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busterkeatonfanfic · 3 years ago

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Chapter 31 Part I

Buster tried his darnedest to get her a date for the party. He first suggested John Barrymore, apparently forgetting (or not caring) that Barrymore had once been his greatest rival for her affection. Nelly’s opinion of him hadn’t changed since Tempest; hanging onto the arm of a crude drunk all night was not her idea of a good time. She said no. He next suggested Buster Collier. She’d never met him, but he’d been in so many pictures that she knew his face well, though she couldn’t say what the films had been about. Buster Collier had been going with Constance Talmadge until recently. The break-up wasn’t personal; Buster told her the two were still friends.

“Certainly not, then,” said Nelly. “She’ll want to know who I am, how he met me—no. She’ll know something’s fishy.”

The suggestion of Charlie Chaplin followed. She gave more consideration to it. Charlie was charming and easy to talk to. In the end, he was out of the question given the many rumors about his sexual excesses and questionable behavior with women. She didn’t think it was a wise idea and Buster had to agree. The two were friendly but not pals, and he admitted he didn’t know how far to trust Charlie either. In desperation, he floated the idea of his brother, Jingles.

“Are you kidding?” she said. Buster had told her enough about his family that she’d gotten a pretty good picture of Jingles, who lacked his big brother’s confidence in all areas of life and was a hopeless failure with women. “No one will believe that for a second.”

“Well, I’m out of ideas,” said Buster, sounding annoyed on the other end of the phone.

“Let me ask Bradford. He was my dance partner for Tempest. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t go for girls, anyway, so he’d be perfect.”

Nelly didn’t know that her proposition was any better than Buster’s. To his guests, Buster had treated her presence at his party in October as no big curiosity, a matter of course, but she couldn’t help but wonder what he’d say now to them now, what he’d say if Natalie in particular asked why he’d invited two big nobodies like her and Bradford. Natalie might rightfully wonder why they among hundreds of aspiring actors were there. Buster’s quick mind would probably come up with an explanation that passed muster, but Nelly worried. He’d mentioned once, an offhand comment that was far more significant to her than it was him, that Natalie had fits of jealousy over him. Nelly’s instincts told her that attending the party was a bad idea, that she’d be too much temptation to Buster and he’d give their affair away with a look or a word or, worse still, a tender caress. Regardless, she couldn’t refuse even if she’d wanted to. He’d hinted about a birthday surprise and she couldn’t let him down, not to mention she was dying to know what he’d cooked up. Aside from the tabletop phonograph and occasional record, he’d stuck to his promise not to shower her in gifts and she knew he wasn’t about to present her with something in front of his wife and guests.

Uneasiness gnawing, she directed Bradford to the Villa at dusk on Friday night. He was just as keen as she was to break into pictures, so he’d agreed to drive her to the party and be her date without hesitation, especially after she explained she only wanted to go as friends. He’d gotten a minor role in the newest D.W. Griffith, the picture she’d tried out unsuccessfully for, and was happy to tell her about it while they drove, far less stoic than he’d been with her on previous occasions. His chattiness, she guessed, was due to his eagerness to meet and charm as many stars as possible and he was having trouble controlling his excitement. As Bradford recalled how he’d spoken briefly to Griffith on the set earlier in the week, she wondered, as she’d been wondering lately, about her career path in Hollywood. There were murmurs at the United Artists canteen about a Mary Pickford talkie with Sam Taylor directing, not Shakespeare. It gave her mixed feelings. On the one hand, maybe Mr. Taylor had forgotten about directing Pickford and Fairbanks in The Taming of the Shrew. On the other, she’d been relegated to the prop house for Lady of the Pavements, the new Griffith. A niggling fear had begun to creep on her, that her much more mundane talents at management and organization were impeding her career as an actress.

As the long white drive of the Villa became visible in the distance, she asked Bradford the question she’d been dreading, knowing he’d have his own questions in turn. “When we get there, would you pretend like we’re going together?” she said.

“Pretend like we’re going together?” said Bradford.

“Yes,” she said, running her fingers over the thin chain-metal handle of her handbag. “Just, you know, hold my hand or put your arm around my waist while we’re there. Dance with me more than the other fellows. Maybe a kiss on the cheek once and awhile, that kind of stuff.”

“I’ll do it if you really want me to, but why?” he said, sounding mystified.

Nelly weighed whether to tell him the truth and decided she didn’t have a choice. “I’m seeing someone who’s going to be there and I don’t want his wife to get suspicious,” she said, being careful with her words.

Bradford chuckled. “Now I get it. I was wondering why you asked me of all people.”

She felt defensive. “You’re the closest I have to a friend, a friend who’s a fellow. I’ve been too busy to get to know very many people. It’ll be no different than if you were acting.”

“Relax,” he said, leaning over to elbow her in a friendly way. “You think I’d miss this? I don’t care what you want me there for, frankly. I’m at your beck and call.”

Her shoulders relaxed; she hadn’t been aware that she was clenching them. “Thank you,” she said. “I do like you just fine, I just didn’t know who else to invite. You’re the first fellow who came to mind.”

“Relax,” said Bradford again. He continued talking amiably as his Ford crept up the Villa drive. He wanted to know how she knew Buster and she reminded him of her involvement with Steamboat. “When’s that coming out, anyhow?” he said.

“Any day now from what I’m told,” she said, her mind only half on the conversation. Butterflies tickled her abdomen from the inside.

The circle drive with the fountain in the center was ringed with expensive cars, Packards, Rolls Royces, and Lincolns. There was a man leading a woman wrapped in a white fur stole up the steps and into the house. Bradford grinned like a little boy as he drank it all in. He helped her out of the Ford which was dismally out of place, but there was no sense in worrying about it now. She reminded herself that she was an actress and could every bit pretend to be a person who belonged to the ranks of the stars. With this in mind, she ascended the steps with her arm hooked in Bradford’s elbow and let him open the door for her. “Thank you darling,” she said, practicing that acting as he took her arm again. She hoped that the figure dressed in the beaded navy-blue dress and standing beyond the vestibule had heard it. Natalie was greeting the guests ahead of them. Seeing her, Nelly felt a little on the faint side. She’d rented her dress at Carmela’s again, this one $25 and less eye-catching. It was sleeveless and of bright purple damask. It had no beading or ruffles, just modest ruching around the waist. She’d accented it with her own glass amethyst pendant necklace and ivory silk stockings. She had wanted to look less noticeable, but the light in the vestibule made the satin threads in the dress dazzle and flash. She’d done a formidable job of keeping worry about her mistake with Buster at bay the past week, but Natalie’s nearness and realness brought it home. Slim though it was, a chance existed that this woman’s husband had made her pregnant. Before Nelly had time to gather her wits about her on this matter, she and Bradford were advancing to greet Natalie.

“How do you do?” said Natalie, and Nelly and Bradford echoed her.

Bradford answered Natalie’s unspoken question. “We work with Mr. Taylor at United Artists.”

Nelly could only manage a desperate smile as she took in all the flesh-and-blood details of Natalie and remembered how Buster had looked in the mirror as he’d thrust himself into her. She wondered if Natalie recognized her from the party last autumn and was relieved at the sound of the front door opening behind them and the excuse to move on from the hostess so she could greet her next guests.

“Holy mackerel,” Bradford said under his breath, as he led her into the foyer and looked around him.

Nelly took stock of who was at the party already. She saw Norma Shearer, Bebe Daniels, Marion Davies, Pickford and Fairbanks, and before her eyes had gotten any further, Buster. Her heart went at a clip at the sight of him. She’d expected him to be upstairs and make a grand entrance as he’d done at the previous party. He was wearing a smart brown suit and his hair was neatly combed, every errant strand in place. He swirled a glass of whiskey and took a sip, talking with Norma Talmadge and a dark-looking man with Spaniard features. “That must be Gilbert Roland,” she said, mostly to herself.

“Hmm?” said Bradford.

“Norma Talmadge’s boyfriend. She’s married, but everyone knows she’s seeing Gil Roland,” she said, reciting the gossip she’d heard from Buster.

“You’re back,” said someone cheerfully.

She turned and beamed when she recognized Charlie Chaplin. The sight of him reminded her how fun it was to be among the brightest stars in Hollywood and her discomfort about Natalie eased. “Hello again,” she said. She held out her hand to his extended one and he kissed it, his lips soft and cool on the back of her hand. She giggled, thinking she really would have been in trouble if she’d attended the party with him. “This is Bradford. He’s with me at United Artists.”

“Oh, that’s simply heartbreaking. Don’t tell me you’re taken!” said Charlie, his hand going to his heart.

“I’m afraid so,” she said, leaning her head on Bradford’s shoulder briefly to demonstrate. “I’ll still save a dance for you.”

“If you’d be so kind,” he said, his accent rich and irresistible. “But why haven’t I seen you at United Artists?”

Nelly smiled and squeezed Bradford’s arm. “We’re undiscovered I’m afraid, but D.W. Griffith has his eye on Bradford. They spoke just this week. Me they’re keeping locked up in the prop department right now, but just you wait.”

Charlie winked. “Well, we’ll have to do something about that, won’t we? Will you be about next week?”

She could hardly believe it. And she’d been so worried about her career. “Of course.”

“Good. It’s settled. I’ll catch you when the band starts, hmm?” he said. “Lovely to see you.” He pressed her hand and turned away, disappearing into the crowd.

Her head whirled. One minute she was worried about Natalie Talmadge finding her out, the next Charlie Chaplin seemed to be promising her some sort of a future in films. And there was a band!

“Drink?” said a butler she didn’t know, stopping in front of them with a tray on which were arranged a number of delectable-looking drinks, all of oranges, deep reds, and yellowish creams.

“Thank you,” she and Bradford said, choosing drinks after a few moments’ consideration. She went for the cream-colored one.

Another butler materialized with hors d'oeuvres. She plucked up one of the bite-sized trifles and popped it in her mouth. She tasted dill and some kind of fish. Bradford sampled one too before returning to his drink. She didn’t recognize the butler. Buster must have hired help for the party. Bradford wound a hand around her shoulder. “Thanks for all this, darling,” he said. The endearment was scripted for anyone within hearing, but he meant the words.

“You’re welcome,” she said, sipping her drink. It had the flavor of pineapples, a California taste if there ever was one.

Her eyes roamed over the guests again. She recognized Constance Talmadge, Harold Lloyd, Buster Collier, John Gilbert, and Gloria Swanson. There were many men she didn’t know, some of middling looks, some downright unhandsome; those were the directors and big shots. Her gaze flickered to Buster just as he looked over at her. He gave a small, unsmiling nod and returned to his conversation. A mild pang struck her at the coldness of his acknowledgment, but she was relieved that he was being careful. She and Bradford kept to themselves, smiling and responding in kind whenever a guest nodded and said hello. She missed Louise Brooks and wished she had a girl friend to keep her company.

They were on their second drinks when attendees began to nod at each other and move in the direction of the living room. Exchanging looks, Nelly and Bradford followed. The living room, fully decorated when she’d last seen it five days ago, had been denuded of all furniture. Against the loggia on the southwest wall, a full orchestra was arrange in a suite of chairs. The members held instruments of all sizes and shapes, violins, saxophones great and small, trumpets, clarinets, a drum kit, a piano, an upright bass, even a huge tuba sitting somewhat uneasily in one man’s lap. There were at least two dozen men in the band at Nelly’s quick count, dressed alike in black tuxedos and bow ties. With the furniture and grand piano moved out, the living room was more spacious than ever.

“Why, it’s Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra!” Bradford said into her ear, voice hushed. He nudged her and flicked a finger in the direction of a fat man with a round face standing to the right of the orchestra.

Nelly was dazzled. The realization that one of her favorite bands in the room burst through her like a beam of sunshine. She couldn’t find words for her awe, but clutched for Bradford’s hand and squeezed it. The orchestra was burbling in a tuneless way as violinists tested strings and trumpets and saxophones tried out notes. A kind of restlessness pervaded the scene, musicians keen to begin, partygoers eager to dance. This went on for a few minutes until Buster threaded his way through his guests and stood facing the crowd with his back to the band.

“Nate and I want to thank you for coming tonight,” he began. “It’s an honor and a—” He looked over the crowd for a few moments as though he were thinking about what to say next. “An honor, a pleasure … you know, that kind of stuff. Anyway, I’d like you to give a hand for this gentleman and his little band here. They’re not very well-known, but if you’ll just, uh, pretend a little I’m sure it’ll make them very happy.” He straightened his tie, took one step forward, and fell on his face. There was laughter. As Buster stood up and brushed himself off, Paul Whiteman took his place. He was even less a man of words than Buster, saying only to the guests, “Thank you very much for having us tonight.” He walked to the left of the musicians and addressed them. “Gentleman …”

Two men assembled at the front of the orchestra near the upright piano. Nelly wondered for a second how they transported it from gig to gig, but forgot the question when Whiteman lifted his baton, held it in the air, and dropped it. The two men and the one at the piano began scatting a capella.

Wot-dot-dot, doh-dot, dot-dot-doh

Wot-dot-dot-dot, dot-dot-doh …

The man at the piano laid his hands on the keys just as one of the singers started in a smooth baritone, “You’ve heard of the Charleston, the Black Bottom.”

“I’ve got a rhythm that’s really got ‘em,” chimed the other singer. “It must be something new.”

“Gonna start it for you,” sang the man at the piano. It goes like, One, there it is.

His companions joined him:

One-two, there it is,

One-two-three, can’t you see where the merit is?

One-two-three-four, everywhere it is,

One-two-three-four, five steps!

At this, the snare sounded a beat and the whole orchestra burst into voice. Bradford grabbed Nelly’s hand and waist and swung her into motion. She yelped with delight. The rhythm was too fast for her to think about whether her feet were doing five steps; she just clung to Bradford and tried to keep up with the foxtrot he was leading her in. Over his shoulder, she could see that all the other dancers were smiling, Marion Davies dancing with Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson paired with John Barrymore. She felt a sudden, uncanny sense of belonging as she and Bradford galloped along. A clarinet soloed, followed by a violin in a high, reedy voice like a grasshopper.

One, there it is,

One-two, there it is,

One-two-three, can’t you see where the merit is?

One-two-three-four, everywhere it is,

One-two-three-four, five steps!

One, got to learn,

One-two, got to learn,

One-two-three, there is not such a lot to learn,

One-two-three-four, aren’t you hot to learn?

One-two-three-four, five steps!

As the singers carried on, it was all Nelly could do to keep her rhythm and her breath. She was panting and laughing when the final note sounded. She and Bradford withdrew from the dancers to get a drink of punch from the bowl on the table in the foyer. As soon as their thirst was quenched, though, she took Bradford’s hand and hurried back into the room. She wasn’t going to miss a moment of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra’s set if she could help it.

The orchestra had begun a sweet, wistful melody led by trumpets. She recognized it at once as “Mary,” one of her favorites. Rather than dancing, she stood on the edge of the crowd with Bradford and watched. The trumpets piped and her heart was overfull as she soaked in the music and her surroundings with all of her might. Dancers kicked up their heels in a slower foxtrot as the full orchestra echoed the trumpets’ melody. She could have watched all the beautiful stars before her in their tuxes and brightly colored dresses, but she had eyes only for the orchestra and Whiteman’s graceful conducting. It was a marvel the way he brought different sections of the band to life with just a flick of his baton.

One of the singers stepped forward as a violin finished off the melody. He was perhaps a little taller than Buster, but slightly husky, with ears that stuck out and eyes as blue as a spring sky.

What are you waitin’ for,

What are you waitin’ for, Ma-ary?

What are you thinkin’ ‘bout,

Who are you thinkin’ ‘bout, Mary?

The bees are buzzin’,

They’re buzzin’ right in my ear,

And they keep on asking,

Hey, what’s the big idea?

He was the one with the smooth baritone like poured honey. All his notes flowed together without a single hitch. She recognized his voice from many of Whiteman’s records.

“He’s incredible,” she said, standing on tiptoes to whisper it in Bradford’s ear. He nodded in return.

Why do you lead me on,

Why do you be so con-trary?

You wouldn’t let my castles

Come tum-tum-tumblin’ down

Think of the things in store,

What are you waitin’ for, Ma-ary?

The violins concluded the melody and the brass took it up again. Her senses were filled with trumpets and the snare, then the orchestra singing as one voice.

She didn’t notice how spellbound she’d become until applause startled her back to reality. She clapped along with everyone else and the singer gave a bow and a modest smile. Bradford was bending to say something about the music when Nelly felt the cloth of a suit on the bare skin of her left shoulder. She turned to see Buster. He looked ahead, nonchalant, and her heart gave a fond trot.

“How d’ya like your birthday present?” he said quietly, still looking ahead.

“Oh, don’t kid me.” Even as she said it though, she knew in her heart of hearts that he wasn’t joking. The band was for her.

Still not looking at her, he gave the slightest of smiles. “Pretty good joke, huh?”

Her eyes welled. “I don’t know whether to kiss or kill you. You’re out of your mind and I don’t know how I’ll ever begin to thank you.” When she looked at him again, he was finally looking back, his brown eyes so affectionate she was in danger of throwing her arms around him in front of all of Hollywood, including his wife.

“Who’s your boyfriend?” he said, but his tone was curious, not suspicious.

She wiped the trace of tears from her eyes and turned to Bradford, who by then had noticed their conversation. “This is Bradford,” she said, laying a hand on his upper arm. “Bradford, this is Buster.”

“How d’you do, Mr. Keaton?” said Bradford, extending a hand. He glanced from Buster to her as they shook hands and she saw him connect the dots. Her insides went hot and cold. In hindsight, her casual introduction of Buster was a dead giveaway.

“Where’s Louise?” she said, moving on and trying not to punish herself for her mistake.

“Brooks? Or my sister? Sis is here somewhere. Probably trying to corner Ramon Novarro by the punch bowl.” He removed his cigarettes from his breast pocket and pulled one out. “Brooks, you know the score. Wife thinks there’s some funny business going on between us and if I invite her to another party I’m dead meat.”

Trying to be friendly or playing an angle, Bradford butted in. “How’s your new picture, Mr. Keaton?”

“Buster,” he said, taking a drag off the cigarette. “Going alright I guess. Can’t complain. You in pictures?”

Bradford chattered away about D.W. Griffith and Nelly looked around them briefly to see if anyone was paying attention to their interaction. None of the Talmadges were near. She spotted Natalie and Norma chatting with Douglas Fairbanks across the room. Constance was standing nearer and speaking to a man Nelly didn’t recognize, but her back was turned to them.

“Wanna dance?” said Buster, fingers curving into her elbow.

She gave an anxious glance at Bradford, worried about him overhearing, but remembered he already knew. She said in an undertone, “I don’t think we ought to. Not for a few more songs at least. You should dance with a couple other girls first.”

Buster squeezed the crook of her arm and dropped his hand. “Alright, if you say so. I’ll be back.”

Half an hour later, he had taken her advice. The band had played “I’m Coming Virginia,” “Mississippi Mud,” and “Grandma.” Her next two dances had gone to Bradford and she’d sat “Grandma” out. Buster had danced with Constance Talmadge, Bebe Daniels, and Marion Davies. The crowd of guests had gotten louder as more cocktails circulated. Nelly had accepted a third drink, but was tempering herself and had taken only a sip. The blue-eyed singer stepped forward and commanded the crowd’s attention.

“We just added this one to the repertoire. It’s from a musical they’ve got in New York right now called Present Arms. Harry and Al and me, we’ll introduce you to it,” he said in a smooth, affable voice. He smiled, showing white, even teeth and snapped his fingers at the orchestra to cue them, eyes on the audience.

She was so focused on him that she was startled when someone seized the drink from her hand. Buster walked away from her and set her drink on a side table on the periphery of the room. “Come on kid, I’ve waited long enough,” he said, setting his hand on her waist when he returned. The orchestra was in full swing, the brass section taking up a melody that the strings underscored and singing out cheerfully. A clarinet butted in every several measures, rich and mellow. Nelly had danced with Buster a dozen times in her apartment and his bungalow, but as he folded her hand into his, she remembered just their first dance at the party in October. She’d been spooked then about her changing feelings for him and nervous lest Natalie think something was afoot. Now that they were really having an affair, the dread and nervousness were like a thousand pin-pricks to her skin. She was sure it must be obvious that Buster and she were more than simply acquaintances.

Buster led her in a medium-tempo foxtrot, his eyes cast upward, as though dancing with her among all the other women was no big deal. Only his thumb massaging her palm gave him away. He smelled like aftershave and cigarettes. She tried to pay attention to the dance, the rhythm of her hips and her feet and not the sensation that every person in the room was staring at them and wondering about the girl Buster was dancing with.

He leaned in, his cheek almost resting against hers. “Loosen up,” he said in her ear.

She put her mouth by his ear in turn. “I feel like everyone’s watching us.”

He gave a calm, closed-lipped smile. “Everyone’s too busy getting ossified and cutting a rug to pay us any, baby.”

“I still don’t feel—”

“Hush,” he said. “Just enjoy yourself.”

The brassy trumpet and an oboe bantered for a while before the full orchestra cut back in.

I’m a sentimental sap that’s all

What’s the use of trying not to fall?

I have no will

Aw, you made your kill

‘Cause you took advantage of me

It was the blue-eyed singer again. In the background, the two others crooned softly. Nelly closed her eyes for a beat and watched herself as Natalie might, were she able to peer inside Nelly’s head. Buster. The Villa. The Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

I’m just like an apple on a bough

And you’re gonna shake me down somehow

So what’s the use?

You cooked my goose

‘Cause you took advantage of me

Her purple dress. A room full of stars.

I’m so hot and bothered that I don’t know

My elbow from my ear

Suffer something awful each time you go,

Much worse when you’re near

Playing billiards in Buster’s game room. Buster enclosing her in his arms on his bed.

Here I am with all my bridges burned

Just a babe in arms where you’re concerned

Buster’s lips and tongue and fingers and hands. His prick.

So lock the door and call me yours

‘Cause you took advantage of me

The shower. The down blanket and the stars sparkling over Beverly Hills. Buster’s body warm against hers.

The brass section sang out again, boisterous, confident, the strings wrapping its melody. Nelly moved her feet, scarcely conscious of the dance. Her head was still planted in the clouds when it ended and Buster’s hands let go. She couldn’t help glance around her, wondering who’d been watching. To her relief, the one person who caught her eye was Bradford, who had just let go of Marion Davies. He kissed Marion’s hand and said something in her ear that made her laugh, then walked back over to Nelly.

“Don’t make me jealous now,” he said, kissing her cheek.

“Look who’s talking!” she said, giving him the smile and all the weight of feeling she would have to Buster had she been able.

“Don’t forget your Orange Blossom,” said Buster, pressing it back in her hand. “I’ll be back for you in a little bit.” He turned away and she saw him catch John Gilbert by the arm and demand something that made Gilbert roar with laughter.

“How’d you enjoy your dance with Miss Davies?” said Nelly to Bradford.

“Oh, I expect I’ll be playing the lead in her next picture,” Bradford said, winking to show that his boast wasn’t serious. “How was your dance with Mr. Keaton?”

“He dances well,” she said, playing along.

A cool hand on her arm made her turn. Nelly blanched when she saw who it was.

“Have we met?” said the blonde woman, her smile warm.

“I don’t believe so. You’re Constance Talmadge.”

Constance smiled. She had a small, prim mouth outlined in a rose-colored lipstick. Her hair was waved and golden, her throat sparkling with a sapphire and diamond choker.

One of the singers was singing, “Baby face, you’ve got the cutest little baby face …”

“That’s right. And you?” said Constance.

Nelly reminded herself that she could act with the best of them. She put a hand on Bradford’s back. “Bradford and I work with Mr. Taylor at United Artists.”

“I’m in the new D.W. Griffith,” Bradford offered.

“Oh, that’s fine,” said Constance, sounding interested. “What’s your role?”

Bradford smiled. “Well I’m just an extra at the moment, but Mr. Griffith said Thursday he’s going to fit me into more scenes. He found out I can play piano and thinks he can use me for a bigger role.”

“I loved you in Breakfast at Sunrise,” Nelly said to her. “It’s such an honor to meet you.”

“Why thank you.” Constance was as friendly as could be, but there was something about her appearance that made Nelly uneasy. “Is this your first time at one of Bus and Nate’s ‘dos?” she asked.

Nelly put on her best casual smile. “My second. I was here last fall.” She didn’t offer to explain how she knew Buster and hoped that Constance wouldn’t inquire. Distantly, she heard the orchestra and saw the bodies around them moving in time to the music.

“Oh, then you’re old hat. Have you tried the crab croquettes?”

Nelly said that she hadn’t. She was wondering where the conversation would go next when Bradford broke in. “Miss Talmadge,” he said, his voice brimming with charm. “Would it be too forward to ask you to dance?”

Constance smiled. Nelly could tell she was genuinely charmed. “Even if it was, I’ll say yes.”

“Wonderful.” He palmed her waist which was clothed in blue silk and chiffon. Glancing at Nelly as he took Constance’s small, white hand in his, he said, “Sorry, darling. Don’t be jealous.”

Nelly could have kissed him. With only one thought in mind, she elbowed her way out of the crowd and to one of the butlers, she helped herself to a minty green drink from his tray. She tossed it back, grabbed an Orange Blossom, and gulped that too. To his credit, the butler was too well-bred to react. She would have explained to him if she could that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy another second of the party without being drunk. The encounter with Constance had brought her jitters to a fever pitch. Nodding her thanks to the butler, she took another Orange Blossom in hand and went to track down the washroom.

