Great Gatsby Screenplay

FADE IN:

EAST EGG NEAR BAY - EVENING

The elaborate red and white Georgian Colonial mansion comes into view. There is a powerful-looking figure of a man standing on the front porch.

NICK, West Egg resident and friend of TOM and DAISY, drives up and parks his car.

TOM, a straw-haired, stern, and fairly overwhelming man of 30, greets NICK on the porch. The two men shake hands and are shown talking for a few minutes amongst the beautiful scenery of the property.

CUT TO CLOSE SHOT:

TOM

"I've got a nice place here. It belonged to Demaine the oil man."

TOM directs NICK to look at the property with one large, sweeping gesture. The area is beautiful; in it is a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of roses, and a motor boat that rests in the bay. NICK nods in agreement.

TOM

"We best go inside."

CUT TO INT. MANSION:

The mansion is just as beautiful inside as it is out. The space is bright and rosy, with high ceilings and French windows that have been left ajar to let in the breeze coming off the bay. The curtains twist and flutter, as do the dresses of the two young women seated on the enormous couch in the living room.

DAISY is a beautiful young woman with yellow hair, bright eyes, and a sad, lovely face. She is accompanied by MISS BAKER, a slender, slightly older girl with an errect carriage and grey sun-strained eyes.

DAISY attempts to rise, before laughing and leaning back again. Her reaction causes NICK to laugh as well.

DAISY

"[Laughing] I'm p-paralyzed with happiness!"

DAISY takes NICK'S hand and gestures vaguely to her companion.

DAISY

"[Murmurs] Miss Baker."

MISS BAKER nods slightly in NICK'S direction, and then resumes her fairly extreme posture. NICK takes a seat on the couch beside DAISY, his hands folded.

NICK

"I stopped in Chicago for a day on my way east. Over a dozen people send you their love, Daisy."

DAISY

"Do they miss me?"

NICK

"The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there's a persistent wail all night along the North Shore."

DAISY

"How gorgeous! Let's go back, Tom. Tomorrow!"

DAISY

"[Suddenly, to NICK, as an afterthought] You ought to see the baby."

NICK

"I'd like to."

DAISY

"She's asleep. She's two years old. Haven't you ever seen her?"

NICK

"Never."

DAISY

"Well, you ought to see her. She's--"

DAISY is cut off as TOM rests a hand on NICK'S shoulder, changing the subject without hesitation.

TOM

"What do you do, Nick?"

NICK

"I'm a bond man."

TOM

"Who with?"

NICK

"Edward Jones."

TOM

"Never heard of them."

NICK

"[Somewhat irritated] You will. If you stay in the East."

TOM

"Oh, I'll stay in the East, don't you worry. I'd be a God Damned fool to live anywhere else."

MISS BAKER

"[Suddenly] Absolutely!"

NICK, TOM, and DAISY all turn to look at MISS BAKER, surprised by the outburst. MISS BAKER seems just as surprised by it as the rest of them. MISS BAKER glances around at the others, before quickly yawning and getting to her feet and stretching.

MISS BAKER

"I'm stiff, I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember."

DAISY

"Don't look at me, I've been trying to get you to New York all afternoon!"

MISS BAKER

"No, thanks."

MISS BAKER seems to be speaking to the four cocktails that have just arrived.

MISS BAKER
"I'm absolutely in training."

TOM stares at MISS BAKER incredulously, before TOM sighs impatiently and throws back his cocktail in one quick swig.

TOM

"How you ever get anything done is beyond me."

Miss Peregrine's: Short Story

The old car came and went with the tide. My friends and I liked to guess where it had come from, and why no one had taken it out of the water. The more practical of us said it was just a piece of trash that was too heavy to be bothered with. They were probably right.

I know I spent several weeks at the beach that summer just waiting for the water to recede and reveal what was hidden beneath it. Sometimes, on days when the water was still, I wouldn’t have to wait. I could walk in a few feet, stay very still, and look down to watch little silver fish dart between my legs, then to the car, and back again to me.

I would have been quite content to have these peaceful moments to myself, but, on one particularly warm day, my friends joined me. Their splashing and shouting scared away the fish, until the only sea life I had for company were the clumps of swaying seaweed that couldn’t care less about such noise.

Night fell, but we weren’t expected home for another few hours. The old car came back little by little, and then suddenly all at once, in very much the same way that the sun had dipped below the water. The usual speculations about it returned, but this time there was something different. Two boys dared another to wade out and get inside the car. There was protesting, some scuffling. I quickly grew irritated with them, and said nothing as I went out to the car myself. The ground beneath my bare feet was littered with sharp rocks and bits of trash, but I kept my eyes focused on the car. I had always thought of it as sad, sitting alone here in the water, rusting away into nothing. But the closer I got, the less separated it seemed.

My friends called my name, and I did not reply. I crawled through the passenger seat doorway, slipping once on the algae covered seats and hitting my elbow on what was left of the dashboard. Ignoring the stinging cut, I sat down, and looked to my left, out where the window once was. I expected the same old things I’d always seen in the same old way: the distant strip of land that was the county across the bay, the bay itself, the stars, the moon. This time, I saw through new eyes.

A wall of sea provided the pane of glass to look through, and when I tilted my head back, I saw the moon rippling up above. The tiny silver fish that had so often darted through my legs became the stars above me. I looked down. The car was new again, the color of glazed porcelain. I took a breath and felt the steering wheel beneath my fingers. The salt water burned my throat, and I was home.