The Stunt Man Page #2

LINEMAN:

Stand right there like a good old

boy and do what I say. You wanna

try and mess with me, you've had

fair warning. I was a combat Marine

in Korea. Okay?

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- 6

The lineman advances on him as Cameron backs away.

CAMERON:

Korea? No sh*t, so was my old

man...

(he suddenly stamps his

foot and shrieks)

Aaaaaaaargh!

The lineman jumps in surprise. Then, enraged like a startled bull,

he lunges forward with the wrench. Cameron uses the man's weight

against him, his moves those of a trained fighter. A hard knee to

his stomach doubles up the lineman. The handcuffed arms slam down

like a club between his shoulder blades driving him to the ground.

A kick thrown sideways to his head and the man is out. The other

lineman who had started to descend the pole freezes and takes one

step back up. Cameron grabs the lineman's toolbox in his handcuffed

grasp and dashes off into the forest.

MOVING SHOT - ON CAMERON

He slides down a slope on a carpet of fallen leaves, tumbling to the

bottom and falls face forward into a running stream where he holds

his head and drinks. CAMERA MOVES ACROSS the terrain. There are no

pursuers, the forest is silent.

CLOSE UP - HANDCUFFS

The jaws of a wire-cutter clamp down severing the chain connecting

the cuffs around Cameron's wrists. He lifts his knee from the

cutter handle. His arms are now free. He wedges a chisel against

one bracelet and swings a sledgehammer against it. We hear his

sharp outcry.

ANGLE ON CAMERON

Doubled up, holding his wrist in pain. The bracelet is still

intact. He buttons his shirt cuffs over the metal bands and climbs

the slope to the bright sunlight on the road above.

EXT. OLD ABANDONED ROAD - DAY

Cameron is trudging along the old road winding down through the

mountainous pass. He crosses a bridge. Through the arches of its

low stone railing, he sees a BLACK RIVER twenty feet below rushing

toward the sea. Then, glancing back, he is suddenly alert.

- 7

21 CAMERON'S POV

In the far distance, almost lost in the shimmering heat waves from

the road, is a tiny speck moving toward him.

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ANGLE ON CAMERON

He clambers down the embankment behind the railing, peering out from

this hidden vantage.

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ANGLE ON ROAD:

The speck grows larger. The SOUND of the engine is faintly audible

now. Sunlight flashes from metal and glass. Cameron's apprehension

suddenly changes to wonderment, for the vehicle is not the police as

he had feared, but something else. Moving in the shimmering heat

wave is a splendid, high, humpbacked World War I vintage DUESENBERG

SEDAN with gleaming brass headlights, roaring towards him.

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ANGLE ON CAMERON

He scrambles up the embankment to thumb a ride. The Duesenberg

roars past him, filling his eyes and mouth with dust. Suddenly

there is a screech of brakes.

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ANGLE ON CAR:

The Duesenberg goes into a skid and then bounces to a stop.

Running, Cameron reaches the car, pulls the front door open and

climbs in beside the DRIVER.

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INT. CAR

CAMERON:

Thanks. I thought you didn't see

me.

The driver, BURT, is a husky, red-haired man about Cameron's age and

deeply agitated. Pounding his fist against the steering wheel, he

talks half to Cameron, half to himself.

BURT:

Damn it. Screwed it up. Lost my

nerve.

Fishing a Vick's inhaler from his pocket and shoving it in his

nostril.

- 8

BURT (CONT'D)

Goddamn sinuses. Can't even see

straight.

Cameron looks at him, puzzled.

CAMERON:

You want me to drive?

Burt whirls on him, enraged.

BURT:

What the hell is that supposed to

mean?!

CAMERON:

(confused)

No offense...thought you might...

BURT:

Every one of you jerks is a goddamn

hotshot expert! Thanks for the vote

of confidence. If you think you can

do any better, just come and try it!

He puts his boot in Cameron's stomach and shoves hard.

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EXT. CAR

Cameron comes flying out and lands on his back in the road as the

Duesenberg squeals forward, its open door slamming shut from the

momentum.

Stunned, the wind knocked out of him, Cameron rises to his elbows.

Before the old relic has gone thirty yards, again the brakes

screech, swinging the car into a sliding salute turn, one hundred-

eighty degrees and it is suddenly screaming back toward Cameron.

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INT. CAR - ANGLE ON BURT

Driving with one hand on the door handle, his head halfway out the

window watching the bridge railing and the water beyond.

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- 9

ANGLE ON ROAD - CAR AND CAMERON

Cameron, sprawled on the road, is momentarily paralyzed at the sight

of the Duesenberg's great brass grill bearing down. His hand closes

over a rock and with the same illogical gesture that a soldier

flings a Coke bottle at a tank, Cameron hurls the rock in the

direction of the car and frantically rolls sideways. The big

spinning tires brush him as they pass. We catch a momentary glimpse

of the rock smashing against the gleam of the passing windshield.

As he stops rolling, once more face down in the dust, eyes closed,

expecting death, he becomes aware there is only silence. He opens

his eyes, climbs to his feet. The road is empty. The Duesenberg is

gone. Astonished, confused -- he walks to the side of the bridge

where the railing ends and the car might have plunged off. There is

nothing below but the rushing black water. Here and there bubbles

swirl to the surface. They could be from a sinking car or could be

caused by the current.

ANGLE ON CAMERON

His thoughts racing. Was it the sun, has he imagined the whole

thing? Suddenly a HELICOPTER appears, hovering, almost at eye

level. Sunlight flashes through the spinning blades like a strobe.

WIDER ANGLE:

It is the same helicopter we saw in the opening sequence. It has

swiftly descended beside the bridge just beyond the railing,

catching Cameron with no chance to run or hide. FOUR MEN Can be

seen inside the plastic cockpit barely a few feet away. The man

beside the PILOT is ELI CROSS. He grabs the radio microphone and

begins speaking into it. Cameron whirls, scrambles down a bank to a

field. The helicopter drops to within a few feet of the water,

hovers. Protected from sight, Cameron runs between the tall stalks,

away from the road.

CAMERON - MOVING SHOT

Glancing back through the stalks as he runs, Cameron sees a STAKE

TRUCK barreling toward the sight of the accident. In the back,

THREE MEN are frantically putting on black wet-suits. They look,

from this distance, like little black toys tumbling against each

other. Cameron runs on.

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35A

35B

- 10

EXT. BLUFF - OVERLOOKING SEASHORE TOWN

A few hotels, like a cluster of old Victorian gingerbread, surround

a sandy cove beyond which is the sea. There is a fishing pier,

boardwalk, hot dog stands, pizza parlors, all swarming with

sunbathing TOURISTS. The town's bucolic, turn-of-the-century charm

might even survive these, if not for a monstrous yellow CONSTRUCTION

CRANE, which juts ten stories into the sky from the center of the

sandy cove. Cameron appears on the bluff.

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