Sceneggiatura originale(seconda parte)

AVATAR
written by
James Cameron

INT. COMMISSARY - MORNING
BREAKFAST the next day. The other drivers lean forward,
hanging on Grace’s re-telling of the tale.
GRACE
-- so the kid’s out there one night and
he’s got the Queen Bitch herself offering
him the spare room and the car keys.
Unbelievable.
JAKE
It’s not something you can teach.
Some of the other scientists clap Jake on the shoulders in
congratulation.
MAX
That’s awesome, Jake.
NORM chomps his bacon, fuming.
GRACE
(to Jake, getting serious)
For reasons I cannot fathom, the
Omaticaya have chosen you. God help us
all.
CUT TO:
INT. OPS CENTER - MORNING
JAKE has reported to SELFRIDGE and QUARITCH. Quaritch turns
from gazing out at the wall of forest, displaying a feral
grin.
QUARITCH
Jarhead clan?
(he laughs)
And that worked?
JAKE
(grinning)
Yeah. They want to study me. See if I
can learn to be one of them.
QUARITCH
That’s how you seize the initiative. I
wish I had ten more like you.
SELFRIDGE
Look, Sully -- find out what these blue
monkeys want.
51.
(MORE)
We try to give them medicine and
education. Roads! But no -- they like
mud. I wouldn’t care except --
Selfridge turns to a large 3D GRAPHIC DISPLAY, pointing. A
road runs from Hell’s Gate to a proposed new mine miles away.
SELFRIDGE
Their damn village is sitting right over
the richest unobtanium deposit for a
hundred klicks in any direction. Which
sucks -- for them -- because they need to
relocate.
JAKE
(taking that in)
Does Augustine know about this?
SELFRIDGE
Yeah, she does, and she’s on the next
ship back if she tries to cock-block me
on it.
JAKE
So -- who talks them into moving?
QUARITCH
(turning)
Guess.
JAKE
What if they won’t go?
QUARITCH
(icy)
I’m betting they will.
SELFRIDGE
Killing the indigenous looks bad, but
there’s one thing shareholders hate more
than bad press -- and that’s a bad
quarterly statement. Find me a carrot to
get them to move, or it’s going to have
to be all stick.
Jake is shaken by the enormity of this new responsibility.
QUARITCH
You got three months. That’s when the
dozers get there.
JAKE
I’m on it.
CUT TO:
52.
SELFRIDGE (cont'd)
INT. BIO LAB - MORNING
JAKE pumps his chair across the lab, flanked by GRACE and
NORM. Grace holds STEREO STILL PICTURES in front of him, one
at a time -- images of clan members she has shot over the
years -- a kind of flash card drill.
JAKE
Tsu’tey.
(next photo)
Mo’at.
(next photo)
Eytukan.
GRACE
He’s the clan leader --
(indicating Mo’at)
-- but she’s the spiritual leader. Like
a shaman.
INT. LINK ROOM
The dialogue is continuous as they enter.
JAKE
Got it. So who’s this Eywa?
NORM
Who’s Eywa? Oh, only their deity. The
Great Mother. The goddess made up of all
living things. You’d know that if you
had any training whatsoever.
He hauls himself from wheelchair to Link.
JAKE
Who’s got a date with the chief’s
daughter?
GRACE
Knock it off. Jesus, it’s like
kindergarten around here.
As Jake settles into the soft embrace of the link, Grace
inputs commands at the control station.
GRACE
Neytiri was my best student. She and her
sister Silwanin. Just amazing girls.
JAKE
I didn’t meet the sister.
53.
GRACE
(quietly)
No, she’s dead.
(turning to him)
Okay, let’s go -- village life starts
early.
MAX
Link is ready.
Grace lowers the bio-sensor array over Jake’s chest.
GRACE
Don’t do anything unusually stupid.
She closes the clamshell and we --
INT. HOMETREE/ THIRD LEVEL - DAY
CU JAKE’S AVATAR, blinking awake, staring up at --
HOMETREE, like a gothic cathedral overhead. Sunlight streams
down through gaps in the towering vault.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMONS - DAY
JAKE walks among the villagers, who go about their daily
tasks.
-- young girls sit together, weaving and SINGING. They look
up as he passes, then go back to work.
--two men clean the fish they’ve caught.
-- a young mother pounds seeds into meal, while nursing an
infant.
--children chase each other and climb like monkeys. One bold
LITTLE GIRL runs up to Jake, stops -- staring -- then shrieks
with laughter as she runs back to her playmates.
GRINNING, Jake turns to see NEYTIRI cantering toward him on a
DIREHORSE. She leads a second horse, an old sway-backed
MARE. His grin drops.
EXT. RIVER NEAR HOMETREE - DAY
JAKE nervously grips the surcingle of the mare. Neytiri holds
its nose-ring while Jake clumsily mounts.
Jake bends one of its ANTENNAE down to the tip of his queue.
He hesitantly touches them together and --
54.
TIGHT SHOT -- the tendrils INTERWEAVE.
Jake’s PUPILS DILATE and his mouth drops open. The horse’s
eyes also go wide and it HONKS nervously. Neytiri touches her
fingertips to the neural interface.
NEYTIRI
This is shahaylu -- the bond. Feel her
heartbeat, her breath. Feel her strong
legs.
Jake closes his eyes, nodding. One with the horse.
TSU’TEY and another young hunter come out of the forest
leading TWO DIREHORSES. The magnificent animals drink from
the edge of the pool. Tsu’tey watches Jake’s riding lesson
with disdain.
NEYTIRI
You may tell her what to do --
(she touches her head)
-- inside. For now, say where to go.
JAKE
Forward.
The horse LAUNCHES into a GALLOP. Jake flops around, with no
idea how to sit the animal, and is promptly THROWN OFF. He
lands painfully in the mud.
He gets up, brushing mud off knees and ass, as Neytiri leads
the horse back to him.
NEYTIRI
Again.
SERIES OF JUMP CUTS -- Jake falls off the horse in various
ways, seemingly landing harder each time.
ON JAKE, face down in the mud of the riverbank. He painfully
rises to hands and knees. Which is when he sees --
TSU’TEY and another HUNTER thundering across the shallow
river on their direhorses. Spray blasts up from their
hooves.
Jake stands, covered in mud, as Tsu’tey stops his horse next
to him, looking down with disdain.
TSU’TEY
You should go away.
55.
JAKE
(to Neytiri)
I knew this guy could speak English.
Tsu’tey turns to Neytiri, who is leading the old mare back.
TSU’TEY
(subtitled)
This alien will learn nothing. A rock
Sees more.
She sighs in agreement. Tsu’tey and the other hunter wheel
their horses around and THUNDER OFF into the woods.
NEYTIRI gestures to Jake’s horse.
NEYTIRI
Again.
CUT TO:
OPS CENTER - NIGHT
Grouped around a table are JAKE, COLONEL QUARITCH, SELFRIDGE
and few ENGINEERS and OFFICERS. Jake is talking them through
plans he’s made of Hometree’s inner structure.
JAKE
You’ve got outer columns, then a
secondary ring here, and an inner ring.
Then a core structure, it’s like a
spiral, that’s how they move up and down.
QUARITCH
I’m going to need accurate scans of all
these columns.
JAKE
Roger that.
ANGLE ON MAX, at the stairwell. He’s been watching Jake
talking rapidly to Quaritch, but can’t hear him. Frowning,
he backs away, down the stairs.
CUT TO:
INT. BIO LAB - DAY
JAKE, GRACE and NORM are packing science gear and supplies.
GRACE
I’m not about to let Quaritch and
Selfridge micro-manage this thing.
(she looks pointedly at Jake)
We’re going up into the mountains.
56.
(MORE)
There’s a mobile link up at Site 26 that
we can work out of.
NORM
The Hallelujah Mountains?
GRACE
That’s right.
NORM
Yesssss!
(off Jake’s look)
The legendary Floating Mountains of
Pandora? Heard of them?
CUT TO:
EXT. RAINFOREST - AERIAL - DAY
A SAMSON THUNDERS over the rainforest, climbing into the mistshrouded
mountains.
In the SEALED COCKPIT, Norm is up front, sitting left seat so
Trudy can talk him through the flight controls. Jake and
Grace are behind them, in the jump-seats.
Grace and Norm’s UNCONSCIOUS AVATARS ride in the open back
compartment.
TRUDY
It only takes tiny inputs. Here, put
your hand on the cyclic --
She points to the stick between her knees. Norm hesitantly
reaches over and rests his hand on hers.
TRUDY
Feel how small the moves are? You barely
have to think it, and the aircraft
reacts.
ON NORM -- reacting to tiny inputs from the hot lady-pilot.
THE SAMSON is dwarfed by enormous ARCHES OF ROCK.
GRACE
See these magnetic formations. We’re
getting close.
TRUDY
Yeah we are. Look at my instruments.
On the dash, many of the displays are fritzing out.
57.
GRACE (cont'd)
GRACE
Yup. We’re in the flux vortex.
AHEAD, a cloud bank parts, revealing --
THE HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS. Right in front of them.
NORM
Oh. My. God.
Jake leans forward between the seatbacks for a good look out
the front canopy.
JAKE’S POV -- enormous islands of rock are hovering a half
mile above the ground. They are overgrown with rainforest,
and straggly beards of vines hang down beneath them.
Waterfalls stream down the sides and dissolve into spray at
the bottom.
ON JAKE, staring in amazement. It is both awe-inspiring and
disturbing.
Trudy turns, grinning at Jake.
TRUDY
You should see your face.
WIDE AERIAL -- the Samson is tiny as it approaches the
floating islands of rock. An archipelago among the clouds,
they cast great shadows over the forested slopes below.
JAKE (V.O.)
Yeah, so what does hold them up? Grace
explained it to me -- some kind of maglev
effect because unobtanium is a
superconductor, or something. At least
somebody understands it. Just not me.
CUT TO:
EXT. SITE 26 - DAY
A remote RESEARCH STATION -- TWO SHACKS and a few clusters of
instruments perched on a promontory near the Hallelujah
Mountains. The shacks are AIRLIFT MODULES the size of buses.
THE SAMSON LANDS, beating the grass with its rotor-wash. The
humans hop out, wearing MASKS.
They move toward the Shack, taking in the spectacular
panorama.
CUT TO:
58.
INT. SHACK - DAY
NORM and TRUDY assist JAKE with his chair as they cycle in
through the AIRLOCK. GRACE is already inside, starting the
GENNY. She turns on the lights and equipment.
There are 4 bunks, a clutter of science gear, and -- through
a short connecting corridor -- THREE LINK UNITS in the second
module.
As Grace powers up the Link equipment, Jake stops to look at
STEREO STILL PICTURES which are taped and tacked up around
her workstation.
CLOSE ON PICTURES -- Grace posing at the school with various
grinning children. There is one of her with two lanky girls,
a younger Neytiri and an older girl who looks much like her.
GRACE
Jake, take number two, it’s the least
glitchy. Norm, I need you to operate
Jake’s link.
Norm glares at Jake as he passes.
JAKE
Hey. You got a problem?
Norm turns to Grace, his frustration boiling over.
NORM
I trained three years for this mission.
I speak the language fluently.
(he points at Jake)
He falls off the frickin’ turnip truck
and all of a sudden he’s cultural
ambassador!?
GRACE
It’s not our choice, Norm.
He glowers at Jake.
NORM
Yeah, well I didn’t come out here to wash
the dishes while you’re on some
interspecies booty call.
He stalks off.
GRACE
He can’t go far.
59.
She points to Jake’s link.
GRACE
Let’s get you in.
CUT TO:
INT./EXT. HOMETREE - BANSHEE EYRIE
LOOKING DOWN the central shaft of Hometree, 80 meters to the
ground. Villagers are ant-like.
Jake tries to keep up with Neytiri as she leaps up the core
trunk like a lemur. He climbs the last section, arriving out
of breath beside her. She leads him OUTSIDE, onto --
A large branch. Through gaps in the foliage Jake can see
other Great Trees scattered across the landscape, like
enormous umbrellas above the rainforest.
NEYTIRI strides out across the branch toward some kind of
STRUCTURE -- a WEB made of thick woven fiber. DARK SHAPES
clinging to it stir with a leathery RUSTLING SOUND.
Neytiri makes a series of TRILLS and CLICKS. One of the
shapes MOVES toward them, emerging into a shaft of sunlight.
A huge MOUNTAIN BANSHEE. Much larger than the forest
banshees, this thing is taller than a Na’vi with a 10 meter
wingspan. A leathery FWHOOP, like the crack of sails, as it
alights on the branch right in front of her.
JAKE
Holy shit.
NEYTIRI
Do not look in her eye.
Neytiri feeds it a large scrap of meat, which it SNATCHES and
gulps down. She murmurs to it and strokes its NECK.
It lets out a signature SHRIEK, and some of the others in the
shadows nearby answer.
Neytiri flip-catches her queue and gently connects it to the
Banshee’s ANTENNA. It shivers and stretches its wings as the
neural connection is made.
NEYTIRI
Ikran is not horse. Once shahaylu is
made, ikran will fly with only one Hunter
in the whole life.
She climbs smoothly onto the animal’s back.
60.
NEYTIRI
To become taronyu -- Hunter -- you must
choose your own ikran. And he must choose
you.
JAKE
When?
NEYTIRI
When you are ready.
The BANSHEE shivers with anticipation.
NEYTIRI
Heeyaaahh!
Jake ducks as the great wings EXPLODE OPEN and the banshee
DROPS off the branch. It swoops down across the forest
canopy, banks hard, lets out a CRY and beats its wings in a
power climb.
Completing the bank, Neytiri directs the banshee into a close
SWOOPING FLYBY, and Jake instinctively ducks.
ON NEYTIRI -- flying in perfect fusion with her winged mount,
the rainforest rolling beneath her.
CUT TO:
INT. SHACK - NIGHT/EXT
STEREO VIDEO-LOG IMAGE -- Jake has just switched on the
camera. He looks tired.
JAKE
Do I have to do this? I need some rack.
GRACE, behind him, looks up from her MICROSCOPE, scowling.
GRACE
No -- now, when it’s fresh.
JAKE
Yeah, yeah.
(to camera)
The days are starting to blur together.
The language is a bitch, but I figure
it’s like field-stripping a weapon.
Repetition.
THIS THROWS US INTO A TEACHING MONTAGE:
JAKE AND NEYTIRI kneel together inside Hometree. Neytiri
touches her lips with her fingertips.
61.
JAKE
Seyri.
She touches her nose, her ears, her eyes in quick sequence.
JAKE
Ontu, mikyun, nari.
NEYTIRI stands next to him, correcting his position as he
draws a longbow.
BARKING commands, she SMACKS him on the shoulder, then the
elbow, repositioning him roughly.
JAKE (V.O.)
Neytiri thinks I’m some kind of retard.
HUMAN JAKE emerges from the LINK to see --
TRUDY and NORM caught IN THE ACT on Norm’s bunk. Norm blushes
and Trudy waves, pulling the blanket over their heads.
JAKE (V.O.)
Norm’s attitude has improved lately.
NORM works with JAKE at the small table in the SHACK kitchen.
NORM
Thank you?
JAKE
Ireiyo.
Norm comically exaggerates the pronunciation.
NORM
Irrrreiyo. Irrrreiyo. You’ve gotta roll
the R, r-r-r-oll it.
Norm makes Jake repeat the word, getting more frustrated.
JAKE (V.O.)
It’s good he’s back on board, but he
thinks I’m a retard too.
TRACKING WITH JAKE’S FEET as he runs over rocks, leaping onto
a thick root, running on across the rough bark.
JAKE (V.O.)
My feet are getting tougher. I can run
farther every day.
62.
Neytiri leads him along a massive root, and soon they are
running 30 meters above the ground.
He sprints with her through the trees, trying to keep up.
She CLIMBS and LEAPS with the ease of a spider monkey.
JAKE (V.O.)
I have to trust my body to know what to
do. With Neytiri it’s learn fast or die.
Neytiri LEAPS off into space, falling, falling until --
She catches an enormous palm leaf and, gripping it, allows
its DROOP to slow her fall. She lets go, plummeting, and
catches another.
JAKE FOLLOWS in a leap of faith. THE CAMERA PLUNGES with
him, from leaf to leaf, down and down in a dizzying kinetic
rush.
He drops down from the last leaf, landing next to her on a
game trail. He is exhilarated to still be alive.
Neytiri is surprised -- that he followed. That he lived.
TIGHT ON HUMAN JAKE, in the shack. Thinking as he looks at
the pictures of Grace with the laughing kids at the school.
IN THE COMMONS -- AVATAR NORM formally greets MO’AT. The
Matriarch looks on as GRACE kneels to hug children she knows.
Grace’s eyes sparkle as she chats with them in Na’vi.
JAKE (V.O.)
I sweet-talked Mo'at into giving Norm and
Grace a hall pass. Now Grace even makes
me coffee before link every morning.
Grace looks up to see Neytiri approaching. It is an awkward
moment between them. Grace makes the formal gesture of
greeting.
GRACE
(Na’vi, subtitled)
I See you, Neytiri Mo’at’ite.
NEYTIRI
I See you, Doctor Grace Augustine.
ANOTHER DAY -- NEYTIRI kneels on a game trail, pointing out
the tracks in the mud to Jake. She touches the edges of the
plants around her, and sniffs the air.
63.
JAKE (V.O.)
I’m learning to read the trails, the
tracks at the water-hole, the tiniest
scents and sounds.
JAKE AND NEYTIRI watch through a screen of leaves as --
A HERD of huge, armored STURMBEEST walks through the shallows
of a lake. In the middle of the herd, the babies are
sheltered from predators among their parents' legs.
One of the BULLS trumpets, and a flock of TETRAPTERONS takes
flight, an explosion of purple wings.
Jake stares at the strange and wild alien tableau.
ANOTHER PLACE -- NEYTIRI STANDS utterly still, except for her
ears, which move with a life of their own. Her eyes are
closed. She speaks very softly to Jake --
NEYTIRI
When you hear nothing, you will hear
everything. When you see nothing, you
will See everything.
JAKE (V.O.)
Sometimes I have no idea what she’s
talking about.
Jake and Neytiri creep quietly, stalking a large male
HEXAPEDE -- a six legged deer-like creature.
Jake expertly nocks an arrow and draws his bow as Neytiri
watches. He takes a bead on the hexapede -- tracks it for a
beat with the drawn bow, then RELAXES his arm. Zen archery.
JAKE (V.O.)
It’s been a month and I’m still not
allowed to make a kill. She says the
forest hasn’t given permission.
OMIITED
NEYTIRI and JAKE crawl through the undergrowth. She points
and he parts some leaves to see --
A MOTHER VIPERWOLF bringing meat to her cubs, which frisk
around her legs. She licks their faces.
JAKE (V.O.)
There’s a lot of crap like that. She’s
always going on about the flow of energy--
the spirits of the animals and what not --
64.
VIDEO-LOG IMAGE -- HUMAN JAKE talks into the lens. He’s
changing -- un-shaven, cheeks hollow. Pale.
JAKE
(smirking)
I just hope this treehugger shit isn’t on
the final.
Visible behind him, Grace is hunched over her samples.
GRACE
(without looking up)
This isn’t just about eye-hand
coordination out there. You need to
listen to what she says. Try to see the
forest through their eyes.
JAKE
Excuse me -- this is my video-log here,
okay?
NEYTIRI AND JAKE move through the NIGHT FOREST, surrounded by
galaxies of shimmering bioluminescence. They move
gracefully, soundlessly -- two forest spirits.
CU JAKE -- the pupils of his cat eyes dilated. The night
forest floods his brain with its million bio-sources.
NIGHT SHOT, from overhead -- Jake and Neytiri bow-fishing
from a dugout canoe over huge glowing ANEMONES at the bottom
of a pool.
A large fish swims silhouetted against the pastel glow. ZAP!
Jake drills it. He holds up the fish, triumphantly.
ANOTHER DAY -- Neytiri stands close behind Jake, adjusting
his position as he draws his bow. Only now her hands are
GENTLE as they move on his arms, his shoulders.
Aware of her touch, Jake’s focus is broken. Their eyes meet,
and she pulls away quickly.
NIGHT -- they enter a CLEARING filled with chest-high ferns.
Neytiri signals him to move slowly. They approach a creature
on one of the ferns. An ugly, stick-like LIZARD-THING
perched on a frond. As he approaches --
SNAP! A long spine whips in a circle, unfurling a
bioluminescent membrane -- a disk a meter across, opening
like a Chinese fan. It FLIES OFF, a living Frisbee.
THE FAN LIZARD FLOATS across the clearing.
65.
Neytiri plunges among the ferns with a SHARP CRY. An
EXPLOSION OF COLOR as dozens of FAN LIZARDS take flight.
Grinning widely, she hops around like a little girl, until
they are all flying. And for the first time, she is
unguarded and joyful, totally herself with him.
INSIDE THE LINK -- Jake’s eyes open in the darkness. He
doesn’t know where he is. He weakly pushes open the lid,
blinking at the light.
JAKE (V.O.)
Everything is backwards now. Like out
there is the true world, and in here is
the dream.
TIGHT ON AVATAR JAKE silently drawing his bow, his eyes
focused in intense concentration. A beat -- the arrow flies.
JAKE PULLS the arrow from the twitching body of a hexapede.
He dispatches it with his knife.
He speaks haltingly, but with feeling, in Na’vi.
JAKE
(Na’vi)
I See you Brother, and thank you. Your
spirit goes with Eywa, your body stays
behind to become part of the People.
NEYTIRI watches with approval.
NEYTIRI
A clean kill. You are ready.
CUT TO:
INT. SHACK - NIGHT
Lying in the link, Jake looks exhausted, pale, thin. Norm
helps Grace get him to his chair.
GRACE
You’re still losing weight. Here --
She hands him a microwaved burrito. He looks at the now alien
food. Bites into it without enthusiasm.
JAKE
I made a kill today. We ate it. I know
where that meal came from.
66.
GRACE
Other body. You need to take care of
this body.
JAKE
Yeah yeah.
GRACE
Jake, I’m serious -- you look like crap.
You’re burning too hard.
Jake takes the cigarette out of her mouth and stubs it out.
JAKE
Get rid of this shit, then you can
lecture me.
GRACE
I’m telling you, as your boss and someone
who might even consider being a friend
someday, to take some down time.
JAKE
Not now. Tomorrow we leave for Iknimaya.
GRACE walks past Jake, starts making herself coffee.
GRACE
Yeah -- you’re gonna go ride a banshee.
Or die trying.
JAKE
That’s right, Grace. This is what I’ve
been working for.
GRACE
And this is your check up from the neck
up, Marine. You’re getting in way too
deep.
(she turns away)
Trust me, I learned the hard way.
Jake scans the pictures tacked up around Grace’s workstation.
JAKE
What did happen at the school?
GRACE looks up from making coffee. Her eyes track across the
pictures of the laughing children. Finally --
67.
GRACE
Neytiri’s sister -- Sylwanin -- stopped
coming to school. She was angry about
the clear-cutting.
GRACE sips her coffee, grimaces at the taste.
GRACE
One day, she and a couple of other young
hunters came running in, all painted up --
they’d set a bulldozer on fire -- I guess
they thought I could protect them.
GRACE’S voice stays oddly CALM as he tells this terrible
story, while getting MILK out of the refrigerator.
GRACE
The troopers pursued them to the
schoolhouse.
MACRO as she pours the milk -- her hand is SHAKING.
GRACE
They killed Sylwanin in the doorway.
Right in front of Neytiri. Then shot the
others.
(mildly)
I got most of the kids out, before they
shot me.
JAKE
Jesus.
GRACE
Yeah.
Jake realizes that Grace is on the verge of tears and
desperately trying to hide it.
GRACE
A scientist stays objective -- we can not
be ruled by emotion. But I poured ten
years of my life into that school. They
called me sa’atenuk. Mother.
(turning to him)
That kind of pain reaches back through
the link.
GRACE sits down at the table, looks intently at Jake.
GRACE
It’s a job. Learn what you can -- but
don’t get attached.
68.
GRACE looks at him with real PAIN in her eyes.
GRACE
It’s not our world, Jake. And we can’t
stop what’s coming.
CUT TO:
EXT. MOUNTAIN TRAIL - DAY
TSU’TEY leads three direhorse riders up the trail -- two
TEENAGE HUNTERS and JAKE, who’s riding well enough to keep
up. The horses’ hooves CLOP right next to a sheer drop into a
misty canyon.
JAKE (V.O.)
Iknimaya translates roughly as stairway
to heaven. It’s the test every young
hunter has to pass.
TSU’TEY signals a stop.
UP-SLOPE AHEAD is an astounding formation. Thick vine-like
trees have trapped large FLOATING BOULDERS of UNOBTANIUM in
their gnarled grip.
A hundred meters above them more boulders are WOVEN into the
twisted vine-trunks. This is some sort of freak natural
occurrence -- like the mythical beanstalk, going up into the
clouds.
There is a THUNDERING ROAR, like an artillery barrage, and
the ground SHAKES. Jake looks around at --
One of the FLOATING MOUNTAINS grinding against the flank of a
nearby mesa. A huge rockfall is set loose. The mountain is
drifting toward them, filling half the sky.
The Hunters dismount.
JAKE looks up at the beanstalk going into the clouds. He
turns to Tsu’tey, who is checking the young hunters’ gear.
JAKE
We doin’ this?
Jake leaps to catch up as Tsu’tey and the hunters swarm up
the base of the beanstalk.
CUT TO:
69.
EXT. BEANSTALK - DAY
200 METERS up the BEANSTALK, the hunters nimbly climb along
the vine-trunks. They clamber over one of the unobtanium
BOULDERS which is lifting this incredible tree.
JAKE looks down -- the massive trunk dwindles to the size of
a licorice stick. A chunk breaks off a boulder as he climbs
over it -- it floats upward.
They reach the upper branches of the beanstalk. Above them,
the craggy underbelly of MONS Veritatis looms. Spray from
one of the waterfalls hits them.
Some of the HANGING VINES are brushing over the upper
branches of the beanstalk with a crackling hiss.
One by one the hunters grab onto vines as they pass.
Jake shrugs and leaps to a passing vine, his feet dangling
over nothingness. They climb toward the floating islands
above.
EXT. MONS VERITATIS - DAY
TINY FIGURES cross a causeway of vines connecting a small
island of unobtanium to the main mass of Mons Veritatis.
WIDE SHOT looking down a rock face bigger than Half Dome --
the sheer side of Mons Veritatis.
Banshees circle next to the cliffs, flashing in shafts of
sunlight. Waterfalls dissolve into nothingness below.
EXT. GROTTO/BANSHEE ROOKERY - DAY
A waterfall THUNDERS down into the void like a faucet of the
gods. Jake looks down the sheer cliff at the world far below
-- a view from Olympus.
A SHRIEK and the THWAP THWAP of leathery wings -- NEYTIRI’S
BANSHEE swoops in to perch at the edge of the grotto. She
dismounts and, like a falconer, covers its eyes with a woven
HOOD. It waits, docile, as --
She joins Jake and the hunter party. Tsu’tey leads them
through the cave until they emerge onto a CLIFF FACE. And
Jake sees --
The BANSHEE ROOKERY. HUNDREDS of banshees huddle on rock outcroppings
as far as the eye can see. They cling to the walls
with the fore-claws on their wings, or perch on ledges.
70.
TSU’TEY
Jakesully will go first.
Tsu’tey smirks at Jake, a challenge in his eyes. The two
teenage Hunters are scared but trying to act tough.
Tsu’tey scowls when Neytiri leads Jake out onto the ledge.
NEYTIRI
(whispering)
Now you choose your ikran. This you must
feel -- inside. If he also chooses you,
move quick, like I showed. You will have
one chance.
JAKE
How will I know if he chooses me?
NEYTIRI
He will try to kill you.
JAKE
Outstanding.
Out of sight of Tsu’tey, Neytiri takes his hand and squeezes
it. Jake feels a rush of emotion, but she breaks away like
it didn’t happen. He is on his own, on the ledge with --
The BANSHEES. They eye him as he approaches. Several SHRIEK
and take flight. Others flap their wings and yawn, showing
rows of fangs, in a threat display.
Jake unrolls a weighted leather strap, like a one-ended BOLO.
A LARGE MALE spreads enormous wings, SHRIEKS, and glares
straight at him.
Jake looks directly into its eyes -- and strides toward it.
JAKE
Let’s dance.
The challenged banshee HISSES and leaps at him, jaws wide as--
Jake times the lunge, swinging the bolo, feinting and then
slipping aside as the banshee’s jaws miss him, SNAPPING SHUT.
Jake WHAPS the bolo across its snout. The weighted thong
whips twice around its long jaws, tying them shut. A MUFFLED
SCREAM and it SLASHES at his stomach with razor talons but --
71.
Jake is already leaping, over the talons and tackling the
banshee around the neck. It topples on its side, and he
SWARMS IT -- arms around its thrashing head.
Jake grabs its whip-like antenna and brings it toward his
queue but --
The bony head SLAMS sideways, and BAM! -- clocks him right in
the face, almost knocking him out and --
IT WRITHES, flinging him to the ground. He slides on the
rock and almost goes over the edge as --
NEYTIRI gasps. Tsu’tey laughs and yells mockingly.
The bolo is coming loose as the creature shakes its head, way
pissed off now, but --
Jake scrambles up and leaps straight at it. Claws rake his
leg but he gets his arms around its head and CLAMPS DOWN
HARD. They flop to the ground and he scrambles on top,
pinning it and --
Grabs its whipping antenna, locks it under his arm, and jams
the end of his queue into it. They FUSE together and --
The banshee stops struggling. It lies there panting. They
are locked together, literally eye to eye.
JAKE
That’s right! You’re mine.
ECU BANSHEE -- the pupil like a deep black well.
Jake relaxes his grip and slowly, warily, slides his leg over
the creature’s back.
Neytiri runs to him.
NEYTIRI
First flight seals the bond. You cannot
wait.
Jake sits astride the creature, feeling its power. He grips
a hank of the beast’s main, and --
JAKE
Heeeyyyaaaah!
THWAP! THWAP! The banshee is off like a shot. Jake SCREAMS
as they PLUMMET off the cliff -- the banshee WAILS and --
72.
They fall together, spiralling out of control, and he is
almost tossed lose. The thing is SQUAWKING and SHRIEKING so
much he can't think.
JAKE
Shut the hell up!!
It does.
JAKE
Level out! Fly straight!
It levels out. Jake cocks his head, only thinking “bank left”
and the animal complies. He settles the banshee into an easy
loping beat of its huge wings, while he catches his breath.
NEYTIRI’S BANSHEE falls into formation with him. She signals
“follow me” and DIVES.
Jake guides his banshee clumsily after her. Neytiri’s
banshee moves with precise movements of its wingtips, while
Jake’s wobbles and dips, almost falling out of the sky.
THE CAMERA SWOOPS after them as Neytiri leads an arcing DIVE
around the flank of Mons Veritatis. The scenery is stunning.
They pass waterfalls and swoop between hanging vines.
Neytiri leads Jake in a sharp bank, skimming close to the
cliffs. They punch through streamers of cloud and emerge
into sunlight.
Jake is getting the hang of it. He jinks left, then right,
then dives, tucking himself tight against the animal’s back.
He’s reckless, fearless. Half in control and LOVING IT.
Neytiri dives next to him as he lets out a long WHOOP of joy.
CUT TO:
INT./EXT. GROTTO/MONS VERITATIS - DAY
FLIGHT MONTAGE:
NEYTIRI squats with Jake, using her hands to explain flight
principles like one fighter pilot to another.
LOOKING DOWN a sheer cliff. SWOOOSH! Jake and Neytiri dive
their mounts STRAIGHT DOWN PAST CAMERA, pulling out and
soaring into a series of aerobatic turns.
JAKE (V.O.)
I may not be much of a horse guy. But I
was born to do this.
73.
THEY FLY in close formation with TSU’TEY and the young
HUNTERS, 5 banshees flashing through scarves of mist.
ANOTHER DAY. Jake dives, playing hide and seek with Neytiri
among the clouds. They are wild and free in a wild world.
She grins and banks hard, diving -- catch me if you can. He
DIVES after her.
IN THE GROTTO, by firelight, JAKE’S BANSHEE snaps at a piece
of meat which he playfully pulls back. He’s teaching it to
take the food more slowly. He strokes its long head.
TSU’TEY is nearby with the young hunters. He eyes Jake with
frustrated hostility.
ANOTHER DAY -- Jake and Neytiri fly abreast, soaring easily.
She points and Jake sees --
A BIZARRE GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. Arches of magnetic rock form
rainbows of stone above a deep CALDERA. In the center of the
caldera is a single, enormous WILLOW TREE, gnarled and
ancient. This, we will be told, is THE WELL OF SOULS.
CUT TO:
EXT. RIDGE
JAKE flies with Neytiri along a forested ridge. She is
teaching him to hunt from his banshee. They carry their bows
at the ready, scanning below them for prey.
A HUGE SHADOW covers him and Neytiri SHOUTS a warning. Jake
looks up to see --
A LEONOPTERYX in a delta-dive, whistling straight at him.
Like a banshee, only several times larger, it is the king
predator of the air: the GREAT LEONOPTERYX. Striped
scarlet, yellow and black, with a midnight blue crested head
-- it is both gorgeous and terrifying.
The hunter has become the prey. JAKE snap-rolls and dives
toward the forest canopy. He plummets into the gloom as --
K-CRASH -- the leonopteryx tears through foliage, following
him down, both diving like missiles and --
JAKE yanks into a hair-pin bank, right through a gap between
two huge branches --
Forcing the leonopteryx to brake with a loud FWOOSH of wings.
It banks away with a frustrated SHRIEK. Two flaps of its
mighty wings and it is gone, back above the canopy.
74.
CLOSE ON THE LEONOPTERYX, as its fanged mouth opens in a
bloodcurdling SCREECH which echoes among the mountains. The
lord of its domain.
ON JAKE, shaken. Neytiri flies up, her expression the Na’vi
equivalent of Oh my God. A beat -- they both crack up.
