Twelve Monkeys (PDF) - Screenplay

TWELVE MONKEYS An ori g i nal screenplay by David Peoples...

TWELVE MONKEYS An ori g i nal screenplay by David Peoples & Janet Peoples I nspir ed by LA J ETEE , a Chri s Marker Produ ction Draft J une 2 7 , 1994 FADE IN: INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT TERMINAL - BAY CLOSE ON A FACE. A n i ne year o l d boy , YOUNG COLE, his eyes wi d e wi th wonder. wat chi ng somethi ng intentl y. We HEAR t he sounds o f t he P. A. SYSTEM dron i ng Flight I n f o r mation mi ngl ed with t he sounds o f urgent SHOUTS, r unning FEET , EXCLAMAT I ONS. YOUNG COLE ' S POV : twenty yards away, a BLONDE MAN i s sprawl ed on t he f l oor , blood ooz i ng f r om h i s gaudy Hawai ian shi r t. A BRUNETTE i n a tight dress , h er f ace obscured f rom YOUNG COLE' S v i ew , r u shes to the i njured man, kneels bes i de h i m, mi niste ring t o his wound. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE , f lan ked by h i s PARENTS, https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM) Twelve Monkeys their faces out of view, as they steer him away. FATHER'S VOICE ALL SCRIPTS (o.s.) Come on, Son --this is no place for us. YOUNG COLE resists momentarily, mesmerized by the drama. YOUNG COLE'S POV: intermittently visible through a confusion of FIGURES rushing through the foreground, the BLONDE MAN reaching up and touching the cheek of the kneeling BRUNETTE in a gesture of enormous tenderness, a gesture of farewell, while the P.A. SYSTEM continues its monotonous monotone... P.A. SYSTEM Flight 784 for San Francisco is now ready for boarding at inmate number 66578, Greely. INT. PRISON DORMITORY/FUTURE - ETERNAL NIGHT PRISON P.A. SYSTEM --number 5429, Garcia -- number 87645, Cole... COLE, late thirties, dark hair, comes awake in a bunk cage, one of many stacked four high along both sides of a long dim corridor. He blinks in the near dark, shaken, disoriented. Then, as he "recovers" from his very vivid dream, WE GET OUR FIRST LOOK AT HIS ENVIRONMENT...A WINDOWLESS UNDERGROUND WORLD OF ETERNAL NIGHT SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE...AN ALMOST COLORLESS "REALITY" OF BLURRED EDGES AND ECHOEY SOUNDS, MUCH MORE "DREAMLIKE" THAN HIS DREAM. Flashlights glare. In the half-light, COLE sees spooky figures, GUARDS, moving among the locked bunk/cages. COLE turns and whispers to the occupant of the next cage, JOSE... COLE Ssssst! Jose, what's going on? JOSE's face is almost lost in shadow. What there is of it is youthful. He's just a scared Puerto Rican kid! JOSE "Volunteers" again. JOSE immediately rolls over and feigns sleep https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys as SCARFACE, a menacing guard with a jagged scar running down his cheek, looms close to COLE's cage and unlocks it. SCARFACE "Volunteer duty". The PRISONERS in the other cages watch silently with narrowed eyes. COLE I didn't volunteer. SCARFACE You causing trouble again? COLE (controls his temper) No trouble. INT. EQUIPMENT ROOM - ETERNAL NIGHT COLE's alone, struggling to get into what looks like a space suit in a room where suits hang like ghosts with blank eyes. TITLES BEGIN SUPERED OVER THE SCENE COLE has the torso of the suit on now and is trying to close it. OFFSCREEN VOICE (o.s.) All openings must be closed. COLE looks for the source of the voice, a tiny grate in the wall. OFFSCREEN VOICE (o.s.) If the integrity of the suit is compromised in any way, if the fabric is torn or a zipper not closed, readmittance will be denied. INT. SEALED CHAMBER - MINUTES LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE, wearing the "space suit" and a helmet with a plastic visor, steps into a tiny chamber, a kind of air lock. The heavy door clangs shut behind him. He's alone. COLE'S breath comes quicker now as he sucks oxygen from the air tanks on his back. On the opposite wall is another door with a huge wheel lock. COLE turns the heavy wheel, opens the door, steps through It INT. ELEVATOR - SECONDS LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT) https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys COLE'S in an ascending elevator that groans and creaks. He looks down at a crudely drawn map he holds in his gloved hand. The map shows a series of tunnels and ladders. INT. SEWER PIPE - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT) COLE pans a flashlight, probing the filthy sewer he's wading through RATS flee the blade