Title: Big Fish
Credit: written by
Author: John August
Source: based on the novel by Daniel Wallace
Notes:
FINAL PRODUCTION DRAFT
includes post-production dialogue
and omitted scenes
Copyright: (c) 2003 Columbia Pictures
This is a Southern story, full of lies and fabrications, but truer for their inclusion.
====
**FADE IN:**
A RIVER.
We're underwater, watching a fat catfish swim along.
This is The Beast.
EDWARD (V.O.)
There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they're faster or stronger than other fish. They're just touched by something extra. Call it luck. Call it grace. One such fish was The Beast.
The Beast's journey takes it past a dangling fish hook, baited with worms. Past a tempting lure, sparkling in the sun. Past a swiping bear claw. The Beast isn't worried.In order to pull off this shot, you will need the 150-600mm on a tripod probably operated by someone else while you do the talking from afar.
EDWARD (V.O.)(CONT'D)
By the time I was born, he was already a legend. He'd taken more hundred-dollar lures than any fish in Alabama. Some said that fish was the ghost of Henry Walls, a thief who'd drowned in that river 60 years before. Others claimed he was a lesser dinosaur, left over from the Cretaceous period.[!EXAMPLE]- B Script ```fountain EDWARD (V.O.)(CONT’D) By the time I was born, he was already a legend. He’d taken more hundred-dollar lures than any fish in Alabama. Some said that fish was the ghost of Henry Walls, a thief who’d drowned in that river 60 years before. Others claimed he was a lesser dinosaur, left over from the Cretaceous period.
INT. WILL'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (1973)
WILL BLOOM, AGE 3, listens wide-eyed as his father EDWARD BLOOM, 40's and handsome, tells the story. In every gesture, Edward is bigger than life, describing each detail with absolute conviction.
EDWARD
I didn't put any stock into such speculation or superstition. All I knew was I'd been trying to catch that fish since I was a boy no bigger than you.
(closer)
And on the day you were born, that was the day I finally caught him.
EXT. CAMPFIRE - NIGHT (1977)
A few years later, and Will sits with the other INDIAN GUIDES as Edward continues telling the story to the tribe.
EDWARD
Now, I'd tried everything on it: worms, lures, peanut butter, peanut butter-and-cheese. But on that day I had a revelation: if that fish was the ghost of a thief, the usual bait wasn't going to work. I would have to use something he truly desired.
Edward points to his wedding band, glinting in the firelight.
LITTLE BRAVE
(confused)
Your finger?
Edward slips his ring off.
EDWARD
Gold.
While the other boys are rapt with attention, Will looks bored. He's heard this story before.
EDWARD
I tied my ring to the strongest line they made -- strong enough to hold up a bridge, they said, if just for a few minutes -- and I cast upriver.
INT. BLOOM FRONT HALL - NIGHT (1987)
Edward is chatting up Will's pretty DATE to the homecoming dance. She is enjoying the story, but also the force of Edward's charisma. He's hypnotizing.
EDWARD (CONT'D)
The Beast jumped up and grabbed it before the ring even hit the water. And just as fast, he snapped clean through that line.
WILL, now 17 with braces, is fuming and ready to leave. His mother SANDRA -- from whom he gets his good looks and practicality -- stands with him at the door.
EDWARD
You can see my predicament. My wedding ring, the symbol of fidelity to my wife, soon to be the mother of my child, was now lost in the gut of an uncatchable fish.
ON WILL AND SANDRA
WILL
(low but insistent)
Make him stop.
His mother pats him sympathetically, then adjusts his tie.
WILL'S DATE
What did you do?
EDWARD
I followed that fish up-river and down-river for three days and three nights, until I finally had him boxed in.
Will regards his father with exasperated contempt.
EDWARD
With these two hands, I reached in and snatched that fish out of the river. I looked him straight in the eye. And I made a remarkable discovery.
Use this match cut with this lut
INT. TINY PARIS RESTAURANT (LA RUE 14°) - NIGHT (1998)
WILL, now 28, sits with his gorgeous bride JOSEPHINE. This is their wedding reception, crowded with their friends and family. They should be joyful, but Will is furious.
Edward has the floor, ostensibly for a toast. The room is cozy and drunk.
EDWARD
This fish, the Beast. The whole time we were calling it a him, when in fact it was a her. It was fat with eggs, and was going to lay them any day.
Over near the doorway, we spot Sandra, just returned from the restrooms. She looks gorgeous. She couldn't be any happier if this were her own wedding.
CUT TO BLACK.
> _**THE END**_ <