Beowulf (19 page)

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 17.

THE SHADOW/MONSTER punts Yrmenlaf's head (or maybe just his helmet) across the room, right at Wealthow!! She ducks…BAM!! Yrmenlaf hits the table!! A second later…

 

CRUNCH!! The monster's scaly, talon-like HAND sinks into the table, just above Wealthow's head! It lifts the table like it was a balsawood toy, then clubs and pummels the last of the charging thanes…

 

HROTHGAR, trembling violently, stumbles towards the monster, waving his sword…

There's a pause…none of the surviving thanes move…

 

THE MONSTER slowly turns to face Hrothgar. With every move the monster makes, it MOANS and WAILS! Its crippled joints CRACKING and POPPING. The creature stands right over Wealthow, its deformed legs straddling her head. Putrid yellow drool pools onto the floor in front of her…

THE MONSTER suddenly ROARS a painful, angry, and tormented BELLOW…right in Hrothgar's face…

THE MONSTER'S foul breath ruffles Hrothgar's sheet, nearly blowing it off…knocking Hrothgar backward, onto his ass!

 

WEALTHOW, watching from the floor, realizing that something odd is being played out, more than just a garden variety monster attack.

 

With one hand, the monster grabs two dead thanes by the legs…and rockets up through the chimney!!!

 

WHOOOOSH!!! A GIANT RUSH OF WIND as the fire pit FLARES and WHIPS…and the room goes dark.

 

We HEAR PEOPLE SCREAMING AND SOBBING, in the darkness.

 

Then a torch is LIT, and another, and another….

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 18.

In the silence, we see that THE MEAD HALL has been destroyed.

 

UNFERTH emerges from the piss pit, covered in excrement but alive.

 

WEALTHOW approaches Hrothgar, her face pale with shock.

WE SPIRAL IN into HROTHGAR's blood-spattered face. And he says:

CUT TO:

15 INT. THE GREAT CAVE - NIGHT

15

The monster (who we now know is named GRENDEL), silhouetted by the cool light of the full moon, shambles into his lair -- a cave mouth, inside of which is a placid pool of clear water.

 

Grendel drops the bodies of the dead warriors onto a corner of the cave where the bones of men, both bleached and fleshy litter the floor. It is a strange and unnerving place.

 

We only see Grendel in fleeting glimpses and in shadows. But from what we see he is huge, and strangely misshapen. His eyes are empty and sanguine, but his corneas are flecked with glittering gold. His teeth are horrible atrocities of nightmarish proportion. He is more or less naked, and hairless.

 

WE HEAR A WOMAN'S VOICE…melodious and young. This is GRENDEL'S MOTHER.

Grendel turns suddenly, surprised by her voice. Like a boy who has been caught masturbating.

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 19.

16 HIGH ANGLE -- GRENDEL'S MOTHER'S P.O.V.

16

The CAMERA is on the ceiling, looking down at Grendel and the pool.

The CAMERA DROPS off the ceiling and SPLASHES into the pool…a moment later WE SURFACE and “SWIM” toward Grendel. Floating inches above the waterline.

It offers the CAMERA a body. We “swim” closer…

Tears begin to run down Grendel's face. He drops the warriors, they float on the surface of the pool.

Something SLITHERS past the CAMERA…something GOLD and SCALY, perhaps a tentacle, or a long lizard's tail…

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 20.

The tentacle reaches out for Grendel and gently caresses his tortured, pitiful head.

CUT TO:

17 EXT. HEROT -- DAWN

17

THE DULL SUN peeks out from under the dark, cold clouds. Hard frozen snow covers the ground. TIME HAS PAST, it's the dead of winter

 

The castle and it's keep are covered in a blanket of new snow. A WOMAN'S SCREAM pierces the frigid air…

CUT TO:

18 INT. HEROT - HROTHGAR'S QUARTERS - MORNING

18

Hrothgar and Wealthow are asleep in their bed -- a straw pallet, covered with cloth and deer hides.

 

UNFERTH appears and respectfully touches Hrothgar's shoulder.