The blue-eyed singer’s baritone followed her down the hall.

Birds are singing merrily

The sun is shining peacefully

Because my baby don’t mean maybe now

She locked the door behind her and set the drink on the edge of the sink as she relieved herself. Her make-up needed no touching up, and her cheeks were flushed with drink. Buster had engaged the Paul Whiteman Orchestra as a birthday gift to her and she was going to relax if it was the last thing she did. Technically it wasn’t her birthday for a few more hours, but even if they didn’t know it, everyone out there was dancing in honor of Nelly Foster’s twenty-seventh year on earth. She exited the washroom feeling more secure with this thought. Bradford was playing his part perfectly. The Talmadges didn’t suspect anything. It was okay if she loosened up as Buster had urged her to do.

#Buster Keaton #fan fiction #RPF #Actor RPF #Golden Age Hollywood #1920s #Bing Crosby #Paul Whiteman Orchestra

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lastsonlost · 5 years ago

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Oh gasps, I'm shocked.

Who would have thunk it?

The story:

Updated with Sunday figures: In the wake of Terminator: Dark Fate’s failure at the B.O., and Paramount’s recent decision to make Beverly Cops 4 for Netflix, we have the further breakdown of cinema IP in Sony’s Charlie’s Angels reboot, which is tanking with a God-awful $8.6M domestic opening, $27.9M worldwide (from 26 markets), 3 Stars on Screen Engine-Comscore’s PostTrak, and a B+ Cinemascore.

The Elizabeth Banks-directed-written and produced pic is also opening in 27 offshore markets,

China being one where it’s also bombing,

with a $7.8M 3-day take in third place behind No. 1 local title Somewhere Winter ($13.1M).

All of this is primed to further spur a WTF reaction and anxiety among film development executives in town in regards to what the hell exactly works in this have-and-have-not era of the theatrical marketplace. Many will make the hasty generalization that old, dusty IP doesn’t work, or is now deemed too risky when it’s not a superhero project. However, moviemaking is an art, not a science, and annoying as it might sound, good movies float to the top, and this Charlie’s Angels reboot didn’t have the goods going back to its script.

<Maybe somebody should have been working on a good story instead of pushing an agenda.

We’re going to break down for you what went wrong in another graph, but we don’t want to bury the success of Disney’s release of Fox’s James Mangold-directed Ford v Ferrari, which looks to be coming in at $31.5M, well ahead of the $20M+ many were seeing, with an awesome A+ CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars and a 68% definite recommend on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak. After a franchise-laden summer which buried originals, now an original pic is sticking it to the IP.

When it comes to the bombing of Charlie’s Angels, the takeaway is this is what happens when you have IP, but there’s no reason for telling the story.

In the walk-up to developing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and in the wake of its near $1 billion success, a fever broke out at the Culver City lot in the post-Amy Pascal era to reboot former Sony franchises or extend them, i.e. Zombieland: Double Tap (well over $103M at the global B.O. now), the upcoming Bad Boys 3, and, of course, Spider-Man, the latter electrified by Disney’s Marvel. Development studio executives define their being by getting films greenlit, and whenever that happens, it’s 90% of the job.

And the pressure is on to fill a 10-12 picture annual slate in a world where Disney vacuums up all the best IP. A third Charlie’s Angels with McG directing and Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu starring, wasn’t made immediately after the second chapter, 2003’s Full Throttle, as the sequel turned out to be 29% more expensive than the 2000 original at $120M, and also made less worldwide, $259.1M to $264.1M. With Elizabeth Banks coming off her hot feature directorial debut with Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 (which over-indexed in its stateside opening at the B.O., going from $50M projections to $69.2M, and finaled global at $287.1M); after she expressed interest in September 2015 in taking on a Charlie’s Angels reboot with a modern feminist spin, there was no question in Sony’s mind that the project should move forward.

<Yeah Sony, how's that working out for you? You think they would have learned their lesson...

Guess not.

Back to the story.....

However, there were script problems, I hear, that could never be resolved. A few months after Banks boarded, Evan Spiliotopoulos came on to write. By the time cast was assembled in July 2018, Banks had penned the latest draft off a script by Jay Basu (The Girl in the Spider’s Web), and earlier drafts by Craig Mazin and Semi Chellas. Andrea Giannetti oversaw the project on the lot. However, I hear that the script for Charlie’s Angels didn’t really attract top talent, i.e. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Margot Robbie (a trio that would have potentially jazzed up business). Hence, why the production opted to go with largely a fresh face cast outside of Kristen Stewart. While we overwrite that stars mean nothing at the box office, they do, sometimes, when it comes to propping IP, and unfortunately and arguably, no one in Middle America knows who British actress Ella Balinska is, and they’ve only became recently acquainted with Naomi Scott from Disney’s Aladdin and Lionsgate’s Power Rangers. Stewart, who is hysterical in the movie and even needed more funny bits, is in a different place in her career professionally, publicly, and privately. It’s unfair to think that she could delver her Twilight fans now.

Had she done Charlie’s Angels promptly in the swell of the Twilight whirlwind (like Snow White and the Huntsmen) then maybe it would have popped.

But she has largely been dormant from popcorn wide releases for the last seven years since 2012’s Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, busy excelling and wowing in specialty awards season and festival fare like Clouds of Sils Maria, Still Alice, and this year’s Seberg, to name a few. Stewart needed to be paired with equal or bigger-name actresses.

was a one quadrant movie, eyed at women 13-39, especially given its lack of action scenes, and wisely limited their exposure to what I hear is 50%, with co-finance partners 2.0 Entertainment and Perfect World. Sony claims the budget is $48M net; we’ve heard in the mid $50Ms. Tax incentives were taken in the pic’s Berlin and Hamburg shoots. Perhaps Sony should have spent more, because Charlie’s Angels biggest problem is that it has very low-octane, we’ve-seen-it-all-before action scenes. Heck, there’s more action in a 1980s Chuck Norris movie. After watching Charlie’s Angels earlier this week, I put the first two McG movies on Netflix, and it was like watching Star Wars in comparison to this reboot, with his sharp production design, camera movements, unique action, and comedy set pieces, and, of course, the first movie blasted Sam Rockwell out of a cannon. Understand that the first two movies in the series were able to compete and hold their own in an action space where, yes, Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious (the first two films came out in 2001 and 2003) also thrived. Mission and Fast sequels distinguish themselves on multiple 10-minute action sequences that we’ve never seen before on screen; it doesn’t matter who the villain is. This Charlie’s Angels doesn’t have that. And not even a super-duper hit song “Don’t Call Me Angel” for the movie from Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Ray can trigger lines at the multiplex; the music video clocking over 116M views on YouTube, per entertainment social media monitor RelishMix.

Some will claim that Banks’ version was never intended to emulate the meat and potatoes version of McG’s films; that this version was expected to be more comedic, and more feminist. Unfortunately, after McG set the table here with the franchise as an action film, you can’t reverse it. You can only outdo him. And with a franchise movie like Charlie’s Angels, you can’t make it for a one quadrant audience.

The film arrived on tracking with a $12M-$13M start, and really never budged, but sank. That means marketing didn’t work. I heard that a $100M global P&A was first planned on Charlie’s Angels, with the studio now reducing that overall cost greatly to around $50M and pulling back on expensive ads. Another hurdle in activating the young girl demo is that much of the pic’s cast isn’t on social media. RelishMix says that Banks is the social media star with over 6.6M followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with Scott counting 3.4M.

Sony kept pushing Charlie’s Angels, which in hindsight means there were development issues. In May 2017, a release date was announced for June 7, 2019. When the cast was locked down in July 2018, Charlie’s got moved to Sept. 27, 2019. In October 2018 when Warners pushed Wonder Woman 1984 from the first weekend in November to summer, Charlie‘s took over the autumn spot, which was the same exact place the original 2000 opened. However, when Terminator: Dark Fate moved onto the same first weekend in November, Charlie‘s relocated to this weekend as they vied for a China release which they ultimately got.

Charlie’s Angels drew a 66% female crowd, split between 36% over 25 and 30% under 25. But both demos respectively graded it low at 68% and 79%, with men at 35% giving it a 68% grade on PostTrak. Diversity breakdown was 52% Caucasian, 21% Hispanic, 14% Asian/Other, & 13% African American. Charlie’s Angels best markets were on the coasts and big cities. But again, nothing to brag about in Friday’s $3.2M gross, which includes $900K from Thursday and Wednesday previews.

Says RelishMix, which also foresaw this disaster approaching on social media chatter, “Angels is the latest example in a ‘woke’ effort to reboot a franchise that many were not all that interested in to start with. In fact, many references to the 2000 version get a call-out as a reason this one doesn’t seem to compare – whether it’s the cast or the action teased from the film.

And, as observed with other recent films, some action/adventure, unfortunately fans say they’re steering clear of this one because of its ‘girl power’ messaging.”

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subsonicspeeds · 4 years ago

Text

(Crazy For You) Not That Crazy

siege on the mind lately. i entirely planned on this being a segue into me trying out nsfw fics but uh. it ended up going domestic. i’ve got another chapter to redeem myself

pairing: smoke/mute

length: 1.6k~ words

you can also read it on AO3

Smoke never realized how hard it was to be away from the people he really cared about. Mute reluctantly agrees.

Things got lonely real easy for Smoke. He was so used to being up everyone's ass, especially the people he cared about. It was his way of showing his appreciation, despite all the protests. But he had no plans on changing how he was. If people didn't like that about him, that damn well sucked for them because he wasn't going to do anything about it.

But either way, it was painfully obvious he was getting stir crazy from this operation. They'd been gone for about a month now, just waiting out at a high target area. Apparently the White Masks made a ton of threats on the area, and of course they couldn't have that, eh? Yet so far it was just bluff after bluff, but Six wanted to guarantee the civilians and general area was safe from any threat. So it was him, Valkyrie, Clash, Kapkan, and Wamai. Not people he necessarily… meshed well with. They were professionals, sure, they could work together just fine. Socially, however? God they were leagues different from him.

The only person Smoke could find some comfort in was Wamai, and he in return would humor him. Sorta reminded him of his boyfriend, the absolute love of his life, Mute. Minus the whole… snarky and sexy part of him. Maybe they weren't too alike, but he nonetheless had a calming presence. And those two were friends, perhaps that's what got him thinking like that to begin with.

Whatever the case was, Smoke was currently sitting with his back against a corner, legs sprawled out with his shotgun just an arms reach away. Valkyrie had already yelled at him numerous times for being too relaxed, but bloody hell no one was going to come at this point and he knew it. Only near the beginning of their deployment were any shots fired. Local enforcements were worried about how the place would manage without Rainbow watching over them, so they were taking their sweet time getting soldiers trained and equipped to deal with this type of situation. Milking the five of them for all they had, essentially.

They weren't meant to leave, but with how long they'd been deployed, they would take turns going on walks every so often. Smoke, though? He was sneaking out every chance he could get. For either a cigarette break or just to get out of that dingy ass building, he was just glad to feel the fresh air on his skin again.

And honestly? Sometimes Smoke just wanted to abandon them, just for a few days. Maybe pretend something happened and create an elaborate ruse. Though that'd just get them stuck there for longer, probably. But christ, it would make something interesting happen. He just needed something to spice things up without completely saying “fuck this” to the mission.

Sighing in frustration, Smoke reached for his phone. He took off one of his gloves for easier usage, in case he needed to send a few texts out. It was possible to press the screen in his gloves, but actually typing words? Not a thing he could do. His notifications were mainly spam, scrolling through for the first time in hours. He had to give himself credit, not checking it constantly despite how fucking bored he was. Once he neared the bottom of the list, he noticed something important. The notification read:

💓💕 The Babe 💘💞

Picture Attachment

Mute… never sent pictures to him. Even during this operation, it was mainly phone calls, texts, and the occasional video chat if Smoke could pull it out of him. His heart began to race at the thought of just maybe getting a new picture of his partner, after having to just stare at old pictures in his gallery or relying on his imagination. Rushing to open the message, he was greeted by something even better. He couldn't help but audibly gasp and smiled widely underneath his mask. It was a selfie of Mute and Charlie, Smoke’s daughter. He could feel his heart bursting at the seams as he overanalyzed the picture, taking in every little detail about the two most important people in his life.

From the way that his daughter was absolutely beaming at the camera, her hair completely drenched. To Mute’s unmistakable resting bitch face, but Smoke could tell by the slight curl to his lips and the way his eyebrows were much less furrowed, that he was having a good time. His hair was soaked too… What did the two get up to?

Before he could even text the question, Mute replied with a simple:

‘Got caught in the rain. And she misses you a lot.’

This was too much for Smoke’s heart to handle, and he felt like he was going to burst. Mute was left in charge of Charlie for the time being, and since the two got along surprisingly well it worked out perfectly. There was some protesting from his daughter, saying that she was sixteen now and could handle herself, but Smoke frankly didn't care. He trusted Mute to make sure she didn't set the house on fire.

Once his hands stopped shaking (When did they start? He hadn't even noticed.) he texted his partner back.

‘god you can't even comprehend how much i love and miss you two’

Watching the “...” appear and hover on the screen was too much for him. They could have a real time conversation, and Smoke didn't plan on dropping the phone for anything. If those Masks came, they'd have to wait for him to send a text to the love of his life, because he should at least know he was about to get shot at.

‘Charlie said that's gross and cheesy, but she loves you too.’

Pursing his lips, Smoke knew Mute was avoiding sharing how he felt out of habit. It would just take some coaxing, he'd done this hundreds of times before, and Mute would feel comfortable enough to share. It was just one of his quirks, and he didn't mind it too much.

‘She wanted to call, but we needed to go to the store and as you can tell, nature said fuck us. She's hopping in the shower and finishing up her schoolwork.’

Alright, maybe there wouldn't have to be a lot of coaxing, given that he's already double texting. Smoke knew Mute inside and out, each one of his tells and habits.

‘remind her i always got my phone on me. service might be wonky but she can call/text me any time she wants’

‘I'm sure she knows, she just wants to seem more like an adult and be tough. Teenagers and all that.’

‘reminds me of a certain bloke i know’

‘...Thanks James.’

‘only muckin about. just hurts to not see my dear marky not head over heels and ready to confess his undying love for me, even over text’

‘Oh shut up.’

There was a bit of silence, and Smoke knew to let it hang there for a bit, as much as he wanted to reply again.

‘I love you, dumbass. Happy now?’

Oh yes was Smoke happy, he was smiling like an absolute oaf underneath his gas mask. He was glad he had it on for now, even if it did make the screen a little hazy. At least he didn't have to hold back his facial expressions.

‘that is the sweetest thing you've ever said to me, god just put a ring on me now babe’

'You're making me want to make sure you never go to a jeweler.’

‘cmon you know you miss my sweet ass’

A pause for a minute or so, before a short reply of:

‘A little bit.’

Smoke just snickered to himself, knowing Mute had to debate on whether to really admit it or not.

‘well i know i miss you a whole fucking lot. every little thing about you. you know how much it sucks sleeping on cots again? ALONE too? miss having my face pressed into a giant, personal space heater named mark chandar.’

Hopefully that'll make him give a bit. He was always cold through text, since he could catch any slip ups before sending. Mute didn't like having evidence of him going along with Smoke’s antics. He was very much a behind closed doors person.

‘And I miss the chemist that would kick me in the middle of the night if I didn't twist our legs together.’

Another low chuckle from himself, closing his eyes and just remembering what it felt like to be by Mute’s side again. It was tugging at him, the desire to go back home. To his family.

‘I think I miss him more than I'd like to admit.’

Smoke’s eyes stung a bit as he let his thoughts travel around, revolving around just how homesick he was. Genuinely he felt like he was going to cry, it was a strong and sudden urge. Who knew Mute’s blunt words still held weight through text, instead of coming off as bland and disinterested.

'mark i really want to go home.’

There was absolutely no hesitation in the next text from Mute.

‘I know. I want you back here, too.’

That set Smoke off, tears falling down his face, his puffy red eyes thankfully hidden. The only thing that kept him from responding to Mute with a disgustingly heartfelt message, was Valkyrie trying to get everyone's attention.

“Great news, everyone! Six left us a message and said we are set to head home tomorrow morning!” The four of them cheered, with Clash yelling a grand “Fuck yeah!” Smoke kept quiet, too busy being overcome by what all this meant. The timing was all too perfect, with him finally complaining about how he just wanted to go. And now he really did get to go.

He wasn't going to tell Mute that, though.

#i tried to wrap things up but it just kinda felt odd #so it's now a 2 chapter thing #still feels kinda odd but whatever #also i cant remember who came up with the name charlie for smoke's daughter but thank you so much i love it #smoke cares about two things: mute and his daughter #r6s #rainbow six siege #rainbow 6 siege #smoke r6s #mute r6s #smoke/mute #smoke #mute

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gaycrouton · 6 years ago

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Zeal

Words of Love 26/27 [An unexpected trip to Scully's childhood home gives Mulder a new understanding of his partner.]

Zeal: (noun) great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a person, cause, or an objective.

They had just landed after finishing a case in New York when Scully got a phone call from her mother. She gave Mulder a signal to wait where he was while she answered it. He stood in the middle of the terminal holding their bags as he watched Scully pace back and forth, listening intently to her mother’s words.

He couldn’t hear the exchange from this far away, but he could tell Scully was a little stressed out by whatever her mother was saying. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she kept running a hand through her hair, nodding even though her mother couldn’t see her. After a few minutes she started walking up to him and he caught the tail end, “I can do it mom, no problem… I love you too..Bye.”

“Everything going okay with the Scully matriarch?” He asked as she took her bag from his grasp.

“Yeah. She went on a vacation with her friends, but she’s positive she left the doors unlocked. She won’t be able to enjoy herself until I drive over there and reassure her.” The exhaustion in Scully’s voice was evident, but he knew there was no way she wouldn’t let her mother suffer through the night.

“Well let’s swing by and check it out for her before heading back to D.C.” He shrugged and started walking towards the car as Scully immediately tried to ease him of the burden she considered herself to be.

“Mulder, it’s totally out of the way. I don’t want to drag you out on this errand. You have to be tired-” Her ramblings were interrupted by his raised hand.

“Scully this isn’t an inconvenience to me. What else will you do? Drive with me back to D.C, get in your car, backtrack to Annapolis, and then drive all the way home? No way. This is good as long as you can tolerate a few more hours with me,” he teased.

“Thank you Mulder.” The gratitude weighed heavy in her voice and he was glad he had offered. In all honesty, he would take any opportunity to see Scully’s childhood home. He knew she traveled from place to place growing up, but as far as he was aware, Maggie Scully’s household still had room that held all the musings of an adolescent and teenage riddled Dana Scully and he had to see it.

He had been to Maggie’s house before, though under less than ideal circumstances, so he already knew pretty much how to get there. He didn’t realize this would come in handy until he turned to her, expecting a response to the conversation he thought he was having with her, only to be met with snores and closed eyes. He had to say, sleeping-Scully was one of his favorite versions of her. It was like all her stressed vanished and she was finally at peace.

He couldn’t help himself and stole a few quick glances to see her. She was slouched further down in the seat than normal with one hand strewn across her lap and the other laying carelessly beside her. Her head was lolled back onto the headrest so he had a good vantage point to see her face. Her hair was gently mussed and her face was devoid of the normal lines of worry that usually plagued her. She must have fallen asleep a few minutes after getting to the car because, by the way her eyelashes were fluttering against her cheeks, she was in a deep sleep. He jumped a little bit when a soft grunt left her slack-jawed lips, but relaxed when she just licked her lips and sank further down in her seat. She would kill him if he ever said it outloud, but she was painfully adorable like this.

Who knew angels wore pantsuits?

After about thirty minutes, and hundreds of glances, they arrived to Annapolis and were greeted with a sudden burst of hail. He didn’t think much of it until it got loud enough to rouse Scully from her sleep. With a gentle groan of irritation, she sat up and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. “What’s going on?” she croaked.

“We’re almost to your mom’s, did she mention anything about hail?” he asked, trying to navigate the growing downpour.

“No, no. Not that I remember.” She had to raise her voice over the sound of the hail against the car as he pulled into the driveway. “Wait here, I’ll open the garage so you can pull the car in.”

He told her to be careful as she quickly eased out of the car, opening up the door in one grand sweep. He pulled in and she quickly shut the door behind them. He got out of the car and walked to the front to make sure the hail hadn’t hurt the car too bad. There was maybe one or two tiny dents, but honestly he felt lucky.

“Let’s check the forecast when we get inside,” she said over her shoulder as they went through the adjoining door from the garage to the house. It was jarring to him how much this house was reflective of Scully. Anytime he went to his own mom’s house, it was bleak, sterile, and hostile. A far cry from his haphazard apartment. Maggie’s house, however, was a real home. The pictures on the wall, the worn furniture, everything was reminiscent of a happy family. Hell, it even smelled like Scully.

It was fascinating to him to see her interact with such familiarity. After stepping in from the garage, they were in pitch darkness, but she was able to navigate across the room and flip on the light switch with blind grace. He couldn’t help but wonder how many times a teen Scully did this same thing, sneak in through the garage, find her way in the darkness, avoiding her parents or siblings.

He saw her make her way to the doors to check if they were locked or not and he decided to stay where he was, not wanting to tread in her personal space without an invitation. He didn’t know if she wanted shoes off or on, so he slipped out of his dress shoes and put them next to other shoes on a mat near the door.

After noticing Scully hadn’t taken hers off, and contemplated putting them back on, he shrugged and looked to his side to examined the photos on the wall. He couldn’t keep the shiteating grin off his face when he was met with a school photo of Scully in, what he was guessing was, her teens. Everything about this photo was pure gold; braces, a bad perm, and the painful fashion of the early eighties.

“Well, looks like this was all for nothing, she locked all the doors after all. What are you-no!” Her statement quickly turned into a girlish squeal when she saw what he was looking at. Instantly, his gaze on the photo was replaced by a blushing, real, thirtysomething Scully trying to block the image from view.

“That just might be my favorite photo of you Scully,” he joked.

She firmly grabbed his shoulders, turned him around, and nudged him down the hallway. “You never saw that photo, wipe it from your memory, forget it,” she was embarrassed, but laughter was seeping through her voice. She motioned for him to sit on the couch as she found the remote before joining him, sitting so close he could feel her body heat. After pressing a few buttons, the room was illuminated with the news. “This is Ron Steele, reporting live from Annapolis. Well folks, it looks like the hail isn’t letting up anytime soon. We’ve put out a safety advisory warning people to stay indoors.” The screen was then taken over by an extremely red map, showing the surrounding area completely covered in cartoon hail.

With a sigh, they looked at each other and shrugged. “Looks like we’re staying here tonight,” she murmured, standing up and stretching.

He presumed he would have seen it either how, but these mere five minutes of waiting were torture so he just decided to be blunt. “Can I see your old bedroom?” he blurted. Call it the psychologist in him, but he really wanted to see Scully’s roots and the signs of the woman she would end up becoming.

She stopped mid-stretch and regarded him with a cocked, entertained eyebrow. He gave her the best, innocent, puppy dog stare he could, no matter what she said, he knew it was her weakness. It worked and she motioned for him to get up, “Sure, follow me.” He didn’t need to be asked twice and he practically jumped off the couch in excitement.

He followed her down the hallway, amused as she haphazardly discarded her shoes as she walked before ascending the carpeted stairs with stocking clad feet. Of course, little Scully had the most secluded room in the house. They went down a long hallway, passing by four bedrooms and a bathroom before reaching hers at the very end. The rest had been pretty distinguishable, Charlie’s had planes, Melissa’s had a tapestry, Bill’s had a navy poster, Scully’s room however was completely bare. She put one hand on the knob before threatening over her shoulder, “If you mention the contents of this room to anyone, I will shoot you.”

He raised his hand in a mock scouts honor as she opened the door. Oh my god. Of everything he could have imagined, this was not it. Her room was a gentle light pink color and absolutely covered with music posters. Madonna, Prince, Queen, Depeche Mode, The Eurythmics, it was like Rolling Stone threw up on her walls. His favorite was probably the shirtless photo of Bruce Springsteen on the ceiling above her bed.

Her room was modestly furnished, just with a full bed, a dresser, and a desk with a huge boombox cassette player, with huge stacks of tapes laying around it. He went to it and pressed play, eager to see what cassette was still in it. He turned to Scully with a bemused, shocked expression when Cherry Pie by Warrant softly filled the room. “I don’t know what part surprises me more. The fact that you were into hair metal or that young Scully was listening to such suggestive songs.”

She rolled her eyes and sat on her old bed, reclining on the palms of her hands. “Something young Scully and I still have in common,” she laughed. Hm, unexpected, but good to know. He noticed a bunch of postcards lying on her desk, he picked one up and noticed a small message on the back in the curly cursive of a child, ‘To Future Dana: Hi! Love, Past Dana.’ This may just be the cutest thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

He held up the card to her so she could see, “Hey, Past Dana says hi.” He played with the way her name had felt in his mouth while she laughed.

