©1996 Chris Sheridan
TITLES: WALK THIS WAY scroll WALK THIS WAY zoom 32 FRAME FADE OUT: 32 FRAME FADE IN: LIN 1 EXT. DESERT ROAD. DAY Monument Valley - road to nowhere. 32 FRAME DISSOLVE TO: CHRIS rolls up an undulating road. Cruises by L to R and out of frame. BLAM! SCREECH! Chris looks down at wheel. PSS... Close on wheel as it goes flat. ...PSSS! High: Chris looks around. LAUGHTER COM 1 INT. STAR THEATER. NIGHT. EST Star Theater (outside) EST Star Theater (inside) CHRIS performs stand-up comedy routine. OK ...I'm a little nervous about being here tonight, cause I don't really do stand-up ...got a little sit-down comedy for you. LIN 2 EXT. DESERT ROAD. DAY Close side of looking, move hat Wide: Get off wheelchair-- Remove pad. --sit on pad. Remove wheel, car ZIPS by, spin wheel toward. Close REMOVE button. INT 1 INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT. Close: CHRIS SLATES. JAMES (O.S.): At what point did you know that you were going to crash? VOX 1 CRASH/XRAY MONTAGE: Zoom in on rear view of 515DR. Zoom out close cockpit/hands. (V.O.) Memorial Day, 1991. While competing at an airshow, the plane I was flying went in to a deep stall and I was unable to recover. Reach in chair, pull out tools. SCREAMS Set tools on pavement. SAWING, X-ray 1. DRILLING Pry tube off with screwdriver. HAMMERING X-ray 2. NIGHTMARE SCREAMS 48 FRAME FADE OUT: 48 FRAME FADE IN: INT. APT. DAY. Door opens and light fills the darkness. MOONLIGHT SONATA EXT. AIRPORT. DUSK. A 727 touches down on the runway in a cloud of tire smoke. TIME LAPSE: EXT. URBAN HORIZON. SUNSET. The sun sets behind a small building. EXT. PHOENIX. NIGHTFALL. Darkness falls on the city. EXT. FULL MOON. NIGHT. The full moon sets. EXT. CIRCUMPOLAR STARS. NIGHT. Constellations rotate counter clockwise around the north celestial pole. EXT. MOON. DAWN. A waning gibbous rises. EXT. MONUMENT VALLEY. SUNRISE. The sun rises between the mittens. EXT. AIRPORT. MORNING. A 727 takes off trailing JET EXHAUST as another lands behind. INT 2 INTERVIEW. WIDE. Photo of LAINE My brother... he was the one -- he kept me cracked up. That's probably what saved my life, I'll tell you that. COM 2a INT. STAR THEATER. COMEDY Really, it's not all that bad being in a wheelchair - INT/EXT. CAR. PARKING. DAY. The handicap parking tag reflects on the windshield and matches with the sign outside. The car parks and brake lights go off. (V.O.) - it's nothing to be upset about, because I get great parking spots. It's a cultural advantage these days.-- COMEDY (CONT.) --But the thing about it that really irritates me are some of the words and phrases that we use, they just don't seem to make sense anymore. EXT. ASU. ANNDEE sits on Chris's lap & they kiss. (V.O.) Like my girlfriend was over last night and she was getting ready to leave and I told her I would walk her to her car... COMEDY (CONT.) and she said 'I'd like to see that!' My walkman doesn't work.- EXT. STREET CORNER. DAY. Chris wheelies up to and waits at an intersection. Close on DON'T WALK sign. (V.O.) -I went to cross the street and the sign said 'don't walk,' so I didn't.-- COMEDY (CONT.) --I kept right on going. MEDICINE MONTAGE:"PASS THE GANGA, MON." Rack focus on pills and bottles. (V.O.) I take muscle relaxors and other pills for the pain... Chris nods off on couch. (V.O.) ...and they make me drowsy... Cannibus Sativa buds with pills/bottles in b.g. (V.O.) ...There is an alternative herbal remedy... Munch out in kitchen. (V.O.) ...but it has side effects, too. Rack focus Stash HEALING MONTAGE: Nerve regrowth animation. (V.O.) I try to visualize my nerves regrowing and reconnecting... EXT. DESERT Thru wheel, PUMPING tire. Chris does gymnast's leg lift ala Bruce Lee. (V.O.) ...And I know the mind plays an important role with the healing of the body. OTS: PUMPING the tire up. EXT. APT. DAY. Putting on knee brace. Slip into AFO leg braces. Tie shoes. Get up and walk out of frame. (V.O.) . My paralysis was incomplete, so I still have some sensation and movement in my legs. And with the help of leg braces and crutches, I'm able to get up and walk a little bit. As of yet I can only walk short distances, and it takes a lot of my stretgth and most of my concentration. INT 4 EXT. POOL AREA. DAY. Walking around slowly. (V.O.) I was out walking...around the pool one day --and I had all the braces on... this guy was walking by and he saw me, cuz it's really slow and measured when I walk-- Banana on the sidewalk. INTERVIEW. WIDE. --um and he saw my leg braces and goes, "Oh, what'd you do to your knee?" And then I went through the whole thing explaining how I broke my back in a plane crash and all that and he goes "Well, uh, consider yourself lucky. At least you're not in a wheelchair." Oh yeah, wouldn't want that. Banana gets SMUSHED