The Descendants
CLOSE ON a beautiful 40-YEAR-OLD WOMAN at the helm of a
powerful SPEEDBOAT -- her hair tossed back by the wind, her
mouth in a euphoric grin.
FADE OUT.
2 CREDITS -- ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE 2
MATT (V.O.)
My missionary ancestors came to the
islands and told the Hawaiians to put
on clothes, work hard, believe in
Christ, and stop surfing and hula
dancing. They made business deals
along the way -- buying an island, or
marrying a princess and inheriting her
land. Now their descendants wear
bikinis and running shorts, play beach
volleyball and surf, and take up hula
dancing. Hawai'i has always been a
place of contradiction.
VARIOUS SHOTS of Honolulu begin a pattern of montages to be
interspersed throughout the film.
MATT (V.O.)
My friends on the mainland think just
because I live in Hawai'i, I live in
paradise. Like a permanent vacation --
we're all just out here drinking mai-
tais, shaking our hips, and catching
waves. Are they nuts? How can they
possibly think our families are less
screwed up, our heart attacks and
cancers less fatal, our grief less
devastating? Hell, I haven't been on a
surfboard in fifteen years.
We ZOOM BACK from a panorama of Honolulu to find 50-year-old
MATT KING seated amid DOCUMENTS atop a makeshift desk -- he
has brought his work with him.
(CONTINUED)
2.
The Descendants PINK Shooting Draft 4/11/10 Draft
4 CONTINUED:
4MATT (V.O.)
For the last 23 days, I've been living
in a "paradise" of IVs and urine bags
and endotracheal tubes and six-month-
old US magazines. Paradise. Paradise
can go f*** itself.
Matt looks up at the WOMAN we saw in the speedboat, now lying
stiffly on an upright HOSPITAL BED, her head cocked to one
side, a feeding tube in her nose, a ventilator in her
trachea, IVs in her arm.
MATT (V.O.) (CONT'D)
This is Elizabeth King, my wife.
Twenty-three days ago she was launched
from a powerboat during a race and hit
her head, almost drowned. Now she's in
a coma that scores 5 on the Glasgow
scale and 3 on the Rancho Los Amigos
scale, scores showing an extremely
severe coma. Liz is very competitive.
Whatever she does, she does to the
fullest.
5 INT. NEUROLOGIST'S OFFICE - DAY 5
Matt is getting the current DIAGNOSIS.
NEUROLOGIST:
She reacts non-purposefully to stimuli
in a non-specific manner, but
occasionally her responses are
specific, though inconsistent. Her
reflexes are primitive and often the
same, regardless of stimuli
presented...
MATT (V.O.)
It was exactly what Elizabeth used to
accuse me of.
Matt continues to observe her.
MATT (V.O.)
Twenty-three days in a coma, and any
day now the doctors will give me their
final verdict if she's going to come
out of it or not. Then I have a
decision to make. Wait, that's wrong.
Liz has a living will.
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
3.
The Descendants PINK Shooting Draft 4/11/10 Draft
6 CONTINUED:
6MATT (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Like always, she makes her own
decisions. But I know she's going to
pull through.
His CELLPHONE RINGS.
MATT (CONT'D)
Hi, Noe, what's up?
NOE (ON PHONE)
Matt, you have a call from Scottie's
teacher. She says it's urgent.
MATT:
Yeah, sure. Put her on.
7 INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAY 7
A SCRAPBOOK:
shows PHOTOS OF ELIZABETH lying in her hospital bed. The
compositions are odd, the ANGLES uncomfortably CLOSE.
WIDE --
Matt confers with fifth-grade teacher MS. Hayashi and school
counselor MRS. THULL.
MS. HAYASHI
We just don't think these photographs
are appropriate for Scottie to be
sharing with her classmates. Some of
them went home quite disturbed, and we
got some angry calls from parents.
MATT:
Yeah, she's sort of been going to town
with the whole picture-taking thing,
but I had no idea --
MS. HAYASHI
I can't tell you how my heart goes out
to you and your family, but Scottie
just hasn't been herself. Principal
Cruz agrees with us that it maybe would
be better for Scottie to remain at home
with you during this difficult time.
MATT:
Home. See, I would think that sticking
to her normal routine would be the best
thing for her -- you know, keep her
occupied. I wouldn't really know how
to...
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
4.
The Descendants PINK Shooting Draft 4/11/10 Draft
7 CONTINUED:
7MATT (CONT'D)
I mean, I've kind of got my hands full.
And her sister's away at school on the
Big Island. I don't think Scottie
would really want to hang out with me
when she could be with her friends and
people like you who specialize in
children.
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"The Descendants" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_descendants_209>.
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