“I used to send myself postcards anytime I went on vacation so I would come home and revisit the trip.” Of course she did, that was so Scully. He set it back down and kept exploring her room, as non invasively as he possibly could. Every item he focused on would get an elaborate description, she spared no details. She just laid on her back and watched him with almost as much intensity and care as he was giving the objects.

He was about to lay by her side on the bed when he noticed a yellowed piece of loose leaf spiral paper peeking from under the bed. He bent down and picked it up when a smile instantly broke out on his face. Scully tried to scrutinize the item in his hand, but quickly gave up. “What’s that?”

He laid down on his stomach next to her, the sides of their bodies completely flush against each other. Maybe it was the semblance of teenage comfort that made him so bold, but he pointed to the paper in his hand as they ignored the intimacy of this action. Recognition dawned on her face accompanied by a deep red flush. “Oh my god, I haven’t seen that in years!” She put her face in her hands in an attempt to contain her embarrassment.

“Let me see if that Art Appreciation course I took in college paid off.” Her eyes peeked out from in between her fingers to watch his finger move across the page. “According to the signature, this masterpiece was by a six year old Dana Katherine Scully in the summer months of 1970. The medium appears to be Crayola Marker. The subject of the painting is a woman, presumably the artist in a white gown with shoulder length red hair-Scully has your hair always been around your shoulders?”

“No, as a kid it used to be down to my waist and I would wear it in braids all the time. When I was in second grade, a kid named Tom in my class told me no boys would ever like me without my hair, so I looked him dead in the eye and cut the braids off at my ears. My mom was so upset, but I always liked short hair and it’s been that way ever since,” she was smiling fondly at the memory and he knew he was too. Dana Scully, sticking it to the man since she was a child. He wished he could have seen it.

“Was that before or after this drawing?” he asked.

“A good while after. I must be psychic,” she teased.

He chuckled before returning to his assessment, “So, it appears to be a grown Scully in a white dress, she’s holding pink flowers that match the huge smile on her face. She’s standing next to a brown haired man, who’s significantly taller than her, not that it’s a rare accomplishment-” she playfully slapped his arm with a smirk, “He’s dressed in a suit with a green tie and holding her hand with a smile that rivals her own, the line for his lips nearly falling past his face. There’s a huge arch in the background-” It dawned on him what the image was of, Scully drew a photo of her getting married in the future.

The photo held so much childlike innocent it hurt his heart a little bit. Six year old Scully drew this probably imagining being walked down the aisle by her father, her entire family in attendance. This Scully knew nothing about conspiracies, knew no pain, had no real fears. He all the sudden got overwhelmed with the idea that looking at this might be painful right now, a reminder of what she’d pushed off, the family and the possibility of making one that now felt intangible. All because of him. He decided to try to make light, “Let me guess, Bruce Springsteen?” he asked pointing to the man.

He looked over and was shocked to see her face was filled with comfortable serenity, her lips charmingly curved upward. “No, I just liked drawing what I imagined my future would be like, that was how I always drew my future husband. The pictures always varied, but he was always there by my side, making me happy, doing everything for me, just loving me.”

“Did he have a name?” he asked, relishing the honesty she was giving him.

She shook her head, the movement shaking him a little on the bed. “No, I thought that would be bad luck.” He couldn’t get her to believe half his theories, but here she was believing giving a name to a drawing would jinx her. She always kept him on his toes.

“Do you ever wish the drawings came true? That you weren’t having to run around the country chasing killers and ghosts?” he asked, his self conscious nature leaching through his voice.

She considered him with thoughtful eyes. She was staring at him so intently, he could only ever wonder what she was seeing. “Who says they didn’t come true?” she asked. He was a little puzzled about her words when she snaked the hand not holding up her head towards his chest, grabbing something in front of him. When he glanced down his heart caught in his throat, she was holding his green tie, the same shade as the one in the photo.

Now that he really looked at it, his outfit was practically a replica of the drawing, down to the eye color and height difference. She didn’t have a white dress on, but the hair was spot on. She noticed him connecting the dots as his gaze returned back to hers and she simply mumbled, “Psychic,” under her breath while stroking the silky fabric of the tie.

He was moved. How did she always manage to do that? She picked and chose the moments she would reveal her true feelings much like a flower blooming, and it was equally as beautiful. He reached down and grabbed her lithe hand into his own, pressing her palm to his chest, right over his heart.

“The drawings you describe remind me a lot of the dreams I have now,” he whispered, almost worried the sound of his voice could break the air of vulnerability between them. She smirked and he made sure she saw his eyes dart back to the drawing between them before adding, “All of them.” He could see she was repressing the smile from fully taking over her face, it was almost a straight line except the ends, which she rebelling upward against her will.

“Dreams are the questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask,” she responded cheekily, regurgitating his own words to him, but the meaning far more implicit now.

“Questions we haven’t figured out how to ask, feelings so strong they intimidate us and only come out in the safety of our mind.” A verbal dance of hidden meanings, a dance they did far too often.

“Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them,” Scully recited. Of course Scully had the perfect literary reference for every situation, she even made Updike sound romantic.

Taking a chance, he raised her palm from his heart to his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss to the surface and whispering “I love you, so much,” into her soft skin.

The smile she had been fighting broke free and she reversed the position of their hands and brought his palm to her lips, the words were soft to his ears, but he could feel the ghost of her lips move in her own sentiments of love. She mimicked him afterwards by placing a kiss to his palm and resting it over her heart.

Most of his dreams after that focused on how beautiful that drawing would look next to an image of the real thing. After all, she was right, dreams come true.

#words of love #msr fluff #msr #msr romance #mulder and scully #x files fanfic #gaycrouton #onlytheinevitable #my fanfiction

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salaciouscrumpet · 5 years ago

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Whumptober Day 10

Whumptober Day 10 Prompt: “Unconscious”

This one actually ended up being more fluff than whump. In fact, it’s not really whumpy at all, but I had a lot of fun writing it.

CW: animal death (humanely and not the focal point of the ficlet)

Characters: Charlie, Luke, Kate, a bunch of happy sleepy critters

Charlie was trapped, pinned in on all sides, but he wasn’t terribly bothered by his predicament.

He sat, back to the headboard and supported by a mountain of pillows, his legs stretched out in front of him. To his right Luke was sprawled on his side, his head buried under a pillow, his scarred right arm draped lazily over Charlie’s hip. To Charlie’s left Kate was still for a change, her body curled around his leg and her head pillowed on his thigh. The pair of them were out cold, and although Charlie was tired himself there was something about their exhaustion that made him want to stay awake and alert and to watch over them.

Bear was, for once, curled up on the doggy bed on the floor. He had tried coming up onto the bed with his humans, but three adults took up a lot of space even on a king-sized bed, and besides that the cats had already staked out their own territory and made it clear the dog was unwelcome. And for all that Titter was frail and elderly and Bear outweighed her by a good hundred and sixty pounds, she was in charge, and Bear had been terrified of her ever since he’d come home as a rambunctious puppy and she’d put him in his place with a single slash of her tiny paw. Sekhmet, the undisputed queen of the house, was perched on the pillow at Luke’s shoulder while Titter slept in a tiny little ball at Kate’s feet. Spud, the kitten, had been relegated to the doggy bed with Bear for being too rowdy, and so he was nestled in against Bear’s thick fur, purring so loudly Charlie could hear him from the bed.

It was a peaceful scene but it had been hard-won after a day filled with victories that felt Pyrrhic at best.

Charlie’s day had been tinged with bittersweet sadness. The Petersons had brought their old German Shepherd, Max, in to be put to sleep; Max had been battling hip dysplasia and now Charlie was pretty sure the dog had cancer as well. The euthanasia had been arranged in advance, and the Petersons had given their beloved pet a grand send-off with a day spent doing all the things the old dog enjoyed: basking in the sunlight on the beach while the kids played around him, a short walk in the woods, all of his favourite foods (including the things he wasn’t supposed to eat but loved), and of course lots and lots of cuddles. It was sad, but the Petersons were good people who loved their pet very much, and so they sat with him and cried while he went to sleep in their arms. Max had led a good long life for a large-breed dog and he’d been well-loved, and Charlie’s heart ached for his humans who would miss him very much. He was grateful the Petersons had stayed with Max; it was a hard thing to do, but it always made him think better of his patients’ humans.

Charlie had come home from work feeling sad and tired, and he’d found Luke huddled in bed with a migraine and his cellphone turned off. Luke’s mother had called, something she did periodically that managed to upset him every single time. His parents were holding a dinner party and expected Luke to attend – alone, so that he could meet the daughter (or daughters) of their wealthy, well-connected friends within the Order. His parents refused to acknowledge Luke’s relationships with Charlie and Kate: Charlie, the child of a human and one of the Fair Folk (Unseelie Court, but still acceptable in the eyes of the Knights of Oberon), was unsuitable because he was a man; Kate was a woman, but she was the offspring of a demon, which barred her in Luke’s parents’ eyes. It probably also didn’t help that neither Charlie nor Kate fell under the definition of “tractable” or “obedient,” which were qualities deemed of utmost necessity in a future wife and mother. Luke’s own opinions on the matter – that he loved Charlie and Kate, that they were committed to each other, that he liked his life the way it was – were irrelevant, as was, apparently, the fact that his parents had disowned him a decade ago.

So Luke and Rita had argued over the phone, because every time Luke and his mother spoke, they argued. And Kate and Charlie hadn’t been home, so the argument had gone on for way too long because Luke was terrible at telling his mother ‘no’ (and his mother was even worse at listening to it) and then afterwards he’d spiraled until he’d given himself a stress-induced migraine. Charlie’s healing magic was good for a lot of things, but migraines were, unfortunately, not on the list. The only thing to be done was for Luke to try and sleep it off, which was one of the many reasons their bedroom had blackout curtains in the windows, because he was particularly sensitive to light when he had a migraine.

Then, just as Charlie had walked in the front door of the farmhouse the three of them shared – seconds after stepping in a puddle of cat vomit, almost certainly courtesy of Sekkie – he got a text from Devon, letting him and Luke know that Kate had been injured while on patrol. Nothing serious (which, in the context of superhumanly resilient people like Luke and Kate, meant nothing actually life-threatening, but probably still actually serious for anyone else), and they’d already had one of the only other charmers at the camp heal her up, but she was going to be on light-duty for a few days. Rishaan, bless his heart, would drive her home. Kate got home about forty-five minutes later, tired and grumpy and limping on what had only shortly before been a leg broken in several places, the result of a fall. Charlie suspected there was more to the story – Kate was not known for simply falling – but it could wait until morning. Charlie had long ago learned to pick his battles, and confronting a post-injury Kate about how she’d come to be injured was not the hill he wanted to die on that night.

Some time later the cat puke was cleaned up, the animals were fed (and Charlie helped himself to some leftovers; neither Kate nor Luke was hungry), and Charlie managed to get his two miserable partners tucked into bed on either side of him. Luke’s migraine was mostly over with, which set it on the shorter end of such things for him, and Kate’s leg – healed up but still stiff and tender – was covered in a smelly ointment Charlie made from scratch that only had a few magical properties. Magical healing took a lot of energy out of both the charmer and the patient, so Kate was out like a light. Charlie had lulled Luke to sleep with a scalp massage (and only a tiny amount of magic to urge him on), and the animals had piled onto the bed. The bedroom was dark and just cool enough to make climbing under a pile of quilts seem like a brilliant idea. There was a mountain of pillows, the cats were purring, and somewhere in the distance a loon called out over the lake behind the house.

Charlie had been reading on his tablet, using the warmer light settings specifically designed for nighttime usage. He leaned over Kate and set the tablet on the end table before settling back against the headboard again. He was tired but at peace, even with the heartache from earlier in the day and the stresses that had met him upon arriving home. He played with the end of Kate’s braid, coiling it around his hand before running his hand over her head. He and Luke were the only ones who were allowed to touch or play with Kate’s hair; she claimed she didn’t like being petted and fussed over – unless she shifted into a cat, which was her ‘comfort’ form – but they could get away with it because they were hers. Charlie’s other hand stroked along the solid curve of Luke’s shoulder, brushing over the stark black and red tattoos that lined him from neck to wrist. He couldn’t actually see the markings, but he knew them so well he could picture them in his mind: based off primitive Scythian tattoos, each one a different animal Luke had chosen to indicate an important moment or memory. Soon he would need to start moving on to his chest and back, because he was running out of real estate on his left arm, and he wasn’t willing to tattoo over the scars on his right. Charlie was never sure what to make of that – as the man responsible for healing Luke’s badly burned arm, Charlie saw those scars as a sort of failing, that he hadn’t been able to make his lover completely whole again. Luke, on the other hand, was grateful simply to have an arm that functioned (and functioned well), and didn’t much care about the aesthetics. The scars had meaning to Luke, just as his tattoos did. And both represented a break from his past, although for completely different reasons.

Down on the floor Bear let out a small yelp, one of his hind legs scuffing against the hardwood as he kicked and chased something in his dreams. The movement dislodged the kitten, and within seconds Spud was up on the bed, casting cautious glances at both Titter and Sekhmet. Both female cats were ignoring him, so Spud wound his way over the quilts and in between Luke’s legs, snuggling in the crook of his knee. His noisy purr – which sounded something like a broken engine – seemed to take on a triumphant note as he made himself comfortable on the bed despite his mean and territorial older sisters.

“Be nice,” Charlie whispered softly when Sekhmet opened her eyes to glare pointedly at the kitten. She turned and blinked at him, falling back to sleep. There was no doubt in his mind that she had simply chosen to continue ignoring Spud, and not that she was listening to or obeying her human’s commands. Sekkie was the queen of the house; Charlie and the others just lived there, to serve at her leisure.

“’M always nice,” Kate murmured sleepily, smushing her face into Charlie’s hip.

“Lies,” Luke replied, every bit as sleepy. His voice was muffled by the pillow he still had pressed over his face.

“Shush,” Charlie said. He stroked one hand over Kate’s hair and the other over Luke’s shoulder, and Spud’s contented, broken-machine purr rumbled out through the room. The day had been a shitshow, and no doubt tomorrow Charlie would still need to deal with the fallout of Luke’s conversation with his mother as well as Kate’s inexplicable injury, but until tomorrow he was content to sit and snuggle with the family they had made for themselves.

#whumptober2019 #day 10 #no. 10 #original fiction #mostly fluff

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years ago

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RWBY Remarks: The Ice-cream is A Lie! Debunking the Neopolitan Conspiracy.

I’m not sure if this is topic has already been defused in the FNDM community. Nevertheless, this squiggle meister still wanted to weigh in her full $5.50 on this subject matter. So let’s dig into it.

Heya kiddies, remember when the official V6 Opening dropped and everyone lost their shit when a mysterious hooded figure alluding to Neo was shown during the intro?

You should remember because it only happened about a week ago. I’m not going to lie. During my first viewing of the opening, my very first impression of mystery female was that it is Neopolitan. However my main justification for that, as I’ll assume is the key reason why everyone pondered the same thing, was because of this shot here:

The shot of a very familiar-looking black and red striped bowler hat floating aimlessly through the streets of Mistral. That was the only clue I had that made me think of the possibility of Neo returning. But while the fandom exploded into their excitement of their favourite ice-cream themed villainous making her grand return, this squiggle meister was skeptical.

Why, you might ask? Well, for starters, not to knock the Neo fans but…why on Earth would the CRWBY Writers bring back Neo of all characters especially now when the Mistral Arc is in its final chapter?

In all honesty, I understand that Neo is a fan favourite amongst the FNDM community. However outside of Roman Torchwick, Neo’s character doesn’t exactly have a story of her own.

Sure, the CRWBY Writers could still entertain us by introducing a Neopolitan backstory into RWBY. However I don’t think Volume 6 is going to be an appropriate place slip that in.

If the CRWBY Writers honestly wanted to include Neo back then… shouldn’t they have brought her back for the start of the Mistral Arc as someone who would succeed Roman Torchwick and continue from where he left off? Even if their plan was to eventually resurrect Neo from the pit of obscurity for the Atlas Arc, her comeback would feel rather out of place. At least to me it would, especially since we spent the last two seasons not even teasing her re-emergence.

Apologies to the Neo stans but…that ain’t yuh girl in the V6 opening. The ice-cream is sadly a lie. But admittedly a very cleverly laid out lie, might I say.

I think the mysterious person is obviously Cinder Fall. I mean it has to be her. Her silhouette is in the volume poster, dagnabbit.

Not to mention that the Writers left her story on a cliff hanger. I mean…they did the same thing with Neo too but unlike the ice-cream flavoured Charlie Chaplin, Cinder’s happened last volume. Not a whole two seasons ago.

C’mon. Who else could it be but Cinder?

But if for some reason, you’re not convinced that the figure is Cinder, then allow me to present to you some evidence to support my claim. While scrubbing through the V6 opener, I found two key clues that say it’s Cinder.

Exhibit A: The Weapon of Choice

During the opening, the hooded female could be seen fighting with a blade in hand. Upon further inspection, I realized that the weapon carries a resemblance in shape to the dual blades that Cinder once wielded back in V3. Not only that but it especially replicates the fire emblazoned crimson dagger that Cinder Fall forged with her semblance and Maiden magic last season during her combat with Jaune in the Battle of Haven.

This is unfortunately the best quality screenshot I could take. I had to brighten the image but you can still make out that the shape of the blade is like Cinder’s Dagger. That’s my first evidence. My second evidence is the most obvious one of them all.

Exhibit B: The Claw

May I direct your attention to the obvious clawed white hand on mystery girl? Might I also point out that it’s her right hand---the same side as Cinder’s amputated Geist Grimm arm from V5?

Unless Neo’s umbrella flew her into a tub of radioactive purple ooze that turned her into some kind of pale-skinned mutant humanoid creature with claws for a hand, then that is clearly NOT her. It’s Cinder because we all know that Cinder possessed the Geist Grimm now which, as we can see, has now been blended into her skin turning it white---like Salem.

I’m curious to see Cinder’s face now. I want to know if she looks more like Salem now or was it just the arm that fused fully with her body turning the half of Salem’s body damaged by Ruby ghastly white while the rest remained normal. This should be cool to see.

So yeah, see now? It’s not the ice-cream. It’s the pepper sauce. Sorry Neo fans.

Now this pegs a curious question? Why would the CRWBY insert the trademark Roman Torchwick bowler hat while alluding to Cinder?

Either the CRWBY are trying to be slick again by tossing out another red herring to bamboozle the FNDM into believing it’s not Cinder Fall or…there is something very symbolic of the Roman hat?

Symbol of Failure

Think about it. Who was Roman Torchwick? Another fan favourite villain with charisma for days. Yes. A snappy dresser. Sure. But above everything else, Roman Torchwick was a failure in his conquest.

What was it that Roman told Ruby Rose in his big speech from V3?

“...Ya got spirit Red. But this is the real world! The real world is cold! The real world doesn't care about spirit! You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other huntsman in history!

As for me, I’ll do what I do best. Lie. Steal. Cheat and Survive!”

He says all of this before he is rather laughingly eaten alive in the very next frame by a Grimm during the attack on the Vytal Festival that he helped orchestrate. Still one of the most ironic deaths in RWBY history but the truth still remains.

Even with all his tricks and schemes, what eventually became of Roman? He failed, died and now his name means nothing as Remnant moves on. Even with all the power and influence he once possessed, he died a powerless man. Torchwick is symbolic here because he’s the one villain whose pursuit of conquest resulted in his very own demise. Now Cinder has fallen down the same path.

She too followed in her selfish aspiration to become powerful and where did it lead her? Right back to the very bottom of the societal food chain where her origins probably began. You can almost say that Cinder’s fallen down her very own little rabbit hole of disappointment and now from the dirt, she is forced to crawl back out again and start over. That’s if, she even has the same desires as before.

It’s almost like the bowler hat is following Cinder, mocking her own failures. I wonder if this will lead to Cinder having realistic hallucinations of Roman. Her own negative emotional state of displeasure taking the form of the one villain in RWBY whose failure left him rock bottom---the digestive system of a Griffin Grimm kind of rock bottom---would be to seen explored in the series.

Similar to how Blake’s anxiety over being back with the team after the events of V4-V5 taking the haunting form of Adam Taurus, perhaps it’ll be the same for Cinder. Imagine…Roman returning as a figment of Cinder’s messed up psyche to ridicule and belittle her. That could be cool to watch.

Plus it’d be great to hear Gray Haddock reprise his role in the series again outside of the Chibi-verse. I mean, it’s a nice idea.

Perhaps…in the beginning, Cinder was another minion to Roman but that all changed when she met Salem.

Maybe Roman and Cinder even share a past together long prior to RWBY’s main story.

Perhaps Cinder Fall started off as Roman’s partner-in-crime---the Bonnie to his Clyde? Or perhaps she was one of his lower level pawns but ultimately rose to the top due to her skills. But even after becoming number two to King Roman, Cinder desired to be more. While I’m not sure on how Salem found Cinder or vice versa, I would much rather the mystery character be Cinder because it makes more sense for it to be her than Neo, continuing from V5.

I know Neo is connected to Roman because she was his side kick. However let’s not forget that before Neo came into the picture, Cinder Fall was originally introduced as Roman’s accomplice in the very first episode of RWBY. She was the one seen flying the helicopter that Roman used to escape from Ruby and was also the one who fought with Glynda Goodwitch as she stepped into protect Ruby.

Cinder was later switched out for Neo and made into someone who was superior to Roman instead of being just his fateful right hand. Who knows? Maybe there is a deeper untold history between Roman and Cinder Fall that us fans never knew about. The untold story of how the two of them met and how Cinder eventually rose to become the megalomaniac we know her to be.

The Faceless Lady

Do you know what would be interesting? If the mysterious person is Cinder but in like a new body or with a new face?. Like what if…after dying, Cinder fused with her Geist Grimm arm completely and now she’s become this Grimmoire (Grimm-human hybrid) who can steal another person’s identity by devouring them.

Y’know how in Game of Thrones, Arya Stark is a Faceless Man and can assume the identity of anyone she’s killed by stealing their face? What if we get something like that with Cinder where, because she is half Geist Grimm, she can utilize the Geist’s key trait to possess and take control of another’s body.

But in Cinder’s instance, she’s able to do it with mortal men and woman because of her human side. It’d also be interesting if, just like Arya Stark, Salem develops her own little vendetta to get back at everyone who has wronged her in her life, starting with her past leading up to her recent mortal enemies---like Ruby Rose and Raven Branwen.

Queen of the Mafia

I have this theory that Cinder was the daughter of a known mafia boss who was notorious on the black underground market of Mistral that we were told about in the World of Remnant episode on the kingdom.

Y’know how in the Cinderella story, we had the evil mother and her wicked stepsisters? When I think back to the V6 trailer, remember this shot of the bandit lady that most RWBY theorist pointed out as a mafia boss?

What if…these three characters---the mafia lady and her two lackeys that stand behind her are RWBY’s version of Cinderella’s evil stepmother and wicked step siblings. Only instead of two step sisters, it’s a brother and sister?

I’m just tossing out an idea here. I don’t believe that the CRWBY would choose to highlight these three characters if they weren’t important. Obviously these three aren’t connected to the heroes. But perhaps, they’re connected to Cinder or at least her side of the story for V6.

Maybe…they are from her past?

What if…Cinder was the daughter of some big Mistralian crime boss who was well renowned around the Mistral black market until he was murdered, leaving his empire left for grabs for the vultures of the Mistral underbelly to squander.

This lady and her two accomplices could either be the equivalent of Cinderella’s evil stepmother and her siblings who probably abused Cinder after they stole her father’s empire from her and tossed her to the slums, powerless to stop them. Or…what if…it’s not the lackeys who are important but the Head Lady?

Remember how in last week’s V6 kick-starter episode, we met Dee and Dudley who the FNDM agreed were based off of the infamous pair of Tweedledee and Tweedledum from the Alice in Wonderland fairy tale?

What if…those two knuckleheads won’t be the only trademark Alice in Wonderland characters that will be referenced in RWBY for this volume?

What if…this Mafia Lady’s characterization is actually inspired by the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland?

Think about it. Imagine if the notorious black market of Mistral is basically the Wonderland of the canon RWBY-verse and similar to the Queen of Hearts, this mysterious Mafia lady is the head honcho that rules it with an iron fist.

I quite like this concept. She certain exudes the same impatient and tyrannical aura as the Queen of Hearts. I just need her to yell “Get Them You Fools!” and/or, of course, “Off with their heads!” or something along lines.

Now mind you I could be incorrect in everything I said in this post. Except the Cinder being the mystery figure part, I really am sure that’s her for sure as the hooded mystery girl. As to what her story will be for V6.

If anything V6 is definitely going to touch base on Cinder’s past and resurrection or so I presume. I know it’s only another theory, but that’s as much as I have to say on the Fallen Maiden for now.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#rwby #rwby volume 6 #cinder fall #rwby neopolitan #rwby theories

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myownsuperintendent · 6 years ago

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Fic: “Eligible”

Charlie tries to help his sister out during her break-up. Set between IWTB and the revival. Rated T for sexual humor, also here on Ao3.

.....

“A fat sucker?”

“You heard me.”

“Yeah, that’s not a real thing,” Charlie says, shaking his head. “How much have you had to drink?”

“A reasonable amount,” Dana says, tipping the bottle of wine away from him when he tries to check the level. “And it is a real thing. I don’t want to get my fat sucked away. That’s all I need.”

