EXT. BANGKOK.
NIGHT.
A single headlamp
in close up shines directly and brightly out. Extreme noise and
light. Beyond its glare can be seen the outline of a motorized
tricycle ("tuk-tuk") and its Thai driver. A young man,
Richard, sits in the back, his rucksack beside him, swaying with
the motion of the vehicle. He is worn and sweating. They travel
through nocturnal Bangkok: fleets of tuk-tuks, taxis, road works,
food vendors, dogs, tourists.
Music and credits...... |
On the left is the opening page of the script
which can now be seen on the internet. It is the first draft dated June
1998.
Reviews for The Beach Script:
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"The Beach - A Review by 'Mr.
White' (Positive - Minor Spoilers)
Well, this is great. This script is the
best I've never read and the movie should be extraordinary. THe
film is about a young guy (leo, of course) who foud a map of
an paradisiac island and who take two new friends of him to go
to he island. There, they have new friends, they are going to
fall in love of each others, a guy of the group will die, and
leo is very "peace and love". The script is written
by John Hodge (a life less ordinary, trainspotting) and the movie
directed bu danny boyle, the same movies and the upcoming alien
love triangle). The script is funny, because the first part is
very mysterious, and the next parts are amazingly calms and facinating.
The movie can be very different because the acting of Di Caprio
and the style of Danny Boyle. But it will be surely very calm
and cool. I have to say that there is no action sequence or thing
like that, but just some scenes where paople talk, whith a magie
in they're words. It will be a very succefull movie but the teaser
give a bad idea of the movie. Anyway, this movie will be one
of the best of the year, i have no doubt of that.
www.darkhorizons.com |
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"The Beach -
A Review by 'Mahaloth' (Mixed - Minor Spoilers)
I recently had the opportunity
to read the script for the forthcoming Leonardo Decaprio movie
"The Beach". I must confess, like most of you, there
is a deep spot in my heart that wants to immediately dismiss
and hate any project that Leo is involved with. However, I forced
myself to read this script and see what is like as its own movie,
not just Leo's next project. The general idea of the story is
that Richard(Leonardo Decaprio) is on vacation in Bangkok, where
he receives a map to a mysterious, perfect island, from a stranger.
Richard and a couple of new friends(a beautiful girl and her
innocent boyfriend…) decide to go find the beach and see
what is there. Of course, at first everything is normal on the
beach and wonderful, but things get worse from there and many
secrets come out about the odd tribe of people that live there
and Richard gets all caught up in their evil ways(presenting
a new side of Leo that his crazy girl fans may be surprised to
see). Overall, the movie looks not so bad. I wanted to hate it
entirely, but found myself enjoying parts of it. I have to admit,
I did find myself wondering how Richard was going to get himself
out of the web of evil that he gets involved in on the beach,
and what was going to happen between him and Francoise(the beautiful
girl with the innocent boyfriend). The worst part of the movie
is definitely the hoaky voice overs that Richard gives us throughout
the story. He says things like "…[F]or me, it's all
about finding out about a place, and something about yourself.
And when you get off the beaten track, that's where you find
out what there is to find out…" I still don't know
what that means, and I read the whole script. It's filled with
stupid things like that, and it really does take away from the
movie. This script is also not the most original idea, but neither
was the Matrix and it came out quite well. I do find myself wondering
how Leonardo Decaprio picks his scripts. I wonder if he tries
to find the most stereotypical characters and lines(like in Titanic),
and tries to breath life into them. If so, he has found a winner
in The Beach. On a scale of 1-10, I give The Beach a 5, with
room for improvement if it is well directed and acted.
www.darkhorizons.com |
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"The Beach"
- A Review by 'Anonymous' (Negative - No Spoilers)
Never actually having read
the book, I can't compare the two, but I can tell you that if
the screenplay is anything near it I am astonished that it ever
got published. It is the most hackneyed, cliche-ridden piece
of writing (I use that word only hesitantly) since the Mod Squad.
If Trainspotting is a 10, this a 2. Anyway, on to the plot. I'm
sure by now you know the basic outline - backpacker Richard (DiCaprio)
meets up with Daffy (supposedly played by Robert Carlyle) a lunatic
ne'er-do-well who tells of a hidden paradise. The next day Richard
finds Daffy dead, wrists slashed, and a map to this paradise
(Wow!). So he and two other French backpackers, Etienne and Francoise,
set off in search of THE BEACH. If you're thinking Indiana Jones
style action and suspense here, think again. A swim across a
lagoon and a jump from a waterfall - that's it. Once they find
the Beach they discover a band of Gen-Xer's led by a woman named
Sal, your typical manipulative bitch type. From here on out we're
talking Days of Our Lives. Richard flirting with Francoise, Richard
flirting with Sal. All of this intermingled with a shark attack,
a little fishing, and some of the worst dialogue this side of
I don't know what, but it's bad.
FRANCOISE: Do you like
here on the beach, Richard?
RICHARD: Yeah, I like it alot.
- one of the more pivotal
scenes. It goes on like this 'til about the last fifteen minutes.
From then on there about a murder every page or so. I guess John
Hodge really wanted to end it with a bang. I've heard this movie
compared to Lord of the Flies. Uh, not by a long shot. Guaranteed
the last scene will make you laugh. Think Striking Distance with
Bruce Willis. All in all, you can rank this one up there with
The Man in the Iron Mask.
www.darkhorizons.com |
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