Sleepless in Seattle Page #2

DIANE:

Steven still brings me flowers

every Friday and we've been

married 10 years.

LAURIE:

(to Diane)

Honey, nobody wants to hear

that.

(to Annie)

Here, darling, have some Tic

Tacs.

Kissing everyone. Annie starts toward the plane, loaded

with stuff.

ANNIE:

The next time you see me I am

going to be incredibly happy.

INT. PLANE - NIGHT

Sam and Jonah sitting together as the plane waits on the

runway. He notices his father's distractedness, reaches

over and takes his hand. Sam comes back into focus.

SAM:

I'm your dad. Don't ever

forget that. That's rule

number two.

(beat)

It's you and me, kid.

INT. PLANE - NIGHT

Annie sitting by herself as the plane waits on the

runway.

ANNIE:

(to herself)

I guess it's just us.

She gulps.

EXT. O'HARA AIRPORT - NIGHT

The two planes face in opposite directions, waiting for

instructions.

And now they both start to take off. In opposite

directions.

And we pull back back back back as the planes take off,

one flying east, the other flying west.

And further and further back as they soar into the air

and leave the frame.

The night sky.

Stars twinkle.

And now tilt down to see the United States. It looks

like a cross between a satellite photo and a drawing by

Saul Steinberg.

A light goes on in Baltimore.

A light goes on in Seattle.

They are the only lights on the map.

EXT. BALTIMORE SUN BUILDING - LATE AFTERNOON - CHRISTMAS EVE

As Annie comes out of the newspaper building with WALTER

JACKSON, a tall, handsome man who wears a hat. They're

carrying an armful of Christmas presents. They're

walking toward the parking lot.

WALTER:

The short one with black hair

is your cousin Irene --

ANNIE:

-- who's married to --

WALTER:

Harold, who ran away with his

secretary but came back --

ANNIE:

-- because Irene threatened to

put the dog to sleep if he

didn't --

WALTER:

And your brother Tom is a

psychology professor and is

married to...Betsy --

ANNIE:

-- who is the most competitive

woman in the world --

They put the presents in the backs of their two cars and

pull out together.

EXT. A HOUSE IN BALTIMORE SUBURBS - NIGHT

Christmas lights twinkling as the two cars pull up in

front of a comfortable upper middle-class house and park

their cars. They get out assembling presents.

WALTER:

Your Uncle Milton lost all his

money in a Puerto Rican

condominium that went belly up,

don't mention the IRS or the

Federal prison system. Your

mother is Barbara, your father

is Cliff --

ANNIE:

I hope he doesn't get out his

slides.

WALTER:

Am I what they had in mind?

ANNIE:

They're going to love you.

As they start toward the house.

CUT TO:

CLANGING ON THE WINE GLASSES.

AND PULL BACK TO REVEAL:

INT. ANNIE'S PARENTS' DINING ROOM - NIGHT

BARBARA:

Everybody! Annie has an announcement --

ANNIE:

Walter and I are engaged!

And the family's at the diner table. Annie's family is

a completely normally-looking WASP family -- only

everyone is a little eccentric. Annie's mother BARBARA,

a beautiful gray-haired, fantastically cheerful woman,

claps her hands together. Her father CLIFF, who's at

the head of the table next to her, gives Annie a kiss.

Annie's brother TOM and his wife BETSY are at the table,

along with cousin IRENE and her husband HAROLD. UNCLE

MILTON, who's Irene's father and Barbara's brother.

There are about FIVE CHILDREN there, too.

IRENE:

That's wonderful, Annie. I

hope it lasts... for years

and years.

BETSY:

(the competitive one)

Do you have a ring?

ANNIE:

No. Not yet.

BETSY:

Oh. Well. How will anyone

know?

TOM:

Because you're going to call

them all and tell them.

Congratulations, Walter.

He claps Walter on the back.

Walter sneezes. And sneezes again.

CLIFF:

Are you all right?

WALTER:

It's nothing. Nothing.

ANNIE:

It's probably just the flowers --

BARBARA:

We'll move them --

WALTER:

Don't touch them. I feel

terrible sneezing at a time

like this. This is a big

moment for me --

ANNIE:

(overlapping)

He's allergic to everything,

don't worry about it --

HAROLD:

Bees. I'm allergic to bees.

CLIFF:

Not salmon I hope --

ANNIE:

If he eats one tiny piece of a

nut --

WALTER:

(cheerfully)

My head swells up like a

watermelon and I drop dead.

IRENE:

It's the same with Harold and

bees.

CLIFF:

Your mother and I had salmon at

our wedding, and I really think

a wedding without cold salmon --

WALTER:

I'm not allergic to salmon. I

don't think. But you never

know.

HAROLD:

You never know.

BARBARA:

Oh, honey, I feel terrible, we

used up this magnum of

champagne we were saving on

something else, what did we use

it for?

TOM:

Uncle Milton's parole --

BARBARA:

Right.

UNCLE MILTON:

And it was delicious.

BARBARA:

It was, wasn't it, Milton

darling --

BETSY:

When are you getting married,

Annie?

CLIFF:

In early June. In the garden.

HAROLD:

Does it have to be in the garden?

IRENE:

What about Harold and bees?

BARBARA:

We'll spray you.

CLIFF:

Cold salmon. A lovely cucumber

salad. Strawberries.

WALTER:

I'm afraid I'm allergic to

strawberries.

CLIFF:

No strawberries.

Annie smiles at Walter.

ANNIE:

(to Walter)

Is that all right with you?

WALTER:

(to Lou Gehrig line)

Today I consider myself the

luckiest man on the face of

the earth.

IRENE:

What are you wearing?

ANNIE:

I don't know.

BETSY:

I wish you would wear my dress.

I only wore it once, and you'll

barely have to do anything to

it except take it in in the

bust --

BARBARA:

I have something that might do

--

INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER

Walter is sitting on the couch as Cliff shows him slides

of cloud formations in Guatemala. In the next room

Tom's at the piano and the kids are singing Christmas

carols.

INT. BACK STAIRWAY - SIMULTANEOUS

MAX, one of the children, is teaching Uncle Milton to

burp.

INT. ATTIC - NIGHT

The sound of Christmas carols from below.

The attic is full of boxes and Annie walks through with

her mother. They come to a dressmakers dummy with a

sheet over it. Barbara removes the sheet. A beautiful

antique dress. A veil sitting on top of the dummy.

BARBARA:

The Historical Society wanted

this and I never would give it

to them --

ANNIE:

Granny's dress. Oh, Mom.

BARBARA:

I notice these things are back

in fashion. Oh, honey.

(tears are rolling down

her face as she tries

the veil on Annie)

He's a lovely man, Annie.

ANNIE:

I know. He's wonderful, isn't

he?

BARBARA:

Are his folks nice?

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