The Descendants

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1 EXT. THE OCEAN - DAY 1

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.

3 EXT. HONOLULU - DAY 3

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.

4 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY 4

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.

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4 CONTINUED:
4

MATT (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.

6 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY 6

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.

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6 CONTINUED:
6

MATT (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.

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7 CONTINUED:
7

MATT (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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