Script To Screen: “Joe Versus the Volcano”

A key scene toward the beginning of the 1990 movie Joe Versus the Volcano, written and directed by John Patrick Shanley.

IMDb plot summary: When a hypochondriac learns that he is dying, he accepts an offer to throw himself in a volcano at a tropical island, and along the way there, learns to truly live.

In this scene, we see Joe’s response at work after he’s learned he has a terminal illness.

INT. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT - DAYJoe comes in. Dede is typing away. Mr. Waturi is on the
phone. Joe hangs up his coat. He misses with the hat
again because of Dede's typing. He leans over and
switches the typewriter off. Then he picks up his hat,
dusts it off and throws it in the garbage can. WATURI
(on phone)
No. No. You were wrong. He
was wrong. Who said that? I
didn't say that. If I had
said that, I would've been
wrong. I would've been wrong,
Harry, isn't that right?Mr. Waturi's attention is split between his call and Joe,
who is walking around the office like a tourist. WATURI
Listen, let me call you back,
I've got something here, okay?
And don't tell him anything
till we finish our
conversation, okay?Mr. Waturi hangs up the phone. Joe is looking at the
coffee set-up. WATURI
Joe? JOE
Yeah? WATURI
You were at lunch three hours. JOE
About that.Joe wanders away, into his office. Waturi looks after.INT. JOE'S OFFICE - DAYJoe is staring at the big wheel valve sporting the sign
that says Main Drain. Mr. Waturi comes in as Joe moves
forward and, with great effort, rotates the wheel to its
opposite extreme. This scares Waturi. WATURI
Joe, what are you doing? JOE
I'm opening, or closing, the
main drain.Nothing happens. WATURI
You shouldn't be touching
that. JOE
Nothing happened. Do you know
how long I've been wondering
what would happen if I did
that? WATURI
What's the matter with you? JOE
Brain cloud. WATURI
What? JOE
Never mind. Listen, Mr.
Waturi. Frank. I quit.

Joe starts to take some stuff out of his desk. He looks
at his lamp, gets the cord, plugs it in, and turns it on. WATURI
You mean, today? JOE
That's right. WATURI
That's great. Well, don't
come looking for a reference. JOE
Okay, I won't. WATURI
You blew this job.Joe takes in the little room. JOE
I've been here for four and a
half years. The work I did I
probably could've done in
five, six months. That leaves
four years leftover.He's been filling up a shopping bag with stuff from his
desk: three books (Romeo and Juliet, Robinson Crusoe and
The Odyssey), an old ukulele and his lamp. Now he's
finished. He walks out of the room without even looking
at Waturi. Waturi goes after him as he exits.INT. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT - DAYJoe is walking towards the front door. Waturi follows
him in. Joe stops at Dede's desk. She's typing. He
looks at her. She stops typing. JOE
Four years. If I had them
now. Like gold in my hand.
Here. This is for you.
(gives Dede the lamp)
'Bye-bye, Dede. DEDE
You're going? WATURI
Well, if you're leaving,
leave. You'll get your check.
And, I promise you, you'll be
easy to replace. JOE
I should say something. WATURI
What are you talking about? JOE
This life. Life? What a
joke. This situation This
room. WATURI
Joe, maybe you should just... JOE
You look terrible, Mr. Waturi.
You look like a bag of shit
stuffed inna cheap suit. Not
that anyone would look good
under these zombie lights. I
can feel them sucking the
juice outta my eyeballs. Three
hundred bucks a week, that's
the news. For three hundred
bucks a week I've lived in
this sink. This used rubber. WATURI
Watch it, mister! There's a
woman here! JOE
Don't you think I know that,
Frank? Don't you think I'm
aware there's a woman here? I
can taste her on my tongue. I
can smell her. When I'm
twenty feet away, I can hear
the fabric of her dress when
she moves in her chair. Not
that I've done anything about
it. I've gone all day, every
day, not doing, not saying,
not taking the chance for
three hundred bucks a week,
and Frank the coffee stinks
it's like arsenic, the lights
give me a headache if the
lights don't give you a
headache you must be dead,
let's arrange the funeral. WATURI
You better get outta here
right now! I'm telling you! JOE
You're telling me nothing. WATURI
I'm telling you! JOE
And why, I ask myself, why
have I put up with you? I
can't imagine but I know.
Fear. Yellow freakin' fear.
I've been too chicken shit
afraid to live my life so I
sold it to you for three
hundred freakin' dollars a
week! You're lucky I don't
kill you! You're lucky I don't
rip your freakin' throat out!
But I'm not going to and maybe
you're not so lucky at that.
'Cause I'm gonna leave you
here, Mister Wa-a-Waturi, and
what could be worse than that?Joe opens the door and leaves. Mr. Waturi and Dede are
frozen. The door reopens and Joe comes halfway back in. JOE
Dede? DEDE
Yeah? JOE
How 'bout dinner tonight? DEDE
Yeah, uh, okay.Joe smiles for the first time since we've met him, and
closes the door again. DEDE
Wow. What a change.

Here is the scene from the movie:

Two things of note. First, the actors recite the dialogue almost word for word. Perhaps this is because they’re not only dealing with a script written by an Academy Award winning screenwriter (Moonstruck), but also a playwright. And there is a proud tradition in theater: Don’t screw with the writer’s dialogue.

Second, one thing Tom Hanks does do in the scene is improvise with the fake arm. None of that is in the script.

My guess: The prop was just sitting there and Hanks, being a talented improvisational actor, discussed it with Shanley, and they did a few takes with Hanks playing around with the arm. It adds a nice bit of fun and also reveals character, showing how much further Hanks’ character is willing to go to express ridicule toward his boss and his job.

Any Joe Versus the Volcano fans out there? Not the greatest movie in the world, but some really wonderful scenes. Plus Meg Ryan plays three different roles. And Hanks delivers his usual exceptional performance.

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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