Slow West Page #5

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aged, stubbly beard, (looks and sounds like Werner Herzog)

WERNER (GERMAN ACCENT)

Good evening!

JAY smiles at WERNER

JAY:

I come in peace

WERNER smiles back

WERNER:

My ears hear your music!

WERNER beckons JAY to join him

WERNER (CONT’D)

Come, come

JAY dismounts

WERNER giddily runs to the back of his wagon and pulls out a

second chair, places it next to his little fire

WERNER (CONT’D)

Sit. I have coffee

WERNER sits opposite , happy to have the company

JAY sits, looks down at a journal next to WERNER

27.

JAY:

You a writer?

WERNER:

Perhaps

WERNER holds up his journal. A long title fills the front

cover

He reads the title slowly

WERNER (CONT’D)

I am “Recording the decline ofaboriginal tribes - their customs,

culture and habits - In the hope ofpreventing their extinction orconversion to Christianity” - Thetitle of my account. Too long?

JAY:

Perhaps

WERNER lays the book down

WERNER:

So now. East. What news?

JAY looks East

JAY:

Violence and suffering, and West?

Werner looks West

WERNER:

Dreams and toil

JAY:

I passed though burnt remains of anIndian camp

WERNER saddened, picks up his journal

WERNER:

This is dreadful news

A race extinct, their culture

banished, their places re-named,

only then will they be viewed withselective nostalgia, mythologisedand romanticised in the safe guise

of art.. And literature

Werner holds up the journal on ‘literature’

WERNER (CONT’D)

This is a new world for us, also

for them

28.

Sun setting, light fading

WERNER gets up walks towards his wagon

WERNER (CONT’D)

You must be hungry

He roots around the back of the wagon. He has all sorts inthere, about four saddles, many bags, much junk

He finds some bread and brings it to JAY

JAY:

‘Til now my sole company’s been abrute

WERNER:

Sorry to hear this

JAY:

I escaped

WERNER hands JAY bread, sits back down

JAY takes a bite of bread

JAY (CONT’D)

Thank you

CUT TO:

33

EXT - WERNER CAMP - NIGHT 33

Camp surrounded by blackness

JAY and WERNER lit by the fire, the back of WERNER’s wagon

lit by a lamp

JAY:

I killed a woman yesterday

WERNER:

Part and parcel

WERNER warms his hands by the flames

JAY:

You care not to share your company

with a murderer?

WERNER:

I’d be a lonely man if I did

WERNER shakes his head

WERNER(CONT’D)

I am no Judge nor Father

29.

WERNER now looks devilish in the light of the flames

WERNER (CONT’D)

In a short time, this will be a

long time ago

Distant wolves howl

WERNER picks up his rifle and stands up

WERNER (CONT’D)

Camp here. Blanket?

JAY nods

JAY:

Thank you

WERNER returns to the back of the wagon and pulls out ablanket, brings it to JAY

WERNER:

I shall dream up some advice and inthe morning dish it up with fresh

eggs

JAY:

What’s your name?

WERNER:

Werner

JAY:

I’m Jay. Good night and thank youWerner

WERNER nods, turns, climbs into the back of his wagon andshuts the doors

JAY alone under the vast starry sky

34

EXT - PLAINS - DAWN 34

When JAY wakes up in the morning he is more than alone again.

WERNER has gone, and taken JAY’S horse, all JAY’s

possessions, clothes, everything

JAY sits up in his all-in-one long Johns and looks around

Stands up

Looks down, a chicken egg sits on a note

Picks up the egg, the note flaps along the ground

JAY runs after it, grabs the note and reads

30.

NOTE- “West” and a arrow

JAY looks at the arrow west and turns round with the paper in

his hand before realising the joke of having an arrow west

drawn..

JAY throws the note to the wind, angry and amused in equal

measure

Drapes the blanket over his shoulder

Tries to peal the shell from the egg

Picks up a small stone to chip the egg shell, and the egg

breaks, but it is raw, not boiled, and drips to the ground

35 EXT - PLAINS - MORNING 35

JAY wanders across the vast windy plain

CUT TO:

36

EXT - PLAINS - DAY 36

JAY's now staggering, hungry, tired

He spots a few mushrooms sprouting from the dust

He throws himself to the ground dramatically, like he hasn’t

eaten for a week

Sniffs the mushrooms

The wind blowing hard, has prevented JAY from hearing a horse

approach from behind him

The shadow of the man on the horse slides over JAY

JAY turns round to see SILAS and he has JAY'S horse in tow,

possessions intact

SILAS (O.S.)

You can eat those

SILAS nods at the mushrooms

SILAS (CONT’D)

Eat enough of them, you can fly to

Rose

JAY looks at his horse and looks at SILAS

JAY:

You kill Werner?

SILAS takes time to shape his answer

31.

SILAS:

No. No reason

JAY goes to his horse and brings out his wallet from his suit

Pulls out the rest of his money and holds it out to SILAS

JAY:

This is all the money I have. Getme there in one piece

SILAS takes the money

SILAS:

Sure kid

SILAS hands JAY a biscuit

SILAS (CONT’D)

Have a biscuit

JAY munches it fast

CUT TO:

37 EXT - PLAIN - DAY 37

SILAS and JAY ride across the plain towards a forest

CUT TO:

38 EXT - FOREST - DAY 38

SILAS and JAY have stopped and are looking at something inthe woods

JAY:

That's a shame

SILAS:

Is it?

We see what they are looking at

A tree has been chopped down and fallen on top of the feller,

completely squishing him

His arms stick out as if a cartoon, his flesh long gone, hisclothes disintegrating, his skeleton hand still grasps the

axe

JAY:

No. No, it's not

Both men smile at each other

32.

Nothing like someone else's misfortune to bond a friendship

JAY (CONT’D)

Charles Darwin talks of ‘evolution

by natural selection’

SILAS:

For our sake lets hope he's wrong

CUT TO:

39 EXT - WOODS - DAY 39

The men ride on, SILAS is riding in front of JAY

JAY is singing

JAY:

My lord is hunting he has gone,

hounds and hawks with him are none,

beyond Silverghost lies his game,

Rose Ross is her name

SILAS puts on his jacket for no reason other than to bringout the ROSE and JOHN ROSS Wanted poster

SILAS checks that JAY is not looking (JAY is not)

SILAS looks at the drawing of ROSE, flips it over and looksat the $2000, flips it back to ROSE, then pockets it

40 EXT - CAMP BY RIVER IN FOREST - DAY TO EVENING 40

A pretty clearing in the forest, dappled light through trees,

a gentle trickling stream, a campfire crackling, logs laidout for sitting, a kettle boiling

JAY sits on a log

SILAS approaches him while sharpening a large hunting knife

SILAS walks behind JAY holding the knife up

SILAS:

The knife's got to be as sharp as a

razor

JAY's face has been lathered up with soap, the irony is JAYis still too young for even the hint of stubble

SILAS (CONT’D)

You hold the knife flush, againstthe skin

SILAS holds the knife flush against JAY's throat

33.

SILAS (CONT’D)

And it's a scraping motion againstthe grain, not a slicing motion

SILAS scrapes the knife up the side of JAYS face and wipesthe soap on a cloth over his shoulder

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