Lost In Translation - Outline

Everyone knows that this movie is amazing. We should read this script all the time. It always teaches us something new, and beyond that it's just a beautiful thing.

Written by Sophia Coppola

1. A plane lands. We see a girl in pink underwear.
2. Titles
3. BOB looks out the window of a limo. Billboards show that he advertises a drink. Then he arrives at his hotel.
4. Bob is welcomed by hotel staff. He is much taller than them. Bob is an outsider.
5. Bob gets a fax informing him that he forgot his son’s birthday.
6. Bob sits on his bed in a too small kimono.
7. Bob feels like a foreigner in the bar.
8. The next morning, Bob still feels out of place in his hotel room.
9. Bob struggles to communicate with a commercial director on set.
10. Establishing shot of Tokyo at night. “Shinjuki High rises sparkle.
11. Bob is recognized by American business men at the bar.
12. Bob struggles with a call girl in his hotel room. He’s not interested. He asks her to leave.
13. Bob feels out of place eating breakfast the next day.
14. Bob spots CHARLOTTE in the elevator. “Her honey-colored hair stands out in the crowd.”
15. Bob is invited to stay until Friday.
16. Quick cut to Bob trying to get on a flight for Thursday night. Then more commercial stuff. Bob hates doing this shit for money and he’s not much of a sport with it.
17. Bob makes eye contact with Charlotte, even though she’s surrounded by trendy Japanese fashion friends.
18. Bob looks at his weird commercial make up – still on – as he rides the elevator. 
19. Charlotte lays awake next to her sleeping husband.
20. Charlotte looks out over the city as the sun risees, sitting on a ledge.
21. Bob gets a fax from his wife. She wants him to pick a shelf for his study.
22. Bob works out in the gym. All the machines are Japanese.
23. Bob approaches the commercial people, masking a slight limp and the injury he incurred while exercising.
24. Charlotte heads out into the city. She’s an outsider surrounded by Japanese.
25. Charlotte wanders around until she finds a Japanese couple to observe. Old and in love.
26. Charlotte tries to stir her sleeping husband for sex, but it’s no good. She is bored.
27. Charlotte and Bob meet. Talk about their lives. A quick and simple conversation, but somewhat intimate.
28. Charlotte and her hubby are accosted by a starlet. Charlotte doesn’t love her. Things are a bit tense with her and John.
29. Charlotte checks her messages later in her room, bored. A COSMO quiz suggests she’s having a mid-20s crisis.
30. Bob swims in the pool. Again it seems very foreign.
31. Bob submerges in the sauna, having a moment of relief.
32. Charlotte tries and fails to listen to a self help book.
33. Charlotte follows a Japanese family down the hall.
34. Charlotte watches the starlet give a press conference. Then she walks out.
35. Charlotte tries to join a group of women doing flower origami in a conference room.
36. Charlotte is in the tub.
37. Charlotte looks out the window. John comes up. Says he has to go meet starlet to talk business at bar. Charlotte invites herself, even though he’s eh about it.
38. Charlotte excuses herself from douchey dinner. Sees Bob on his way out.
39. Charlotte can’t sleep. Watches a wacky show on TV.
40. Bob is also awake, watching the same show.
41. Charlotte explores. Finds a temple. Tries to feel something.
42. Charlotte asks John if she’s shallow. Tries to have a deep conversation about stuff. But he rushes out.
43. CUT TO: Lauren looks out the window, and calls her friend Lauren. Lauren has to go. Charlotte starts to cry.
44. Charlotte explores, clearly a lost soul. Looks in windows. Ses quirky things.  Arcade. Bookstore with weird porn. She smokes a cig. Goes into a cute underwear shop.
45. Charlotte’s bf leaves her. She asks him not to go, but he has a shoot for a few days.
46. Charlotte invites Bob to a party when they run into each other by the pool.
47. Back in his room, Bob receives a package of carpet swaths with a note from his wife. He doesn’t get why she’s sending this stuff.
48. Bob goes to Charlotte’s room. They’re ready to go out.
49. Bob, Charlotte and friends in a bar. They piss off a bartender and have to run b/c he has a bee bee gun.
50. The gang in a karaoke bar.
51. Charlie sings.
52. Charlotte and Charlie sing.
53. Bob sings.
54. (ALL THIS SEPERATED BY “CUT TO:”)
55. Bob and Charlotte take a break on a bench outside. She sees that he bites his nails.
56. Then they hang out at some stoner’s house. Bob sees Charlotte being goofy. “She seems him and gets embarrassed.”
57. LATER they are all dancing. “Charlotte looks sweaty but beautiful.”
58. LATER Bob helps Charlotte into a cab, promising Charlie to get her home OK.
59. Tokyo blurs by from a cab. It looks beautiful.
60. Charlotte confesses that she doesn’t want to go home, but she’s drunk.
61. Bob helps Charlotte to her room.
62. Bob puts Charlotte in bed. He wants to kiss her, but he leaves.
63. Bob walks down the hall, not wanting to leave her.
64. Back in his room, he calls his wife, Lydia. She doesn’t have time to talk. She’s trying to get the kids off to school.
65. Charlotte wakes up and grabs the phone.
66. Bob answer the phone and it’s Charlotte. She invites him to breakfast.
67. Breakfast is weird. “Somehow it’s too intimate having breakfast.”
68. Bob plays golf.
69. Charlotte is bored. Then she gets a note from Bob.
70. Bob teases Charlotte about Hans liking her. Then they discuss Bob’s marriage. Charlotte’s disillusionment. They are clearly both fantasizing about a life together.
71. Bob dominates a basketball game b/c he’s taller than the Japanese. Note: This is the first time he’s had any sort of good experience in Japan, and it’s right after really connecting with Charlotte.
72. Bob shaves with a razor that’s too small. He tells reception to send a fax through o his room when they call.
73. Bob ducks out on the commercial people, sneaking outside the hotel.
74. Bob sees a motorcycle group go past outside the hotel.
75. Bob calls and cancels his talk show that day, but agrees to stay later to do another. Reveal: Bob is following a faxed map that Charlotte sent him.
76. Bob meets Charlotte for sushi. Decides she needs to see a doctor for a toe she stubbed pretty bda.
77. Bob struggles to get the taxi guy to understand hospital. Finally, he does.
78. Charlotte goes back in the hospital.
79. Bob sits next to an old lady in the waiting room.
80. Charlotte gets an x ray.
81. Bob looks around in the gift shop.
82. Bob gets a call and confirms that he’ll stay for the talk show.
83. Charlotte gets her foot wrapped.
84. Charlotte emerges into the waiting room to see Bob waiting there with a stuffed bunny.
85. The two of them enter the hotel.
86. Bob gets a call from his wife. Admits that he feels lost. That he wants to eat better.
87. Bob gets a VM from Charlotte, inviting him out.
88. Bob finds the nightclub in an unassuming building.
89. Bob feels out of place in the club. It’s a strip club. Charlotte shows up and they feel weird. They leave.
90. They walk, noting no street names. As though they might get lost and they don’t even care.
91. In the hotel lobby, they hurry past the starlet, hoping not to be seen.
92. Charlotte leaves John a VM. She’s going to Kyoto for the day.
93. Charlotte on the train.
94. Charlotte in a garden. A small figure in the landscape.
95. She sees a wedding and wells up with tears.
96. Charlotte writes a wish and ties it to a wish tree with others.
97. Bob goes out to meet the game show host.
98. Bob is forced to compete against the Iron Chef.
99. Bob rides home, looking at a Polaroid of Charlotte he took a couple nights ago.
100. Bob sits at the bar. The Jazz Singer sits next to him.
101. Charlotte shows up the next morning to find the Jazz Singer there. She walks away.
102. Bob talks to his wife. She’s breaking up. Communication interrupted.
103. Bob meets Charlotte. They’re gonna hunt for sushi.
104. Bob and Charlotte. A little catty. She’s jealous. He’s annoyed.  That’s the whole scene. It’s all we need.
105. Bob and Charlotte find each other that night, during a fire drill.
106. Bob and Charlotte at the bar. In their pajamas. He wants to stay forever. She reminds him that reality changes things. They can’t. The singer sings a meaningful song, “Where or When.”
107. Bob kisses Charlotte tenderly on the cheek in the elevator. Twice.
108. Charlotte gets a cute “I miss you” fax from John.
109. Bob leaves Charlotte a voicemail to say goodbye. Leaves it to her phone. It feels lame.
110. LATER: Bob calls again, and this time he gets Charlotte.
111. Charlotte comes down. Bob gives her a weak goodbye. He wants to say I love you. To ask her to come. But he doesn’t. She’s hurt.
112. Bob waits as the bellboy loads his luggage.
113. Bob is in the car, leaning on the luggage, as the car pulls away.
114. Around the corner, Bob sees Charlotte’s hair. Asks the driver to pull over.
115. Bob gets out. Rushes to Charlotte. She turns and we see she is crying. He rushes up to her and embraces her. They tell each other they miss each other. Then Bob gets back in the car.
116. Charlotte continues walking with the crowd.
117. Bob’s car pulls away. “He happy he’s going home, he’s happy he came to Tokyo.”
118. Bob’s P.O.V. – Tokyo goes past his window.
119. FADE TO BLACK.