of light, scurry across islands of rusting junk. The flashlight beam settles on a ladder mounted in the wall. Reaching the rusted ladder, COLE starts to climb awkwardly. EXT. CITY STREET/FUTURE - MOMENTS LATER (NIGHT) A SCRAPING NOISE as a heavy man-hole cover is pushed up and moved aside. COLE'S helmeted head emerges from below. COLE'S POV THROUGH HIS PLASTIC-VISORED HELMET: a city in moonlight! A surreal image of abandoned buildings. No people anywhere. The only sounds are the WIND and COLE'S BREATHING. EXT. ANOTHER CITY STREET - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT) COLE'S light reveals abandoned vine-covered automobiles. Moving to the nearest car, COLE searches in the vines for something. Finds it. An insect. COLE takes the bug in his gloved hand. As he clumsily inserts it into a collection tube, something makes him turn. There's something across the street in the dark. Something alive. COLE points his flashlight and reveals...a BEAR! Startled by the light, the animal blinks, then stands on its rear legs and ROARS. ANGLE ON COLE, staring wide-eyed. Then, the BEAR sinks down onto all fours and, trying to avoid the flashlight, it pads quickly down the street. INT. SUBTERRANEAN PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys Using the flashlight to see, COLE reaches down to the cracked floor and gets another specimen. DOGSHIT! The only sound is COLE'S labored BREATHING. Then, a different SOUND. GRRRR! A dog. More GRRRRS. More dogs. Then, a YIP. Then, VICIOUS GROWLS. It's a DOGFIGHT! EXT. STREET - NIGHT (FIRST LIGHT) A giant OWL, perched on an overhead traffic light, raises its wings and lifts off...rising higher and higher into the brightening sky. Below, on the street, COLE trudges along, passing deserted buildings, windows broken, rusted signs dangling. INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT (FIRST LIGHT) COLE'S light reveals a spider web just inside the store. A large SPIDER tries to hide from the light. COLE reaches carefully into the web and plucks the spider and puts it into one of his specimen tubes. Then, he shines his light all around the once elegant store. There's nothing but aisle after aisle of moldering consumer goods. EXT. DEPARTMENT STORE - DAWN As COLE comes out of the store, the first rays of the sun hit the building. COLE stops, squints into the light through his visor. COLE'S POV: spray-painted on the wall a long time ago is a stenciled logo of twelve monkeys holding hands in a circle. Over it is written, "WE DID IT!" COLE looks up. COLE'S POV: high up on a building across the street, a LION patrols a ledge, pauses, looks out majestically over his world. TTTLES END INT. FIRST UNDERGROUND DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT ROARING WATER, powerful torrents gushing from nozzles in the wall, pummel the still-suited COLE. INT. SECOND UNDERGROUND DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys Stark naked and shivering, COLE is being scrubbed with brushes on long poles (like the ones used to wash cars) wielded by two HULKING FIGURES in bulky decontamination suits, their personas lost in their windowed masks. It's a grim scene in a grim cement room with damp, dripping walls. From an unseen source comes an AMPLIFIED VOICE, AMPLIFIED VOICE (o.s.) Raise your arms above your head. COLE lifts his arms and the FIGURES start scrubbing his armpits. INT. TINY CHAMBER - SHORTLY (ETERNAL NIGHT) Still naked, COLE is seated on a stool while a MASKED TECHNICIAN in a less elaborate, less bulky decontamination outfit draws blood from COLE'S arm with an old-fashioned hypodermic needle. COLE glances toward a single, nearly opaque "window" of thick plastic in the rusty iron wall. VAGUE FIGURES seem to lurk behind the translucent aperture, studying him. The TECHNICIAN slips the blood sample through a slot in the wall. INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE/FUTURE WORLD - ETERNAL NIGHT Ushered in by two guards, TINY and SCARFACE, COLE looks around. COLE'S POV: wails hidden by old headlines, articles, maps, charts... a blackboard covered with elaborate, sophisticated formulae...surfaces heaped with cracked monitors, gerry-rigged computers held together with string, lasers lost in tangles of cable, ancient tube amplifiers, a dilapidated cardboard reconstruction of a city, stacks of moldering books and tattered computer printouts...and, seated at a long conference table, staring