Titanic Screenplay

Page 6

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120
INT. HOLD #2

Jack and Rose enter and run laughing between the rows of stacked cargo. She hugs herself against the cold, after the dripping heat of the boiler room.

They come upon William Carter's brand new RENAULT touring car, lashed down to a pallet. It looks like a royal coach from a fairy tale, it's brass trim and headlamps nicely set off by it's deep burgundy color.

Rose climbs into the plushly upholstered back seat, acting very royal. There are cut crystal bud vases on the walls back there, each containing a rose. Jack jumps into the driver's seat, enjoying the feel of the leather and wood.

JACK
Where to, Miss?

ROSE
To the stars.

ON JACK as her hands come out of the shadows and pull him over the seat into the back. He lands next to her, and his breath seems loud in the quiet darkness. He looks at her and she is smiling. It is the moment of truth.

JACK
Are you nervous?

ROSE
Au contraire, mon cher.

He strokes her face, cherishing her. She kisses his artist's fingers.

ROSE
Put your hands on me Jack.

He kisses her, and she slides down the seat under his welcome weight.

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121
INT. WIRELESS ROOM

A BRILLIANT ARC OF ELECTRICITY fills frame-- the spark gap of the Marconi instrument as SENIOR WIRELESS OPERATOR JACK PHILLIPS (24) rapidly keys out a message. Junior Operator Bride looks through the huge stack of outgoing messages swamping them.

BRIDE
Look at this one, he wants his private train to meet him. La dee da.
(slaps them down)
We'll be up all bloody night on this lot.

Phillips starts to receive an incoming message from a nearby ship, the Leyland freighter CALIFORNIAN, which jams his outgoing signal. At such close range, the beeps are deafening.

PHILLIPS
Christ! It's that idiot on the Californian.

Cursing, Phillips furiously keys a rebuke.

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122
INT./EXT. WIRELESS SHACK/ FREIGHTER CALIFORNIAN

Wireless Operator CYRIL EVANS pulls his earphone off his ear as the Titanic's spark deafens him. He translates the message for THIRD OFFICER GROVES.

EVANS
Stupid bastard. I try and warn him about the ice, and he says "Keep out. Shut up. I'm working Cape Race."

GROVES
Now what's he sending?

EVANS
"No seasickness. Poker business good. Al". Well that’s it for me. I'm shutting down.

As Evans wearily switches off his generator, Groves goes out on deck. PAN OFF HIM to reveal the ship is stopped fifty yards from the edge of a field of pack ice and icebergs stretching as far as the eye can see.

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123
EXT. OCEAN/TITANIC

ON TITANIC, steaming hell-bent through the darkness, hurling up white water at the bows. The bow comes straight at us, until the bow wave WIPES THE FRAME--

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124
INT. HOLD #2 PUSHING IN on the rear window of the Renault, which is completely fogged up. Rose's hand comes up and slams against the glass for a moment, making a handprint in the veil of condensation.

INSIDE THE CAR, Jack's overcoat is a blanket over them. It stirs and Rose pulls it down. They are huddled under it, intertwined, still mostly clothed. Their faces are flushed and they look at each other wonderingly. She puts her hand on his face, as if making sure he is real.

ROSE
You're trembling.

JACK
It's okay. I'm alright.

He lays his cheek against her chest.

JACK
I can hear your heart beating.

She hugs his head to her chest, and just holds on for dear life.

OLD ROSE (V.O.)
Well, I wasn't the first teenage girl to get seduced in the backseat of a car, and certainly not the last, by several million. He had such fine hands, artists' hands, but strong too... roughened by work. I remember their touch even now.

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125
EXT. ATLANTIC / TITANIC - NIGHT

The bow sweeps under us, and the CAMERA CLIMBS toward the foremast and the tiny half-cylinder of the crow's nest, which grows as we push in on lookouts Fleet and Lee. They are stamping their feet and swinging their arms, trying to keep warm in the 22 knot freezing wind, which whips the vapor of their breath away behind.

FLEET
You can smell ice, you know, when it's near.

LEE
Bollocks.

FLEET
Well I can.

