Secret Window
transcript written by and used with the courtesey of Amanda Lazarus <3 . Thanks also to Paula for telling me about it!
Scene 1 : Setting : The Motel : Characters : Mort Rainey, Ted Milner, Amy Rainey, Motel Manager.
Mort’s Voice : [Windshield wipers move across car window] Turn around. [Windshield wipers] Turn around. [Makes a face and puts on his glasses] Turn the car around and get the hell out of here. [Placed a hand on steering wheel] Right now. [Shifts into reverse, turns around and backs the car up. Turns the car to the left angrily. Stops] Don’t go back. [Shifts] Do not go back there. [Turns around. Shifts again and backs up] [Gets out of car, goes into motel lobby, grabs a key off the rack]
Motel Manager [Puts on bathrobe, sees missing key] Hey. [Mort gets into car] Hey! [Mort drives further, stops abruptly, gets out of car. Unlocks and goes into a room] [Amy and Ted cower in their bed]
Mort Ahhhh! [Grabs head and walks away]
Motel Manager [Runs in] What the hell is going on in here?
Scene 2 : Setting : The Cabin : Characters : Mort Rainey, John Shooter, Chico.
[Shot pulls out of motel and fades into a scan of Tashmore lake]
COLOMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS
A PARIAH PRODUCTION
JOHNNY DEPP
SECRET WINDOW [Fades to red]
[Closes in on cabin]
JOHN TURTURRO
MARIA BELLO
TIMOTHY HUTTON
CHARLES S. DUTTON
LEN CARIOU
CASTING BY JOHN PAPSIDERA, CSA PAT MCCORKLE, CSA
COSTUME DESIGNER ODETTE GADOURY
MUSIC BY PHILLIP GLASS
EDITED BY JILL SAVITT, A.C.E.
[Enters cabin through secret window]
PRODUCTION DESIGNER HOWARD CUMMINGS
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY FRED MURPHY, ASC
[Moves toward desk]
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER EZRA SWERDLOW
PRODUCTION BY GAVIN POLONE
[Passes by computer monitor]
BASED UPON THE NOVELLA “SECRET WINDOW, SECRET GARDEN” BY STEPHEN KING
[Shot of mirror with Mort sleeping on the couch in the reflection]
[Goes into mirror]
SCREENPLAY BY DAVID KOEPP
DIRECTED BY DAVID KOEPP
[Mort sleeps on the couch, clock ticks]
SIX MONTHS LATER
Snores [Lifts his hand] [Someone twists the knob of the front door] [Mort is awakened, looks toward the door, puts on his glasses and gets up] knock knock knock knock knock [Mort opens the door]
Shooter You stole my story. [Mort looks at a loss for words] Well?
Mort I’m sorry.. do I.. I don’t believe I know you.
Shooter I know that. That doesn’t matter. I know you, Mr. Rainey. That’s what matters. You stole my story.
Mort [Shakes head] You’re mistaken. [He sees the manuscript] I don’t read manuscripts.
Shooter [Holds up manuscript] You read this one already. You stole it.
Mort I can assure you that I—Shooter : I know you can. I know that. I don’t want to be assured.
Mort If you want to talk to someone about some grievance you feel you may have, you can call my literary agent in New York.
Shooter This is between you, and me. [The dogs circles Shooter’s legs and whimpers] We don’t need any outsiders, Mr. Rainey. It is strictly between you and me.
Shooter Alright. Look, Mr. Who ever you are, I don’t like being accused of plagiarism, if that is in fact what you are accusing me of. Chico, inside! [Dog looks up at Shooter]
Shooter I don’t blame you for not liking it, but you did it. You stole my story.
Mort You’re going to have to leave. I have nothing more to say. [Closes door]
Shooter [Holds door back with curled manuscript] Yeah, I’ll go. We’ll talk more later. [Hands script to Mort]
Mort [laughs] I’m not taking that.
Shooter It won’t do you any good to play games with me, Mr. Rainey. This has got to be settled.
Mort So far as I’m concerned, it is. [Closes and locks door] [Looks through window, then at dog] [He hears noises coming from outside] [He sees Shooter go to his car and take his hat off. Mort looks a bit scared] [The car pulls out, Mort tries to see the license plates] [He opens the door, and sees the manuscript under a rock, looks up, then back to it] [Takes rock off, picks up manuscript] Sowing Season. John Shooter. [Goes back into the house] Never heard of you, pal. Never heard of your story. [Dumps it into the trash] [Washes hands, walks into living room air drying them] Now, [Lies down on couch] where was I? Oh. Oh. [Dog looks off to the side, then lies down in its bed]
Scene 3 : Setting : The Study : Characters : Mort Rainey, Chico.
[Shot of Tashmore lake]
Vacuum noise [Mort sits pensively at his computer, playing with his face] [Shot of computer] [Shot of clock] [Mort looks at the dog, stops playing with his face]
Mort I’m open to suggestions. [The dog looks sad] [Mort continues to play with his face] [He stands up and looks over the railing, sees Mrs. Garvey vacuuming] [Mort looks at the dog] If you don’t go and bite her, I’ll kill her. [The dog turns away] [Mort sits down] [Plays with face, then rubs hands together]
Mort [Shot on computer screen] Four days after George had confirmed to his own satisfaction that his wife was cheating on him, he confro—This is just.. bad writing. [Plays with slinky] Just bad writing.
