S MOLLY'S GAME o screenplay by Aaron Sorkin r Based on the book by Molly Bloom k i n THIRD PASS: 12/29/15 SECOND PASS: 11/23/15 FIRST PASS: 9/2/15 ii. S o r k i n EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY But we don’t know what we’re looking at yet. In front of us is just a greyish-white flurry with nothing to orient us and * no sound except the whistle of a strong wind at a high altitude. We won’t know where we are until-- --a rocket flies right in front of us--right to left--and disappears from the frame as fast as it came into it. But we probably saw it long enough to know it wasn’t a rocket, it was a world-class skier and we were standing five feet away as she scorched the last few seconds of her run. MOLLY (V.O.) SA survey was taken a few years ago that asked 300 professionals one question: EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (NEW ANGLE) oMOLLY (V.O.) “What’s the worst thing that can happen in sports?” We’re at the borttom of the slope now where the skier we just saw finished her run with a swoosh, and a hundred or so spectators gave her a round. The skier snapped out of her skis, picked them up, pushed up her goggles and looked back * up the slope toward the judges... MOLLY (V.O.) k Some people answered losing a Game 7 and other people said getting swept in 4. Some people said-- i EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (NEW ANGLE) MOLLY (V.O.) --it was missing the World Cup and some Brazilians said it was losing n to Argentina. Not just in the World Cup--anytime, ever, in any contest. We can see the whole slope now. It looks like a terrible way to die. It’s a moguls course, meaning that skiers race through a punishing series of 3-foot mounds of packed snow and ice, lift-off and execute a mid-air trick, land and run through another set of moguls, lift-off and execute a second trick, land and race to the finish. Spectators and race officials line the sides of the slope. Blue Rev. (mm/dd/yy) 2. EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (BOTTOM OF THE SLOPE) The skier we saw is looking back up the slope and now sees her scores. Not bad, but not what she needed. She gets another round from the crowd and a less-than-wholehearted hug from her coach. MOLLY (V.O.) But one person answered that the worst thing that can happen in sports was 4th-place at the Olympics. SEXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (TOP OF THE SLOPE) We’re at the top of the mountain where the next skiers are waiting for their start. One of them has just jumped off the mountain and into the course. MOLLY (V.O.) oThis is a true story but except for my own I’ve changed all the names and I’ve done my best to obscure identities for reasons that’ll become clear. I’m Molly Bloom and r right now I’m ranked 3rd in North America in Women’s Moguls. EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (NEW ANGLE) The skier who just sktarted has raced through the first set of moguls, hits the ramp, which sends her up into mid-air where she executes a trick and lands back on the course and hits the second set of moguls. i MOLLY (V.O.) I have a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.9 GPA. n EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (NEW ANGLE) The skier’s made her way through the second set of backbreaking moguls and hits the second ramp, which sends her into the air. We watch the judges examine her trick with expert eyes and then tap the keys on their laptops. MOLLY (V.O.) I got a 173 on the L-SATs. The * median L-SAT score at Harvard Law School is 169. * Blue Rev. (mm/dd/yy) 3. EXT. A DIFFERENT SKI SLOPE - DAY This one’s much friendlier and families are skiing together in the sun with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop. A COACH is working with a 12-YEAR-OLD BOY, showing him the right mechanics for his push-off. MOLLY (V.O.) I was raised in Loveland, Colorado, about an hour outside Denver or four hours if it’s snowing. On a weekend family ski trip when I was 5 I was spotted by a coach. * SThe COACH stopped paying attention to the 12-YEAR-OLD BOY and became captivated by the sight of a 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL--a * prodigy--who’s just exploded into his field of vision. The COACH watches and then glances back up the slope where the girl’s FATHER is standing and watching. FATHER o(shouting) Attack it, Molly! Attack it! * The COACH watches as the 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL hits the mini-mogul * section of the run. r MOLLY (V.O.) I’d spend the next 18 years chasing winter and being coached by the best in the world. k EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY i Runners are competing in a road race and the front of the pack comes toward us as well-wishers cheer and hand out cups of water along the sides. MOLLY (V.O.) I also ran pretty well. n A 12-YEAR OLD GIRL appears among the runners--both the first kid and the first female we’ve seen. She’s running alongside her FATHER and you can tell just by looking at her stride that this is an athlete. MOLLY (V.O.) I was running in a charity 5K when my back exploded. 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL (to her FATHER) Something’s wrong. 4. FATHER Tough it out. The 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL gives her father a quick “thanks” glance that her father doesn’t see before she pulls out several strides ahead of him and the rest of the men around her. INT. HOSPITAL - DAY The 12-YEAR OLD-GIRL is being prepped for surgery. MOLLY (V.O.) I had what’s called rapid onset S scoliosis. CLOSE ON An x-ray of a terribly curved spine. MOLLY (V.O.) o My spine was curved at 63 degrees and I’d need a 7-hour surgical procedure that involved-- r CLOSE ON An x-ray of the same spine now fused with steel rods. MOLLY (V.O.) --straightening my spine, extractingk bone from my hip, fusing eleven vertebrae together and fastening steel rods to the fused segments. i INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY The 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL is in a hospital bed, post-op. From her POV we can barely make out what a DOCTOR is saying to her FATHER