We have some rough notes and thoughts on this script, but we should write more down. Important to crystallize the knowledge we gain from this stuff. Anyway I guess I might as well post what we have here so we don't lose it. Below:

JOHN
(doesn’t really want her to)
Ok.
 
Funny joke: “Who do I have to fuck to get off this planet?” Says Bob.
 
Note: Things that happen are plot, because they are progressing the relationship.
  
It’s interesting the way she uses ellipses in action writing:
 
Hiromix dances… Charlotte dances with Hans – she looks sweaty but beautiful… Bob dances with his eyes closed, really into it, in the midst of all of the… the song “I Feel Too Young” plays.
 
ACTION LINE: She opens her eyes to smile at him. He wants to kiss her, but he leaves.
 
CLOSE UPS imply intimacy when it’s unspoken. Really interesting way to underscore the subtext. “Do you want to have some breakfast?” C.U. her hand wraps the phone cord around her fingers. “Yeah… I’ll meet you downstairs.”
 
LOOK BACK AT THOSE CLOSE UPS: PAGE 45.
 
CUT TO: is used instead of LATER as a slug. Gives an interesting feeling to the passage of time.
 
Kelly stands facing them with a karaoke mic singing “WHATEVER” with all her heart. Bob and Charlotte look at each other and keep walking (trying to be invisible).
 

• Every scene just needs to communicate something new about the progression of their relationship. Once it does that, we’re out.
• AMAZING ACTION LINE: He leans in to kiss her good-night. They kiss like you would on the cheek – but it’s closer to their mouths. The door shuts – he missed his floor.
• ACTION LINE: He hangs up, feeling lame.
• ACTION LINE: She waits for him to say something more. He wants to tell her he loves her, that she should come with him.