Mort’s Voice : So, you know what to do? [Mort stops playing with the slinky] Just do it. [Puts slinky down, goes forward and highlights text with the mouse] No [Presses delete] bad writing.
Mort [Smiles, leans back and turns to dog] I think that solves it. Dog whimpers [Dog turns around in its chair]
Scene 4 : Setting : The Kitchen : Characters : Mort Rainey, Mrs. Garvey.
[Mort walks down the stairs eating something] [Walks into the kitchen and brushes his hands off on his bathrobe] [Opens fridge and pulls out a mountain dew] [Is shocked at seeing the manuscript on the table] [He walks forwards and examines it]
Mrs. Garvey [Comes down the stairs and into the kitchen] Oh, I found one of your stories in trash, Mr. Rainey. I thought you might want it so I put it on the table. [While rummaging through a cupboard]
Mort Yeah. I see that, Mrs. Garvey. [Pretends to shoot her] [He sits at the table and looks at the manuscript]
Mort’s Voice : Todd Downey thought that a woman who would steal your love when your love was really all you had was not much of a woman. He, therefore, decided to kill her. He would bury her in the deep corner formed where the house and the barn came together at an extreme angle. He would bury her where his wife kept her garden. The garden that she loved more than she loved him.
Mort [Jumps up, knocking the mountain dew over] Oh Shit! Aw, Sh—Mrs. Garvey : [Comes to the kitchen] Oh, thank god. From the sound of you I didn’t know what to think. Here. [She throws the manuscript into his hands] Here, let me get this. That’s my job.
Mort I’m terribly sorry, Mrs. Garvey. I really am.
Mrs. Garvey I’ll take care of this, Mr. Rainey. Go on back to work. [Cleans up]
Mort I didn’t write this.
Mrs. Garvey [Looks up] Oh. I thought you did. [Resumes cleaning]
Mort No, it’s not mine. Look. It says John Shooter right there [Pointing] John Shooter. It’s not me.
Mrs. Garvey [Looks up] Oh, I thought it was one of those um.. whatchamacallums.. Pseudonames or.. or nyms.
Mort No, no. I never used one. I never used one.
Mrs. Garvey Well, I can’t imagine why you would. I mean, hiding behind some made-up name. [Bends down]
Mort No, no. [Bends down] Mrs. Garvey, what I’m trying to tell you is that someone else wrote this story.
[Mrs. Garvey : [Looks up] Oh, okie dokie then. [Walks away] [Mort is left alone]
Scene 5 : Setting : The Study : Characters : Mort Rainey, Mrs. Garvey, Chico.
[Mort searches his bookshelf for something] [Picks out “Everybody Drops the Dime”] [Places it on the table] [Sits down and pushes back hair] [He opens the book to the contents page, traces down to “Secret Window”] [Flips to “Secret Window”]
Mort’s Voice : A woman who would steal your love when your love was all you had wasn’t much of a woman. That at least was Tommy Haverlock’s opinion. He decided to kill her. [Mort adjusts his glasses] He even knew the place he would bury her. The exact place. The little patch of garden she kept in the extreme angle formed where the old and new parts of the house came together. He’d bury her in the garden she loved more than she loved him. [Mort looks off to the side]
Amy Why don’t you come to the flea market with me. It’ll be fun. [Flashback fades in] We’ve got to get rid of some of this stuff. Look at this, it’s awful. [She places a teacup on a ledge] [Grabs a chest of drawers and pushes it away] No wonder they left it. [She completely moves it over] Oh my god, look. There’s a window! [She bends down and looks out of it] It’s a secret window. [She opens it, revealing a garden below] Oh, this is perfect. I’m gonna put my garden right there. [She turns back] It’s a secret window and it’ll look down on a secret garden. [The flashback disappears]
Mort [Turns away] Huh [He looks back at the stories and continues his examination] [He flips through the pages of the stories] Shit. [Shots of the two stories go by] [He closes the stories, rubs his face and breathes in] [He searches through his desk drawer, finds old Doritos. He closes that one and opens another] [After some rummaging, he turns up a pack of L&M cigarettes] [He glances towards the stairway, sees no one, smiles at the dog, then plops one into his mouth] [He turns back the dog] I didn’t steal it. [The dog stares] What? [The dog looks down]
Mrs. Garvey [From downstairs] Mr. Rainey!
Mort [Smoking] Mmm? [He lowers the cigarette so it is out of view]
Mrs. Garvey I’m all done. [Comes up stairs]
Mort Really? [Smoke puffs out of his mouth] So soon? [Nods] I’ll see you next time.
Mrs. Garvey Mr. Rainey… There’s something I want to say.
Mort Oh, no.
Mrs. Garvey Some women don’t know a good thing when they got it.
Mortb [Nods] Mm.
Mrs. Garvey Some women don’t know that they got the whole world and it’s right in front of their nose.
Mort [Quietly] Mmhmm.. [Nodding]
