TWELVE MONKEYS
An original screenplay by
David Peoples
&
Janet Peoples
Inspired by
LA JETEE, a Chris Marker Film
Production Draft
June 27, 1994
FADE IN:
INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT TERMINAL - BAY
CLOSE ON A FACE. A nine year old boy, YOUNG COLE, his eyes wide
with wonder. watching something intently. We HEAR the sounds of
the P.A. SYSTEM droning Flight Information mingled with the
sounds of urgent SHOUTS, running FEET, EXCLAMATIONS.
YOUNG COLE'S POV: twenty yards away, a BLONDE MAN is sprawled on
the floor, blood oozing from his gaudy Hawaiian shirt.
A BRUNETTE in a tight dress, her face obscured from YOUNG COLE'S
view, rushes to the injured man, kneels beside him, ministering
to his wound.
ANOLE ON YOUNG COLE, flanked by his PARENTS, their faces out of
view, as they steer him away.
FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.)
Come on, Son --this is no place for us.
YOUNG COLE resists momentarily, mesmerized by the drama.
YOUNG COLE'S POV: intermittently visible through a confusion of
FIGURES rushing through the foreground, the BLONDE MAN reaching
up and touching the cheek of the kneeling BRUNETTE in a gesture
of enormous tenderness, a gesture of farewell, while the P.A.
SYSTEM continues its monotonous monotone...
P.A. SYSTEM
Flight 784 for San Francisco is now
ready for boarding at inmate number
66578, Greely.
INT. PRISON DORMITORY/FUTURE - ETERNAL NIGHT
PRISON P.A. SYSTEM
--number 5429, Garcia -- number 87645, Cole...
COLE, late thirties, dark hair, comes awake in a bunk cage, one
of many stacked four high along both sides of a long dim
corridor. He blinks in the near dark, shaken, disoriented.
Then, as he "recovers" from his very vivid dream, WE GET OUR
FIRST LOOK AT HIS ENVIRONMENT...A WINDOWLESS UNDERGROUND WORLD OF
ETERNAL NIGHT SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE...AN ALMOST COLORLESS
"REALITY" OF BLURRED EDGES AND ECHOEY SOUNDS, MUCH MORE"DREAMLIKE" THAN HIS DREAM.
Flashlights glare. In the half-light, COLE sees spooky figures,
GUARDS, moving among the locked bunk/cages.
COLE turns and whispers to the occupant of the next cage, JOSE...
COLE
Ssssst! Jose, what's going on?
JOSE's face is almost lost in shadow. What there is of it is
youthful. He's just a scared Puerto Rican kid!
JOSE
"Volunteers" again.
JOSE immediately rolls over and feigns sleep as SCARFACE, a
menacing guard with a jagged scar running down his cheek, looms
close to COLE's cage and unlocks it.
SCARFACE
"Volunteer duty".
The PRISONERS in the other cages watch silently with narrowed eyes.
COLE
I didn't volunteer.
SCARFACE
You causing trouble again?
COLE
(controls his temper)
No trouble.
INT. EQUIPMENT ROOM - ETERNAL NIGHT
COLE's alone, struggling to get into what looks like a space suit
in a room where suits hang like ghosts with blank eyes.
TITLES BEGIN SUPERED OVER THE SCENE
COLE has the torso of the suit on now and is trying to close it.
OFFSCREEN VOICE (o.s.)
All openings must be closed.
COLE looks for the source of the voice, a tiny grate in the wall.
OFFSCREEN VOICE (o.s.)
If the integrity of the suit is compromised
in any way, if the fabric is torn or a zipper
not closed, readmittance will be denied.
INT. SEALED CHAMBER - MINUTES LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT)
COLE, wearing the "space suit" and a helmet with a plastic visor,
steps into a tiny chamber, a kind of air lock. The heavy door
clangs shut behind him. He's alone. COLE'S breath comes quicker
now as he sucks oxygen from the air tanks on his back.
On the opposite wall is another door with a huge wheel lock.
COLE turns the heavy wheel, opens the door, steps through It
INT. ELEVATOR - SECONDS LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT)
COLE'S in an ascending elevator that groans and creaks. He looks
down at a crudely drawn map he holds in his gloved hand.
The map shows a series of tunnels and ladders.
INT. SEWER PIPE - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT)
COLE pans a flashlight, probing the filthy sewer he's wading through
RATS flee the blade of light, scurry across islands of rusting junk.
The flashlight beam settles on a ladder mounted in the wall.
Reaching the rusted ladder, COLE starts to climb awkwardly.
EXT. CITY STREET/FUTURE - MOMENTS LATER (NIGHT)
A SCRAPING NOISE as a heavy man-hole cover is pushed up and moved
aside. COLE'S helmeted head emerges from below.
COLE'S PCV THROUGH HIS PLASTIC-VISORED HELMET: a city in
moonlight! A surreal image of abandoned buildings. No people
anywhere. The only sounds are the WIND and COLE'S BREATHING.
EXT. ANOTHER CITY STREET - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT)
COLE'S light reveals abandoned vine-covered automobiles.
Moving to the nearest car, COLE searches in the vines for
something. Finds it. An insect.
COLE takes the bug in his gloved hand. As he clumsily inserts it
into a collection tube, something makes him turn.
There's something across the street in the dark. Something alive.
COLE points his flashlight and reveals...a BEAR! Startled by the
light, the animal blinks, then stands on its rear legs and ROARS.
ANGLE ON COLE, staring wide-eyed.
Then, the BEAR sinks down onto all fours and, trying to avoid the
flashlight, it pads quickly down the street.
INT. SUBTERRANEAN PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT
Using the flashlight to see, COLE reaches down to the cracked
floor and gets another specimen. DOGSHIT!
The only sound is COLE'S labored BREATHING.
Then, a different SOUND. GRRRR! A dog. More GRRRRS. More
dogs. Then, a YIP. Then, VICIOUS GROWLS. It's a DOGFIGHT!
EXT. STREET - NIGHT (FIRST LIGHT)
A giant OWL, perched on an overhead traffic light, raises its wings
and lifts off...rising higher and higher into the brightening sky.
Below, on the street, COLE trudges along, passing deserted
buildings, windows broken, rusted signs dangling.
INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT (FIRST LIGHT)
COLE'S light reveals a spider web just inside the store. A large
SPIDER tries to hide from the light.
COLE reaches carefully into the web and plucks the spider and
puts it into one of his specimen tubes.
Then, he shines his light all around the once elegant store. There's
nothing but aisle after aisle of moldering consumer goods.
EXT. DEPARTMENT STORE - DAWN
As COLE comes out of the store, the first rays of the sun hit the
building. COLE stops, squints into the light through his visor.
COLE'S POV: spray-painted on the wall a long time ago is a stenciled
logo of twelve monkeys holding hands in a circle. Over it is
written, "WE DID IT!"
COLE looks up.
COLE'S POV: high up on a building across the street, a LION
patrols a ledge, pauses, looks out majestically over his world.
TTTLES END
INT. FIRST UNDERGROUND DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT
ROARING WATER, powerful torrents gushing from nozzles in the
wall, pummel the still-suited COLE.
INT. SECOND UNDERGROUND DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT
Stark naked and shivering, COLE is being scrubbed with brushes on
long poles (like the ones used to wash cars) wielded by two HULKING
FIGURES in bulky decontamination suits, their personas lost in their
windowed masks. It's a grim scene in a grim cement room with damp,
dripping walls. From an unseen source comes an AMPLIFIED VOICE,
AMPLIFIED VOICE (o.s.)
Raise your arms above your head.
COLE lifts his arms and the FIGURES start scrubbing his armpits.
INT. TINY CHAMBER - SHORTLY (ETERNAL NIGHT)
Still naked, COLE is seated on a stool while a MASKED TECHNICIAN
in a less elaborate, less bulky decontamination outfit draws
blood from COLE'S arm with an old-fashioned hypodermic needle.
COLE glances toward a single, nearly opaque "window" of thick
plastic in the rusty iron wall. VAGUE FIGURES seem to lurk
behind the translucent aperture, studying him.
The TECHNICIAN slips the blood sample through a slot in the wall.
INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE/FUTURE WORLD - ETERNAL NIGHT
Ushered in by two guards, TINY and SCARFACE, COLE looks around.
COLE'S POV: wails hidden by old headlines, articles, maps, charts...
a blackboard covered with elaborate, sophisticated formulae...surfaces
heaped with cracked monitors, gerry-rigged computers held together with
string, lasers lost in tangles of cable, ancient tube amplifiers, a
dilapidated cardboard reconstruction of a city, stacks of moldering
books and tattered computer printouts...and, seated at a long conference
table, staring at COLE, six SCIENTISTS: an ASTROPHYSICIST, ENGINEER,
BOTANIST, MICROBIOLOGIST, ZOOLOGIST, and a GEOLOGIST. They represent
a "modern" science where brilliant new ideas interface with crude,
outdated, patched-together technologies.
TINY
James Cole. Cleared from quarantine.
MICROBIOLOGIST
Thank you. You two wait outside.
SCARFACE
He's got a history, Doctor. Violence.
COLE'S eyes return to the walls.
Headlines: "CLOCK TICKING! NO CURE YET!"
SCARFACE
Anti-social six -- doing 25 to life.
ENGINEER
I don't think he's going to hurt us. You're
not going to hurt us, are you Mr. Cole?
COLE'S head turns quickly to the ENGINEER.
COLE
No, sir.
The GUARDS exchange a look, shrug, exit, closing the door.
MICROBIOLOGIST
Why don't you sit down, Mr. Cole.
COLE goes to the empty chair at the conference table, sits down.
ASTROPHYSICIST
We want you to tell us about last
night.
COLE
I went to the surface and I collected
specimens like I was told.
The SCIENTISTS don't say anything. They just study him carefully.
COLE
(worried)
I mashed the spider, didn't I?
MICROBIOLOGTST
We'll get to the spider later, Mr.
Cole. Right now, we want to know
everything that you saw.
INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - AN HOUR LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT)
COLE, starting to look very tired now, stands at the blackboard
sketching a detailed map of exactly where he was last night.
ASTPOPHYSICIST
Where you collected sample #4, what
street was that?
COLE
Uh...
BOTANIST
It's important to observe everything.
COLE
I think it was...I'm sure it was 2nd Street.
As the SCIENTISTS start to whisper animatedly among themselves,
COLE'S eyes drift across the newspaper clippings taped to the
wall. One headline screams, "VIRUS MUTATING!" Another features
a photo of an OLD MAN (DR. MASON, who we'll see again later on)
and the words, SCIENTIST SAYS, "IT'S TOO LATE FOR CURE".
ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (o.s.)
Close your eyes, Cole.
Startled, COLE closes his eyes obediently.
BLACKNESS. Like COLE, WE SEE NOTHING. But we HEAR their VOICES.
ENGINEER'S VOICE (o.s.)
Tell us in detail what you've seen in
this room.
COLE'S VOICE (o.s.)
Uh, in this room? Uh...
MICROBIOLOGIST'S VOICE (o.s.)
How many of us are there?
COLE'S VOICE (o.s.)
Six...seven, if you count me.
ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (o.s.)
Tell us about the pictures on the wall...
COLE'S VOICE (o.s.)
Uh, you mean the newspapers?
A MONTAGE OF OVERLAPPING VOICES (o.s.)
Tell us about the newspapers. Can you
hear my voice? What do I look like?
What does he look like, the man who
just spoke? How old were you when you
left the surface?
The VOICES blur into a cacophony and FADE INTO the droning P.A.
SYSTEM at the airport.
INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY
THE DREAM AGAIN! But at an earlier moment. YOUNG COLE, flanked
by his PARENTS, whose faces are out of view, is watching a PLANE
land through one of the big glass windows that lines the concourse
leading to the departure gates.
