Superman Page #9

OTIS has broken into a run. Still holding on to his newspaper, he heads for the entrance to a train station farther down the block. CAMERA PANS: the police car has picked up speed, continues to follow.

110EXT. METROPOLIS STATION (GRAND CENTRAL) - NIGHT (DAY)

OTIS, now at a dead run, threads his way through arriving PASSENGERS and taxis, enters the station. In F.G. the police car pulls up. OFFICER #2 jumps out, turns to OFFICER #1.

OFFICER #2

Call for a back-up. I'm going after him.

(slaps walkie-talkie on belt)

I'll keep you posted.

111INT. METROPOLIS STATION (GRAND CENTRAL) - NIGHT (DAY)

OFFICER#2 arrives at the top of the main staircase leading down into the busy central hall of the station, scans the CROWD.

112ANGLE ON OTIS - OFFICER #2's POV

OTIS hustles through a group of PASSENGERS, heads down a ramp marked: LOWER LEVEL.

113BACK TO OFFICER #2

OFFICER #2 has seen, speaks into his walkie-talkie, as he runs down the stairs.

OFFICER #2

Lower level, Charlie. I'm right on his ass...

114INT. STATION LOWER LEVEL

OTIS hurries through the lower level, disappears into an entrance marked: TRACK 22. CAMERA PANS: OFFICER *2 has seen, follows quickly.

OFFICER #2

(into walkie-talkie)

Track 22, Charlie...

OFFICER #1's VOICE

(through walkie-talkie)

Back-up's here. We're right behind you.

115INT. TRACK 22 - NIGHT (DAY)

OTIS runs down the platform. On one side is a waiting train, steam belching frombeneath the cars as the final PASSENGERS set on board. OTIS joins them.

116ANGLE ON OFFICER #2 (DAY)

OFFICER #2 at the top of the platform starts after him, suddenly stops as he sees:

117ANGLE ON OTIS - OFFICER #2's POV

OTIS' emerges through the steam on the other side of the train. He looks down the opposite side of the platform along an empty track. A train approaches in the distance, its lights now visible, the noise of its wheels increasing rapidly in volume. OTIS looks: against the far tunnel wall are a series of concave man-sized indentations, meant for track workers to step back into in case of an oncoming train. Waiting until the last moment, OTIS suddenly, jumps down onto the track, crosses it, steps back into an .indentation as the train roars past in f.g.

118CLOSE ON OFFICER #2 (DAY)

OFFICER #2 watches, mystified.

119ANGLAE ON TRAIN (DAY)

The train rattles by quickly, its flashing windows obscuring OTIS from view. As the last car whistles by: OTIS has disappeared - the indentation is empty.

120BACK TO OFFICER #2 (DAY)

OFFICER #2 grins confidently, speaks into his walkie-talkie.

OFFICER #2

Make it Track 23, Charlie. I see how he does it...

121INT. TRACK 23 - NIGHT (DAY)

OFFICER #2 runs down the platform, stops opposite the indentation OTIS used. He is about to jump onto the track, hesitates as he looks off: Another train is coming down the track, its lights now visible in the distance. OFFICER *2 grits his teeth, jumps off onto the track.

122INT. LUTHOR' S LAIR - NIGHT (DAY)

CAMERA CLOSE on a TV monitor screen. OFFICER #2 is seen on it, crossing the track. A disapproving, clucking sound is heard. A hand comes into frame holding a remote control device. A button on it is pushed. The TV image changes: We now see OTIS

122CONTINUED

Walking nonchalantly down a narrow underground passageway lined with enormous steam pipes, still holding on to his newspaper.

LUTHOR'S VOICE (O.S.)

It's a miracle that brain can generate enough power

to keep his legs moving....

The remote control device switches back again: Seen on the monitor: OFFICER #2 has crossed the track, looms large in monitor f.g. as he takes his place inside the indentation.

123INT. TRACK 23 - CLOSE ON INDENTATION (DAY)

OFFICER #2 has stepped inside the indentation, now waits. The train roars down the track towards him. Suddenly - the rear wall of the indentation pushes forward, shoving him out in the direction of the track. He fights vainly for a moment, then catapults onto the track with a scream as the train rushes past.

124ANGLE ON TOP OF TRACK 23 PLATFORM (DAY)

OFFICER #1 has arrived with two other POLICEMEN. They scan the platform area as the train roars by. CAMERA PANS:

125ANGLE ON TRACK 23 - THEIR POV (DAY)

The train has passed. All that remains on the track is a chewed-up policeman's hat and a dented walkie-talkie which sqawks pure static.

126INT. LUTHOR'S LAIR - NIGHT - CLOSE ON TV MONITOR (DAY)

Seen on the TV monitor: the POLICEMEN scratching their heads, puzzled, walking along the empty platform. The hand with the remote control device comes back into frame. A button is pushed. The screen goes dark.

127INT. UNDERGROUND TUNNEL - NIGHT (DAY)

OTIS proceeds down an even narrow tunnel. Water drips from the rock ceiling above. A couple of rats scamper past and through some rusted heating and electrical ducts which line the sides. CAMERA PANS with OTIS. He heads for a rusty, bolted metal door marked: DANGER - NO ENTRY - CONDEMED.

128 INT. LUTHOR'S LAIR - NIGHT - CLOSE ON MODEL (DAY)

CAMERA. FOLLOWS another train (this one a model) as it snakes its way around mountains and through deserts in a made-to-scale U.S. western-type landscape. Emerging from atunnelit heads out onto a bridge which is only half-completed, suddenly tumblesoff,

the falling cars demolishing a papier-mâché model of a hospital directly below. A low chuckle is heard O. S. CAMERA PANS UP: A few feet away, a beautiful YOUNG WOMAN (EVE TESCHMCHER) reclines with her feet up in a deep, luxurious sofa. working on a needlepoint pillow. A projected blue-sky backdrop shimmers on the wall behind her, looking quite real from this angle and distance. EVE isopen, straightforward if slightly dim, with an unmistakable honest sexiness about her which matches her personality. She looks up INTO CAMERA, wide-eyed, disapproving.

EVE:

That's sick, Lex. Really.

129WIDE ANGLE ON LEX LUTHOR AND LAIR - EVE'S POV (DAY)

LEX LUTHOR sits behind a massive desk in his palatial underground lair, now seen for the first time as CAMERA PANS: At first glance - breathtaking, with its multi-level1ed areas, only some of which are immediately visible. The entire wall behind him which rises to a high ceiling is completely covered with full bookcases bulging with periodicals, papers, etc. Another separate area has a complicated laboratory with viewing theater, banks of electronic gadgets which have been connected to underground electrical lines exposed in portions of the rock-faced walls. In the same manner we will discover exposed heating ducts and water mains. One higher level near the ceiling is completely blocked from view. Off to another side - a large and colourful aviary, stocked with live birds of prey: eagles, falcons, hawks, etc. The walls and ceilings, as we will discover, are almost all canvas on which projections can and will be made, different ones servicing different specific parts of the lair.

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