Zerophilia
FADE IN:
EXT. WILDERNESS - NIGHT
Mist. Dark trees. Dripping vines. An ENGINE RUMBLES in the
distance.
The full moon shimmers on a puddle. A FROG SPLATS IN,
splashing a one man pup tent.
INSIDE THE TENT:
LUKE's eyes pop open, disoriented, realizing he's fallen
asleep reading by flashlight. He's nineteen, still slightly
awkward and unaware he's growing handsome.
He listens as the ENGINE RUMBLES LOUDER, closer.
He peers out through the tent flap. Glaring head lamps ROAR
toward him. Scrambling out of his sleeping bag, he HURLS
himself against the side of the tent, as...
OUTSIDE:
an RV CAMPER nearly plows down the tent, skidding to a stop
in the mud.
Stillness.
Luke extricates himself from the tent. He runs to the driver-
side window of the RV.
LUKE:
Are you all right?
Inside, ALEXA, thirties, earthy, looks up at him bleary-eyed.
She nods 'yes.'
LUKE (CONT'D)
How did you even get here? There's
no road.
ALEXA:
I'm sorry. I'm from Utah.
LUKE:
It's okay.
ALEXA:
Are you alone out here?
2.
He nods 'yes.' She bursts into TEARS.
ALEXA (CONT'D)
My husband. Bastard. I've been
driving for days. I don't even
know where I'm going.
LUKE:
Oh, wow. I'm really sorry.
She gathers herself, sniffling.
I have warm apple kringel in the
camper. Would you like some?
LUKE:
Uh, what is it?
ALEXA:
Pastry.
INSIDE RV CAMPER
Luke stands at the RV's tiny kitchen counter, wolfing pastry
off a paper plate.
ALEXA:
So, this "Survival Quest" is your
vacation?
LUKE:
Yeah. It's my third try. Kind a'
lame, huh?
ALEXA:
wilderness? I'd be afraid.
LUKE:
It's just something I really wanted
to do.
Luke notices an odd pile of stuff by the sink.
ALEXA:
His shoes. Fishing lures. The
electric drill.
LUKE:
Good.
3.
She smiles, grateful, eyeing his torn t-shirt and shorts.
ALEXA:
You’re all wet and muddy. Why
don’t I hang those up to dry?
LUKE:
Thanks. I’m okay.
ALEXA:
I’m propositioning you.
LUKE:
Oh...
Oh, wow.
You are?
He considers, fearful, but thrilled.
EXT. LANGFORD UNIVERSITY - MORNING
Students crisscross on bikes in front of the quadrangle.
The huge round headlights and muscular front grill of an old
SEMI-TRUCK RUMBLES up to the curb. It's the cab only, like
the sliced-off front of a train engine.
Luke hops down, startling his friends, KEENAN and JANINE,
passionately making out on the sidewalk.
Twenty, brainy and athletic, Janine adjusts her glasses, the
only remnant of a bookish past, as she thoughtfully considers
Luke's massive truck.
JANINE:
It's remarkable. Sort of retro. I
thought you were gettin' a pickup?
LUKE:
I changed my mind.
Hoping for a more enthusiastic response, he turns to Keenan,
who climbs up and peeks inside the cab. He's rugged,
streetwise, perpetually bemused, -maybe Ed Norton and Bill
Murray had a son...
KEENAN:
It's awesome. It's pleather.
LUKE:
F*** you. You think it's stupid.
4.
Janine stares at him.
LUKE (CONT'D)
What?
She shrugs, trying to put her finger on it, and when Luke
rolls up his T-shirt sleeves, she grins.
LUKE (CONT'D)
What?!
JANINE:
Oh my God. You got laid.
Finally! Who is she?
Luke glares at Keenan.
KEENAN:
I didn't say a word! I swear! You
know Janine. She's got X-ray
vision.
(to Janine)
Camping! A total stranger.
JANINE:
I knew that whole "waitin' to meet
the right girl" thing was crap.