P.A. SYSTEM (o.s.)
Flight 784 now boarding at gate...
Suddenly, a SHOUT, followed by raised VOICES, interrupts the
monotonous airport routine. As YOUNG COLE and his PARENTS turn
to see what's going on, a man we'll call MR. PONYTAIL, his face
averted, hurries past them, bumping YOUNG COLE with a Chicago
Hulls Sports Duffle Bag.
MR. PONYTAIL
WATCH IT!
YOUNG COLE sees little more than the gaudy pants, the duffle, and
the man's ponytail flopping as he rushes towards the gates.
Just then, a WOMAN'S VOICE cries out, "NOOOOOOOOO!"
YOUNG COLE turns back toward the Security Check Point just as
TRAVELERS scatter madly, some diving to the floor, others
running. A TERRIFIED TRAVELER, hitting the floor close by, looks
up at YOUNG COLE with panicky eyes, and asks....
TERRIFIED TRAVELER
Just exactly why did you volunteer?
INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE/FUTURE WORLD - (ETERNAL NIGHT)
COLE comes abruptly awake. Seated now, he's facing the SCIENTISTS.
ASTROPHYSICIST
Wake up, Cole.
COLE
Uh, I didn't hear the...
MICROBIOLOGIST
(tapping a pencil on the table)
I asked you, why did you volunteer?
COLE
Well, the guard woke me up. He told me
I volunteered.
The SCIENTISTS react, whispering urgently among themselves.
COLE starts to nod off again, then comes awake with a start as
the ENGINEER speaks to him.
ENGINEER
We appreciate you volunteering. You're
a very good observer, Cole.
COLE
Uh, thank you.
ENGINEER
You'll get a reduction in sentence.
COLE keeps his face impassive.
ASTROPHYSICIST
To be determined by the proper authorities.
ENGINEER
You don't want to jeopardize that reduction,
do you, Cole? Have it taken away?
COLE
No, sir!
ASTROPHYSICIST
We have a very advanced program, something
very different, requires very skilled people.
MICROBIOLOGIST
An opportunity to reduce your sentence
considerably...
ZOOLOGIST
And possibly play an important role in
returning the human race to the surface
of the earth.
ENGINEER
We want tough minded people. Strong
mentally. We've had some...misfortunes
with "unstable" types.
ASTROPHYSICIST
For a man in your position...an opportunity.
BOTANIST
Not to volunteer could be a real mistake.
MICROBIOLOGIST
(tapping his pencil again)
Definitely a mistake!
COLE gives away nothing. He's in a box here. He has no choices.
He stares at the tapping pencil.
INT. ART GALLERY - NIGHT
A strikingly "real" world of bright colors. Extravagant paintings
adorn the walls. A POET, tiny and ruddy faced, squints over his
glasses as he reads in a booming voice to an AUDIENCE of thirty
seated on folding chairs.
POET
Still among the myriad microwaves, the
infra-red messages, the gigabytes of ones
and zeroes, we find words, infinitesimally
small, byte-sized now, tinier even than
science lurking in some vague electricity
where, if we listen we can hear the solitary
voice of that poet telling us,
"We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern hold
In Midnight by the Master of the show."
As the POET reads, we STUDY the audience, mostly YUPPIE CULTURE
JUNKIES or BOHEMIANS. Among them, a light-haired woman of twenty-
eight, soberly dressed, wearing glasses. She's KATHRYN RAILLY. And
it's her beeper that suddenly BEEPS. BEEP! BEEP!
POET'S VOICE (o.s.)
"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it."
BEEP! BEEP! Scowling at the outrageous interruption, the POET
looks up from the text just as RAILLY, tumbling, shuts off the
beeper and rises, embarrassed. As she makes her way to an exit,
the glaring POET continues...
POET
"Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;
Tomorrow's Silence, Triumph or Despair:
Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where."
INT. CORRIDOR/POLICE STATION - NIGHT
DETECTIVE FRANKI leads RAILLY past crowded holding cells.
FRANKI
-- so they get there and they ask the guy
real nice for some kind of i.d., and he gets
agitated, starts screaming about viruses.
Totally irrational, totally disoriented,
doesn't know where he is, what day it is,
alla that stuff. All they got was his
name. They figure he's stoned out of
his mind, it's some kinda psychotic
episode, so they're gonna bring him...
RAILLY
He's been tested for drugs?
FRANKI
Negative for drugs. But he took on
five cops like he was dusted to the
eyeballs. No drugs. You believe that?
FRANKI pauses, indicating a tiny observation window of thick meshed
glass in an otherwise solid door, and RAILLY looks through it.
RAILLY'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW: a MAN, his back to her, in
strait-jacket and prison denims, examining the wall of the padded
cell with the distorted intensity of a "mental case".
RAILLY
You have him in restraints.
FRANKI
Were you listening? We got two officers in
the hospital. Yeah, he's in restraints, plus
the medic gave him enough stellazine to kill
a horse. Look at him! Still on his feet.
RAILLY'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW: the MAN in the cell turns, looks
right at her. In spite of the cuts and welts, it's clearly COLE.
RAILLY
That would explain the bruises, I
guess. The struggle.
FRANKI
You want to go in? Examine him?
RAILLY
Yes, please. You said he gave a name...
FRANKI
(unlocking the door)
James Cole. That's everything we got. None
of the James Coles on the computer match him.
No license, no prints, no warrants. Nothing.
You want me to go in with you?
RAILLY
(entering)
No, thank you.
FRANKI
I'll be right here...just in case.
INT. ISOLATION CELL
COLE stares at RAILLY. The environment is intensely real...vivid
colors...each sound, however slight, very distinct, almost loud...
and yet she appears to him almost like a vision.
RAILLY
Mr. Cole? My name is Doctor Railly.
I'm a psychiatrist. I work for the
County -- I don't work for the police.
My only concern is your well being --
do you understand that?
COLE
I need to go now.
RAILLY
I'm going to be completely honest. I'm
not going to lie to you. I can't make
the police let you go...but I do want
to help you. And I want you to trust
me. Can you do that, James? May I
call you "James"?
COLE
"James"! Nobody ever calls me that.
RAILLY
(frowns, studies him)
Have you been a patient at County?
Have I seen you someplace?
COLE
No, not possible. Listen, I have to
get out of here. I'm supposed to be
getting information.
RAILLY
What kind of information?
COLE
It won't help you. You can't do anything
about it. You can't change anything.
RAILLY
Change what?
COLE
I need to go.
RAILLY
Do you know why you're here, James.
COLE
Because I'm a good observer. Because I
have a tough mind.
RAILLY
I see. You don't remember assaulting a
police officer...several officers?
COLE
They wanted identification. I don't have
any identification. I wasn't trying to
hurt them.
RAILLY
You don't have a driver's license,
James? Or a Social Security card?
COLE
No.
RAILLY
Why not? Most people have some ID.
COLE
You wouldn't understand.
RAILLY
You've been in an institution, haven't
you, James? A hospital?
COLE
I have to go.
RAILLY
A jail? Prison?
COLE
Underground.
RAILLY
Hiding?
COLE
I love this air. This is wonderful air.
RAILLY
What's wonderful about the air, James?
COLE
It's so clean. No germs.
RAILLY
You're afraid of germs?
COLE
I have to go.
RAILLY
Why do you think there aren't any germs
in the air, James?
COLE
This is April, right?
RAILLY
July.
COLE
(sudden panic)
July?!
RAILLY
Do you know what year it is?
COLE
What year is it?
RAILLY
What year do you think it is?
COLE
1995?
RAILLY
You think it's July of 1995? That's
the future, James. Do you think you're
living in the future?
COLE
(slightly confused)
No, 1995 is the past.
RAILLY
1995 is the future, James. This is 1989.
COLE looks stunned.
INT. POLICE STATION CORRIDOR - MORNING
COLE, bound tightly by the strait-jacket, heavy manacles on his
ankles, is being escorted down the corridor by two surly POLICEMEN.
COLE
Where are you taking me?
POLICEMAN #1
South of France, buddy. Fancy hotel.
You're gonna love it.
COLE
South of France?! I don't want to go
to the South of France. I want to make
a telephone call.
POLICEMAN #2 smirks as he unlocks a heavy steel door.
POLICEMAN #2
Zip it, scumbag -- you fooled the shrink
with your act, but you don't fool us.
Then, POLICEMAN #2 swings the steel door open and sunlight
overwhelms COLE, blinding him in a dazzling fury of white light.
EXT. CITY STREET/MINI-VAN - DAY
A Mini-van, the kind of vehicle used to transport a half dozen
prisoners, crawls through a busy street. The Police Department
logo is prominent on the side of the van beneath barred windows.
INT. COUNTY HOSPITAL/SHOWERS - AN HOUR LATER (MORNING)
Fierce spray recalls the decontamination in the future. COLE
stands stark naked under the shower while two muscular attendants,
PALMER and BILLZNGS, supervise.
As PALMER shuts off the water, BILLINGS hands COLE a towel and
starts inspecting his scalp...
BILLINGS
Lemme see your head, Jimbo, see if you
got any creepy crawlies.
COLE
I need to make a telephone call.
BILLINGS
(pulling Cole's head)
Gotta work that out with a doctor, Jimbo.
Can't make no calls 'til the doctor says.
COLE
It's very important.
BILLINGS
What chew gotta do, Jimbo, is take it
easy, relax into things. We all gonna
get along fine if you just relax.
COLE gets the hint of menace in the message and submits to the
lice inspection, only his eyes revealing his frustration.
INT. HOSPITAL/DAYROOM - HALF AN HOUR LATER (DAY)
COLE stands in the doorway, stunned by his first sight of the
large room. His eyes go to the heavily-grilled windows where
light pours in from outside. Then, to the TV, where a CARTOON
COMMERCIAL makes raucous noises.
PATIENTS, in K-Mart street clothes or ratty robes, stare gloomily
at the TV, or play cards, pace, or just stare blankly.
BILLINGS is at COLE'S side, beckoning to a patient, JEFFREY MASON,
a twenty year old white youth dressed in khakis and a plaid shirt.
BILLINGS
Jeffrey. Yo! Jeffrey. This here is James.
Whyncha show James around? Tell him the TV
rules, show him the games an' stuff, okay?
JEFFREY
(with a sly look)
How much you gonna pay me? Huh? I'd
be doing your job.
BILLINGS
Five thousand dollars, my man. That
enough? I'll wire it to your account
as usual, okay?
JEFFREY
Okay, Billings. Five thousand. That's
enough. Five thousand dollars. I'll
give him the Deluxe Mental Hospital Tour.
As BILLINGS walks away chuckling, JEFFREY turns to COLE.
JEFFREY
Kid around, kid around. It makes them feel
good, we're all pals. We're prisoners, they're
the guards, but it's all in good fun, you see?
COLE nods and JEFFREY indicates card tables where PATIENTS are
playing cards, checkers, chess, or working on jig saw puzzles.
JEFFREY
Here's the games. Games vegitize you.
If you play the games, you're
voluntarily taking a tranquilizer.
COLE sees a partially completed puzzle of the well-known painting,
THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM, depicting a serene world of animals in harmony.
JEFFREY
What'd they give you? Thorazine? How
much? Learn your drugs -- know your doses.
COLE
I need to make a telephone call.
JEFFREY
A telephone call? That's communication
with the outside world! Doctor's
discretion. Hey, if alla these nuts
could just make phone calls, it could
spread. Insanity oozing through telephone
cables, oozing into the ears of all those
poor sane people, infecting them! Whackos
everywhere! A plague of madness.
(suddenly sly and confidential)
In fact, very few of us here are actually
mentally ill. I'm not saying you'rewhy
you're here. Why you're here is because
of the system, because of the economy.
(indicating the TV)
There's the TV. It's all right there.
Commercials. We are not productive
anymore, they don't need us to make
things anymore, it's all automated. What
are we for then? We're consumers. Okay,
buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen.
But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, you
know what? You're mentally ill! That's
a fact! If you don't buy things...toilet
paper, new cars, computerized blenders,
electrically operated sexual devices...
(getting hysterical)
SCREWDRIVERS WITH MINIATURE BUILT-IN
RADAR DEVICES, STEREO SYSTEMS WITH
BRAIN IMPLANTED HEADPHONES, VOICE-
ACTIVATED COMPUTERS, AND...
A woman orderly, TERRY, turns from the feeble PATIENT she's helping.
TERRY
Take it easy, Jeffrey. Be calm.
Abruptly, JEFFREY stifles his hysteria, takes a deep breath and
continues, completely calm now. But COLE isn't listening. He's
mesmerized by the TV.
JEFFREY
So if you want to watch a particular
program, say "All My Children" or
something, you go to the Charge Nurse
and tell her what day and time the show
you want to see is on. But you have to
tell her before the show is scheduled
to be on. There was this one guy who
was always requesting shows that had alreadyplayed. He couldn't quite grasp the
idea that the Charge Nurse couldn't
just make it be yesterday for him, turnback time ha ha. What a fruitcake!!
This last thought actually penetrates COLE'S focus on the TV and
he turns to JEFFREY who's picking up speed again.
JEFFREY
Seriously, more and more people are
being defined now as mentally ill. Why?
Because they're not consuming on theirown. But as patients, they becone
consumers of mental health care. And
this gives the so-called sane people work!
(hysteria again)
WHOOO! SHOCK THERAPY! GROUP THERAPY!
HALLUCINATIONS! THERAPEUTIC DRUGS!
IGGIDY DIGGIDY DIG! PERFECT! THE
SYSTEM IN HARMONY LIKE A BIG MACHINE...
TERRY
Okay, that's it, Jeffrey, you're gonna
get a shot. I warned you...
JEFFREY
(calming himself, smiling)
Right! Right! Carried away, heh heh.
I got "carried away". Explaining the
workings of...the institution.
Just then, TJ WASHINGTON, a somber-looking African American in a
bathrobe, taps COLE on the shoulder.
TJ WASHINGTON
I don't really come from outer space.
JEFFREY
This is TJ Washington, Jim -- he
doesn't really come from outer space.
TJ WASHINGTON
Don't mock me, my friend.
(to Cole)
It's a condition of "mental divergence".
I find myself on another planet, Ogo,
part of an intellectual elite, preparing
to subjugate barbarian hordes on Pluto.
But even though it's a totally convincing
reality in every way...I can feel, breathe,
hear...nevertheless, Ogo is actually a
construct of my psyche. I am mentallydivergent in that I am escaping certain
unnamed realities that plague my life
here. When I stop going there, I will
be well. Are you also divergent, friend?
The P.A. SYSTEM interrupts, startling COLE.
P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)
James Cole. Report to Staff. James Cole!
JEFFREY
Staff! Whoo! Time for Staff. Now the
geniuses cure you. Hallelujah!
INT. PSYCH WARD CONFERENCE ROOM - MINUTES LATER (DAY)
COLE is agitated, speaking forcefully.
COLE
This is a place for crazy people! I'm
not crazy!
RAILLY, four other PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTS, including RAILLY'S best
friend, MARILOU MARTIN, and their chief, DR. OWEN FLETCHER, sit
around a beat-up conference table, watching COLE, who sits facing
the doctors, with BILLINGS looming behind him. (Some of the DOCTORS
bear a strong resemblance to the SCIENTISTS OF THE FUTURE.)
RESIDENT #1
We don't use that term..."crazy", Mr. Cole.
COLE
Well, you've got some real nuts in here!
Listen to me, all of you -- I have to
tell you something that's going to be
difficult for you to understand, but...
DR. RAILLY
James...please. These are all doctors
here and we want to help you.
DR. FLETCHER
Mr. Cole -- last night you told Dr.
Railly you thought it was...
(checking a file)
1995. ... How about right now? Do you
know what year it is right now?
COLE
1989. Look, I'm not confused. There's been
a mistake, I've been sent to the wrong place.
Suddenly, COLE reaches out and BILLINGS lunges forward, but COLE
is just grabbing a pad and pencil.
COLE
Hey, I'm not going to hurt anybody.
FLETCHER restrains BILLINGS with a hand signal.
COLE
(drawing)
Do any of you know anything about the
Army of the Twelve Monkeys? They paint
this, stencil it, on buildings, all
over the place.
COLE waves a sketch of the dancing monkey logo we saw earlier.
DR. CASEY
Mr. Cole...
COLE
Right. I guess you wouldn't, this is
1989, they're probably not active yet.
That makes sense! Okay. Listen to me,
three billion people died in 1995.
Three billion, got that? Almost
the whole population. Of the world!
Only about one percent survived.
DOCTORS exchange knowing looks. This is an old story, apparently.
RESIDENT #2
Are you going to save us, Mr. Cole?
COLE
Save you? How can I save you? It
already happened! I can't save you. I'm
simply trying to get some information for
people in the present so that someday...
(sees their eyes)
You don't believe me. You think I'm
crazy. But I'm not crazy. I'm a convict,
sure, I have a quick temper, but I'm as
sane as anyone in this room. I...
COLE stops, sees DR. FLETCHER tapping his pencil. COLE'S seen
that tapping before -- in the future! It disorients him.
DR. RAILLY
Can you tell us the name of the prison
you've come from?
COLE doesn't answer. He's staring at the tapping pencil.
DR. FLETCHER
Does this bother you, Mr. Cole?
COLE
(recovering, new tack)
No! Look, I don't belong here! What I
need to do is make a telephone call to
straighten everything out.
DR. FLETCHER
Who would you call, Mr. Cole, who would
straighten everything out?
COLE
Scientists. I'm supposed to report in
to them. They'll want to know they
sent me to the wrong time.
DR. FLETCHER
So you could talk to these scientists
and they do what? Send you to the future?
COLE
No, no. r can't talk to them. It's called,
"voice mail". I'm supposed to leave messages.
They monitor it from the present.
RESIDENT #2
"From the present." We're not in the
present now, Mr. Cole?
COLE
No, no. This is the past. This has
already happened. Listen...
RESIDENT #3
Mr. Cole, you belong in 1995 -- that's
the present, is that it?
COLE
No, 1995 is the past, too. Look...
DR. FLETCHER
These scientists, Mr. Cole? Are they
doctors like ourselves?
Two of the residents exchange quick knowing looks.
COLE
No! I mean yes, but... Look, I've been given
a lot of drugs but I'm still perfectly lucid.
You have to let me use the phone. One call!
COLE looks desperately toward RAILLY, pleading eyes meeting hers.
INT. LOW RENT APARTMENT - DAY
Four little KIDS SCREAM and SQUABBLE while the phone CHIRPS
insistently in the tiny, cluttered apartment and a harried MOTHER
lunges for the phone, answers sharply...
MOTHER
Yes?
(listens, frowns, then)
Whaaaaat? "Voice mail"! I don't know
what you're talkin' about. ... Is this
a joke? I don't know any scientists.
James who? Never heard of you!
The MOTHER slams down the phone.
INT. RAILLY'S OFFICE/COUNTY HOSPITAL - DAY
A dismayed COLE still has the receiver in his hand. Sympathetically,
RAILLY takes it from him.
RAILLY
It wasn't who you expected?
COLE is clearly agitated, starts to pace, upset. Nuts?
COLE
It was some lady. She didn't know anything.
RAILLY
Perhaps it was a wrong number...
COLE
No. That's the reason they chose me --
I remember things.
RAILLY frowns, studying the distracted man with intense interest.
It's clear COLE is becoming a special patient and RAILLY'S cool,
detached demeanor is giving way ever so slightly.
RAILLY
James, where did you grow up? Was it
around here? Around Baltimore?
COLE
(lost in thought)
What?
RAILLY
I have the...strangest feeling I've met
you before...a long time ago, perhaps.
Were you ever...?
COLE
Wait! This is only 1989! I'm supposed
to be leaving messages in 1995. It's
not the right number yet. That's the
problem. Damn! How can I contact them?
RAILLY recovers her distance, her poise, as she takes a bottle,
pours out some tablets, and holds them out to COLE.
RAILLY
James, take these.
(watching him step back)
Please -- I helped you like I said I
would. Now I want you to trust me.
INT. AIRPORT CONCOURSE - DAY (THE DREAM)
MR. PONYTAIL races past the startled YOUNG COLE.
MR. PONYTAIL
WATCH IT!
Was it JEFFREY wearing gaudy pants and a ponytail? It was
definitely JEFFREY'S VOICE.
TRAVELERS dive for cover as a WOMAN'S VOICE cries out...
WOMAN'S VOICE
NOOOOOOOOOO!
The TERRIFIED TRAVELER looks up at YOUNG COLE, makes eye contact, but
doesn't speak. The TERRIFIED TRAVELER looks a lot like DR. FLETCHER!
Just then, YOUNG COLE is distracted by a running figure. It's
the BLONDE MAN in the Hawaiian shirt, but he's not injured. He's
sprinting toward the gates, glancing back over his shoulder, his
moustache slightly askew!
A sharp CRACK of a GUNSHOT rings out! Then, DAZZLING LIGHT.
Everything goes white!
INT. DORMITORY (PSYCH WARD)/COUNTY HOSPITAL - NIGHT
COLE'S eyes blink awake, blinded by a flashlight.
He's lying in one of thirty beds in a darkened ward. Disoriented.
Which world is this? The room is full of BREATHING, SNORING,
occasional MOANS. He can barely discern the shadowy figures of
an ORDERLY and a NURSE, making their rounds, checking each bed.
His eyes adjusting to the darkness, COLE watches them exit.
He turns and sees a patch of moonlight coming in a barred window.
With a quick glance at the sleeping PATIENTS, he slips out of
bed, makes his way stealthily to the window, peers out.
COLE'S POV: the moon, glowing in the sky, illuminating a single
tree. Under the tree, in silhouette, a COUPLE embraces, kisses.
ANGLE ON COLE, looking out the window, absorbed.
VOICE (o.s.)
It won't work. You can't open it.
Alarmed, COLE turns, sees JEFFREY in the next bed.
JEFFREY
You think you can remove the grill but
you can't. It's welded.
COLE checks the grill anyway.
JEFFREY
See? I toldja. And all the doors are
locked, too. They're protecting the
people on the outside from us. But the
people outside are as crazy as us.
COLE has become preoccupied with a small SPIDER creeping along
the window sill. He's staring at it when he's distracted by a
sudden SOUND. Grabbing the SPIDER, COLE scrambles back into bed
just as the door opens and an ORDERLY probes the dark room with
the blade of his flashlight.
ANGLE ON COLE, in bed, feigning sleep.
The flashlight clicks off and COLE hears the door close.
For a long moment the ward is silent except for BREATHING,
SNORES, occasional MOANS. Then, COLE hears JEFFREY'S hoarse
whisper, picking up right where he left off.
JEFFREY
You know what "crazy" is? "crazy" is
"majority rules". Take germs for example.
Although COLE is preoccupied with the SPIDER struggling to get
out of his fist, he can't help reacting to the word, "germs"!
COLE
Germs?!
JEFFREY
In the 18th century there was no such
thing! Nobody'd ever imagined such a
thing -- no sane person anyway. Along
comes this doctor...Semmelweiss, I
think. He tries to convince people...
other doctors mostly...that there are
these teeny tiny invisible "bad things"
called germs that get into your body and
make you...sick! He's trying to get
doctors to wash their hands. What is
this guy...crazy? Teeny tiny invisible
whaddayou call 'em?..."germs"!
