Titanic (Scriptment) Page #6

LOVETT:

Tell us, Rose.

He switches on the mini-recorder and sets it near her.

ROSE:

It really was the ship of dreams. The biggest thing there ever was, and the most elegant. And so new, you could still smell the paint...

As the underwater camera rises past the rusted bow rail, WE DISSOLVE/MATCH MOVE to that same railing in 1912...

IN A GLORIOUS REVEAL, the gleaming white superstructure of Titanic rises mountainously beyond the rail, and above that the ochre-colored funnels stand against the sky like the pillars of a great temple. Crewmen move across the deck, dwarfed by the awesome scale of the steamer.

Southampton, England, April 10, 1912.

It is almost noon on sailing day. The sky is partially overcast, but shafts of late-morning sun stream down through gaps, and patches of light sweep across the docks and the great ship. The steamer is majestic and dignified in its black-tie colors, and it seems to almost glow in the light.

IN A CRANE SHOT we sweep across the deck, seeing a polished DAIMLER BENZ touring car being lowered into the forward hold, and on past it until the deck falls away like the edge of a cliff and there far below us a crowd of thousands blackens the Southampton dock... ants on a jelly sandwich.

Seen from above, TWO RENAULT LANDAULET motorcars push through the crowd leaving a wake in the press of people. They approach the first class gangway, all the while we are pushing in toward them.

CUT CLOSE as the lead car inches through the crowd. Around it, first class gentlemen and ladies streaming to board the ship jostle with hustling seamen and stokers, and steerage class passengers in their coarse wool and tweeds. Horse-drawn vehicles, motorcars and lorries move slowly through the dense throng. The atmosphere is one of excitement and energy. People embrace in tearful farewells, or shout and wave to friends and relatives on the decks above, calling out their bon voyage wishes. There is a general giddiness.

The lead Renault stops and the LIVERIED DRIVER scurries to open the door for a YOUNG WOMAN dressed in a stunning robin's egg blue outfit with a white velvet hat, trimmed with ermine tails. She is 17 years old and beautiful, regal of bearing, with piercing eyes (Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady").

It is the girl in the drawing. ROSE. She looks up at the ship, taking it in with cool appraisal.

ROSE:

It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania.

From the other side of the car steps CALEDON HOCKLEY, the 30 year old scion of a Pittsburgh industrialist NATHAN HOCKLEY, and heir to the elder Hockley's fortune. "Cal" is handsome, arrogant and rich beyond meaning.

CAL:

Rose, you are much too hard to impress. It's a hundred feet longer than the Mauretania.

A VALET, traveling with them, gives his hand to Rose's mother, RUTH DE-WITT BUKATER, who is descending from the touring car behind her. Ruth is a society empress in her late thirties, from one of the most prominent Philadelphia families. She is a widow, and rules her household with an iron will.

The valet's name is SPICER LOVEJOY, and he is tall, gaunt cheeked and impassive. Dour as an undertaker. Ruth and Rose both have personal maids. TRUDY FRICK, Rose's maid, is a lively young woman who turns out to be one of the few people Rose confides in.

This entire entourage of rich Americans is impeccably turned out, a quintessential example of the Edwardian upper class. Cal quickly checks his pocket watch.

CAL:

We'd better get aboard, since Rose's beauty rituals have managed to make us late.

ROSE:

You told me to change.

CAL:

I couldn't let you wear black on sailing day, sweetpea. It's bad luck.

ROSE:

I felt like black.

Cal Hockley leaves Lovejoy to organize the luggage, escorting mother and daughter toward the 1st class gangway. Lovejoy walks back to the second car which is completely loaded down with steamer trunks and suitcases, and starts curtly giving orders to ship's porters.

Walking along the crowded pier they pass a well-dressed young man cranking the handle of a wooden Biograph "cinematograph" camera mounted on a tripod. DANIEL MARVIN (whose father founded the Biograph Film Studio, the biggest motion picture studio in New York, and therefore the world) is filming his young bride in front of the Titanic. MARY MARVIN stands stiffly and smiles, self conscious.

DANIEL:

Look up at the ship, darling. That's it.

Cal is jostled by two yelling steerage boys who shove past him. And he is bumped again a second later by the boys' father, rushing past to catch up to his kids, shouting Cockney curses.

CAL:

Gutter scum.

He is contemptuous of the lower classes, and resents having to mingle with them until he gets to the first class ramp.

RUTH:

I don't understand why they don't keep the steerage separate from first class on the dock. It seems so obvious.

ROSE:

Be sure and write them a letter, mother.

Rose is hard to read at this point. She seems spoiled and jaded. But we will come to find out that she is struggling with a deep unhappiness. She looks up at the great ship towering over her with a sense of dread as she approaches the gangway.

OLD ROSE (V.O.)

It was the ship of dreams. But to me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains.

CLOSE ON CAL'S HAND IN SLOW MOTION as it closes over Rose's arm. He escorts her up the first class gangway. They go through the wide doors and the vast black hull swallows them.

These are the same gangway doors that SNOOP DOG used to enter the hull, but inside, instead of a cavern of rust, is the elegant FIRST CLASS RECEPTION ROOM. A string quartet, led by violinist and ship's orchestra leader WALLACE HARTLEY, is playing Chopin.

They are greeted by stewards offering to escort them to their staterooms. One of the young "buttons" or bellboys, 15 years old, scurries past them with a huge flower arrangement for one of the rooms.

They cross the opulent reception area to the foot of the forward GRAND STAIRCASE. And grand it is, six decks high, with sweeping curves, broad marble stairs and beautifully carved oak banisters and paneling. It is the epitome of the luxurious naval architecture of the time.

At the foot of the stairs they run into an old friend of Ruth's, THE COUNTESS OF ROTHES, a 35ish blue-blood from Scotland with patrician features. Ruth introduces Cal, who is always hungry for the validation of meeting royals.

COUNTESS:

Your father is in steel, isn't he Mister Hockley?

CAL:

Yes, we have the largest mill in Pittsburgh, producing over three million tons a year. In fact, several thousand tons of Hockley steel are in this ship, I'm proud to say.

COUNTESS:

And what about you Rose? Still keeping up with your piano and your Latin?

ROSE:

I'm through finishing school, ma'am.

COUNTESS:

Dear girl, a little thing like marriage is no reason for one to halt the refinement of the mind.

RUTH:

(laughing)

Oh, you awful thing.

Ruth assumes the Countess is joking, since there is nothing in life more important for a young woman than finding a great catch, like Caledon Hockley, for example. All education and artistic training serves only one purpose: preparation for the role of society wife.

Another elegant couple approaches.

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