The Green Mile Page #9

---

Paul comes up the stairs to the warden's office...

INT. WARDEN MOORES' OFFICE - DAY

...and enters to find Hal staring out the window.

PAUL:

Hal? You wanted to see me?

HAL:

Yeah. Paul. Close the door.

Hal's speech is halting, his thoughts disjointed and slow:

HAL:

Uh. So you know. You got a new

prisoner coming in tomorrow.

William Wharton. Young kid. Wild

as hell, judging from this...

He picks up the report, trying to focus his thoughts:

HAL:

...been rambling all over the

state last few years, causing all

kinds of trouble. Finally hit big

time. Killed three people in a

holdup, including a pregnant

woman. Got "Billy the Kid"

tattooed on his left arm...bad

news all around...

He trails off, no longer able to focus on the words. Paul is

shocked to see tears spill silently down his cheeks.

PAUL:

Hal?

HAL:

It's a tumor, Paul. A brain tumor.

Paul doesn't know what to say. Hal looks at him.

HAL:

They got X-ray pictures of it.

It's the size of a lemon, they

said, and way down deep inside

where they can't operate. They say

she'll be dead by Christmas. I

haven't told her. I can't think

how. For the life of me, Paul, I

can't think how to tell my wife

she's going to die.

Hal Moores, one of the toughest and steadiest men you'd ever

meets, starts to cry. He dissolves into great big gasping

sobs, losing all control.

CUT TO:

INT. PAUL'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Paul lies awake, watching Jan sleep. He looks troubled--not

to mention feverish. It occurs to him how badly he has to

pee. He sits up, clutching at a queasy stab of pain in his

groin...

LIVING ROOM STAIRS

...and comes hurrying down the steps, clutching himself...

EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT

...and he's moving even faster as he exits the kitchen,

racing for the outhouse. He realizes he's not going to make

it, stops to piss near the woodpile at the corner of the

house...

...and as he does, he's hit with the most stunning pain of

his life. He buckles to his knees--it's only his flailing

hand against the woodpile that prevents him from going face-

first into his own piss. He crams his other hand to his mouth

in an enormous effort not to scream and wake his wife.

He manages to ride it out until his bladder empties. He falls

onto his side, rolls over on the grass, and stares up at the

sky with both hands pressed to his groin.

PAUL:

...oh God...oh God...

FADE TO BLACK:

IN BLACKNESS, A TITLE CARD APPEARS:

"Coffey's Hands"

CUT TO:

INT. PAUL'S KITCHEN - MORNING

Paul looks feverish and clammy as he buttons up his uniform

jacket. Jan is packing his lunch, throwing him looks, knowing

how sick he is.

PAUL:

I'm going.

JAN:

What?

PAUL:

To the doctor. I'm going.

(off her look)

Today. Just as soon as we get the

new inmate squares away.

JAN:

That bad?

PAUL:

Oh yeah.

She hands him his brown-bagged lunch, kisses his face.

CUT TO:

INT. BRIAR RIDGE MENTAL HOSPITAL - MORNING

We see a tattoo:
"Billy the Kid." TILT UP to WILLIAM WHARTON

staring out the window, wearing a hospital gown, his face

utterly blank. He looks heavily medicated.

Harry, Dean, and Percy enter. Billy doesn't react, just keeps

staring out. Harry waves his fingers in Billy's face.

HARRY:

Boy's doped to the gills. Dean,

hand me them clothes...

Dean relays some folded prison clothes to Harry.

HARRY:

William Wharton! Hey! I'm talking

to you! Put these clothes on!

Billy turns with a vacant look, takes the clothes. He fumbles

with the shirt, drops the pants. Harry and Dean sigh.

They strip Billy's hospital gown off and proceed to put the

shirt on him, guiding his limp arms through the sleeves.

PERCY:

Hellraiser, huh? Looks more like

a limp noodle to me. Hey! Hey, you!

Billy looks up, meets Percy's eyes.

PERCY:

You been declared competent! Know

what that means? Mean's you're

gonna ride the lightning, son!

Percy does a quick impression of a man jittering and jerking

in the electric chair.

PERCY:

Bzzzzzzzzt-zap! Just like that!

How's it feel to know you're gonna

die with your knees bent?

DEAN:

C'mon, Percy, give us a hand.

Laughing, Percy picks up the pants. They proceed to help

Billy into them one leg at a time...

CUT TO:

INT. E BLOCK TOILET - DAY

Paul is trying to piss. Except for a few drops hitting the

bowl, excruciating pain seems to be the only result. He gives

up, grabs a towel, wipes the sweat from his feverish face...

INT. E BLOCK - DAY

...and steps gingerly from the toilet. Del's watching.

DEL:

Don' look so good, boss. Look like

you runnin' you a fever.

Paul shoots him a baleful look--no kidding. Another voice

calls softly from further down the Mile:

COFFEY (O.S.)

Boss Edgecomb? Needs ta see you

down here, boss.

PAUL:

Got things to tend to just now,

John Coffey. You be still in your

cell now, y'hear?

Coffey falls silent. Paul goes to the entrance door and peers

through the viewing slot, anxious to have this over with...

EXT. COLD MOUNTAIN PENITENTIARY - DAY

The prison truck appears, swaying along the rutted road...

IN THE TRUCK:

...while Billy Wharton stares at nothing, drool dripping from

his slack mouth in long strings.

INT. E BLOCK - DAY

Paul watches the truck pull in. He draws away from the slot,

proceeds toward the empty cell which used to be

Bitterbuck's...

ANGLE ON TRUCK:

The rear doors are swung open. Harry emerges. Dean and Percy

are guiding Billy by the arm, helping him down...

INSIDE E BLOCK:

Paul waits at the empty cell. ANGLE PANS TIGHT to Coffey at

his bars, eyes widening in a blossoming of some nameless fear

or dread. Something bad's coming. A whisper:

COFFEY:

Careful.

OUTSIDE E BLOCK:

Billy is brought to the door. Dean pulls his keys, starts to

unlock it. We PUSH IN on Billy's face, where the tiniest

trace of a smile is starting to grow...

INSIDE E BLOCK:

...and Coffey's unease grows with it. he presses his face to

the bars, his whispering becoming more urgent:

COFFEY:

Careful. Careful.

Paul hears him, glances back with a puzzled look. Coffey's

gaze is directed at the door, which is being unlocked...

THE DOOR:

...and opened. In that moment, the slack look on Billy's face

gives way to a wild grin. A CRAZED SCREECH leaps from his

throat, a cross between a rebel yell and a dog being

tortured, freezing everybody's blood in their veins--

BILLY:

Yeeeeeeehaaaawwwwwwrooooo!

--and he drops his wrist-chain down over Dean's head, jerks

it tight, begins to strangle him. Dean lurches forward, Billy

riding/propelling him through the door onto the Mile.

Percy stands frozen in the doorway, stunned. Harry shoves him

aside and jumps on Billy from behind, trying to get him off

Dean. Dean is choking, turning purple.

Paul rushes from the cell to join the fray. Billy whirls,

delivering a stunning kick to Paul's groin. Paul's bladder

pain goes nuclear--he falls back in agony, clutching himself

and sucking air through his teeth, unable even to scream.

Billy rams an elbow into Harry's face, knocks him sprawling

on the desk, screaming and laughing and howling all the while:

BILLY:

WHOOOEE, BOYS! AIN'T THIS A PARTY,

NOW? IS IT, OR WHAT?

Rate this script:4.0 / 5 votes