Cell
FADE IN:
A SPECK OF DUST
Grains of sand dance in the wind.
As we glide over a VAST
DESERT, the speck of dust becomes a HORSE AND RIDER.
CATHERINE YOUNG straddles the beautiful black animal, her
mesmerizing eyes scanning the horizon. A curious breeze
blows across her exquisite face and she drinks it in, as if
the wind itself were telling something to her...
Catherine sees a FLICKERING LIGHT in the sand. She pulls the
reins and the horse stops moments before the dune drops into
nothingness. She dismounts,
affectionately scratches the
horse's neck, and follows the LIGHT. When she looks over her
shoulder, the Arabian is now a child's WOODEN HOBBY HORSE.
Not surprised, Catherine smiles and walks down a dune, sand
sliding beneath her feet...
She finds herself in a valley of dead trees whose decayed
gnarled limbs appear to form hands. The light dances across
her face. She shades her
eyes and pinpoints the source...
A SMALL MIRROR reflecting rays of bright sun, housed within a
locket and chain. It's held
by EDWARD, a haunted-looking boy
of seven with a precocious grin and piercing eyes. He sits
on a fallen tree trunk, patiently waiting for her arrival.
CATHERINE
Thanks
for the horse.
He's a shy child, yet comfortable with Catherine.
EDWARD
You liked him?
CATHERINE
He's beautiful...
Edward smiles, delighted he made her happy.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
But I thought we were going sailing.
The boy frowns.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
You promised.
A devilish glint in his eye, Edward redirects the mirror.
Catherine follows the flicker to a TOY BOAT in the sand.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
We
can't fit into that!
Edward shines light in her eyes, momentarily blinding her,
then snaps the locket shut.
When her vision clears,
Catherine sees a GIANT SHIP perched among the dunes. A craft
weighing hundreds of tons just sitting
there in the desert.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
That'll do.
She walks toward it, but Edward doesn't follow.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
(coaxing him)
Come on, Mister E.
She extends her hand, but he adamantly shakes his head no.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
What now?
EDWARD
(nods at the ship)
's broken.
Undaunted, she... finds herself standing on the DECK.
CATHERINE
(calling to him)
Who says?
EDWARD
Mocky-Lock.
CATHERINE
Oh no... No you don't.
EDWARD
"Mocky-Lock is the bogeyman.
Mocky-Lock
wants me where I am."
CATHERINE
I bet we can fix it.
She opens a rusted iron DOOR.
It makes an HORRIFIC
SCREECHING SOUND. Similar
to metal-on-metal, but more
piercing, more pained. As
if made by a living thing.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
(familiar with the noise, a
warning to him)
Ed-ward...
The boy's FACE CONTORTS, turning into something half-human,
half-animal. A
monster. Mocky-Lock. He SCREECHES, trying
to frighten Catherine, but she cocks her head...
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
We agreed. No more
Mocky-Lock.
The creature sticks its tongue out and DIVES.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Edward!
But it's too late!
Edward/Mocky Lock slithers into the sand
and disappears. Resigning
herself to a failure, she opens
the palm of her left hand, revealing a SMALL BUMP in the
flesh between thumb and forefinger. She presses hard and...
PICTURE AND SOUND DISTORT AND CHANGE
INT. LABORATORY - DAY
We are looking at a large SCREEN showing an electronically
generated three-dimensional view of a human brain featuring
color-coded neurological activity.
In a specific section of
the image, cells flash from yellow to red...
PULL BACK TO REVEAL HENRY WEST surrounded by computers,
monitors, electronics, and keyboards. DR. MIRIAM KENT stands
before a peculiar diagnostic machine scrutinizing data and
images. Both wear garb
favored by surgeons or microchip
assemblers. The impressive,
weird computer system HUMS as it
shifts programs, the unusual brain image changing colors.
THROUGH A LARGE WINDOW, we see into an ADJOINING ROOM within
which a HUMAN FIGURE hangs suspended in mid-air by a series
of cables designed to simulate flotation.
AT THE CONSOLE, Miriam uses a pen to hit specific areas of
the touch-sensitive screen, changing the complex CHEMICAL
SYMBOLS displayed there.
IN
THE PROCEDURE ROOM, a series of pharmaceuticals are
injected into an intravenous tube feeding the sleeve/arm of
the figure. A featherweight
cloth MASK electronically rises,
revealing the sleeping face of Catherine.
AT THE CONSOLE, Miriam hits a button and speaks into an
intercom microphone.
MIRIAM
Sing a song of sixpence...
IN THE PROCEDURE ROOM, there is no reaction from Catherine.
MIRIAM (O.S.) (CONT'D)
Sing a song of sixpence...
CATHERINE
(hoarse, groggy)
A pocketful of rye...
MIRIAM (O.S.)
Four-and-twenty blackbirds.
Catherine's eyes open.
CATHERINE
Baked in a pie...
IN THE CONTROL ROOM, Henry hits a switch and Catherine is
lowered to the pedestal.
Miriam checks Monitors displaying
Catherine's vital signs and continuing what must be a
routine, presses numbers on a keypad to open the PRESSURIZED
AIRTIGHT DOOR separating the two areas.
IN THE PROCEDURE ROOM, lights come on and Miriam eases
Catherine out of the apparatus.
She checks her pupil
dilation, pulse, throat, and reflexes. She pokes and prods
with a familiarity that would seem rude to an outside
observer, but is nothing to them.
Getting to her feet, we
see that Catherine's BODYSUIT is made of an unusual dark
fabric almost liquid in consistency.
AT THE CONSOLE, Henry moves to another section and for the
first time, we see there are two elaborate neural monitors.
And the "brain" pictured here is smaller. Younger...
HENRY
"Mister E." is doing fine.
REVEAL A SECOND FIGURE suspended from the ceiling in the
PROCEDURE ROOM. A SMALL BOY
is lowered to the pedestal and
as Miriam records data, Catherine removes the child's "mask,"
displaying the haunted face of Edward. Clearly, the boy is
in some kind of catatonic state.
MIRIAM
Did we go sailing?
CATHERINE
Almost. Mocky-Lock showed
up.
MIRIAM
"Mocky-Lock is the bogeyman, Mocky-Lock
wants me where I am."
CATHERINE
Mocky-Lock is a pain in the ass.
Henry communicates with them via the intercom.
HENRY
Where did that come from again?
Catherine looks annoyed - How could he forget?
CATHERINE
A nursery rhyme.
Catherine detaches the cables and eases Edward's frail body
into a waiting wheelchair.
Miriam takes a penlight and
examines the boy's eyes... An emotionless void, oddly
beautiful.
MIRIAM
(thinking aloud)
Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, the
bogeyman... All preparation for the
horrors of the real world.
Making certain the child is comfortable, Catherine covers him
with a blanket, rests a teddy bear on his lap, and pushes him
into
the CONTROL ROOM, accompanied by Miriam.
Henry types in
a command and moves to join them.
HENRY
Anybody hungry? I'm
hungry...
A BUZZER sounds and ANOTHER DOOR HISSES OPEN... A constantly
fretting administrator, BARRY COOPERMAN, is waiting for them
in the corridor.
COOPERMAN
Edward's parents are here.
We can see it in Catherine's face - this isn't good news.
EXT. CAMPBELL CENTER - DAY
Situated in a corporate/industrial area north of San Diego,
California, a series of well-secured buildings form a mini
compound. A sign near the
gate reads CAMPBELL CENTER - A
DIVISION OF SUNERSET INDUSTRIES.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - EDWARD'S ROOM - DAY
Although this is a hospital room filled with medical
equipment, its sterility has been camouflaged with toys,
posters, photographs, and drawings to make it more "homey."
(Some hint at aspects of Edward's fantasy world). Every
comfort has been provided and no expense spared.
Henry, Miriam, and Catherine, now wearing funky/casual
clothes under a lab coat, stand opposite Cooperman. Sitting
on the bed with Edward is ELLA BAINES, an elegantly dressed
woman in her mid-40's.
There is a soulfulness to her, but
the husband, LUCIEN BAINES, 60's, possesses the icy demeanor
of a corporate tycoon. One
might write him off as cold, but
we sense a genuine love for his wife and child. Ella smiles
and caresses Edward's hair.
ELLA
He needs a haircut.
CATHERINE
I'll tell the nurse.
(sensing something in Edward)
God,
he loves when you visit.
ELLA
My husband wonders if that's true.
(delivering bad news)
He wants to place Edward in a hospital.
Seeing an unfunded future, Henry's ready to disassociate
himself from Miriam and Catherine...
HENRY
There are other applications for the
scanner, Mr. Baines...
LUCIEN
I realize that, Henry...
(to Miriam)
And I know your work, Dr. Kent, is
invaluable to this company...
CATHERINE
You don't know about me, though, do you?
LUCIEN
Catherine, we've waited eighteen months
for signs of progress...