CUT TO:
INT. SHACK - NIGHT
Jake ponders images Grace has called up at her workstation--
science graphics of the Leonopteryx. Trudy and Norm are
crowded around as well.
GRACE
The Great Leonopteryx is the apex aerial
predator. Not only rare, but the
sightings tend not to get reported.
Trudy makes a clicking motion with her thumb.
TRUDY
There usually isn’t time to key the mike.
JAKE
The People call it Toruk.
NORM
(translating)
Last Shadow.
JAKE
Last one you ever see.
TRUDY
I saw one take out a gunship once --
WHAM! Total frickin’ yard sale. Ate the
crew like peanuts.
TIME CUT -- Grace is scanning through images and Jake stops
her on one -- a 3D aerial shot of the strange arched
formation.
JAKE
That’s it.
GRACE
Vitraya Ramunong -- The Well of Souls.
It’s their most sacred place.
She moves the virtual camera, and we seem to fly around the
Well of Souls, catching only a glimpse of the interior.
75.
GRACE
Something big is going on in there,
biologically. I’d die to get samples, but
outsiders are strictly forbidden.
TIME CUT -- Jake looks through the pressure window at HUMAN
GRACE and NORM outside. Wearing masks, they are taking
readings from some time-series experiments Grace has set up.
As TRUDY watches, JAKE works fast to download Grace’s images
of the Well of Souls onto a memory chip.
TRUDY
They’re coming back.
Jake pulls the chip, then hesitates. Torn by what he is
doing.
TRUDY
If you don’t give him something, he’s
gonna shut us down.
He hands her the chip and she slips it into a pocket of her
flight-suit just as Grace and Norm enter from the airlock.
JAKE
Hey, guys.
CUT TO:
INT. HOMETREE - NIGHT
JAKE STARES up at the TOTEM SKULL, which we now recognize as
that of a GREAT LEONOPTERYX. NEYTIRI watches as he reaches
up to touch the tall indigo crest.
NEYTIRI
My grandfather’s grandfather was Toruk
Macto -- Rider of Last Shadow. Toruk
chose him. It has only happened five
times since the time of the First Songs.
JAKE
That’s a long time.
Neytiri takes his hand, because that’s what the Na’vi do when
they’re telling you something important.
NEYTIRI
Toruk Macto was mighty -- he brought the
clans together in a time of great sorrow.
All Na’vi people know this story.
76.
PUSH IN SLOWLY on the skull totem, then --
CUT TO:
EXT. RIVER BED - DAY
JAKE, NEYTIRI and other FLYING HUNTERS swoop low above a HERD
OF STURMBEEST -- a rapids of thundering muscle. Dust rises
from this living river like steam from a python's back.
TRACKING WITH the herd. A HUNTER appears in FG, astride a
direhorse at full gallop. The sight is breathtaking. He
hurls a 3 meter spear and one of the sturmbeest CRASHES down,
flipping twice from momentum.
JAKE ROLLS IN like a fighter jet, his banshee screaming. He
draws and fires his bow. The arrow strikes true, in the
plexus between the armored shoulders and --
THE BEAST crashes to the ground. Skids to a stop in a cloud
of dust.
NEYTIRI swoops in next to Jake, arms raised and grinning
wolfishly.
CU TSU’TEY, banking around Jake’s kill. Jake looks up, and
Tsu’tey SALUTES in grudging admiration.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - NIGHT
The central space is lit by a BONFIRE, around which the HUNT
FESTIVAL is in full swing. Wild dancing. People gnawing on
massive sturmbeest ribs. A bowl of some kava-like intoxicant
is passed around.
NEYTIRI dances in a flowing costume as the BANSHEE SPIRIT.
NORM is dancing seductively with his own tail.
JAKE, surrounded by young hunters, acts out the leonopteryx
attack with his hands. The leaping fire-light plays across
the eye sockets of the TORUK SKULL, bringing it to life. It
seems to watch Jake.
TSU’TEY squats next to Jake, the usual scowl on his face.
Jake braces himself -- and Tsu’tey holds up the KAVA BOWL,
offering it to him. A challenge or an olive branch?
Jake takes a long, hearty drink as some of the young hunters
hoot and clap hands in a fast rhythm.
77.
GRACE
Watch that stuff. It’ll knock you into
next week.
Jake offers the bowl back to Tsu’tey. They lock eyes.
Tsu’tey drinks.
LATER -- AN EMPTY BOWL drops, landing on a pile of empty
bowls near the fire.
WIDER ON JAKE and TSU’TEY, sitting amid the rowdy hunters.
Tsu’tey looks a little blearily at Jake. Finally, he GRINS.
TSU’TEY
I thought -- enough drink -- you would
not be so ugly.
JAKE
Sorry.
Tsu’tey looks deep into the fire.
TSU’TEY
Your warriors -- hide inside machines --
fight from far away.
(he looks at Jake)
I did not think a sky person could be
brave.
Before Jake can answer, NEYTIRI’S lithe shape runs through
the circle of silhouetted dancers toward them. She takes
Jake by the hand and pulls him up --
NEYTIRI
You must dance! It is the way.
TSU’TEY watches as she leads him away, his face darkening --
the moment of connection to Jake lost to anger.
The hunters WHOOP and CHEER as Jake joins the circle of
dancers.
Jake takes Grace’s hand and pulls her up, protesting.
JAKE lets the DRUMS and CHANTING flow through him. He lets
himself go, dancing from the inside, channeling the primal
energy.
GRACE is rocking out, grinning. We see the young girl, so
repressed, who lives within her.
Jake and Neytiri flow amongst the dancers, but they are
looking only at each other.
78.
A couple of the young girls watching from outside the circle
are giggling and talking about them. Mo'at and EYTUKAN
follow their look, seeing the obvious connection.
MO’AT
(subtitled)
We cannot let this seed grow. Her path is
with Tsu’tey.
ON JAKE, dancing with abandon to the primal beat, eyes locked
with Neytiri.
CUT TO:
EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY
WIDE VISTA -- mist blowing through the treetops as the
morning sun burns it away. A spectacular panorama of a vast,
primeval land.
UP ANGLE TRACKING among the trees, the sunlight shafting down
like light in a cathedral.
JAKE (V.O.)
It’s hard to put in words the deep
connection the People have to the forest.
HIGH IN THE BRANCHES of a tree, Jake watches as Neytiri
gently bends a large pitcher-like flower toward her, sipping
nectar which is sweet and thick as honey. An incredibly
sensuous image.
JAKE (V.O.)
They see a network of energy that flows
through all living things. They know that
all energy is only borrowed--
MACRO SHOT of a purple flower, beaded with raindrops. A blue
hand picks the flower.
JAKE (V.O.)
-- and one day you have to give it back.
LOOKING DOWN into a hole dug among tree roots. The body of
an old Omaticaya WOMAN lies curled there like an unborn baby
in the womb of the earth. The purple flower is gently placed
on her body, joining flowers, totems and beads.
Mo'at recites a prayer as Neytiri, acting as acolyte, places
a WOODSPRITE, a seed of the Great Tree, on the body.
Earth is poured over the LENS and we CUT TO --
79.
JAKE WAKING UP in the Link. DARK as a coffin. He pushes the
lid off, letting in light, and lies there. He looks pale and
haggard, with a scraggly beard.
JAKE (V.O.)
Hard to believe it’s only been three
months.
JAKE SITS in front of the video log camera, late at night. It
is many log entries later. He has lost a lot of weight. He
looks like a junkie watching a test pattern.
JAKE
(to the lens)
I can barely remember my old life. I’m
not sure who I am anymore.
CUT TO:
EXT. COMPOUND - DAY
Under a sky of thunderheads, the forest is a dark wall beyond
the fence. SELFRIDGE, wearing an exopack, TEES UP while GRACE
and JAKE approach from the direction of the Ops Center.
SELFRIDGE
Good of you to stop by. How’s it going
out there? Our blue friends all packed
up yet?
Selfridge swings his DRIVER with good form.
SELFRIDGE
See, I keep hooking it. It’s the damn
pack.
THE BALL drops into the mud just past a marker which reads
220. A TROOPER walks over to retrieve it.
SELFRIDGE
The low gravity and the high air density
cancel out so --
JAKE
You called us back to report -- you want
to hear it or not?
SELFRIDGE
Go ahead.
GRACE
Jake is making incredible progress, years
worth in just a few months. But -- we
need more time.
80.
SELFRIDGE
Not what I was hoping to hear.
It starts to rain. Selfridge calmly pulls an umbrella from
his golf bag and snaps it open.
GRACE
Parker, it’s their ancestral home.
