silhouette against the stars.
IN COLLAPSIBLE C: BRUCE ISMAY has his back to the ship, unable to watch the
great steamer die. He is catatonic with remorse, his mind overloaded. He can
avert his eyes, but he can't block out the sounds of dying people and
machinery.
A loud CRACKING REPORT comes across the water.
CUT TO:
272 EXT. BOAT DECK
Near the third funnel a man clutches the ship's rail. He stares down as the
DECK SPLITS right between his feet. A yawning chasm opens with a THUNDER of
breaking steel
LOVEJOY is clutching the railing on the roof of the Officers' Mess. He
watches in horror as the ship's structure RIPS APART right in front of him.
He gapes down into a widening maw, seeing straight down into the bowels of
the ship, amid a BOOMING CONCUSSION like the sound of artillery. People
falling into the widening crevasse look like dolls.
The stay cables on the funnel part and snap across the decks like whips,
ripping off davits and ventilators. A man is hit by a whipping cable and
snatched OUT OF FRAME. Another cable smashes the rail next to Lovejoy and it
rips free. He falls backward into the pit of jagged metal.
Fires, explosions and sparks light the yawning chasm as the hull splits down
through nine decks to the keel. The sea pours into the gaping wound--
CUT TO:
273 INT. ENGINE ROOM
It is a thundering black hell. Men scream as monstrous machinery comes apart
around them, steel frames twisting like taffy. Their torches illuminate the
roaring, foaming demon of water as it races at the through the machines.
Trying to climb they are overtaken in seconds.
CUT TO:
274 EXT. TITANIC - NIGHT
The STERN ALF of the ship, almost four hundred feet long, falls back toward
the water. On the poop deck everyone screams as they feel themselves
plummeting. The sound goes up like the roar of fans at a baseball stadium
when a run is scored.
Swimming in the water directly under the stern a few unfortunates shriek as
they see the keel coming down on them like God's bootheel. The massive stern
section falls back almost level, thundering down into the sea and pushing
out a mighty wave of displaced water.
Jack and Rose struggle to hole onto the stern rail. They feel the ship
seemingly RIGHT ITSELF. Some of those praying think it is salvation.
SEVERAL PEOPLE
We're saved!
Jack looks at Rose and shakes his head, grimly.
Now the horrible mechanics play out. Pulled down by the awesome weight of
the flooded bow, the buoyant stern tilts up rapidly. They feel the RUSH OF
ASCENT as the fantail angles up again. Everyone is clinging to benches,
railings, ventilators... anything to keep from sliding as the stern lifts.
The stern goes up and up, past 45 degrees, then past sixty.
People start to fall, sliding and tumbling. They skid down the deck,
screaming and flailing to grab onto something. They wrench other people
loose and pull them down as well. There is a pile-up of bodies at the
forward rail. The DAHL FAMILY falls one by one.
JACK
We have to move!
He climbs over the stern rail and reaches back for Rose. She is terrified to
move. He grabs her hand.
JACK
Come on! I've got you!
Jack pulls her over the rail. It is the same place he pulled her over the
rail two nights earlier, going the other direction. She gets over just as
the railing is going HORIZONTAL, and the deck VERTICAL. Jack grips her
fiercely.
The stern is now straight up in the air... a rumbling black monolith
standing against the stars. It hangs there like that for a long grace note,
its buoyancy stable.
Rose lies on the railing, looking down fifteen stories to the boiling sea at
the base of the stern section. People near them, who didn't climb over, hang
from the railing, their legs dangling over the long drop. They fall one by
one, plummeting down the vertical face of the poop deck. Some of them bounce
horribly off deck benches and ventilators.
Jack and Rose lie side by side on what was the vertical face of the hull,
gripping the railing, which is now horizontal. Just beneath their feet are
the gold letters TITANIC emblazoned across the stern.
Rose stares down terrified at the black ocean waiting below to claim them.
Jack looks to his left and sees Baker Joughin, crouching on the hull,
holding onto the railing. It is a surreal moment.
JOUGHIN
(nodding a greeting)
Helluva night.
The final relentless plunge begins as the stern section floods. Looking down
a hundred feet to the water, we drop like an elevator with Jack and Rose.
JACK
(talking fast)
Take a deep breath and hold it right before we go into the water. The ship
will suck us down. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Don't let go of my
hand. We're gonna make it Rose. Trust me.
She stares at the water coming up at them, and grips his hand harder.
ROSE
I trust you.
Below them the poop deck is disappearing. The plunge gathers speed... the
boiling surface engulfs the docking bridge and then rushes up the last
thirty feet.
278 IN A HIGH SHOT, we see the stern descend into the boiling sea. The name
TITANIC disappears, and the tiny figures of Jack and Rose vanish under the
water.
Where the ship stood, now there is nothing. Only the black ocean.
CUT TO:
279 EXT. OCEAN / UNDERWATER AND SURFACE
Bodies are whirled and spun, some limp as dolls, others struggling
spasmodically, as the vortex sucks them down and tumbles them.
280 Jack rises INTO FRAME F.G. kicking hard for the surface... holding
tightly to Rose, pulling her up.
281 AT THE SURFACE: a roiling chaos of screaming, thrashing people. Over a
thousand people are now floating where the ship went down. Some are stunned,
gasping for breath. Others are crying, praying, moaning, shouting...
screaming.
Jack and Rose surface among them. They barely have time to gasp for air
before people are clawing at them. People driven insane by the water, 4
degrees below freezing, a cold so intense it is indistinguishable form death
by fire.
A man pushes Rose under, trying to climb on top of her... senselessly trying
to get out of the water, to climb onto anything. Jack PUNCHES him
repeatedly, pulling her free.