As JEFFREY warms to his subject, getting excited, COLE tries to
figure out where to put the SPIDER.
JEFFREY (cont.)
So cut to the 20th century! Last week
in fact, right before I got dragged
into this hellhole. I order a burger
in this fast food joint. The waiter
drops it on the floor. He picks it up,
wipes it off, hands it to me...like it
was all okay.
No alternative. COLE pops the SPIDER in his mouth and swallows
it as JEFFREY prattles on...
JEFFREY
"What about the germs?" I say. He
goes, "I don't believe in germs. Germs
are just a plot they made up so they
can sell you disinfectants and soap!"
Now, he's crazy, right? Hey, you
believe in germs, don't you?
COLE
I'm not crazy.
JEFFREY
Of course not, I never thought you were.
You want to escape, right? That's very
sane. I can help you. You want me to,
don't you? Get you out?
COLE
If you know how to escape, why don't you...?
JEFFREY
Why don't I escape, that's what you
were going to ask me, right? 'Cause
I'd be crazy to escape! I'm all taken
care of, see? I've sent out word.
COLE
What's that mean?
JEFFREY
I've managed to contact certain underlings,
evil spirits, secretaries of secretaries, and
assorted minions, who will contact my father.
When he learns I'm in this kind of place,
he'll have them transfer me to one of those
classy joints where they treat you...properly.
LIKE A GUEST! LIKE A PERSON! SHEETS!
TOWELS! LIKE A BIC HOTEL WITH GREAT DRUGS
FOR THE NUT CASE LUNATIC MANIAC DEVILS...
PATIENTS are waking up as the NURSE and two ORDERLIES burst into the
dorm and head straight for JEFFREY who's struggling to calm himself.
JEFFREY
Sorry. Really sorry. Got a little
agitated. The thought of escaping
crossed my mind and suddenly...suddenly
I felt LIKE BENDING THE FUCKING BARS
BACK, RIPPING OFF THE GODDAMN WINDOW
FRAMES AND...EATING THEM, YES, EATING
THEM, AND LEAPING, LEAPING...
COLE watches the ORDERLIES grab JEFFREY and haul him away.
JEFFREY
You dumb assholes! I'm a mental patient!
I'm supposed to act out. Wait til you
morons find out who I am. My father's
gonna be really upset. AND WHEN MY
FATHER GETS UPSET, THE GROUND SHAKES!
MY FATHER IS GOD! I WORSHIP MY FATHER.
INT. WARD DAYROOM - MORNING
ANGLE ON TV SCREEN/A VIDEO IMAGE OF A LAB MONKEY, convulsing
pathetically, a victim of shocks from the numerous wires attached
to his tiny, restrained body.
ANGLE ON COLE, sitting, writing intensely in a magazine with
crayon, surrounded by dull-eyed PATIENTS in pajamas and ratty
robes, staring at the shuddering LAB MONKEY on the TV screen.
JEFFREY'S VOICE (o.s.)
Torture! Experiments! We're all
monkeys
COLE locks up, startled, as JEFFREY, one eye bruised black, takes
the seat next to him.
COLE
They hurt you!
JEFFREY
Not as bad as what they're doing to
kitty.
ANGLE ON TV, showing a laboratory CAT turning in mad circles,
eating its own tail, while a NEWS REPORTER narrates.
TV NEWS REPORTER (v.o.)
These video tapes were obtained by
animal rights activists who worked
underground as laboratory assistants
for several months. Authorities say
there is little they can do until...
The video footage now shows LAB WORKERS watching the results of
their experiments passively.
ANGLE ON COLE, reacting angrily.
COLE
Look at those assholes, they're asking
for it! Maybe people deserved to be
wiped out!
JEFFREY
(startled, turning)
Wiping cut the human race! That's a
great idea! But it's more of a longterm thing -- right now we have to
focus on more immediate goals.
(sudden whisper)
I didn't say a word about "you know
what".
COLE
What are you talking about???
JEFFREY
You know -- your plan.
As COLE stares, befuddled, JEFFREY sees COLE'S magazine.
JEFFREY
What're you writing? You a reporter?
COLE
(shielding the magazine)
It's private.
JEFFREY
A lawsuit? You going to sue them?
Just then BILLINGS looms over COLE, extending a cup full of pills.
BILLINGS
Yo, James -- time to take your meds.
INT. DAY ROOM/HOSPITAL - THIRTY MINUTES LATER (MORNING)
ANGLE ON THE TV, a commercial playing: a beautiful couple romps
in the surf in slow motion while an eager NARRATOR encourages...
NARRATOR (v.o.)
Take a chance. Live the moment. Sunshine.
Gorgeous beaches. The Florida Keys!
ANGLE ON COLE, very drugged, seated in front of the TV along with
other drugged PATIENTS, staring at the screen.
ANGLE ON THE TV, showing a picture of the Marx Brothers.
TV AWNOUNCER (v.o.)
We'll return to the Marx Brothers in
"Monkey Business" following these
messages.
JEFFREY'S VOICE (o.s.)
Monkey Business! Monk Key Business.
COLE sees JEFFREY sliding into the next chair and smirking.
JEFFREY
Get it? Monk - Key. Monk!
(big grin)
Key!
JEFFREY flashes his palm open for one quick moment. A KEY!
COLE
(groggy)
What....???
JEFFREY
Wooooo, they really dosed you, bro.
Major load! Listen up -- try and get
it together. Focus! Focus! The plan!
Remember? I did my part.
COLE
What...???
JEFFREY
Not, "what", babe! When!
"When???"
JEFFREY
(pressing the key into Cole's hand)
Now!
VOICE/TV (o.s.)
Let us guide you to the stocks and
bonds that will enhance your portfolio.
JEFFREY
(leaping to his feet)
YES -- NOW! BUY NOW! STOCKS AND BONDS!
NO MORE MONKEY BUSINESS -- BUY NOW.
ANGLE ON TV, almost mimicking JEFFREY with an ad...a BULL and a
BEAR and a computer screen showing stock prices fluctuating.
VOICE/TV (v.o.)
A portfolio tailored to your specific
needs and the needs of your loved ones...
ANGLE ON COLE, dumbfounded, watching JEFFREY dance crazily.
JEFFREY
YES, YES. ENHANCE YOUR PORTFOLIO NOW!
ANGLE ON BILLINGS, across the ward, reacting to JEFFREY, lets go
of the OLD MAN he's helping as another orderly, TERRY, presses a
beeper, calling for help.
ANGLE ON COLE, flabbergasted, as JEFFREY cavorts around the room.
JEFFREY
BUY! SELL! SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY!
ANGLE ON A HAND, inserting the last piece into the PEACEABLE
KINGDOM JIGSAW PUZZLE. Just then, JEFFREY'S HAND sweeps the
puzzle off the table, scattering it into a thousand pieces.
ANGLE ON JEFFREY, dancing away while the PATIENT who just
completed the puzzle stares, very upset.
Other PATIENTS are getting agitated, too, as JEFFREY avoids a
lunge by BILLINGS and dances off, using PATIENTS as a shield.
HEAVY WOMAN PATIENT
I'M GETTING DIZZY. MAKE HIM STOP!
SKINNY MAN PATIENT
HERE THEY COME! THEY'RE COMING!
OLD MAN PATIENT
FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! I GOT FIVE
HUNDRED DOLLARS! I'M INSURED!
JEFFREY
OPPORTUNITY! DEFINITELY! A WINDOW OF
OPPORTUNITY! OPENING NOW! NOW'S THE TIME
FOR ALL GOOD MEN TO SEIZE THE MOMENT! YES!
YES! MASTERCARD! VISA! THE KEY TO HAPPINESS!
ANGLE ON COLE, realizing through the haze of drugs that JEFFREY
is sending a message to him. COLE looks at the ward door.
COLE'S POV: the WARD DOOR opens and two husky ORDERLIES enter.
One locks the door with a key, one of many on a key ring attached
to his belt, as the other ORDERLY rushes to join the pursuit.
JEFFREY
SEIZE THE MOMENT! GET RICH! NOW'S THE
TIME! GO FOR IT!
BILLINGS
(missing a tackle)
God damn you, Jeffrey, quit playing the fool.
ANGLE ON COLE, hesitating. He locks at the door...blurring in
and out of focus. He looks down at the key in his hand.
ANGLE ON JEFFREY, being grabbed by the ORDERLIES. JEFFREY
resists wildly as they struggle to overpower him.
JEFFREY
LAST CHANCE! LAST CHANCE! HEY -- OW!
ANGLE ON COLE, moving to the door. He reaches it and tries to
insert the key in the lock.
ANGLE ON LOCK, as the key keeps missing the hole.
ANGLE ON COLE, glancing nervously over his shoulder.
COLE'S POY: ORDERLIES swarm over JEFFREY, don't notice COLE.
ANGLE ON COLE, managing to insert the key. It won't turn.
A PATIENT, close at hand, startles COLE, speaking into his ear.
PATIENT
Place to go would be...Florida. The
keys are lovely this tine of year.
COLE, unnerved, desperate tries the key again. It turns.
PATIENT
Be careful. J. Edgar Hoover isn't really dead.
COLE pauses, stares, not understanding. Then, he opens the door.
INT. CORRIDOR/COUNTY HOSPITAL
Stepping through the door, COLE finds himself in an ante-room
facing several elevators.
A uniformed SECURITY MAN sitting at a near-by desk doesn't even
lock up from the magazine he's reading.
Barely daring to breathe, COLE steps toward the elevators so his
back is to the SECURITY MAN. But he doesn't know how to control
this elevator. What should he do?
SECURITY MAN'S VOICE (o.s.)
Two's not working today. Use one.
COLE freezes, sneaks a glance over his shoulder.
COLE'S POV: the SECURITY MAN continues his reading. He's a big
guy with reading glasses perched on his nose. He looks exactlylike the MENACING GUARD IN THE FUTURE...SCARFACE!
ANGLE ON COLE, stunned!
Just then, an elevator door slides open. The elevator's empty.
COLE steps into it.
INT. ELEVATOR/COUNTY HOSPITAL
The door closes, isolating COLE in the elevator.
COLE finds the down button, is about to push it when the elevator
springs to life. The numbers on the indicator over the door
start to rise. 7...8...9.
Then, the elevator stops and the door opens.
Two DOCTORS and an AIDE stand in front of the door, waiting.
COLE hesitates.
They look at him. They seem to expect him to exit.
Avoiding eye contact, COLE exits the elevator.
As they enter the elevator, the DOCTORS look back at COLE and frown.
INT. RAILLY'S OFFICE - MORNING
RAILLY has just arrived for work. She's slipping on her white
doctor's coat when...
DR. CASEY, one of the other residents, sticks his head in the
door waving a crayoned message on a page torn from a magazine.
DR. CASEY
This was in my box, but I have a slight
suspicion it wasn't meant for me.
CASEY enters the room, reading the scrawled words dramatically.
DR. CASEY
"You are the most beautiful woman I have
ever seen. You live in a beautiful
world. But you don't know it. You have
freedom, sunshine, air you can breathe."
RAILLY
(smiling)
Cole. James Cole -- right?
She reaches for the note but CASEY moves it out of her grasp.
DR. CASEY
"I would do anything to stay here, but
I must leave. Please, help me."
RAILLY
Poor man...
CASEY is handing her the note when another resident, DR. GOODINS,
sticks his head in the door. He's upset.
DR. GOODINS
Hey, Kathryn, James Cole is one of
yours, right?
RAILLY and CASEY stare at him.
DR. GOODINS
He got out. Took off. Last seen, he
was up on nine.
INT. X-RAY DEPARTMENT/BASEMENT - DAY
A PATIENT is being swallowed by a large tube, a CAT SCANNER,
while a DOCTOR in a white coat speaks reassuringly.
