Crash Page #4

Synopsis: Writer-director Paul Haggis interweaves several connected stories about race, class, family and gender in Los Angeles in the aftermath of 9/11. Characters include a district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his casually prejudiced wife (Sandra Bullock), dating police detectives Graham (Don Cheadle) and Ria (Jennifer Esposito), a victimized Middle Eastern store owner and a wealthy African-American couple (Terrence Dashon Howard, Thandie Newton) humiliated by a racist traffic cop (Matt Dillon).
 
IMDB:
6.2
Year:
2005
10 min
4,411 Views


JAMES:

Thank you.

James examines himself in her hand-mirror, staring at his pale,

mannequin-like face, trying to read its lines.

Catherine looks around her as she puts her makeup away. There are

twenty-three other beds in the briskly efficient new ward, all of

them empty.

CATHERINE:

Not a lot of action here.

JAMES:

They consider this to be the airport

hospital. This ward is reserved for air-

crash victims. The beds are kept waiting.

CATHERINE:

If I groundloop during my flying lesson on

Saturday you might wake up and find me

next to you.

JAMES:

I'll listen for you buzzing over.

Catherine crosses her legs and tries to light a cigarette with a

heavy, mechanically complex lighter with which she is obviously

unfamiliar.

JAMES:

(referring to the lighter)

Is that a gift from Wendel? It has an

aeronautical feel to it.

CATHERINE:

Yes. From Wendel. To celebrate, the

license approval for our air-charter firm.

I forgot to tell you.

Catherine finally succeeds in lighting the cigarette. She takes a

deep drag. James props himself up on his elbow, breathing with

transparent pain.

JAMES:

That's going well, then.

CATHERINE:

Well, yes.

(pause)

You're getting out of bed tomorrow. They

want you to walk.

James gestures for the cigarette. Catherine puts the warm tip,

stained with pink lipstick, into his mouth.

CATHERINE:

The other man, the dead man, his wife is a

doctor - Dr. Helen Remington. She's here,

somewhere. As a patient, of course. Maybe

you'll find her in the hallways tomorrow

on your walk.

JAMES:

And her husband? What was he?

CATHERINE:

He was a chemical engineer with a food

company.

A dark-haired student female Nurse comes into the ward. She wags a

finger at James.

STUDENT NURSE:

No smoking, please.

As Catherine retrieves the cigarette from James and stubs it out

in a glass, the nurse examines Catherine's glamorous figure, her

expensive suit, her jewelry.

STUDENT NURSE:

(to Catherine)

Are you this gentleman's wife? Mrs.

Ballard?

CATHERINE:

Yes.

STUDENT NURSE:

You can stay for this, then.

The nurse pulls the bedclothes back and digs the urine bottle from

between his legs. She checks the level and, satisfied, drops it

back, flips over the sheets again.

Both Catherine and James watch her closely, her sly thighs under

her gingham, the movement of her breasts as she bends to check the

chart at the foot of the bed, the pulse in her throat. The nurse

catches them watching her, smiles enigmatically back at them, and

leaves.

Catherine pulls out a manila folder from her bag and slips a set

of storyboards for a commercial out of it.

CATHERINE:

Aida telephoned to say how sorry she was,

but could you look at the storyboards

again, she's made a number of changes.

Rate this script:3.5 / 6 votes

Paul Haggis

Paul Edward Haggis (born March 10, 1953) is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners, 2004's Million Dollar Baby and 2005's Crash, the latter of which he also directed. more…

All Paul Haggis scripts | Paul Haggis Scripts

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Submitted on July 07, 2016

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