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126
INT. BOILER ROOM SIX

Without hearing the words over the roar of the furnaces, we see stokers telling TWO STEWARDS which way Rose and Jack went. The stewards move off toward the forward holds.

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127
INT. CAL and ROSE'S SUITE

Cal stands at the open safe. He stares at the drawing of Rose and his face clenches with fury. He reads the note again: "DARLING, NOW YOU CAN KEEP US BOTH LOCKED IN YOUR SAFE. ROSE"

Lovejoy, standing behind him, looks over his shoulder at the drawing. Cal crumples Rose's note, then takes the drawing in both hands as if to rip it in half. He tenses to do it, then stops himself.

CAL
I have a better idea.

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128
INT. HOLD #2 - NIGHT

The two stewards enter. They have electric torches and play the beams around the hold. They spot the Renault with its fogged up rear window and approach it slowly.

FROM INSIDE we see the torch light up Rose's passionate handprint, still there on the fogged up glass. One steward whips open the door.

STEWARD
Got yer!

REVERSE: the back seat is empty.

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129
EXT. FORWARD WELL DECK AND CROW'S NEST - NIGHT

Rose and Jack, fully dressed, come through a crew door onto deck. They can barely stand. they are laughing so hard.

UP ABOVE THEM, IN THE CROW'S NEST, lookout Fleet hears the disturbance below and looks around and back down to the well deck, where he can see two figures embracing.

Jack and Rose stand in each others arms. Their breath clouds around them in the now freezing air, but they don't even feel the cold.

ROSE
When this ship docks, I'm getting off with you.

JACK
This is crazy.

ROSE
I know. It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it.

Jack pulls her to him and kisses her fiercely.

130
IN THE CROW'S NEST Fleet nudges Lee.

FLEET
Cor... look at that, would ya.

LEE
They're a bloody sight warmer than we are.

FLEET
Well if that's what it takes for us two to get warm, I'd rather not, if it's all the same.

They both have a good laugh at that one. It is Fleet whose expression falls first. Glancing forward again, he does a double take. The color drains out of his face.

FLEET'S POV: a massive iceberg right in their path, 500 yards out.

FLEET
Bugger me!!!

Fleet reaches past Lee and rings the lookout bell three times, then grabs the telephone, calling the bridge. He waits precious seconds for it to be picked up, never taking his eyes off the black mass ahead.

FLEET
Pick up, ya bastard.

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131
INT. / EXT. BRIDGE

Inside the enclosed wheelhouse, SIXTH OFFICER MOODY walks unhurriedly to the telephone, picking it up.

FLEET(V.O.)
Is someone there?

MOODY
Yes. What did you see?

FLEET
Iceberg right ahead!

MOODY
Thankyou.
(hangs up, calls to Murdoch)
Iceberg right ahead!

Murdoch sees it and rushes to the engine room telegraph. While signaling "FULL SPEED ASTERN" he yells to Quartermaster Hichens, who is at the wheel.

MURDOCH
Hard a' starboard.

MOODY
(standing behind Hichens)
Hard 'a starboard. The helm is hard over, sir.

CRASH SEQUENCE/ SERIES OF CUTS: 132 CHIEF ENGINEER BELL is just checking the soup he has warming on a steam manifold when the engine room telegraph clangs, then goes... incredibly... to FULL SPEED ASTERN. He and the other ENGINEERS just stare at it a second, unbelieving. Then Bell reacts.

BELL
Full astern! FULL ASTERN!!

The engineers and greasers scramble like madmen to close steam valves and start braking the mighty propeller shafts, big as Sequoias, to a stop.

133
IN BOILER ROOM SIX, leading stoker FREDERICK BARRETT is standing with 2nd Engineer JAMES HESKETH when the red warning light and "STOP" indicator come on.

BARRETT
Shut all dampers! Shut 'em!!

134
FROM THE BRIDGE Murdoch watches the berg growing... straight ahead. The bow finally starts to come left (since the ship is in reverse of the helm setting).

MURDOCH'S jaw clenches as the bow turns with agonizing slowness. He holds his breath as the horrible physics play out.

