King Kong Page #3

IMAGE SLOWS DOWN - TURNS into grainy BLACK AND WHITE JACK sinks to his

knees, SOBBING WITH GRIEF.

CAMERA RISES INTO THE SKY ...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. SUMATRAN DIG - DAY

CLOSE ON A grotesque face ... eyes bulging, tongue wedged between

teeth.

PULL OUT from the bizarre STONE CARVING of a man riding a buffalo as

the side of a WOODEN PACKING CASE swings shut, sealing the ancient

figure into a tea chest marked "BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON". A couple of

SUMATRAN LABORERS hammer nails into the chest ... CRANE UP to reveal an

extensive ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION underway in the foothills of the

Bukit Seguntang mountains near Palembang.

SUPER BRITISH MUSEUM ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG

SUPER SUMATRA 1933

The dig is nestled in a lush, humid valley. A spectacular WATERFALL

thunders into a river that bisects the camp - a GROUP OF TENTS, with a

UNION JACK fluttering from a makeshift flagpole. 8 BRITISH

ARCHAEOLOGISTS are spread around, huddling over shell pits and

primitive stone monuments - painstakingly freeing the remains of a 12th

century HINDU SHRINE from the grip of the Sumatran jungle.

The most spectacular MONUMENT is a huge loft STONE BUDDHA, set into a

shallow cave below a rocky cliff. It sits serenely, casting an

impassive gaze over the entire site.

Numerous SAMUTRAN LABOUR'S move about, carrying buckets of dirt away

from individual dig sites, CLOSE ON A YOUNG WOMAN'S HANDS excitedly

scraping mud from a buried artifact she has just discovered - a small

BRONZE STATUE of a warrior in a FIERCE WAR MASK ...Pitted with age, one

arm broken off, it carries a SPEAR made from IVORY.

ANN DARROW is an attractive young English woman in her early twenties.

She wears baggy khaki trousers and a cotton shirt, her blonde hair tied

back in a pony tail. She issues orders to MENTAWEI - a SUMATRAN

LABORER.

ANN:

Mentawei! Fetch some warm soapy water.

MENTAWEI:

Yes, Miss Darrow!

MENTAWEI races away. ANN marvels at her find as she gently frees it

from the mud ... A SHADOW looms over her, and she quickly stands up,

her confidence suddenly draining ...

LORD LINWOOD DARROW is in his late seventies, but still cuts a dashing

figure. His only apparent concession to age - a stout WALKING STICK.

LORD DARROW:

What have you got there?

ANN:

(nervous)

A Neolithic bronze ... Reminiscent of the Nias Island cultures ... It '

s very curious. Defiantly Pagan. The use of ivory for the spear is

quite unique ... What do you think?

LORD DARROW:

I think you're trying to run before you can walk, Ann.

ANN'S FACE drops ... LORD DARROW takes the STATUE and gently leads her

away from the site.

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