“Well, it’s not like there’s that much to suck,” he says. He pokes at her arm. “Eat something,” he says, his voice an imitation of their Aunt Myrtle’s.

“You eat something,” she says, poking him back. “You’re only having one slice?”

“My goodness, you look so skinny.”

“Do you not like the food? There are starving children in China, you know.” And then she bursts out laughing and he does too. She looks happier than she has all evening. That’s something, at least.

“You could try it, at least,” he says after they’ve stopped laughing. “You’re dateable.”

“Dateable?” she says. “What the hell does that mean? You can’t just be generally dateable. Dateable by whom?” She exaggerates the sound of the m—whommm—and he wonders if she’s trying to prove she’s not drunk, even though she’s definitely had more than what she calls a reasonable amount of wine. It doesn’t matter; it’s not his job to police her, and she can stay here tonight if she needs to. Adam won’t mind. “Would you date me?” she asks, twirling her glass between her fingers.

“For so many reasons, the answer to that is no,” he says. “I don’t know by whom. People. Straight single men who aren’t related to you. What do you think?”

“Ugh, I don’t know,” she says. She’s stretched out on the couch now, leaning her head on her arms. “I wouldn’t even know where to start. How does the whole thing work?”

“I don’t know a lot more than you do,” Charlie says, “but I don’t think it can be that difficult. You put your picture and some things about you, I guess. Do you want me to look it up for you?”

She’s quiet for a minute. Pours herself another glass. “Sure, what the hell?” she says. “Look it up.”

So he does, typing in dating sites on his laptop and clicking on the first one he sees. “Meet thousands of eligible singles,” he reads.

“Eligible,” Dana snorts, staring into her glass. “What is this, a dating site or a Jane Austen novel?”

“Make that special connection.”

“Please.”

“And it’s all for free.”

“Well, that part’s good at least,” Dana says. “Because I’m not going to pay good money to have my fat sucked away, if there are free options.”

“Would you stop talking about that?” Charlie asks. “It’s an absolutely revolting image.”

“You bet it is.” She grins at him. “I’d put that on my dating profile, if I were going to do this. That I have a revolting story for every occasion.”

“Maybe some guys are into that,” Charlie says.

“Ugh,” Dana says. “Probably.” She puts her glass down on the table and waves an arm at him grandly. “You may proceed.”

“Well, there’s a bunch of questions to answer about yourself,” Charlie says. “You want to hear some of them?”

“Sure.”

“They’re more like statements, really,” he says, scanning the page. “That you have to complete. I am…”

“You are what?” she asks, a little too loudly.

“That’s the statement.”

“I am…” She thinks for a minute. “A doctor. With a revolting story for every occasion.”

“I couldn’t live without…”

“A brother who lets me drink his wine.”

“Aw,” Charlie says. “I’m touched.”

“Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head,” she says, but she’s smiling.

“I’m really good at…”

“Autopsies. Blow jobs.”

Charlie gives her a look. “That’s what you’d want on your dating profile.”

“Sure,” she says. “It’s true. I’m great at both those things.”

“Well, that’s more information than I needed.”

“You’re just jealous,” Dana says. “You wish you were as good at those things as I am.”

“No, I don’t,” Charlie says. “I don’t need to be good at autopsies. And as for blow jobs, I have no reason to be jealous of you, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Just jealous,” she repeats in a sing-song voice, and Charlie rolls his eyes and turns back to the screen.

“My best quality is…”

“That I’m too short to block anyone’s view at the movies.” She starts giggling to herself.

“I get the feeling you’re not taking this seriously,” he says.

“You would be right.” She takes a big gulp of wine to finish the glass and then waves both arms in a very grand gesture indeed. “But go on, go on.”

“In a partner, I’m looking for…”

She doesn’t answer right away, and he’s almost about to repeat the question. But then she speaks. “Nothing right now, I guess,” she says, and her voice is so quiet, so small, and he wishes there were actually something he could do to fix this for her.

“Hey, Dana,” he says gently, moving to sit next to her on the couch. “If you…”

“Don’t you feel sorry for me,” she says, her voice loud and harsh now. “Don’t you do it, Charlie, or I’m going right…right home.”

“Okay,” Charlie says. “I won’t, then.” He looks into the wine bottle; it’s empty. “You want something to eat?”

“Yeah,” she says. “You have anything chocolate?”

“There’s a box of Oreos,” he says. “I’ll get it.”

When he’s getting up from the couch, she grabs his arm. “Charlie,” she says. “Is it going to get easier?” And when he takes a moment to figure out what she’s asking, she adds, “All this. Leaving and…all this. Tell me.”

He doesn’t know how to answer her, really; he doesn’t think their situations are analogous. When he left Mary, it was to be with Adam, and while it was far from easy, at least he knew he was going to something. He knew that he couldn’t live a lie anymore. The way he was living was unsustainable. In that broader sense, maybe their situations do have something in common.

“Yeah,” he says. “It’ll get easier, Dana.” Because for him, at least, it’s true, and besides, what else is he going to say? Is he going to look his sister in the face and tell her she’s going to spend the rest of her life sitting sadly on his couch? He knows that isn’t true, isn’t her. “Because you’re tough as nails.”

Her smile is a sad one. “Yeah.”

He squeezes her shoulders quickly, then retreats when she gives him a look. “That’s not me feeling sorry for you. I’ll get the Oreos.”

When he brings them back into the living room, she’s still sitting on the couch, staring at nothing. He hands her the box. “Thanks,” she says. “I’ll sleep here tonight, if that’s okay. I don’t think I should drive.”

“You don’t think?” he asks, and she laughs weakly. “It’s no problem. You can have Mike’s room.”

“Okay,” she says. She takes an Oreo and opens it, licks out the filling intently. “It’s just…it sucks, you know? It really sucks, Charlie.”

“I know it does, Dana,” he says. She’s eating one of the cookies now, bite by slow bite, and they don’t say anything more.

#the x files #my fic #Dana Scully #charlie scully

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eloiseduval · 7 years ago

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us and only us

a/n: WEDDING. LOVE. ROMANCE. here it is, in all of its subpar glory. seriously, I struggled so much writing this fic??? idk if it shows, but I hope you enjoy reading either way. @nathaniel-schreave thanks for this last rp!!! this is it!!! the end!!!! @camille-marshall thanks for the rp (CAMERIC) and I’m sorry I couldn’t put it in (EVEN THOUGH CAMERIC IS THE CUTEST. seriously guys. marshall’s ending is,,,, perfection. I may have assisted with it a little yeet) also, reading on, you will see an unexpected development in the neloise story, but good for the ~drama.~ more thanks to g&c for coming up with it hehe. IT’S BEEN FUN GUYS, thanks for letting me share eloise’s story <3 word count: 2171

No longer being a Selected was… strange.

It was, at least, at first. I kept expecting Marshall to pop up in the Women’s Room just to say hi, or Clove to rope me into another one of her elaborate plans, probably tossing a pillow at me from across the room.

But I adjusted, albeit with some minor bumps. Collette and Nate’s mother were a huge help, both with lessons and planning a wedding.

A wedding, I laughed to myself, scrolling through my phone in the princess suite. It was still strange to think of myself as “getting married,” but whenever I pictured Nate standing at the end of aisle with one of his dopey grins, all of my anxiousness seemed to fade away. Getting cheesier every day, Duval.

I didn’t notice when the said prince walked into the suite. I was sprawled across the bed and too focused on the news of all of the past Selected to notice his worried expression, at first.

“Um, sweetie.”

My gaze was still on my screen when I asked, “What’s up?” Glancing up, I immediately noticed his tense expression, my brows drawing together in worry and sitting up fully. “What’s wrong?”

He stepped over, sitting next to me on the edge of the bed. “I-I have to become king.”

I reared back, shocked. “You— what? Now?”

“You know how my father is still recovering from his… accident.”

Even now, the topic was still difficult for Nate to discuss. A few months after the end of the Selection, Nate’s parents were in a car accident. Queen Au— No, Aubrey, sustained only minor injuries. As for the king… After being diagnosed with a compressed spine, he had lost practically any ability to walk. It was a tense time around the palace, and while he slowly began to recover, he still had a long road ahead of him.

“Well he has decided that he shouldn’t work anymore and is resigning as king,” Nate continued, “And he...he thinks I’m ready.” He glanced over at me, tears brimming his eyes and looking utterly terrified. “Honey, I’m not ready, I can’t do this.”

I moved closer and put one gentle hand on the side of his face. I felt like my world had been shifted off its axis but I knew in this moment, Nate needed reassurance more than I did. All of his fears were suddenly coming true.

“Oh Nate.” I looked into his eyes for a moment, searching for the right words to comfort him. “I know this isn’t what you expected, but you can do it, I have every faith in you.”

His eyes shifted to his lap. “I can’t, I can’t.” He shook his head, glancing back up at me and biting his lip. “I’m scared.”

I brought my other hand up to cup his face. “It’s okay to be scared, alright? But you have me and so many others to help you. You’ve been preparing for this all your life, there’s no one better suited for the job. I promise you’ll be able to do this and you know I never break my promises.”

At my words, a bit of the tension seemed to leave his shoulders, nodding in agreement. “I know. I love you so much. I love you more than anything that’s ever existed. I hope you know that.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “You’re a little cheesy you know.”

“Oh, shut up. I know you love it.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against my own, only to lean back after a moment and mumble, “This means you have to become queen.”

I sucked in a shaky breath, taking my hands back and clasping them firmly in my lap. “I know.” I tried to smile with confidence, but he saw right through it. We weren’t supposed to ascend for years, after countless more lessons and experience to help guide us. How was I supposed to be queen in the next few months?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want it to be this early. I thought we still had years.” He let out an anxious breath. “This is going to be tough.” That’s an understatement.

“I knew what this life meant when it came to being with you. But you're right it... it won't be easy.” I ran a hand through for my hair only for him to reach out and catch it, squeezing it comfortingly. In that one action I felt the steady reassurance he was always able to bring. Together, we would manage.

“I’m sorry.” His apology help so much depth, and I could see in his eyes the burden this would bring for the both of us. It somehow softened the impact of the news.

“You don't have to apologize. I'm always here for you, no matter what that comes with.” He merely curled his lips in and nodded in response. “We'll be alright,” I reassured, squeezing his hand. He returned the gesture, the fear in his eyes at bay for now.

“Yes we will.”

“I’m going to cry.”

“Alex.”

“I am! It’s happening, you can’t stop it.”

I rolled my eyes in response to my brother’s dramatic “crying,” which involved him dabbing the sleeve of his suit against his eyes, wiping away invisible tears.

“You look beautiful, Elle,” my dad interrupted, stepping in front of me and taking both of my hands to look me up and down. I could hear the photographer clicking away, trying to capture these candid moments before the ceremony.

I smiled, glancing down at the white lace. “You like it?” The dress had been a nightmare to choose, none of them exactly right until the very last option, an off the shoulder, long sleeve gown that fit like a glove.

He could only nod, actual tears filling his own eyes. I bit my lip, trying to push down the swell of emotion. “Dad,” I whispered, pulling him into a hug.

“He’s the only one,” he said into my ear.

My brows knit together. “What?”

Pulling away, he wiped a stray tear from his cheek and regained his composure. “The only one I could have let you go to.” My expression softened, touched at his approval. Nate and I already knew my dad liked him, but my soon to be husband would be over the moon when I told him about this moment.

“Thank you,” was all I could manage to say, hugging him one last time before we were ushered off to the entrance of The Great Room by the ever prompt Lady Collette. There was some shuffling as we lined up in our designated pairs, the first being Mal and Charlie. When the grand doors opened, my dad and I stepped off to the side to be out of sight from the guests until it was our turn. Once the first stepped through, they were followed by Jace and Quinn, Giselle and Max, Katrina and Alex, and finally Brooks and Clove.

It was then I felt the first real flutter of nerves.

Preparations had all been so hectic for both the coronation and wedding I barely had a chance to realize that this was my wedding day. Suddenly my dad was tugging my arm, guiding me to the entrance of the room, the ring bearer and flower girl long gone. In a flash I was walking down the aisle, recognizing that I was smiling far too widely and focused on Nate who had begun to tear up at the sight of me.

The ceremony passed by in a joyful blur, only the most important bits sticking out in my memory. Our vows to each other were one of those moments.

One of Nate’s hands was gripping mine, the other holding a piece of paper as he began. “I, Nathaniel, do pledge you, Eloise, my love, for as long as I live. What I possess in this world, I give to you. I will keep you and hold you, comfort and tend you, protect you and shelter you, for all the days of my life.

The tears returned to his eyes as he continued. “I love you unconditionally and without hesitation. I vow to love you, encourage you, trust you, and respect you. As a family, we will create a home filled with learning, laughter, and compassion. I promise to work with you to foster and cherish a relationship of equality knowing that together we will build a life far better than either of us could imagine alone. We are not only going to grow old together, but to grow together.

Before moving on, he curled his lips in to look from the paper at me, wiping away the tears that had fallen. “Today, I choose you to be my wife. I accept you as you are, and I offer myself in return. I will care for you, stand beside you, and share with you all of life’s adversities and all of its joys from this day forward, and all the days of my life.”

I brushed away my own tears at his promises, so overcome with love for this man who I couldn’t believe I’d get to spend the rest of my life with. We smiled at each other, and when I was handed my own vows I realized that I didn’t need the speech I wrote ahead of time. Gazing into his eyes, I spoke from my heart.

“You know, I had a whole speech planned out but,” I shook my head, “I think I'm going to make just one promise, the one that truly matters. I vow to love you. I vow to love you through our life together, with our future family and until we're both old and grey. I vow to love you more than any obstacle or fight that comes our way and to be your equal partner in both marriage and royalty. I vow to love you so much that I'll never force you to go to the beach again because I know how much you hate it.” I let out a small, teary chuckle that earned a laugh from the audience. “But most of all, I vow to love you every day, every minute, and every moment we share for the rest of our lives.”

The priest moved on afterwards, the rings exchanged with even more heartfelt vows. It was another blur during his words until he said the words that /finally/ pronounced us husband and wife, Nate reaching out to cup my face and give me the first of a lifetime of kisses.

I was sure the crowd was cheering—I could almost hear it—but as I wrapped my arms around his waist, nothing else mattered except him and I in this blissful, wonderful moment. Once he pulled away, he whispered endearingly, “We’re married now.”

I could only laugh softly in a voice just as quiet, “That we are.”

The priest cleared his throat at our lengthy embrace, indicating we move onto the coronation ceremony. Nate had been crowned king a couple of months ago and now that we were officially married, I would be crowned as well.

Queen Eloise Camila Du—

No. Schreave. The correction I needed to get used to made me so inexplicably happy that I could barely contain my smile during the coronation, Nate himself performing it. I recited the vows I practiced for hours on end, knowing this was a moment that would go down in history. I was handed the traditional orb and staff, the heavy crown following not long after.

Once it was over, Nate and I stood side by side before the crowd as the country’s newest monarchs, our twin grins infectious. Husband and wife. King and queen. Two sentences I never imagined for my life just over a year ago. Yet here we were.

The rest of our wedding day passed by in another busy blur, filled with far too many photographs, first dances, and smudged cake as we fed each other our first pieces during the reception. Speaking with almost every guest was a feat I never thought I could accomplish, including past Selected and a certain new boyfriend of a former second lieutenant.

But even through my throbbing feet, exhaustion, and aching cheeks from far too many smiles, I don’t think I had ever felt more happy than I did walking hand in hand with Nate to our limo, waving at the crowd who had gathered to see us off on our honeymoon.

Slumping into the seat, car door shutting behind us, I looked over at him with a tired, relieved grin. “Finally.”

“Finally,” he repeated, a similar expression on his face before leaning in to press another familiar kiss against my lips. Here and now, it would be us and only us.

Because no longer being a Selected wasn’t strange anymore.

It was natural. Natural and right to be kissing Nate, my husband, in the back of the limo and anywhere else we would be for the rest of our lives.

Together.

The End.

#I barely edited so excuse any glaring typos or errors #HOPE IT WAS TO YOUR SATISFACTION ANON #I tried ™#my writing #selectionoc

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the-master-cylinder · 4 years ago

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The rise of Empire as a low budget producer with their “Beyond Infinity” video line resembles the start-up of AIP during the drive-in boom of the late ’50s, when a definite market existed for a certain product: films for the teenage audience, the wilder and more outrageous the better. The drive-ins “made” American-International Pictures, and like AIP, the VCR spurred Empire and other companies to produce films for a new market. But-having seen most of Empire’s Beyond Infinity offerings to date-one thing is obvious: unlike AIP, Empire lacks the creative genius of a low-budget auteur like Roger Corman. Imagination is not necessarily related to a film’s budget; low-budget films could be original, entertaining, and thought-provoking. But, Beyond Infinity’s releases thus far have proved to be inane, routine, and boring.

The Empire films follow a standard pattern: an exploitative, campy title; garish ad art; scripts which slavishly follow tried-and true formulas; varying amounts of nudity, gore effects, and juvenile humor. Of course, these traits apply equally well to the offerings of Empire’s competitors, particularly Troma Pictures, although Beyond Infinity product has a California pastel plasticity as opposed to Troma’s sleazy New York sheen. The fact that there is little of real interest to be found in any Beyond Infinity film certainly contributed to the commercial downfall of Empire and its video arm. Though the films themselves may not be completely devoid of entertainment value, most of the creativity seems to have gone into dreaming up the exploitable titles.

Dave DeCoteau, director of several projects released by Empire’s “Beyond Infinity” video label, pegged the fall of Band’s Empire to “the market place. It’s changed,” said DeCoteau. “There was a time that horror and fantasy fans saw just about anything that was made available on video. These days, quality prevails among genre movies, including films that are squarely made for direct-to-video release. You have to make the best movie you can and spend the money to do it right. If someone tries to pawn off a piece of shit, they’re shown the door.”

Reflecting on his three picture stint at Empire, DeCoteau said, “Charlie Band’s company was the young filmmaker’s first stop after college. There was a lot of experimentation as young people learned to work with low budgets. As a result, Empire wound up with a lot of product that was not all that wonderful. The company has been called the Sausage Factory of the Cinema. But you can’t keep making sausages, one after the other, sometimes a steak falls off the conveyor belt. Sometimes that steak is a picture like Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR. There’s also a lot of sausages. Creepozoids is one of those sausages … but I’m learning.”

DeCoteau tied Empire’s loss of revenue to an aborted video output deal with New World Pictures, announced in August 1987, as the event which triggered Empire’s collapse. Over a two-year period, New World Video was to release five Empire titles, including Prison (1987), Cellar Dweller (1988), Buy & Cell (1988), Pulse Pounders (1988), and APPARATUS. “Empire made four of the pictures back to back,” said DeCoteau. “But because of the 1987 stock market crash, the deal between Empire and New World seemed to change; New World refused to pick up all of the Empire films as quickly as planned. They eventually released two of the films: PRISON, which had a limited theatrical run, and also CELLAR DWELLER, but the others are still being worked on.” Empire was purchased last May by Epic Pictures, a European financial consortium supervised by Eduard Sarlui, owner of Transworld Entertainment. “Basically, Empire and Transworld are owned by the same company,” said DeCoteau of the Epic umbrella. “Epic Pictures is finishing all the movies that Charlie [Band] started, which is a good dozen … ARENA, CATACOMBS, DOWN UNDER, SPELLCASTER, ROBOJOX.

DeCoteau, trained as a production assistant on films as diverse as ANGEL and Ken Russell’s CRIMES OF PASSION, made his debut as a producer-director with Empire on DREAMANIAC (1986), released on the company’s Wizard video label, distributed by Vestron. “I started pre-producing it as a picture called SUCCUBUS,” said DeCoteau. “Helen Robinson, who wrote the script knew the head of creative development at Empire Pictures, Debra Dion. Helen mentioned to Debi that she’d like to write a movie for Empire. Debi asked for a sample of her work and Helen gave her the SUCCUBUS script.” Empire, impressed with Robinson’s work, offered to purchase the screenplay; Robinson declined, insisting that De Coteau already owned it.

“Empire reacted by wanting to get involved in the production,” said DeCoteau. “Only four days before we were scheduled to start principal photography, I met Charlie Band, president of Empire Pictures.” Band not only doubled the movie’s original budget to $60,000, but vowed to reimburse DeCoteau for his personal investment “upon completion of principal photography.”

Wrapped in 15 days, the $70,000 movie was filmed in the abandoned studio of Hustler photographer Suze Randall. The film a blend of critters, slime and skin reunited DeCoteau with Kim McKamy, who made her film debut in DREAMANIAC. “Ironically,” remembers the director, “Kim refused to do any nudity. She was very shy and an all around sweet person.” McKamy later transformed herself into X-rated starlet Ashlyn Gere (aka Kim Patton), whose films-SORORITY SEX KITTENS, BUSH PILOTS, LAID IN HEAVEN—were about as demure as their titles.

“During a screening of the dailies,” recalls DeCoteau, “Charlie Band looked at me and held up ten fingers. I asked what it meant and he said, ‘Ten picture deal.’ I nearly fell out of my chair. We went upstairs, he drew up a contract and opened a $100 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne and we drank it out of Dixie cups. The next day, the cover of Daily Variety read in big bold letters, ‘CHV 10 PIC PACK DEAL WITH EMPIRE.’ [Cinema Home Video partner] John Schouweiler and I went crazy. I was only 25 years-old!

“Whenever Charles had big picture deals, I would be the slave to the market and make the smaller horror, erotic, high concept T&A movies…whatever was hot. I rarely did an ‘A’ movie for him, but I was constantly working.”

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DeCoteau’s subsequent project for Empire was CREEPOZOIDS, produced as a Beyond Infinity release for $169,000. “We wanted to do our own version of ALIENS,” said DeCoteau. “So we put together a picture called MUTANT SPAWN 2000 and I was developing a picture called CREEPOZOIDS, which was actually a hybrid of GREMLINS and GHOULIES. We just flip flopped the titles, referring to the ALIENS rip-off as CREEPOZOIDS.”

“I first met David when he worked as a caterer on a short film called THE CAYTONSVILLE ELEVEN,” says Linnea Quigley. “I was excited to work with him. There’s no huge ‘I’m a director’ ego. He’s not into himself. He’s a good businessman and he talks about stuff besides movies. He even had vegetarian food for me every day, and warm Sparklett’s water for my lusty shower scene in CREEPOZOIDS.”

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DeCoteau not only directed, but also functioned as the movie’s co producer and co writer. In spite of its diminutive budget, CREEPOZOIDS was theatrically released on a double-bill with SLAVE GIRLS FROM BEYOND INFINITY. The twin bill was released by Urban Classics, the theatrical arm of Empire’s Beyond Infinity video line. CREEPOZOIDS made the transition to video a few months later in January ’88, selling 15,000 tapes for Empire, according to DeCoteau.

DeCoteau’s next film for Empire, THE IMP, was limited to a shooting schedule of two weeks. Budgeted at $190,000, with ten per cent in above the line costs for DeCoteau’s expenses as director and co-producer, locations were selected outside of Los Angeles to conserve funds. “Los Angeles is the most expensive city in the world to make a movie,” said DeCoteau, “because of the permits, location costs, and everything like that. It’s hard to rent a basic middle-class tract house in the Valley for less than a grand a day. You have to go to places like San Marcos two hours south of Los Angeles–and you can get those same locations for $100 or $200. We found all of the cooperation there we really wanted.”

A moral (“be careful what you wish for, you may get it”) is extrapolated from the film’s title character, a mean-spirited genie. Since DeCoteau was not budgeted for elaborate special effects, he settled for a cable operated puppet to play the imp, preferring Grimm’s Fairy Tale simplicity to a “realistic” interpretation. Nevertheless, the movie proved to be so ambitious that the production exceeded its budget; extra expenses came out of DeCoteau’s own pocket.

“If we went over budget, our salaries were on the line,” said DeCoteau of Empire’s modus operandi. “So I walked away from THE IMP with very little money because I ended up spending some of my own salary on pick-up shots and things like that. Charlie (Band) isn’t the type to write you a check if you go over budget; you decide on a budget, you shake his hand, and either bring it in on budget or you don’t work anymore. I didn’t make much on that film, but such is life.”

In the film. Michelle Bauer, acquitted herself not only as a B-movie sex kitten but as a thoroughly credible actress and sterling comedienne. “David has a keen sense for people,” says Bauer. “There’s a side of him which is completely understanding. He’s more relaxed than most directors, and likes to have fun. When he was under pressure, it didn’t seem to affect the cast. He kept it under control. We were having fun as friends. It never seemed like we were working at all.”

Nevertheless, production of SORORITY BABES shot during evenings in a San Diego mall and adjacent bowling alley-was sometimes grueling. “There were personal conflicts among, some of the cast,” recalls Stevens. “The late Robin Rochelle Stille drank way too much on the set, and was always beating the crap out of Linnea in their fight scenes. Poor Linnea was constantly applying muscle rub to her many livid bruises. And she had to deal with the teenage angst of young co-star Andras Jones in the room next door. He even dumped his mattress over the hotel balcony, irrationally screaming, ‘I’m in my sexual prime!’ Andras went on to become a rather famous folk singer.”

Stevens experienced her own trauma, “dealing with another actress who clearly felt threatened by me and spared no punches while shooting our fight scenes. She pushed me down so hard, I dislocated my knee, which I had to pop back into place myself.” DeCoteau recounts, “It wasn’t pretty. She had to take four days off, but was a trouper…did her job without complaint.”

