Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Cut to:

Henckels on his way up the steps followed by M. Chuck. They stop at the next floor, look up and down the corridor, then continue climbing.

Cut to:

Mr. Mosher staring, curious; Herr Becker watching, surprised; and Anatole gaping, mouth open, at: M. Gustave and Zero crossing speedily through the center of the lobby with their stacked boxes, looking around in every direction as they go. They arrive at the closed elevator. A lobby boy stands next to it. He has curly hair and looks to be about sixteen. He is Otto.

M. GUSTAVE

Have you seen a pastry girl with a package under her arm in the last minute and a half?

OTTO

Yep! She just got on the elevator with Mr. Desgoffe und Taxis.

M. GUSTAVE

( irritated )

Thank you.

M. Gustave and Zero look up at the wall. Something is gnawing at them both.

Insert:

The needle above the elevator entrance. It climbs past ‘Four’ toward ‘Five’.

M. Gustave and Zero start to dash away – but Zero stops short and turns back. He says quickly to Otto:

ZERO

I’m sorry. Who are you?

OTTO

( hesitates )

Otto, sir. The new lobby boy.

ZERO

( sharply )

Well, you haven’t been trained properly, Otto. A lobby boy never provides information of that kind. You’re a stone wall . Understood?

OTTO

( anxious )

Yes, sir.

M. Gustave and Zero exchange a quick look: well-handled. They run.

INT. ELEVATOR. DAY

As the lift ascends:

Dmitri casts a sideways look to Agatha. She stares ahead and avoids his eyes. He looks away.

Agatha casts a sideways look to Dmitri. He snaps his head suddenly to look at her. She turns away again immediately, stricken.

Dmitri reaches out toward Agatha. She retreats further into the corner. He touches the package under her arm with his long fingers and peels back the edge of the wrapping-paper – revealing a white hand holding a golden apple. He says quietly:

DMITRI

Pretty picture.

Agatha does not respond. They come to a stop, and the elevator operator opens the gate.

ELEVATOR OPERATOR

Sixth floor.

Neither Agatha nor Dmitri move. Silence. The elevator operator turns around slightly to look at them.

Agatha exits. The elevator operator starts to close the door, but Dmitri holds up a finger. He follows Agatha. The gate closes behind him.

Agatha walks swiftly but calmly down the long corridor. She looks back. Dmitri walks behind her, equally swiftly and significantly more calmly, thirty feet back. Agatha turns a corner.

Dmitri cracks his knuckles as he continues. He clears his throat. He turns the corner now, himself, and sees:

Agatha running as fast as she can, already sixty feet ahead, nearly at the end of the corridor. She looks back again as she disappears around the next corner.

Dmitri breaks into a full sprint. In five seconds, he reaches the end of the hallway. He stops and looks down the next corridor.

It is empty. Pause.

At the far end: a pair of doors labeled SERVICE ELEVATOR slide open. M. Gustave and Zero stand inside it with their stacked boxes. Dmitri’s eyes widen. He shouts:

DMITRI

Where’s ‘Boy with Apple’?

M. GUSTAVE

( pause )

None of your goddamn business!

DMITRI

( hesitates )

I’m going to blast your candy-ass once and for all right now!

Dmitri instantly leans down, lifts up his trouser leg, and draws a small-calibre handgun from a strap under his sock. He fires.

M. Gustave and Zero throw their boxes in every direction and duck to the sides of the elevator. Dmitri fires again. Bullets ricochet.

A door opens halfway down the corridor. An officer wearing his uniform tunic but no trousers looks out at Dmitri, alerted, with a Luger pistol in his hand.

OFFICER

Drop your weapon!

Dmitri fires three more times into the service elevator. The officer fires back at Dmitri. Dmitri ducks behind a room-service cart and quickly reloads. More doors open up and down the corridor, and more armed officers in various states of dress/undress look out.

Dmitri pops up again and resumes his barrage. All the officers open fire at once, shooting, apparently at random, in both directions. Henckels appears suddenly at the top of the stairs with his own firearm drawn. M. Chuck hurries behind him. Henckels ducks down low and screams:

HENCKELS

Cease fire! Cease fire! Stop it!

The gunfire pauses. Everyone remains poised for the next volley. Henckels hollers:

Who’s shooting who?

DMITRI

( behind his barricade )

That’s Gustave H.! The escaped murderer and art thief! I’ve got him cornered!

M. Gustave and Zero remain tucked against the walls on the floor of the service elevator. M. Gustave yells, enraged:

M. GUSTAVE

That’s Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis! He’s responsible for the killings of Deputy Kovacs, Serge X. and his club-footed sister, plus his own mother!

HENCKELS

( hesitates )

No body move! Every body’s under arrest!

There is a loud creak, then a crashing bang. M. Chuck squints at an open window in a small alcove across from him.

M. CHUCK

Who’s out the window?

Zero looks to M. Gustave. He says, under his breath:

ZERO

Agatha!

Zero sprints out of the service elevator and races up the corridor. Dmitri starts shooting again. The entire group opens fire once more. Zero runs, crouched, with his hands over his head, and ducks into the alcove. His head thrusts out the window. He looks down.

Cut to:

Agatha swinging by one hand from a broken trellis off the end of a terrace three flights below. She hangs onto the wrapped painting with her other hand. She notices something on it and frowns.

Insert:

The dangling package. A section of the wrapping paper has torn away, and the corner of a pale-pink envelope is visible pasted to the back of the picture.

Zero stares down at Agatha, horrified. He mutters to himself:

ZERO

310- bis ! ( Shouting to Agatha. ) Hang on! Here I come!

Zero races back through the hail of bullets. He darts past Henckels and down the stairwell. He descends three flights. He crosses the corridor and stops in front of a door labeled ‘310-bis’ . A sign on the knob reads: ‘Do Not Disturb’.

Zero hesitates an instant.

He raps briskly, retreats back across the corridor, lowers his shoulder, and charges with all his strength.

Just as he reaches the door, it swings open to reveal a small, bearded man in a long nightgown. He sidesteps Zero.

Zero stumbles full speed through the sitting room and out the wide-open terrace doors. He slams against the balcony railing and flips over it. Agatha releases the package and grabs Zero’s shirt as he somersaults over her.

Zero’s weight jerks Agatha down with a jolt. They fall together.

Four floors down, Zero and Agatha punch through the canvas roof of the back of the Mendl’s van and disappear inside. Silence.

INT. VAN. DAY

Zero sits up among the chaotic pile of scattered and upturned pink, cardboard pastry-boxes. He gasps and digs for Agatha. She surfaces.

ZERO

Agatha! Are you all right?

AGATHA

( dazed )

I think so.

Zero embraces Agatha. He kisses her passionately. He looks into her eyes. She says, woozy: