THE LIZARD KING

by Michael Faulkner & Jim Morrison

Short Film
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THE LIZARD KING

WRITTEN BY MICHAEL FAULKNER/JIM MORRISON

SCENE 1 (Riders on the storm)___________________________________________________


It is 1967 and raining very, very heavily. There is thunder booming in the sky, the rain is hard and coming straight down. The Lizard King is standing by himself on the highway, alone waiting for a ride when an old red dodge pulls over and picks him up. The Lizard King is now inside the vehicle. The driver is your typical truckie type guy, the one who wears blue overalls, one button unclipped, a red flannelette shirt, a cap that is sitting high on his head, a sly grin with a three day growth and dirty rotten yellow teeth that are the end result of heavy smoking, tobacco chewing and excessive consumption of alcohol. There is a long silence between the two (the Lizard King hopped in without asking a question) until the driver speaks.
DRIVER
‘Why are you out here on your own? The rain is coming down pretty hard tonight’

LIZARD KING
‘riders on the storm”

DRIVER
 ‘Sorry, what did you say? I missed what you said’

LIZARD KING
 “Riders on the storm”

DRIVER
‘Ok then, how did you end up out here alone, tonight?’

LIZARD KING
” Into this house we're born.”

DRIVER
‘You were born out this way? But I haven’t seen a house for miles, unless you run the gas
station that is not to far up here. It’s a crazy world out on this road.’

LIZARD KING
 “ Into this world we're thrown.”

DRIVER
‘You are certainly right about that, just thrown in like rags. No questions just ordered.’

LIZARD KING
“Like a dog without a bone.”



DRIVER
‘We are all dogs, all mongrels.  So who are you anyway? You didn’t say.’

LIZARD KING
 “ An actor out alone”

DRIVER
‘You’re an actor who’s un-employed? I haven’t seen you before, what industry are you in?
Have you got any films to your name?’

LIZARD KING
 “Rider on the storm”

By now the driver feels that he is dealing with a psycho, every question is almost avoided. The Lizard King is still looking straight ahead, he hasn’t even looked at the driver yet. This makes the driver nervous.

LIZARD KING
There's a killer on the road.

DRIVER
‘There’s a  killer on our roads!. I haven’t heard anything on the news, who is this killer? Why
aren’t the police doing their job properly. All killers should be dealt with’.

LIZARD KING
His brain is squirmin' like a toad.

DRIVER
‘You mean that he is dead? I have been on the road for a while now, I’d say about a week now and it has been a long trip, but I haven’t heard anything about some killer!’

When the driver is talking he looks slyly but slowly towards the Lizard King, a strange hitchhiker is no big deal as the driver thinks to himself. But no stranger has ever spoken about killers being dead and talking in a confused manner.

LIZARD KING

Take a long holiday.

DRIVER
Yeah I might, I think I deserve one. It’s been a busy year for me this year.

LIZARD KING

 Let your children play.

DRIVER
Can’t do that as I don’t have any kids. They would drive me crazy anyway. Hey, do you
reackon we should give this hitchhiker a ride? Hang-on, he’s on the wrong side of the road.

As they are driving along the highway, the driver spots a hitchhiker in the distance. The Lizard King is still staring into nothing, not really making much of an effort to talk but making conversation with citations of poems of some kind. This makes the driver uncomfortable.

DRIVER
Another stranger up ahead, unfortunately we are going the wrong way. You got any cigarettes?

LIZARD KING
If ya give this man a ride.

DRIVER
Sorry, I can’t. We are going the wrong way. So can I have a smoke?

LIZARD KING

 Sweet memory will die.


DRIVER
Well I’m going to let him go, we are going the opposite way. He will find someone or someone will find him. Who knows? Maybe even that killer you were talking about my find him.


As they passed the hitchhiker, the driver looked in his left rear view mirror and noticed that the driver was wearing all black clothing, the exact same clothing as his passenger – Leather pants, big black coat, no shirt, leather skinned boots and a belt (the kind of belt that is of an American Indian heritage design with the round metal buckles).
Even their hair was identical.
 As the driver squinted his eyes and took a closer more concentrated look he noticed something disturbing. He turned to his passenger and went to say something but his passenger was gone. The Lizard King was the hitchhiker!

RADIO LIZARD KINGS VOICE - Killer on the road, yeah


SCENE 2 (Unwanted advice)_____________________________________________________

The Lizard King walked into a gas station, where a lady and a man were behind the counter. The Lizard King walks in slowly but with direction and heads towards to the counter. The couple were arguing but now have stopped because the man has walked off.

 

LIZARD KING
 Girl ya gotta love your man.

LADY

This is none of your business thankyou. So please stay out of it.


LIZARD KING

 Girl ya gotta love your man.

LADY

I do and it’s not of your concern, now what do you want sir?