They’ve lived there since before human
history began. You can spare them a few
more weeks.
SELFRIDGE
This thing is inevitable. What does it
matter when it happens? I’m sorry, Dr.
Augustine. You’re out of time.
He leaves them standing there to get drenched.
CUT TO:
INT. ARMOR BAY
A break table, under a harsh overhead light. Quaritch pulls
up a chair, turns it around, and sits astride it facing Jake.
He studies Jake’s pale, sunken face. The scraggly beard.
QUARITCH
You’re not gettin’ lost in the woods, are
you son?
Jake can’t meet his eyes.
QUARITCH
Your last report was two weeks ago. I’m
starting to doubt your resolve. From what
I see, it’s time to terminate this
mission.
Jake eyes flare with alarm.
JAKE
No. I can do this.
QUARITCH
Look, you’ve given me plenty of usable
intel. Like this “Well of Souls” place --
I’ve got them by the balls with that,
when it turns into a shit-fight. Which it
will.
Jake feels hollow inside, knowing what he’s done.
81.
QUARITCH
So you’ll get your legs back, like I
promised.
(puts his hand on Jake’s
shoulder)
It’s time to come in.
Jake ponders this. Isn’t this what he was doing all this for?
JAKE
I’ve gotta finish this thing. There’s
one more test -- the Dream Hunt. It’s the
final stage of becoming a man. Then I’m
one of them. They’ll trust what I say...
It’s hard for him to even form these words --
JAKE
... and I can negotiate the terms of
their relocation.
QUARITCH
Then you need to get it done, Corporal.
CUT TO:
EXT. HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS - NIGHT
Strange horizontal LIGHTNING branches through the floating
mountains, twisted by the magnetic fields. The sky is black
and heavy with clouds.
INT. SHACK KITCHEN - NIGHT
Jake is gulping black coffee like a tequila shot, looking
pretty STRUNG OUT. GRACE is smoking furiously.
GRACE
Jake, I can’t allow this. You’re just
not strong enough.
JAKE
It’s the last door -- I’m going through
it. You can help me or get out of the
way.
Jake pushes past her toward the corridor --
GRACE
(grabbing him)
Will you listen to me? Sometimes the
Na’vi themselves die in these vision
quests. The venom takes you to the edge
of death.
82.
(MORE)
And the psychoactive alkaloid in the worm-
- we have no idea what that’ll do in an
avatar brain.
Jake breaks free and wheels away, down the corridor.
GRACE follows JAKE as he crosses to the Link. A sheet of
LIGHTNING flashes across the sky outside.
Norm is initializing the Link.
NORM
Calibrating. Thirty seconds.
She puts her hands on his shoulders.
GRACE
No matter what you prove out there-- you
are still in here.
(shaking him)
Right here.
JAKE
I have to go all the way -- become one of
them--
GRACE
(furiously)
Goddammit, Jake, you can never be one of
them!
Norm looks up, startled at the VEHEMENCE in GRACE’ voice.
GRACE
Our life out there takes millions of
dollars of machinery to sustain. You
visit -- and you leave.
During this, Jake pulls himself from his wheelchair, levering
himself into the Link, hauling his useless legs inside.
GRACE
(softening)
You can never truly be with her.
Jake stops, pinioned by the truth. He seems suddenly very
lost.
JAKE
You know why I’m here? Because Quaritch
sent me.
NORM
What?
83.
GRACE (cont'd)
JAKE
That’s right -- to embed with the
Omaticaya. To find out how to screw them
out of their home. By deceit or by
force, he didn’t care. And if it turned
out to be force, then how best to do it.
Norm is in shock. But Grace is eerily calm.
GRACE
And what about now, Jake?
JAKE
I’m not that guy any more.
Grace nods. She’s been on his journey every step of the way.
GRACE
I know.
JAKE
But if I tell Quaritch the truth, he
yanks me out -- I never see her again.
And if I tell her the truth, the clan
throws me out -- that’s if they don’t cut
my heart out and show it to me.
Jake looks hopelessly at the two of them. In his own perfect
Hell.
NORM
They won’t understand what you’ve done.
JAKE
They don’t even have a word for “lie” --
they had to learn it from us.
Grace sees he is on the verge of tears. Lost and alone,
between worlds.
GRACE
I know. I taught it to them.
JAKE
(pleading)
Grace. I’ve gotta go. They’re waiting.
NORM
Link is ready.
Grace stops him as he tries to close the lid.
84.
GRACE
Jake. You can’t carry this burden much
longer.
JAKE
(smiling wanly)
It’s okay. Mo’at says an alien mind
probably can’t survive the Dream Hunt
anyway.
Grace closes the lid. It feels like closing a coffin. She
watches his psionic patterns aligning to his avatar,
somewhere out in the night.
GRACE
(to Norm)
Prep my link. I’m going in.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - NIGHT
JAKE SITS, eyes closed, as Neytiri and another young hunter
paint his face and body in preparation for uniltaron -- the
Dream Hunt.
NEYTIRI
When your Spirit Animal comes, you will
know.
Their eyes meet with emotion neither can conceal any longer.
TIME CUT. GRACE stands with the crowd at the ramp to
HOMETREE’S LOWEST LEVEL. Jake barely sees her as he goes down
the spiral. She tries to follow, but is barred by a hunter.
BELOW, seemingly in the womb of the earth, Jake walks slowly
into the center of a tight circle of seated elders and
hunters. An ELDER is slowly rapping a large WATER DRUM.
TIME CUT -- MO’AT purifies him with smoke from burning herbs,
CHANTING in a low monotone. Jake, squatting, washes the
smoke over himself with his palms.
MACRO - MO’AT’S FINGERS unwrap a piece of wood riddled with
holes. She catches the end of a glowing purple WORM, and
draws it out of the wood.
MO'AT
(subtitled)
Oh wise worm, eater of the Sacred Tree --
bless this worthy Hunter with a true
vision.
85.
MO’AT places the worm on Jake’s out-stretched TONGUE. It
twists on itself, lighting his mouth before he closes it. She
indicates he should chew. He does.
MACRO -- AN EARTHEN JAR is opened. EYTUKAN removes a
writhing black ARACHNOID, the Pandoran equivalent of a
scorpion.
He places it against the back of Jake’s neck and presses. The
insect drives its stinger into Jake’s skin and --
Jake grimaces. Mo'at and Eytukan step back, leaving Jake
alone in the circle.
Neytiri watches intently, joining in the low chant.
SLOW DOLLY IN on Jake. His eyes OPEN. He looks around at the
faces -- they seem to TRANSFORM, becoming threatening.
Jake looks down at the palms of his hands.
JAKE’S POV -- his hands recede, his whole body, the ground
and --
INSTANTLY the circle of Na’vi recedes, as if to a distant
horizon, leaving vast ground in between. SPACE is utterly
distorted, and SOUND as well -- echoing, THUNDEROUS.
ECU JAKE -- pupils DILATED black. He looks around and --
The onlookers are gone, replaced by a ring of glowing trees,
which seem miles high. The whole image is bathed in spectral
radiance. Jake looks down --
JAKE’S POV -- his body and hands transforming -- fingers
stretching into tendrils, legs becoming roots which spread
outward across the ground, a thousand glowing dendrites which
connect to the roots of the trees and --
CUT TO REALITY -- Jake is on his hands and knees, PUKING in
the dirt. He contorts, crying out in agony as the venom
contracts his muscles but --
IN HIS VISION Jake stands serene on a FLOATING MOUNTAIN
CLIFF. A GREAT BLACK SHADOW covers him, the unmistakable X
silhouette of a diving LEONOPTERYX. The LAST SHADOW.
CAMERA SCREAMS down on him as the shadow grows larger -- WE
RUSH into his face, into the blackness of his pupil which
FILLS THE UNIVERSE and --
86.
REAL JAKE writhes in the dirt, his back arched as his muscles
seize. He foams and thrashes, his eyes rolled back in his
head, while inside --
TIME ITSELF HAS ACCELERATED -- clouds scream around the
mountain tops, mist boils through the forest. He feels the
wind of time blowing through him as --
REAL JAKE claws the ground, moaning, staring blindly while --
INSIDE, IN POV he FLIES over the landscape of Pandora --
--but the forest is BLASTED. Fires flicker among trees that
are BURNED black and lifeless in a smoky twilight.
A great WINGED SHADOW is cast below, rippling over the
devastated ground. AVATAR JAKE looks down at the shadow.
Realizes HE is casting it, and we RUSH IN to his PUPIL and --
PULL BACK from the eye of a GREAT LEONOPTERYX, flying lordly
and terrible over the land. It lets out an almighty SHRIEK
which seems to echo to eternity and --
SLAM CUT to Jake, on his back, GASPING -- back in his body.