and MOTHER. n DOCTOR She’s gonna be fine, but I wouldn’t let her ski anymore. Definitely not moguls and skiing competitively is out of the question. The FATHER is quietly devastated and slumps down on the closest surface while the DOCTOR and the MOTHER assure him that “...she’s gonna be fine, she just won’t ski”, etc. We stay on the 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL’s eyes--she’s clocked her father’s reaction and even through her post-op morphine haze her eyes are fighting back. Blue Rev. (mm/dd/yy) 5. MOLLY (V.O.) I was on skis again in a year, running moguls in 18 months and by my 20th birthday I’d made the U.S. Ski Team. EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (TOP OF THE SLOPE) It’s the slope we started at. RACE OFFICIAL Number 87 up. (pointing) S 56 on deck. Number 87 takes her place at the starting gate and Number 56 is MOLLY. She’s got earbuds in and a coach is vigorously * rubbing down her legs to keep them warm. MOLLY (V.O.) o It’s the last round of qualifying for the Salt Lake City Olympics. This is the Champion Run at Deer Valley. r We can see that visibility is terrible, with snow coming down diagonally and the wind whistling ominously at this altitude. MOLLY (V.O.) The altitude’s 8100 feet and the pitch is 5k2 degrees which is the same as the sides of the Great Pyramids. i MOLLY stomps on her feet to keep them warm and starts to loosen her shoulders and neck. MOLLY (V.O.) The wind’s 20-25 miles an hour blowing left to right. It’s 3-below zero at the top of then slope and with 17 skiers in front of me, it’s gonna be like trying to stick a landing on a frozen infinity pool. The COACH points to his ears, indicating that it’s time for * Molly to take out her ear buds. She hands the coach her iPod as he says-- COACH Kiki blew out of her line. Shannon was off-balance on her second landing. Blue Rev. (mm/dd/yy) 6. MOLLY nods that she understands. MOLLY (V.O.) He’s talking about Kiki Bandy and Shannon Keebler, my two toughest competitors who had significant point deductions on their final runs-- QUICK INSERT A skier landing slightly off-balance after a trick. QUICK INSERT S Another skier skiing out of her line and scrambling to recover. EXT. SKI SLOPE - DAY (TOP OF THE SLOPE) MOLLY (V.O.) o --setting the table for me. MOLLY snaps her boots into her bindings and taps her skis to check how they feel. r RACE OFFICIAL Number 56 up. 44 on deck. COACH Go get it, here we go. k MOLLY snaps her goggles down as the Coach steps back. MOLLY’s * all alone now at the top of the mountain, snow blowing around * her. i MOLLY (V.O.) I can make the Olympic team right now. And if I have three perfect runs in Salt Lake--the best runs of my life--I can beat the Austrians and the Swiss and haven a realistic shot at the podium. Then the law school of my choice and then a start-up. A foundation that seeds entrepreneurial women and also teaches young girls to ignore most of their current role models. RACE OFFICIAL Competitor ready. MOLLY (V.O.) But first this. Blue Rev. (mm/dd/yy) 7. A small light, accompanied by beeps, blinks red, then yellow, then-- MOLLY jams her poles into the snow and launches herself onto * the slope. MOLLY (V.O.) Good start. My father’s at the bottom trying to telepathically get me to check my line. EXT. SKI SLOPE - SAME TIME (BOTTOM OF THE SLOPE) S Molly’s FATHER is looking up the slope-- FATHER Check your line. EXT. SKI SLOPE - SAME TIME (TOP OF THE SLOPE) * o MOLLY (V.O.) I check my line. r MOLLY’S POV Out of the sea of moguls she’s slashing through her eyes find the path she’s chosen and, for a moment, it becomes demarcated for us like runway lights before it goes away. k EXT. SKI SLOPE - SAME TIME (TOP OF THE SLOPE) * She’s carving through this miinefield, kicking up snow and ice and not being able to see more than ten feet in front of her face. MOLLY (V.O.) Good snow contact, calm upper-body, * legs together, good shape, no line deviation and set up for the D-Spin * and-- n * MOLLY sails into the air and executes a perfect back-flip * with an off-axis twist. MOLLY (V.O.) --stick the landing. Now two things you need to know before the second trick which’ll be a 720. As MOLLY attacks the next set of moguls we start to gradually * SLOW DOWN THE PICTURE... * (MORE) Blue Rev. (mm/dd/yy) 8. MOLLY (V.O.) (CONT'D) The first is that when visibility * is bad the way it is now, race officials jam pine boughs in the snow at the edge of the jump so the skiers have some foreground depth reference. The second is that the * tightness of your bindings is determined by what’s called a DIN setting. If you’re a beginner your DIN setting is probably 2 or 3. If you’re an experienced weekend skier it’s probably 7 or 8. Mine’s 15. My boots are basically welded to my skis. Right...so how does this happen?-- S In semi-slow motion, MOLLY gets airborne for her second trick * and almost as soon as she does, her right ski comes off and falls to the ground. All sound except Molly’s voice goes out. o MOLLY (V.O.) It happened because I hit a pine bough and I hit it so precisely * that it simply snapped the release on mry bindings. Right in that moment I didn’t have time to calculate the odds of that happening because I was about to land pretty hard on my digitally remastered spinal cord which is being held together by spare parts * k from an Erector Set. MOLLY crashes to the ice and snow with terrible impact. * i We go back to FULL SPEED now with Molly’s other ski immediately snapping off and skidding away as MOLLY keeps sliding and flipping over. We’re still without sound--just the occasional slap of her helmet on the packed snow. And then her helmet flies off just before she breaks through--MOS--nthe wood and wire fence and into a group of gasping and shouting spectators. We watch the whole thing again full speed. And we watch others watch it--SPECTATORS, her COACH, the JUDGES, TELEVISION CAMERAS and her FATHER... Sound kicks back in and we hear the gasping crowd along with the radio crackle of the SKI PATROL and EMTs as they race to the scene. Molly’s FATHER tries to get to her as fast as he can. MOLLY’s on her back, unconscious, blood-soaked snow on her * face.