Saturday, March 26, 2011

A deleted scene.

I'm re-writing my thesis script.

It's a buddy comedy between God and a skeptic.

The twist is that God's a dumb guy who happens to be omnipotent. He realizes what a shitty job he's done, creating an uncertain universe and whatnot, and he wants to commit suicide.

Unfortunately, if God commits suicide, the Universe will die with him. So Harry the skeptic must convince him that there's a Meaning of Life.

Here's a scene from the first draft. I love it, but it won't be in the new draft.

Where we are in the story: the roles have changed. Harry the skeptic is now suicidal, and God wants to keep his buddy alive.


INT./EXT. HARRY'S BATHROOM - DAY

Harry kicks the door off its hinges and ENTERS THE BATHROOM--

--but his bathroom has been transformed into a seemingly endless MEADOW.

A NEW EDEN.

God stands by a mound of colored clay.

GOD
Ta-daa!

HARRY
Where’s my bathroom?

GOD
Um. Well. You can bathe in that stream, and use that field as a toilet...and while the pills are gone, the berries on that bush are pretty kooky, if you boil--

HARRY
Why did you do this?

GOD
I’m worried about you, and I figured this setting could help.

God grabs a lump of clay and shapes it into a little CREATURE. He gestures, and the sculpture COMES TO LIFE and scuttles off.

GOD
Adam and I used to do this all the time.

HARRY
(touched)
That is a surprise.

GOD
Let’s see what you can do! We’ll each make a creature and meet back here in an hour.

HARRY
You’re on.

God hugs Harry. Hesitantly, Harry hugs back. They each take clumps of clay and RUN OFF.


EXT. NEW EDEN (IN HARRY'S BATHROOM) - LATER

Harry approaches God. In Harry's hands: a sculpture of a TUSKED BAT-OTTER CREATURE. Cute, but grotesque.

God sculpts, but won’t let Harry see his work.

HARRY
God?

GOD
Are you done?

HARRY
(nods)
I feel good. This was good for me.

GOD
Good. I’m still working, so get to know your creature while I finish.

God gestures...

IN HARRY’S HANDS

The tusked bat-otter COMES TO LIFE. He COOS at Harry.

HARRY
Hi. I’m Harry.

The tusked otter-bat likes this. He licks Harry’s thumb.

HARRY
And you must be ‘Thumbly.’

Thumbly likes this a lot: he scurries and flutters in circles up Harry’s shoulder and licks Harry’s face.

Harry grabs Thumbly. He moves Thumbly’s anatomy as he describes it.

HARRY
I made you long and thin, so you’re really fast, and you can fly short distances, but your gliders will also help you swim faster. Plus you have big lungs for holding your breath and big ears for sonar...can you speak? Thumbly: speak!

THUMBLY
Shashash!

Harry LAUGHS. Thumbly beams and wags his tail, proud.

GOD (O.S.)
Ready or not, here we come!

HARRY
(to Thumbly)
Let’s go make some friends! I’ll race you!
(they race)
Is that all you got?

Thumbly easily out-laps Harry, then doubles back, running circles around Harry...

...Harry, LAUGHING, tries not to stomp on Thumbly, and in so doing, TRIPS...

...Thumbly shows off by running up Harry’s falling body and LEAPING off his head...

...Thumbly soars, his body billowing like a ribbon.

...until a GIANT SCORPION TAIL skewers him in mid-air.

The scorpion tail belongs to an ABOMINATION; an unblinking human head that cries acid from its bloated eyes. It moves with the aid of a cluster of scorpion tails, penises, tentacles, bee stingers, and a groping, prehensile tongue.

God beams as the Abomination envelops Thumbly...

...eviscerates Thumbly’s still-writhing body...

...stretches Thumbly’s guts out like a spider’s web.

HARRY
What the fuck is that?!

GOD
(proud)
The winner.

HARRY
He killed Thumbly!

GOD
Who’s Thumbly?

HARRY
(points)
The loser!

Harry tug-o-wars Thumbly’s innards with the Abomination.

HARRY
How could you do that?

GOD
That’s the game! We make monsters and fight ‘em to the death!

HARRY
You never said we fight ‘em!

GOD
I wouldn’t have won if I had! You’re smarter than me. But next time--

HARRY
Next time?!”

Thumbly’s innards SNAP--Harry and the Abomination each fall backwards with half.

The Abomination gobbles its half of Thumbly’s guts.

Harry stands, gesturing his half of Thumbly’s guts at God, who tries to evade being prodded.

HARRY
You don’t care about the Meaning of Life--you don’t even care about life!

GOD
Please don’t wave guts in my face.

HARRY
These belonged to Thumbly. I knew him for, like, thirty seconds, but he was great.

GOD
I’ve had guts waved at me before, and I don’t like it.

HARRY
(rat-tails the guts at God)
You’re not the only one who matters! Everyone’s affected by your bullshit!

GOD
It was just an animal!

HARRY
(throws chunks of guts)
But creating him was a holy experience for me--and that thing killed him!

GOD
Fine! Here:


God gestures...

...the Abomination bulges with pustules, oozes pink shit from its pores, and with a pitiful GURGLE, it withers into a turd.

Harry gapes, then turns to God, polite and restrained.

HARRY
In your mind, what have I been saying?

GOD
(tentative)
How much you cared about the guts in my face...?
(no response)
Okay, that’s clearly not right, but was I close?

HARRY
I’m going to give you the chance to smite me.

GOD
But...I did all this to stop you from wanting to kill yourself!

HARRY
(bright)
And you did!


Harry opens his arms to embrace God--

--and then SOCKS God in the jaw.

God crawls, SOBBING. Harry stalks him.

HARRY
Now I want to kill you.

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