DOCTOR
Just relax -- don't fight it. We have
to know exactly what's there so we can...
The DOCTOR stops, astonished, as the door bursts open.
It's COLE! He stares at the PATIENT and the Cat Scanner.
The PATIENT lifts his head up and stares at COLE.
DOCTOR
Eh, excuse me. Can I help you?
COLE turns and rushes back out the door.
INT. CORRIDOR/COUNTY HOSPITAL
COLE steps into the corridor, turns to his right, freezes.
A POSSE of SECURITY GUARDS is headed in his direction.
COLE turns to his left.
Four ORDERLIES are coming that way.
COLE'S trapped. A beat. He attacks the nearest man. BILLINGS.
INT. TECH ROOM/PSYCH WARD - SHORTLY (DAY)
RAILLY prepares a hypo, turns to COLE who is strapped tightly on
a gurney with BILLINGS and an RN standing on either side, tense
for more trouble. One of BILLINGS' eyes is starting to swell shut.
RAILLY
It's just a shot to calm you.
COLE
No more drugs. Please...
RAILLY
I have to do this, James. You're very
confused.
RAILLY pushes the needle into COLE'S skin.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM/PSYCH WARD - LATER (DAY)
DR. FLETCHER faces RAILLY across the conference table. DR.
CASEY, DR. GOODINS, DR. MARILOU MARTIN are also there.
DR. FLETCHER
Don't be defensive, Kathryn, this isn't
an inquisition.
RAILLY
I didn't think I was being defensive.
I was just...
DR. FLETCHER
He should have been in restraints. It
was bad judgment on your part, plain
and simple. why not just cop to it?
RAILLY
Okay, it was bad judgment. But I have
the strangest feeling about him -- I've
seen him somewhere and...
DR. FLETCHER
(impatient, not interested)
Two policemen were already in the
hospital and now we have an orderly
with a broken arm and a Security
Officer with a fractured skull.
RAILLY
I said it was bad judgment! What else
do you want me to say?
DR. FLETCHER
You see what I mean? You're being defensive.
(to Dr. Casey)
Isn't she being defensive, Bob?
But just then, BILLINGS sticks his head in the door.
BILLINGS
Uh, Dr. Fletcher -- we got another...
situation.
INT. CORRIDOR/PSYCH WARD - MOMENTS LATER (DAY)
DR. FLETCHER looks into an empty padded cell as RAILLY, MARTIN,
GOODIN, BILLINGS, PALMER and the NURSE crowd behind him.
DR. FLETCHER
He was in full restraints? And the
door was locked?
BILLINGS
Yes, sir. Did it myself.
DR. FLETCHER
And he was fully sedated?
RAILLY
He was fully sedated!
DR. FLETCHER
Then are you trying to tell me that a
fully sedated, fully restrained patient
somehow slipped out that vent, replaced
the grill behind him and that he's wriggling
through the ventilation system right now?
DR. FLETCHER indicates an impossibly tiny vent high in the wall.
INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM)
Seen through the glass windows, a 747 takes off, climbing into
the sky as the airport P.A. System drones...
P.A. SYSTEM
Flight 784 to San Francisco now
boarding at Gate 38...
YOUNG COLE, watching the 747, whirls at the SOUND of a COMMOTION.
MR. PONYTAIL bumps him.
The BLONDE MAN sprints past. The WOMAN'S VOICE calls out!
WOMAN'S VOICE
NOOOOOOOOOO!
TRAVELERS dive for cover briefly revealing the mysterious BRUNETTE
running after the BLONDE MAN! But this time, YOUNG COLE catches
just a glimpse of her face. She looks a little like RAILLY exceptfor the dark hair, the make-up. and the flashy earrings. She
calls out, her VOICE blending weirdly with the P.A. SYSTEM...
BRUNETTE/P. A. SYSTEM
The Freedom For Animals Headquarters
now boarding on Second Avenue. The
Army of the Twelve Monkeys...
ENGINEER'S VOICE (o.s.)
Cole, you moron -- wake up!
INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE FUTURE
As COLE blinks awake, the digitized monotone of the P.A. SYSTEM
continues to drone in an unearthly VOICE...
UNEARTHLY VOICE/P.A. SYSTEM
-- they're the ones who are going to do it...
COLE'S eyes seek the source of the sound and find it on the table
in front of the panel of disapproving SCIENTISTS facing him. It's
a beat-up old tape recorder.
UNEARTHLY VOICE/TAPE RECORDER
I can't do anything more. The Police
are after me.
The tape ends, runs off the reel, flap...flap...flap...
ASTROPHYSICIST
Well?
COLE
Uh, what?
ENGINEER
He's drugged out of his mind! He's
completely zoned out.
ASTROPHYSICIST
Cole, did you or did you not record
that message?
COLE
Uh, that message...me?
MICROBIOLOGIST
It's a digital reconstruction of a
message, Cole, from a weak signal on our
contact number. Did you make that call?
COLE
(angrily)
I couldn't call! You sent me to the
wrong year! It was 1989.
SCIENTISTS
1989!
The SCIENTISTS react, exchanging looks, whispers. Then,
ZOOLOGIST
You're certain of that?
GEOLOGIST
(before Cole can answer)
What did you do with your time, Cole?
Did you waste it on drugs? Women?
COLE
They forced me to take drugs.
BOTANIST
Forced you! Why would someone force
you to take drugs?
COLE
I got into trouble. I got arrested.
But I still got you a specimen -- a
spider -- but I didn't have anyplace to
put it, so I ate it. It was the wrong
year anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.
The SCIENTISTS stare incredulously, then turn, exchange knowing
looks, huddle, start whispering to one another.
Struggling to stay awake COLE sees, blurrily, the MICROBIOLOGIST
staring at COLE intently. For one moment, the face belongs to
DR. FLETCHER!
COLE blinks hard...and the MICROBIOLOGIST has his own face, again.
COLE'S head slumps forward now...and everything goes dark.
GEOLOGIST'S VOICE (o.s.)
Cole!
INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE FUTURE
COLE comes awake with a start. The room is dark now, except...
a slide is being projected on a torn screen. It's a picture of a
stenciled graffiti...the logo of The Army of the 12 Monkeys.
ENGINEER
What about it, Cole?
ZOOLOGIST
Did you see it?
COLE
Uh, no, sir. I...
Another slide CLICKS into place. Youthful PROTESTERS, their
placards featuring slogans and images of Animal Atrocities,
confront POLICE in riot gear.
ASTROPHYSICIST
What about these people? Did you see
any of these people?
Zooming in, panning, the SCIENTISTS emphasize the FACES of the
PROTESTERS. The FACES are unfamiliar to COLE (though WE willrecognize some of them later on).
COLE (o.s.)
Uh, no, sir, I...wait!
The image pans back to a much enlarged blurry FACE among the
PROTESTERS. In spite of the poor image, the expression of rage
is clear, and it seems to resemble a somewhat older JEFFREY MASON.
ASTROPHYSICIST
Him? You saw that man?
COLE
Uh, I think so. In the mental hospital.
MICRO3IOLOGIST
(switching on the light)
You were in a mental institution?!
The SCIENTISTS MUTTER disapprovingly among themselves.
ASTROPHYSICIST
You were sent to make very important
observations!
BOTANIST
You could have made a real contribution.
GEOLOGIST
Helped to reclaim the planet...
ZOOLOGIST
As well as reducing your sentence.
MICROBIOLOGIST
The question is, Cole -- "Do you want
another chance?"
COLE stares at them, trying to figure out what they mean.
INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM)
The BRUNETTE runs up the concourse, her back to YOUNG COLE, as
frightened PASSENGERS duck for cover, SHOUTING!
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Hey! Who's that?
INT. CELL - ETERNAL NIGHT
COLE opens his eyes. Where is he? Silence as he examines the
tiny cell. Bare cement walls. High ceiling. Same color and
size as the isolation room at the county hospital.
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Hey, Bob...what's your name?
COLE looks around frantically. Up, down. Where is the VOICE
coming from? Maybe from that tiny vent high in the wall...
COLE
Where are you?
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
You can talk! Wah'dja do, Bobby boy?
Volunteer?
COLE
My name's not "Bob".
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Not a prob, Bob. Where'd they send you?
COLE
Where are you?
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Another cell. ... Maybe.
COLE
What do you mean, "maybe"? What's that
supposed to mean?
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Maybe. Means "maybe" I'm in the next cell,
another "volunteer" like you -- or "maybe"
I'm in the Central Office spying on you
for all those science bozos. Or, hey, "maybe"
I'm not even here. "Maybe" I'm just in
your head. No way to confirm anything.
Ha Ha. Where'd they send you?
COLE doesn't answer.
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Not talking, huh, Bob? That's okay
I can handle that.
COLE
1989.
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
89! How was it? Good drugs? Lotsa
pussy? Hey, Bob, you do the job? D'ju
find out the "big info"?...Army of the
Twelve Monkeys...where the virus was
prior to mutation?
COLE
It was supposed to be 1995.
RASPY VOICE (o.s.)
Science isn't an exact science with
these clowns. You're lucky you didn't
end up in ancient Egypt!
INT. LAB - ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE FUTURE
COLE is strapped on a gurney. SCIENTISTS hover near-by,
whispering. The walls of the gloomy chamber are damp, sweating.
GEOLOGIST
No mistakes this time, Cole.
ASTROPHYSICIST
Stay alert. Keep your eyes open.
ZOOLOGIST
Good thinking about that spider, Cole.
Try and do something like that again.
MICROBIOLOGIST
Just relax now -- don't fight it. We
have to know exactly what's there so we
can fix it.
The gurney is being wheeled into a crudely welded steel tube...
reminiscent of the cat scanner in County Hospital.
COLE'S POV: a last glimpse of anxious FACES, then the chamber
door is CLANGED shut.
EVERYTHING IS BLACK. A HUM BUILDS. THE BLACKNESS VIBRATES, THE
HUM REACHES A DEAFENING LEVEL, THEN DIMUENDOS. WE BEGIN TO HEAR
BURSTS OF MACHINE GUN FIRE, VOICES SHOUTING IN FRENCH, A SUDDEN
HUGE EXPLOSION! THEN...
EXT. TRENCH/FRANCE - DAY
DRIZZLING RAIN. And SCREAMS. COLE'S in a deep trench, naked,
eyes wide with terror. What's going on? Where is he? SOLDIERS
in gas masks push urgently past him rushing toward their injured
COMRADES who've been ripped apart by the shell that just hit
fifteen yards away. Muffled VOICES shout through gas masks...
in FRENCH. COLE doesn't know it, but this is World War I!
Suddenly, a SERGEANT confronts him, shouting in French.
SERGEANT
(FRENCH, subtitled)
Where's your mask?! And your clothes...
and your weapon, you idiot?!
COLE
What? What??
COLE looks around desperately. A horribly WOUNDED MAN is being
stretchered past them in the narrow trench. Machine guns chatter
close at hand. AAK AAK AAK. A grenade EXPLODES. Reacting to the
foreign word, the SERGEANT jams his bayonet into COLE'S ribs...
SERGEANT
(FRENCH, subtitled)
Captain! A Kraut! We got a Kraut!
COLE
I don't understand. Where am I?
The CAPTAIN hurries over, snapping at COLE in German.
CAPTAIN
(GERMAN, subtitled)
How'd you get here, soldier? What's
your rank? Where are your clothes?
COLE
I...don't understand.
CAPTAIN
(frowning, GERMAN, subtitled)
German! Speak German! What are you
doing here?
VOICE (o.s.)
(pleading in English)
I gotta find 'em. I gotta find 'em.
Please, you gotta help me!
COLE turns, sees...
It's his friend, JOSE, the Puerto Rican kid from the next cell in
the "underground" time. He's being carried past COLE now on a
stretcher, blood all over his torso, horribly wounded.