LIZARD KING

Take him by the hand

LADY

I will not ask again sir. Now what is it you want? Are you o.k.? Are you lost?

LIZARD KING

 Make him understand

LADY

W hat do you mean, make him understand? My husband understands thank you. That’s why we are married, if you are talki………

Just as she was talking, the stranger interrupted her.

LIZARD KING

The world on you depends.

LADY

Yeah, maybe I will make him understand, but how? Can the world really depend on one person? I don’t think it can.

LIZARD KING

 Our life will never end.

LADY

Our life! What do you mean our life? You are starting to make me nervous. What can I do for you? Can I call anyone for you?


LIZARD KING

Gotta love your man, yeah.






LADY

What do you mean? Are you crazy? You make no sense. Get out or I will yell out to my husband and he will drag you out or I might even call the police.


LIZARD KING

Wow!

The Lizard King turns and walks away from the store, talking to himself. The words almost sound’s like as if he is citing something. The lady is bewildered and looks upon the Lizard King in disbelief. She is sort of shook up. She shrugs her shoulders and says to herself “Weirdo”. Her husband walks in and asks who she is talking to. The lady turned to her husband, then turned back to the store and when to say something but the Lizard King was gone.
RADIO - LIZARD KING’S VOICE
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm


Scene 3 (motel drinks)__________________________________________________________

The Lizard King has made his way further up the highway to the location of an old looking motel where he plans to stay the night. He has already checked into his room and is now sitting at the bar having shots of scotch on the rocks. Upon check in, the receptionist was not surprised by the turn up of the Lizard King at his motel, as they get travellers this way all the time.
The Lizard King is at the bar now and is talking to a young woman who is very drunk, so drunk that she finds the Lizard King very interesting.

WOMAN

Are you drunk? I am very drunk, I bet you, you are.

LIZARD KING

You know that it would be untrue.

WOMAN

Oh come on, you are drunk like me aren’t you?



LIZARD KING

 You know that I would be a liar, If I was to say to you, Girl we couldn't get much higher.

WOMAN

Higher? Yeah, have you got some drugs? Is it weed? What have you got?

The woman is really excited now thinking that the Lizard King has some form of drugs. She’s now close to the Lizard King. She has blonde hair, blue eye’s, she is wearing a black headband and red baggy pants with a loose fitting beige shirt that has floral patterns around the sleeves and collar. She is dressed like the way they did in the sixties.
The Lizard King now has put a cigarette in his mouth and is asking:

LIZARD KING

Come on baby, light my fire.

WOMAN

First where are the drugs?


LIZARD KING

 Come on baby, light my fire.

WOMAN

Come on, you said we can get high. Come on, lets get high. Lets get high.


LIZARD KING

Try to set the night on fire.

WOMAN

Yeah let’s burn this whole place down, whoa yeah fucking burn.


As the woman is yelling in joy about burning the bar down, the Lizard King just sits and looks straight ahead. He is looking at himself in the mirror behind the bar. I don’t even think that he knows what the woman looks like.

LIZARD KING

‘The time to hesitate is through’




WOMAN

O.K. O.K., let’s do it, lets burn the bar down.


LIZARD KING

No time to wallow in the mire.

WOMAN

Ha, ha ha, what does that mean? Mire, what the hell are you on about?


LIZARD KING

 Try now we can only lose.

WOMAN

So you are saying not to burn anything now? Don’t you want me to burn anything ? Bloody men are all the same, talking nonsense and never making any sense.

LIZARD KING

 And our love become a funeral pyre.

As the Lizard King was talking he just stood up, turned and headed for the door. He didn’t even look at the woman.

Scene 4 (Ceiling Felattio)________________________________________________________

They are now both in the Lizard King’s motel room. It was still raining outside and it is coming down hard. The Lizard King is lying on his bed and glaring up to the ceiling where he is again looking at himself in the mirror. The mirror shows that whilst the Lizard King is lying down on his bed with his hands placed under his head and talking, the woman is actually committing fellatio. The Lizard King’s chest is bare with nothing but a necklace. (worn by the native American Indians). The Lizard King continues:



LIZARD KING
‘The time to hesitate is through’
‘ No time to wallow in the mire’

The woman is really getting into the act, divulging in everything the Lizard King has to offer.

LIZARD KING
‘ You know that it would be untrue’
‘You know that I would be a liar’
‘If I was to say to you’
‘Girl, we couldn't get much higher’

Just as the Lizard King finished saying: “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher”, she lifted her head to say something but before she could get a word out, the Lizard King grabbed her on the top of her head and pushed it down towards his groin area and continued:



STRANGER

Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

The Lizard King is now coming upon a climax and his face now reflects a hard concentration but with no emotion, eyes staring straight up at the ceiling, jaw clinched and  continues now louder than before, almost yelling.

STRANGER
 Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on……………………………………… fire!

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