135
IN THE CROW'S NEXT Frederick Fleet braces himself.

136
THE BOW OF THE SHIP thunders right at the CAMERA and--

KRUUUNCH!! The ship hits the berg on it's starboard bow.

137
UNDERWATER we see the ice smashing in the steel hull plates. The iceberg bumps and scrapes along the side of the ship. Rivets pop as the steel plate of the hull flexes under the load.

138
IN #2 HOLD the two stewards stagger as the hull buckles in four feet with a sound like THUNDER. Like a sledgehammer beating them off their feet. The icy water swirls around the Renault as the men scramble for the stairs.

139
ON G-DECK forward Fabrizio is tosses from his bunk by the impact. He hears a sound like the greatly amplified squeal of a skate on ice.

140 IN BOILER ROOM SIX Barrett and Hesketh stagger as they hear the ROLLING THUNDER of the collision. They see the starboard side of the ship buckle in toward them and are almost swept off their feet by a rush of water coming in about two feet above the floor.

141 ON THE FORWARD WELL DECK Jack and Rose break their kiss and look up in astonishment as the berg sails past, blocking out the sky like a mountain. Fragments break off it and crash down onto the deck, and they have to jump back to avoid flying chunks of ice.

142
ON THE BRIDGE Murdoch rings the watertight door alarm. He quickly throws the switch that closes them.

MURDOCH
Hard 'a port!

Judging the berg to be amidships, he is trying to clear the stern.

143
BARRETT AND HESKETH hear the DOOR ALARM and scramble through the swirling water to the watertight door between Boiler Rooms 6 and 5. The room is full of water vapor as the cold sea strikes the red hot furnaces. Barrett yells to the stokers scrambling through the door as it comes down like a slow guillotine.

BARRETT
Go Lads! Go! Go!

He dives through into Boiler Room 5 just before the door rumbles down with a CLANG.

144
JACK AND ROSE rush to the starboard rail in time to see the berg moving aft down the side of the ship.

145
In his stateroom, surrounded by piles of plans while making notes in his ever-present book, Andrews looks up at the sound of a cut-crystal light fixture tinkling like a windchime.

He feels the shudder run through the ship. And we see it in his face. Too much of his soul is in this great ship for him not to feel its mortal wound.

146
IN THE FIRST CLASS SMOKING ROOM Gracie watches his highball vibrating on the table.

147
IN THE PALM COURT, with it's high arched windows, Molly Brown holds up her drink to a passing waiter.

MOLLY
Hey, can I get some ice here, please?

Silently, a moving wall of ice fills the windows behind her. She doesn't see it. It disappears astern.

148
OMITTED

149
IN THE CROW'S NEST Fleet turns to Lee...

FLEET
Oy, mate... that was a close shave.

LEE
Smell ice can you? Bleedin' Christ!

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150
INT./EXT. BRIDGE

CLOSE ON MURDOCH. The alarm bells still clatter mindlessly, seeming to reflect his inner state. He is in shock, unable to get a grip on what just happened. He just ran the biggest ship in history into an iceberg on it's maiden voyage.

MURDOCH
(stiffly, to Moody)
Note the time. Enter it in the log.

Captain Smith rushes out of his cabin onto the bridge, tucking in his shirt.

SMITH
What was that, Mr. Murdoch?

MURDOCH
An iceberg, sir. I put her hard 'a starboard and run the engines full astern, but it was too close. I tried to port around it, but she hit.. and I--

SMITH
Close the emergency doors.

MURDOCH
The doors are closed.

Together they rush out onto the starboard wing, and Murdoch points. Smith looks into the darkness aft, then wheels around to FOURTH OFFICER BOXHALL.

SMITH
Find the carpenter and get him to sound the ship.

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151
INT. G-DECK FORWARD

In steerage, Fabrizio comes out into the hall to see what’s going on. He sees dozens of rats running by.

FABRIZIO
Ma-- che cazzo!

152
IN HIS STATEROOM Tommy gets out of his top bunk in the dark and drops down to the floor. SPLASH!!

TOMMY
Cor!! What in hell--?!

