I think Act III starts with a sharp loud sound—we’re in the front hall of the great house and the large metal knocker outside is just being pounded. Echo rushes to the door, throws it open as Climber roars in.
Middle of the night.
Looking worse than we’ve yet seen him. Not drunk, nothing like that. But he has been abusing the shit out of himself and it shows. As they talk we realize this—she looks like hell too. This next is lightning fast, overlapping. Whatever they have been, now they are two parents dealing with a nightmare crisis.
CLIMBER
--when?--
ECHO
--around eleven--
CLIMBER
(sharply)
--
do better
!
ECHO
I went in to check Phoebe--the news was just starting--she was sound asleep--I tucked her in a little better and went down to Shirley’s room--five after, seven maybe. Right after I found the note--
CLIMBER
--asking?--
ECHO
--twenty-five million, small bills--
CLIMBER
--by?--
ECHO
--dawn--
CLIMBER
(Pause)
Proof of life?
ECHO
(Pause)
The note said a call at two.
(a glance at her watch)
Twenty minutes.
CLIMBER says nothing, begins to move toward the grand staircase. ECHO points toward the library.
ECHO
Everyone’s in here.
CUT TO
THE LIBRARY. A dozen men, some of them uniformed. Detectives, technicians, equipment hurriedly being set up. Trip is there, too.
CLIMBER
Not quite.
(as he takes the stairs two at a time.)
What we have, then, when I set you up with the shot of the woods on the estate at the end of Act II, is the setup of the kidnapping. It’s still vague. We saw only the shadows moving, never were able to make out what they were. We really only know that a divorced couple are trying to cope with the greatest fear all parents have. We know nothing of the kidnappers.
We want, I think, the following things—
—we want Shirley to live—
—we want the family safe—
—and we want them back together
as a family,
Shirley and Phoebes, Echo and her Climber.
Think for a moment now—how do we do that?
(I am smiling as I wrote that last sentence because you probably think I know how. And the truth is: not a clue.)
Okay. I have had this next scene for a month now. Hope you like it. Go with God.
CUT TO
PHOEBE’S ROOM. She’s sleeping. CLIMBER enters, moves silently to the window, looks out.
CUT TO
THE VIEW BEYOND IN THE DARKNESS. The woods we saw earlier when we found SHIRLEY was being kidnapped.
CUT TO
THE CLIMBER. He waits by the window for a moment.
PHOEBE
I’m awake.
CLIMBER
There’s a first.
PHOEBE
I was asleep earlier, but I’m awake now.
(soft)
Hey, Daddy.
CLIMBER
(sits beside her on the bed)
Hey Phoebes.
PHOEBE
You heard?
CLIMBER
Mommy called me.
(and now)
CUT TO
THE CLIMBER as he lifts her into his arms, holds her more tightly than he ever has.
CLIMBER
I need you to wish me luck, Phoebes.
PHOEBE
What do you mean?
CLIMBER
Well, I haven’t taken this trip for so long, and I’m afraid I’m a little rusty.
PHOEBE
What trip? Where are you going?
CLIMBER
On the Big A, kid--on the biggest adventure of them all.
PHOEBE
(eyes bright now)
Can I come?
CLIMBER
(sharp head shake)
Not in the cards.
PHOEBE
But I’m almost eight-- and you know how brave I can be.
CUT TO
CLIMBER. CLOSE UP.
CLIMBER
Phoebes, I would take you--I would love to take you--but I need helpers tonight. Not baggage. The only ones who can come tonight have to know something.
(long pause)
And you were asleep when it happened.
CUT TO
PHOEBE. CLOSE UP.
PHOEBE
(long long pause. Then--)
Are they going to come for me next?
CUT TO
THE CLIMBER, picking her up now, lifting her out of bed.
CLIMBER
Never gonna happen.
CUT TO
THE WINDOW as he carries her there in his arms. She won’t look out.
CLIMBER
Tell me what was so horrible.
(PHOEBE shakes her head)
It’ll be our secret.
PHOEBE
(long pause--finally)
Shirley looked up at my window--I know he hoped I was there like I always am-- and I could tell what he was saying with his eyes. Help me. Help me.
(beat)
And I ran back to bed and hid under the covers.
CLIMBER
Okay. Tell me what was so horrible.
PHOEBE
I just did--I cannot believe you weren’t paying attention--
CLIMBER
--you mean you should have rushed outside and beaten everybody up and rescued your brother?
(before she can reply, his voice changes--very soft)
Rescue him now, Phoebes.
PHOEBE
I don’t know what you mean.
CLIMBER
Rescue him now, look out there.
CUT TO
PHOEBE. She stares out the window.
CUT TO
WHAT SHE SEES OUTSIDE THE WINDOW. Woods, trees, moonlight, shadows.
CUT TO
ECHO, entering the bedroom now, starting to speak--
--but CLIMBER gestures for her to shut up.
She shuts up, moves a little closer.
