Script To Screen: “The Lost Boys”

A pivotal scene from the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, screenplay by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam, story by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias.

IMDb plot summary: After moving to a new town, two brothers are convinced that the area is frequented by vampires.

In this scene, Michael, who has been hanging around with David and crew, is put to the test.

EXT. RAILROAD TRESTLE — NIGHT

The trestle spans a deep gorge, obscured IN fog. The boys
 arrive on their motorbikes.

DAVID
 Perfect time.

They climb from their motorbikes as David walks onto the
 trestle.

MICHAEL
 What’s going’ on?

DAVID
 (smiling)
 What’s goin’ on, Marko?

MARKO
 I dunno. What’s goin’ on, Paul?

PAUL
 Who wants to know?

DAVID
 Michael wants to know.

The Lost Boys laugh. Michael looks irritated. He watches
 as Paul, Marko and Dwayne climb below the trestle, hold
 on with their hands and allow their bodies to dangle over
 the fog-shrouded gorge.

DAVID
 Now you, Michael.

Michael hesitates.

DAVID
 Do it, Michael. Now!

Michael summons his courage and climbs down. David
 follows him.

ANGLE BENEATH THE TRESTLE

All five boys hanging on. The fog billowing up beneath
 them. Michael starts to look down. Then, a RUMBLING is
 heard in the distance. Michael notices the look of
 excitement in the eyes of the other boys.

A PASSENGER TRAIN is approaching. It’s WHISTLE BLOWS.
 The trestle begins to shake. A look of terror comes into
 Michael’s expression.

DAVID
 Hang on!!

The train THUNDERS across the trestle overhead, only a
 foot or two above them.

The ROAR and the NOISE are tremendous. The heat. The
 smoke. The dust.

The boys grimace and hold on for dear life. Then,
 Michael reacts in horror as:

PAUL

releases his grip and falls, disappearing into the fog
 below.

Then: Marko falls. Followed by Dwayne. Only David and
 Michael remain. David shouts over the DIN of the passing
 train.

DAVID
 Let go, Michael! Let go!

Michael can’t believe what he’s hearing. He’s scared out
 of his wits.

DAVID
 Do it!

David lets go with one hand, clings on with the other.

DAVID
 Do it, Michael!!!

David lets go. He drops from sight; vanishing into the
 fog below.

MICHAEL

Sweat streaming down his face. The final car of the
 train passes overhead and the noise begins to fade.
 Then Michael hears: laughter from the fog below.

LOST BOYS
 Drop, Michael. Let go! It’s
 safe! Come on! Don’t be such a
 baby!

They WHISTLE and CAT CALL and do everything they can to
 goad him on. All the while invisible in the darkness
 below.

Michael lets go. He drops into the fog.

His eyes widen with fright — but — for a moment he is
 buoyant — suspended in mid-air — floating!

And then… he drops. With a WHOOSH. Like dead weight.
 The wind RUSHING around his ears. He loses consciousness.

DAVID

catches him in his arms.

DAVID
 Almost.

INT. MICHAEL’S BEDROOM — DAY 72

The shakes are drawn and the room is dark.

Here is the scene from the movie:

Lots of differences, most of them small, but the focus on the changes seems to be about heightened the mystery of the Lost Boys and that Michael is now a part of them, i.e., has become a vampire. Note:

• Instead of climbing down to hang on the underside of the bridge, the Boys plummet into the fog, only to be revealed as hanging on.
• David keeps repeating to Michael, “You’re one of us now” and invites Michael to let go and fall into the sky below.
• Interestingly the movie cuts the catcall lines from the fog below, opting instead for generic laughter on the part of the Boys.

The train thing is a great visual bit, a distillation of the juvenile delinquent dynamic present in the story and the vampire theme, here reinforced by the image of them hanging down, then presumably flying in the fog.

What other changes do you note between script and screen?

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.

For more Script To Screen articles, go here.