Lion Page #3

Synopsis: Lion is a 2016 Australian biographical film directed by Garth Davis (in his feature debut) and written by Luke Davies, based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose. The film stars Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham and Nicole Kidman.
Genre: Biography, Drama
Production: See-Saw Films
  Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 49 wins & 80 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.1
Metacritic:
69
Rotten Tomatoes:
86%
PG-13
Year:
2016
118 min
$51,694,854
Website
12,192 Views


INT. CARRIAGE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

Little Saroo just stands there. The carriage is dark, empty.

SAROO:

Guddu?

He walks down the aisle to the end of the carriage. He tries

the connecting door. It’s locked.

He stands in the doorway, looking out. Still no Guddu.

He retreats back inside. Safer here.

He sits. Knees drawn. Taking in the measure of this new empty

space. His lids heavy. He lies there. Spooked, but fading.

He curls up. Fighting sleep so hard. Then his lids fall shut.

HARD CUT:

INT. CARRIAGE - DAY

Daylight. CLOSE on Saroo, eyelids flickering in sleep, head

rocking gently, as a sunbeam creeps across his face.

AUDIO:
the distant, soothing clickety-clack of the train.

POV:
we’re in a sun-drenched, empty train carriage. (And

suddenly that clickety-clack is pretty damn loud.)

ON Saroo:
as he lurches awake. His catastrophe has begun.

As he stands up, taking in his surroundings, sheer terror

-he’s like a feral animal, realizing it’s trapped.

He slaps his hands to the window, looks out.

Panicking, he jumps across the aisle. Looks out.

He runs up the aisle. Tries the lock of the connecting door.

The main door:
locked. Distraught, he looks out the window.

POV (REVERSE):
an endless expanse of ochre plains racing by.

SAROO:

(through the bars)

Guddu! Ammi!* [*Mummy] Shekila!

He sits back, mind racing. Frozen, mute.

HIGH AERIAL - CONTINUOUS (DAY)

The train hurtles across the land. [We note the rest of the

train is crowded. Only the last carriage, Saroo’s, is empty.]

INT. CARRIAGE - LATER (AFTERNOON)

Time has passed. Saroo is staring numbly at the ceiling.

The train lurches, slows. Saroo tenses. Jumps up, hopeful.

Out the window (POV): we’ve entered a mid-sized TOWN.

The train comes to a stop at last. But where is the platform?

Saroo cranes his neck at the window bars once again.

POV (REVERSE):
oblique angle, partial view, we catch a

GLIMPSE of the human activity on the platform further along.

EXT. TRAIN ON SMALL-TOWN PLATFORM (ESTABLISHING) - CONTINUOUS

WIDE EXTERIOR, we now see what’s actually going on: Saroo’s

carriage, the last one, hangs over the end of the platform.

Little Saroo, craning at the bars of a window.

INT. CARRIAGE - SECONDS LATER (AFTERNOON)

Saroo is back at the carriage door, trying the handle, on tiptoes

trying to get a glimpse out the window.

(His POV):
just near him, legs dangling over the end of the

platform, sits a single STREET URCHIN (10), black with grime.

Saroo bangs on the door window.

SAROO:

Help me!

EXT. PLATFORM - CONTINUOUS (AFTERNOON)

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Luke Davies

Luke Davies is an Australian writer of poetry, novels and screenplays. more…

All Luke Davies scripts | Luke Davies Scripts

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Submitted by acronimous on March 05, 2017

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    "Lion" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/lion_1052>.

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