THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD by Andrew Dominik No portion of this script may be performed, reproduced, or used by any means, or quoted or published in any medium without the prior written consent of Warner Bros. Pictures. December 8, 2004 WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC © 2004 4000 Warner Boulevard WARNER BROS. ENT. Burbank, California 91522 All Rights Reservedthe following sequence is almost a home-movie. The images sve grainy The following hed by sunlight, 1ike an impressionist painting: They o7° and seam bleschecrevor's voice and describe JESSE’S eccentricities and scored to Stences of his daily life, There is no natural sound, Just the cizcunstags at our sense of melancholy. Jesse is presented Fo 5 mui Cally ae a shadow, or with his back turned, as we approach this legendary figure gradually: EXT. WOODLAND AVE. COTTAGE. - DUSK NARRATOR (V/0} He was growing into middle age and was living then in a bungalow on Woodland Avenue. green weeds split the porch steps, a wasp nest clings to an attic ree “a’rope swing loops dow from a dying elm tree and the ground felow it is scuffed soft as flour. NARRATOR (V/0) He installed himself in a rocking chair and Smoked a cigar down in the evening as his Site wiped her pink hands on an apron and feported happily on their two children. INT, WOODLAND AVE. COTTAGE - DAY. Action as per voice over: NARRATOR (V/0) Whenever he walked about the house, he carried several newspapers - the Sedalia Daily democrat, the St. Joseph Gazette, and the Kansas City Times - each with a foot-long v4 caliber pistol tucked into a fold. EXT, STREET, KANSAS CITY - DAY. gESSE, from a distance, a dandy in his gentleman’s clothes and cane. Bveryone seems to know him. NARRATOR (V/0) He went everywhere unrecognized and lunched with Kansas City shopkeepers and merchants, Calling himself a cattleman or commodities {nvester, someone rich and leisured who had the common touch. MONTAGE: JESSE'S scars and wounds: NARRATOR (V/O CONT‘D) He had two incompletely healed bullet holes in his chest and another in his thigh. He was missing the nub of his left middle finger and was cautious lest that mutilation be seen. EXT. WOODLAND AVE. BACKYARD - DUSK.JESSE looks out beyond the prairie wheat, to the dying sun. NARRATOR (V/O) He also had a condition that was referred to as granulated eyelids and it caused him to blink more than usual, as if he found creation slightly more than he could accept. EXT. GARDEN PATCH - DAY. He scours for nightcrawlers and flips them into manure pails. He chops them into writhing sections and sprinkles them over his garden patch. NARRATOR (V/0) He could neither mltiply nor divide without error and much of his science was superstition. He could list the many begotten of Abraham and the sixty-six books of the king James Bible; he could recite psalms and poems in a stentorian voice with suitable histrionics; he could sing religious hymns so convincingly that he once worked as a choirmaster; he was marvelously informed about current events. MONTAGE: JESSE’S beliefs NARRATOR (V/O) ‘and yet he thought incense was made from the bones of saints, Bones are ground. NARRATOR, (V/0) -that leather continued to grow if not dyed, Leather grows. NARRATOR (V/0) -that if he concentrated hard enough his body's electrical currents could stun lake frogs as he bathed. A frogs keels over. JESSE watches: NARRATOR (V/0) He could be reckless or serene, rational or lunatic, from one minute to the next. INT. DRYGOODS STORE, KANSAS CITY - DAY. Action as per voiceover: NARRATOR (V/0) If he made an entrance, heads turned in his direction; if he strode down an aisle storeclerks backed away;