The Ghost and the Darkness Page #3

Synopsis: Sir Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman (Henry Cele), seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.
Production: Paramount Home Video
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Rotten Tomatoes:
50%
R
Year:
1996
110 min
543 Views


-we can tell there are drawings of African animals- not all that

accurate.

Now Patterson's eyes close and he sleeps.

CUT TO:

THE TRAIN POUNDING THROUGH THE NIGHT.

Stokers shovel coal. They are exhausted but they keep at it.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON. WAKING IN THE CAR, RUBBING HIS EYES. IT'S DAWN.

He stares out-

-and from his face it's clear something special has happened. And

now, at last-

CUT TO:

SOMETHING SPECIAL- and what it is, of course, is Patterson's first

view of the Africa of his imagination.

Because the desert has ended, and now there are grasses and trees

and one more thing-

-bursts of animals. On both sides of the train.

A flock of birds materializes here, a cluster of gazelles doing

there amazing leap there.

Patterson is like a kid in a candy store.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON AND STARLING, back outside in the engine seat again.

Starling points-

STARLING:

Aren't they amazing?

CUT TO:

WHAT HE'S POINTING AT: Some giraffes running along, their absurd

shape suddenly graceful as they eat up the ground in incredibly

long strides.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON AND STARLING, staring out.

PATTERSON:

You know the most amazing thing

about them?- they only sleep five

minutes a day.

(Starling glances at him-

clearly, he didn't know that)

CUT TO:

A FAMILY OF HYENAS. Close by, loping in their scary way.

STARLING:

Don't much like them.

PATTERSON:

(nods)

The females are bigger- only animal

here like that- have to be or they

wouldn't survive because the males

eat the young.

CUT TO:

STARLING studying Patterson. Clearly, he didn't know that, either.

CUT TO:

SOME HIPPOS moving along. Starling turns to Patterson.

STARLING:

Anything special about them?

PATTERSON:

Just that they fart through their

mouths.

(beat)

Must make kissing something of a

gamble.

STARLING:

(laughs)

I've lived in Africa a year and I

don't know what you know. How long

have you been here?

PATTERSON:

(looks at his watch)

Almost three hours.

(beat)

But I've been getting ready all my

life.

(Now, from them-)

CUT TO:

A BUNCH OF IMPOVERISHED-LOOKING NATIVE WOMEN. They hold children

who wave at the passing train. The children are more impoverished

looking than their mothers.

STARLING:

(suddenly touched)

Every time I see something like that,

I know we're right to be here- to

bring Christianity into their lives,

enrich their souls.

PATTERSON:

Beaumont says it's to end slavery.

STARLING:

(shrugs)

We all have our reasons. Mine is

simply to make them understand

happiness, accept salvation, know the

serenity that comes-

(interrupts himself)

-best I stop. One of the by-products

of my belief is that I can become

amazingly boring. But I know God smiles

on me.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

William Goldman

William Goldman (born August 12, 1931) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and again for All the President's Men (1976), about journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford. more…

All William Goldman scripts | William Goldman Scripts

0 fans

Submitted by aviv on November 03, 2016

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Ghost and the Darkness" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_ghost_and_the_darkness_472>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    The Ghost and the Darkness

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.