at COLE, six SCIENTISTS: an ASTROPHYSICIST, ENGINEER, BOTANIST, MICROBIOLOGIST, ZOOLOGIST, and a GEOLOGIST. They represent a "modern" science where brilliant new ideas interface with crude, outdated, patched-together technologies. TINY James Cole. Cleared from quarantine. MICROBIOLOGIST https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys Thank you. You two wait outside. SCARFACE He's got a history, Doctor. Violence. COLE'S eyes return to the walls. Headlines: "CLOCK TICKING! NO CURE YET!" SCARFACE Anti-social six -- doing 25 to life. ENGINEER I don't think he's going to hurt us. You're not going to hurt us, are you Mr. Cole? COLE'S head turns quickly to the ENGINEER. COLE No, sir. The GUARDS exchange a look, shrug, exit, closing the door. MICROBIOLOGIST Why don't you sit down, Mr. Cole. COLE goes to the empty chair at the conference table, sits down. ASTROPHYSICIST We want you to tell us about last night. COLE I went to the surface and I collected specimens like I was told. The SCIENTISTS don't say anything. They just study him carefully. COLE (worried) I mashed the spider, didn't I? MICROBIOLOGIST We'll get to the spider later, Mr. Cole. Right now, we want to know everything that you saw. INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - AN HOUR LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE, starting to look very tired now, stands at the blackboard sketching a detailed map of exactly where he was last night. ASTPOPHYSICIST Where you collected sample #4, what street was that? COLE Uh... https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys BOTANIST It's important to observe everything. COLE I think it was...I'm sure it was 2nd Street. As the SCIENTISTS start to whisper animatedly among themselves, COLE'S eyes drift across the newspaper clippings taped to the wall. One headline screams, "VIRUS MUTATING!" Another features a photo of an OLD MAN (DR. MASON, who we'll see again later on) and the words, SCIENTIST SAYS, "IT'S TOO LATE FOR CURE". ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (o.s.) Close your eyes, Cole. Startled, COLE closes his eyes obediently. BLACKNESS. Like COLE, WE SEE NOTHING. But we HEAR their VOICES. ENGINEER'S VOICE (o.s.) Tell us in detail what you've seen in this room. COLE'S VOICE (o.s.) Uh, in this room? Uh... MICROBIOLOGIST'S VOICE (o.s.) How many of us are there? COLE'S VOICE (o.s.) Six...seven, if you count me. ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (o.s.) Tell us about the pictures on the wall... COLE'S VOICE (o.s.) Uh, you mean the newspapers? A MONTAGE OF OVERLAPPING VOICES (o.s.) Tell us about the newspapers. Can you hear my voice? What do I look like? What does he look like, the man who just spoke? How old were you when you left the surface? The VOICES blur into a cacophony and FADE INTO the droning P.A. SYSTEM at the airport. INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY THE DREAM AGAIN! But at an earlier moment. https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys YOUNG COLE, flanked by his PARENTS, whose faces are out of view, is watching a PLANE land through one of the big glass windows that lines the concourse leading to the departure gates. P.A. SYSTEM (o.s.) Flight 784 now boarding at gate... Suddenly, a SHOUT, followed by raised VOICES, interrupts the monotonous airport routine. As YOUNG COLE and his PARENTS turn to see what's going on, a man we'll call MR. PONYTAIL, his face averted, hurries past them, bumping YOUNG COLE with a Chicago Hulls Sports Duffle Bag. MR. PONYTAIL WATCH IT! YOUNG COLE sees little more than the gaudy pants, the duffle, and the man's ponytail flopping as he rushes towards the gates. Just then, a WOMAN'S VOICE cries out, "NOOOOOOOOO!" YOUNG COLE turns back toward the Security Check Point just as TRAVELERS scatter madly, some diving to the floor, others running. A TERRIFIED TRAVELER, hitting the floor close by, looks up at YOUNG COLE with panicky eyes, and asks.... TERRIFIED TRAVELER Just exactly why did you volunteer? INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE/FUTURE WORLD - (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE comes abruptly awake. Seated now, he's facing the SCIENTISTS. ASTROPHYSICIST Wake up, Cole. COLE Uh, I didn't hear the... MICROBIOLOGIST (tapping a pencil on the table) I asked you, why did you volunteer? COLE Well, the guard woke me up. He told me I volunteered. The SCIENTISTS react, whispering