Script To Screen: “The Crying Game”
The escape attempt in The Crying Game (written by Neil Jordan).
Setup: A British soldier is kidnapped by IRA terrorists. He befriends one of his captors, who is drawn into the soldier’s world.
Fergus prods him on with the gun. Jody stumbles forward.
Fergus is all cold and businesslike.
JODY
I'm glad you're doing it, do you know
that, Fergus?
FERGUS
Why?
JODY
Cause you're my friend. And I want you to
go to the Metro --
FERGUS
Stop that talk now --
JODY
Hurling's a fast game, isn't it, Fergus?
FERGUS
The fastest.
JODY
Faster than cricket?
FERGUS
Cricket's in the halfpenny place.
JODY
So if I ran now, there's no way I'd beat
you, is there?
FERGUS
You won't run.
JODY
But if I did... you wouldn't shoot a
brother in the back --
Jody suddenly sprints, and, loosening the ties on his hands,
then freeing them, he is off like a hare. Fergus screams in
fury after him.
FERGUS
JODY!!!
Fergus aims, then changes his mind and runs.
FERGUS
You stupid bastard --
JODY
What you say, faster?
FERGUS
I said you bastard -- stop --
JODY
Got to catch me first --
Fergus gains on him -- stretches his arm out -- but Jody
sprints ahead again -- as if he has been playing with him. He
laughs in exhilaration. Fergus pants behind him, wheezing,
almost laughing.
JODY
Used to run the mile, you know -- four
times round the cricket pitch -- what was
that game called?
FERGUS
Hurling --
JODY
What?
FERGUS
Hurling --
Jody runs, whipping through the trees -- always ahead of him.
JODY
Come on, Fergie -- you can do it -- a bit
more wind --
Fergus grabs his shoulder and Jody shrugs it off, gaining on
him again.
JODY
Bit of fun, Fergus, eh?
And suddenly the trees give way. Jody turns, laughing, to
Fergus.
JODY
Told you I was fast --
Fergus is panting, pointing the gun at Jody.
JODY
Don't do it.
And suddenly a Saracen tank whips around the corner, hits
Jody with the full of its fender. His body flies in the air
and bounces forward as another tank tries to grind to a halt
and the huge wheels grind over him.
Fergus, screaming, "No-!" He almost moves forward, then sees
soldiers spilling from the tank around the body. Fergus turns
and runs.
EXT. TREES - DAY
Fergus whipping through the trees, his body crouched low as
he runs.
INT. GREENHOUSE - DAY
Tinker sitting in the greenhouse. A helicopter screams into
view through the panes and automatic fire comes from it,
shattering every pane in seconds and tearing Tinker to bits.
INT. FARMHOUSE - DAY
Bullets whipping through every window, taking chunks from the
masonry, tearing the walls apart. Maguire, Jude, and the
others on the floor, scrambling for weapons.
EXT. TREES - DAY
Fergus, hearing the gunfire, runs through overhanging
branches till eventually he is hidden from sight.
Here is the scene from the movie:
I’ll see you in comments for a discussion of this terrific scene from The Crying Game.
One of the single 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 series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.
Comment Archive
For more articles in the Script To Screen series, go here.