COLE
JOSE!
JOSE
Cole! Oh, God, Cole, where are we?
JOSE reaches out to COLE just as a PHOTOGRAPHER takes a FLASH
PICTURE of the kid being carried off on the stretcher. SUDDENLY,
SHOTS RING OUT. COLE goes down. Hit in the leg!
SOLDIERS in gas masks rush past him like giant insects.
Looking to his left, COLE sees the CAPTAIN lying beside him, dead
from a chest wound, his gas mask half off.
COLE is reaching for the mask when...
A SHELL HITS CLOSE BY WITH AN ENORMOUS EXPLOSION.
EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - NIGHT
Stunningly quiet. We are on a placid campus looking at the
dignified architecture of Breitrose Hall. MOVING IN we FOCUS ON
a large poster advertising "The Alexander Lectures, Spring 1995".
WE SKIM the listings (Jon Else on The Nuclear Agony, Dr. Andrew
Miksztal on Biological Ethics, etc.) until we SETTLE ON...
DR. KATHRYN RAILLY
MADNESS AND APOCALYPTIC VISIONS
MAY 17
INT. AUDITORIUM/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT
A large screen dominates the auditorium stage. On the screen is
a slide of an engraving from the Middle Ages showing a MADMAN in
apparent agony, his mouth shaped to a scream, as he is restrained
by PEASANTS. The projector ZOOMS slowly in on the agonized FACE
of this MADMAN as we HEAR RAILLY'S VOICE lecturing.
RAILLY'S VOICE (o.s.)
According to the accounts of local
officials at that time, this gentleman,
judged to be about forty years of age,
appeared suddenly in the village of Wyle
near Stonehenge in the West of England in
April of 1162. Using unfamiliar words and
speaking in a strange accent, the man made
dire prognostications about a pestilence
which he predicted would wipe out humanity
in approximately 8OO years. Deranged and
hysterical, the man raped a young woman of the
village, was taken into custody, but then
mysteriously escaped and was not heard of again.
WE DISCOVER RAILLY, six years older now, standing at a lectern
in a pool of light. She's dwarfed by the giant screen where the
engraving is replaced by a series of slides of woodcuts showing
scenes of pestilence in the Middle Ages as she lectures to an
audience of mostly SCHOLARLY TYPES.
RAILLY (cont.)
In 1841, Mackay wrote, "During seasons
of great pestilence, men have often
believed the prophecies of crazed
fanatics, that the end of the world was
come." Obviously, this plague/doomsday
scenario is considerably more compelling
when reality supports it in some form,
whether it's the Bubonic Plague, smallpox,
or AIDS. In addition to these "natural"
contagions, there are now technological
horrors as well: besides radiation,
consider our lurking fear of germ
warfare and its close approximation,
chemical warfare, which first reared
its ugly head in the deadly mustard
gas attacks during the First World War.
ON THE SCREEN, a SERIES of SLIDES show images of WORLD WAR I
SOLDIERS in gas masks, in death throes, etc..
RAILLY'S VOICE (cont. o.s.)
During such an attack in the French
trenches in October, 1917, we have an
account of this soldier...
ON THE SCREEN, a slide of an old deteriorated photograph shows
JOSE, the Puerto Rican kid, strapped to a stretcher, being carried
by SOLDIERS through the trenches during an attack. JOSE appears
to be ranting madly as the projector ZOOMS CLOSER on his face until
the image approximates Munch's famous painting.
RAILLY'S VOICE (cant. o.s.)
-- who, during an assault, was wounded
by shrapnel and hospitalized behind the
lines where Doctors discovered he had
lost all comprehension of French but
spoke English fluently, albeit in a
regional dialect they didn't recognize.
The man, although physically unaffected
by the gas, was hysterical. He claimed
he had come from the future, that he was
looking for a pure germ that would
ultimately wipe mankind off the face of
the earth in the year... 1995!
The AUDIENCE gives a nervous CHUCKLE.
ON THE SCREEN, a different old photograph of JOSE. This time
he's in a military hospital, gaunt, haunted, very ill.
RAILLY'S VOICE (cont. o.s.)
Although seriously injured, the young
soldier disappeared from the hospital
before more data could be gathered. No
doubt, he was trying to carry on his
mission to warn others, substituting
for the agony of war...a self-inflicted
agony we call the "Cassandra Complex".
As RAILLY continues, we SCAN the AUDIENCE and DISCOVER MARILOU MARTIN,
RAILLY'S friend, and MARILOU'S HUSBAND, WAYNE CHANG, both listening
attentively. Further away, another MAN listens intently. A MAN with
shoulder-length carrot-colored hair. His name is DR. PETERS.
RAILLY (cont.)
Cassandra, in Greek legend you will recall,
was condemned to know the future but to be
disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence,
the agony of foreknowledge combined with
impotence to do anything about it.
INT. RECEPTION ROOM - AN HOUR LATER (NIGHT)
A stack of new books. THE DOOMSDAY SYNDROME, ApocalypticVisions of the Mentally Ill by Dr. Kathryn Railly
Surrounded by enthusiastic members of the audience, RAILLY is
seated at the table signing books but DR. PETERS has her ear.
DR. PETERS
I think, Dr. Railly, you have given
your alarmists a bad name. Surely
there is very real and very convincing
data that the planet cannot survive the
excesses of the human race: proliferation
of atomic devices, uncontrolled breeding
habits, the rape of the environment, the
pollution of land, sea, and air. In this
context, isn't it obvious that "Chicken
Little" represents the sane vision and
that Homo Sapiens' motto, "Let's go
shopping!" is the cry of the true lunatic?
DR. PETERS smiles self-importantly at RAILLY as an elderly
disheveled PROFESSOR elbows in front of him.
DISHEVELED PROFESSOR
Doctor Railly -- please! I wonder if
you're aware of my own studies which
indicate that certain cycles of the
moon actually impact on the incidence
of apocalyptic predictions as observed
in urban emergency rooms and...
As the PROFESSOR babbles, MARILOU MARTIN and her husband, WAYNE
CHANG, appear and whisper...
MARILOU
You were great.
RAILLY
You're leaving?
MARILOU
The reservation's at nine thirty --
it's getting late.
DISHEVELED PROFESSOR
Doctor Railly -- please -- this is very
important!
WAYNE CHANG
(checking the professor)
You sure you're gonna be all right?
RAILLY
(smiles, checks her watch)
I'll be there in twenty minutes.
DISHEVELED PROFESSOR
Dr. Railly, I simply cannot understand
your exclusion of the moon in relation
to apocalyptic dementia...
EXT. PARKING LOT/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT
A full moon.
COLLEAGUES in a VOLVO pull out of the parking lot, calling,
"Congratulations" to RAILLY.
She waves back as she hurries to her black ACURA, one of the last
cars left in the lot.
The outside lights of Breitrose Hall go off.
RAILLY seems to be alone in the lot as she fishes keys from her
purse, unlocks her car door, starts to open it when...
Suddenly, she's grabbed from behind in a choke-hold by a large
shadowy MAN looming out of the darkness behind her.
MAN'S VOICE
Get in!
Unable to scream, she writhes and kicks as he forces her into the
front seat.
MAN'S VOICE
I've got a gun.
RAILLY freezes, terrified, as he opens the rear door and
scrambles in behind her.
INT. ACURA/PARKING LOT
Fighting to suppress the quaver in her voice, RAILLY says...
RAILLY
You can have my purse. I have a lot of
cash and credit...
MAN'S VOICE (o.s.)
Start the car.
Glancing in the rear view mirror, RAILLY sees penetrating eyes
peering out of the shadows, no other features.
Half-turning in the seat, she holds out the keys to him.
RAILLY
Here! You can have the keys. You can...
He grabs her hair and yanks her head back hard, speaking fiercely
into her ear, his face last in shadow.
MAN
START THE CAR! NOW!
EXT. ACURA/PARKING LOT
The engine STARTS, the Acura backs up, then heads for the exit.
INT. ACURA
Steering fearfully, RAILLY hears him speak more calmly now.
MAN'S VOICE (o.s.)
I don't want to hurt you. But I will.
I've hurt people before when...when I
had no choice. Turn left.
As she makes the turn, RAILLY glances in the rear view mirror,
sees him unfolding a tattered map. His face is lost in darkness
but she glimpses ragged, torn clothing as he tries to read the
map by the intermittent glow of passing street lights.
RAILLY
Where... where are we going'
MAN
I need you to drive me to Philadelphia.
RAILLY
(startled, horrified)
But that's... that's more than 200 miles!
MAN
That's why I can't walk there. Turn
here... I think...
RAILLY obeys. She glances in the mirror again, hesitates, then
boldly switches on the dome light, holding her breath fearfully
for his reaction.
He grunts appreciatively. Relieved, she looks in the mirror
again, trying to get a better look at him, but now his features
are concealed by the map.
RAILLY
If you make me go with you, it's
kidnapping. That's a serious crime.
If you let me go, you could just take
the car and...
MAN
I don't know how to drive! We went
underground when I was nine, I told you
that. When you come to the corner,
turn right.
Startled, RAILLY whirls, looks right at him.
He's lowered the map. It's COLE! Haggard, unshaven, dirty.
RAILLY
Cole! James Cole! You escaped from a
locked room six years ago.
COLE
1989. Six years for you. There's the
sign! Right here!
COLE is indicating a freeway entrance.
RAILLY turns the wheel sharply.
EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT
The Acura veers up the ramp and onto the freeway.
INT. ACURA/FREEWAY - NIGHT
RAILLY glances in the mirror, sees COLE settling back wearily
against the seat. She says carefully...
RAILLY
I can't believe this is a coincidence,
Mr. Cole. Have you been...following me?
COLE
You told me you'd help me. I know this
isn't what you meant, but...I was desperate...
no money...bum leg... sleeping on the streets.
I probably smell bad. Sorry about that.
But then I saw your book in a store window
with a notice about your lecture.
(sudden pride)
I can read, remember?
RAILLY
Yes, I remember.
(a beat, then)
Why do you want to go to Philadelphia?
COLE
It's the next step. I checked out the
Baltimore information, it was nothing.
It's Philadelphia, that's where they
are, the ones who killed everyone.
(pointing suddenly, eagerly)
Zs that a radio? Does it play music?
RAILLY turns on the radio and immediately WE HEAR the SOUND of SURF
and the CRIES of gulls, background to an oozing baritone COMMERCIAL.
COMMERCIAL/RADIO (o.s.)
This is a personal message to you.
COLE sits up, alert, listening intently.
COMMERCIAL/RADIO (cont. o.s.)
Are you at the end of your rope? Are
you dying to get away?
COLE'S eyes narrow, concentrating on this personal message.
COMMERCAIL/RADIO (cont. o.s.}
The Florida Keys are waiting for you.
COLE frowns as the SOUND of breaking SURF and crying GULLS fills
the car. It's confusing! He blurts out...
COLE
I've never seen the ocean!
Observing his confusion in the mirror, RAILLY assumes her
professional tone.
RAILLY
It's an advertisement, Mr. Cole. You
do understand that, don't you? It's
not really a special message to you.
COLE frowns. He did think it was for him, but she's probably right.
COLE
You used to call me "James".
RAILLY
You'd prefer that? ... James...you
don't really have a gun, do you.
COLE
(cynical laugh)
Everybody's got a gun. In this city...
He breaks off reacting to the RADIO MUSIC! FATS DOMINO singing
"BLUEBERRY HILL"! COLE grins, mouth agape, eyes wide like a kid's.
COLE
Can you...can you make it louder? I
love hearing twentieth century music!
Hearing music and breathing air!
As RAILLY cranks up the volume, she watches the mirror
incredulously, sees him stick his head out the window into the
wind, mouth open, "eating" the air hungrily.
