle, calling:

PI:

RICHARD PARKER!

172 EXT. THE ISLAND/LIFEBOAT - SUNSET 172

Richard Parker runs down the ridge and jumps into the stern.

Pi climbs aboard and shoves off.

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