urgently among themselves. COLE starts to nod off again, then comes https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys awake with a start as the ENGINEER speaks to him. ENGINEER We appreciate you volunteering. You're a very good observer, Cole. COLE Uh, thank you. ENGINEER You'll get a reduction in sentence. COLE keeps his face impassive. ASTROPHYSICIST To be determined by the proper authorities. ENGINEER You don't want to jeopardize that reduction, do you, Cole? Have it taken away? COLE No, sir! ASTROPHYSICIST We have a very advanced program, something very different, requires very skilled people. MICROBIOLOGIST An opportunity to reduce your sentence considerably... ZOOLOGIST And possibly play an important role in returning the human race to the surface of the earth. ENGINEER We want tough minded people. Strong mentally. We've had some...misfortunes with "unstable" types. ASTROPHYSICIST For a man in your position...an opportunity. BOTANIST Not to volunteer could be a real mistake. MICROBIOLOGIST (tapping his pencil again) Definitely a mistake! COLE gives away nothing. He's in a box here. He has no choices. He stares at the tapping pencil. INT. ART GALLERY - NIGHT https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys A strikingly "real" world of bright colors. Extravagant paintings adorn the walls. A POET, tiny and ruddy faced, squints over his glasses as he reads in a booming voice to an AUDIENCE of thirty seated on folding chairs. POET Still among the myriad microwaves, the infra-red messages, the gigabytes of ones and zeroes, we find words, infinitesimally small, byte-sized now, tinier even than science lurking in some vague electricity where, if we listen we can hear the solitary voice of that poet telling us, "We are no other than a moving row Of Magic shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern hold In Midnight by the Master of the show." As the POET reads, we STUDY the audience, mostly YUPPIE CULTURE JUNKIES or BOHEMIANS. Among them, a light- haired woman of twenty- eight, soberly dressed, wearing glasses. She's KATHRYN RAILLY. And it's her beeper that suddenly BEEPS. BEEP! BEEP! POET'S VOICE (o.s.) "The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it." BEEP! BEEP! Scowling at the outrageous interruption, the POET looks up from the text just as RAILLY, tumbling, shuts off the beeper and rises, embarrassed. As she makes her way to an exit, the glaring POET continues... POET "Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; Tomorrow's Silence, Triumph or Despair: Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why: Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where." INT. CORRIDOR/POLICE STATION - NIGHT https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys DETECTIVE FRANKI leads RAILLY past crowded holding cells. FRANKI -- so they get there and they ask the guy real nice for some kind of i.d., and he gets agitated, starts screaming about viruses. Totally irrational, totally disoriented, doesn't know where he is, what day it is, alla that stuff. All they got was his name. They figure he's stoned out of his mind, it's some kinda psychotic episode, so they're gonna bring him... RAILLY He's been tested for drugs? FRANKI Negative for drugs. But he took on five cops like he was dusted to the eyeballs. No drugs. You believe that? FRANKI pauses, indicating a tiny observation window of thick meshed glass in an otherwise solid door, and RAILLY looks through it. RAILLY'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW: a MAN, his back to her, in strait-jacket and prison denims, examining the wall of the padded cell with the distorted intensity of a "mental case". RAILLY You have him in restraints. FRANKI Were you listening? We got two officers in the hospital. Yeah, he's in restraints, plus the medic gave him enough stellazine to kill a horse. Look at him! Still on his feet. RAILLY'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW: the MAN in the cell turns, looks right at her. In spite of the cuts and welts, it's clearly COLE. RAILLY That would explain the bruises, I guess. The struggle. FRANKI You want to go in? Examine him? RAILLY https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys Yes, please. You said he gave a name... FRANKI (unlocking the door) James Cole. That's everything we got. None of the James Coles on the computer match him. No license, no prints, no warrants. Nothing. You