JACK
Swim, Rose! SWIM!
She tries, but her strokes are not as effective as his because of her
lifejacket. They break out of the clot of people. He has to find some kind
of flotation, anything to get her out of the freezing water.
JACK
Keep swimming. Keep moving. Come one, you can do it.
All about them there is a tremendous wailing, screaming and moaning... a
chorus of tormented souls. And beyond that... nothing but black water
stretching to the horizon. The sense of isolation and hopelessness is
overwhelming.
CUT TO:
282 OMITTED
283 EXT. OCEAN
Jack strokes rhythmically, the effort keeping him from freezing.
JACK
Look for something floating. Some debris... wood... anything.
ROSE
It's so cold.
JACK
I know. I know. Help me, here. Look around.
His words keep her focused, taking her mind off the wailing around them.
Rose scans the water, panting, barely able to draw a breath. She turns
and... SCREAMS.
A DEVIL is right in from of her face. It is the black FRENCH BULLDOG,
swimming right at her like a seamonster in the darkness, its coal eyes
bugging. It motors past her, like it is headed for Newfoundland.
Beyond it Rose sees something in the water.
ROSE
What's that?
Jack sees what she is pointing to, and they make for it together. It is a
piece of wooden debris, intricately carved. He pushes her up and she
slithers onto it belly down.
But when Jack tries to get up onto the thing, it tilts and submerges, almost
dumping Rose off. It is clearly only big enough to support her. He clings to
it, close to her, keeping his upper body out of the water as best he can.
Their breath floats around them in a cloud as they pant from exertion. A MAN
swims toward them, homing in on the piece of debris. Jack warns him back.
JACK
It's just enough for this lady... you'll push it under.
MAN
Let me try at least, or I'll die soon.
JACK
You'll die quicker if you come any closer.
MAN
Yes, I see. Good luck to you then.
(swimming off)
God bless.
CUT TO:
284 EXT. COLLAPSIBLE A / OCEAN
The boat is overloaded and half-flooded. Men cling to the sides in the
water. Others, swimming, are drawn to it as their only hope. Cal, standing
in the boat, slaps his oar in the water as a warning.
CAL
Stay back! Keep off!
Fabrizio, exhausted and near the limit, makes it almost to the boat. Cal
CLUBS HIM with the oar, cutting open his scalp.
FABRIZIO
You don't... understand... I have... to get... to America.
CAL
(pointing with the oar)
It's that way!
CLOSE ON FABRIZIO as he floats, panting each breath agony. You see the
spirit leave him.
FABRIZIO'S POV: Cal in SLOW MOTION, yelling and wielding the oar. A demon in
a tuxedo. The image fades to black.
CUT TO:
285 EXT. OCEAN
JACK AND ROSE still float amid a chorus of the damned. Jack sees the ship's
officer nearby, CHIEF OFFICER WILDE. He is blowing his whistle furiously,
knowing the sound will carry over the water for miles.
JACK
The boats will come back for us, Rose. Hold on just a little longer. They
had to row away for the suction and now they'll be coming back.
She nods, his words helping her. She is shivering uncontrollably, her lips
blue and her teeth chattering.
ROSE
Thank God for you Jack.
People are still screaming, calling to the lifeboats.
WOMAN
Come back! Please! We know you can hear us. For God's sake!
MAN
Please... help us. Save one life! SAVE ON LIFE!
CUT TO:
286 EXT. LIFEBOATS / OCEAN
IN BOAT 6: Ruth has her ears covered against the wailing in the darkness.
The first class women in the boat sit, stunned, listening to the sounds of
hundreds screaming.
HITCHINS
They'll pull us right down I tell ya!
MOLLY
Aw knock it off, yer scarin' me. Come on girls, grab your oars. Let's go.
(nobody moves)
Well come on!
The women won't meet her eyes. They huddle into their ermine wraps.
MOLLY
I don't understand a one of you. What's the matter with you? It's your men
back there! We got plenty a' room for more.
HITCHINS
If you don't shut that hole in yer face, there'll be one less in this boat!
Ruth keeps her ears covered and her eyes closed, shutting it all out.
287 IN BOAT ONE: Sir Cosmo and Lucile Duff-Gordon sit with ten other people
in a boat that is two thirds empty. They are two hundred yards from the
screaming in the darkness.
FIREMAN HENDRICKSON
We should do something.
Lucile squeezes Cosmo's hand and pleads him with her eyes. She is terrified.
SIR COSMO
It's out of the question.
The crewmembers, intimidated by a nobleman, acquiesce. They hunch guiltily,
hoping the sound will stop soon.
TWENTY BOATS, most half full, float in the darkness. None of them make a
move.
CUT TO:
288 EXT. OCEAN
Jack and Rose drift under the blazing stars. The water is glassy, with only
the faintest undulating swell. Rose can actually see the stars reflecting on
the black mirror of the sea.
Jack squeezes the water out of her long coat, tucking it in tightly around
her legs. He rubs her arms. His face is chalk with in the darkness. A low
MOANING in the darkness around them.
ROSE
It's getting quiet.
JACK
Just a few more minutes. It'll take them a while to get the boats
organized...
Rose is unmoving, just staring into space. She knows the truth. There won't
be any boats. Behind Jack she sees that Officer Wilde has stopped moving. He
is slumped in his lifejacket, looking almost asleep. He has died of exposure
already.
JACK
I don't know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to
the White Star Line about all this.
She laughs weakly, but it sounds like a gasp of fear. Rose finds his eyes in
the dim light.
ROSE
I love you Jack.
He takes her hand.
JACK
No... don't say your good-byes, Rose. Don't you give up. Don't do it.
ROSE
