Titanic Page #5

(making a sound in time with the animation)

... it splits! Right down to the keel, which acts like a big hinge. Now the

bow swings down and the stern falls back level... but the weight of the bow

pulls the stern up vertical, and then the bow section detaches, heading for

the bottom. The stern bobs like a cork, floods and goes under about 2:20

a.m. Two hours and forty minutes after the collision.

The animation then follows the bow section as it sinks. Rose watches this

clinical dissection of the disaster without emotion.

BODINE:

The bow pulls out of its dive and planes away, almost a half a mile, before

it hits the bottom going maybe 12 miles an hour. KABOOM!

The bow impacts, digging deeply into the bottom, the animation now follows

the stern.

BODINE:

The stern implodes as it sinks, from the pressure, and rips apart from the

force of the current as it falls, landing like a big pile of junk.

(indicating the simulation)

Cool huh?

ROSE:

Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine. Of course the

experience of it was somewhat less clinical.

LOVETT:

Will you share it with us?

Her eyes go back to the screens, showing the sad ruins far below them.

A VIEW from one of the subs TRACKING SLOWLY over the boat deck. Rose

recognizes one of the Wellin davits, still in place. She hears ghostly

waltz music. The faint and echoing sound of an officer's voice, English

accented, calling "Women and children only".

30 FLASH CUTS of screaming faces in a running crowd. Pandemonium and

terror. People crying, praying, kneeling on the deck. Just impressions...

flashes in the dark.

31 Rose Looks at another monitor. SNOOP DOG moving down a rusted,

debris-filled corridor. Rose watches the endless row of doorways sliding

past, like dark mouths.

32 IMAGE OF A CHILD, three years old, standing ankle deep in water in the

middle of an endless corridor. The child is lost alone, crying.

33 Rose is shaken by the flood of memories and emotions. Her eyes well up

and she puts her head down, sobbing quietly.

LIZZY:

(taking the wheelchair)

I'm taking her to rest.

ROSE:

No!

Her voice is surprisingly strong. The sweet little old lady is gone,

replaced by a woman with eyes of steel. Lovett signals everyone to stay

quiet.

LOVETT:

Tell us, Rose.

She looks from screen to screen, the images of the ruined ship.

ROSE:

It's been 84 years...

LOVETT:

Just tell us what you can--

ROSE:

(holds up her hand for silence)

It's been 84 years... and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had

never been used. The sheets had never been slept in.

He switches on the minirecorder and sets it near her.

ROSE:

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was...

As the underwater camera rises past the rusted bow rail, WE DISSOLVE /

MATCH MOVE to that same railing in 1912...

MATCH DISSOLVE:

34 EXT. SOUTHAMPTON DOCK - DAY

SHOT CONTINUES IN A FLORIOUS REVEAL as the gleaming white superstructure of

Titanic rises mountainously beyond the rail, and above that the

buff-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.

Southanmpton, England, April 10, 1912. It is almost nnon on ailing day. A

crowd of hundreds blackens the pier next to Titanic like ants on a jelly

sandwich.

IN FG a gorgeous burgundy RENAULT TOURING CAR swings into frame, hanging

from a loading crane. It is lowered toward HATCH #2.

On the pier horsedrawn vehicles, motorcars and lorries move slowly through

the dense throng. The atmosphere is one of excitement and general

giddiness. People embrace in tearful farewells, or wave and shout bon

voyage wishes to friends and relatives on the decks above.

A white RENAULT, leading a silver-gray DAIMLER-BENZ, pushes through the

crowd leaving a wake in the press of people. Around the handsome cars

people are streaming to board the ship, jostling with hustling seamen and

stokers, porters, and barking WHITE STAR LINE officials.

The Renault stops and the LIVERIED DRIVER scurries to open the door for a

YOUNG WOMAN dressed in a stunning white and purple outfit, with an enormous

feathered hat. She is 17 years old and beautiful, regal of bearing, with

piercing eyes.

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

with cool appraisal.

ROSE:

I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than the

Mauretania.

A PERSONAL VALET opens the door on the other side of the car for CALEDON

HOCKLEY, the 30 year old heir to the elder Hockley's fortune. "Cal" is

handsome, arrogant and rich beyond meaning.

CAL:

You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic. It's over

a hundred feet longer than Mauretania, and far more luxurious. It has

squash courts, a Parisian cafe... even Turkish baths.

Cal turns and fives his hand to Rose's mother, RUTH DEWITT BUKATER, who

descends from the touring car being him. Ruth is a 40ish society empress,

from one of the most prominent Philadelphia families. She is a widow, and

rules her household with iron will.

CAL:

Your daughter is much too hard to impress, Ruth.

(indicating a puddle)

Mind your step.

RUTH:

(gazing at the leviathan)

So this is the ship they say is unsinkable.

CAL:

It is unsinkable. God himself couldn't sink this ship.

Cal speaks with the pride of a host providing a special experience.

This entire entourage of rich Americans is impeccably turned out, a

quintessential example of the Edwardian upper class, complete with

servants. Cal's VALET, SPICER LOVEJOY, is a tall and impassive, dour as an

undertaker. Behind him emerge TWO MAIDS, personal servants to Ruth and

Rose.

A WHITE STAR LINE PORTER scurries toward them, harried by last minute

loading.

PORTER:

Sir, you'll have to check your baggage through the main terminal, round

that way--

Cal nonchalantly hands the man a fiver. The porter's eyes dilate. Five

pounds was a monster tip in those days.

CAL:

I put my faith in you, good sir.

(MORE)

CAL (CONT'D)

(curtly, indicating Lovejoy)

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