want me to go in with you? RAILLY (entering) No, thank you. FRANKI I'll be right here...just in case. INT. ISOLATION CELL COLE stares at RAILLY. The environment is intensely real...vivid colors...each sound, however slight, very distinct, almost loud... and yet she appears to him almost like a vision. RAILLY Mr. Cole? My name is Doctor Railly. I'm a psychiatrist. I work for the County -- I don't work for the police. My only concern is your well being - - do you understand that? COLE I need to go now. RAILLY I'm going to be completely honest. I'm not going to lie to you. I can't make the police let you go...but I do want to help you. And I want you to trust me. Can you do that, James? May I call you "James"? COLE "James"! Nobody ever calls me that. RAILLY (frowns, studies him) Have you been a patient at County? Have I seen you someplace? COLE No, not possible. Listen, I have to get out of here. I'm supposed to be getting information. RAILLY What kind of information? https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys COLE It won't help you. You can't do anything about it. You can't change anything. RAILLY Change what? COLE I need to go. RAILLY Do you know why you're here, James. COLE Because I'm a good observer. Because I have a tough mind. RAILLY I see. You don't remember assaulting a police officer...several officers? COLE They wanted identification. I don't have any identification. I wasn't trying to hurt them. RAILLY You don't have a driver's license, James? Or a Social Security card? COLE No. RAILLY Why not? Most people have some ID. COLE You wouldn't understand. RAILLY You've been in an institution, haven't you, James? A hospital? COLE I have to go. RAILLY A jail? Prison? COLE Underground. RAILLY Hiding? COLE I love this air. This is wonderful air. RAILLY What's wonderful about the air, James? https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys COLE It's so clean. No germs. RAILLY You're afraid of germs? COLE I have to go. RAILLY Why do you think there aren't any germs in the air, James? COLE This is April, right? RAILLY July. COLE (sudden panic) July?! RAILLY Do you know what year it is? COLE What year is it? RAILLY What year do you think it is? COLE 1995? RAILLY You think it's July of 1995? That's the future, James. Do you think you're living in the future? COLE (slightly confused) No, 1995 is the past. RAILLY 1995 is the future, James. This is 1989. COLE looks stunned. INT. POLICE STATION CORRIDOR - MORNING COLE, bound tightly by the strait-jacket, heavy manacles on his ankles, is being escorted down the corridor by two surly POLICEMEN. COLE Where are you taking me? POLICEMAN #1 South of France, buddy. Fancy hotel. You're gonna love it. COLE https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys South of France?! I don't want to go to the South of France. I want to make a telephone call. POLICEMAN #2 smirks as he unlocks a heavy steel door. POLICEMAN #2 Zip it, scumbag -- you fooled the shrink with your act, but you don't fool us. Then, POLICEMAN #2 swings the steel door open and sunlight overwhelms COLE, blinding him in a dazzling fury of white light. EXT. CITY STREET/MINI-VAN - DAY A Mini-van, the kind of vehicle used to transport a half dozen prisoners, crawls through a busy street. The Police Department logo is prominent on the side of the van beneath barred windows. INT. COUNTY HOSPITAL/SHOWERS - AN HOUR LATER (MORNING) Fierce spray recalls the decontamination in the future. COLE stands stark naked under the shower while two muscular attendants, PALMER and BILLINGS, supervise. As PALMER shuts off the water, BILLINGS hands COLE a towel and starts inspecting his scalp... BILLINGS Lemme see your head, Jimbo, see if you got any creepy crawlies. COLE I need to make a telephone call. BILLINGS (pulling Cole's head) Gotta work that out with a doctor, Jimbo. Can't make no calls 'til the doctor says. COLE It's very important. BILLINGS What chew gotta do, Jimbo, is take it easy, relax into things. We all gonna get along fine if you just relax. COLE gets the hint of menace in the message and submits to the https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys lice inspection, only his eyes revealing his frustration. INT. HOSPITAL/DAYROOM - HALF AN HOUR LATER (DAY) COLE stands in the doorway, stunned by his first sight of the large room. His eyes go to the heavily- grilled windows where light pours in from outside. Then, to the