Script to Screen: “Zombieland”

The very beginning of the movie Zombieland (2009), screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

We begin with a SONG: WOODY GUTHRIE’S ‘THIS LAND IS YOUR’
LAND.’ CATCHY. PATRIOTIC. WARM. Recorded in mono, played
on a scratchy old phonograph…

The following is shot gritty. Kinetic. Fast. Scary. Very
’28 Days Later,’ ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ ‘Children of Men.’

FADE UP ON:

An AMERICAN FLAG, filling the screen, flapping. A male
voice, belonging to FLAGSTAFF, a witty, anxiety-ridden
EVERYMAN, late-twenties, (THINK SETH GREEN), narrates:

FLAGSTAFF (V.O.)
This land is your land.

The camera rotates on its axis until the flag is UPSIDE DOWN,
then pulls back to reveal that it is one of those flags
flying on the hood of a PRESIDENTIAL LIMOUSINE, which itself
is upside-down, crashed and overturned ON TOP of another car.

The further we pull back, the more we see of a destroyed,
burning Washington D.C.

FLAGSTAFF (V.O.)
This land is my land.

Suddenly, rapid FOOTSTEPS! The camera jiggles nervously,
trying to find their source. Rapidly, the footsteps become
LOUD, like someone running on sheet-metal

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! A ZOMBIE, bleeding from the eyes, runs UP
the other side of the tangled mess of automobiles, plants a
foot on the underside of the limo, and LONG-JUMPS, arms
flailing, down onto the ground in the direction of the
camera.

It lands on its STOMACH, then scrambles up to its hands and
knees.

The camera jiggles, backing up quickly. The ZOMBIE regains
its footing and sprints spastically, aggressively toward the
lens.

The CAMERAMAN has seen enough. He turns and RUNS, his P.O.V.
bouncing wildly. Then the camera WHIP-PANS to face the
Zombie as it WAILS and ATTACKS.

The zombie engulfs the screen, TACKLING the Cameraman.

The camera FALLS to the ground, askew, shooting nothing but
treetops and sky. Offscreen, the CAMERAMAN SCREAMS and
SCREAMS and SCREAMS, accompanied by ripping, cracking,
CRUNCHING.

Something just God-awful is happening to this guy. Then he
gacks and falls SILENT.

We hear munching.

The zombie’s superbly frightening FACE comes into frame
again, at an angle, staring into the camera lens as though
it’s a bathroom mirror. The zombie curiously looks at its
reflection, twitching, trembling, smacking its lips.

The zombie BELCHES, long, loud, and animal-like, FOGGING the
LENS with its breath.

And here is the scene from the movie:

Questions to ask to analyze the scene:

* What elements in the movie scene are the same as the script?

* What elements in the movie scene are different than the script?

* Regarding the differences, put yourself in the mindset of the filmmakers and speculate: Why did they make the changes they did?

* How did the changes improve the scene?

* Alternatively are there elements in the script, not present in the movie, that are better than the final version of the scene?

* Note each camera shot in the movie version. Which of them does the script suggest via sluglines or scene description?

* How does the script convey a sense of the scene’s tone, feel, and pace through scene description and dialogue?

* What ‘magic’ exists in the movie that is not indicated in the words of the script? How do you suppose that magic emerged?

I’ll see you in comments for a discussion of this terrific scene from Zombieland.

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 weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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