Big Fish Page #4

JOSEPHINE (cont’d)

(on phone)

Yes, he’s here.

She hands the phone to Will, concerned.

JOSEPHINE (cont’d)

It’s your mother.

Half-stripped, Will takes the phone. This won’t be good

news.

WILL:

(on phone)

Hi. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

As Josephine takes off her rain coat, we see she is very,

very pregnant. She listens carefully to Will’s side of theconversation, trying to gauge how bad the news is.

WILL (cont’d)

What does Dr. Bennett say? Okay. No,

sure, let me talk to him. I’ll wait.

He covers the mouthpiece. Looks over to Josephine.

JOSEPHINE:

It’s bad.

WILL:

It’s more than they thought. They’regoing to stop chemo.

JOSEPHINE:

You need to go.

WILL:

Probably tonight.

A beat.

JOSEPHINE:

I’m going with you.

WILL:

You don’t have to.

JOSEPHINE:

(a simple fact)

I’m going with you.

10.

INT. AIR FRANCE 747 - NIGHT

As the plane continues boarding, a STEWARDESS recites thewelcome spiel in French. Will has a window seat in coach.

Josephine sits beside him, putting on hand lotion.

Taking his hands, she rubs the excess into him. There's an

effortless intimacy between them. She can pinpoint what he'sfeeling before he can.

INT. 747 / FLYING - NIGHT

Hours later, and the lights are dimmed. Most of the

PASSENGERS are asleep, including Josephine. Her head is

propped against Will’s shoulder, her hands tucked under herbelly.

Will watches her sleep, brushing back her hair. A beat, thenhe notices a BORED BOY in the next row over.

Off the glow of the reading light, the boy is using his handsto cast shadows on the seat back. The kid is pretty good,

making a convincing bird, a passable monkey, and finally adog.

We PUSH IN on the silhouettes.

EDWARD (O.S., PRELAP)

So which one’s it gonna be? The Monkeyin the Barn, the Dog in the Road?

Focusing on the final shadow, we...

MATCH CUT TO:

INT. BLOOM HOUSE - NIGHT

...come to find Edward making the shapes.

Will (6) sits in his pajamas on the floor next to him. The

endtable lamp lies between them, its shade off to cast bigshadows on the wall.

WILL:

The one about the witch.

EDWARD:

Your mom says I can’t tell you that one

anymore. You get nightmares.

WILL:

I’m not scared.

11.

Edward looks around for a beat, seeing if his wife is inearshot. He then leans in, complicitous.

EDWARD:

Neither was I. At first.

Will smiles, excited to hear the forbidden story.

EDWARD (cont’d)

This all happened in the swamp outsideof Ashton. Kids weren’t supposed to goout in the swamp, on account of thesnakes and spiders and quicksand thatwould swallow you up before you could

even scream. But there were five of us

out there that night: Me, Ruthie,

Wilbur Freely, and the Price Brothers,

Don and Zacky.

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