TV, where a CARTOON COMMERCIAL makes raucous noises. PATIENTS, in K-Mart street clothes or ratty robes, stare gloomily at the TV, or play cards, pace, or just stare blankly. BILLINGS is at COLE'S side, beckoning to a patient, JEFFREY MASON, a twenty year old white youth dressed in khakis and a plaid shirt. BILLINGS Jeffrey. Yo! Jeffrey. This here is James. Whyncha show James around? Tell him the TV rules, show him the games an' stuff, okay? JEFFREY (with a sly look) How much you gonna pay me? Huh? I'd be doing your job. BILLINGS Five thousand dollars, my man. That enough? I'll wire it to your account as usual, okay? JEFFREY Okay, Billings. Five thousand. That's enough. Five thousand dollars. I'll give him the Deluxe Mental Hospital Tour. As BILLINGS walks away chuckling, JEFFREY turns to COLE. JEFFREY Kid around, kid around. It makes them feel good, we're all pals. We're prisoners, they're the guards, but it's all in good fun, you see? COLE nods and JEFFREY indicates card tables where PATIENTS are playing cards, checkers, chess, or working on jig saw puzzles. JEFFREY https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys Here's the games. Games vegitize you. If you play the games, you're voluntarily taking a tranquilizer. COLE sees a partially completed puzzle of the well-known painting, THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM, depicting a serene world of animals in harmony. JEFFREY What'd they give you? Thorazine? How much? Learn your drugs -- know your doses. COLE I need to make a telephone call. JEFFREY A telephone call? That's communication with the outside world! Doctor's discretion. Hey, if alla these nuts could just make phone calls, it could spread. Insanity oozing through telephone cables, oozing into the ears of all those poor sane people, infecting them! Whackos everywhere! A plague of madness. (suddenly sly and confidential) In fact, very few of us here are actually mentally ill. I'm not saying you're not mentally ill, for all I know you're crazy as a loon. But that's not why you're here. Why you're here is because of the system, because of the economy. (indicating the TV) There's the TV. It's all right there. Commercials. We are not productive anymore, they don't need us to make things anymore, it's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Okay, buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, you know what? You're mentally ill! That's a fact! If you don't buy things...toilet paper, new cars, computerized blenders, electrically operated sexual devices... (getting hysterical) SCREWDRIVERS WITH MINIATURE BUILT-IN RADAR DEVICES, STEREO SYSTEMS WITH https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys BRAIN IMPLANTED HEADPHONES, VOICE- ACTIVATED COMPUTERS, AND... A woman orderly, TERRY, turns from the feeble PATIENT she's helping. TERRY Take it easy, Jeffrey. Be calm. Abruptly, JEFFREY stifles his hysteria, takes a deep breath and continues, completely calm now. But COLE isn't listening. He's mesmerized by the TV. JEFFREY So if you want to watch a particular program, say "All My Children" or something, you go to the Charge Nurse and tell her what day and time the show you want to see is on. But you have to tell her before the show is scheduled to be on. There was this one guy who was always requesting shows that had already played. He couldn't quite grasp the idea that the Charge Nurse couldn't just make it be yesterday for him, turn back time ha ha. What a fruitcake!! This last thought actually penetrates COLE'S focus on the TV and he turns to JEFFREY who's picking up speed again. JEFFREY Seriously, more and more people are being defined now as mentally ill. Why? Because they're not consuming on their own. But as patients, they becone consumers of mental health care. And this gives the so-called sane people work! (hysteria again) WHOOO! SHOCK THERAPY! GROUP THERAPY! HALLUCINATIONS! THERAPEUTIC DRUGS! IGGIDY DIGGIDY DIG! PERFECT! THE SYSTEM IN HARMONY LIKE A BIG MACHINE... TERRY Okay, that's it, Jeffrey, you're gonna get a shot. I warned you... JEFFREY (calming himself, smiling) Right! Right! Carried away, heh heh. https://imsdb.com/scripts/12-Monkeys.html[2/11/2025 7:02:35 PM] Twelve Monkeys I got "carried away". Explaining the workings of...the institution. Just then, TJ WASHINGTON, a somber-looking African American in a bathrobe, taps COLE on the shoulder. TJ WASHINGTON I don't really come from outer