Script To Screen: “Kill Bill: Vol. 1”

An action scene from early in the 2003 movie Kill Bill: Vol. 1, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

IMDb plot summary: The Bride wakens from a four-year coma. The child she carried in her womb is gone. Now she must wreak vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her — a team she was once part of.

The scene from the script:

EXT. RESIDENTIAL PASADENA STREET — DAY

The front door opens and an attractive black HOUSEWIFE the
same age as The Bride stands in the doorway.
The Housewife’s face shows immediate recognition of the
blonde on her doorstep.

The BRIDE
on the porch; we do a quick Shaw-Brothers-style Zoom into her
eyes.

FLASHBACK — SPAGHETTI WESTERN STYLE
(That means our Heroine is remembering something, and we see
it with an orange filter.) We’re back inside the wedding
chapel. The Bride is taking the beating of her life by four
people in black suits. A black woman PUNCHES HER in the
face… WE see it’s the black housewife, five years earlier.

The BRIDE ON THE PORCH
We Zoom quick out of her eyes to CU, a VENGEANCE THEME PLAYS
LOUD ON THE SOUNDTRACK. (Whenever we hear this theme
throughout the picture, we’ll quickly learn what accompanies
it is The Bride goin Krakatoa all over whoever’s ass happens
to be in front of her at that moment.) As the Vengeance Theme
plays, a Vein in The Bride’s forehead begins to pulsate. When
the Vengeance Theme stops, The Bride ATTACKS The Housewife.

INT. HOUSEWIFE’S NICE HOME — DAY

The white woman and the black woman FLY into the center of
the living room, CRASHING onto her coffe table in front of
the sofa.

These two wildcats go at each other savagely, TUMBLING OVER
the couch, clawing and scratching all the way, landing
together on the plush carpet.

The HOUSEWIFE
KICKS The Bride, sending her CRASHING backwards into the
small table where the phone, a note pad (for messages), and
the mail is kept.

The Housewife scrambles up on her feet, but is caught by a
FLYING TACKLE from behind by The Bride that sends them both
into……..

An ornamental iron and tempered-glass bookcase that has
framed family photos, display toys, some African art, and a
collection of painted commemorative plates depicting the
negro experience in the American military. Starting with a
plate featuring Cripis Atkins in the revolutionary war, negro
troops in union blue during the civil war, Buffalo soldiers
fighting Indians, the Jim Crow troops of the first world war,
the colored troops of world war two, Korea, Vietnam, and
finally Colin Powell….The Bride and The Housewife CRASH
THROUGH all this reducing everything to rubble.

They land hard on the floor covered in broken glass, locked
in grapple, each trying to get the best of the other one,…
When The Housewife HEADBUTTS The Bride in the nose.

The HOUSEWIFE
hops off The Bride, runs into the kitchen, opens a drawer and
comes out with a HUGE MOTHERFUCKIN BUTCHER KNIFE.

The BRIDE
rises from the floor, and WHIPS OUT a KNIFE in a sheath
hanging from her belt known as a SOG. (A SOG is a long,
double-edged knife that’s as sharp as a razor, and is what
Navy Seals use to kill humans with.)

The Bride backs up into the mess of the now totally
demolished living room.

The two woman stalk each other, each holding her blade, each
looking like they know how to use it, each waiting for the
other to make a mistake so they can plunge their blade deep
into the other one.

Blood and sweat dript off of the faces of the two women
locked in life and death combat……

….When The back kitchen door opens, and a FOUR-YEAR-OLD
LITTLE GIRL, carrying a lunch box steps inside.

FOUR-YEAR-OLD GIRL
 Mommy, I’m home!

The two warrior women whose eyes reflect only combat
concentration, suddenly switch upon hearing the four-year
old’s voice. The Housewife’s eyes flash a look of pleading to
the eyes of The Bride.

The Bride seems to answer back; “Okay.”

The Black woman and the white woman hide their edged weapons
behind their backs, as the Four-Year-Old Little Girl walks
into the newly destroyed living room.

The Housewife switches to her mommy voice.

THE HOUSEWIFE
 Hey baby, how was school?

Here is the scene from the movie:

What did you notice in the translation from script to screen? Differences? Interesting use of language to convey eventual visuals?

One of the best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.