The Horse Whisperer Page #3

ANNIE:

...So what did you say to her?

KEVIN:

I said, thank you very much...

(LAUGHTER, AD LIBS)

I really should do the interview...

But perhaps if you'd like to have

dinner...

LAUGHTER... Everyone starts Ad Libbing...

VARIOUS CHARACTERS

Dinner!!... He's so cute.... Why

don't I get those kind of

interviews?... Look, he has husband

number eight written on his

forehead...

ANNIE:

All right, all right, all right...

Kevin, good job. Write the interview.

If I don't like it, you may have to

sleep with her for a follow-up!

(laughter)

Now... I'm thinking about another

fashion designer spread... Who's

news out there?

Characters shout out designer names and comments as the phone

rings and LUCY picks up... speaking amidst the talking...

LUCY:

Hold on.

(presses hold)

Gottschalk.

The room goes dead quiet, instantly. Then erupts in laughter

as everyone realizes it. Annie, however, waves her hand as

she takes the phone...

ANNIE:

Quiet... Quiet!

Everyone obeys. Annie presses SPEAKER PHONE.

ANNIE:

David?

DAVID GOTTSCHALK (V.O.)

Who's there?

ANNIE:

Everyone. Working overtime. Just for

you.

DAVID GOTTSCHALK (V.O.)

Did you speak to Farlow?

ANNIE:

Yes. We're suing.

DAVID GOTTSCHALK (V.O.)

Is that absolutely necessary? It'll

just make it a bigger story.

ANNIE:

David, he signed an agreement that

he wouldn't talk to the press and

he's libeled me by saying I faked

the figures. You're not going soft

on me, are you?

Silence. Gottschalk doesn't immediately respond. Everyone

waits. Covert looks between characters suggest this is

interesting -- has Annie over-stepped her bounds with the

magazine's owner? Annie waits without a shred of anxiety --

even though she might have some. Finally:

DAVID GOTTSCHALK (V.O.)

Well, I suppose we could use another

good public feud...

ANNIE:

Exactly...

Everyone silently acknowledges Annie guts and influence.

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - MORNING

It's perfectly still. We are looking down an empty TWO-LANE

ROAD covered with fresh snow. We see the girls slowly riding

out of the woods, talking. They cross the road and start up

into the woods on the other side... They are trying to sing

a LIZ PHAIR song, "CHOPSTICKS"

GRACE/JUDITH

(singing)

"I met him at a party and he told me

how he like to drive me home... He

said he liked to do it backwards..."

GRACE:

(singing)

"...I said it --"

JUDITH:

(singing)

"...and I said that"...

GRACE:

(stops singing)

No, wait, it just goes... "he said

he liked to do --"...

Suddenly there's the SOUND OF THE METAL OF JUDITH'S HORSE

scraping on some sheer ice hidden under the soft snow. Judith

notices first...

JUDITH:

What was --

The horse staggers... Judith looks to Grace --

JUDITH:

Grace!

The horse tries to find tracing with his hindfeet, kicking

up sprays of snow and ice shards. The horse suddenly falls

on the ice and goes down hard on its knees...

GRACE:

JUDITH!

The horse stumbles to get back on its feet, slipping again.

Frightened, it rears and Judith, caught off balance, is

thrown, her foot catching in the stirrup...

JUDITH:

GRAAACE!

Her horse, unable to find its balance, starts to slide

backward down the incline.

GRACE:

PILGRIM, COME ON! MOVE!

Grace, directly behind Judith, tries to turn Pilgrim to avoid

being hit by the errant horse.

What follows, we see from Grace's perspective. The details

that form the images and sounds of Grace's mind are fast,

disembodied, almost surreal as --

Judith's horse bulldozes into Pilgrim, taking his legs out

from under him, sending both horses careening down the icy

slope. Grace hangs onto Pilgrim's neck. Judith, her leg

helplessly tangled in the stirrup, is dragged, her head

bouncing on the frozen ground.

They slide all the way back down to the COUNTRY ROAD. Pilgrim

is the first to find his legs and stand. Grace manages to

sit up in the saddle. She sees Judith's horse stumbling back

onto its feet, one of his legs broken at the ankles, walking

in confused circles, dragging Judith -- her face bleeding,

her leg hanging from the stirrup.

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