CUT TO
CLIMBER AND PHOEBE. The same whispering tone again.
CLIMBER
What did you see, Phoebes? Tell me about them.
PHOEBE looks out the window again.
CUT TO
WHAT SHE SEES. Same as before. Woods trees, moonlight, shadows.
CUT TO
CLIMBER AND PHOEBE. She shakes her head.
CLIMBER
The Big A is starting, kiddo--last chance to get a ticket--
CUT TO
PHOEBE, looking out the window again.
WHAT SHE SEES. Same as before--
--only it isn’t--it’s the kidnapping shot--
--the shadows are different and there’s a breeze now and HERE COME TWO MEN, hurrying into view--
--PHOEBE is back seeing what she saw--
--they are only there for a blink--
--but they carry SHIRLEY between them--
PHOEBE (OVER)
Two men--
CLIMBER (OVER)
--same size?--
CUT TO
THE ROOM, CLIMBER AND PHOEBE, ECHO nearby.
CLIMBER
(as PHOEBE shakes her head)
--start with the bigger one--
PHOEBE
--hat--limped--
CLIMBER
--right or left?
CUT TO
THE KIDNAPPING SHOT-- and it didn’t register to us before, but the bigger man does limp.
PHOEBE (OVER)
Left.
CLIMBER (OVER)
Go on about the hat.
PHOEBE (OVER)
Too big.
We see it now--it is too big.
CUT TO
THE ROOM. CLIMBER AND PHOEBE. And ECHO behind them, eyes wide in wonder.
Now PHOEBE is squinting out the window. Staring so hard--
CUT TO
THE KIDNAPPING SHOT
PHOEBE (OVER)
Bald! He was bald, Daddy, he was trying to hide he was bald.
She’s right.
CUT TO
THE ROOM. CLIMBER AND PHOEBE, calm. ECHO’s going nuts--who is this child?
PHOEBE
Am I helping?
CLIMBER
Jury’s still out, but I think probably.
PHOEBE
(jumping out of his arms)
Wow, I better get ready.
(heading for her closet)
What do you wear on the Big A?
CLIMBER
Sneaks and jeans. Could be outside work, bring a sweater--okay, the smaller one--
PHOEBE
(from the closet)
Missing most of a little finger. He was holding Shirl funny.
CUT TO
THE KIDNAPPING SHOT. The SMALLER MAN is definitely missing most of a finger as he carries SHIRLEY along.
CUT TO
THE BEDROOM. ECHO moves to CLIMBER as PHOEBE is heard thrashing around in her closet.
CLIMBER
Anything else?
PHOEBE
(poking her head out)
Lots, but that isn’t as easy as it looks, Daddy, and I’m a little pooped.
ECHO
You think you’re taking her?
CLIMBER
(are you serious?)
She’s our chance.
ECHO
(hard for her)
I can’t let you go alone.
CLIMBER. CLOSE UP.
CLIMBER
(takes her shoulders, hard)
Listen now--I have loved you since our first moment, always did, always will--
(dangerous now)
--but stay the hell out of our way.
(and on that)
It’s two o’clock and the telephone rings--
Question for you: What is the most solid element in the scene you just read? Another way of putting it: What was the most proper screenwriting? I’ll go on while you make up your mind.
Since I left us with the phone ringing, I think the next scene should be the phone call. And the sad truth is, it’s kind of a drag. Not much you can do with it but make it short because we have all seen a million scenes
like it. The cops standing around tensely, the computer nerd with all the equipment tracking the location of the phone call and you know he’s not going to get it because if he does get it, where’s the movie? The scary, distorted voice of the villain, the trying-to-be-brave-but-underneath-scared-shitless voice of the victim.
Trying for a little difference, I want the terrified Shirley to ask only to talk to his sister, and Phoebes gets on, tells him of the Big A, and that they’ll all be together in no time, and Shirley manages to say how he hopes that’s true, the family being together again, how he wishes that it happen “so soon you won’t believe it” and then the villain clicks off the phone, the call is over.
The cops surround the technicians who have been tracing the call, but—shock and gasp—no good, not long enough, and on their way to the car, Phoebe looks around to say goodbye to her mother but can’t find her—
—outside they go—
—to find Echo already sitting there, ready to roll.
So the three of them take off. On the Big A. To try and find, this night, somehow, somewhere on the earth, the boy who wants to be called Flash.
I suppose it will not come as a huge surprise when I tell you if Act I was called Things Going Good, and Act II was called Things Going Bad, then this, Act III, I’m calling The Big A.
You know what it has to accomplish.
What kind of a shot do you think we have?
There is no right answer, understand—just figure our chances.
And while you are figuring, I have but two words for you:
Phoebe’s insomnia.
(I’m back now answering my question about the most proper element in the memory scene.)
For me, that is what I consider professional work.
I set it up twice. Once, when the kids are trying to get the approval of their grandfather, this exchange happens:
CLIMBER
She’s got genius inside her, Pop.
JIMMY
Besides the memory, what else?