as wheelchair tire runs over it. (V.O.) Oh darn. INT -/+ INT. DRIVING. NIGHT. Chris drives on. Lights from the tunnel whiz by. (V.O.) Yeah, there's alot of things I can't do anymore. And...sometimes that bothers me. But there's so many things that I can still do-- INT. ROOM. NIGHT. Rack focus on guitar. (V.O.) --like play guitar...uh, there's things that I'm doing -- INT. STUDIO. Chris is tangled in film on the flatbed. (V.O.) --like making film that I...didn't really do before. INTERVIEW MED. (CONT.) So, I don't have enough time in the day to... do the things that I can do, much less worry about the things that I can't do. COM 3 INT. STAR THEATER. NIGHT. And I can't dance either. No, can't dance, can't do that. Now I know you might be thinking yeah you've seen people dancing out there in their wheelchairs spinning around, but no, I can not dance...I have two left wheels. It just doesn't work. INT 5 EXT. APT. DAY. Chris's reflection in the water walking toward. (V.O.) I'm not putting it out there...like walking is the source of my happiness, or that "Oh, I'll be happy once I can walk again."-- INTERVIEW (CONT.) --Or something like that I...I can't...I can't wait that long, and there's...too much...too much to do in the meantime. COM SONG SONG MONTAGE: "Ground in Dirt Stain" Sing at Star Theater Get wheelchair and self out of car. Sing at Star Theater. Cruise in to Circle K. Roll up to curb. Wheels stuck on curb. (cont.) C.J. lends helping hand. Bump down stairs with bladers. Skitch on Anndee's bike. Chair cam. Roll up to FAC stairs. (cont.) Star Theater Web home page. Thesis page. On top of FAC stairs. INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT. Close on picking, pick falls into soundhole. (song stops) Flip guitar around and shake as pick RATTLES. INT 6&7 INTERVIEW. CLOSE. And then I heard this voice, it was...I didn't really hear in it my ears, it was more in my head, cuz I was alone in the plane. Um, but I heard this, this presence, this voice that asked me if I wanted to live or die. And I'm like, well I knew I was going to crash a plane, maybe dying wouldn't be such a bad idea, because it was...you know, could have been pretty nasty, um, and I thought- it was put very matter of factly. No dishonor or karmic...consequence if I...chose to die. And when I chose to live and I, I felt it was a conscious thing, and from that point the whole rest of the way down... I felt calm and comfortable and, and I knew I was going to live. And I also knew that I would be OK, like who I am as a person, I would still be able to maintain that. I, I pretty much knew I wasn't going to walk out of it. But, I was conscious all the way down even, even when I hit. INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT. Shake guitar over head. INTERVIEW.(CONT.) (O.S.)What was the first thing you thought of when you hit the ground? When I looked around, I...saw that I was still OK, I was still alive, but...I knew I had broken my back, cuz I couldn't move my legs. And I thought... Fuck. I broke my back, you know, now what? INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT. SMASH guitar. SMASH guitar. SMASH guitar. COM 4 COMEDY You know a lot of famous musicians die in plane crashes. You know, like Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Glen Miller, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Ray Vaughn, oh who else, Otis Redding, Patsy Cline, the list goes on. But, uh, I survivd my plane crash, I sure did. I guess I wasn't famous enough. LIN 4 DESERT. Take swig of hydro. Wide: Take pump off, (bounce tire.) Put wheel on chair. (V.O.) I knew that, that my life...now... INT 8 INTERVIEW. CLOSE. ...would have meaning. That I lived for a reason-- CLEAN MONTAGE: Chris vacuums. --To do something...important.-- Mops floor. --Something of significance.-- Pull camesole out of dryer. --To maybe give back to other people.-- Scoop litter. --To, make this world maybe a little bit better place to live.-- Scrub toilet. INTERVIEW. (CONT.) --But for some reason, and I did live for a reason, and... I guess I don't know what the reason is yet. LIN 7 DESERT. Pick up smiley button from dirt. Reverse wide: Look at button, smile, Close:stick button on back of chair. Wide. Get back in chair. (V.O.) I guess breaking my back has been sort of like getting a flat tire. I've had to pull over on the road of life, fix it and deal with it the best I can, and then get back up and keep on going. 32 FREAME DISSOLVE TO: COLOR Roll off into the sunset. (V.O.) You know, some people say life is too short - but life is too long to be miserable. SPLAT! Gum stuck on hand and wheel. "WALK THIS WAY" 32 FRAME DISSOLVE TO: EXT. MONUMNENT VALLEY. DAY. Roll away as heat trails sither off the pavement. MUSIC: "WALK THIS WAY"
FADE OUT.