He snaps on the light. The floor is covered with 3 inches of freezing water, and more coming in. He pulls the door open, and steps out into the corridor, which is flooded. Fabrizio is running toward him, yelling something in Italian. Tommy and Fabrizio start pounding on doors, getting everybody up and out. The alarm spreads in several languages.

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153
INT. FIRST CLASS CORRIDOR / A-DECK

A couple of people have come out into the corridor in robes and slippers. A STEWARD hurries along, reassuring them.

WOMAN
Why have the engines stopped? I felt a shudder?

STEWARD #1
I shouldn't worry, m'am. We've likely thrown a propeller blade, that's the shudder you felt. May I bring you anything?

THOMAS ANDREWS brushes past them, walking fast and carrying an armload of rolled up ship's plans.

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154
EXT. FORWARD WELL DECK

Jack and Rose are leaning over the starboard rail, looking at the hull of the ship.

JACK
Looks okay, I don't see anything.

ROSE
Could it have damaged the ship?

JACK
It didn't seem like much of a bump. I'm sure we're okay.

Behind them a couple of steerage guys are kicking the ice around the deck, laughing.

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155
INT. STEERAGE FORWARD

Fabrizio and Tommy are in a crowd of steerage men clogging the corridors, heading aft away from the flooding. Many of them have grabbed suitcases and duffel bags, some of which are soaked.

TOMMY
If this is the direction the rats were runnin', it's good enough for me.

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156
INT. CORRIDOR ON B DECK

Bruce Ismay, dressed in pajamas under a topcoat, hurries down the corridor, headed for the bridge. An officious steward named BARNES comes along the other direction, getting the few concerned passengers back into their rooms.

STEWARD BARNES
There's no cause for alarm. Please, go back to your rooms.

He is stopped in his tracks by Cal and Lovejoy.

STEWARD BARNES
Please, sir. There's no emergency--

CAL
Yes there is, I've been robbed. Now get the Master at Arms. Now, you moron!

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157
INT. BRIDGE/ CHARTROOM C.U. CAPTAIN SMITH studying the commutator.

He turns to Andrews, standing behind him.

SMITH
A five degree list in less than ten minutes.

SHIPS CARPENTER JOHN HUTCHINSON enters behind him, out of breath and clearly unnerved.

HUTCHINSON
She's making water fast... in the forepeak tank and the forward holds, and in boiler room six.

ISMAY enters, his movements quick with anger and frustration. Smith glances at him with annoyance.

ISMAY
Why have we stopped?

SMITH
We've struck ice.

ISMAY
Well, do you think the ship is seriously damaged?

SMITH
(glaring)
Excuse me.

Smith pushes past him, with Andrews and Hutchinson in tow.

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158
INT. BOILER ROOM 6

Stokers and firemen are struggling to draw the fires. They are working in waist deep water churning around them as it flows into the boiler room, ice cold and swirling with grease from the machinery. Chief Engineer Bell comes partway down the ladder and shouts.

BELL
That's it, lads. Get the hell up!

They scramble up the escape ladders.

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159
EXT. B-DECK FORWARD/ WELL DECK

The gentleman, now joined by another man, leans on the forward rail watching the steerage men playing soccer with chunks of ice.

GENTLEMAN
I guess it's nothing serious. I'm going back to my cabin to read.

A 20ish YALE MAN pops through the door wearing a topcoat over pajamas.

YALEY
Say, did I miss the fun?

Rose and Jack come up the stairs from the well deck, which are right next to the three men. They stare as the couple climbs over the locked gate.

A moment later Captain Smith rounds the corner, followed by Andrews and Carpenter Hutchinson. They have come down from the bridge by outside stairs. The three men, their faces grim, brush right past Jack and Rose. Andrews barely glances at her.

SMITH
Can you shore up?

HUTCHINSON
Not unless the pumps get ahead.

The inspection party goes down the stairs to the well deck.

JACK
(low, to her)
It's bad.

ROSE
We have to tell Mother and Cal.

JACK
Now it's worse.

ROSE
Come with me, Jack. I jump, you jump... right?

JACK
Right.

Jack follows Rose through the door inside the ship.