CUT TO:

19 EXT. MEAD HALL DAY

19

HROTHGAR, UNFERTH AND WULFGAR (the King's Herald) along with a CONTINGENT OF THANES stand before the mead hall's great new doors. The doors are much thicker and fortified with great iron straps.

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 21.

The three men stare at the pink spreading on the snow from under the door's threshold.

Unferth points to the smoke vent in the hall's roof…a blood stained trail cuts through the snow…down off the roof, and across the compound grounds.

Hrothgar turns to the small crowd of subjects who have gathered…

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 22.

Hrothgar shuffles off through the snow. Unferth and Wulfgar fall-in alongside…

THUNDER RUMBLES!!

 

CRACK!!! LIGHTNING FLASHES…

 

Illuminating WAVES…200 feet tall…

20 EXT. THE STORMY SEA - DAY

20

Great gray sheets of rain sweep a stormy Northern sea. he clouds, black as pitch. The ocean is furious. CRASHING like an angry orchestra!!

 

A Nordic sailing vessel (under full sail) crests a giant wave and thrusts…

 

BEOWULF straight toward the LENS…into an EXTREME CLOSE P…this is the same man we saw earlier, in the autumn of his life, but now he's in his twenties.

 

Standing on the deck…he wears leather armor studded with hand pounded iron. At his hip is a heavy, hand forged ancestry sword.

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 23.

His cape, a tapestry of heavy black weaves and animal skins, blows in the wind. Freezing rain pelts his chiseled face.

 

At the oars sit FOURTEEN THANES. Their hands, bloodied and pierced with slivers, tug at the wooden oars.

 

Beowulf, holding the mast for balance, remains undaunted by the HOWLING WINDS and the walls of water surrounding him. He stares at where the horizon
must
be.

 

WIGLAF, now in his late thirties, clambers up to where Beowulf is standing…

Beowulf looks at him and starts
LAUGHING
…a laugh of challenge.

Beowulf rests his hand on Wiglaf's shoulder.

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 24.

Wiglaf looks at Beowulf with wide, questioning eyes. Is Beowulf mad? Even if he was, Wiglaf would follow him into the mouth of death herself. Wiglaf turns to the other thanes, whose morale needs charging as well.

All of the thanes HEAVE A MUTUAL RESPONSE…
they do.

Good ol' Wiglaf. He's managed to get the men GRUNTING ENTHUSIASTICALLY with every stroke. He looks at Beowulf, illuminated by a FLASH OF LIGHTNING. Who wouldn't follow him?

CUT TO:

21 EXT. THE DANISH CLIFF TOPS - STORM

21

Five spears stand together, their blades pointing to the vortex of the Cimmerian storm above.

 

The spears belong to the SCYLDINGS' WATCH, a Dane whose duty it is to watch the coast for invaders. He sits at a camp set up next to some ancient cliff-side ruins of unknown origin. He cooks a field mouse over a small fire.

 

At sea…LIGHTNING FLASHES.

 

The Scyldings' Watch jumps up, squinting his eyes to scan the horizon…something's there.

 

ANOTHER FLASH…and sure enough something
is
there. A tiny craft with bright shields hanging from its sides. And a golden dragon is emblazoned on its sail.

 

His mouth falls open. He drops his mouse kebab and jumps onto his HORSE, grabs his greatest long spear, then spurs his horse down a near vertical drop of the cliff-side.

CUT TO:

22 EXT. SEA SHORE -- LATER

22

In the rain, Beowulf and his men are hauling their boat up onto the beach.

BLUE Rev. 2005-09-11 25.

WIGLAF sees something…he points down the beach.

 

THE SCYLDING'S WATCH is galloping full-out down the beach…coming straight towards us, he lowers his long spear…ready to impale the first man he reaches.

 

Beowulf takes a few steps toward the armed rider, unafraid.

 

Faster and faster the rider and his spear come at us…closer and closer…until the spear point fills the screen…then…

 

The rider STOPS…the spike an inch from Beowulf's nose!! Beowulf didn't flinch.

Scyldings' Watch doesn't move.