Flying furniture and torn ligaments notwithstanding, the set was infused with a party panache. “It’s the only film I’ve directed where I was continuously drunk,” chuckles DeCoteau, “— many people were! It had an open bar that we put to good use.”

“It’s one of my favorite films,” says Quigley, “because I played a tough girl and kept my clothes on. It’s fun to be mean.”

Charlie’s father, Albert Band, head of production at Empire, startled DeCoteau by insisting that nudity, playfully performed for slapstick scenes, “must” be trimmed from the director’s cut of the movie. DeCoteau, realizing nudity is a commercial exponent of the exploitation formula, appealed to Charles Band. Band inquired about the running time that was assembled for the movie’s rough cut. “I told him we were well under 80 minutes,” said DeCoteau, “When I shoot a picture, rarely does the final footage pass the 80-minute length. So they can’t do much editing because a feature-length film shouldn’t run that short. As a result, Charlie told me to put the nude scenes back in.”

Band retitled the picture SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-A-RAMA (according to DeCoteau, Band had wanted to make it BITCHIN’ SORORITY BABES … ) and released it theatrically through Urban Classics on a double bill with GALACTIC GIGOLO (originally titled CLUB EARTH), directed by Gorman Bechard.

Like DeCoteau, Bechard was another Band discovery whose independently financed feature PSYCHOS IN LOVE was picked up by Empire for release. Unlike DeCoteau, Bechard had nothing good to say about his stint at Band’s company. “I know what it’s like to be raped, “said Bechard about producing and directing two other features for Empire.

For his next feature, PSYCHOS IN LOVE, a black comedy (a “working woman” addresses the camera with “I guess I thought me being both a manicurist and a psychotic killer would, well, turn a guy off”), Bechard chose to ally himself with Empire.

“They offered me what I thought at the time was a good advance for PSYCHOS IN LOVE,” said Bechard. “I didn’t know better. And they offered me a four-picture deal with it, as an enticement to give them PSYCHOS IN LOVE. When you’re an independent filmmaker, finding the money is the worst thing in the world, and here I was able to do four pictures and pretty much have control. Charlie Band gave me tons of wonderful promises, saying, “Well, you can come up here, assist in the editing …,’ and all these other lines of bullshit. Being basically a fellow who wanted this very badly, I believed everything he said.”

CLUB EARTH, the first of Bechard’s four-picture deal with Empire, was an omen of the discord and mistrust that would sour the relationship. Bechard conceived the movie as a social satire involving an intergalactic tourist. Empire preferred to push CLUB EARTH as GALACTIC GIGOLO, and re-edited Bechard’s original cut into their concept of a more exploitable product.

“When I gave them PSYCHOS IN LOVE, I had it in writing that they wouldn’t change it at all,” said Bechard. “If I had not done that, they probably would have raped that film and it would have never been a film that I’m proud of. I am proud of PSYCHOS IN LOVE. But I think GALACTIC GIGOLO was sodomized by Charlie Band. We filmed it as a non-animated adult cartoon. That was my concept. We used the brightest colors … I mean, every different set looked like a color cartoon frame from the Sunday paper. In [color] timing the film, [Empire] took out all of the colors and left it really flat and ugly. Their editing and pacing is nothing short of pathetic; they left out some wonderfully funny stuff, and they left in all of the shit. Their motto is ‘when in doubt, cut to a pair of tits.’ I found out that CLUB EARTH was retitled GALACTIC GIGOLO through a brochure from Empire’s Urban Classics; they never had the decency to tell me they were changing the name of my movie.”

Bechard’s next film for Empire, a black comedy titled TEENAGE SLASHER SLUTS, was presold by the company in foreign markets as Assault of the Killer Bimbos (1988). “They found the word ‘sluts’ to be offensive,” said Bechard of Empire’s logic behind the title change. “And then they go and propose two other movies with the word ‘sluts’ in the title!” Empire eventually completed Bechard’s movie under the title HACK ‘EM HIGH, turning over the ASSAULT OF THE KILLER BIMBOS title to DeCoteau.

“That title presold so well, at [1987’s] American Film Market, it actually scored better than the movies in Empire’s bigger budgeted, non-Infinity division,” said DeCoteau. “Gorman Bechard completed the movie and set up a screening for Empire. It turned out to be a disappointment. Let’s just say that Gorman’s movie did not justify all of the enthusiasm. ASSAULT OF THE KILLER BIMBOS had to be brilliant, or close to it, considering the enormous presales money that was attracted from its title.”

Bechard said he deserves some of the credit for the title’s fabulous presales at the AFM, having instigated an eye-catching spread on the film in People magazine which featured Ruth Collins and Debi Thibeault, the actresses in his version. Bechard laid the blame for Empire’s dissatisfaction with the final film to the manner in which Band ran his company.

Charlie [Band] never read the script,” said Bechard. “I had the script approved by David Ross, who used to be in Empire’s development department, and by Debra Dion, who is now Charlie’s wife. I have a written letter from David Ross which says, ‘Yeh, we like the script. Just make a couple of little changes here and there.’ Basically, we agreed that it was good. Afterwards, I started filming and almost two or three weeks after we wrapped, Charlie calls me up and said he finally read the script. He said he didn’t like it. I don’t know how you run a company and allow someone to use your money to make a film without ever having read the script. That, to me, is not really the way to do business but, again, Empire is not the way to do business. When it became HACK EM HIGH, I said, ‘Wait a minute, there’s no hacking and there’s no high school.’ Of course, they came up with some new scenes that we had to reshoot which were along the lines of the usual Empire quality.”

While Empire fobbed off Bechard’s film as HACK ‘EM HIGH to foreign buyers at Milan’s Mifed Film Market, ASSAULT OF THE KILLER BIMBOS, scheduled for imminent release and eagerly awaited by distributors, existed as nothing more than a concept. Empire frantically searched for an existing script that would qualify as an adaptation of their most exploitable title.

Charles Band gave up WIZARD VIDEO after he ended his deal with VESTRON. WIZARD was distributed by LIGHTENING which was owned by VESTRON and when he left that deal and went over to NEW WORLD VIDEO which then he only released one movie with them, he started a new label called URBAN CLASSICS which he would handle the physical distribution eternally. He wouldn’t do a label deal and the first released was SLAVEGIRLS and that was doing pretty well and CREEPZOIDS was doing pretty well. And they were doing okay and then they started to make these movies back in Connecticut and they were making them cheaper in Connecticut than they were here in LA. They even had a guy out in New York, Tim Kincaid, who was making movies and those weren’t that bad. But there was a guy in Connecticut named Gorman Bechard who I guess was not only producing, writing, and directing, he was the cameraman and he did lights. And he was making these 35mm movies for only $30,000. Charlie was going wow, I got this great deal. And I was saying, Charlie if you want to give me $30,000 I’ll give you $30,000 but it’s going to look like $30,000. But give me $75,000 – $90,000 and you’ll get better movies. But anyway. Gorman did his first movie and what happened was this major snafu with ASSAULT OF THE KILLER BIMBOS. It was pre-sold with huge amounts of numbers and the URBAN CLASSICS films were presented to foreign buyers as pictures made between $1-2 million. He was showing these films to people overseas after he made them to the movie here and I brought in another director, Anita Rosenberg, who at the time didn’t think she knew what she was doing. But it ended up being the best of the URBAN CLASSICS movies. – Director Dave DeCoteau on the start of URBAN CLASSICS

A serviceable script, described by DeCoteau as a “generic but cute girls-on-the run” adventure, was considered from screenwriter Anita Rosenberg, who had previously written MODERN GIRLS for Atlantic Pictures. DeCoteau postponed his preparation of Beyond Infinity’s SPACE SLUTS IN THE SLAMMER to direct the movie. Rosenberg, however, demanded complete autonomy.

Anita Rosenberg

According to DeCoteau, “Rosenberg told Empire, ‘Sure, I’ll sell you the script for 100 grand.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, 100 grand? We pay five grand per script!’ She said, “I’ll sell it to you for five grand if you let me direct it.’ I said, “What other films have you done?’ She said, ‘Nothing, though I have done a short film.’ Empire looked at her short film, thought it was adequate enough, and agreed to let Rosenberg direct it.” DeCoteau was hired as producer for “double the usual budget and triple his customary salary.

Though he was reimbursed for services rendered on GALACTIC GIGOLO and HACK ‘EM HIGH, Bechard claims he was shortchanged on the proceeds from PSYCHOS IN LOVE. “We were promised wonderful percentages of the gross, not of the net, on the film,” said Bechard. “I made sure they couldn’t pull any accounting tricks. But they did pull a great accounting trick; they just never bothered reporting to us. We were supposed to be getting quarterly statements and checks. We never got anything. My letters to Charlie Band, complaining about this situation, and the shabby treatment of my films, were ignored.”

A forthcoming documentary by Kathy Milani, B-MOVIE, traces the production of HACK ‘EM HIGH from the film’s preproduction phase to Band’s phone call alerting Bechard of Empire’s resistance to his adaptation of “a script that Band, up to that point, had not read.” Bechard promises B-MOVIE will enlighten prospective filmmakers to the hazards of low-budget filmmaking. (Milani is currently seeking completion funds and or grants.)

Meanwhile, Bechard is also exorcising his frustrations with Empire through a manual titled “Assault of the Independent Filmmaker;” as the book’s author, Bechard vowed to “paint a no holds-barred picture of the making of each of my films, from the detailed budgets to the whole filming process, to dealing with not-always reputable distributors and investors. Filmmaking is, unfortunately, the sleaziest business in the world, and it bothers me that I can’t picture myself doing anything else.”

When Empire hit the financial skids last year, some theatrical projects like GHOULIES II and CELLAR DWELLER went straight to home video while others were shelved as incomplete. For a company that in the past boasted production agendas cluttered with a dozen titles pegged as either in production “or” in preparation,” in 1988 Empire launched only one-Dave DeCoteau’s Dr. Alien (1989) (I Was a Teenage Sex Mutant), started on a budget of $400.000. The company folded before production was finished.

But Band opened up shop again late last year, calling his new operation the Bandcompany, like Empire specializing in international sales, with a video line dubbed Phantom Home Video, and a production arm called Full Moon Productions. Band’s first announced project was Edgar Allan Poe’s THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, to be directed by Stuart Gordon. “He’s back into making pictures,” said DeCoteau. “He won’t be making as many and they won’t be as cheap.”

When Band jumped ship from Empire, his deal to sell the company gave him ownership of a trio of productions, according to DeCoteau. Band used the films, including DeCoteau’s I WAS A TEENAGE SEX MUTANT, THE INTRUDER (formerly NIGHT CREW), and JUNGLE HEAT (formerly PIRANHA WOMEN) to form his new company and subsequently negotiated a contract with Paramount Home Video for their release. I WAS A TEENAGE SEX MUTANT, now retitled DR. ALIEN!, was scheduled to be released in November.

Interview with Dave DeCoteau

Looking back on the beginning of your career, how would you appraise Dreamaniac? Dave DeCoteau: Dreamaniac was an experiment; it was my little film school project, wrapped up in ten days. It was like learning how to do it, and learning how do it quickly, because I only had ten days to learn a career’s worth of information and make a decent movie. It was made on a $60,000 budget.

The ending of Dreamaniac-with the abrupt disclosure of a succubus as a mental patient-seems like a postproduction afterthought. Who was responsible for the cop-out compromise? Dave DeCoteau: Me. I decided to go with kind of a triple-twist ending, just for the hell of it, since the film had nothing else to offer.

Your films have gotten even more exposure on cable TV, what with broadcasts on USA, Pay-Per-View… Dave DeCoteau: But, you know, Creepozoids and Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl A-Rama did better, during their original release, in foreign territories than domestically. We were well received in Britain. Creepozoids was number seven on the Top Ten Selling-Rental charts during the month of its release; The Untouchables was number eight! Sorority Babes, released in the United Kingdom as The Imp, did almost as good business as Creepozoids.

What’s the background of Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-A-Rama, your most unique movie? Dave DeCoteau: Charlie (Band) wanted, a “little genie” movie to be called The Imp. I came in the next day, and read off five story lines. The fifth one was a joke, never intended to be taken seriously, about a little genie that was squished inside a bowling trophy back in the 50s and unleashed upon some sorority babes and fraternity initiates on Hell Night. Charlie liked that concept more than any of the other ones, and we decided to go with it.

There’s a frantic chase scene, near the conclusion of Sorority Babes, without music on the soundtrack. Was this intentional or an accidental omission? Dave DeCoteau: The music channel of the entire Reel Seven did not make it to the one inch video master. When you do a final mix on a picture, you mix sound on three stripes-the dialogue, the music, and a (sound) effects track. You do the video mastering by taking your film, and your three channels of sound, and putting them onto broadcast-quality one-inch video tape for half-inch duplication. When they transferred the entire show, they accidentally forgot to drop the music channel from Reel Seven; they only transferred two channels, the dialogue and effects. The music’s omission marred the film. Fifteen or twenty-thousand copies of the tape went out without the musical channel on Reel Seven, which is the climax of the film and (originally) had an incredible musical score. I was very upset because Empire, at the time, did not let me quality control the one-inch masters. First-time viewers of Sorority Babes may prefer to hum their own theme.

Tell me where did you come up with the title SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIME BOWL-O-RAMA? Dave DeCoteau: I didn’t come up with the title. It was shot as THE IMP and Charlie Band came up with the title. He had a little I fun to watch. The experience was a lot of fun, Making movies is never really been that much fun. The two best days of making a movie is the day you get the financing and the rap party. And everything between is a pain in the fucking ass. You always have to compromise, you can’t do exactly what you want to do. Because the budgets are so low the schedules are tight and you can’t always get the actors you want and you get the actor, you could only use him for a couple days and you can’t use him for any overtime. The process is real tough. And I think PUPPETMASTER III as being my best film in most people’s eyes but just had a horrendous time making that film.

Which of your pre-Doctor Alien (1989) films is your favorite? Dave DeCoteau: I have to admit I have this bizarre affection for Creepozoids, I don’t know what it is, but when I was making that film I really took it deadly serious and expected it to be a lot better than it was. The reviews have been horrible, but-God!-every time I show it to somebody, they kind of, like, smile. It’s actually a serious attempt, whereas all the other films we’ve been doing seem to be a little campy or silly.

Didn’t Creepozoids get positive reviews in Europe? Dave DeCoteau: Excellent reviews! The United Kingdom is asking for a sequel and they’re ready to cut a check to finance it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the sequel rights to that film, so I probably won’t do it.

You made some of your past films for under $200,000. What was the budget on Doctor Alien? Dave DeCoteau: About $400,000. It’s a home video, a damn good example of direct-to-video product. I love it. It’s a very entertain. ing film for me, and everyone seems to enjoy it. The only problem about not releasing it theatrically is that it is a comedy, and comedies work very well with large audiences. I’m going to screen it for the Science Fiction Academy here, and for a few other people.

Why did you choose a more mainstream celebrity-Judy Landers-for Doctor Alien and Ghost Writer? Dave DeCoteau: When we were casting for the Doctor Alien role of Ms. Xenobia, we wanted to go with a Mary Woronov type. Well, we auditioned hundreds of Mary Woronov, Barbara Steele and Caroline Munroe types, and we realized it just didn’t work the way it was written… it wasn’t funny. So I said, “Let’s bring Judy in for a hoot.” I just wanted to meet the girl. She came in with the scenes memorized and gave us a reading, and we were falling on the floor laughing our heads off. She played it so wonderful, and so funny, that she was perfect for the part.

With the exception of your first film, Dreamaniac, your movies have avoided the “sex begets violence” syndrome. Did you consciously reject this routine premise? Dave DeCoteau: Yeah… women are not victims in my films. A female victim in my films is very, very rare. Women are the aggressors in my movies, they’re the ones who save the day. Look at Linnea Quigley in Sorority Babes: she never showed a nipple and she kicked ass, and she saved the day…

The History of Empire Films Part Five The rise of Empire as a low budget producer with their “Beyond Infinity” video line resembles the start-up of AIP during the drive-in boom of the late '50s, when a definite market existed for a certain product: films for the teenage audience, the wilder and more outrageous the better.

#BAND #EMPIRE

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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Yvette Thomas-Henry Appointed GM of Four Seasons Resort Nevis

Yvette Thomas-Henry, a Regional Vice President at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, has been appointed as General Manager of the Four Seasons Resort Nevis in the Caribbean.

Born in St. Thomas, USVI and raised in St. Croix, Yvette is returning home to the region, becoming the first Caribbean native to serve in the top position in Nevis, or any other Four Seasons property in the Caribbean. In addition to her role in Nevis overseeing a property that recently completed a multi-year, multi-million dollar enhancement project, Yvette is also responsible for the operational oversight of several properties, including two Caribbean resorts. Prior to joining Four Seasons Resort Nevis, Yvette most recently served as General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta since 2015, during which time she received a promotion to Regional Vice President of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in 2018. As a part of the Four Seasons family since 2007, Yvette has also held leadership positions at Four Seasons Hotel New York and Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, as well as hospitality experience with Loews Hotels, The Plaza Hotel, The Waldorf-Astoria NYC and The Ritz Carlton Boston. “Coming back to the region after many years working and living in the United States, I can personally identify with the resort’s positioning as a modern embodiment of the spirit and soul of the Caribbean,” said Yvette. “I am excited and honoured to have the opportunity to lead such an incredible team in such a great moment in its history.” Yvette has a Bachelor of Arts from Pace University and a Master of Science from Audrey Cohen College in New York. See latest Travel News, Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: Four Seasons, GM, General Manager. Headlines: Pictures from Ascot United vs Colliers Wood United on 11 January What Does TAT Have Planned for Thailand Travel Mart (TTM+) 2020? Exclusive Interview Aviation: Stable Passenger Demand Growth in November CWT Appoints Dale Eastlund as VP Supply Chain Partners Dassault Falcon to Hold M&O Seminars in 8 Cities Around the World Expat in Phuket Donates Two SV14 Dinghies to Disabled Sailing Thailand Bangkok to Host Asia Destination Film Forum on 30 January Wizz Air Becomes First in Europe to Deploy SITAOnAir's ACARS Over IP Service Airbus to Increase Aircraft Production in USA Sanlorenzo Appoints Simpson Marine as Distributor for Bluegame Yachts in Asia Global Air Freight Demand Down 1.1% in November 2019; APAC Down 3.7% IHG Expands Thailand Portfolio with Holiday Inn and Suites Siracha Laemchabang Asia Pacific Airlines Flew 30.3 Million Int. Passengers in November 2019 SilkAir to Cease Flights to Kolkata, India Biman Bangladesh Airlines Launches Flights to Manchester, England EmbraerX and Elroy Air to Collaborate on Unmanned Air Cargo FCM Strengthens Innovation Programme with Shep Investment Artotel Appoints Yulia Maria as Group Director of Marketing Communications Japan, Singapore, S. Korea and Germany Have World's Most Powerful Passports Yangon Int. Airport Implements SITA's Airport Management Solution Air France to Launch Twice-Daily Flights Between Paris-Orly and Munich, Germany ANA to Enhance Service at Airports in Japan with Portable Translators Yvette Thomas-Henry Appointed GM of Four Seasons Resort Nevis Hahn Air Enters 2020 with 40 New Partner Airlines CWTSatoTravel Partners US Military's Spouse Employment Programme My Emirates Pass Gives Passengers Special Discounts in UAE Visitors to Singapore Must Now Register Unmanned Aircraft India's Vistara Airline Appoints APG as Online GSA in France BOC Aviation Orders 20 Airbus A320neos China Airlines to Launch Direct Flights to Chiang Mai, Thailand Green Light for Vietnam Airlines to Expand Codeshare Agreement with Delta All Hi Fly Flights Now Single-Use Plastic Free Air India Renews Distribution Agreement with Amadeus Mandy Goh Joins St. Regis Langkawi as Executive Chef Spirit Airlines Signs Purchase Agreement for 100 Airbus A320neo Aircraft Hamad Int. Airport Served Record 38,786,422 Pax in 2019 British Airways Starts Offsetting Carbon Emissions on All Flights Within UK Marriott Opens Second JW on Hainan Island, China Airbus Partners Aston Martin for Special Edition Helicopter Dassault Aviation Appoints Charles Wemaëre as VP Worldwide Spares Boeing Appoints Niel Golightly as SVP of Communications Jayson Goldstein Joins Four Seasons Boston as F&B Director Vietjet Takes Delivery of Two More Airbus Aircraft Two Executive Appointments at Bombardier Aviation Air India No Longer Available on Sabre GDS Thailand Targets Tourism Revenue of 3.18 Trillion Baht in 2020 Pictures from Ascot United vs Banstead Athletic on 4 Jan 2020 Gen Z - Airbnb's Fastest Growing Market for Experiences in Asia Pacific Air Canada Takes Delivery of First Airbus A220-300 AirAsia Launches Flights Between Kuala Lumpur and Dalat, Vietnam Cebu Pacific Orders 15 Airbus Aircraft, Including Up To 10 A321XLRs American Airlines and Royal Air Maroc to Codeshare New Immigration Requirements to Help Solomon Islands Fight Measles Vietjet Launches Danang - Singapore Flights American Express GBT Forecasts Stable Air Prices in 2020 Etihad and Kuwait Airways to Codeshare PAG and Inmark Purchase Grand Hyatt Seoul British Airways and Iberia Achieve IATA NDC @Scale Certification Air Caraïbes Takes Delivery of First A350-1000 Aman Signs Fourth Resort in Japan Hamilton to Host HSBC New Zealand Sevens 25-26 January 2020 Thales' New Touchscreen Cockpit Displays Now Available on Airbus A350s Mongolian Airlines to Expand Network with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner British Airways to Trial AI-Powered Robots at London Heathrow Dusit Thani Resort Opens in Shuangyue Bay, China Six Senses Signs First Hotel in UK Mandarin Oriental to Take Over Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi Cebu Pacific Offering Passengers Roaming WiFi Kits Air France Orders 60 Airbus A220-300 Aircraft Sindhorn Midtown Hotel in Bangkok Appoints Jee Hoong Tan as GM British Airways to Launch LHR Flights to Portland, USA Braathens Takes Delivery of First of Five New ATR 72-600s Cebu Pacific Joins IATA Thailand: Airbnb Adds Saraburi to Beyond Big Cities Campaign New International Rugby Sevens Competition to be Launched in February Sindhorn Midtown Hotel in Bangkok Appoints Nicha Ruenthip as DOSM Qatar Airways to Launch Flights to Santorini and Dubrovnik British Airways Signs Joint Business Agreement with China Southern Air Canada Rouge Completes In-Flight Wi-Fi Installation Saab Wins Order for Digital Air Traffic Towers in Netherlands Whitbread Secures Fourth Premier Inn Hotel in Dublin, Ireland Amman to Host CAPA Middle East & Africa Aviation Summit 2020 Boeing to Suspend Production of 737 MAX Cathay Pacific's Inbound Hong Kong Traffic Down 46% in November Singapore Airlines to Launch Flights to Brussels, Belgium Wego Signs Retailing Agreement with ATPCO GTR Opens Air Cargo Hub at KLIA Air Cargo Terminal 1 Bombardier Uses SAF to Deliver Challenger 350 to Latitude 33 Aviation Swiss-Belhotel Signs First Hotel in Malaysia Czech Air Force Orders Two More Airbus C295 Aircraft New Boeing-Built Satellite to Orbit Over Asia Pacific Third Four Points by Sheraton Hotel Opens in Malaysia Hong Kong Airport Reports Further Drop in Pax, Cargo and Flights Air Canada Launches Flights Between Vancouver and Auckland, New Zealand Andaz Macau Appoints Chikako Shimizu as GM Cathay Pacific to Take Over Air New Zealand's Auckland-Hong Kong Service Four Seasons Opens Second Luxury Resort in Megeve, France Ireland's Department of Defence Orders Two Airbus C295 Aircraft Best Western Plus Opens in Nairobi, Kenya Qatar Airways Launches Flights to Gaborone, Botswana Korean Air to Revamp SkyPass Frequent Flyer Program Embraer E175-E2 Performs Maiden Flight Charlie Sullivan Joins CWT's Air Distribution Team Marriott Opens Third Sheraton Hotel in Beijing, China Radisson Blu Opens Resort in Cam Ranh, Vietnam Qantas Chooses Airbus A350-1000 for Ultra Long-Haul Flights Executive Appointments at Banyan Tree BA to Launch LHR Flights to Six New European Destinations in 2020 Korean Air to Revamp SkyPass Frequent Flyer Program Embraer E175-E2 Performs Maiden Flight Charlie Sullivan Joins CWT's Air Distribution Team Marriott Opens Third Sheraton Hotel in Beijing, China Radisson Blu Opens Resort in Cam Ranh, Vietnam Qantas Chooses Airbus A350-1000 for Ultra Long-Haul Flights Executive Appointments at Banyan Tree BA to Launch LHR Flights to Six New European Destinations in 2020 How Technology is Shaping Airports of the Future FCM and Flight Centre Achieve NDC Level 4 Certification Dusit Rebrands Luxury Resort in Philippines Emirates Launches Flights to Mexico via Barcelona Air Canada's First Airbus A220-300 Completes Maiden Flight FAA Certifies ExecuJet MRO Malaysia to Work on Dassault Jets AirAsia Launches Snap Air France-KLM Orders 10 A350-900 Aircraft Bundeswehr Takes Delivery of First Airbus H145 SAR Helicopter Drew Crawley to Join American Express Global Business Travel as CCO Cape Town 7s 2019 to Take Place 13-15 December Congo Airways to Replace Dash 8-400s with Embraer E175 Aircraft Ascent Solutions Installs Two E-Gates at NAIA 2 Departures Michel Poussau Appointed GM of Rugby World Cup 2023 Wetherspoon to Invest £200 Million Developing New Pubs and Hotels IATA Asks EU to Support Sustainable Aviation Fuel Transition Boeing Delivers First Modified MV-22 Osprey to United States Marine Corps Marriott Signs Six Hotels in India Accor to Rebrand Hotel in Queensland, Australia MHG Signs Two Hotels in Doha, Qatar Vietjet Launches Flights to New Delhi from Hanoi and Saigon SKY Signs Purchase Agreement for 10 Airbus A321XLRs British Airways Trials 3D Printing SAS' First A350 to Enter Long-Haul Service on 28 January Air Italy and Oman Air Sign Codeshare Agreement ACH and Aston Martin to Unveil 'New Creation' in January Qantas Signs FFP Agreement with Air France - KLM Group Malaysia Airlines Launches Shuttle Fares on Flights Between KL and Singapore Accor to Open 125-Room Mercure Hotel in Canberra in January Openings Push Australia's Hotel Inventory to Over 300,000 Rooms Alban Dutemple Appointed Cluster GM of Two Hotels in Bahrain Air New Zealand Trials Edible Coffee Cups Manchester Airport Unveils Details of £1 Billion Transformation South Africa Beat New Zealand to Win Dubai Sevens Aviation: RPKs Up 3.4% in October 2019 China Airlines to Launch Flights Between Taipei and Cebu, Philippines Seaplanes in Thailand? Interview with Dennis Keller, CBO of Siam Seaplane Seven HD Videos from IATA Airline Industry Retailing Symposium 2019 in Bangkok Vietnam Airlines Signs EngineWise Service Agreement with Pratt & Whitney Future of Airline Distribution and NDC - Interview with Yanik Hoyles, IATA Cambodia Airways Interview with Lucian Hsing, Commercial Director HD Videos and Interviews Podcasts from HD Video Interviews Travel Trade Shows in 2019, 2020 and 2021 High-Res Picture Galleries Travel News Asia - Latest Travel Industry News Read the full article

