Slow West Page #12

---

96 EXT - RIGHT SIDE OF THE HOUSE - DAY 96

The reason the men have stared firing again is because theyare firing at JAY, who has reached the house

JAY runs past the washing line, dodging the flying bullets,

runs round the back of the house, past dead PEYOTE JOE, andin the back door

97 INT - PIONEER HOUSE - DAY 97

ROSE finishes loading her gun, sees a figure (JAY) run intothe room, and instinctively fires, hitting JAY in the heart

JAY sees that his love ROSE has just mistakenly shot him,

reels back against the back wall and slumps down

70.

ROSE does not recognise JAY, the last person she would expectto run through the door, and JAY’s face white with powderfrom the birch tree

ROSE has presumed he is another of PAYNE’S men

ROSE lifts herself up to look out of the window and starts

firing the pistol towards the field, eyes shut, knowing sheis unlikely to hit any of the shooters anyway

She fires the remaining round but keeps going and the empty

chambers click click click

Behind her on the far wall slumps JAY, a bleeding hole by hisheart

Blood drips out of his mouth

JAY tries to call out to ROSE but he cannot talk

ROSE slumps back down below the window but does not turn

around

JAY looks over to her

KOTORI returns to the room

KOTORI, now shirtless, has brought arrows, strips of cloth

paraffin.

He sits next to ROSE and hands her the rifle

ROSE places her hand on his

ROSE:

Until civilisation arrives

KOTORI leans in and kisses ROSE on the cheek

JAY looks gutted

There is a shelf above JAY and on that shelf a jar -largeletters -SALT

A bullet hits the jar, and salt pours down right into JAY’swound

JAY winces in pain

KOTORI picks up his arrows and bow and walks out of the frontdoor

ROSE c*cks the rifle, looks out of the window and aims

71.

98

EXT - FRONT OF HOUSE - DAY 98

KOTORI has wrapped cloth around the tips of the arrows. He

dips them in paraffin and lights them, aims and fires them inthe air

The flaming arrow arcs and lands in the dry wheat

The wheat quickly burns and the fire spreads rapidly

ROSE keeps aiming out the window, waiting

In seconds the whole field has lit up and the remainder of

PAYNE’S posse have no choice but to run out

From the smoke and flames runs THE MINSTREL, gun in one hand,

banjo in the other

ROSE fires, shooting him dead

MARIMACHO appears, ROSE fires and shoots her dead

SKELLY stands up, flames all around him, ROSE fires shooting

him dead

99 INT - PIONEER HOUSE - DAY 99

ROSE turns, throws the rifle down and picks up her pistol,

moves up and looks out of the window, sees KOTORI lying dead

ROSE:

Kotori

ROSE slumps back down below the window, this time facing JAY

The smoke from the burning field clears giving ROSE a clear

view of JAY

She looks directly at JAY for the first time

JAY tries to speak

JAY (WHISPER)

Rose

ROSE sees JAY

ROSE:

Jay

JAY sheds a single tear

ROSE, still with pistol in her hand, crosses the room towardsJAY on her hands and knees

JAY smiles at ROSE and places his hand on hers

72.

ROSE begins to softly cry

ROSE (CONT’D)

Jay

ROSE holds JAY’s hand and tries to smile through the grief

ROSE (CONT’D)

Silly boy

JAY tries to talk but cannot

Light has been streaming through the front door, but it turns

to shadow, darkening the whole room

ROSE turns to look

PAYNE stands at the door

ROSE realises that PAYNE cannot see her gun from his line of

sight

ROSE slowly c*cks the gun as PAYNE talks

PAYNE:

Turn around Rose

ROSE turns the gun around and places it in JAY’s hand

PAYNE (CONT’D)

It’s over

ROSE leans in to kiss JAY on the cheek, giving JAY a clearview of PAYNE

PAYNE lifts his gun to ROSE

PAYNE (CONT’D)

Doesn’t hurt

Before PAYNE can pull the trigger, JAY fires and PAYNE fallsto his knees

PAYNE falls forward onto his hands and rolls onto his back,

dead

JAY shuts his eyes and lets out his last gentle breath anddies

ROSE sobs and lowers her head

100

EXT - SIDE OF HOUSE - DAY 100

SILAS struggles to his feet

73.

101

EXT - PIONEER HOUSE - DAY 101

ROSE sits in front of JAY

SILAS hobbles in through the front door, and sees JAY lying

dead

SILAS:

Jay

SILAS slumps down on his knees next to ROSE

They both look at JAY and not at each other

SILAS removes his hat

SILAS (CONT’D)

He loved you with all his heart

ROSE:

His heart was in the wrong place

SILAS:

His spirit was true

JAY dead, we hold him for a beat

PAYNE dead and we hold on him for a beat

This is a quiet tableau vivant style montage of all thepeople that died on JAY’S journey to ROSE

SKELLY lies dead in the wheat field, blackened, burnt to a

crisp

MARIMACHO lies dead on the grass

THE MINSTREL lies dead next to his banjo which now has abullet hole in the skin

KOTORI lies dead on the grass next to his bow and arrows

THE KID lies dead next to the house

PEYOTE JOE lies dead at the back door, his hand still frozen

to the door handle, his trousers pulled down snagged on the

nail

TATTOO MAN lies dead below the front window, the snail train

of dried blood on the wood

VICTOR the HAWK lies dead in the wheat field next to his longcase and long gun

JOHN ROSS lies dead by the fence

MARIA THE SWEDE lies dead in the trading post

74.

JOHAN lies dead in a pool of blood in the trading post

THE STOREKEEPER lies dead behind the counter in the trading

post

The Indian slaying old OFFICER lies dead on the forest floor

The two young Indian slaying SOLDIERS lie dead on the forest

floor

End of montage of the dead

102 EXT - PLAIN WITH PIONEER HOUSE SITTING PRETTY IN THE SUN 102

Slow track towards a double bed inside the pioneer house,

where there was a single bed before

Slow track towards the kitchen table - ROSE brings the buttermold to the table, as the two SWEDISH KIDS (from the tradingpost, then Payne’s gang) play by the table

ROSE lifts the lid of the butter, but it still has not set

and flows onto the table

Slow track towards the horse shoe that JOHN ROSS nailed above

the door, that was then shot and fell upside down

A man’s hands appear, turn the horseshoe and hammers a nailin to hold it ‘lucky way up’

SILAS SELLECK (V.O.)

There is more to life than

survival. Jay Cavendish taught me

that. I owe him my life

We track back to see it is SILAS nailing up the horse shoe

SILAS SELLECK (V.O.)

Ho for the West

SILAS turns, exits frame, black screen

THE END:

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes