Love Your Enemies - Official
72
Transcript of Love Your Enemies - Official
BLACK SCREEN
The screen is pitch-black, and displays nothing. Then, two
lines of text appear (one above the other) which read -- "IN
LOVING MEMORY OF" and "ERIC JOHN HOUK" in full caps. The
lines fade out from the screen after 5 seconds, and a
countdown timer shows up that displays the amount of time in
years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the
death of ERIC HOUK. The timer displays these numbers:
"25:09:05:09:07:35". This stands for 24 years, 9 months, 5
days, 9 hours, 7 minutes, and 35 seconds until ERIC’s death.
The timer counts down by seconds as it is displayed until
the time reaches "25:09:05:09:07:35".
INT. HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY - 3/13/1982 1200 HRS.
A Florida high school hallway, colored red and white, is
empty of any students or employees. The school bells ring,
and soon it is full of teenagers. The jocks pass by, wearing
members-only red leather jackets and girls on their sleeves.
Following close by are two nerds in polo shirts, wearing
glasses, and carrying pens in their pen protectors. They are
holding their physics textbooks in their hands as they walk
to their lockers and open them. After the jocks, nerds, and
cheerleaders pass (as well as others in between), a thin,
pretty, young teenage girl named LAURA PERILLO walks out of
her class, followed by her teacher, into the hallway. They
both stand near the doorway into his classroom.
MR. JOHN SCHOCK
Laura, I’m sure you did brilliantly
on that test. Don’t worry about it.
LAURA PERILLO
I know Mr. Schock. It’s just that I
want to keep my A in your class.
MR. JOHN SCHOCK
Well, I’m sure you will. Have a
good weekend.
LAURA PERILLO
You too!
LAURA starts to walk through her school hallways after
saying goodbye. Clusters of her fellow students stand around
still, talking to each other after school. As she walks
towards her bus, she hears someone shout her last name.
MATTEO "MATT" GINO
Perillo!! Come over here!
2.
LAURA PERILLO looks over to MATT to her right, realizing
that her attractive crush just called her to come over to
him. She turns slowly to look straight at him. MATT waves in
her direction, and motions for "Perillo" to move towards
him.
MATTEO "MATT" GINO
Are you gonna come over here...
Perillo?
LAURA looks shocked, starts smiling and walking slowly
towards him. JOE PERILLO bumps past her unexpectedly and
runs over to his friend MATT. LAURA’s face subsides as she
realizes that her crush MATT, the quarterback of the
football team for her school, didn’t want to get her
attention. He wanted her brother, the popular one’s,
attention.
JOE PERILLO
Hey dude whats up...
JOE gives him a handshake and bumps his chest against his
friend’s chest.
JOE PERILLO (CONT’D)
I haven’t seen you since you won
the game!
MATTEO "MATT" GINO
Yeah that was DA BOMB!
They continue with their conversation, but LAURA can’t hear
them since she turns around and starts walking away. She
looks depressed, and starts tearing up in her left eye. In
the b.g. you see JOE and MATT talking to each other, having
a good time.
SMASH CUT TO
EXT. APARTMENT COMPLEX - 6/2/1986 1400 HRS.
LAURA, now 20 years old and dangerously anorexic, jogs along
her daily running route from her apartment building to her
friends’ apartment. She runs on a wooden bridge over a
teeming cypress tree swamp. The tall trees branch over the
dark red bridge, which protects LAURA from the alligators,
snakes, and other swamp creatures staring up at her from the
swamp. LAURA continues running along the bridge, her tennis
shoes gently beating the surface. She continues running,
reaching the end of the bridge which swerves right in front
of her friends’ apartment complex named Summer Oaks and ends
there. She comes off of the bridge onto the white concrete
sidewalk, and is greeted by gusts of wind and the sound of
3.
some birds tweeting. She continues on the concrete path to
the complex, slowing down as she reaches the front it. As
she nears the front of the 2 story building she pulls out a
face towel from her backpack, wiping her moist head. Walking
a bit closer to the staircase of the building, she pulls out
her water bottle from the pack and drinks a few gulps from
it. She then jogs up the stairs to CHARLES BONN’s room on
the second floor of the 2 story building.
CUT TO
EXT. CHARLES BONN’S APARTMENT - 1415 HOURS
LAURA walks through the carpeted hallway up to the door of
the apartment. Her work-out clothes are drenched, and she
looks extremely tired. Breathing hard, she knocks on the
tall, forest green door. The white blinds blocking the
window are moved, and a black male’s big brown eyes peek
out. Realizing that it is his dear friend LAURA at the door,
he releases the blinds back to their normal position and
unlocks the door. He opens it up inwardly, and her friend, a
black, 20 year old male who is dressed neatly in a jacket,
polo and jeans, welcomes her.
CHARLES BONN
Hey Laura!
LAURA HOUK
Hey Charles! I was just running by,
and I decided to see you and Ava.
CHARLES BONN
Cool,
(waving her inside)
come in.
INT. FRIEND’S APARTMENT COMPLEX (CONTINUOUS)
LAURA walks into the apartment, which is neatly decorated
with light green and blue walls. Paintings of beach scenes
line the walls, with some bleached starfish sand dollars.
Two bedrooms are visible, a kitchen, living room, and a
screened in balcony which lets much sunlight in. He closes
the door behind her as she walks inside. CHARLES starts
walking inside too, and puts his hand near his mouth in a
shouting position to announce to his girlfriend that LAURA,
their high school friend, is here.
CHARLES BONN
Ava! Laura’s here to see us!
4.
AVA SMITH (O.C.)
Oh! I’ll be out in a second!
LAURA pulls out, and sits on, one of the black metal chairs
from the clear glass dining table outside of the kitchen.
She hits the tabletop lightly with her fingernails,
anxiously tapping the frosted glass. She wipes her forehead
of her sweat as she waits for AVA and CHARLES to sit down
with her and talk.
CHARLES BONN (O.S.)
Want something to drink? We have
water, Diet Coke, Sprite, milk, and
lemonade.
CHARLES appears from his girlfriend’s room as he finishes
his question.
LAURA PERILLO
Uh... I’ll have a Coke, thanks.
CHARLES BONN
O.K.
CHARLES walks over into the kitchen, opening the old, white,
beat-up refrigerator door. He reaches into it, grabbing a
Diet Coke, then bringing it back to her. LAURA leans back
into her chair, waiting for him to come back to the table.
CHARLES walks back into the dining room and pulls out a seat
for himself directly across from LAURA.
CHARLES BONN (CONT’D)
So, how are you?
LAURA HOUK
Fine. How are you doing at USF?
CHARLES BONN
(jokingly)
Great! You know, Ava and I have
missed you a lot since you left us
there all alone.
(looking over to AVA’s
bedroom)
Well, look who’s here?
AVA walks out from her light pink painted bedroom into the
dining room. She changed into a pretty red dress. Facing
LAURA, she curtsies and smiles at her.
AVA SMITH
How do I look?
5.
LAURA PERILLO
Amazing! Where did you get it?
AVA SMITH
J.C. Penney! Can you believe it?
She begins to walk over, then pulls out a seat for herself.
LAURA PERILLO
Not at all. I’m so jealous.
CHARLES BONN
(to AVA)
So, Ava, we were just talking about
how she left us at USF, all alone.
LAURA HOUK
(smiling)
Come on guys. You know its not that
big of a deal.
There is a discernible pause between all three of them.
AVA SMITH
(seriously)
I see you’ve lost weight Laura.
LAURA HOUK
Just a little, you know, around the
abs.
While talking about her abs, she points to her abs with her
fingers.
CHARLES BONN
So, what are you down to now,
Laura?
CHARLES puts his right fist onto his chin, and his elbow is
situated on the table as he readies to ask the next
question.
CHARLES BONN (CONTD)
Ninety pounds?
AVA SMITH
Charles!
AVA’s face shows shock, and she slaps his arm to try and
stop him from going on any further with his insulting
rhetoric. LAURA’s disturbed face shows that she is shocked
that he would say that. CHARLES turns to AVA.
6.
CHARLES BONN
(to Ava)
What? We’re her friends. She has to
know that this is a serious
problem, and we can’t just ignore
it.
AVA sits back in her chair, crossing her arms. Her face
shows she is disgusted that he would say that.
LAURA HOUK
Ava, it’s fine. I know he means
well, and Charles, I’m perfectly
fine.
CHARLES BONN
(sincerely)
Well do you want us to help you?
LAURA HOUK
I just don’t have as much weight as
everyone else. That’s all it is.
CHARLES BONN
You know that’s not true.
LAURA’s face looks sad, and CHARLES’ looks determined.
FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
The screen display is pitch-black space. Then, a white
countdown timer pops up on the screen, stating the
following: "20:08:16:06:30:25". This countdown represents
the previous scene’s time left until the untimely death of
ERIC HOUK. Then the countdown timer quickly flickers all the
way down to the following numbers -- "00:05:06:13:23:46" --
which is a countdown to ERIC’s ’end’ for the next scene. The
countdown continues to go down by seconds, accompanied by
beeping noises.
INT. WOMAN’S HOSPITAL - SEPTEMBER 12, 2006 730 HOURS
ESTABLISHING SHOT OF HOSPITAL LOBBY
The atrium is tall, nearly 50 feet tall, and has light blue
paint on all the walls. Large frosted windows line the top
of the walls, allowing natural light into the hospital.
Light green tiles cover the entire floor. Two shops, one for
pregnant moms and one with random gifts, as well as one
restaurant, are on sides of the large atrium. In the main
atrium, a few women with their babies walk over the tiles of
7.
the hospital near the front desk and security table. Near
the front doors, there is a waiting area with plenty of
wooden chairs, sofas, and tables, as well as televisions.
MICHAEL HOUK and JORDAN HOUK wait, sitting on two of the
sofas, for their mom to give birth to their soon-to-be
brother. They both, aged 10 and 8, are wearing pajamas, one
red and one blue. They are laying back in the comfy leather
couches, watching the Discovery show Crocodile Hunter. Their
mom is married to her husband ERIC HOUK, and she has taken
his last name in replacement of her maiden name PERILLO (now
she is named LAURA HOUK instead of LAURA PERILLO). JORDAN
leans over to MICHAEL to talk to him.
JORDAN HOUK
How much longer do you think we’ll
have to wait for her to give birth.
We’ve been waiting since midnight.
MICHAEL turns to JORDAN in annoyance and sighs.
MICHAEL HOUK
I don’t know, Jordan. We are all
bored, OK?! You don’t have to keep
on asking.
JORDAN HOUK
It has been, like, 7 hours!
MICHAEL HOUK
So what?! Just shut up. She may be
giving birth right now as far as
you know.
JORDAN sits back in his chair, angry, having been ’beaten’
in his argument with MICHAEL. They both sit back and watch
the show Crocodile Hunter on the television in front of
them. The television shows STEVE IRWIN, the Crocodile
Hunter, as he walks around a pond infested with crocodiles.
The grass is green and brown, seemingly suffering through
the middle of a drought. The pond slopes down sharply,
showing much of the shore since nearly a quarter of the pond
is unfilled because of the lack of water available. IRWIN,
wearing camo shirts and pants, sneaks around the green water
with his hat.
STEVE IRWIN
(on TV, has an Australian
accent)
These animals are highly predatory.
If I get too close without knowing
they will attack me immediately.
IRWIN’s voice fades out. MICHAEL and JORDAN are still
sitting back in their chair, looking at the television.
8.
ANGLE ON THE LOBBY ELEVATORS
In the north wing of the lobby, MICHAEL and JORDAN’S
grandfather ALFRED PERILLO walks through the large metal
elevator doors. He is dressed in black dress pants, a dark
blue polo, dress shoes, and a gray cotton sweater. The tan
Italian grandfather in his 70s looks around through his gold
glasses for his two grandsons, but he is unable to find
them. He continues to look around the lobby even though they
are in front of him a few yards away. MICHAEL looks up from
the TV, and glances towards the elevator. As he glances in
that direction, he sees his grandpa looking around for them
aimlessly. MICHAEL opens his mouth excitedly and taps on
JORDAN’s knee with his right hand. Now, JORDAN and MICHAEL
both look up at their grandpa in wonder at why he is here
(and if he is going to tell him that their mom gave birth?).
MICHAEL points to him as he gets up from the chair. JORDAN
follows after him as he walks towards ALFRED PERILLO. As
they get closer to ALFRED, he sees them.
ALFRED PERILLO
(excitedly)
Michael! Jordan! You guys have a
new brother!
MICHAEL HOUK
Oh my gosh! Really!
JORDAN HOUK
Can we go up and see him?
ALFRED PERILLO
Yeah, come on.
MICHAEL and JORDAN run toward the elevator in front of their
grandpa, excited and ready to see their new brother and
their mom. MICHAEL, JORDAN and their grandpa enter into the
elevator after MICHAEL presses the elevator button. The
doors open rapidly, and they enter into the red carpeted
elevator with metal walls.Once they are all inside, ALFRED
pushes the button for the 2nd floor where the pregnancy ward
is.
INT. PREGNANCY WARD - SEPTEMBER 12, 2006 738 HOURS
MICHAEL, JORDAN, and ALFRED all walk cautiously into the
interior of the pregnancy ward where LAURA HOUK and her
newborn baby rests. Their new brother JOSEPH "JOEY" HOUK is
being held by their mom, and their grandma LUCIA PERILLO and
dad ERIC are nearby in seats. LUCIA is a dyed blond, short,
native Italian grandma who is wearing a floral-themed white
shirt and mom jeans. ERIC is a tan, black haired dad who is
a sort of ethnic mutt. He is wearing his painter clothes
9.
from his job as the owner of a painting company (a white
shirt with paint stains and sort-of-clean shorts). The 2
nurses present in the room look at LAURA and JOEY, noticing
his wispy brown hair, hazel eyes, and pale white skin. LAURA
looks up and notices that they are here.
LAURA HOUK
Hi boys! Welcome your new brother
to this world!
ERIC and LUCIA also look up and see them.
ERIC HOUK
Hey boys! Say hi to Joey!
LUCIA PERILLO
He’s beautiful.
MICHAEL and JORDAN walk slowly over to their mom. When they
reach the bed, LAURA hands off JOEY to MICHAEL in a careful
manner, and MICHAEL puts his hands out to hold him.
LAURA HOUK
Make sure to hold his head up!
MICHAEL is holding his new brother JOEY carefully, rocking
him back and forth slowly as he stands next to the bed. He
is in awe at this new life in front of him, and has a big
smile.
MICHAEL HOUK
(softly)
Hey Joey... I’m your big brother...
Welcome to life. I hope you like
it.
LAURA looks at MICHAEL, who is chuckling, and she smiles and
is very happy that her child is born and that the pregnancy
is finally over.
SMASH CUT TO
INT. PREGNANCY WARD - SEPTEMBER 12, 2006 904 HOURS
Everyone is gone from the hospital room -- the nurses and
the family -- except LAURA HOUK and her newborn JOSEPH
"JOEY" HOUK. LAURA is sitting on a white hospital bed,
holding JOEY. JOEY is wrapped in a small, pearl white
blanket that shades his face and his whole tiny body from
our view. LAURA’s hair is wavy, oily, and her face is
relaxed. The lights are low, adding a dull tone to the room
that is already empty and pale yellow. The window shines in
its minimal moonlight as a tall oak tree’s branches lightly
tap the glass.
10.
ANGLE ON: LAURA HOUK
LAURA is sitting on the pale white hospital bed, looking
into her baby boy’s sky blue eyes. She strokes his light,
airy, thin, brown (almost non-existent) hair. Still stroking
the hair, she turns and stares into space (towards the wall
opposite her).
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
We called him our ’little miracle.’
He was unexpected, accidental, but
also a wonder, a little piece of
heaven that we received on the 12th
of September, 2006. Eric and I was
so overjoyed when he came into our
lives. He seemed to be the end of
my previous depressions and
anxieties, obsessions and problems
that had lasted since my early
childhood, and even through my
first and second sons’ births.
Lingering in the future, though,
was a whole new problem: postpartum
depression.
CLOSE UP: JOEY
JOEY smiles up at LAURA in that baby-smiling-at-you way that
makes her extremely happy, giddy almost. The happiness
causes a big smile to go across her face. After a second or
two, she looks away towards the side of the bed. There is a
hickory wood table at the side of the bed, with a plate of
food (partially uneaten, with crumpled napkins and used
silverware on top) on the surface. Next to this plate is a
phone, and next to that is a crystal jewelry box. It is
closed, and the thick crystal walls have a translucent
appearance that blocks the insides from being revealed. She
reaches over with her hand, slowly and carefully in order to
keep JOEY safe. She grabs the box and swiftly pulls it over
to the side of her stomach to look into it. With the hand
not holding JOEY she opens the golden latch on the outside
of the box, opening the roof of it to reveal its contents.
Glistening gold watches, silver bracelets, and diamond
earrings (along with other shiny jewelry) are inside, neatly
placed there. A small, baby sized golden bracelet that says
"Joey" is the most noticeable piece of the group. She grabs
it with her fingers, at the same time grabbing JOEY’s wrist
and pulling it near to her side. She undoes the bracelet and
wraps it around her wrist. She looks at it on her wrist,
reading it. She smiles, tired, and lays back.
CUTAWAY: HOSPITAL ROOM WINDOW
11.
As she leans back on the bed and JOEY starts dozing to
sleep, a full moon is rising in the window to their left.
Stars also shine around the moon, combining to let in much
natural light into the unlit room.
SMASH CUT TO
BLACK SCREEN
The screen display is pitch-black space. Nothing inhabits
the space until, all of a sudden, a timer shows up. It
states this -- "00:05:05:23:56:32" -- which represents the
time left until the "end" from the previous scene.
Transitioning to the next scene, the timer quickly flickers
down, all the way to these numbers -- "00:00:00:12:19:35" --
which is a countdown to the "end" for the next scene. The
countdown continues to go down by seconds, beeping
accompanying these movements. The numbers displayed for this
new scene stand for 0 years, 0 months, 0 days, 12 hours, 19
minutes, and 35 seconds until the climax of events.
CROSS FADE TO
INT. MASTER BATHROOM - FEBRUARY 18, 2006 847 HOURS
OVER THE SHOULDER: MIRROR
LAURA HOUK is getting ready to go to the 9:30 Catholic mass.
She is wearing a slim, black and white floral dress,
complemented by her ultra-high black high heels. The mirror
shows her surroundings: her and her husband’s master
bathroom.
CLOSE UP: LAURA HOUK
LAURA leans forward, moving close up to the glass mirror.
One of her fingers pulls up her top right eyelid, and
another finger pulls down her bottom right eyelid. With her
right hand she places a transparent, slightly blue, contact
into her eye. She moves away from the glass
slightly, blinking and reaching for the other contact.
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
Every week, my kids, my mom and I
went to church. My husband Eric and
I both agreed the kids needed to
know God, but he refused to come.
This weekend, he was missing it to
go to the Daytona 500 with his
brother. Not only did I have to
deal with his absence, but I had to
worry if he and his brother would
get into trouble.
12.
LAURA HOUK uses two fingers to hold her left eyelid open,
and inserts the contact into her left eye with another
finger. After blinking a few time, LAURA gets out a brown
opaque makeup kit full with face and eye makeup and opens it
up. She starts brushing "blush" onto her face, along with
moisturizing lotion. She then grabs an eyeliner and starts
drawing a black line on the edges of her eyelids. LAURA
walks away from the mirror, tapping the white tile floor
with her heels.
ANGLE ON: JEWELRY BOX
When she reaches the counter sink above the brown wood
cabinets on the other side of the bathroom, she opens the
crystal jewelry box on top (the same one previously at the
hospital). She opens the box, looking inside for some
earrings. She grabs two topaz earrings, lifting them up to
the light of the bathroom. She walks back to her mirror on
the other side of the room and turns to put on the earring.
She inserts it into her ear, and turns to put on the other
earring. She puts her hands up to her ear to put on the
earring when she is interrupted by her husband.
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
(knocking)
Laura!
LAURA HOUK
What??!
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
I just wanted to say...
LAURA HOUK walks over to the door, slowly tapping. She opens
the white doors, interrupting her husband in the middle of
his sentence.
LAURA HOUK
So. What do you want to say?
LAURA tilts her head, reaching her hands up to her ears and
putting her other earring on as she waits for a response
from her shocked husband.
ERIC HOUK
I just wanted to say that I love
you.
LAURA HOUK
(looking down)
Well... I love you too.
(looking back up suddenly)
Why are you saying this now, Eric?
13.
LAURA pushes his arms to the side, turning to his left and
walking out of their bedroom past the door. Unseen from the
bathroom, she walks into the entrance of the kitchen,
waiting for ERIC to follow her.
INT. KITCHEN - 852 HOURS; CONTINUOUS
She is at the entrance of the kitchen, tapping the right
heel of her right high heel, waiting for her husband to come
and answer her question. Her husband, wearing a 2007 Daytona
500 t-shirt and cargo pants, follows her and stands in front
of her. His hands fold across his chest as he sighs before
answering her.
ERIC HOUK
Well... because I am leaving to
Daytona. And I was wondering if you
are still going to church today.
LAURA pushes her hair back, then bites her blood red lips
nervously. She turns her head towards the living room,
looking over to her kids in that room playing together, then
back at him.
LAURA HOUK
Yes. Me and the kids...
(pointing at the kids playing
in the b.g.)
... are going to church. My mom is
coming with us too.
There’s a brief, awkward pause between the two of them
caused by a tangible tension over him going to the race with
his brother, and him not going to church most Sundays with
her and their kids.
ERIC HOUK
(in response)
Well...
(picking up his jacket on the
chair next to them)
I’m going to Mike’s soon, so I can
pick him up.
LAURA HOUK
You can still not go...
While she is saying this, ERIC shakes his head, mentally
saying "no" to her request. But, LAURA continues on begging
and pleading with him to stay.
14.
LAURA HOUK (CONTD)
(begging)
You could even take a cab, or get a
hotel room, or something! Please!
Midway through her sentence, ERIC starts to walk away into
the dining room towards their garage. After she says
"please!" he turns around.
ERIC HOUK
(loudly)
Why should I?
ERIC starts walking towards her, slightly angry but more
disturbed then anything. MICHAEL and JORDAN look over from
playing video games (Super Mario Bros. on the Wii), troubled
by the yelling of their dad towards their mom.
CUT-IN: MICHAEL AND JORDAN HOUK
Their faces are visibly upset at this outburst, and their
faces are turned towards their parents. MICHAEL’s face (with
short, spiked brown hair and glasses) and JORDAN’s face
(with short, brushed down black hair and tan skin) continue
to look over, and their characters on the Wii fall down from
their neglect (to continue playing). When they fall, they
make a sound meaning they fell, and as the "GAME OVER" sign
pops up on the screen, the game over music starts playing.
LAURA HOUK
(whispering)
Because, I don’t trust you and Mike
together. [beat] I am worried.. I
have a bad feeling about this...
this whole thing. You need to get a
hotel or...
ERIC grabs LAURA’s shoulders, interrupting her speech to
him, and looks into her eyes.
ERIC HOUK
(convincingly)
I don’t need to!
(whispering)
I’ll be fine. You need to trust me.
Whatever your worry is...
everything’s fine, nothings going
to happen.
LAURA HOUK
(shocked)
OK. I’ll trust you.
EXTREME CLOSE UP: KITCHEN OVEN CLOCK
15.
The clock says "9:03" standing for 903 hours or 9:03 A.M.
CUTAWAY: LAURA HOUK
LAURA looks over towards the clock, looks very shocked at
what the oven clock says. She starts freaking out, running
over to the kids as fast as she can in her high heels.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
Kids! Get ready!
LAURA walks over to her kids closer, pointing into the
hallway that leads to their rooms.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
Go! Get ready for church!
MICHAEL runs into his room, with JORDAN following closely
behind to go into his room. LAURA looks over, making sure
they went into their rooms and closed their doors. After
that, she hurries over to her son JOEY’s bouncy chair where
he sits. It’s right next to the living room, but still
inside the kitchen. He is sitting there on the green seat,
eating cheerios on the white plastic table, as LAURA grabs
him, strips him of his little bib, and pulls him onto
herself. She starts patting his back and hurries into the
kitchen, getting the blue baby bag for him that contains a
binky, cup of milk, toys, and other toys. JORDAN and MICHAEL
run out, sliding on their flip flops, dressed in church
clothes (polo shirts and cargo pants) and runs past her into
the utility room (and O.S.) into the garage to LAURA’s car.
You hear the door slam closed as they run outside of the
house. She realizes that she didn’t say goodbye to ERIC, so
she calls out his name.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
Eric! [beat] Eric! [beat] Eric!
ERIC is no where to be seen, as he has left to his brother’s
house for the race. LAURA realizes this, and her face looks
upset. She looks down, then starts walking to the utility
room. She turns to her baby, who has his face on her left
shoulder.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
(to JOEY)
Well, Joey, I guess it’s just us.
[beat] No daddy...
16.
BLACK SCREEN
The screen displays a pitch-black space inhabited by
nothing. Suddenly, a white countdown pops up taking up a
considerable amount of space. It states this --
"00:00:00:12:10:57" -- which represents the time left until
the "end" from the 12th scene (the previous scene). After a
few seconds displaying the timer counting down, the timer
quickly flickers all the way down to the time/numbers --
"00:00:00:11:17:03" -- which is a countdown to the ’end’ for
the next scene (scene 14). The countdown continues to go
down as the seconds go on. The timer’s numbers stand for 0
years, 0 months, 0 days, 11 hours, 17 minutes, and 3 seconds
until the ’end.’
CROSS FADE TO
EXT. CATHOLIC CHURCH - 957 HOURS
ESTABLISHING SHOT
Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, a large church in
the HOUK’s town, is surrounded on all three sides by
forests, with one side that has a parking lot and a road to
the nearby highway. It’s an old, rustic looking church, with
a large cross on the top of its pointed roof. The skies are
gray and gloomy, ready to rain with a torrential pour. Wind
penetrates the forest, hitting the flag and the many
church-goers walking into the front doors. As they walk
through the double doors, a tapping of shoes is heard like a
man is walking up stairs.
REV. AUBIN (O.S.)
(coughs)
The Lord be with you.
THE ASSEMBLY (O.S.)
And also with you.
REV. AUBIN (O.S.)
A reading from the holy Gospel
according to Luke.
INT. CATHOLIC CHURCH - CONTINUOUS
CLOSE UP: REV. AUBIN
Reverend Ron Aubin, the chief, senior pastor of the church,
makes the sign of the cross on his forehead, then he moves
to put the sign of the cross on his mouth (and, unseen, the
sign of the cross on his chest).
MEDIUM CLOSE UP: THE HOUKS
17.
LAURA HOUK, MICHAEL HOUK, JORDAN HOUK, and LUCIA PERILLO
make the sign of the cross on their mouth, then proceed to
make it on their chest with their thumb like the others.
PAN: REV. AUBIN
REV. AUBIN
(reading from the holy Bible,
version: NASB)
But to you who are listening I say:
Love your enemies, do good to those
who hate you, bless those who curse
you, pray for those who mistreat
you. If someone slaps you on one
cheek, turn to them the other also.
If someone takes your coat, do not
withhold your shirt from them. Give
to everyone who asks you, and if
anyone takes what belongs to you,
do not demand it back. Do to others
as you would have them do to you.If
you love those who love you, what
credit is that to you? Even sinners
love those who love them. And if
you do good to those who are good
to you, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do that. And if you
lend to those from whom you expect
repayment, what credit is that to
you? Even sinners lend to sinners,
expecting to be repaid in full. But
love your enemies, do good to them,
and lend to them without expecting
to get anything back. Then your
reward will be great, and you will
be children of the Most High,
because he is kind to the
ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful,
just as your Father is merciful. Do
not judge, and you will not be
judged. Do not condemn, and you
will not be condemned. Forgive, and
you will be forgiven. [beat] The
word of the LORD.
THE ASSEMBLY
Thanks be to GOD.
REV. AUBIN closes the missal book on the podium, and then
steps off of the pedestal he was standing at. He messes with
his mic for a second as he walks down and gives the large,
gold engraved missal book to his altar boy, a fat, stubby
one, at the bottom. The altar boy walks away to his seat.
18.
REV. AUBIN proceeds to walk out in front of the rows of
people, and he starts walking slowly back and forth. THE
ASSEMBLY waits for him to start his homily to accompany the
Gospel from the book of Luke that he just read.
REV. AUBIN
(looking up)
Let’s talk about forgiveness, shall
we?
FADE TO
INT. LAURA’S VOLVO SUV - 1054 HOURS
Half an hour after the 9:30 A.M. mass has ended, LAURA, her
mother LUCIA PERILLO, and her children MICHAEL, JORDAN, and
JOEY are in her white SUV. LAURA drives out of their church
parking lot through the intense traffic of the dirt road
that leads to the congested main church road that leads to
the slow moving six lane divided highway named SR 54 in the
center of the town Land O’ Lakes. Trapped between cars and
blocked by cars on LAURA’s sides, LUCIA PERILLO pulls out a
packet of gummy bears out of her brown leather purse. Inside
the Volvo XC90, the boys MICHAEL and JORDAN react with
extreme happiness and excitement at the sight of the
delicious snack. They grab and snatch for them, yelling and
screaming.
MICHAEL HOUK
(yelling)
Give me some!
JORDAN HOUK
(yelling)
Hurry up Grandma!
Pleaseeeeee!
EXTREME CLOSE UP: REAR VIEW MIRROR
LAURA looks back at her kids in the rear view mirror to see
what they are doing. After she sees what they are doing, she
shakes her head, smiles, and continues driving.
LUCIA PERILLO
(to MICHAEL and JORDAN)
There’s enough to go around guys!
LAURA turns around again, smiling.
LAURA HOUK
Calm down you two! Grandma’s gonna
have...
Out of no where (and interrupting her comments), a black SUV
crosses into LAURA’s car’s path. The road doesn’t have
enough room to allow them both to be there, so LAURA quickly
19.
swerves out of the way (screaming the whole way, with the
kids) into the other lane, preventing a potentially
terrible/fatal accident. As she goes into the other palm
tree-lined lane, she gives a loud, long honk to the man who
cut her off, accompanying another 5 or 6 other honks
sounding off at her.
MICHAEL HOUK
Whoa mom!
JORDAN HOUK
Watch out! That was close!
LAURA looks into the mirror, checking out everyone in the
back to make sure they aren’t hurt.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
Everyone’s all right?
MICHAEL looks down at himself, then looks up at her with his
dark, hazel eyes. He nods his head up and down, slightly
shaking. JORDAN looks at her at nearly the same time, and
nods his head.
JORDAN HOUK
I’m fine, mom.
LUCIA puts her hand on JOEY, senses that he is OK, then
looks up to her daughter.
LUCIA PERILLO
Yeah, he’s fine.
LAURA HOUK
Good. I’m sorry for that.
LAURA looks over at MICHAEL, who is in the front seat with
her, and pats his arm. Everyone calms down, relaxes. JORDAN
starts doing breathing exercises to try and stop breathing
fast.
WIDE: EXTERIOR VOLVO XC90
The white Volvo LAURA is driving moves from the church road,
through the intersection and onto the state highway,
straight into the fast lane to return home as fast as
possible. It straightens out in the lane, and other cars
behind it follow suit. Other cars and vans, stopped at the
line and waiting for the light to go green, wait at the
other 3 sides of the intersection. Grocery stores,
convenience stores, and hedges line the highway, along with
other roads, parking lots, and various neighborhoods.
OVER THE SHOULDER: LAURA HOUK
20.
Behind LAURA, her mom LUCIA grabs a bag from the floor that
was dropped when an accident almost happened. She starts
handing small handfuls of her gummy bears to MICHAEL and
JORDAN. MICHAEL and JORDAN both hold out their small hands
to take the small handfuls. They fight over the bears,
pushing each others’ hands out of the way, and mess around.
They keep on reaching for their grandma to give them their
handfuls first. After receiving them, they put them on their
laps, storing them. Then, they return their hands right next
to LUCIA and ask for more.
MICHAEL HOUK
More, Grandma! Please?!
JORDAN HOUK
Thank you, Grandma!!
MICHAEL HOUK
Thanks! [beat] More!
JORDAN HOUK
More!
LUCIA throws up her hands in despair, giving up.
LUCIA PERILLO
That’s it!! There’s no more! Gosh
you guys!...
LUCIA shakes her head (like she’s saying "no") at their
savage-like behavior. Under her breath, she starts mumbling.
LUCIA PERILLO (CONT’D)
(in Italian, meaning "I cannot
believe it! My mom!")
Non posso crederlo! Mamma mia!
The bag has been emptied all the way to the bottom because
they ate all the gummies. LUCIA shakes the bag, showing the
emptiness to her grandkids. LUCIA looks back and forth at
JORDAN sitting to her left and MICHAEL in the front
passenger seat. LUCIA then puts her hands up in a true
Italian manner, shaking them slightly.
LUCIA PERILLO (CONT’D)
Can I have a thank you??!
MICHAEL and JORDAN both get annoyed in response to her
comment. They start rolling their eyes as they reply to
their grandma.
MICHAEL HOUK
(begrudgingly)
Ugh... Thank you Grandma.
21.
JORDAN HOUK
Thanks Grandma...
LUCIA nods her dyed blond haired head up and down in assent
at their forced politeness. She puts her hands down on the
seat, and she sits back in her car seat to relax after her
success.
LUCIA PERILLO
Thank you.
LUCIA lays her head back onto the headrest behind her and
breathes slowly to calm down from the feeding frenzy and the
aftermath of it. LUCIA, MICHAEL, JORDAN, and LAURA all sit
in relative quiet for what seems like an eternity, and even
JOEY plays along with the quietness by not making noise (a
rare event if I ever did know one). Then, MICHAEL nervously
gulps, exposing his Adam’s apple as he swallows extra saliva
in preparation to speak up and end the silence. He quickly
coughs to clear his throat so his voice will sound fine and
the words will come out clearly. LAURA continues to look
ahead, driving along the state highway safely as he gets
ready to speak to her.
MICHAEL HOUK
(anxiously)
Mom?
LAURA HOUK
Yeah, Michael?
LAURA looks into her clean, shiny rear-view mirror at her
oldest, MICHAEL, to see him speaking. Instead of seeing his
normal, bubbly self she sees an anxiety ridden boy looking
down, sad and troubled. Her face shifts into wearing a
concerned expression. As she she looks more intently into
the eyes of her eldest son she wonders what he is thinking
about, why he is anxious, why he is sad, and other questions
about his state of mind. Most importantly, she wonders, what
will he ask her about? She waits for a response from him to
either confirm or deny her suspicions...
MICHAEL HOUK
(slowly)
Is... dad, [beat]
LAURA continues listening and watching him in the mirror.
MICHAEL breathes in and out to calm himself down, and LAURA,
at the same time, clears her throat so she can be prepared
to reply.
22.
LAURA HOUK
(whispering)
Yes?
MICHAEL HOUK (CONTD)
(slowly)
... coming home?
LAURA HOUK
(shocked)
Yes... yes...
LAURA nods her head up and down in conjunction what she is
saying. She wears a surprised -- but saddened -- expression
in response to what he said.
LAURA HOUK
(surely)
Of course...
(inquisitively)
Why wouldn’t he? [beat] What would
make you even think like that?
[beat] Michael?
LAURA looks up into the rear view mirror again. MICHAEL
looks up, straight at the mirror to see her.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP: MICHAEL’S FACE
MICHAEL HOUK
Well, you’ve been awfully quiet
today. [beat] Plus, I heard dad and
you screaming about the race this
morning in the kitchen...
MICHAEL looks down, sad and worried, waiting for a response.
He is also a little embarrassed about asking it in front of
all of the family. LAURA looks awfully surprised too as she
thinks about how to reply to her son’s question. She decides
on an answer, although she is not sure if she believes it
herself (if she was honest with herself).
LAURA HOUK
He’s fine. [beat] Nothing’s wrong.
LAURA looks slightly downward, but is still watching the
highway in front of her. Cars, vans, SUVs, and trucks all
swerve in front, behind, and around her frequently, but she
is never cut off like before when she almost crashed in
front of the church. Her cell phone vibrates and lights up.
EXTREME CLOSE UP: LAURA’S CELL PHONE FRONT DISPLAY
23.
On the top of the display, it says "Barbara-CELL" when it
lights up. Underneath the name is her phone number (in
smaller font) -- 813-466-2590 -- that she is calling from.
The phone keeps on vibrating in the cup holder on LAURA’s
right. A hand -- LAURA’s -- picks it up from the holder with
a gentle grasp. Her manicured and red painted nails flip
open the phone immediately after grabbing it. Right after
opening it, she puts it up to her ear and mouth so she hears
anything they say to her.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
(talking into the phone)
Hello?
BARBARA CAMPBELL (V.O.)
(barely heard, over the phone)
Hey Laura!
LAURA smiles and her eyes light up when she realizes that
her close friend BARBARA is the one calling.
LAURA HOUK
How are you doing, Barb?
BARBARA CAMPBELL (V.O.)
Great! Are you guys done with mass
for today?
LAURA HOUK
Yep, it ended a few minutes ago.
How’s Jim and the boys?
BARBARA CAMPBELL (V.O.)
Fine... Dominick wants to know if
you and your kids want to come to
our house and hang out?
LAURA HOUK
Uhhh... I’ll ask them. OK?
She puts the phone down (as it is still open and the phone
call’s still on) and turns to the rear view mirror to the
boys.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
Guys! Do you want to go to Dominick
and Lenny’s house now?
MICHAEL HOUK
YESSSS!
JORDAN HOUK
YESSSS!
24.
She flinches, shocked by the overwhelming response to her
question. She chuckles, picking up the phone again,
returning it to her face to talk.
LAURA HOUK
(beat)
I think they want to, Barb.
BARBARA CAMPBELL
Yeah, I heard. See you soon!
LAURA HOUK
Kay, bye...
She flips the phone closed to hang it up and slides it into
the purse next to her hip on her driver’s seat. LAURA
continues to drive towards her friend’s house.
CUT TO
EXT. BARBARA CAMPBELL’S HOUSE CUL-DE-SAC - 1130 HOURS
BIRDS EYE
MICHAEL and JORDAN with their best friends DOMINICK TANNER
and LENNY TANNER play kickball with a red ball in the small
cul-de-sac next to the Tanner/Campbell house. The trees
surrounding the area move with the wind, rustling the leaves
and causing them to fly.
ZOOM IN: CUL-DE-SAC
MICHAEL and DOMINICK are on one team on the outside of their
cul-de-sac near their neighbors’ houses (and the cul-de-sac
is also connected to the Tanner/Campbell house). All of
these houses are 1980s-style single family homes that
surround the cul-de-sac that the kids are using as their
kickball field. JORDAN and LENNY are on the other team, the
kicking one, that is at the moment waiting for the ball to
be pitched to them so JORDAN can kick it. They stand ready
at ’home base’ (which is actually a marked off section of
their driveway). MICHAEL tosses the ball from the outfield
towards JORDAN at bat. JORDAN kicks it far in the air, and
the wind takes the ball and throws it far to the right of
the foul line, all the way down the neighborhood street to
their right. JORDAN throws his hands up in the hair in
despair.
JORDAN HOUK
What the heck!
JORDAN runs after the kickball, along with LENNY (a short,
brown haired, really skinny kid), all the way down the
25.
street where numerous houses and cars are located. The trees
on all sides are being blown, as is the ball, as the ball
rolls down the street. Meanwhile, MICHAEL and DOMINICK (a
tall, muscular, blond haired kid with a buzz cut) stay where
they are at, waiting for them to come back. They come
together in the outfield, standing right next to each other.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP: MICHAEL AND DOMINICK IN OUTFIELD
MICHAEL is close to DOMINICK in the outfield. DOMINICK turns
to face MICHAEL as they wait. MICHAEL’s hair is blown
slightly by the intense wind even as the mousse holds the
front in its’ desired mold. Their brothers continue to run
after the ball as they watch them run after the runaway
ball.
MICHAEL HOUK
Wow... they really suck!
MICHAEL and DOMINICK both start laughing. DOMINICK leans
over because he is laughing so hard, and he gets back up.
DOMINICK TANNER
That’s true...
MICHAEL continues to chuckle and DOMINICK chuckles a bit,
smiling.
DOMINICK TANNER
So... when is your dad coming back
from that Daytona thing?
MICHAEL looks at DOMINICK, then shakes his head at him.
MICHAEL HOUK
I don’t know... My mom sure is
freaked out about this whole thing
though. I don’t know why.
DOMINICK TANNER
(flabbergasted)
Yeah?? That’s weird.
Both MICHAEL and DOMINICK sit down on the concrete, right on
the pothole.
MICHAEL HOUK
Yeah, she kept on begging for him
not to go to the race. And then
when he said he has to, that they
already bought the tickets, she
wanted him to get a hotel room, but
he couldn’t because they are all
filled up.
26.
They both look over as they hear running towards them,
accompanied by a bouncing ball. They look upwards, to their
left, seeing that it is JORDAN and LENNY jogging towards
them. DOMINICK and MICHAEL both get up from their positions
on the street.
DOMINICK TANNER
(while getting up)
Well, Michael, I’m sure he’ll come
back soon.
DOMINICK pats MICHAEL on the back to comfort him. MICHAEL
smiles halfheartedly.
SMASH CUT TO
EXT. BARBARA’S FRONT DECK - 1135 HOURS
Their house is old, around 25 years old, and slightly
dilapidated. It is situated in a large Lutz, FL neighborhood
called Lake Padgett that has medium sized, low priced homes.
The exterior walls of the house are a pale, tan yellow
color, and the front windows have burgundy drapes covering
them for privacy. The front deck is a variety of paver
stones in different, pale colors: pale red, pale orange, and
pale yellow. That contrasts with the wall and its blue
mailbox, surrounding colorful flowers, and the light green
door around the house. LAURA and BARBARA sit on metal chairs
on the porch, drinking water and beer. LAURA crosses her
legs as she sits on the chair. BARBARA sits and lights a
cigarette, putting it into her mouth and puffing out the
smoke from the tobacco.
LAURA HOUK
How’s Jim?
LAURA takes a swig from her water bottle after saying this.
As she is drinking, she looks at BARBARA inquisitively.
BARBARA CAMPBELL
Fine... We’re doing just fine.
BARBARA drinks some of her beer, slowly lowering the drink
into her throat. She gulps a few times as she chugs it down
into her body. After this, she puts her bottle down on the
table next to her and wipes her mouth with the back of her
hand. Then, she looks over at LAURA.
BARBARA CAMPBELL (CONTD)
Wanna hear something?
27.
LAURA HOUK
Sure, Barb.
BARBARA CAMPBELL
O.K., so last week he got an offer
from his captain to be promoted to
lieutenant of Tampa’s homicide
division. Hear this, Laura. The guy
told Jim that all he needed to do
was to put in a little more effort,
and then the captain could
guarantee the promotion. Then,
ye...
As BARBARA starts saying the word ’yesterday,’ LAURA
interrupts her. She grips BARBARA’s arm with her left hand,
and looks at her. BARBARA looks over quickly, her face
showing a shocked expression.
LAURA HOUK
(elatedly)
So, does he know if he got
promoted?
BARBARA CAMPBELL
No, that’s the crazy part!
Yesterday, after he worked his ass
off all week he learns from his
partner, of all places, that he
didn’t get the job.
BARBARA is almost yelling now, mainly because of her vibrant
personality and the ludicrous nature of the whole incident.
LAURA, as well, is appalled, and she makes her mouth into a
perfect circle.
LAURA HOUK
(startled)
No!
BARBARA CAMPBELL (CONTD)
Yes! The day after he offered it to
Jim, the boss gave it to some other
guy in his department!
LAURA HOUK
No! That’s crazy.
BARBARA CAMPBELL
Yes!
BARBARA lays back into her chair and puts one of her
cigarettes from her pack into her mouth. With the other
28.
hand, she flicks away her used cigarette from her mouth into
a pail (that functions as an outside trash can) beside her
chair. She pulls out a red pocket lighter and ignites the
end of the brown and white cigarette with it. She puffs out
a ring of smoke that continues to expand as it goes outward.
She then thrusts her fingers with her cigarette into the air
to take it out of her mouth so she can talk.
BARBARA CAMPBELL (CONT’D)
But, it’s true Laura. So, it goes
to show you...
LAURA HOUK
(interrupting)
...You don’t always get what you
want??
BARBARA CAMPBELL
True. True. That’s exactly what I
was going to say.
During this comment, BARBARA points towards LAURA
approvingly, raising her finger up and down repeatedly.
After this, LAURA sits back in her chair, and BARBARA puffs
another ring of smoke, and lowers her hand back to the
chair. LAURA grabs her water bottle, knocking back the small
amount of water still in the Publix store brand water bottle
that is in her hand. LAURA and BARBARA are both looking
towards their kids playing in the cul-de-sac that is
straight ahead of them.
POV: LAURA HOUK AND BARBARA CAMPBELL
DOMINICK rolls the ball (slightly bouncing it) to LENNY from
the outfield where him and his friend MICHAEL are standing.
DOMINICK stands to the left of the field, while MICHAEL is
all the way to the right of it near their neighbors’ houses.
The red ball bounces slightly above the asphalt at a
moderate-fast speed towards LENNY and JORDAN at the curb of
the white concrete driveway. LENNY prepares to kick it by
running up (like a soccer player to a corner kick) and
kicking it when it reaches where his feet are. His feet kick
it nicely, but instead of it flying fast and far into the
outfield, it is slowed down and stopped from going far by
the fast moving gusts of wind. DOMINICK gets ready to catch
it when it falls down. He is about to catch it as the ball
comes down nicely into his arms. He throws it over to
MICHAEL, smiling at him because of his accomplishment.
MICHAEL HOUK
(not heard well)
Nice job.
29.
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
We’re so lucky to have them, aren’t
we?
CLOSE UP: BARBARA CAMPBELL AND LAURA HOUK
BARBARA CAMPBELL
Yep, we are, LAURA. Yes, we are.
After this, there is a slight (somewhat awkward) pause here
between the two of them as they look over to their kids.
LAURA looks over to BARBARA, even as she is still looking
over to the boys playing kickball. BARBARA lifts the hand
with her cigarette up, putting her cigarette into her mouth.
She takes a breath in, then lowers the cigarette and exhales
smoke. Simultaneously, LAURA gulps, getting ready to speak
to her. BARBARA puts the cigarette into her mouth again, and
exhales.
LAURA HOUK
(nervously)
So... I’ve told you about Eric
going to Daytona right? I swear I
have...
BARBARA CAMPBELL
Yeah, I think you have. He’s going
to the Daytona 500 with his
brother, right?
LAURA HOUK
Yep... (beat)
LAURA repositions herself in her seat, turning herself
counterclockwise to be closer to BARBARA. She looks over at
her with a slightly sad look, which could only be compared
with a puppy’s.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
Do you think they’ll be OK?
BARBARA is surprised and sits back in her seat.
BARBARA CAMPBELL
(bewildered)
Who?... Eric and his brother?
They’re grown men, Laura!
LAURA sits back in her seat too, a little bit embarrassed
because of her friend’s tone towards her (and her
realization that she is asking if two grown men can be OK on
their own).
30.
BARBARA CAMPBELL (CONTD)
(compassionately)
To answer your question, Laura...
Yes, I think they’ll be perfectly
fine. Actually, I promise they will
be fine. Don’t worry about those
kinds of things, Laura.
BARBARA inserts the cigarette into her mouth and inhales
smoke from the still-going flame. LAURA motions to her with
her hands, then starts mouthing words with her lips before
she actually speaks them.
LAURA HOUK
But...
BARBARA CAMPBELL
(interrupting)
BUT nothing. They’ll be fine...
Eric is an adult, and so is Mike.
During this, BARBARA leans closer to LAURA and looks into
her eyes as she interrupts her with this serious remark.
BARBARA CAMPBELL
What’s gotten into you today,
Laura?...
LAURA is looking to the distance, her eyes slightly glazed
over like she is day dreaming about something (except it is
like she is in a sad place, not a happy one).
BARBARA CAMPBELL (CONTD)
Laura?!
LAURA turns, startled out of the dream world.
BARBARA CAMPBELL (CONTD) (CONT’D)
What’s wrong.
POV: LAURA HOUK
For a couple seconds, JORDAN is seen running from the first
base marked with chalk at the driveway to the marked-off
second base (drawn on the asphalt) at the large, swaying
green oak tree on the right side of the cul-de-sac (right
side if you are looking from the driveway of BARBARA’s house
at the cul-de-sac). JORDAN finally jumps on second base,
right before MICHAEL catches the red kickball that DOMINICK
throws (that is meant to hit JORDAN). LENNY stands at the
home base, waiting for his turn, his back turned towards his
grandma (BARBARA) and his friends’ mom (LAURA).
31.
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
I don’t know.
BLACK SCREEN
The screen displays a pitch-black space that has no lights
on or colors in it. Suddenly, a white, obscure, and faint
countdown timer appears in the midst of this darkness, and
it is as clear as day in the true, ebony black background.
It shows these numbers for the countdown timer in a pure,
pearly white color -- "00:00:00:09:45:07" -- which
represents the time left until the "end" -- when ERIC meets
his end -- from the previous scene. The timer counts down by
the seconds for a few seconds (approximately 5) until it
reaches the time: "00:00:00:09:45:02". As soon as it reaches
this time, it flickers rapidly all the way down to the
following time -- "00:00:00:05:06:05" -- which is a
countdown to the ’end’ for the next scene. This new
countdown continues to go down by the seconds for 7 seconds,
or, until it reaches the following time --
"00:00:00:05:05:58". The numbers stand for this amount of
time: 0 years, 0 months, 0 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes, and 58
seconds until that "end."
CROSS FADE TO
INT. DAYTONA SPEEDWAY - 1601 HOURS
BIRDS EYE
The many (to be precise, 43) race cars, with their various
logos and stickers, fly around the track at speeds nearing
150 miles per hour. Some edge in and out between the other
cars, attempting to come into the top places, but none
change their places much. Most of the cars are on their 89th
lap, and have already taken numerous pit stops. By this
time, the loud cheers of the crowd have died down to
occasional whistles or claps for their favorite drivers. The
stadiums are still full, though, and many people are
drinking alcohol and eating fatty foods and talking to their
families or other attendees.
CUTAWAY: RACE CARS
With his fast #24 Chevrolet Impala sponsored by DuPont and
AARP, JEFF GORDON edges slightly ahead of the
clumped-together pack of race cars that are in the front of
the race. This slight edge puts him into first place as the
pack begins their 90th lap in the large raceway/stadium. As
the raceway’s lights illuminate this intense scene the once
silent, tired, and sleepy crowd erupts into cheers and
happiness at the sight of a change in the race, especially
one involving one of their favorite drivers -- JEFF GORDON
32.
-- becoming the first place driver as the race is almost at
its halfway point. As the cars pass the crowd on the south
side of the speedway, the people in those seats stand,
cheer, and shout gleefully in reaction to the heightening of
the excitement and suspense in Daytona.
INT. DAYTONA SPEEDWAY PRESS BOX - 1603 HOURS
DARRELL WALTRIP and LARRY MCREYNOLDS, the designated
sportscasters, are in the press box, speaking to the public
who are watching the race. Their banter and speeches are
being broadcast nationwide on the FOX sports channel to any
of those who want to watch it.
DARRELL WALTRIP
(to the camera)
Hello folks, I’m Darrell Waltrip.
If you’re just joining us, you
gotta know that Jeff Gordon, number
24, has just slipped by the front
pack to be the first place driver.
Of course, its only the 90th lap,
and we’ve got a whole ’nother 110
laps to finish before we’re over,
but this has to be a momentous
occasion for him. What do you
think, Larry?
During this (and after this), DARRELL WALTRIP is sitting at
a large frosted white table, sportscasting with his old
friend LARRY MCREYNOLDS who is next to him. They both are
facing the television cameras, their faces ’perfected’ with
makeup and a stylist’s skillful work. DARRELL WALTRIP has a
somewhat pale, white skinned, thin body and a small amount
of thick, dark brown hair on the top of his head (which is
slightly receding). He is wearing a gray suit, a white dress
shirt, a dark blue tie, and a bubbly personality. LARRY
MCREYNOLDS, on the other hand, is almost completely bald
(except the sides of his head that have hair with a tint of
orange), paler white skin, and a deep southern
(specifically, Alabaman) accent. He is wearing a black suit,
a light blue dress shirt, and an American flag pin with no
tie.
LARRY MCREYNOLDS
(to Darrell)
Yes, it has to be. Today has been a
spectacular day for the sport of
racing, and the whole crowd is
buzzing with excitement.
CUT TO
33.
INT. DAYTONA SPEEDWAY - 1604 HOURS
LARRY MCREYNOLDS (V.O.)
It should be interesting, so if I
were you, I would stay right here
at FOX for all the entertainment.
POV: A FIXED CAMERA NEXT TO SPEEDWAY
The super speedway is empty of the cars (or at least it
looks like it is from this position next to one section of
the raceway), but still has the screaming crowds. All of a
sudden, the roars of race cars are heard and a few cars are
seen zooming around the road’s curve. As those race cars
come closer to the fixed camera from the curve, other cars
are coming around the same curve after them.
EXTREME WIDE SHOT: CROWD DOING WAVE
On the north side of the super speedway, numerous columns of
people raise their hands up for the ’wave.’ This wave
continues throughout the painted, beer drinking, NASCAR
loving crowd around the stadium. The crowd seems to have
every eccentric, every family, every drunken uncle, and
every grandchild in its masses of people. As it circles
around to the southeast side of the stadium, the camera
starts slowly focusing in on the crowd and moving slower.
As it gets to the southwest side of the crowds, it slows
down.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP: MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK AND ERIC HOUK
When it stops, it is zoomed in all the way on the two HOUK
brothers. MIKE (a pale, white man with light brown hair) and
his brother ERIC (a tan, dark haired man) seem not to be
related at first glance. One of their few similarities is
their obesity and their dress. MIKE is dressed in a red
Daytona 500 shirt and light blue jeans, and ERIC is wearing
what he put on that morning (a Daytona 500 shirt and cargo
pants). Another hint that they are related (or at least know
each other) is that they are both sitting next to each other
as they watch the race. Aside from their (lack of)
similarities, MIKE is chugging down the last of the beer in
his beer bottle. When he finishes it, he puts it down in the
cup holder because of it being empty. ERIC, meanwhile, is
sitting next to him with his own beer bottle (in his own cup
holder) that has been empty for some time. He stopped
drinking alcohol a while ago because of his earlier promise
to his wife that he would be sober for the drive back home
that night. After MIKE finishes the beer and puts it down,
he turns to ERIC to ask if he wants more.
34.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
(inebriated)
Want more beer?
Both of them are impaired by the alcohol in their system,
severely limiting their faculties. MIKE drunkenly smiles
after he leans towards ERIC to ask that question. ERIC (also
drunkenly) slaps his hand flimsily on his brother’s knee.
ERIC HOUK
Nah, bro, I told Laura I wouldn’t
drink beer right before leaving.
MIKE chuckles as he says:
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Well, I guess you’re the [cough]
designated driver then.
Both of them start laughing at MIKE’s joke.
ERIC HOUK
I guess I am, dude.
M.O.S.. While it is silent and LAURA does a voice over, MIKE
and ERIC sit there, watching. They don’t talk, but they eat
the popcorn in their laps and listen to the cars speeding by
in the race. Near the end of the speech, ERIC walks away to
the souvenir stand and says something to MIKE (still without
sound). Also, LAURA’s voice is shaky at times, like she is
reviving a bad memory. She frequently pauses and corrects
herself also during this voice over.
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
I just, I don’t know,... had this
feeling, that something. [breathes
out] Something just wasn’t right. I
thought that he, wouldn’t return
safe, or something bad would
happen. To add to this, I wasn’t
alone in these thoughts.
INT. KITCHEN - 1615 HOURS
ZOOM IN: LAURA FEEDING JOEY
Sitting on a wooden chair with her elbows on the
highchair table, LAURA is feeding her son JOEY his favorite
pureed carrots using his little spoon. The jar of Gerber
brand pureed carrots is on the white plastic table, half
full, and a handful of Honey Nut Cheerios is dispersed
across the table top for JOEY. LAURA has wisely put a bib on
him, because he is gobbling it up faster than she can feed
35.
it to him, and he is making a mess. In between her scooping
up pureed carrots and feeding him, he takes some of the
dispersed Cheerios that are on the table with his little,
cute hands and fills his mouth with them. She keeps on
feeding him with the pureed food and carrots for a few
moments. All of a sudden, she is grabbed on her shoulder,
which startles her from her trance-like state. She then
turns around from feeding her son, and realizes she is
looking straight at her two older sons behind her waiting to
ask her something.
LAURA HOUK
(inquisitively)
Yes?
MICHAEL HOUK
(annoyingly)
When is dad coming home?
JORDAN HOUK
Yeah, when is he?
When they ask this, she is noticeably taken aback by the
questions. LAURA sits still, pushes her hair behind her ear,
and thinks about what to reply to them. She puts the metal
baby spoon down on the high chair table, banging it against
the plastic, She turns to them and smiles nicely. Then, she
puts her beautifully painted red nails on her sons’
shoulders and squeezes them and pulls them closer to her.
She hugs them and closes her eyes.
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
(softly)
He’s coming soon. [beat] I know you
miss him, I do too... But you know
what?
Right before she says "But you know what?", she firmly
brings their shoulders in front of her and looks at them.
MICHAEL HOUK
What, mom?
JORDAN HOUK
What?
LAURA looks at them more intently (and dispiritedly) says
this:
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
I promise you that, when you wake
up... dad will be back home. OK?
She waits for a response from them as she looks into their
eyes to make sure they understand.
36.
JORDAN HOUK
OK...
JORDAN makes a disappointed face, frowning. MICHAEL and
JORDAN turn around and start walking back to their rooms
with their backs slumped and necks down. When JORDAN frowns,
LAURA simultaneously turns around in her chair back to JOEY
to feed him. Then, when they start to turn around to go back
to their rooms, LAURA turns her head and body to face them.
LAURA HOUK
Guys!
MICHAEL HOUK
Yeah, mom?
JORDAN HOUK
Yes?
LAURA HOUK (CONT’D)
(inquisitively)
Let’s watch some TV.
SMASH CUT TO
INT. LIVING ROOM - 1710 HOURS
POV: LAURA HOUK
The TV screen is seen (without the actual border of the
screen at first) that LAURA and her sons are watching on the
floor of their living room. On the screen (as the camera is
zooming out to show the outside of the TV and part of the
wall), the 2007 Daytona 500 race is seen live from the
Daytona International Speedway’s video cameras on the FOX
sports channel where ERIC and MICHAEL HOUK are at at that
moment. Their old, wide, black 60 inch Sony TV is displaying
the standard definition broadcast. It has a Verizon FIOS
set-up box, Nintendo Wii, and PlayStation I on top of it
(with the FIOS box transmitting the broadcast). On the
screen below the cable box, Wii, and PlayStation I, the FOX
sports channel cameras are following one of the Chevrolet
Impala racing cars very closely (zoomed in all the way) as
it circles around the track in the first place position. It,
upon further inspection, can be identified as Kevin
Harvick’s #29 racecar that is sponsored by Shell/Pennzoil
and owned by Richard Childress Racing. It has numerous auto
decals on it, most prominently a Shell logo, a Pennzoil
logo, and a few large "29" stickers on the sides and top of
it. This bright, bright yellow Chevy is going nearly 150
miles per hour to keep its position in front. Underneath the
video feed is a red banner with the words "KEVIN HARVICK IN
FIRST" and a FOX Sports logo. All that can be heard from the
television’s stereo system is the revving, roaring, and
screeching of the cars and their engines on the TV.
37.
CLOSE UP: THE HOUKS
In the center of the HOUK’s living room is the whole HOUK
family (minus ERIC) sitting on their very decorative, flower
accented rug next to their two forest green couches. The
walls behind them are a tan, gold color with white
wainscoting features and tan and white columns on either
side. MICHAEL and JORDAN are on either sides of LAURA (who
is holding JOEY in the middle) watching the TV that is right
in front of them. They all are sitting criss-crossed (except
JOEY, who is sitting on LAURA’s lap) as they watch the race.
They barely move from their spots, unflinching and
unalterable, like they are hypnotized.
ZOOM IN: LAURA AND JOEY HOUK
Sounds come from the TV now that are much different than the
roaring of the race cars’ engines. The ’different’ sounds
are actually the voice of sportscasting LARRY MCREYNOLDS
doing a voice over for the race’s TV broadcast alongside his
buddy and fellow sportscaster DARRELL WALTRIP in the FOX
Sports TV studio.
LARRY MCREYNOLDS (O.C.)
(in deep Southern accent)
What a surprise folks! In the past
lap, Kevin Harvick, yes, Kevin
Harvick, has passed Jeff Burton to
secure a spot in first place.
CUTAWAY: THE HOUK FAMILY
LAURA looks at JORDAN quickly, then MICHAEL (but at MICHAEL
for a little bit longer than JORDAN). She looks at JOEY and
lifts him off of her up into the air and drops him into
MICHAEL’s lap next to her. MICHAEL’s surprised, but realizes
what is happening and puts his arms around his little infant
brother.
LAURA HOUK
(to MICHAEL)
Take him, please.
MICHAEL makes a comfortable headrest for his brother with
his arms, folding them and placing JOEY into them (with
JOEY’s head near MICHAEL’s left elbow). He looks down at his
little brother who is in a little white onesie that says
"CUTE like Mommy, SMELLY like Daddy" on the front in large,
colorful font.
MICHAEL HOUK
(to LAURA)
OK, Mom.
38.
LAURA scoots over from the rug to two Lego boxes that are
off the rug and near the large TV. When she reaches them,
she leans her body over towards the TV(still sitting criss
cross) and grabs one of the green plastic Lego boxes. LAURA
uses both of her hands to open the Lego box’s lid. She then
looks at the contents inside and throws the plastic cover to
her side on the white, fuzzy carpet. Inside of the box are
many little colored Lego blocks, Lego brick house sheets,
Lego people, Lego clothes, etc. that are green, blue, red,
and many other colors. In front of her (and in front of her
kids) she pours all the Lego pieces out of the green plastic
box. She spreads them out across the floor with her palms,
making rustling noises.
MICHAEL HOUK (CONT’D)
Ooh! Legos!
MICHAEL (with JOEY) and JORDAN scoot up quickly across the
floor to get closer to the Lego box and its contents to play
with them. LAURA reaches into the pile of Lego pieces (as
they get closer) and grabs a base of a Lego car and a few
wheels to create a Lego car. She also picks up a few Lego
bricks, windshields, etc. from the pile and attaches them to
the car’s base. At the same time, MICHAEL and JORDAN reach
the pile and get situated in their positions. MICHAEL grabs
a green Lego sheet to build his own Lego brick house. He
reaches for a handful of bricks from the pile and dumps them
next to him. Then he starts strategically putting bricks
onto the sheet, building a wall. JORDAN looks over the pile,
and then decides to grab the other box of Legos, open it,
and pour it out on the floor. There are a couple green
sheets for houses in this box, so he grabs one of them and
starts building on it with the bricks. They all continue
building for a little bit as silence descends upon the room.
The silence is so intense that you could hear a pin drop (or
a Lego piece drop). In this moment of silence, MICHAEL turns
to look at his mom. Slightly embarrassed at the questions
swirling through his mind and not wanting her to see him
staring, he looks down and away very quickly. Realizing he
must ask this question (for he will not stop worrying about
it if he doesn’t ask), he looks back up, this time to
actually ask his mom LAURA something. He nervously swallows
some saliva, bites his lip, and overall looks very nervous
before he coughs to get her attention.
MICHAEL HOUK
(nervously)
Mom... Do you think he’ll come back
soon?
LAURA is turned slightly away, so her face cannot be seen by
him at this time. So, without him seeing, her face has a
disturbed expression for a second or two, but it quickly
39.
fades away before she turns to him with a small, relaxing,
toothless smile (just her lips). She comfortingly pats him
on his thigh and hugs him for a while.
LAURA HOUK
(while hugging)
Yes, Michael. Daddy’s coming home
soon.
MICHAEL HOUK
I... I have a bad feeling, mom.
What if he doesn’t?
Her hazel eyes open wide in shock at the thought that
MICHAEL would even think about that, nevertheless say it to
her. Also shocking her is that she is worrying about the
exact same thing. This is surprising because she thought she
was alone in that anxiety. But she calms down for him so
that she can answer without stressing him out.
LAURA HOUK
He will. Don’t worry... He will.
She lets go of him, and they sit back in their original
seats and continue their original Lego projects. LAURA,
looking away, has an expression of sadness across her face
as she continues to make her car.
SMASH CUT TO
BLACK SCREEN
The pitch-black screen is completely void of all light and
color and has no text, image, etc. occupying it. After
about two seconds of the screen just showing the pure
blackness, a white countdown timer fades into the picture.
It displays this time -- "00:00:00:04:27:09" -- that stands
for 0 years, 0 months, 0 days, 4 hours, 27 minutes, and 9
seconds until the "end." As soon as these white numbers
appear, they start counting down the 7 seconds until the
time reaches this -- "00:00:00:04:27:02" -- at which time,
the time countdown clock flickers all the way down to a
lower number much quicker. The time/number that it reaches
after that is this -- "00:00:00:04:07:04". After that, it
continues counting down 7 seconds until it reaches this --
"00:00:00:04:06:57".
CROSS FADE TO
40.
INT. KITCHEN - 1700 HOURS
EXTREME CLOSE UP: HOME TELEPHONE
The home telephone set makes a bell-ringing sound that
sounds across the house, meaning that someone’s calling. It
is a gray and orange Nokia phone set with a big menu screen
and many other features (like a call directory, a missed
calls menu, etc.). The Caller ID on the screen states that
the name of the person who is calling is "ERIC HOUK - CELL".
A white skinned female hand with red fingernails is seen
picking the phone up, and answering it, which makes it stop
ringing. She lifts her hand away, putting it to her ear and
mouth.
LAURA HOUK (O.C.)
Hello?
CUTAWAY: LAURA HOUK
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
(talking over the phone)
Laura?
LAURA HOUK
Eric!
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
Can you have the kids watch the
race, I want them to see something.
LAURA smiles and laughs a little under her breath. She tilts
her head back slightly as she laughs, and turns around to
walk slowly back to the living room.
LAURA HOUK
We’re watching it right now...
Eric?
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
Yeah honey?
LAURA HOUK
(sadly)
You’re not drinking, right?
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
I’m not. I stopped an hour ago.
LAURA HOUK
I... I just wanted to make sure...
41.
There is a brief pause in which LAURA covers her mouth with
her hand as she waits for a response. She covers her mouth
because of her sudden turn to worrying after her previous
giddiness. The kids are seen in the b.g. playing with their
Legos, making different noises and shouting at each other.
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
I’m fine, Laura. How was church?
LAURA HOUK
It was great. [beat] Father Ron had
an AMAZING homily!
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
That’s cool. I wish I was there...
LAURA HOUK
Me too.
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
Can I talk to the boys?
LAURA HOUK
Sure. Love you, Eric.
By this time, LAURA has reached the living room and is
sitting next to her kids who are still playing Legos. Also
during the phone call, she has started to piece her Lego
house together again, continuing where she left off before
the call. After the call, the background sound is MOS except
for her voice over. In this soundlessness, she hands the
home telephone to her son MICHAEL, who answers it. MICHAEL
is seen talking to his dad, putting it on speaker phone and
laughing as he hears the sounds of the racetrack from both
the TV and the phone. LAURA is sitting on a rocking chair
with JOEY with a sad expression.
CLOSE UP: LAURA HOUK
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
One of the hardest things about
grief is... the memories of that
loved one. I don’t remember much...
specifically, about what happened
and what he said to me that last
day on the phone... But, I do
remember that he didn’t say "I love
you" to me, and that always stuck
with me.
All of a sudden the MOS is done, and sound returns. You can
hear the phone and the TV both playing the familiar sound of
the race cars zooming around the track because ERIC is
42.
letting them listen to the sounds from where he is at via
his cell phone (the Daytona International Speedway). He is
doing this by holding it up for them to hear.
POV: LAURA HOUK
MICHAEL and JORDAN HOUK both are still watching the FOX
Sports Channel, which is displaying race cars going around
the speedway at speeds around 150 mph. The audio from the
telephone is interrupted when ERIC puts it back to his right
ear and starts to talk to them. ERIC coughs a couple of
times on speaker phone before talking to them, though.
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
Isn’t that cool, guys?
MICHAEL HOUK
Yeah dad!
JORDAN HOUK
Yeah!
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
OK, well, guys, I have to go.
MICHAEL and JORDAN’s faces drop from the news that he has to
stop talking.
MICHAEL HOUK
OK, dad.
There is a slight pause.
ERIC HOUK (O.S.)
I love you guys. Bye!
MICHAEL HOUK
Love you!
JORDAN HOUK
Love you!
ERIC hangs up the phone, and the phone starts beeping since
it is disconnected. LAURA takes the beeping phone from
MICHAEL and walks over to the far away area of the kitchen
to put it into its position on the hook on the stone
counter. Meanwhile, the kids stay in their seats in the
living room as they watch the TV.
FADE TO
43.
BLACK SCREEN
The screen displays no color, just a pitch-black, inactive
space. Suddenly, a white countdown timer pops up in the
middle of the black space. It reads: "00:00:00:04:02:13",
which represents the time left until the "end" from the
previous scene (scene #26). This goes down a few seconds
(seven to be exact) from that time all the way to this time:
"00:00:00:04:22:06". The timer quickly flickers from that
previous position all the way down to displaying these
following numbers -- "00:00:00:01:07:49" -- which is a
countdown to the ’end’ for the next scene (scene 28). The
countdown continues to go down by seconds until it reaches
this time: "00:00:00:01:07:42". Those time intervals stand
for 0 years, 0 weeks, 0 days, 1 hours, 7 minutes, and 42
seconds until the ’end.’ When it reaches this time, the
timer fades away.
CROSS FADE TO
INT. DAYTONA SPEEDWAY - 2000 HOURS
Although the race is nearing its end, many spectators are
still present -- tens of thousands of them, actually -- that
are continuing to watch the grand prix in Florida. The race
cars are going as fast as ever in the 192nd lap out of the
total 200 laps that it takes to complete the race. Also, the
crowds are still cheering as loud as ever, even though
they’ve been at it for hours on end. KEVIN HARVICK -- the
forerunner a few hours ago -- has managed to return to that
challenging first place status after a couple of hours of
being in lower places (2nd, 3rd, 5th, etc.). Some (smart)
people in the crowds are leaving early to get ahead of the
intense and congested traffic that is sure to follow outside
of the stadium (and all the way home).
CUT-IN: MIKE AND ERIC HOUK
MIKE and ERIC are both sitting in their hard, multicolored,
permanently placed chairs in the stadium still, eating their
hot dogs and sipping on their drinks. ERIC has a bag of
souvenirs (magazines, etc.) by his feet for his kids from
one of the many Daytona gift shops. As they are eating the
hot dogs, ERIC leans over to his brother to tell him
something important.
ERIC HOUK
Hey, bro.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Yeah.
44.
ERIC HOUK
I think we should leave soon,
traffics gonna get crazy.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Yeah, good idea.
MIKE and ERIC both get up from their seats and lift up their
food, drinks, souvenirs, and all- other items from their
surroundings. When they remove everything that is theirs
from the surrounding area, they walk away from their seats
into the aisle between the columns of chairs. There, they
walk up the concrete stairs down the aisle to go to the
parking lot where ERIC’s car is.
INT. FORD F-150 ON I-4 HIGHWAY - 2034 HOURS
ERIC is driving his pearl white Ford F-150 truck down the
lengthy 4-lane I-4 highway back to his house in Tampa from
the Daytona 500. Other than being white, his truck is a
standard issue Ford, with all of the standard features. It
has a look about it that suggests its worn down and old
(especially because of the paint all over the car’s exterior
and interior). Him and his brother MIKE, who is in the
passenger seat of the truck, are waiting in bumper-to-bumper
traffic, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd on the radio (from
107.5 FM). Although they left the Daytona 500 half an hour
ago, thousands had already left the stadium at the same time
with them, and, combined with the normal traffic of the
interstate, the roads are already severely clogged. To waste
the time and get through the boredom, MIKE is drinking beer
and messing with his silver Blackberry. ERIC is focused on
the road, but is enjoying the radio.
CLOSE UP: CAR RADIO
Abruptly, the radio switches from the song "Free Bird" to a
radio DJ speaking about the latest sports news. The radio
continues to scroll the words "FREE BIRD LYNYRD SKYNYRD 1075
FM".
RADIO D.J.
Guess who just won the Daytona 500?
Kevin Harvick! He won a surprise
finish by a minuscule 0.2 seconds
in front of Mark Martin. What a
shocker, right?... Well, lets go
back to music. Here’s a classic:
"Under Pressure" by Queen.
45.
The truck has pretty much stopped in the crazy traffic, so
ERIC goes into his pocket and pulls out the cigarette pack
from it. He then flips the pack open and pulls out one of
the five cigarettes remaining and lights it up with his
orange mini-lighter.
ERIC HOUK
Thanks for the ticket, Mike?
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Hey, it’s what brothers do. Right?
ERIC HOUK
Yep.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
How long until we reach Tampa?
ERIC HOUK
Two hours without traffic. With
this traffic, much more than that.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Crap.
MIKE takes a large swig of his Budweiser beer, swallows it,
and breathes a sigh of defeat. They were expecting a much
shorter time driving and more of an open road than this
since they left early. He wipes his wet lips with his hairy
arm and hand and sits back in a tired (and ’wiped out’
manner). ERIC continues to move the driver’s wheel a little
left and right as he keeps on driving along the highway. He
picks up speed slowly as the creeping traffic stops the
creeping and starts rolling faster along. ERIC turns to MIKE
as he is driving.
ERIC HOUK
Do you guys go to church much?
MIKE laughs and takes another swig from his beer bottle.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Well, not really. Do you know me,
at all?...
ERIC and MIKE both chuckle. MIKE turns to ERIC as ERIC
continues to chuckle at him and his joke.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK (CONT’D)
I mean, really?... Plus, where is
this coming from? You’re not
exactly an angel, either!
MIKE laughs a little bit with ERIC.
46.
ERIC HOUK
(matter-of-factedly)
Well, I’ve actually been going to
church more lately. My family is
going, so I might as well, you
know, to show a good example.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Well, this is a change. Are you
sure your ERIC?
ERIC and MIKE both laugh together, and he turns to MIKE.
ERIC HOUK
Well, maybe you sha...
CUTAWAY: CADILLAC ESCALADE
Interrupting the conversation is the very boisterous sound
of a black, expensive 2006 Cadillac Escalade swerving around
and tearing rubber on the side of the highway at breakneck
speeds (in the ’emergency lane’). ERIC and MIKE are outraged
when they realize what is happening: the illegal driving (at
illegal speeds) that the driver of the vehicle is doing.
CUTAWAY: MIKE AND ERIC HOUK
ERIC HOUK (CONT’D)
Look at this guy, Mike!...
The screeching, screaming, and other exorbitant noises of
the SUV and its wheels behind them are heard still (and
louder even), as ERIC and MIKE watch. They both are
distracted by it, and ERIC looks into the side view mirror
for a better look.
ERIC HOUK (CONT’D)
What the hell? What does this guy
think he’s doing?
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
What does he look like?
ERIC looks over at the side-view mirror, squinting his eyes
and moving around slightly trying to see what the guy
driving the other Ford looks like.
ERIC HOUK
I think they’re kids!
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
What?!
47.
ERIC HOUK
Well, not kids. They’re like 20
year olds.
MIKE rolls down the window, and looks out the window at the
car behind and to the right of them. After he leans back
into the car, he sits back into his seat and turns to ERIC
to tell him what he saw.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Yeah, there’s like four of them.
ERIC HOUK
(outraged)
What do they think they’re doing?
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
I don’t know, Eric.
The Cadillac is getting closer to them because the Escalade
is speeding faster and faster and no one is in front of them
to stop them from doing so.
ERIC HOUK
Hey, Mike. When they come closer,
throw this at them.
He hands MIKE one of his empty beer bottles, which still
contains some excess Budweiser in it. MIKE promptly takes it
in his hand and puts it to the side of his seat, hidden from
any others, as he readies his hand to throw it. In the
interim, the Escalade is getting closer and closer to them.
Both MIKE and ERIC are leaning back in their seats, and when
the SUV gets close enough for them to see it without a
mirror’s help, MIKE leans out the door and starts shouting:
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Who do you think you are?
OVER THE SHOULDER: CADILLAC ESCALADE
The men in the other car are surprised by this sudden turn
of events, and they all start shouting back at them.
MEN IN OTHER CAR
(screaming)
The Cadillac Escalade is getting closer and closer, and now
the two cars are almost right next to each other.
ERIC HOUK
Throw the beer bottle!
48.
MIKE throws the beer bottle straight out the window at the
other car, and it smashes against the immaculate white paint
of the Cadillac Escalade. They continue shouting on both
sides in both cars, and the other men throw a beer bottle
too.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Get out of the emergency lane!
MEN IN OTHER CAR
Shut the hell up!
MEN IN OTHER CAR
Who do you think you are?
MEN IN OTHER CAR
Throw another soda can at
him!
The men in the other car throw a soda can that hits the
exterior of the Ford F-150 that ERIC is driving.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK (CONT’D)
Crap!... Did you see that?
ERIC HOUK
Yeah. I did...
ERIC looks down and sees his tin of used, burnt cigarettes
next to the stick shift clutch. He hands MIKE the tray with
no words between them, only eye contact, but somehow they
both understand what he is telling MIKE to do. MIKE grabs
one of the burnt cigarettes and flicks it at the Cadillac
Escalade. He continues to do this over and over again. Words
(hostile ones, to be precise) are continually exchanged,
until ERIC looks forward where he is driving to check on the
road.
POV: ERIC HOUK
The car in front, as well as the cars in front of them, are
in place, not moving at all. ERIC’s car, though, is still
moving at a high speed since he had to be at the same speed
as the Escalade to keep up with them. So, when he notices
this, he swerves.
CLOSE UP: ERIC HOUK
His face shows that he is very shocked, and his face and
arms quickly turn to the right so he can swerve to the right
of the cars in front of him. This, unfortunately, causes him
to cut off the Ford Escalade (in the emergency lane) with
which him and his brother were having a tiff. They slow down
and stop the car a few hundred feet away in the emergency
lane from where they cut the kids off.
49.
ERIC HOUK (CONT’D)
(to MIKE)
Crap! What’d I just do!
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Well, it seems like you started a
fight.
MIKE points up at the mirror that he has been looking at.
CLOSE UP: REAR VIEW MIRROR
SMASH CUT TO
EXT. FORD F-150 ON I-4 HIGHWAY - 2049 HOURS
The driver and the passengers they were fighting with are
seen emerging from the black and chrome Cadillac Escalade.
They are all young, well built, 19-21 year old adults who
are a mix of ethnicities (3 African-American men and 1 white
woman) and thin. The men who are coming out of the car look
mad, and look like they are ready for a fight over all that
has happened between them and the HOUKs. One of the 3 men
coming out of the car (and there is one adult girl inside
the car) walks forward and motions for both of them to come
out of the truck by curling his hand.
CUT TO
INT. FORD F-150 ON I-4 HIGHWAY - 2050 HOURS
MIKE and ERIC are both looking up to the mirror to see what
those people are doing.
ERIC HOUK
What should we do?
MIKE bites his lip and looks back towards ERIC in the
driver’s seat.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
I guess we fight.
MIKE points to the car door next to ERIC, meaning that ERIC
should open the door and get out so that they can both fight
the college students. ERIC opens the car door and starts
walking away from the truck after he jumps out of it. After
ERIC closes his door, MIKE turns to the passenger door to
his right. He reaches to open the door and tries to open it
with the handle, but it refuses to open for him. He tries
again, but it still won’t work (even with his strength and
muscles). He continues to try to open the door, wiggling it,
squeezing it, etc.
50.
FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
The screen is blank, not with a white color, but a pure,
pitch black display that is empty of the rainbow of colors
that inhabited the last few scenes. Quickly, without
warning, an off-white colored countdown timer pops up in the
midst of the darkness -- contrasting with it -- that states
the following numbers: "00:00:00:00:16:19". This represents
the precise time left until the "end" from the last second
of the previous scene (scene 31). This timer continuously
counts down by seconds until it reaches the following time:
"00:00:00:00:16:12". When it reaches that time, the
countdown click flickers quickly all the way down to these
numbers: "00:00:00:00:13:53" -- which is a countdown to the
’end’ for the next scene. The countdown continues to go down
by seconds and beeping accompanies every second until it
reaches the following time countdown: "00:00:00:00:13:46".
These numbers stand for 0 years, 0 weeks, 0 days, 0 hours,
13 minutes, and 46 seconds precisely until the ’end.’
INT. JOEY’S BEDROOM - 2054 HOURS
Inside JOEY’s room is a crib, a pile of blankets, toys, a
dresser, and multiple paintings of zoo animals hanged on his
walls. The wall does not have paint, rather it is covered
with wallpaper that has drawings of different zoo animals
(matching the paintings) -- like zebras, lions, dolphins,
giraffes, etc. The door is shut, but the lights from the
hallway outside can be seen underneath the door.
Unpredictably, the door is opened quickly from outside of
the room (the hallway) and a hand reaches in and flicks the
light switch, turning on the little baby lamp inside. LAURA
walks in with her little JOEY in her arms swaddled in white
cloth. She reaches into the crib slowly, laying him down
onto his crib’s bedding softly and gently. She puts a pillow
under his head, then grabs his favorite (animal themed)
’blankie’ and puts it over his body neatly. LAURA finishes
fixing the blanket, and then leans down and kisses JOEY’s
smooth forehead softly with her lips. Still leaning over,
she says...
LAURA HOUK
(whispering)
Good night, Joey.
She walks away from the crib slowly as not to disturb her
little infant. She walks out of the bedroom and shuts the
door behind her quietly.
MEDIUM: JOEY’S BEDROOM
51.
Seen for a few seconds is the dark, minimally lit bedroom of
JOEY HOUK. JOEY is seen in the distance sleeping like a baby
with the animal blanket wrapped around him.
SMASH CUT TO
INT. FORD F-150 ON I-4 HIGHWAY - 2055 HOURS
MIKE is still trying to open the door which he was so
desperately trying to open before. MIKE is panicking,
frantically shaking the handle and breathing hard. He looks
at the door handle as he continues.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
(’to’ the door handle)
Come on!
He continues, but then stops and looks at the rear view
mirror for an update on their ’situation.’
EXTREME CLOSE UP: REAR VIEW MIRROR
The rear view mirror shows ERIC fighting two of the men from
the black SUV. He launches a blow at one, knocking a bloody
tooth out of his mouth, but this can barely be seen from
such a distance. The picture in the mirror is dark, and it
is barely distinguishable. The colors of their shirts and
skin barely contrast, and are quite hard to distinguish from
the night sky.
CUTAWAY: MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
MIKE gives up trying to open the door manually from the
inside, and he is visibly very frustrated at his problems
with the truck machinery. He suddenly gets an idea, and
(also suddenly) rolls the window down frantically in an
attempt to help his brother win the fight. Sounds of a
struggle from outside of the car can be heard inside of the
car because he is opening the windows, and as the window
rolls down further you can hear it even more. MIKE grows
more and more tense as he starts hearing his brother more
and more, but the window is moving slow. At last the window
is far enough down where he can pull the outside handle. He
does just that, thus opening the car door which wanted to be
stubborn (it did not want to open from the inside).
EXT. FORD F-150 ON I-4 HIGHWAY - 2057 HOURS; CONTD
MIKE walks along the side of the Ford F-150 from his
’shotgun’ position in the truck. Leaving the side of the
truck for the fighting arena, he walks menacingly over to
the men fighting ERIC and grabs one of them, named DAVID
EDWARDS, and throws him onto the rocky ground. It is amazing
52.
how easily he does this, and DAVID is also shocked by the
presence of MIKE and the magnitude of his strength. DAVID
struggles to get up, but MIKE uses his foot to push him all
the way to the ground, holding him there.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
(threateningly)
Stay away from my brother.
DAVID gets up and scrambles away. He moves quickly to the
white Ford Escalade, while MIKE takes up a fight with
another one of the men, RON LEE HARVIN, who wasn’t as
involved with the fight as DAVID EDWARDS was. He starts
punching RON LEE, and RON LEE returns fire on him with a
socker punch to the jaw. The fight with him is not as easy
as with DAVID, and both him and his brother’s fight (with a
man named CHARLES ONASANYA) become stalemates. Both sides of
this fierce fight exchange fiery blows from their knuckles
and heels.
FADE TO
INT. JORDAN’S BEDROOM - 2200 HOURS
JORDAN’s room is pitch black, much like JOEY’s was just a
few minutes previous to this scene. It is not, however,
animal themed, and rather contains a Miami Dolphins poster
alongside a Spongebob poster on the walls, and a small
television and a book shelf in the corners of the room. The
white, unpainted door opens from the outside hallway, and
LAURA walks into her son JORDAN’s room to wish him
goodnight. He is sitting in silence on his bed, closing his
eyes, but when she enters, she flicks on the lights,
disturbing him. He covers his eyes with his blanket and
cowers...
JORDAN HOUK
Ahhhhhh! What’s your problem?!
LAURA HOUK
Oh, stop being a cry baby, Jordan!
She walks over to his bed, and sits down on it, right next
to him who is covering his face from the light. She hits the
pillow on top of his face, and he takes it off his face
because of her annoying motion. She motions for him to start
praying with her. They both fold their hands in a devout
praying position, close their eyes, and start praying the
famous and widely known prayer, "Our Father."
53.
LAURA HOUK
Our Father, who art in
Heaven, hallowed be thy
name, Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done, on Earth as
it is in Heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread...
JORDAN HOUK
Our Father, who art in
Heaven, hallowed be thy
name, Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done, on Earth as
it is in Heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread...
BLACK SCREEN
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
... And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against
us, and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us
from evil. Amen.
JORDAN HOUK
(V.O.)
... And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against
us, and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us
from evil. Amen.
During their voice over in the darkness that carries into
this scene, the screen displays a pitch-black space which
suddenly changes. The sudden change is that a white
countdown timer pops up in front of the darkness. The timer
states the following time -- "00:00:00:00:06:02" -- which
represents the time left until the "end" from the previous
scene. Unlike the other black screens, this one does not
flicker down fast to represent the next scene’s time.
Instead, it moves down at a second-by-second pace at a
normal rate for a few seconds. At the following time --
"00:00:00:00:05:55" -- the scene fades away. For
convenience’s sake, the exact time left according to the
clock is 0 years, 0 months, 0 days, 0 hours, 5 minutes, and
55 seconds.
CROSS FADE TO
EMERGENCY LANE OF I-4 - 2201 HOURS
DAVID continues to falter towards the SUV of his friend
CHARLES ONASANYA in which him and his friends were riding
beforehand. As he walks closer to the SUV that is still in
the emergency lane of the highway, the white female, named
ELLA DRAVERS, in the car lowers the car window and yells out
to him authoritatively.
ELLA DRAVERS
(yelling)
David! David! Get the gun!
54.
DAVID EDWARDS
(yelling)
What gun?
ELLA DRAVERS
Ronny’s gun!
DAVID EDWARDS
I’m coming!
DAVID continues to walk towards her to come inside the
vehicle and get the gun. He reaches the SUV, and ELLA opens
the right rear car door to let him in. He jumps awkwardly
into the vehicle, and locks it behind him. The click of the
lock is heard by the camera.
INT. CADILLAC ESCALADE - 2102 HOURS
The leather seats, advanced technology, and interior lights
are all clearly visible as we see inside the Cadillac
Escalade. DAVID and ELLA sit there in the second row of
seats on opposite ends of the SUV because there is a small
walkway in between them leading to the back row of seats
(seats 5,6, and 7). The car has an ambient atmosphere, like
a restaurant at dinner time, and is eerily quiet for a
setting a few feet from a fist fight. More specifically,
ELLA is the current skinny white girlfriend of DAVID, and
she reaches out her hand to grab the gun case for DAVID that
is located in the glove department. She opens the glove
department by clicking it open, and grabs the black, leather
case. He recognizes it as his friend RONNY’s 9 mm. pistol
case, and swallows anxiously. He nervously opens it, his
hands shaking, revealing the pistol that is contained
inside. DAVID pulls it out of the case with his right hand
cautiously, as if he thinks that he could accidentally shoot
one of them. He looks at ELLA in a distressful manner, and
she smiles back at him, trying to give him encouragement. He
grabs the bullets from the top of the case and starts to
load the weapon with them slowly. When he’s done loading, he
turns to look at ELLA.
DAVID EDWARDS
(looking at her)
Well, what am I supposed to do?
ELLA DRAVERS
What do you think?
She leans in closer to him, getting face-to-face with him
and glaring into his eyes.
55.
ELLA DRAVERS (CONTD)
(shamelessly)
End the fight.
DAVID EDWARDS bites his lip, anxious at what he is about to
do. He opens the door and leaves the car, ready to do what
he thinks he needs to do. He brings his weapon with him,
holding it behind him, hiding it from the public.
EMERGENCY LANE OF I-4 - 2105 HOURS
POV: DAVID EDWARDS EXITING THE CADILLAC
DAVID walks out of the car, and immediately sees ERIC and
MIKE fighting his friends CHARLES and RONNY. He sees ERIC
swinging a punch at RONNY, knocking him down. At the same
time, MIKE is punched in the face by CHARLES, who is not
giving up on this fight. DAVID raises the gun into the air
from behind his back, and fires the gun into the air. The
sound of it firing rings off into the distance.
DAVID EDWARDS
(menacingly)
Stop!
ERIC and MIKE stop fighting the men, and put up their hands
as if they are about to be arrested. They are visibly
scared, although they are trying to contain their fears in
front of the gunman.
CUTAWAY: DAVID EDWARDS WITH GUN
DAVID lowers his gun, pointing it towards ERIC and MIKE
both. He is, unlike his previous self, cocky and unwavering
in his approach towards them (as well as his threats towards
them). He waves it around at both of them.
CUTAWAY: ERIC HOUK
ERIC walks slowly towards him, inching forwards calmly.
ERIC HOUK
(calmly)
Calm down...
ERIC motions for him to lower the gun with one hand. He
speaks calmly towards DAVID, trying to soothe him.
ERIC HOUK (CONT’D)
Now, just lower the gun. Nobody
wants to hur...
56.
A shot rings out from the gun DAVID is holding, interrupting
ERIC’s words. It hits the road near ERIC, making an
indention. ERIC winces from the sound, and MIKE cowers from
the sound and the bullet being so close to them. ERIC gets
back up, and starts to back up towards his truck, trying to
leave the scene alive.
ERIC HOUK (CONT’D)
Just let us drive away.
ERIC is now shaking, scared to death of what might happen.
ERIC HOUK (CONTD)
We don’t have weapons, we’ll
leave...
A shot rings off from DAVID’s gun, entering ERIC’s abdomen.
ERIC shows a very shocked face, as one might expect from him
being shot in the stomach.
SMASH CUT TO
INT. LIVING ROOM - 2107 HOURS
The shot continues to ring off, even though the video feed
switched to LAURA looking up from what she is watching. She
looks up shocked, like she realizes something happened that
is tragic and unnerving.
MICHAEL HOUK
What’s wrong?
LAURA HOUK
(softly)
I... I don’t know.
SMASH CUT TO
EMERGENCY LANE OF I-4 - 2108 HOURS
EXTREME CLOSE UP: ERIC HOUK’S FACE
ERIC opens his eyes wide, frightened and unsure what just
happened.
ZOOM OUT SLOWLY: ERIC HOUK
ERIC has clearly been shot, since his shirt is bloody around
the right side of his abdomen and he is bleeding profusely.
His hand rises from his side, and then descends to feel the
area of his stomach that was shot, near the bottom of his
abdomen. He pulls his hand from it, and looks at it,
realizing that he was shot and that he is quickly losing
57.
blood and he will probably die. ERIC starts wobbling towards
DAVID, and, after a few seconds of wobbling, falls on his
knees, then on his face. MIKE runs towards him, grabbing him
and flipping him over. He holds his face, trying to get him
to regain consciousness. Meanwhile, the men in the distance
realize that they are in trouble and try to leave the scene.
CHARLES ONASANYA starts running towards his car
instinctively, without a care for the man his friend just
shot who is bleeding profusely on the asphalt. He realizes
that only RON LEE HARVIN is following him, and DAVID EDWARDS
is not. He turns around while running, alerting DAVID.
CHARLES ONASANYA
David! Come on! To the car!
RON LEE "RONNY" HARVIN
Come on, David!
DAVID runs faster following his friends to the Cadillac
Escalade. MIKE, meanwhile, starts doing CPR on ERIC as he
desperately attempts to revitalize ERIC. In the b.g., the
men responsible for this crime start driving away. MIKE
continues to do CPR, and continually pounds on his brother’s
chest. ERIC breathes his last, and then passes. MIKE
continues to try reviving him by pounding on his chest and
performing CPR, but it doesn’t work. MIKE stops after a few
more pounds and lays down on the ground next to his dead
brother. He starts crying profusely, sobbing even, as he
starts the long and drawn out mourning process that is sure
to occur.
BIRDS EYE
FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
The white countdown time clock states the following time
that is left until the ’end’ -- "00:00:00:00:00". This
symbolizes that the time has already come where ERIC’s death
occurred, and his life has now passed.
CROSS FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
On the black screen, the following clock appears suddenly in
white, large font, stating -- "10:09:07 P.M." -- which is
the current time. It counts up like a normal clock by single
seconds to "10:09:14 P.M." and then starts to fade away.
CROSS FADE TO
58.
INT. LIVING ROOM - 2209 HOURS
MICHAEL is watching the television channel Nickelodeon,
which is showing its late night show lineup nicknamed ’Nick
@ Nite’. He is watching these shows as he is sitting on the
couch in his living room, with his hand to his chin in
boredom as he waits for his dad to come back (not knowing
what just happened to his father). He is wearing red pajamas
with sports symbols (footballs, baseballs, etc.), and black
socks.
CLOSE UP: MICHAEL HOUK
The sound of the doorbell at the front door of the house
being rung is heard from the living room where MICHAEL is
sitting. MICHAEL looks in the direction of the door in one
swift motion.
POV: MICHAEL HOUK
From MICHAEL’s view, the kitchen (and its opening that leads
to the front door) is seen. The kitchen is dark, but you can
still see the white floor tiles, the light green walls, the
dark brown cabinets, and the wood table that it contains.
Further on, you can see through the kitchen’s opening to the
dining room, which’s walls are a dark gold color, and has
nice floral paintings, wood floors, and a opening to the
foyer. The foyer is an extension of the dining room, has
white tiles just like the kitchen’s, and includes the front
door in it that is a dark, forest green. He is looking at
all of this, when he hears his mom say...
LAURA HOUK (O.S.)
I’ll get it!
OVER THE SHOULDER: MICHAEL HOUK
MICHAEL gets up and walks over into the kitchen slowly and
carefully, moving quietly (with socks on his feet). He stops
at the kitchen’s opening (with his face looking through the
opening towards the dining room and foyer), and he peeks
towards the front door. He peeks to see who it is that is
coming to his house at such a late, unseemly hour.
POV: MICHAEL HOUK
LAURA walks over to the front door, tapping the laminated
wood with her feet every step she takes. She is wearing a
large and concealing, pink, floral themed pajama shirt and
she is approaching the door with caution to see who it is
(since she has already changed into her pajamas, she’s
alone, it’s dark, and she has her 3 kids inside to protect).
She peeks through the blinds that are to the right side of
59.
the front door. Realizing who it is, she flips off the lock,
then unlocks the door. She opens it wide so the people on
the other side can talk to her. MICHAEL can still not see
the people, since there is a wall blocking his view of part
of the foyer.
UNKNOWN PERSON(S)
Hey.
In addition to his not seeing the people, he can barely hear
the unknown person(s) either.
LAURA HOUK
Hey... What are you doing here?
MICHAEL starts walking closer to the door from his previous
position in the kitchen. He starts seeing more of the door
as he looks around the wall blocking the foyer.
UNKNOWN PERSON(S)
[Inaudible]
LAURA HOUK
What’s wrong?
As he walks towards the door, he sees more and more of the
door, and soon he sees more and more of the people standing
there. He also hears them better as he nears the door and
starts seeing who they are. When he sees the people in their
entirety, MICHAEL realizes that the people on the other side
of the door (in his front porch) are his grandparents LUCIA
PERILLO and ALFRED PERILLO. His grandparents have both been
crying recently, evidence being that they both have red
eyes, wet faces, and sad facial expressions. His grandmother
is wearing stylish clothing and his grandpa is wearing old
people clothing (a sweater, a polo shirt, and dark blue
trousers). All three of them stop talking and look over to
MICHAEL when they realize he’s there (LUCIA and ALFRED look
over first, and then LAURA catches on).
MICHAEL HOUK
What happened? [beat] Why are you
crying, Grandma?
LUCIA wipes her eyes, and looks at him, and ALFRED PERILLO
look towards him also. LUCIA covers her mouth, and ALFRED
looks at him sadly. ALFRED steps forward into the house, and
so does LUCIA. ALFRED takes one small step towards MICHAEL
and LAURA.
ALFRED PERILLO
Michael... Laura... We heard from
Helen, that... ERIC was involved in
a very bad accident...
60.
MICHAEL starts trembling and getting close to tearing up.
LAURA starts trembling and gets close to tearing up too
(although you can’t see her face because of her face and the
camera angle). She turns
MICHAEL HOUK
What happened?
MICHAEL switches to his frantic, scrambling mode.
MICHAEL HOUK (CONT’D)
(quickly)
What kind of accident was he in? Is
he OK?
MICHAEL starts tearing up. LUCIA and ALFRED look sadly at
both MICHAEL and LAURA. LAURA looks up at her mom (LUCIA)
and dad (ALFRED) and then you can see that she is tearing up
and she is distraught.
LAURA HOUK
Is he OK?
LUCIA PERILLO
(calmly)
We’re not sure, Laura. No ones
telling us anything more than that
he was in an accident. They want
you to go to Mike’s house and then
go to Deland.
LAURA looks at her mom LUCIA questioningly.
LAURA HOUK
(still distraught)
Wait, why?... Why his house?
LUCIA PERILLO
Me and MICHAEL will stay at your
house, and Grandpa and LAURA will
go to Uncle Mike’s.
FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
The screen states this -- "10:15:35 P.M." -- in big,
contrasting white font on the pitch black screen. This
represents the time of the day on February 18, 2007 that it
is at the moment displayed on the screen. It’s moving
upwards by seconds, and when it reaches "10:15:39 P.M." it
quickly skips all the way, flickering, to "11:02:05 P.M." in
a matter of a couple seconds. It then continues to count up
61.
like a normal clock by seconds until it gets to "11:02:17
P.M."
INT. LIVING ROOM - 2302 HOURS
MICHAEL and LUCIA sit on the dark, forest green living room
couch as they desperately try to remove their minds from the
problems at hand and focus on the television in front of
them (although they can’t totally get their mind off of the
fact that ERIC got into an ’accident’). A red, pink, and
orange woven quilt covers both of them up in warmth and
comfort as they lay on opposite sides of the couch. On those
opposing sides, they both have soft and comfy pillows next
to them so they can have more comfort. The sounds of the TV
set are heard, as well as the sounds from outside the house
(crickets softly chirping, branches hitting the glass,
etc.). The TV displays on its screen an episode of the
famous TV show Growing Pains on the big, fat, 10 year old
60-inch Sony television in the living room. MICHAEL and
LUCIA both seem preoccupied in the troubles of that day, but
neither have gotten the guts to talk about it. MICHAEL has
his fist to his face and his elbow to the couch, while LUCIA
is staring at MICHAEL, waiting to say something to him at
the right moment. She starts to get up from the laid back
position she is in to look more directly at MICHAEL. As she
gets up, you can see more of her long-sleeved yellow
t-shirt.
LUCIA PERILLO
Michael??
MICHAEL looks up at her, startled, and wondering what she
could possibly say to try to make this situation better or
less distressing. He pushes back his glasses as if to focus
more on his grandma.
MICHAEL HOUK
Yeah?
LUCIA PERILLO
You know your dad will be fine,
right?
MICHAEL looks at her, sullen with discontent at the thought
of his dad being hurt.
MICHAEL HOUK
I hope so...
MICHAEL realizes that she might know something that she
hasn’t told him yet. He looks up at her, being careful not
to look too interested, but, he accidentally gives her a
quizzical look reflecting his inner conscious more than he
desired to have been displayed.
62.
MICHAEL HOUK (CONT’D)
How do you know he’ll be fine?
[beat] Do you know what happened?
LUCIA PERILLO puts her hand over the quilt on MICHAEL’s
knee, which is located underneath the quilt. MICHAEL looks
down at her hand, still sad and depressed (for good reason).
LUCIA PERILLO
(calmly)
Your dad is a very strong man.
Whatever place or situation he is
in, he’ll be fine. We both know
that.
MICHAEL sits back into his seat, a little bit surprised at
the answer (and feeling a little better because some of his
worries have been put to rest).
EXT. MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK’S HOUSE - 2340 HOURS
A light blue 2004 Honda Civic belonging to ALFRED and LUCIA
PERILLO rolls onto the driveway of MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK and
his wife HELEN HOUK’s house. As it does that, it slowly
ascends the red and gray brick driveway, where it nearly
collides into HELEN HOUK’s large, light green Honda van
since the occupants are moving so frantically. When it
nearly reaches the house’s garage door, it stops, gets put
into park, and it is turned off. The house, a 2-story home
built in the 1990s, sits right on the Hillsborough River
with a dock and a boat all there for the HOUKs and their
children. The left front door opens up after the car is
turned off, and ALFRED steps out of the driver’s seat of his
car carefully. As he slams the door shut behind him, his
daughter LAURA opens the passenger door.
CLOSE UP: LAURA HOUK
LAURA puts one of her sneakers out of the car onto the brick
floor underneath her, then puts the other shoe out. She then
steps out of the car, and you can now see the rest of her
body that is getting out of the 2004 Civic. She, along with
ALFRED (her dad), walk up a slowly ascending pathway (with
stairs) up to the dark burgundy door with a silver door
knocker on it. On the way there, the bushes and flowers
around her rustle in the wind and a few insects descend and
ascend on/off the flowers. It’s a beautiful scene, even when
its dark, and the only real dark aspect of it is the sadness
inside the humans’ hearts.
CUTAWAY: EXT. MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK’S HOUSE
63.
ALFRED right behind her, she knocks on the door four times
in an extremely urgent manner. She then steps back from the
door so HELEN, the person inside, can see her from inside
the door.
ZOOM IN: LAURA AND ALFRED
LAURA bites her lip, and ALFRED stands there in silence,
waiting for HELEN HOUK. An unlocking of doors is heard,
followed by an opening of the door in front of LAURA and
ALFRED.
HELEN HOUK (O.S.)
Hey. Want to come in?
LAURA and ALFRED come into the house, listening to the
unknown and unseen woman (at this point, the viewers do not
know that this is HELEN, or that this house is her house
too).
REVERSE ANGLE
The camera is right behind LAURA and ALFRED, and you can see
the back of their heads and their hair. Their is a space
between them, which is where we see HELEN walking towards
her kitchen, and turning around to say something.
HELEN HOUK
(nervously, quickly)
We’ll leave in a second to Deland.
I just have to go and get some
water and the directions, then
we’ll go. How are you guys doing?
LAURA HOUK
What happened Helen?
HELEN walks into the kitchen and reaches into the cabinet
for a cup, trying to ignore the question.
HELEN HOUK
Do you guys want a drink? We have
orange juice, milk, water, apple...
When she pulls her hand out of the cabinet with a light
blue, translucent cup, her arm is stopped by LAURA’s hand,
which is grabbing her arm. She closes her eyes in
disappointment that she could not keep the occasion from
becoming too sad and painful. She looks straight into the
wife of ERIC, LAURA’s, hazel eyes.
64.
LAURA HOUK
What did Mike say?
HELEN’s face becomes flushed and ashen in complexion, and
she bites her lip.
HELEN HOUK
He said he didn’t know.
LAURA HOUK
What? He didn’t know what?
LAURA is clearly frustrated at the whole entire situation
(but not in such a way where she is mean to her
sister-in-law about it). She, though, does press HELEN hard
for information regarding her husband and the "accident"
that happened that night.
HELEN HOUK
Mike and the police both said the
same thing. They...
LAURA HOUK
(interrupting)
What?
HELEN sighs in languish, and closes her eyes. She then looks
into LAURA’s eyes earnestly and honestly before telling her
the news:
HELEN HOUK
They said they can’t tell you until
you go to the Deland police
station. They want it to be
in-person. They wouldn’t even tell
me what happened.
LAURA is confused, but she lets go of HELEN’s arm because
she can tell that HELEN is telling the truth -- she doesn’t
know more than she is communicating to her.
ALFRED PERILLO
Well, I guess we’re going to
Deland, right?
EXT. HELEN HOUK’S VAN ON I-4 - 0007 HOURS
The van is driving on the I-4 intrastate highway in Florida
after leaving HELEN HOUK’s house 20 minutes earlier. They
are now near the Florida State Fairgrounds, edging closer to
the faraway destination of Deland, which is near Daytona.
The van is a steel blue (light, grayish blue) 2005 Chrysler
Town & Country that is in nice condition, and has standard
65.
features. In it, we can see HELEN driving in the front seat
with an expressionless face. LAURA and ALFRED are in the
middle-seats behind HELEN, waiting anxiously for their
arrival at the Volusia County Police Station. Although
slightly indiscernible, you can see that HELEN is using a
GPS system to locate where she is and to know where she is
going.
INT. HELEN HOUK’S VAN ON I-4 - 0007 HOURS
MEDIUM CLOSE UP: LAURA AND ALFRED
LAURA and ALFRED, who are sitting in the back of the van,
are left to twiddle their fingers until they get to their
destination, which will probably take another 2 hours to
reach. LAURA looks sad and distressed, with a huge frown on
her face (for an obvious reason, her husband has been in an
’accident’ and she doesn’t know whether he’s OK or not).
ALFRED is troubled, afraid for his family and their overall
well being, especially ERIC’s.
OVER THE SHOULDER: LAURA HOUK
LAURA leans forward to talk to HELEN who is right in front
of her (since she is in the left seat behind the driver’s
seat). She speaks right near her ear so that she can hear
her well.
LAURA HOUK
So, they really have told you
nothing? Nothing at all?
HELEN HOUK
Absolutely nothing, at all.
LAURA HOUK
If it’s just a car accident, then
why can’t they just tell us?
HELEN HOUK
I don’t know, Laura.
The van is seen driving past highway marker 145. They also
pass a sign that states "100 miles to Daytona".
BLACK SCREEN
The screen states the time -- "12:08:57 A.M." -- for the
time of this scene. When it appears in white font against
the black backdrop, it is still ticking away by the second.
When it reaches the time "12:09:00 A.M." it swiftly speeds
up to the time that the next scene will be at -- "01:03:57
A.M." This clock continues to count up by seconds just like
66.
before, reaching "01:04:04 A.M." before it starts fading
away to the next scene.
CROSS FADE TO
INT. LIVING ROOM - 0100 HOURS
LUCIA is sitting on the living room couch that she and her
grandson were sitting on a few hours before in her daughter
LAURA’s house. He isn’t there, because he is trying to sleep
in his room since it is past midnight. She is watching Fox
News Channel with the same red, pink, and orange quilt over
her that was over her before. She is intently watching the
incoming news, trying to focus on something else other than
the events unfurling in her life.
POV: LUCIA PERILLO
In LUCIA’s view is the Fox News Channel, and it is showing
its live late night weekend news. There is its signature
logo on the bottom left corner with the circling time clock
under it. A news anchor is telling everyone the news while a
banner saying "DEVELOPING" with the details "NEVADA FIRE
ONLY 20% CONTAINED SAYS LAS VEGAS POLICE CHIEF". While this
banner is below the news anchor...
NEWS ANCHOR
It’s the end of the hour, and we
still have not heard more
information about that big wildfire
spreading all over Nevada. When we
find out more, you will immediately
get the information.
Right after the news anchor says that, sounds of MICHAEL
walking out from his room into the living room through the
bedroom hall.
CUTAWAY: MICHAEL STANDING
He is dressed in his pajamas and he is looking incredibly
tired from the absolute lack of sleep. LUCIA looks over to
see him standing there, and she acknowledges his slumber
some self.
LUCIA PERILLO
Can’t get to sleep?
MICHAEL HOUK
Nope.
67.
They both knew why MICHAEL couldn’t sleep. MICHAEL then
wipes his eyes out of his over-tiredness. He walks drowsily
over to the couch, sliding under the quilt with his grandma
to try to go to sleep to Fox News.
LUCIA PERILLO
Want to watch a show?
MICHAEL HOUK
Sure.
The television changes from channel 118 to channel 199,
which is ABC Family on Verizon Fios (for Pasco County). It
is playing Growing Pains starring Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns,
and Kirk Cameron.
CLOSE UP: MICHAEL HOUK
It only is shown for a brief second, when MICHAEL looks over
to the glass table next to him that has a lamp on it and a
couple of pictures on display. He grabs a picture of his dad
(carefully) that was taken when the family was camping and
ERIC was sitting over the fire. It is picturesque, like a
painting, and it is MICHAEL’s favorite picture of him. LUCIA
looks over his shoulder at what he is holding, and she is
shocked. Her face shows she is very sympathetic and saddened
by this, and she tries to console him.
LUCIA PERILLO
He is very handsome you know.
MICHAEL HOUK
I know.
LUCIA PERILLO
He’ll be back by morning. There’s
no reason to be worried.
MICHAEL HOUK
I know.
FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
The screen is absolutely blank, all it is a dark, black
clean slate. Abruptly, a white portion of text revealing the
time that it is in the movie (on February 19, 2012) appears,
stating that it is this time -- "1:04:24 A.M.". Like a
normal digital clock, it continues on by the seconds until
it reaches this time: "1:04:27 A.M.". At that time, the time
zips all the way to this time: "2:25:01 A.M.". The time then
continues on for 7 seconds, until it reaches this time: (at
which it fades away) "2:08:08 A.M.".
68.
CROSS FADE TO
INT. HELEN’S TOWN & COUNTRY - 0225 HOURS
HELEN and MIKE’s steel blue 2004 Chrysler Town & Country van
is driving slightly above the speed limit on West Howry
Avenue in Deland. HELEN, LAURA, and ALFRED are just a minute
away from their destination, and they are anxiously awaiting
when they can hear what happened to ERIC. They heard about
the situation over 4 hours ago, but all of them (including
MICHAEL and LUCIA who are at home) haven’t heard a word more
about what happened to ERIC.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP: LAURA AND ALFRED
LAURA and ALFRED are still in the back of the car in the
same positions as they were before. They are tired, but
determined to stay awake for the briefing at the police
station about what happened to their dear, beloved ERIC JOHN
HOUK. They stare blankly ahead from exhaustation and the
constancy of their surroundings. LAURA observes, quite
quickly, that there is the Deland Police Station right in
front of them. LAURA’s eyes explode, and she immediately
taps on ALFRED’s knee as soon as she can gains composure.
ALFRED looks up at her questionably and LAURA points towards
the front windshield, through which the police station can
be seen.
CUT TO
EXT. HELEN’S TOWN & COUNTRY - 0226 HOURS
The Chrysler Town & Country turns from the right side of
West Howry Avenue into the parking lot of the Deland Police
Station.
ZOOM OUT: DELAND POLICE STATION
HELEN parks the car right in front of the police station,
right next to five deputy police officer’s cars and a few
Fords, Chevies, and Hondas.
INT. DELAND POLICE STATION - 0226 HOURS
LAURA walks into the police station, followed by ALFRED
PERILLO and HELEN HOUK. They look around the white waiting
room, and immediately notice MIKE, LAURA’s sister-in-law
CAROL PERILLO, LAURA’s cousin CHRISTINE GOLDMAN, CHRISTINE’s
husband GEOFF GOLDMAN, and police officers all around the
police station. The three of them look around, sort of shell
shocked at the moment and unable to realize what they should
do next. Soon enough, a policewoman comes up to LAURA.
69.
OFFICER REISMAN
M’aam?
LAURA HOUK
(in exasperation)
Yes?
OFFICER REISMAN
Are you Laura Houk?
LAURA HOUK
Yes. What happened to my husband?
OFFICER REISMAN looks nervous, like she is formulating her
thoughts into just the right words. LAURA is anxious, scared
over what may have happened. Neither is talking, just
thinking, when MIKE interrupts.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK
Laura.
She turns over to look at her husband’s brother who was
present throughout the whole incident.
MICHAEL "MIKE" HOUK (CONT’D)
He was shot. He died almost
immediately.
LAURA looks absolutely shell-shocked and grief stricken. She
starts weeping after the shock passes. MIKE, ALFRED, and the
rest of the family go over to her. ALFRED, crying himself,
hugs LAURA tightly and securely.
ALFRED PERILLO
(crying, nearly inaudible)
I’m sorry, Laura. I’m sorry.
CROSS FADE TO
BLACK SCREEN
The screen is absolutely pitch black and blank with nothing
inhabiting it. Suddenly, white text stating this --
"February 21, 2007" -- appears on the screen in front of the
black backdrop.
CROSS FADE TO
70.
EXT. CATHOLIC CHURCH - 1559 HOURS
WEATHER SHOT:
Men in black suits, women in black dresses, and children in
nice, black clothes all walk into Our Lady of the Rosary
Catholic church in Land O’ Lakes, FL. They are all coming
there, Catholic or not, Christian or not, for the funeral of
the deceased, ERIC HOUK. The trees around the light green,
one-story church sway in the wind that is coming from the
stormy clouds in the distance.
INT. CATHOLIC CHURCH - 1559 HOURS
The congregation present for the funeral is seated in the
seats reserved or provided for them. The close family and
friends of ERIC HOUK wait behind the casket that is dressed
in a large red cloth that is thrown over it. LAURA, MICHAEL,
JORDAN, JOEY, ALFRED, LUCIA, JOE, CAROL, MIKE, HELEN, and
close relatives are present behind the casket. Some of the
congregants are still walking in, hugging the relatives and
sitting down. The close family hug the people coming in
back, and many of them (especially the close family) are
crying and have handkerchiefs. The priest, REV. AUBIN, gives
the cue to the chief musician to start playing "Here I Am"
from right outside the atrium which holds the casket by
waving his hand at him. The musicians start playing, and the
pallbearers pick up the casket. The family walks down the
aisle to their seats, following the casket that contains
ERIC’s remains. They look over the congregation, full of
mourners and friends, family and acquaintances, all present
to celebrate his life and commemorate his death. All of the
close relatives and friends sit in a reserved area in the
front of the church near the altar. The music is stopped,
and the funeral has officially begun with the priest, REV.
AUBIN, walking up to the front. Sounds are MOS. During the
time the voiceover is running, the camera focuses on
numerous people, most prominently LAURA, her boys, and the
priest.
LAURA HOUK (V.O.)
It took me years to forgive the
shooter David Edwards. It took me
years to forgive my brother-in-law
for surviving when my husband
didn’t. It took me years to even
forgive my husband for being so
stupid to... I grieved, I wept, I
cried, I yelled, I screamed, but I
eventually pulled out of it,
forgave everyone, and here I am
now, better than ever, stronger
than ever, living my life with my
(MORE)
71.
LAURA HOUK (V.O.) (CONT’D)fantastic 3 boys. In the end,
life’s not about what happened,
what you accomplished, how much
money you earned, or how many
things you had... it is about who
you loved, the good you did for
people, the fun you had, the smiles
you caused. That’s what its all
about.
FADE OUT