EXT. FREEWAY/ACURA - NIGHT
"BLUEBERRY HILL" BLARES as the Acura, COLE'S head out the rear
window, zips past a sign at 65 mph.
The sign says, "PHILADELPHIA 233 MILES."
INT. ACURA/FREEWAY - NIGHT
RAILLY glances in the mirror at the nut in the rear seat with his
head out the window. what can she do? Just then, while she's
trying to figure something out, an ANNOUNCER'S VOICE breaks in...
ANNOUNCER/RADIO (o.s.)
This just in from Fresno, California:
emergency crews are converging on a
cornfield where playmates of nine year
old Ricky Neuman say they saw him
disappear right before their eyes.
COLE pulls his head back inside with a frown, troubled now.
ANNOUNCER/RADIO (cont. o.s.)
Young Neuman apparently stepped into an
abandoned well shaft and is lodged somewhere
in the narrow 150 foot pipe, possibly alive,
possibly seriously injured. Playmates claim
they heard him cry out faintly but since then
there has been no contact with...
COLE
"Never cry wolf!"
RAILLY
What?
COLE
My father told me that. "Never cry
wolf." Then people won't believe you
if...something really happens.
RAILLY
"If something really happens"...like
what, James?
COLE
Something bad. Is that all the music?
I don't want to hear this stuff...
RAILLY glances at him as she scans stations.
RAILLY
Did something terrible happen to you when
you were a child? Something so bad...?
COLE
Ohhhh, that one! Can we hear that one?
It's IVORY JOE HUNTER singing, "SINCE I MET YOU, BABY".
IVORY JOE/RADIO (o.s.)
"Since I met you, baby,
My whole life has changed...
Ecstatic, COLE sticks his head out the window again.
EXT. ACURA/FREEWAY
COLE'S POV: the heavens, glittering with a million stars and a
lover's moon as IVORY JOE croons the achingly romantic lyrics...
IVORY JOE/RADIO (cont. o.s.)
"-- cause since I met you, baby.
All I need is you..."
ANGLE ON COLE, wind in his hair, eyes shining, gulping air blissfully.
INT. RAILLY'S APARTMENT - MORNING
Two POLICE OFFICERS and an anxious MARILOU MARTIN listen to an
answering machine's message while a hungry CAT cries plaintively.
ANSWERING MACHINE
Dr. Railly -- this is Palmer from Psych
Admitting. There was a guy here this
afternoon looking for you. He seemed
very agitated. We tried to keep him, but
he refused 'n I kept thinking, I know
this guy. Then, just a few minutes ago,
it came to me. It's Cole! James Cole.
Remember him? The paranoid who pulled
the Houdini back in '89. Well, he's
back and he's...cuckoo...and he's looking
for you. I thought you oughta know.
The machine switches off. The POLICE OFFICERS exchange a look.
MARILOU MARTIN
It's just as I told you -- my husband
and I had gone ahead -- she never
showed. That's totally unlike her!
OFFICER TWO
(pulls out his notebook)
Do you happen to know the make of her car?
MARILOU MARTIN
Um...Acura...'92 Acura. ... Also, that
cat's starving! She would never neglect
her cat!
EXT. MOTEL - MORNING
The ACURA is parked outside room 46 of the HIGHWAYS & BYWAYS
MOTEL, which has definitely seen better days.
INT. MOTEL ROOM 46
The TV is on. A commercial is just starting. A catfood jingle.
The sound of HEAVY BREATHING.
ANGLE ON COLE, sweating, BREATHING HEAVILY, sprawled on one side
of the double bed, sound asleep.
INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM)
GUNSHOT! YOUNG COLE glimpses the BLONDE MAN staggering, wounded.
The mysterious BRUNETTE races past him toward the BLONDE MAN, and
YOUNG COLE again glimpses the resemblance to RAILLY, in spite of
the dark hair, the make-up, the flashy earrings.
Close at hand, YOUNG COLE'S FATHER, his face still out of view, says,
FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.)
Son, it's important for your cat to
have the nourishment necessary for
healthy bones and a rich coat.
INT. MOTEL ROOM 46
COLE comes awake with a start. He stares, disoriented, at the
CATFOOD COMMERCIAL on the TV.
RAILLY'S VOICE (o.s.)
Please untie me. I'm very uncomfortable.
COLE turns to RAILLY, beside him on the bed, frightened and
helpless, her jacket arranged to restrain her like a strait-jacket.
COLE'S instinct is to free her at once, but he controls his
impulse. He looks away, gets up, and, wincing, limps to the
dresser, stepping around empty fast-food cartons. He pulls a
razor and shaving soap from a paper bag, then goes into the
bathroom, leaving the door open, and starts to shave.
COLE
You were in my dream just now. Your hair
was different, but I'm sure it was you.
RAILLY
We dream about what's important in our lives.
And I seem to have become pretty important
in yours. What was the dream about?
COLE
About an airport...before everything
happened. It's the same dream I always
have -- the only one. I'm a little kid
in it.
RAILLY
And I was in it? What did I do?
COLE
You were very upset. You're always
very upset in the dream, but I never
knew it was you before.
RAILLY
It wasn't me before, James. It's
become me now because of...what's
happening. Please untie me.
Finished shaving, COLE re-enters the bedroom, toweling his face.
COLE
No, I think it was always you. It's
very strange.
RAILLY
You're flushed. And you were moaning.
I think you're running a fever. What
are you doing?
COLE is rummaging through RAILLY'S wallet, pulling out money.
COLE
I'll be back in a minute.
He heads for the door.
RAILLY
No! Don't leave me here like this!
Too late! He shuts the door behind him, leaving her alone.
ANGLE ON THE TV SCREEN, where an ANCHORMAN sits at a News Set.
TV ANCHORMAN
And in Fresno, California...crews
continue to attempt to rescue nine year
old Ricky Neuman.
ANGLE ON RAILLY, twisting and struggling on the bed, trying to
get loose, tears welling in her eyes.
TV ANCHORMAN (cont. o.s.)
The boy was playing ball with four
other children when he literally
disappeared off the face of the earth.
EXT. MOTEL CORRIDOR - MORNING
COLE puzzles over a junk food vending machine, inserts coins tentatively.
INT. MOTEL ROOM
ANGLE ON TV, the picture of RAILLY filling the screen.
----------------------- PAGE 52 MISSING -----------------------
COLE
My notes. Observations. Clues.
RAILLY
Clues? What kind of clues?
COLE
A secret army. The Army of The Twelve
Monkeys. I've told you about them.
They spread the virus. That's why we
have to get to Philadelphia. I have to
find them -- it's my assignment.
RAILLY
What will you do...when you find
this...secret army?
COLE
I just have to locate the virus in its
original form before it mutates. So
scientists can come back and study it
and find a cure. So that those of us
who survived can go back to the surface
of the earth.
RAILLY maintains a professional deadpan, says nothing as they pass
a pickup truck with a MOTHER, FATHER, and five KIDS in the back.
COLE stares at the KIDS, a sad look in his eyes.
COLE
You won't think I'm crazy next month.
People are going to start dying. At
first the papers will say it's some
weird fever, some virus. Then they'll
begin to catch on. They'll get it.
RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.)
We interrupt this program with a
special bulletin...
RAILLY and COLE both react to the radio, suddenly alert.
RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.)
This report just in from Fresno,
California. Naval sonar specialists
who were flown to the site...
COLE
I thought it was about us. I thought
maybe they'd found us and arrested me
or something.
RAILLY stares at COLE.
COLE
Just a joke.
RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.)
-- an hour ago have been unable to
determine the location of the boy in the
150 foot shaft...but a TV sound man who
lowered an ultra-sensitive microphone into
the narrow tube claims he heard breathing
sounds coming from approximately seventy
feet down...
COLE reaches over and changes stations. MUSIC again.
RAILLY
Does that disturb you, James? Thinking
about that little boy in the well?
COLE
When I was a kid I identified with that
kid, down there alone in that pipe...a
hundred feet down -- doesn't know if
they're going to save him.
RAILLY
What do you mean -- when you were a kid?
COLE
Nevermind. It's not real -- it's a
hoax. A prank. He's hiding in a barn.
Hey, turn left here. Left!
COLE quickly checks the map as RAILLY stares, then turns left.
EXT. SKID ROW STREET/PHILADELPHIA - DAY
An elderly EVANGELIST with long stringy hair, wearing a tattered
bathrobe, stands on a Skid Row corner WAVING a worn Bible as he
rants at disinterested DERELICTS, WINOS, and BAG LADIES.
EVANGELIST
"And the wild beasts of the islands
shall cry in their desolate houses and
dragons in their pleasant palaces: and
her time is near to come, and her days
shall not be prolonged."
ANGLE ON RAILLY'S ACURA, crawling down the street, RAILLY driving,
COLE, beside her, staring out the window.
INT. ACURA/SKID ROW STREET
COLE is scrutinizing the crumbling walls, boarded-up store
fronts, tattered posters, decaying signs, miserable "RESIDENTS".
COLE
Where I come from we think of this as Eden.
If we could just see the sun, eat sun-grown
food. Eden! Look at them! They donut
know what they have. They don't see the
sky. They don't feel the air!
COLE'S POV: a BMW speeds toward them, passes, its radio BLARING!
COLE (o.s.)
And the ones who aren't hungry are so smug
they haven't a clue. WAIT! STOP!
EXT. ACURA/SKID ROW
On foot now, COLE pulls an astonished RAILLY to a wall covered with
graffiti, a hopeless tangle of symbols, words, and crude pictures.
Clueless, RAILLY stares at the wall, then at COLE.
COLE touches a bit of red-stenciled graffiti hidden under gang
insignias. We can just see TWELVE MONKEYS holding hands in a circle.
COLE
The Twelve Monkeys!!! They're here.
(looks around)
Somewhere. Come on!
He pulls her along the sidewalk. No question, he's insane.
At the next alley entrance, COLE stops abruptly. Then, still
keeping a firm grip on RAILLY'S arm, he starts ripping down newly
tacked-up posters announcing a Rap concert.
RAILLY stares at him, then turns and is looking all around when,
suddenly, COLE pulls her up tight and threatens...
COLE
Look, I'm warning you. You do anything,
I'm going to go crazy -- hurt people!
RAILLY
I'm not going to "do" anything, I
promise. But you need help, James.
None of this is what you think it is.
ANGLE ON COLE, not listening, staring triumphantly! He's found
another partially obscured stencil of THE TWELVE MONKEYS!
But just then, a raspy VOICE startles COLE.
RASPY VOICE (o.s)
You can't hide from them, Bob.
COLE whirls, sees a derelict, LOUIE, leering at him, speaking in a
voice eerily like the RASPY VOICE from the next cell in the future.
LOUIE
No, sir, Old Bob -- don't even try.
(conspiratorially)
They hear everything. They got that
tracking device on you. They can find
you anywhere. Anytime. Ha Ha!
RAILLY looks from LOUIS to COLE, sees COLE'S stunned reaction.
LOUIE
(touches his back jaw)
In the tooth, Bob! Right?
(sudden triumphant grin)
But I fooled 'em, old buddy!
He opens his mouth wide. NO TEETH'
COLE grabs RAILLY and pulls her into the alley and down it.
COLE
They're keeping an eye on me.
RAILLY
Who's keeping an eye on you?
COLE
The man...with the voice. I recognized
him. He's from the present. He...
COLE breaks off, freezes as he sees...
there on a brick wall is a stencil of the DANCING MONKEYS
And further on, another red stencil!
EXT. VACANT LOT - MOMENTS LATER (DAY)
CRACKHEADS huddle against a building, sucking their pipes,
oblivious to COLE pulling RAILLY past.
COLE scans the walls for messages in the confusion of graffiti.
RAILLY is considering her surroundings dubiously when, suddenly,
COLE pulls her toward the mouth of a dark and forbidding alley.