He weakly rolls up to one elbow and looks around the room.
MO'AT
It is finished.
Neytiri’s face is flooded with relief. The faces of the clan
elders look at Jake expectantly.
EYTUKAN
(subtitled)
Did your Spirit Animal come?
Jake looks from Eytukan to Mo'at, Tsu’tey and the elders. How
can he tell them what he has seen?
Mo’at puts her splayed fingers against his face, seeming to
peer into his troubled soul.
MO'AT
(to Jake)
Something has come.
(to the others, subtitled)
It will take time for the meaning to be
clear.
She steps back, and Eytukan motions for Jake to stand. He
gets up, weakly.
87.
OUTSIDE THE ENCLOSURE -- Eytukan emerges with Jake and the
others. The entire clan is gathered, waiting to hear what
has happened. Jake looks up at the Leonopteryx Skull Totem,
which seems to stare down at him.
GRACE watches, her eyes brimming. Proud. Relieved. Amazed.
Eytukan places both hands on Jake’s chest and holds them
there.
EYTUKAN
(subtitled)
You are now a son of the Omaticaya. You
are part of the People.
All the members of the clan press forward, crowding around
and putting their hands on Jake’s shoulders, back, chest --
hands upon hands, until he is connected to everyone.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. RAINFOREST - NIGHT
JAKE and NEYTIRI run silhouetted in the night. Behind them
waterfalls cascade down in the silvery light. POLYPHEMUS
RISES behind the trees.
NEYTIRI DIVES from a rock, slicing into a mirror of water.
Jake follows her and --
UNDERWATER, they swim over glowing ANEMONES.
They seem to float in a cosmic dance above a luminous garden
of waving shapes. Tiny purple fish swirl around them.
Their hands come together, fingers twining, as they float
weightlessly, as if between worlds.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. WILLOW GLADE
Laughing, they run together into a stand of WILLOWS. Their
trunks are as gnarled as bonsai. Long faintly glowing
tendrils hang straight down in pastel curtains.
Underfoot, a bed of moss glows faintly. It REACTS to their
footsteps with expanding rings of light.
It is an exquisitely beautiful spot.
The willows stir, responding to their presence. She holds up
her hands, letting the TENDRILS caress her.
88.
NEYTIRI
This is a place for prayers to be heard.
And sometimes answered.
Jake puts out his hands and the tendrils play over his
fingers, his palms, his forearms. His eyes go wide. We hear
the WHISPERING of ancient Na’vi VOICES.
JAKE
It’s like -- a sound you feel.
NEYTIRI
We call this utraya mokri -- the Tree of
Voices. The voices of our ancestors, who
live within Eywa.
A few WOODSPRITES circle around them, some alighting on their
shoulders and arms.
They stand, very close together now. Her eyes are intense,
almost luminous. He feels drawn into them.
But she pulls back a little.
NEYTIRI
You are Omaticaya now. You may make your
own bow from the wood of Hometree.
(she looks away)
And you may choose a woman.
The Amazon warrior trying so hard to sound casual. Jake
suppresses a smile.
NEYTIRI
We have many fine women. Ninat is the
best singer --
JAKE
I don’t want Ninat.
NEYTIRI
There is Beyral -- she is a good hunter --
Jake puts his fingers on her lips to stop her.
JAKE
I’ve already chosen. But this woman must
also choose me.
She takes his hands and their fingers intertwine, moving
gently over each other.
89.
NEYTIRI
She already has.
He puts his face close to hers. She rubs her cheek against
his. He kisses her on the mouth. They explore each other.
Then she pulls back, eyes sparkling.
NEYTIRI
Kissing is very good. But we have
something better.
She pulls him down until they are kneeling, facing each other
on the faintly glowing moss.
Neytiri takes the end of her queue and raises it. Jake does
the same, with trembling anticipation. The tendrils at the
ends move with a life of their own, straining to be joined.
MACRO SHOT -- The tendrils INTERTWINE with gentle
undulations.
JAKE rocks with the direct contact between his nervous system
and hers. The ultimate intimacy.
They come together into a kiss and sink down on the bed of
moss, and ripples of light spread out around them.
THE WILLOWS sway, without wind, and the night is alive with
pulsing energy as we DISSOLVE TO --
LATER. She is collapsed across his chest. Spent. He
strokes her face tenderly.
JAKE
Neytiri, you know my real body is far
away, sleeping.
She raises up, placing her fingertips to his chest --
NEYTIRI
This body is real.
(she touches his forehead)
This spirit is real.
Her eyes are luminous, honest, infinitely deep.
NEYTIRI
When I was first your teacher, I hated
all Sky People. But you have also taught
me.
(whispering)
Spirit is all that matters.
90.
She lays her head down, against his chest, listening to his
heartbeat.
NEYTIRI
I am with you now, Jake. We are mated for
life.
JAKE
We are?
NEYTIRI
Yes. It is our way.
(innocently)
Oh. I forgot to tell?
He rouses up, making her look at him.
JAKE
Really, we are?
NEYTIRI
We are.
Jake considers this.
JAKE
It’s cool. I’m there.
He lays his head down, and her arms enfold him, sheltering
him as he sleeps.
INT. SHACK - NIGHT
Jake’s eyes open in the darkness. He just lies there,
thinking. In his coffin. In another world.
CUT TO:
EXT. WILLOW GLADE - DAWN
DAWN BREAKS in the sacred glade. Shafts of orange morning
light. Jake and Neytiri asleep in each others' arms. Maxfield
Parrish painting. But then --
THE ROAR OF ENGINES. Neytiri awakens with a start. The
SPLINTERING, CRACKLING of forest being crushed under enormous
treads gets louder.
SHE WATCHES in growing horror as the BLADE of a bulldozer
becomes a dark wall behind the sheltering ring of willows.
She shakes Jake, shouting at him in Na’vi to wake up.
91.
NEYTIRI
Jake! Wake up! Where ever you are, come
back to me now. Jake!
INT. SHACK - DAWN
HUMAN JAKE is in a hurry to get back to the link. GRACE,
still groggy, chases him with coffee and microwaved eggs.
GRACE
Here -- eat this. I’d hate to have to
force-feed a cripple.
She slams the lid shut before he can enter and sticks the
plate under his nose.
GRACE
(grinning)
She’s not going anywhere.
He sighs heavily and starts wolfing the eggs.
EXT. WILLOW GLADE - DAWN
Neytiri SCREAMS as --
The willows begin to fall before the blade, to be ground
under the treads. AVATAR JAKE is directly in the path. She
tries to lift him, but he is too heavy. She is screaming at
him, frantically trying to wake him, as --
INT. SHACK - DAWN
Jake adjusts himself in the link chair. He hands Grace the
empty plate.
GRACE
And when was the last time you took a
shower? Jesus, Marine.
Jake pushes her hands away and pulls the lid down.
EXT. WILLOW GLADE
AVATAR JAKE wakes up to see --
NEYTIRI dragging him, screaming. He leaps up as --
THE DOZER pushes inexorably into the glade, splintering the
trees, plowing the earth before it.
JAKE RUNS into the path of the bulldozer, waving his arms.
92.
JAKE
Hey! Heeeey! Stop! Stop!
He positions himself where the camera-eyes of the robotic
juggernaut will see him.
INT. OPS CENTER - DAY
CLOSE ON MONITOR -- Jake shouts but there’s no sound feed.
WIDER as the TRACTOR OPERATOR sees him and pulls back on the
remote throttles. He yells to his SUPERVISOR.
OPERATOR
Hey, I got one of the natives blockin’ my
blade here.
This attracts the attention of Selfridge, who comes over to
the workstation.
ON THE SCREEN -- Jake, in his Omaticaya loincloth and
ceremonial body paint, is unrecognizable.
SUPERVISOR
(to Selfridge)
What do we do?
SELFRIDGE
Roll on. He’ll move. These people have
to learn that we don’t stop.
TIGHT ON THROTTLES as the operator pushes them forward.
ON THE SCREEN Jake stumbles back, tripping, disappears below
the blade for a second -- reappears, running to the side.
EXT. WILLOW GLADE
JAKE grabs a rock and LEAPS onto the dozer. He climbs
quickly to the CAMERA MAST.
SMASH! The rock crashes into the lens of the camera. Jake
beats the rock furiously against it, pounding it to junk.
INT. OPS CENTER
CLOSE ON MONITOR -- as Jake’s demonic face is replaced by
noise.
OPERATOR
I’m blind.
He pulls back on the throttles.
93.
EXT. WILLOW GLADE
THE JUGGERNAUT grinds to a stop. But the ROAR of engines
continues because --
MORE DOZERS and TRACTORS advance nearby, crushing the forest
before them. Trees are slashed down by the PLASMA CUTTERS.