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deathpups · 8 years ago

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THE ENTIRE SCRIPT OF TITANIC

( SonarPings) Man: ( SonarPings) Okay, take her up and overthe bow rail. ( OverRadio ): Okay, Mir2, we're going overthe bow. Staywith us. ( SonarPings) ( Mechanical Whirring) Okay, quiet. We're rolling. Seeing her coming out of the darkness like a ghost ship still gets me everytime-- To see the sad ruin ofthe great ship sitting here where she landed at 2:30 in the morning ofApril 1 5, 1 91 2 after her long fall from the world above. ( ManSnickers) You are so full ofshit, boss. - ( Giggles) - ( Mechanical Whirring) ( SonarPinging) Man: Dive six-- Here we are again on the deck of Titanic The pressure outside is These windows are nine inches thick and ifthey go it's sayonara in two microseconds. All right, enough ofthat bullshit. ( Mechanical Whirring) Just put her down on the roofof the officer's quarters likeyesterday. - Man: Sure. - Man ( OverRadio ): Okay, Mir 2. We have landed right on the grand staircase. You guys set to launch? Yeah, Brock-- Launching Dunkin now. Go, Charlie. - All right, tether out. - Man: Tether out. Man ( OverRadio ): Okay, Brock, we're dropping down along the hull. Rogerthat. Okay, drop down and go into the first-class gangway door. I wantyou guys working the D deck reception area and the dining saloon. Man ( OverRadio ): Copythat. - Tether out. - Man: Tether out. - Now left, left. - I'm coming left. Brock: Snoop Dog is on the move. We're headed down the stairwell. Okay, Lewis, drop down to B deck. A deck. Lewis: Give me some rope, Captain. B deck-- get in there, get in there. Brock: Watch the doorframe. Watch the doorframe. - I see it. I got it. - ( Bang) ( Mechanical Whirring) - ( Cracking) - We're good.Just chill, boss. Brock: Makeyourturn. Come around. - Lewis: Cable out, Captain. - Makeyourturn. Watch the wall. Yeah, Brock, we're at the piano,you copy? Brock: Okay, copythat. Brock: Okay, right there. Right there. That's it! - That's the bedroom door. - I see it. I see it. We're in! We're in, baby. We're there! Brock: That's Hockley's bed. That's where the son ofa bitch slept. Lewis: Oops, somebody left the water running. Hey, hold itjust a second. Go backto the right. That wardrobe door-- get closer. - You smelling something, boss? - I want to see what's under it. - Give me my hands, man. - ( Mechanical Whirring) All right. - Take it easy, it might come apart. - Okay. Go, go, go, go. Flip it over. Flip it over. Go. Keep going, go, go, go. Okay, drop it. Oh, baby, baby, areyou seeing this, boss? It's payday, boys. (ManSpeaking OverLoudspeaker) ( Cheering) ( lmitates Cash Register): Ka-ching! - We did it, Bobby. - Lewis: Oh,yeah. Who's the man? Who's the best, baby? Say it. Say it. You are, Lewis. ( SawBuzzingLoudly) - Bobby, my cigar. - Bobby: Right here. ( Cheering) Brock: Okay, crack her open. ( ManSpeaking OverLoudspeaker) Shit. No diamond. You know, boss, this same thing happened to Geraldo and his career never recovered. Turn the camera off. Bobby: Brock, the partners would like to know how it's going. Hey, Dave, Barry, hi. Look, it wasn't in the safe but hey, hey, don't worry about it. There's still plenty of places it could be. Hell yes! Floor debris in the suite, the mother's room, purser's safe on C deck. -Jimmy Hoffa's briefcase. - Brock: A dozen other places. Guys, look,you'vejust got to trust my instincts. I know we're close. Wejust got to go through a little process ofelimination. Hang on a second. - Let me see that. - We might have something here, guys. Where's the photograph ofthe necklace? We'll call you right back. I'll be goddamned. Reporter: Treasure hunter Brock Lovett is best known forfinding Spanish gold. It's okay. I'll feed you in a minute. Now he has chartered Russian subs to reach the most famous shipwreck ofall: the Titanic. He is with us live via satellite from the research ship Keldysh in the North Atlantic. - Hello, Brock. - Brock: Hello, Tracy. Everyone knows the familiar stories of Titanic-- the nobility, the band playing till the very end and all that. But what I'm interested in are the untold stories the secrets locked deep inside the hull of Titanic. We're out here using robot technology to go further into the wreck than anybody's ever done before. Your expedition is at the center ofa storm ofcontroversy over salvage rights and even ethics. Many are callingyou a grave robber. Nobody called the recovery ofartifacts of King Tut's tomb "grave robbing." - Woman: What is it? - Turn that up, dear. I have museum-trained experts out here making sure that these relics are preserved and catalogued properly. Take a look at this drawing that we foundjust today: A piece of paperthat's been underwaterfor 84 years and myteam were able to preserve it intact. Should this have remained unseen at the bottom ofthe ocean for eternity? I'll be goddamned. Man (Over Loudspeaker): Vnimanye, vnimanye... Bobby: Brock! There's a satellite call foryou. Bobby, we're launching. You see these submersibles going in the water? Trust me, buddy. You want to take this call. This better be good. You got to speak up. She's kind ofold. Great. This Brock Lovett. - How can I helpyou, Mrs.-- - Calvert. Rose Calvert. Mrs. Calvert? I wasjust wondering ifyou had found the Heart ofthe Ocean yet, Mr. Lovett. Told you you wanted to take the call. All right,you have my attention, Rose. Can you tell us who the woman in the picture is? Oh,yes. The woman in the picture is me. ( Yelling OverEngineNoise): She's a goddamned liar-- Some nut case seeking money or publicity. God only knows why, like that Russian babe, Anesthesia. They're inbound! Rose Dewitt Bukater died on the Titanic when she was 1 7, right? - That's right. - Ifshe had lived, she'd be over 1 00. Okay, so she's a very old goddamned liar. Look, I've already done the background on this woman all the way backto the '20s when she was working as an actress. An actress! There's yourfirst clue, Sherlock. Her name was Rose Dawson backthen. Then she marries this guy named Calvert. They move to Cedar Rapids and she punches out a couple of kids. Now, Calvert's dead, and from what I hear, Cedar Rapids is dead. And everybodywho knows about the diamond is supposed to be dead or on this boat, but she knows. Doesn't exactly travel light, does she? Mrs. Calvert, I'm Brock Lovett. Welcome to the Keldysh. Okay, let's get her inside there. - Hi, Ms. Calvert. - Hi. Welcome to the Keldysh. Man: Hey. Hey! - ( Knocking) - Rose: Yes? - Areyour staterooms all right? - Rose: Oh,yes, very nice. Haveyou met my granddaughter Lizzie? She takes care of me. We metjust a few minutes ago. Remember, Nana, up on deck? There, that's nice. Have to have my pictures when I travel. Can I getyou anything? ls there anythingyou'd like? Yes. I would like to see my drawing. Brock: Louis XVI wore a fabulous stone that was called the Blue Diamond ofthe Crown which disappeared in 1 792 about the same time old Louis lost everything from the neck up. The theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped, too recut into a heart-like shape that became known as "Heart ofthe Ocean." Today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond. It was a dreadful, heavything. I onlywore it this once. Lizzie: You actuallythinkthis isyou, Nana? It is me, dear. Wasn't I a dish? I tracked it down through insurance records-- An old claim that was settled underterms ofabsolute secrecy. Can you tell me who the claimant was, Rose? I should imagine someone named Hockley. Brock: Nathan Hockley, that's right. Pittsburgh steel tycoon. Claim was for a diamond necklace his son Caledon bought his fiancee--you a week before he sailed on Titanic. It was filed right afterthe sinking so the diamond had to have gone down with the ship. You see the date? "April 1 4, 1 91 2." Which means ifyour grandmother is who she says she is she was wearing the diamond the daythe Titanicsank. And that makesyou my new best friend. These are some ofthe things we recovered from your stateroom. This was mine. How extraordinary! And it looks the same as it did the last time I saw it. The reflection has changed a bit. ( GaspsQuietly) Areyou readyto go backto Titanic? Lewis: Okay, here we go. She hits the berg on the starboard side, right? She kind of bumps along punching holes like Morse code-- dit-dit-dit-- along the side, below the waterline. Then the forward compartments start to flood. Now as the water level rises, it spills overthe watertight bulkheads which unfortunately don't go any higherthan E deck. So now as the bow goes down, the stern rises up slow at first, then faster and faster until finally she's got herwhole ass is sticking up in the air and that's a big ass. We're talking And the hull's not designed to deal with that pressure, so what happens? She splits, right down to the keel and the stern falls back level. Then as the bow sinks, it pulls the stern vertical and finally detaches. Now, the stern sectionjust kind of bobs there like a cork for a couple of minutes, floods and finally goes under about 2:20 a.m. two hours and 40 minutes afterthe collision. The bow section planes away landing about a halfa mile away going 20, 30 knots when it hits the ocean floor. ( lmitates Crashing) Pretty cool, huh? Thankyou forthat fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine. Ofcourse, the experience of it was somewhat different. Will you share it with us? ( Music Playing) ( Crying) - I'm taking herto rest. - No. - Come on, Nana. - No! Tape recorder. Tell us, Rose. It's been 84 years. It's okay.Just tryto remember anything-- anything at all. Doyou want to hearthis or not, Mr. Lovett? It's been 84 years... and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanicwas called "The Ship of Dreams" and it was, it reallywas. Man: All third-class passengers with a forward berth this way, please, this queue. - Right here. - Big boat, huh? - Daddy, it's a ship. - You're right. ( CarHorn Tooting) I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauritania. You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic. It's over 1 00 feet longerthan Mauritania and far more luxurious. Your daughter is fartoo difficult to impress, Ruth. So this is the ship they say is unsinkable. It is unsinkable. God Himselfcould not sinkthis ship. Sir,you have to check your baggage through the main terminal. - It's round that way, sir. - I put myfaith in you, good sir. - Now, kindly see my man. - Yes, sir, my pleasure, sir. - If I can do anything at all. - Oh,yes, right. All the trunks from that carthere to the parlor suite, rooms B-52, 54, 56. - ( Whistle Blowing) - Ladies... better hurry. ( People Saying Good-byes) - My coat? - Woman: I have it. Man: All third-class passengers due here for a health inspection. All third-class passengers due here for health inspection. Head up. Welcome aboard, ma'am. Welcome to Titanic. Rose: It wastheShip ofDreams to everyone else. To meit wasaslave ship takingmeback toAmerica in chains. Outwardly, I waseverything a well-brought-up girlshouldbe. Inside, I wasscreaming. ( Steam Whistle Blows Loudly) ( SpeakingSwedish ) Jack,you are pazzo. You bet everything we have. When you got nothing you got nothing to lose. Sven? All right, moment oftruth. Somebody's life's about to change. Fabrizio? -Niente. -Niente. - Ola?. - Nothing. Sven? Uh-oh. Two pair. I'm sorry, Fabrizio. Che"sorry?" Ma vaffanculo! You bet all the money. I'm sorry,you're not going to see your mom again for a long time because we're going to America. - Full house, boys. - Whoa! - Yeah! -Dio mio, grazie! ( Cursingln Swedish ) - Come on. - Figlio diputtana! - I'm going home! - ( Cursingln Swedish ) - I'm going home. - I go to America. Man: No, mate. Titanic go to America in five minutes. - Come on. Come on. Here. - Fabrizio: Andiamo. We're riding in high style now. We're a couple of regular swells. We're practically goddamn royalty, ragazzo mio. Fabrizio: You see, it's my destino! Like I told you, I go to America to be milionario. - Driver: Whoa, whoa! - Bastardo! - You're pazzo! - Maybe, but I've got the tickets. - Come on, I thoughtyou were fast. - Aspetta! Wait, wait! Hey, wait! We're passengers. Passengers. Haveyou been through the inspection queue? Ofcourse. Anyway, we don't have any lice. - We're Americans, both of us. - Right, come aboard. We're the luckiest sons of bitches in the world,you know that? ( Ship's Horn Blares) Good-bye! - You know somebody? - Ofcourse not. That's not the point. Good-bye! I'll missyou! Good-bye! I'm going to neverforgetyou. ( Crowd Cheering) All the way, darling. Excuse me, ma'am. Oh, right here. Hey, howyou doing? Jack. Nice to meetyou. I'mJack Dawson. Nice to meetyou. Howyou doing? Who saysyou get the top bunk? ( SpeakingSwedish ) This isyour private promenade deck, sir. Would you be requiring anything? - Hmm. - Excuse me. - Woman: This one? - Rose: No. It had a lot offaces on it. This is the one. Would you like all ofthem out, miss? Yes, we need a little color in this room. Put it in there, in the wardrobe. God, not those finger paintings again. They certainlywere a waste of money. The difference between Cal's taste in art and mine is that I have some. They're fascinating, like being inside a dream or something. - There's truth, but no logic. - What's the artist's name? - Something Picasso. - "Something Picasso." He won't amount to a thing. He won't, trust me. - Put the Degas in the bedroom. - At least theywere cheap. Ah, put it in the wardrobe. AtCherbourg, a woman came aboardnamedMargaretBrown. We all calledherMolly. Historywould callher "the Unsinkable MollyBrown. " Well, I wasn't about to wait all dayforyou, sonny. Here,you thinkyou can manage? Herhusbandhadstruckgold someplace out West andshe was whatmothercalled "newmoney. " By thenext afternoon, we were steaming westfrom the coastoflreland with nothing outaheadofus butocean. Take herto sea, Mr. Murdoch. - Let's stretch her legs. - Yes, sir. - All ahead full, Mr. Moody. - Very good, sir. - ( Bells Ringing) - ( BelIRings) - All ahead full. - Man ( Shouting): All ahead full! Come on, lads. Get moving. What's the reading? ( Crew TalkingAndShouting) All right, let's stoke them right up! We're going full ahead! Hey, look, look, look! Look, look! See it? There's another one. See him? Look at that one. Look at himjump! Whoo-hoo! Whoo! I can see the Statue of Liberty already! Very small, ofcourse. I'm the king ofthe world! ( WhoopingAnd Yelling) ( Whooping) Man: She's the largest moving object ever made bythe hand of man in all history. And our master shipbuilder, Mr. Andrews here designed her from the keel plates up. Well, I may have knocked hertogether but the idea was Mr. Ismay's. He envisioned a steamer so grand in scale and so luxurious in its appointments that its supremacywould never be challenged. And here she is willed into solid reality. Man: Hear, hear. You know I don't like that, Rose. She knows. We'll both have the lamb, rare, with very little mint sauce. Hmm,you like lamb, right, sweet pea? Areyou going to cut her meat for her, too, there, Cal? Hey, uh, who thought ofthe name "Titanic"? - Was ityou, Bruce? - Well,yes, actually. I wanted to convey sheer size and the size means stability Iuxury, and above all, strength. Doyou know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Ismay? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest toyou. - What's gotten intoyou? - Excuse me. - I do apologize. - She's a pistol, Cal. - Hopeyou can handle her. - Well, I may have to start minding... what she reads from now on, won't l, Mrs. Brown? Freud-- Who is he? ls he a passenger? ( Man ExplainingPropeller To Little Girl) It makes these waves, makes them spin. Fabrizio: The ship is nice, huh? - Yeah, it's an lrish ship. - Is English, no? No, it was built in lreland. Solid as a rock. Big lrish hands. That's typical. First-class dogs come down here to take a shit. Uh, it lets us know where we rank in the scheme ofthings. Like we could forget? - I'm Tommy Ryan. -Jack Dawson. - Hello. - Fabrizio. Hi. Doyou make any money with your drawings? Oh, forget it, boyo. You'd as like have angels fly outyour arse as get next to the likes of her. ( Laughs) - Doyou mind? - I hopeyou're proud ofthis. Isawmy whole life asifl'dalreadylivedit-- an endlessparade ofparties andcotillions yachts andpolo matches always thesamenarrowpeople, thesamemindless chatter. Ifelt likel wasstanding atagreatprecipice with no one topullmeback no one who cared oreven noticed. - ( Woman Grunts) - ( RoseSobbing) ( RunningFeetAndSobbing) ( TakingShort, Anxious Breaths) Don't do it. Stay back. Don't come any closer. Come on.Just give meyour hand. I'll pull you back over. No! Staywhereyou are. I mean it. I'll let go. No,you won't. What doyou mean, no, I won't? Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do. You don't know me. Well,you would have done it already. You're distracting me. Go away. I can't. I'm involved now. You let go and I'm going to have to jump in there afteryou. Don't be absurd. You'll be killed. - I'm a good swimmer. - The fall alone would kill you. - It would hurt. - I'm not saying it wouldn't. To tell you the truth I'm a lot more concerned about that water being so cold. ( ShoeDrops To Deck) - How cold? - Freezing. Maybe a couple degrees over. You ever, uh... ever been to Wisconsin? What? Well, they have some ofthe coldest winters around. I grew up there near Chippewa Falls. I rememberwhen I was a kid, me and myfather, we went ice fishing out on Lake Wissota. Ice fishing is,you know, whereyou-- ( Angrily): I know what ice fishing is! Sorry. Youjust seem like,you know, kind ofan indoor girl. Anyway, l, uh... I fell through some thin ice and I'm tellingyou... waterthat cold, like right down there it hitsyou like a thousand knives stabbingyou all overyour body. You can't breathe, you can't think-- at least not about anything but the pain. Which is why I'm not looking forward tojumping in there afteryou. Like I said... I don't have a choice. I guess I'm kind of hoping you'll come back overthe rail and get me offthe hook here. You're crazy. That's what everybody says, but with all due respect, miss I'm not the one hanging off the back ofa ship here. Come on. Come on, give meyour hand. You don't want to do this. Whew! I'mJack Dawson. Rose Dewitt Bukater. I'm going to have to getyou to write that one down. Come on. - ( Screams) - ( Grunting) I gotyou! Come on. Come on! ( Screams) Help! Please! Help! Please! - Please get me! - Listen. Listen to me. I've gotyou. I won't let go. Now pull yourself up. Come on. ( Grunts) Come on. That's right. You can do it. I gotyou. What's all this? You stand back! And don't move an inch! - Fetch the master-at-arms! - Care for a brandy? Cal: This is completely unacceptable! What madeyou think thatyou could putyour hands on myfiancee? - Look at me,you filth! - Cal... - What doyou thinkyou were doing? - Cal, stop. - It was an accident. - An accident? It was. Stupid really. I was leaning over, and I slipped. I was leaning far over to see the, uh... uh... uh... the, uh... uh... - Propellers? - propellers and I slipped. And I would have gone overboard but Mr. Dawson here saved me and almost went over himself. You wanted to see... She wanted to see the propellers. Like I said, women and machinery do not mix. Was that the way of it? Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty much it. Well, the boy's a hero then. Good foryou, son. Well done. So it's all's well and backto our brandy, eh? Look atyou. You must be freezing. Let's getyou inside. Perhaps a little something forthe boy. Ofcourse. Mr. Lovejoy, I think a 20 should do it. Is that the going rate for saving the woman you love? Rose is displeased. What to do? I know. Perhapsyou couldjoin us for dinnertomorrow evening to regale our group with...your heroic tale. Sure, count me in. Good. Settled then. This should be interesting. Mmm. ( Whistles) Can l, uh... bum a smoke? You'll want to tie those. It's interesting. Theyoung lady slips so suddenly and you still had time to removeyourjacket and your shoes. - ( Music BoxPlaying Tune) - ( KnockAtDoor) ( DoorOpens) I knowyou've been melancholy. I don't pretend to know why. I intended to save this until the engagement gala next week. But I thought tonight. Good gracious. Perhaps as a reminder of myfeelings foryou. - Is it a... - Diamond? Yes. It was worn by Louis XVI and they called it "Le CoeurDeLa Mer. " Both: The Heart ofthe Ocean. Yes. It's overwhelming. Well, it's for royalty. We are royalty, Rose. You know, there's nothing I couldn't giveyou. There's nothing I'd denyyou ifyou would not deny me. Now open your heart to me, Rose. Jack: Well, I've been on my own since I was 1 5 since myfolks died. And I had no brothers or sisters or close kin in that part ofthe country. So I lit on out ofthere and I haven't been back since. You couldjust call me a tumbleweed blowing in the wind. Well, Rose... we've walked about a mile around this boat deck and chewed over how great the weather's been and how I grew up but I reckon that's not why you came to talkto me, is it? - Mr. Dawson, l-- -Jack. Jack... I want to thankyou forwhatyou did. Notjust for... for pulling me back but foryour discretion. You're welcome. Look, I know whatyou must be thinking. Poor little rich girl. What does she know about misery? No. No, that's not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was what could have happened to this girl to make herthink she had no way out? Well, l-- It was everything. It was mywhole world and all the people in it and the inertia of my life plunging ahead and me, powerless to stop it. God! Look at that thing. You would have gone straight to the bottom. All of Philadelphia society will be there and all the while I feel I'm... standing in the middle ofa crowded room screaming at the top of my lungs and no one even looks up. Doyou love him? - Pardon me? - Doyou love him? You're being very rude. You shouldn't be asking me this. Well, it's a simple question. Doyou love the guy or not? This is not a suitable conversation. -Why can'tyoujust answerthe question? -( Nervous Laughter) This is absurd. You don't know me, and I don't knowyou and we are not having this conversation at all. You are rude and uncouth and presumptuous and I am leaving now. Jack. Mr. Dawson, it's been a pleasure. I soughtyou out to thankyou and now I have thanked you... - And you've insulted me. - Well,you deserved it. - Right. - Right. - I thoughtyou were leaving. - I am. You are so annoying. - ( Chuckles) - Wait. I don't have to leave. This is my part ofthe ship. You leave. Oh-ho-ho, well, well, well. Now who's being rude? What is this stupid thing you're carrying around? So what areyou, an artist or something? Well, these are rather good. They're, uh-- They're very good actually. Jack, this is exquisite work. They didn't thinktoo much ofthem in old Paree. Paris! You do get around for a poor-- Well, uh, uh, a person of limited means. Go on, a poor guy, you can say it. Well, well, well. And these were drawn from life? Well, that's one ofthe good things about Paris-- Iots ofgirls willing to take their clothes off. You liked this woman. You used her several times. Well, she had beautiful hands, you see? I thinkyou must have had a love affairwith her. No, no, no, no, no. Just with her hands. She was a one-legged prostitute. See? - ( Aghast): Oh! - ( Both Chuckle) Ah, she had a good sense of humor, though. Oh, and this lady... she used to sit at this bar every night wearing every piece ofjewelry she owned just waiting for her long-lost love. Called her Madame Bijou. See how her clothes are all moth-eaten? Well,you have a gift,Jack. You do. You see people. I seeyou. And? You wouldn't havejumped. But the purpose of university is to find a suitable husband. Rose has already done that. Look, here comes that vulgar Brown woman. Quickly, get up before she sits with us. Hello, girls. I was hoping I'd catch you at tea. We're awfully sorry you missed it. The countess and I werejust off to take the air on the boat deck. What a lovely idea. I need to catch up on my gossip. Molly: Countess. Soyou've notyet lit the last four boilers? No, I don't see the need. We are making excellent time. The press knows the size of Titanic. Now I want them to marvel at her speed. We must give them something new to print. This maiden voyage of Titanic must make headlines. Mr. Ismay, I would prefer not to push the engines until they've been properly run in. Ofcourse I'mjust a passenger. I leave it toyour good offices to decide what's best. But what a glorious end toyourfinal crossing ifwe were to get into New York on Tuesday night and surprise them all. Make the morning papers. Retire with a bang, eh, E.J.? Good man. Well, afterthat I worked on a squid boat in Monterey. Then I went down to Los Angeles to the pier in Santa Monica and