Titanic Page #10

With a primal, anguished cry she claws at her throat, ripping off her pearl

necklace, which explodes across the room. In a frenzy she tears at herself,

her clothes, her hair... then attacks the room. She flings everything off

the dresser and it flies clattering against the wall. She hurls a

handmirror against the vanity, cracking it.

CUT TO:

64 EXT. A DECK PROMENADE, AFT - NIGHT

Rose runs along the B deck promenade. She is dishevelled, her hair flying.

She is crying, her cheeks streaked with tears. But also angry, furious!

Shaking with emotions she doesn't understand... hatred, self-hatred,

desperation. A strolling couple watch her pass. Shocked at the emotional

display in public.

CUT TO:

65 EXT. POOP DECK - NIGHT

Jack is kicked back on one of the benches gazing at the stars blazing

gloriously overhead. Thinking artist thoughts and smoking a cigarette.

Hearing something, he turns as Rose runs up the stairs from the well deck.

They are the only two on the stern deck, except for QUARTERMASTER ROWE,

twenty feet above them on the docking bridge catwalk. She doesn't see Jack

in the shadows, and runs right past him.

TRACKING WITH ROSE as she runs across the deserted fantail. Her breath

hitches in an occasional sob, which she suppresses. Rose slams against the

base of the stern flagpole and clings there, panting. She stares out at the

black water.

Then starts to climb over the railing. She has to hitch her long dress way

up, and climbing is clumsy. Moving methodically she turns her body and gets

her heels on the white-painted gunwale, her back to the railing, facing out

toward blackness. 60 feet below her, the massive propellers are churning

the atlantin into white foam, and a ghostly wake trails off toward the

horizon.

IN A LOW ANGLE, we see Rose standing like a figurehead in reverse. Below

her are the huge letters of the name "TITANIC".

She leans out, her arms straightening... looking down hypnotized, into the

vortex below her. Her dress and hair are lifted by the wind of the ship's

movement. The only sound, above the rush of water below, is the flutter and

snap of the big Union Jack right above her.

JACK:

Don't do it.

She whips her head around at the sound of his voice. It takes a second for

her eyes to focus.

ROSE:

Stay back! Don't come any closer!

Jack sees the tear tracks on her cheeks in the faint glow from the stern

running lights.

JACK:

Take my hand. I'll pull you back in.

ROSE:

No! Stay where you are. I mean it. I'll let go.

JACK:

No you won't.

ROSE:

What do you mean no I won't? Don't presume to tell me what I will and will

not do. You don't know me.

JACK:

You would have done it already. Now come on, take my hand.

Rose is confused now. She can't see him very well through the tears, so she

wipes them with one hand, almost losing her balance.

ROSE:

You're distracting me. Go away.

JACK:

I can't. I'm involved now. If you let go I have to jump in after you.

ROSE:

Don't be absurd. You'll be killed.

He takes off his jacket.

JACK:

I'm a good swimmer.

He starts unlacing his left shoe.

ROSE:

The fall alone would kill you.

JACK:

It would hurt. I'm not saying it wouldn't. To be honest I'm a lot more

concerned about the water being so cold.

She looks down. The reality factor of what she is doing is sinking in.

ROSE:

How cold?

JACK:

(taking off his left shoe)

Freezing. Maybe a couple degrees over.

He starts unlacing his right shoe.

JACK:

Ever been to Wisconsin?

ROSE:

(perplexed)

No.

JACK:

Well they have some of the coldest winters around, and I grew up there,

near Chippewa Falls. Once when I was a kid me and my father were

ice-fishing out on Lake Wissota... ice-fishing's where you chop a hole in

the--

ROSE:

I know what ice fishing is!

JACK:

Sorry. Just... you look like kind of an indoor girl. Anyway, I went through

some thin ice and I'm tellin' ya, water that cold... like that right down

there... it hits you like a thousand knives all over your body. You can't

breath, you can't think... least not about anything but the pain.

(takes off his other shoe)

Which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in after you. But like I

said, I don't see a choice. I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over

the rail and get me off the hook here.

ROSE:

You're crazy.

JACK:

That's what everybody says. But with all due respect, I'm not the one

hanging off the back of a ship.

He slides one step closer, like moving up on a spooked horse.

JACK:

Come on. You don't want to do this. Give me your hand.

Rose stares at this madman for a long time. She looks at his eyes and they

somehow suddenly seem to fill her universe.

ROSE:

Alright.

She unfastens one hand from the rail and reaches it around toward him. He

reaches out to take it, firmly.

JACK:

I'm Jack Dawson.

ROSE:

(voice quavering)

Pleased to meet you, Mr. Dawson.

Rose starts to turn. Now that she has decided to live, the height is

terrifying. She is overcome by vertigo as she shifts her footing, turning

to face the ship. As she starts to climb, her dress gets in the way, and

one foot slips off the edge of the deck.

She plunges, letting out a piercing SHRIEK. Jack, gripping her hand, is

jerked toward the rail. Rose barely grabs a lower rail with her free hand.

QUARTERMASTER ROWE, up on the docking bridge hears the scream and heads for

the ladder.

ROSE:

HELP! HELP!!

JACK:

I've got you. I won't let go.

Jack holds her hand with all his strength, bracing himself on the railing

with his other hand. Rose tries to get some kind of foothold on the smooth

hull. Jack tries to lift her bodily over the railing. She can't get any

footing in her dress and evening shoes, and she slips back. Rose SCREAMS

again.

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