Congratulations! I have to get to
Physics. The truck's great.
KEENAN:
See ya', hottie.
JANINE:
Could find something to call me,
other than what every guy in the
world would say?
KEENAN:
"Sweetheart?" "Babe?"
"Aphrodite?"
Janine sneers. At a loss, Keenan grabs her and kisses her
passionately.
She walks off rolling her eyes, but secretly loves it.
Keenan climbs up into the cab.
KEENAN (CONT'D)
So this is gonna' be like your car?
5.
LUKE:
Look, I know it's dopey. But don't
you recognize it? It's painted and
the muffler's switched out, -but
this was my dad's.
Keenan looks around with fresh eyes. He reaches an arm way
up under the glove box and GRINS, pulling out a small stash
of weed.
KEENAN:
Ten years. A little dried out.
The truck barrels along through the trees. Luke and Keenan
share a joint.
LUKE:
First off, that woman. We didn't
go all the way, you know?
KEENAN:
Yeah? Okay, so?
LUKE:
You think technically I'm still a
virgin?
KEENAN:
Were you inside her?
LUKE:
Yeah.
KEENAN:
It counts. Next. ...What?
LUKE:
I been havin' this weird dream.
The thing is, I think maybe the
dream's real. Forget it. No way
I'm tellin' you.
KEENAN:
You know enough of my secrets to
get me shot. Sharon's mom on
Thanksgiving? What the f*** dream
is there you can't tell me?
6.
LUKE:
It's about part of me gettin'
smaller. An important part.
Keenan looks over warily, then busts out LAUGHING, then
realizes Luke's serious.
KEENAN:
You have gotta' be f***in' kiddin'
me. You're not thirteen!
LUKE:
Screw you. Maybe I caught
something.
KEENAN:
I think it's good you bought this
truck.
They both LAUGH.
A small, run-down service garage, crammed with tires, tools
and discarded car parts.
Luke’s truck idles in the service bay, billowing smoke.
MAX, nineteen, lean, in overalls, with shoulder-length hair
and edgy eyes, wipes his greasy hands on a rag.
Dripping with masculinity, he swaggers around the truck,
chewing gum, wielding a pneumatic torque-wrench, which he
occasionally REVS for emphasis.
MAX:
I can do the gasket for twenty
bucks.
thing?
But new T-sprocks, for this
Two, three hundred, maybe?
LUKE:
Sh*t. Can I hold off on that?
MAX:
No skin off my ass. But a few
days, weeks, your whole
transmission could blow.
LUKE:
Ah, Jeez. I shouldn't got this.
7.
Max considers, sets his baseball cap on the truck fender and
SIGHS.
MAX:
Four hundred seventy-five
horsepower. Twenty-eight inch
wheels. It's a classic. Let me
dig around out back. Maybe we got
a used set.
LUKE:
That’d be great. Thanks.
Max disappears through a squeaky door at the back.
Luke picks up a rag and wipes fingerprints off the fender.
He sits, impatient for Max to return.
He examines Max's cap, tries it on. He picks up the torque-
wrench, swaggers about, trying to look macho, in the manner
of Max.
He spins around and REVS the wrench, catching sight of
MICHELLE, twenty, watching him from out front in jeans and T-
shirt, with warm, confident eyes.
Luke swallows, wide-eyed, a deer in headlights. He sets
down the torque-wrench.
LUKE (CONT'D)
It's not my wrench. It's my truck.
MICHELLE:
What's wrong with it?
LUKE:
Oh, just needs a new gasket and a
couple T-sprocks. The flanges are
sheared off. No big deal.
MICHELLE:
You have to watch my brother, Max.
He's sellin' you "T-sprocks?"
LUKE:
Yeah?
MICHELLE:
There's no such thing. Last week
he sold Mrs. Gustafson a whole set:
six hundred bucks. My name's
Michelle.
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"Zerophilia" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/zerophilia_732>.
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