Terrified animals flee before the onslaught.
POWERSUITS and TROOPERS stride through the ravaged forest,
blasting anything that moves. A trooper sees Jake on the
dozer. He rips off a BURST and --
Rounds CLANG into metal as Jake dives off the machine. He
grabs Neytiri and they run into concealing foliage. From
behind a screen of leaves, they watch as --
THE DOZERS advance, obliterating the sacred site, leaving
only mud and wood splinters in their path.
CU NEYTIRI, stunned by the nightmarish, unfathomable
wrongness of it. She sobs as the willows die.
INT. OPS CENTER
MINUTES LATER, the operator is playing back the CAMERA’S FEED
for Quaritch and the others.
QUARITCH
Freeze it, right -- there.
ON MONITOR -- the image expands, until Jake’s face is clear,
frozen in an animal snarl.
SELFRIDGE
Son of a bitch!
PUSH IN ON QUARITCH as his jaw clenches in cold fury.
He turns and strides toward the door, shouting to his WATCH
COMMANDER as he passes.
QUARITCH
Get me a pilot!
CUT TO:
INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - DAY
A RAIDING PARTY of hunters, their bodies painted, raise
weapons overhead. AVATAR GRACE watches with growing alarm.
94.
EYTUKAN
(subtitled)
Tsu’tey will lead the war party!
Tsu’tey steps forward, face full of hate, raising a war cry
among the hunters.
GRACE
(subtitled)
Please -- this will only make it worse --
TSU’TEY
You do not speak here!
JAKE and NEYTIRI cross the commons toward them. Jake feels
all eyes turn toward him. He takes her arm, stopping her.
JAKE
(to Neytiri, low)
Okay, listen. There’s something I have to
tell you. It’s gonna be hard. I just
need you to --
He sees TSU’TEY striding toward them, his face a mask of
fury.
TSU’TEY
You!
Tsu’tey walks right up and SLAMS Jake in the chest with both
hands. It is so unexpected, that Jake topples on his ass.
TSU’TEY
You mated with this woman?!
GRACE
Oh shit.
Jake stands. He reaches out for Neytiri. She goes to him,
clutching his hand.
MO'AT
Is this true?
NEYTIRI
(subtitled)
We are mated before Eywa. It is done.
Tsu’tey turns to Mo'at and Eytukan, his face anguished.
95.
TSU’TEY
(subtitled)
Neytiri was promised to me! Everything is
changing. Everything is being destroyed!
Tsu’tey points at Jake, his pain shifting to rage.
TSU’TEY
(subtitled)
These aliens kill everything they touch,
like poison.
MO'AT
Neytiri! If you choose this path, you can
never be Tsahik. Your life will be
wasted.
Neytiri looks at her mother -- sees the grief in her eyes.
NEYTIRI
I have chosen.
Tsu’tey draws his knife and --
TSU’TEY
Yeeeeeaaa!
LUNGES AT JAKE, who’s ready this time -- he sidesteps,
blocking the knife, and elbows Tsu’tey HARD in the face.
Tsu’tey reels back, nose bleeding. He starts forward on a
second attack but --
Eytukan grabs his arm and spins him around.
EYTUKAN
(subtitled)
Stop! This is not a proper challenge.
Tsu’tey glares at Jake while sheathing his knife.
TSU’TEY
I challenge you.
GRACE
Jake, don’t --
JAKE
I accept.
CUT TO:
96.
INT./EXT. SAMSON - DAY
QUARITCH rides left seat as Trudy pilots through the
mountains. She glances at him, then toggles the aircom.
TRUDY
Loveshack this is Samson One Six inbound
hot to your pos. I have Colonel Quaritch
with me and --
But Quaritch SLAMS the switch, cutting her off.
QUARITCH
Did I tell you to announce us?
TRUDY
Sorry sir, it’s procedure.
INT. SHACK
Norm punches buttons on the comms console.
NORM
Samson One Six? Trudy?
(no answer)
Crap.
He looks helplessly at Jake and Grace’s link units -- no way
to warn them.
INT. HOMETREE - DAY
TSU’TEY AND JAKE square off. Each holds a long, solid staff.
The entire clan crowds around them in a circle.
GRACE
What the hell are you doing?
JAKE
It’s the only way to get him to goddamn
listen.
TSU’TEY LEAPS at Jake with a sharp cry and Jake parries with
his staff. The staves CLACK off each other as the two
combatants LEAP, DUCK and STRIKE furiously.
Tsu’tey sweeps Jake off his feet with a roundhouse hit to the
ankles, but --
Jake ROLLS out of it and catches Tsu’tey in the belly with
the blunt end.
97.
EXT. SITE 26 - DAY
TRUDY’S SAMSON lands. QUARITCH and a posse of troopers jump
down and rush the Shack.
INT. COMMONS
TSU’TEY wades in with a series of short, sharp blows. Jake
swings with equal fury. Both fighting from the heart.
The staves whistle through the air, and CLACK together like
gunshots. Jake presses hard, and Tsu’tey staggers back,
stumbling as --
Jake lands a SOLID HIT, dropping him to his knees, just as --
INT. SHACK
THE INNER DOOR bangs open and QUARITCH stomps toward Grace’s
Link controls.
NORM
Hey, hang on, you can’t interrupt a link
in progress, it’s dangerous -- wait!
Quaritch shoves him aside and SMACKS his fist down on the
POWER switch. Grace’s unit goes dead and --
INT. COMMONS
AVATAR GRACE’S eyes roll back and she keels over. NEYTIRI
barely catches her before she hits the ground.
JAKE parries as Tsu’tey swings but then --
Jake's eyes go blank just as -- K-RACK! Tsu’tey puts one
alongside his head. Jake sprawls, completely inert. Tsu’tey
pokes him with his staff, then raises it and lets out a
piercing VICTORY CRY.
INT. SHACK - DAY
JAKE SLAMS OPEN the Link, amped from the fight, furious --
JAKE
Are you out of your goddamn mind?!
QUARITCH
You crossed a line.
Quaritch PUNCHES HIM HARD. Jake flops back, dazed. The
troopers yank him out and ZIP-TIE his wrists.
98.
INT. COMMONS
TSU’TEY draws his KNIFE, and bends down, grabbing Jake by the
hair.
TSU’TEY
(subtitled)
This is a demon in a false body. It
should not live.
He puts his knife to Jake’s throat but --
NEYTIRI BLIND-SIDES him at full tilt. Tsu’tey sprawls, rolls,
comes up to see --
Neytiri crouched like a lioness over Jake, her KNIFE and
teeth bared, her ears flattened. She SNARLS with primal
fury.
Tsu’tey stands panting. He pushes through the crowd and walks
away, calling for his hunters.
CUT TO:
INT. OPS CENTER - DUSK
TIGHT ON MONITOR -- showing JAKE’S AVATAR FACE on the dozer
camera, as he pounds a rock into the lens. The shot FREEZES
on Jake’s ANIMAL SNARL.
WIDER -- HUMAN JAKE sits, bruised and bleeding, watching
himself on the monitor. GRACE and NORM stand nearby, rubbing
their wrists where the zip-ties bit in. SELFRIDGE and
QUARITCH watch with disdain.
QUARITCH
You let me down, son. You got a little
local pussy and completely forgot what
team you play for.
Jake meets his gaze with a defiant glare.
GRACE
Parker, listen, there may still be time
to --
QUARITCH
Shut your fucking hole!
Grace is momentarily stunned by Quaritch’s fury. But she
meets it with her own intensity, not backing down an inch.
99.
GRACE
Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot
me?
(to Selfridge)
You need to muzzle your dog!
SELFRIDGE
Can we just take this down a couple
notches, please.
JAKE
(to Quaritch)
You say you want to keep your people
alive. Start by listening to her.
Jake nods to Grace to continue.
GRACE
(to Selfridge)
This is bad, Parker. Those trees were
sacred to the Omaticaya in a way you
can’t imagine.
SELFRIDGE
You know what? You throw a stick in the
air around here it falls on some sacred
fern.
GRACE
I’m not talking about pagan voodoo here --
I’m talking about something real and
measurable in the biology of the forest.
SELFRIDGE
(frustrated)
Which is what exactly?
Grace’s nerve fails. A rush of conflicting emotions -- the
need to act, to do something, colliding with her scientific
rigor.
GRACE
(to Jake)
I can’t do this. How am I supposed to
reduce years of work to a sound bite for
the illiterate?
JAKE
Just tell him what you know in your
heart.
She turns to Parker, steeling herself.
100.

Fonte: www.foxscreenings.com/media/pdf/JamesCameronAVATAR.pdf