CATHERINE
There's been progress.
LUCIEN
Yes, but there is no proof the procedure
works. All I have is a
belief that your
interaction with my son is not a
hallucination.
Catherine is hurt and vulnerable due to exhaustion and the
intensity of her experience with Edward, but feels she must
defend
herself.
CATHERINE
(to Cooperman, Miriam, Henry)
You picked me, remember?
And I took the
job. Gladly. This is the next wave and
I
want to be part of it...
COOPERMAN
No one is doubting your ability.
CATHERINE
Then what is it?
Introspective and solemn-eyed, Lucien takes a moment, then:
LUCIEN
I've invested millions of dollars in
this study... And I've convinced others
to do the same. I suppose I
should feel
responsible to them, but I don't.
I
could care less if they see a profit.
I'm responsible to my boy, that's all
that matters.
(looks
her in the eye)
You tell me... Am I doing the right
thing?
OFF CATHERINE'S FACE...
INT. WHITE ROOM - DAY
At first, we're not sure where we are or what's happening.
It's too bright, the space confining. As our eyes adjust, we
seem to be in a bathroom or shower stall. We HEAR a WOMAN
CRYING and the camera finds ANNE VICKSEY. Dark circles
beneath eyes red and puffy from crying. Hair wet and ratted.
Sweater and pants damp and stained. Barefoot, she shivers
from cold and fear...
PULL BACK to show more of her surroundings. The white-tiled
10' x 8' room features a SHOWER HEAD, TOILET, and a push
button SPIGOT for drinking water.
Two walls are SOLID, the
other two MIRRORED, the glass covered by thick clear plastic.
The floor is littered with empty food wrappers - candy bars,
juice boxes. In the center
of the floor is a DRAIN and above
her, on the ceiling, a FLUORESCENT LAMP, also encased in
clear plastic.
There is no door.
A mechanism CLICKS. Then a RUMBLING... Anne seems to know
what's coming. She presses
against the wall, removes her
arms from the sleeves of the sweater, hunches down, and
raises the garment over her head, forming a tent.
WATER ERUPTS from
the shower head. There is no
steam, so
this water must be cold.
Shaking, Anne whispers a count to
herself - "One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three..." and
so on. The spray hits
everything in the room - mirror,
toilet, floor - and a food wrapper drifts toward the drain.
ANNE
Thirty.
She peeks up from the tent, but the water has not stopped,
and that isn't what she expected. We hear a soft SUCKING
NOISE and a CLICK. The
wrapper rises on a puddle of water.
Anne POUNDS her fist on the wall.
ANNE (CONT'D)
(angry, scared)
THIRTY!
A puddle forms around her feet and she realizes the drain has
somehow been sealed shut.
Her panic intensifies as we hear
another CLICK and the water pressure increases.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - LABORATORY - DAY
In the darkened procedure room, Miriam finds Catherine
standing between the two suspension devices, alone.
MIRIAM
You okay?
Catherine turns, nods, and tries to smile. Has she been
crying? Miriam steps
further into the room.
CATHERINE
He hates me.
MIRIAM
Lucien Baines?
Catherine nods.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
I wouldn't say "hates."
Dislikes,
distrusts, maybe.
Catherine laughs. Exactly
what Miriam wanted.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
She adores you.
CATHERINE
She thinks I can bring Edward back.
MIRIAM
Someday you can. We all
believe that...
Catherine halfheartedly nods, but her mind is elsewhere,
focused on the two apparatuses.
CATHERINE
I want to try it. Please.
Miriam knows what this is about.
MIRIAM
We've been over this a dozen times. No.
CATHERINE
Why not? Just once. A trial run. What
harm could it do?
MIRIAM
I don't want to find out.
Ever the doctor, Miriam finds herself surreptitiously
examining Catherine's eyes, flesh tone, a slight trembling in
her fingertips.
CATHERINE
Why is it taking so long for us to reach
him? Because we've been
reactive,
that's why. And we need to
be active.
Miriam reaches for Catherine's wrist and takes her pulse.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
(annoyed)
Miriam...
MIRIAM
Shush.
As Miriam examines her, Catherine continues:
CATHERINE
He creates the obstacles, he decides
which games to play.
MIRIAM
I've heard this argument before.
It's
not happening.
CATHERINE
(frustrated)
It could take years for me to get past
the barriers he's created.
MIRIAM
If we reverse the feed and bring Edward
into your mind, it could be devastating
for him. Imagine the shock
of suddenly
existing in a whole other world.
CATHERINE
&nbs