RAILLY
James, no -- we shouldn't be here!
COLE ignores her, yanking her after him into the alley.
INT. DARK ALLEY - DAY
Two TOM CATS face off, arching their backs and HISSING menacingly.
COLE avoids them as he pulls RAILLY into the gloom.
ANGLE ON RAILLY, seeing something alarming twenty yards ahead!
RAILLY'S POV: TWO THUGS, standing over a MAN, kicking him.
RAILLY tries to stop, but COLE, intent on the wall messages,
doesn't notice the THUGS.
The TWO THUGS turn and spot COLE and RAILLY moving toward them.
These creeps have mean eyes, predator faces.
RAILLY digs her heels in, forcing COLE to stop.
RAILLY
James! We have to go back. Those men...
Too late. While COLE turns and stares at her, uncomprehending,
the TWO THUGS are approaching.
FIRST THUG
Hey, buddy.
Startled, COLE turns to face them.
The SECOND THUG lunges for RAILLY'S purse, yanks it from her.
COLE reaches to grab it back, but...WHACK! The FIRST THUG smacks
COLE hard across the face with something metallic.
Bloody-faced, dazed, COLE doesn't even have a chance to clear his
head as the FIRST THUG shoves the hard object against COLE'S
cheek. It's a cheap thirty-eight pistol.
RAILLY turns to run, gets two steps before the SECOND THUG knocks
her roughly to the ground.
SECOND THUG
Stick around, bitch.
Looming over her, the SECOND THUG starts to unzip his fly.
RAILLY looks over to COLE, SEES...
COLE dropping to his knees, groveling at the FIRST THUG'S feet.
COLE
Please! Please don't hurt me!
The FIRST THUG steps close, kicks COLE contemptuously, cocks his
foot for a second kick when...
COLE uncoils, lunging, rising, his strong arms around the bigger
man's calves, lifting him mightily, high off the ground.
The gun FIRES wildly as COLE staggers forward with the FIRST THUG
in his arms and smashes the man into the brick wail behind him.
The FIRST THUG goes down in a heap, dropping the pistol.
Zipping his fly hastily, the SECOND THUG turns to deal with COLE
but COLE attacks him....rocking him again and again with savage
blows that come one after another with lightning speed. The SECOND
THUG staggers back, bloody and dazed as RAILLY watches, amazed.
Turning back to the FIRST THUG, COLE sees the MAN reaching for
the dropped pistol.
COLE kicks him viciously in the jaw. The FIRST THUG'S head whips
back. SNAP! He collapses against the brick wall.
COLE turns back to see the SECOND THUG retreating down the alley
as fast as he can stagger.
RAILLY stares up at COLE. He looks very dangerous. He glances
in her direction as he pockets the pistol.
COLE
Are you hurt?
RAILLY
Uh, no. Yes. I mean, just some scrapes...
As RAILLY gets to her feet, she sees COLE bend over the
motionless THUG and quickly go through his pockets.
RAILLY
Is he...alive?
COLE ignores the question as he pockets the man's wallet and a
handful of bullets, then turns and snaps at RAILLY.
COLE
Come an. We're running out of time.
You can't help him.
As COLE yanks her roughly away, she looks back, sees the FIRST
THUG'S sightless eyes, wide open...staring blankly.
RAILLY
Oh, Jesus, James! You killed him!
COLE
I did him a favor. Now come on.
COLE, pulling her again, sees more "12 MONKEYS" on the wall.
RAILLY
You didn't have a gun before, did you?
COLE
I've got one now.
EXT. SECOND AVE - DAY
The EVANGELIST, spotting COLE and RAILLY hurrying past him,
points urgently at COLE.
EVANGELIST
You! You! You're one of us, aren't you?
But COLE has stopped and is staring at...
A STOREFRONT OFFICE...its windows covered with posters. The sign
over the office says, FREEDOM FOR ANIMALS ASSOCIATION.
INT. FAA STORE - MOMENTS LATER (DAY)
Earnest young activists, FALE, deathly pale, BEN, long haired,
and TEDDY, muscular, are gathered around a counter collating
leaflets that demand an END TO SPECIEISM. Behind them, a large
poster proclaims, "ANIMALS HAVE SOULS, TOO". Just then, there's
a tremendous CLAP OF THUNDER as the ACTIVISTS look up and see
COLE and RAILLY enter.
COLE looks startled. It sounds like torrential RAIN POURING in
here. Maintaining a tight grip on RAILLY'S wrist, he looks
around frantically for an explanation for the tropical downpour.
Bookshelves line two walls. The front window is blanked cut with
posters of Animal Rights demonstrations, newspaper clippings,
photos of animal atrocities. The fourth wall features the
counter where the three ACTIVISTS face COLE as a JUNGLE BIRD
SCREAMS in the DOWNPOUR.
FALE
Uh, can we help you?
COLE looks confused as the RAIN abates and an ELEPHANT trumpets
an urgent warning.
FALE
Excuse me. You looking for something
in particular?
RAILLY
It's all right, James -- it's just a tape.
COLE'S eyes follow her look. It's a tape recorder underneath a
sign advertising, "THE TRUE MUSIC OF THE WORLD".
COLE
I, uh, I'm looking for the, ah, the
Army of the Twelve Monkeys.
FALE glances at BEN and TEDDY. "We have a problem!" the look says.
MONKEYS start CHATTERING on the tape as TEDDY comes around the
counter, bigger than COLE, physically imposing, menacing.
TEDDY
We don't know anything about any "Army
of the Twelve Monkeys", so why don't
you and your friend disappear, okay?
COLE backs away, a firm grip on RAILLY, as a LION ROARS.
COLE
I just need some information...
TEDDY
Didn't you hear me? We're not...
TEDDY breaks off mid-sentence...freezes.
COLE is pointing a pistol at them. A TIGER SNARLS.
RAILLY
James, no -- don't hurt them.
(to the activists)
Please, I'm a psychiatrist -- just do
whatever he tells you to do. He's...
upset -- disturbed. Please -- he's
dangerous -- just cooperate.
MONKEYS CHATTER wildly as TEDDY backs up.
FALE
What do you want -- money? We only
have a few bucks.
COLE is suddenly very much in charge and self-confident again. A
BABOON HOWLS with laughter.
COLE
I told you what I want.
(snaps at Railly)
Lock the door!
RAILLY
James, why don't we...?
COLE
Lock it now!
RAILLY hurries to the door to lock it as BEN says to FALE,
BEN
I told you that fuckhead Mason would
get us into something like this.
FALE
Shut up!
COLE
Mason???
RAILLY
Jeffrey Mason?
BEN
Yeah, tucking, crazy Jeffrey Mason.
INT. FAA STORE BASEMENT - TWENTY MINUTES LATER (DAY)
The three ACTIVISTS are tied tightly together in the middle of
the floor in this dimly-lit, windowless basement. They're very
frightened, eager to cooperate.
FALE
Then, Jeffrey becomes like this...big
star -- the media latch on to him
because he's picketing his own father,
a "famous Nobel Prize winning virologist".
You musta seen all that on TV.
COLE
No, I don't watch TV.
COLE, the gun next to him, rummages through boxes of papers while
RAILLY watches helplessly. Suddenly, COLE finds something he
thinks he's seen before. He holds it up.
COLE
Is this him -- Dr. Mason?
It's a photograph of DR. MALCOLM MASON, being escorted by a
phalanx of riot cops through a mob of raging activists.
FALE
That's him.
BEN
(very frightened)
What are you going to do with us?
COLE
(stares at the photo, then)
Tell me more about Jeffrey.
FALE
(a helpless shrug to his cohorts)
Jeffrey started getting bored with the
shit we do...picketing, leafleting,
letter-writing stuff. He said we were,
"ineffectual liberal jerkoffs". He
wanted to do guerrilla "actions" to
"educate" the public.
COLE holds up a clipping showing horrified SENATORS standing on
their desks as RATTLESNAKES slither along the Senate Floor.
FALE
Yeah, that's when he let a hundred
snakes loose in the Senate.
TEDDY
But we weren't into that kind of stuff.
It's counter productive, we told him.
FALE
So he and eleven others split off and
became this underground..."army"
COLE
The Army of The Twelve Monkeys.
BEN
They started planning a "Human Hunt".
TEDDY
They bought stun guns and nets and bear
traps. They were gonna go to Wall
Street and trap lawyers and bankers...
BEN
But they didn't do it. They didn't do
any of it.
TEDDY
Yeah, just like always, Mr. Big Shot
sold his friends out!
COLE
What's that mean?
FALE
He goes on TV, gives a news conference,
tells the whole world he just realized
his daddy's experiments are vital for
humanity and that the use of animals is
absolutely necessary and that he, Jeffrey
Mason, from now on, is going to personally
supervise the labs to make sure all the
little animals aren't going to suffer.
COLE
(holding up a rolodex)
What's this?
EXT. FREEWAY - AFTERNOON
In the crawling traffic, WE FIND a battered FORD covered with
bumper stickers and painted slogans. "I BRAKE FOR ANIMALS"...
"FREE THE ANIMALS"..."WOULD YOU LET A MINK WEAR YOUR SKIN?"
RAILLY (v.o.)
You can't just barge in on a famous
scientist. They'll have security guards,
gates, alarm systems. It's insane, James.
INT. MOVING FORD/FREEWAY
A ROLODEX CARD with an address on "Outerbridge Road" for "Jeffrey
Mason c/o Dr. Malcolm Mason" rests on a map spread across COLE'S
lap. COLE is in the passenger seat, RAILLY'S at the wheel,
maneuvering in heavy traffic.
RAILLY
If those young men don't get loose,
they could die in that basement.
COLE glances out the window, indicates the PEOPLE in passing
cars...COMMUTERS, FAMILIES, TRUCKERS.
COLE
All I see are dead people. Everywhere.
What's three more?
RAILLY
(a beat, carefully, a new tack)
You know Dr. Mason's son, Jeffrey
Mason, don't you, James? You met him
in the County Hospital six years ago.
COLE is studying the map again.
COLE
The guy was a total fruitcake.
RAILLY
And he told you then his father was a
famous virologist.
COLE is absorbed in the map, his finger tracing "Outerbridge Road".
COLE
No -- he said his father was "God"!
EXT./INT. FORD/COUNTRY HIGHWAY - LATER (DAY)
The RADIO BLARES a country song as the Ford zips along an open
highway. COLE has his head out the window, sucking air, loving
the music, but his bliss is feverish now -- he's not well. As
the SONG ends, he pulls his head inside. An ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
intones over the RADIO...
RADIO ANNOUNCER (o.s.)
This just in: police are widening
their search for Dr. Kathryn Railly,
prominent psychiatrist and author.
Authorities confirm that Dr. Railly has
been abducted by escaped mental patient,
James Cole. The two are believed to be
traveling in Railly's 1992 black Acura,
license plate H-E-A-D-D-R.
RAILLY glances at him, sees he's in pain. She feels so badly for
him. She wants to help him. She says, tenderly...
RAILLY
This can't go on, James. You're not
well. You're burning with fever.
COLE, refusing to succumb, instead, leans over to check the gas gauge.
COLE
We need gas.
RAILLY
I thought you didn't know how to drive.
COLE
I said I was too young to drive. I
didn't say I was stupid.
RAILLY
What's the matter with your leg?
COLE
I got shot. Look -- there's a gas
station up ahead.
RAILLY
Shot! Who shot you?
COLE
It was some kind of...war. Never mind,
you wouldn't believe me. Turn off here.
INT. PARKED FORD/GAS STATION - MINUTES LATER (AFTERNOON)
The GAS STATION ATTENDANT checks the oil while COLE and RAILLY
remain in the car. She's pulling a gas card from her wallet.
COLE
You wer