started doing portraits there forten cents apiece. Why can't I be likeyou,Jack-- just head out forthe horizon whenever I feel like it? Saywe'll go there sometime to that pier even ifwe only everjust talk about it. No, we'll do it. We'll drink cheap beer. We'll ride on the roller coastertill we throw up. Then we'll ride horses on the beach right in the surf. Butyou'll have to do it like a real cowboy. None ofthat sidesaddle stuff. - You mean, one leg on each side? - Yeah. - Can you show me? - Sure... ifyou like. - Teach me to ride like a man. - And chew tobacco like a man. And spit like a man. They didn't teach you that in finishing school? - No. - Well, come on, I'll showyou. Let's do it. I'll showyou how. Come on. Jack, no!Jack, no! Wait,Jack. No,Jack. I couldn't possibly,Jack. Watch closely. - That's disgusting! - All right,yourturn. That was pitiful! Come on,you really got to hawk it back,you know? Get some leverage to it. Useyour arms, arcyour neck. ( Hawks) - See the range on that thing? - Mm-hmm. - ( RoseHawking) -Jack: Okay, go. ( Hawks) -That was better. You got to work on it. -Really? Reallytry and hawk it up and get some bodyto it,you know? You got to... ( Snorting) ( Swallows) Mother. May I introduceJack Dawson? Charmed, I'm sure. The others were gracious andcurious abouttheman who hadsavedmylife butmymotherlookedathim likean insect-- a dangerous insect which mustbesquashedquickly. Well,Jack, sounds likeyou're a good man to have around in a sticky spot. ( TrumpetPlayingFanfare) Why do they always insist on announcing dinner like a damn cavalry charge? - ( Laughs) - Shall we go to dress, Mother? Seeyou at dinner,Jack. Uh, son? Son! Doyou have the slightest comprehension whatyou're doing? Not really. Well,you're about to go into the snake pit. What areyou planning to wear? I figured. Come on. I was right. You and my son arejust about the same size. Pretty close. - ( Whistles) - You shine up like a new penny. ( Laughs) Good evening, sir. ( Orchestra Playing "On TheBeautifuIBlueDanube") Good evening. Man: Hello. Cal: Doyou know that there are several thousand tons of Hockley steel in this very ship? - Ruth: Hmm. Which part? - Cal: All the right ones, ofcourse. Then we'll know who to hold accountable ifthere's a problem. - Where's my daughter? - Oh, she'll be along. - There is the countess. - Hello, my dear. - Good evening, Cal. - Cal: So good to seeyou. I saw that in a nickelodeon once and I always wanted to do it. ( Snickers) Ruth: I'll seeyou at dinner. Darling? Surely you remember Mr. Dawson. Dawson? ( Chuckles) Well, it's amazing. You could almost pass for a gentleman. - Almost. - Extraordinary. Ruth: My dear, it's delightful to seeyou. What a remarkable voyage this is. - It's mad, isn't it? - Ruth: I loveyour perfume. There's the Countess of Rothes. And, um, that'sJohnJacob Astor-- the richest man on the ship. His little wifeythere, Madeleine, is my age and in delicate condition. See how she's trying to hide it? - Quite the scandal. - Hmm. And that's Benjamin Guggenheim and his mistress Madame Aubert. Mrs. Guggenheim is at home with the children, ofcourse. And over here we have Sir Cosmo and Lucille Lady Duff-Gordon. She designs naughty lingerie, among her manytalents. Very popularwith the royals. Congratulations, Hockley. She's splendid. Why, thankyou. - Care to escort a ladyto dinner? - Certainly. - ( Chuckling) - Sweat pea? - Cal: Sweet pea. - Ain't nothin' to it, is there,Jack? Remember, they love money, sojust pretend likeyou own a gold mine... and you're in the club. - Hey, Astor! - Well, hello, Molly. Nice to seeyou. J.J. Madeleine, I'd likeyou to meetJack Dawson. - How doyou do? - Pleasure. Hello,Jack. Areyou ofthe Boston Dawsons? No-- the Chippewa Falls Dawsons, actually. Oh,yes. Yes. Hemusthave been nervous, butheneverfaltered. Theyassumed he wasone ofthem-- Heir to a railroadfortune, perhaps. Newmoney, obviously, butstilla memberofthe club. Mother, ofcourse, couldalways be countedupon. Tell us ofthe accommodations in steerage, Mr. Dawson. I hearthey're quite good on this ship. The best I've seen, ma'am. Hardly any rats. ( Laughter) Mr. Dawson isjoining us from the third class. He was ofsome assistance to myfiancee last night. It turns out that Mr. Dawson is quite a fine artist. He was kind enough to show me some of his worktoday. Rose and I differ somewhat in our definition offine art. Not to impugn yourwork, sir. ( Clears Throat) Ismay: She may be mine on paper but in the eyes ofGod, she belongs to Thomas Andrews. ( Whispering): Are these all for me? Just start from the outside and workyourway in. He knows every rivet in her, don'tyou, Thomas? - Your ship is a wonder, truly. - Thankyou, Rose. - And how doyou takeyour caviar, sir? - No caviarfor me, thanks. Never did like it much. And where, exactly, doyou live, Mr. Dawson? Well, right now, my address is the R.M.S. Titanic. Afterthat, I'm on God's good humor. And how is it you have means to travel? I work myway from place to place-- You know, tramp steamers and such. But I won myticket on Titanic here at a lucky hand at poker. A very lucky hand. - All life is a game of luck. - Mmm. A real man makes his own luck, Archie. - Right, Dawson? - Mmm. And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, doyou? Well,yes, ma'am, I do. I mean, got everything I need right here with me. Got air in my lungs and a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what's going to happen orwho I'm going to meet, where I'm going to wind up. Just the other night, I was sleeping under a bridge, and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. - ( Laughter) - I'll take some more ofthat. I figure life's a gift, and I don't intend on wasting it. You never know what hand you're going to get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes atyou. Hereyou go, Cal. To make each day count. - Well said,Jack. - Hear, hear! To making it count. - All: To making it count. - Archie: Bravo. ( MollyLaughing) Mr. Brown had no idea I'd hidden the money in the stove. ( Laughter) So he comes home drunk as a pig, celebrating and he lights a fire. ( Laughter) ( Softly): Next it'll be brandies in the smoking room. Archie: Well,join me in a brandy, gentlemen? ( MenAgree) Now they retreat into a cloud ofsmoke and congratulate each other on being masters ofthe universe. Ladies, thankyou for the pleasure ofyour company. Rose, may I escortyou backto the cabin? - No, I'll stay here. - Hereyou go, Molly. Archie: Joining us, Dawson? You don't want to stay out here with the women, doyou? No, thanks. I've got to be heading back. - Ah. - Probably best. It'll be all business and politics, that sort ofthing-- Wouldn't interestyou. But Dawson, good ofyou to come. Jack, mustyou go? Time for me to go row with the other slaves. Good night, Rose. ( Clock BeginsChiming) ( Sighs) Soyou want to go to a real party? - ( Drums Pounding, Men Whooping) - ( PlayingLively Tune) Is okay I put my hand here? Okay. - Talla frikkensvenska? - What? ( Repeats Phrase) I can't understand you. ( GlassShatters) Hey! Bravo, bravo! - Thankyou. Come on, guys. - Let's go! I'm going to dance with her now, all right? - Come on. - What? - Come with me. - What?Jack--Jack, wait! - ( BandPlayingAtFast Tempo) - I can't do this. We're going to have to get a little bit closer. Like this. - ( PipesAndDrums PlayingDance Tune) - You're still my best girl, Cora. - I don't know the steps. - Neither do l. Just go with it. Don't think. - ( Laughing) - Hey. ( RoseSquealing With Delight) Wait,Jack,Jack! Wait! Stop,Jack! - Ba-ba-ba. - ( Dancers Whooping) - Rose: Wait! - Hey! Hey! ( Whooping) -Jack: Yeah! -Jack, no! Whaaa! ( Squeals, Giggling) ...jurisdiction ofthe Sherman Act so my lawyers will argue. That's what Rockefeller said, but the Supreme Court is not swallowing it. ( MenShoutingAndCheering, DrumsAndPipes Playing) What? You think a first-class girl can't drink? - ( Squeals) - Get out of here. - You all right? - ( Laughing) - I'm fine. - ( Growls) Two out ofthree, two out ofthree. So... you thinkyou're big, tough men? Let's seeyou do this. Hold this for me,Jack. Hold it up. Ow! ( Laughing) -Jesus, Mary andJoseph! - You all right? I haven't done that in years. Go see Maggie, lads. Give herthe holley! Let's go! Musicians: Ho! Coffee, sir? I had hoped you would come to me last night. I was tired. Your exertions below decks were no doubt exhausting. I seeyou had that undertaker ofa manservant follow me. How typical. You will never behave like that again, Rose. Doyou understand? I'm not a foreman in one ofyour mills thatyou can command. I'm yourfiancee. Myfiancee? Myfiancee?!! Yes,you are, and mywife! Mywife in practice if notyet by law, soyou will honor me. You will honor me the way a wife is required to honor a husband. Because I will not be made out a fool, Rose. Is this in anyway unclear? - No. - Good. Excuse me. Miss Rose! - We had a little... accident. - That's all right, Miss Rose. - That's all right. - I'm sorry, Trudy. Let me helpyou. It's all right, miss. It's all right, miss. - Tea, Trudy. - Yes, ma'am. You're not to see that boy again, doyou understand me? - Rose, I forbid it. - Oh, stop it, Mother. You'll giveyourself a nosebleed. This is not a game. Our situation is precarious. You know the money's gone. Ofcourse I know it's gone. You remind me every day. Yourfather left us nothing but a legacy of bad debts hidden by a good name. That name is the only card we have to play. I don't understand you. It is a fine match with Hockley. - It will ensure our survival. - How can you put this on my shoulders? - Why areyou being so selfish? - I'm being selfish? Doyou want to see me working as a seamstress? Is that whatyou want? To see ourfine things sold at auction? Our memories scattered to the winds? ( Sighs) It's so unfair. Ofcourse it's unfair. We're women. Our choices are never easy. Hmm? Congregation: " Protect them byThy guardian hand " " From every peril on the land. " " O spirit, whom the Father sent " "To spread across the firmament " " O wind of heaven, byThy might " " Save all who dare the eagle's flight " "And keep them byThywatchful... " - Hello, Mr. Andrews. - Hello,Jack. - Sir. - I need to talkto somebodyfor a sec. You're not supposed to be in here. " ...fire and foe Protect them... " I wasjust here last night. You don't remember me? No, I'm afraid I don't. Nowyou're going to have to turn around. He'll tell you. I just-- I just need-- Mr. Hockley and Mrs. Dewitt Bukater continue to be appreciative ofyour assistance. They asked me to, uh... giveyou this in gratitude. - I don't wantyour money. Please, l-- - And also to remind you... thatyou hold a third-class ticket and thatyour presence here is no longer appropriate. Please, I just want to speakto Rose for-- Gentlemen, will you please see that Mr. Dawson gets to where he belongs and that he stays there? Yes, sir. Come along,you. " Oh, hear us when we cryto Thee " " Forthose in peril on the sea. " Ruth: And why doyou have two steering wheels? We really only use this near shore. Excuse me, sir. Another ice warning. This one's from the Noordam. Thankyou, Sparks. Oh, not to worry. Quite normal forthis time ofyear. In fact, we're speeding up. I'vejust ordered the last boilers lit. Man: Okay, son, wind it up tight like I showed you. Okay, now, let it go. - Was good, wasn't it? - Quite nice. That's excellent, son. Rose: Mr. Andrews, forgive me... I did the sum in my head and with the number of lifeboats times the capacityyou mentioned forgive me, but it seems that there are not enough for everyone aboard. About half, actually. Rose,you miss nothing, doyou? ln fact, I put in these new type davits which can take an extra row of boats inside this one but it was thought by some that the deckwould looktoo cluttered so I was overruled. Waste ofdeck space as it is on an unsinkable ship. Sleep soundly,young Rose. I have built you a good ship, strong and true. She's all the lifeboatyou need. Just keep heading aft. The next stop will be the engine room. Come on. Jack, this is impossible. I can't seeyou. - I need to talktoyou. - No,Jack, no. Jack, I'm engaged. I'm marrying Cal. I love Cal. Rose,you're no picnic. All right,you're a spoiled little brat, even but underthatyou're the most amazingly astounding wonderful girl-- woman-- that I've ever known and... -Jack, l... - No, let me try and get this out. You're,you're ama-- I'm not an idiot. I know how the world works. I've got ten bucks in my pocket. I have nothing to offeryou and I know that. I understand. But I'm too involved now. Youjump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowingyou'll be all right. That's all that I want. Well, I'm fine. I'll be fine, really. Really? I don't think so. They've gotyou trapped, Rose and you're going to die ifyou don't breakfree-- Maybe not right away becauseyou're strong, but sooner or laterthat fire that I love aboutyou, Rose... that fire is going to burn out. It's not up toyou to save me,Jack. You're right. Onlyyou can do that. I'm going back. Leave me alone. Countess: Tell Lucille about the disasteryou had with the stationer's. Well, ofcourse, the invitations had to be sent back twice. - Oh, my dear! - And the dreadful bridesmaid's gowns-- Let me tell you what an odyssey that has been. Rose decided she wanted lavender. She knows I detest the color, so she did it onlyto spite me. Lucille: lfonlyyou'd come to me sooner. Ruth saw some of my designs in "La Mode Illustree." Theywere forTrousseau ofthe Duchess of Malborough'syoungest daughter. Theywere quite charming, but I think you'll agree, my dear, that together we've created something ofa phoenix from the ashes. ( Women Laugh Politely) Hello,Jack. I changed my mind. - They said you might be-- - Shh. Give meyour hand. Now closeyour eyes. Go on. Step up. Now hold on to the railing. - Keepyour eyes closed, don't peek. - I'm not. Step up onto the rail. Hold on. Hold on. Keepyour eyes closed. - ( Giggles) - Doyou trust me? I trustyou. All right, open your eyes. I'm flying!Jack! ( Softly): " Come,Josephine, myflying machine " " Going up, she goes " " Up, she goes... " That was the last time Titanic ever saw daylight. So we're up to dusk the night ofthe sinking. - Six hours to go. - Incredible. There's Smith and he's standing there and he's got the iceberg warning... in his fucking hand-- excuse me-- his hand, and he's ordering more speed. working against him. He figures anything big enough to sinkthe ship they're going to see in time to turn but the ship's too big with too small a rudder. Doesn't cornerworth a damn. Everything he knows is wrong. ( Laughing) It's quite proper, I assureyou. This is the sitting room. - Will this light do? - What? Don't artists need good light? ( ln French Accent): That is true but I'm not used to working in such horrible conditions. Monet! - Doyou know his work? - Ofcourse. Look at his use ofcolor here. Isn't he great? I know, it's extraordinary. Cal insists on carting this hideous thing everywhere. Should we be expecting him anytime soon? Not as long as the cigars and brandy hold out. - That's nice. - What is it, a sapphire? A diamond, a very rare diamond. Jack, I wantyou to draw me like one ofyour French girls... wearing this. All right. Wearing onlythis. The last thing I need is another picture of me Iooking like a porcelain doll. As a paying customer... I expect to get what I want. Over on the bed-- the couch. Go... Iie down. - Tell me when it looks right. - Putyour arm backthe way it was. Right. Put that other arm up, that hand right byyourface there. Right. Now, head down. Eyes to me, keep them on me. And tryto stay still. ( Exhales) So serious. I believeyou are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste. I can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing. He does landscapes. Just relaxyourface. - Sorry. - No laughing. ( Exhales) My heart was pounding the whole time. It was the most erotic moment of my life. Up until then, at least. - So what happened next? - You mean, did we do it? Sorry, to disappointyou, Mr. Bodine. Jackwas very professional. Thankyou. ( RoseLaughing) Whatyou doing? Will you put this back in the safe for me? Mm-hmm. Would you excuse me? - None ofthe stewards have seen her. - This is absurd. It's a ship, there's only so many places she could be. Lovejoy, find her. - Clear. - Yes. I don't think I've ever seen such a flat calm. Like a mill pond. Not a breath ofwind. It will make the bergs harderto see with no breaking water at the base. Hmm. Well, I'm off. Maintain speed and heading, Mr. Lightoller. Yes, sir. It's getting cold. You look nice. - ( KnockAtDoor) - Lovejoy: Miss Rose? My drawings! ( DoorCloses) Come on! - No, wait, wait! - Wait, wait, wait! Go, go! Down, down! Rose: Quickly, quickly! ( Giggling) Bye! - Sorry! - ( Giggling) - It's all right! - ( Laughing) Prettytough for a valet, this fellow. - Seems more like a cop. - I think he was. -Jack: Oh, shit. - ( RoseScreams) No, over here! Quick! ( BoilerBlasting) - Now what?! - What?! Hold up! What'reyou two doing down here? You shouldn't be down here! It could be dangerous! Jack: Carry on! Don't mind us. You're doing a greatjob! Keep up the good work! Ah, lookwhat we have here, huh? ( Rose Clears Throat) Thankyou. - ( Honks Horn ) - Where to, miss? To the stars. You nervous? No. Putyour hands on me,Jack. Crewman: God, it's bloody cold. You know, I can smell ice, you know, when it's near. - Bollocks. - But I can, all right! Murdoch: Did you everfind those binoculars forthe lookouts? Haven't seen them since Southampton. Well, I'll be on my rounds. Cheerio. You're trembling. Don't worry. I'll be all right. - They ran down there. - Right. Lovejoy: Anything missing? I've got a better idea. Gotcha! ( RoseLaughing) ( Laughing) Did you see those guys' faces? Did you see the... When the ship docks... I'm getting offwith you. This is crazy. I know. It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it. ( Quietly): Oh,yes. Here, look at this. Oh, look at that, would you? - They're a bit warmerthan we are. - Well, ifthat's what it takes for us to get warmer I'd rather not, if it's all the same toyou. - Bugger me! - ( Alarm Bell Clanging) - ( PhoneRings) - Pick up,you bastards! ( PhoneRinging) - Is there anyone there? - Yes, what doyou see? - Iceberg! Right ahead! - Thankyou. Iceberg! Right ahead! Hard to starboard! Crewman: Hard to starboard! - ( Ringing) - Crewman: Turn, turn! Steady! - ( Ringing) - ( Bell Clangs ) Full astern! - Hard over. - Helm's hard over, sir. - ( Ringing) - Go, lads! Go! ( Men Yelling OutOrders) Shut all the dampers! Shut them! ( DampersSlamming) Hold it. Hold it! Now, engage the reversing engine! ( EngineStops) ( EngineRestarts) Why aren't theyturning?! - Is it hard over?! - Crewman: It is,yes, sir, hard over! ( Softly): Come on, come on, come on. Turn. Yes. It's going to hit! Jesus Christ. ( Glass Tinkling) - ( Softly):Jesus. - Hard to port! Crewman: Hard to port! ( MenScreaming) Get back! ( Screaming) - ( Hissing) - ( Screams) - ( MetaIDoors Closing) - Come on, let's go! Get out the door! They're closing the doors! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out the door! Go on! Go on! Come on, lads! Go, lads, go! Get out! ( Screams) ( DoorsSlamming) ( Softly): Oh, my God. That was a close shave, weren't it? Smell ice, can you? Bleeding Christ. Note the time and enter it in the log. What was that, Mr. Murdoch? An iceberg, sir. I put her hard to starboard and ran the engines full astern but it was too close. I tried to port round it but she hit and the... - Close the watertight doors. - Murdoch: The doors are closed, sir. - All stop. - Crewman: Aye, sir! ( Ringing) Find the carpenter. Get him to sound the ship. Yes, sir! Fabrizio: Porca puttana! Che cazzo e? Come on, let's get the hell out of here! Come on, hurry up. Excuse me. Why have the engines stopped? I felt a shudder. I shouldn't worry, madam. We've likelythrown a propeller blade. That's the shudderyou felt. May I bringyou anything? No, thankyou. Man: Did you see anything? Man: I don't see anything now, doyou? ( Commotion) Ifthis is the direction the rats are going that's good enough for me. Crewman: Please, sir, please. Everything's under control. - You there. - Sir, there is no emergency. - Yes, there is, I have been robbed. - Get the master-at-arms. - Now,you moron! - Yes, sir. ( Men Laughing) Hey,you're going to miss the fun. Did you see what happened? No, I missed it. Apparently, it hit overthere. Crewman: Boiler room six is flooded eight feet above the plate. And the mail hold is worse. She's all buckled in in the forward hold. - Can you shore up? - Not unless the pumps get ahead. Haveyou seen the damage in the mail hold? - No, she's already underwater. - This is bad. We should tell Mother and Cal. I thinkthey're very good, sir. Don't touch anything. I want the entire room photographed. Rose: Just keep holding my hand. We've been looking foryou, miss. Rose ( Sighs): Well, here we go. Something serious has happened. Yes, it has. Indeed. Two things dearto me have disappeared this evening. Now that one is back I have a pretty good idea where to find the other. - Search him. - Takeyour coat off, sir. - Now what? - Come on. Cal, what areyou doing? We're in the middle ofan emergency. What's going on? - Is this it? - That's it. This is horseshit! - Don'tyou believe it, Rose. Don't! - He couldn't have. Ofcourse he could. It's easy enough for a professional. But I was with him the whole time. This is absurd. Perhaps he did it whileyou were putting your clothes back on, dear. Real slick, Cal. Rose, they put it in my pocket. - Shut up. - It isn't even your pocket, is it, son? Property ofA. L. Ryerson. - That was reported stolen today. - I just borrowed it. - I was going to return it. - We have an honest thief here, do we? You know I didn't do this, Rose. You know it. Don'tyou believe them, Rose. You know I didn't do it. - Come on, let's go. - You know I didn't do it, Rose. Rose! Come on, son. There's a good lad. - Come on. - You know I didn't do it! You know me! Ismay: Most unfortunate, Captain. Water... 1 4 feet above the keel in ten minutes-- In the forepeak, in all three holds and in the boiler room six. - That's right, sir. - When can we get underway, damn it? That's five compartments. She can stay afloat with the first four compartments breached but not five-- not five. As she goes down bythe head the water will spill overthe tops of bulkheads at E deckfrom one to the next. Back and back. There's no stopping it. The pumps-- Ifwe opened the doors-- The pumps buyyou time, but minutes only. From this moment, no matterwhat we do Titanicwill founder. But this ship can't sink. She's made of iron, sir. I assureyou, she can... and she will. It is a mathematical certainty. How much time? An hour. Two at most. And how many aboard, Mr. Murdoch? Well, I believeyou may get your headlines, Mr. Ismay. Oh, it is a little slut, isn't it? Will you look at me when I'm talking toyou. ( KnockAtDoor) - Mr. Hockley? - Not now, we're busy. Sir, I've been told to askyou to please put on your lifebelts and come up to-- I said not now. I'm sorryto inconvenienceyou, Mr. Hockley, but it's Captain's orders. Now, please, dress warmly. It's quite cold out tonight. Now, may I suggest topcoats and hats. - This is ridiculous. - Not to worry, miss. I am sure it'sjust a precaution. Everybody up! Lifebelts on! - ( MenScreaming Orders) - What's heyelling about? Everybody up! Putyour lifebelts on! - What's the ruckus? -Just putyour lifebelts on! Crewman: C.QD.? Sir? That's right-- C.QD. The distress call. That's our position. ( Sighs) Tell whoever responds that we're going down bythe head. We need immediate assistance. Blimey. Keep lowering! Keep lowering! ( Crewman Yelling OutOrders) Mr. Wilde! Mr. Wilde, where are the passengers? We moved them back inside. It's too damn cold and noisyforthem. You there! (Blows Whistle) Get down here and help with these lines. ( Orchestra Playing "Alexander's RagtimeBand") ( People Conversing) Care for a drink, sir? - Crewman: Please putyour lifebelts on. - Hey, sonny, what's doing? You got us all trussed up here and now we're cooling our heels. Sorry, ma'am. Let me go and find out. I don't think anybody knows what the hell's going on around here. It's the goddamned English doing everything bythe book. There's no need for language, Mr. Hockley. Go back and turn the heaters on in our rooms. I'd like a cup oftea when I return. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Andrews. I saw the iceberg and I see it in your eyes. Please tell me the truth. The ship will sink. - You're certain. - Yes, in an hour or so.... all this will be at the bottom ofthe Atlantic. - What? - Please, tell onlywhoyou must? I don't want to be responsible for a panic and get to a boat quickly, don't wait. You rememberwhat I told you about the boats? Yes. I understand. Over here, sir. Sir, they need you up in the second-class purser's office. - There's a big mob up there. - Go on, I'll keep an eye on him. Aye, right. Sir! Carpathia says they're making 1 7 knots. Full steam forthem, sir. She's the only one responding? The only one close, sir. She says they can be here in four hours. Four hours? Thankyou, Bride. ( Softly): My God. ( Crewmen Yelling OutOrders) Sir! We are swung out and ready, sir. Hadn't we better get the women and children into the boat, sir? - Yes, we do. - Sir? Women and children first. Yes. Yes, sir. Crewman ( Yelling): Ladies and gentlemen,your attention please! Step this way, please. That's right. Come towards me. Thankyou. Good. Forthe time being, I shall require onlywomen and children. Man: Right here. All right, boys, like the captain said nice and cheery so there's no panic. "Wedding Dance." ( Orchestra BeginsPlaying) Lifebelts on! Here, putyour lifebelts on. Putyour lifebelts on. Here, putyour lifebelt on. Here, come on, here. ( Commotion) Crewman: It isn't time to go up to the boatsyet. Please stay calm. Look, please, make sure, everybody, you've gotyour lifebelts on and gentlemen, allow the women and children through to the front. - What are we doing, Mommy? - We'rejust waiting, dear. When they're finished putting the first-class people in the boats... they'll start with us and we'll want to be all ready, won't we? ( MenArguing) Go and get some help. Lower away! Left and right together! Steady! Both sides together. Steady! Steady! Steady! Stop! Stop! - ( Screaming) - Hold the left side! Right side only! Right side only! Right side only! Hold the left side! Right side down! Lower awaytogether! Steady, lads! ( Explosion) ( Passengers Gasp ) You know, I do believe this ship may sink. I've been asked to giveyou this small token ofour appreciation. Compliments of Mr. Caledon Hockley. Come on, sister,you heard the man-- into the boat. Any room for a gentleman, gentlemen? Crewman: Onlywomen at this time, sir. Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they're not too crowded. Oh, Mother, shut up! Don'tyou understand? The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats. Not enough by half. Halfthe people on this ship are going to die. Not the better half. Come on, Ruth, get in the boat. First-class seats are right up here. You know, it's a pity I didn't keep that drawing. It'll be worth a lot more by morning. You unimaginable bastard. Molly: Come on, Rose, darling. There's plenty of room foryou. Come on, Rose. You're next, darling. Come into the boat, Rose. - Come. - Rose, get into the boat. Rose. Good-bye, Mother. Rose! Rose, come back here! Where areyou going? To him? To be a whore to a gutter rat? I'd rather be his whore than yourwife. No. No! - I said no! - ( Hawking) Ruth: Rose! Please stop! Crewman: And lower away! - Rose! - Man the tiller! - No, wait! - Lower away! - Rose! - Lowertogether! Help! Can anybody hear me? ( BangingPipe) Hello, help me! ( Distantly): Help me! Can anybody hear me? Somebody help me, please! Rose: Mr. Andrews? - Steward, checkthe starboard corridor. - Yes, Mr. Andrews. Madam, please put on a lifebelt. Get to the boat deck immediately. Lucy, for God's sake, put on your lifebelt. - Set a good example. - Yes, sir. - Anyone in here? - Mr. Andrews? Mr. Andrews, thank God. Where would the master-at-arms take someone under arrest? What? You have to get to a boat right away. No! I'm doing this with orwithoutyour help, sir, but without will take longer. Take the elevatorto the bottom. Go to the left down the crewman's passage. Then go right and left again at the stairs. You'll come to a long corridor. - This could be bad. - (WaterGurgling) Oh, shit. Oh, shit! ( Struggling) - Excuse me, thankyou. - Crewman: The lifts are closed. - Woman: I do not care... - The lifts are-- I'm sorry, miss, but the lifts are closed. I'm through being polite, goddamn it! Now take me down! E deck. Come on. Oh, come on. ( Yells) ( Screams) - I'm going back up! - No! No, no! Come back! I'm going back up. I'm going back up! Crew passage. Crew passage. ( BreathingHard) Jack? Jack? Jack?! -Jack? - Rose! Jack?! Rose, I'm in here! I'm in here. -Jack?! - I'm in here. -Jack?! - Rose! Jack!Jack! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. - That guy Lovejoy put it in my pocket. - I know, I know, I know, I know. Listen, Rose,you're going to have to find a spare key, all right? Look in that cabinet right there. It's a little silver one, Rose. Silver. - These are all brass ones! - Check right here, Rose. Rose... how did you find out I didn't do it? I didn't. I just realized I already knew. - Keep looking. - Oh. No key. There's no key! All right, Rose, listen. You're going to have to go find some help. It'll be all right. I'll be right back. I'lljust wait here. Hello, is there anyone here? Hello? ls there anybody down here? We need help! Hello! Damn it. Can anybody hear me? Please, hello! Hello! Oh, thank God. Wait, please, I need your help. There's a man back here and-- Wait! Hello? ( LoudRumbling) ( RoseBreathingHard) - Hello? - Ah, miss,you shouldn't be here now. - Please, I need your help. - This way, quickly. There is a man down here and he is trapped. Please. - There's no need to panic. - No, I'm not panicking. You're going the wrong way! Let go of me, listen! - To hell with you. - Oh! ( Ship Creaking) ( Softly): Oh, my God... - ( Explosion) - ( Crackling) ( Gasping) ( LoudRumbling) -Jack! - Rose! - Will this work? - I guess we'll find out. Come on. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Try a couple of practice swings overthere. All right. Good, now tryto hit the same mark again, Rose. You can do it. Okay, that's enough practice. Come on, Rose, you can do it. Listen. Just hit it really hard and reallyfast. Wait, open your hands up a little more. - Like that? - Right. Listen, Rose, I trustyou. Go! -( Clang) -( Gasps) ( ScreamingAndLaughing) You did it! Come on, let's go. Oh, shit, this is cold. Oh, shit! Shit, shit. - This is the way out. - We have to find anotherway. Come on. - Tiller: Pull. - (Orchestra Playing) Pull! Putyour backs into it, pull! ( DistantShouting) Pull! Now, there's something you don't see every day. Pull! ( DistantExplosion) ( Shouting) Crewman: What's this luggage doing here? - Get rid of it, we need the room. - (Crewman Giving Orders) ( Crying) Keep calm. No! -Lovejoy. -She's not on the starboard side either. We're running out oftime and this strutting martinet isn't letting any men on at all. There's one on the other side letting men on. Well, then, that's our play. We'll need some insurance first. Come on. - ( Pounding) - This way. - All the way down here. - (Jack Yelling) Steward: Here! What doyou thinkyou're doing? You'll have to payforthat,you know. That's White Star Line property. Both: Shut up! Will you hold the boat a moment? I just have to run backto my room-- Sit down! She's the last. All right to lower. Mr. Lightoller, why are the boats being launched halffull? - Not now, Mr. Andrews. - There, look, 20 or so in a boat built for 65, and I saw one boat with only 1 2-- 1 2! Well, we weren't sure ofthe weight, Mr. Andrews. These boats may buckle. Rubbish! Theywere tested in Belfast with the weight of70 men! Now, fill these boats, Mr. Lightoller, for God's sake, man! Please, I need more women and children, please. Crewman: Get back in there. This is not an exit. Get back in there. This is not an exit. You can't keep us locked in here like animals. The ship's bloody sinking! Bring forward the women! Unlockthe gates. Women only! No men! ( Shouting) Get back! Lockthe gates! Get them back from those gates! Don't touch the gates! For God's sake, man, there are women and children down here! Let us up so we can have a chance! Get back! -Jack! - Tommy! - Can we get out? - It's hopeless that way! Whateverwe do, we've got to do it fast. -Jack! - Fabrizio! - The boats are all gone. - The whole place is flooding. - There is nientethis way. - All right. Let's go this way, all right? Come on. - I make my own luck. - So do l. - Come on! - No, come on. Let's go this way. - (Crying) - (SpeakingArabic) - This way. - Steward:Just go back to the main stairwell and everything will be sorted out there. Man: Hell, it will. It will all get sorted out backthere. Go backto the main stairwell. - Open the gate. - Go back down the main stair. - Open the gate right now! - Go back down the main stair... Iike I told you. - Goddamn it! Son ofa bitch! - Stop that. Man: Open the damn gate! Open it! Fabri, Tommy, give me a hand here! Rose: Move aside. Move aside. Come on, pull! Pull! Pull! - Move aside! - Steward: Put that down. - Move aside! - One! Two! - Stop that! - Three! ( Screaming) Again! ( Screaming) Jack: Let's go! -Jack: Let's go, Rose. - You can't go up there. You can't do this! Lightoller: Keep order here. Back, back, back. ( Screaming) Hold on to her! Pull her in! Get back I say or I'll shootyou all like dogs. Keep order here! Keep order, I say. Mr. Lowe, man this boat. Lowe: Right, is everybody all right? Nobody panic. - Crewman: Stay back! - We're too late. There are more boats down the front. Staywith this one-- Murdoch. He seems to be quite practical. ( WomenScreaming) Lowe: Sit down! Stay back,you lot. Stay back! Stay back, the lot ofyou! Stay back! - ( Gunshots) - It's starting to fall apart. We don't have much time. - Mr. Murdoch? - Mr. Hockley. You two, with me, now. I'm a businessman, asyou know and I have a business proposition foryou. Crewman: Easy now. All together. Lower away, lower away. Jack: Come on, Rose. The boats are gone! Colonel, are there any boats on that side? No, miss, but there are a couple of boats all the wayforward. This way, I'll lead you. ( PlayingFinaIChord) What's the use? Nobody's listening to us anyway. Well, they don't listen to us at dinner either. Come on, let's play. Keep us warm. "Orpheus." ( PlayingFastMusic From "Orpheus ln The Underworld") Music to drown by. Now I know I'm in first class. - Where is everyone? - They're all still aft, sir. We have an understanding then, Mr. Murdoch? ( EveryoneShouting) ( Gunshots) Women and children only! Get back! Step back, sir. Come through, madam. This way. Step back, sir. You'd better check the other side. Go! Crewman: Any more women and children? Any children? I found her on the other side waiting for a boat... with him. - Any more women and children? - They're all aboard, Mr. Murdoch. Anyone else, then? Anyone else? Hurry along. Stand bythe falls. ( Softly): Oh, goddamn it all to hell. - Shit. - Fire! Sir! Sir,you can't go through here. Sir,you can't go through. Yes,yes, splendid. Right. Murdoch: Prepare to lower! Ready on the left. Take them down. Keep it steady. Both sides together, steady. Keep it steady. - Give herto me. - Girl: Daddy. Man: It'll be fine, darling. Don'tyou worry. It's good-bye for a little while. Onlyfor a little while. There'll be another boat forthe daddies. This boat's forthe mummies and the children. You hold Mummy's hand and be a good little girl. - I'm not going withoutyou. - No,you have to go... now! - No,Jack. - Get in the boat, Rose! - No,Jack. - Yes, get on the boat. Yes, get on the boat, Rose. My God, look atyou. You look a fright. Here. Put this on. Come. - Go on, I'll get the next one. - No, not withoutyou. Jack: I'll be all right. Listen, I'll be fine. I'm a survivor, all right? Don't worry about me. -Jack: Now go on, get on. - I have an arrangement with an officer on the other side ofthe ship. Jack and I can get offsafely, both of us. See? Got my own boat to catch. Cal: Now, hurry. They're almost full. - Step aboard, miss. - Cal: Come on, hurry. - Step aboard, please. - Man: Be Daddy's good girl. - Step lively. - Crewman: Keep back, keep back, I say. Clearthe row, please. Lower away! ( Passengers Gasp ) Crewman: Slowly. Keep going. Keep going. And lower away evenly, lads. Easy. Lower away. - You're a good liar. - Almost as good asyou. Crewman: Easy now... and lower away. There's no, uh-- There's no arrangement, is there? No, there is. Not thatyou'll benefit much from it. I always win,Jack... one way or another. Crewman: Easy. Even, lads. Keep going, keep going. - Rose! - (Passengers Yelling) - Stop her! -Jack: Rose, what areyou doing? - Cal: Stop her! - No! Rose. You're so stupid. Why'd you do that? You're so stupid, Rose. Why did you do that? Why? Youjump, I jump, right? Right. Oh, God, I couldn't go. I couldn't go,Jack. It's all right. We'll think ofsomething else. - Rose: At least I'm with you. - We'll think ofsomething. Come on! ( Gunshot) Come on, move! - Come on. - (Gunshot, RoseScreams) Move! - ( Gunshot) - ( Screams) Come on, Come on, Rose. Come on. -( Gunshot) - Rose, come on! - (Gunshot) - Move, Rose! - ( Gunshot) - Go! ( Grunts ln Despair) ( MetaIGroaning) I hopeyou enjoy yourtime together. ( Chuckles) What could possibly be funny? I put the diamond in the coat. And I put the coat on her! Come on. ( Dishes Clinking) ( Child Yelling) ( Screaming) We can't leave him. All right, come on. ( Wailing) ( ChildScreaming) Go back! ( Yellingln Czech ) It's the wrong way! Come back! ( RoseAndJack Yelling ForMan To Stop ) Go! ( Water Thundering) -Jack! - Rose! ( Groaning) This way. Come on. Give meyour hand. Oh, God! Help! Rose: Help! Wait, sir, open the gate, please. Please. Please. Help us. Please! Bloody hell. - Come on, come on! - Come on! - Go, go! -Jesus. Please. Come on. Hurry! Come on! I'm sorry, I dropped the keys. Wait! Please! Don't leave, please! Get more help! No! I got them. Which one is it, Rose? The sharp one, trythe sharp one. Hurry,Jack. - Oh, no! - Hurry,Jack. - It's stuck. - Hurry. - It's stuck. - Hurry,Jack! Hurry! ( Screaming) I got it, I got it! Go! Go, Rose! Go, go! Jack!Jack, come on! Move, move! Crewman: Keep on rocking. Oars in place. Get an oar under it. Murdoch: Women and children only, damn you. Crewman: Hold it, hold it. ( Men Yelling) Get these davits cranked in. Then get the falls hooked up. Murdoch: Stay back. Child: Help me. ( Crying) Keep going up. Murdoch: Stop pushing! Stay back! Will you give us a chance to live, you limey bastard? I'll shoot any man who tries to get past me. Get back! - Bastard! - Get back! We had a deal, damn you. Your money can't saveyou any more than it can save me. Get back. Crewman: Women and children only! ( Gunshot) ( Gunshot) ( PassengersScreaming) Tommy! No, Tommy. Bastardo! Oh, no, oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, Tommy. - No, Will! - (Gunshot) Stand back, damn you. Get back, damn you. ( Screaming) - ( Child Crying) - I have a child. - Cal: I have a child. - Clear a path here. Please, I have a child. Please, I'm all she has in the world. Go on. Step back, step back, I say. - Please. - Woman: Here, give herto me. Give her here. - ( Child Wailing) - There, there. Wait, wait, wait. Mr. Andrews. Oh, Rose. Won'tyou even make a tryfor it? I'm sorrythat I didn't build you a stronger ship,young Rose. It's going fast. We have to move. Wait. Good lucktoyou, Rose. And toyou. Mr. Guggenheim. These are foryou, Mr. Guggenheim. No, thankyou. We are dressed in our best and are prepared to go down as gentlemen. But we would like a brandy. Capitan. Capitan, where should I go? Please. Crewman: Captain! Captain, sir. ( Orchestra StilIPlaying) Right, that's it, then. Good-bye, Wally, good luck. So long, old chap. ( BeginsPlaying "NearerMy God To Thee") (Joinsln ) ( Orchestra StilIPlaying) And so they lived happilytogetherfor 300years in the land ofTir Na Nog the land ofeternal youth and beauty. ( Playing "NearerMy God To Thee") ( CrewmenAndPassengers Yelling) There's no time! Cut those falls! Cut them, cut them ifyou have to! Crewman: I need a knife. I need a knife. Crewman: Cut her loose. Cut those bloodyfalls. ( PlayingLastNotes OfSong) Gentlemen, it has been a privilege playing with you tonight. ( People Screaming) ( Screaming) We have to stay on the ship as long as possible! Come on! Jack: This way. Overthe rail! Come on.Jump! Come on! ( Screaming) ( Gasping) Jack: I gotyou.Jump! ( Gasping) I've gotyou, miss! -Jack! -Jack: Come on! Cal: Get back! ( CablesSnapping) ( MetaIGroaning) No! You'll swamp us. ( HystericaIShrieking) Yea, though I walkthrough the valley ofthe shadow ofdeath... You want to walk a little faster through that valleythere? ( WildScreaming) Row! Pull together! ( Screams) Priest: Holy Mary, mother ofGod prayfor us sinners now and at the hour ofour death, amen. Hail Mary, full ofgrace - the Lord is with thee. - This way. Jack: Come on. Come on! ( Gasping) I saw a new heaven and a new earth when the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... - ( WomenScreaming) - and there was no more sea. ( Gasping) - Woman: Help me! - It'll be over soon. It'll all be over soon. Priest: And He shall dwell with them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them... Jack, this is where we first met. And God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death. Neither shall there be sorrow or crying. Neither shall there be any more pain forthe formerworld has passed away. ( Shattering) Bloody pull faster, and pull! ( People Screaming) ( Yelling) - Man: Hang on, Miss Trudy! - (Shrieking) ( Crashing, Shattering AndRumbling) ( Yells) ( Screams) Man: Help me! Please, save me! - Woman: Help! -Jack: Hold on real tight! ( Shriekingln Distance) ( WomanSobbing) ( Terrible Screaming And Yellingln Distance) God Almighty! Crewman: Get those breakers in! Keep them in! ( Crackling) ( Screams) - ( PanickedScreaming) - ( Ship Groaning) ( PlanksSplitting) ( EveryoneScreaming) ( Cries Out) We have to move! - Give meyour hand, I'll pull you over. - I can't! Come on, give meyour hand! I've gotyou. I won't let go. Come on, I've gotyou. - What's happening,Jack? - I don't know. I don't know. -Jack: Hold on! - Rose:Jack! That was close. Man: Help me, please! Someone help me, please! ( TerrifiedScreaming, Thudding) ( Man Yells) ( Panting) ( Lets GoAndScreams) Woman: Please help! Help! Help! Help! ( WomanScreamingForHelp ) This is it! Rose: Oh, God! Oh, God! - Hold on! - Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh! The ship is going to suck us down. Take a deep breath when I say. Kickforthe surface and keep kicking. Do not let go of my hand. We're going to make it, Rose. Trust me. I trustyou. Ready? Ready? Now! ( TakingDeep Breath ) ( Screaming) Jack!Jack! Jack! -Jack! - ( EveryoneScreaming) Jack.Jack! ( Rose's Calls DrownedOut ByDeafeningScreams) - ( Gasping) -Jack!Jack! No! -Jack! - Rose! Get off her! Get off her! - Rose! -Jack! Swim, Rose! I need you to swim! Keep swimming! - It's so cold! - Swim, Rose! Come on... here. Keep swimming. Come on. Here, get on it. Get on top. ( Gasping) - Come on, Rose. - ( Gasping) ( Rose Yells) - Stay on it. Stay on, Rose. -Jack. You'll be all right now. You'll be all right now. ( Whistle Blows) Crewman: Return the boats! - ( Both Shivering) - ( Whistle Blows) The boats are coming backfor us, Rose. Hold onjust a little bit longer. Crewman: Return the boats! They... had to row awayforthe suction, but now they'll be coming back. Woman: Come back! - For God's sake! - Please! - Help us! - Help us! ( FaintCries ln Distance) Come back! For God's sake! You don't understand. Ifwe go back, they'll swamp the boat. They'll pull us down, I'm tellingyou. Knock it off-- You're scaring me. Come on, girls-- Grab an oar, let's go! Man: Areyou out ofyour mind? We're in the middle ofthe North Atlantic! Now, doyou people want to live or doyou want to die? I don't understand a one ofyou. What's the matterwith you? It'syour men out there! - ( Crying) - There's plenty of room for more. And there'll be one less on this boat if you don't shut that hole in yourface! Woman ( ln Distance): Come back! ( Whistle Blowing, People ShoutingForHelp ) Man: Here, take this one. Lowe: Now bring in your oars overthere and tie these two boats together. Now make sure that's tied up nice and tight. Right, listen to me, men, we have to go back. I want to transfer all the women from this boat into that boat right now as quick asyou can, please. Let's get some space there. Move forward and aft. ( ScatteredMoaning) ( Shivering) It's getting quiet. ( Shivering) It'sjust going to take them a couple of minutes to get the boats organized. I don't know aboutyou but I intend to write a stronglyworded letter to the White Star Line about all this. ( ScatteredMoaning AndPleadingln Distance) I loveyou,Jack. Don'tyou do that. Don'tyou sayyour good-byes. Notyet. Doyou understand me? I'm so cold. Listen, Rose... you're going to get out of here. You're going to go on and you're going to make lots of babies and you're going to watch them grow. You're going to die an old... an old ladywarm in her bed. Not here. Not this night. Not like this. Doyou understand me? I can't feel my body. Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me toyou... and I'm thankful forthat, Rose. - I'm thankful. - ( Crying) You must-- You must-- You must do me this honor-- You must promise me thatyou'll survive thatyou won't give up no matterwhat happens no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose and never let go ofthat promise. I promise. Never let go. I will never let go,Jack. ( Shivering) I'll never let go. - ( Kisses HerHand) - ( Both Shivering) Crewman: Right ahead, sir. Lowe: Oars! Doyou see any moving? No, sir. None moving, sir. Checkthem. Bring that oar up here. Checkthem, make sure. These are dead, sir. Now give way. Ahead easy. Careful with your oars. Don't hit them. ( Shouts): ls there anyone alive out there? ( FaintAndEchoing): Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone alive out there? We waited too long. Well, keep checking them, keep looking! Is there anyone alive out there? Can anyone hear me? ( RoseSingingSoftly AndHaltingly) ( SingingSoftly) "And it's up she goes. " " Up she goes. " ( ContinuesSinging) ( Lowe's Voice, GarbledAndSlow) Jack? Jack. Jack. Jack, there's a boat. Jack. Jack? Jack. Jack! Jack. ( Faltering): There's a boat,Jack. Jack? ( CryingSoftly) ( Weakly): Come back. Come back. ( Voices OfSearchers) Come back. Come back. Come back. ( Louder): Come back, come back. Hello! Can anyone hear me? There's nothing here, sir. Come back. Come back. I'll never let go. I promise. ( Sobbing) ( Grunting) ( Blowing Whistle Faintly) ( BlowingStronger) ( Faint Whistling) - ( Louder Whistling) - Come about! ( Blowing Whistle Loudly) ( WhistlingReverberates Faintly) when Titanicsankfrom under us. There were 20 boats floating nearby and only one came back. One. Sixwere saved from the water myself included. Six... out of 1 ,500. Afterward, the 700 people in the boats had nothing to do but wait-- wait to die, wait to live... wait for an absolution that would never come. Oh, sir, I don't thinkyou'll find any ofyour people down here. It's all steerage. Woman: His hair is reddish brown. Reddish brown. Reddish brown and a white beard. Woman: lsn't there another passenger list? - There's no other list. - Perhaps he's on another ship. - We're doing all we can, ma'am. - There's got to be another list! That's thelasttime leversawhim. Hemarried, ofcourse, andinheritedhis millions butthe crash of'29 hit his interests hard andheputapistol in his mouth thatyear or so I read. ( Rain Drizzling) Can I take your name please, love? Dawson. Rose Dawson. Thankyou. We neverfound anything onJack. There's no record of him at all. No, there wouldn't be, would there? And I've never spoken of him until now. Not to anyone, not even your grandfather. A woman's heart is a deep ocean ofsecrets. But nowyou know there was a man namedJack Dawson and that he saved me in everyway that a person can be saved. I don't even have a picture of him. He exists now only in my memory. Man: Keldysh, Keldysh, Mir2 on ourwayto the surface. Brock: You know I was saving this forwhen I found the diamond. ( Man Givinglnstructions OverP.A. ) I'm sorry. Threeyears I've thought of nothing except Titanic but I never got it. I never let it in. " Every night in my dreams " " I seeyou " " I feel you " "That is how I know " "You go on " " Far across the distance " "And spaces between us " "You have come to show " "You go on " " Near" " Far" "Whereveryou are " " I believe that " "The heart does go on " " Once more " "You open the door" "And you're here in my heart " "And my heart will " " Go on and on " " Love can touchjust one time " "And last for a lifetime " "And never let go " "Till we're gone " " Love was when I loved you " " One true time I hold to " " ln my life we'll always " " Go on " " Near" " Far" "Whereveryou are " " I believe that " "The heart does go on " " Once more " "You open the door" "And you're here in my heart " "And my heart will " " Go on and on " "You're here " "There's nothing I fear" "And I know that " " My heart will go on " "We'll stay" " Foreverthis way" "You are safe in my heart " "And my heart will " " Go on and on " ( SongEnds)

#im sorry

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