THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET Script

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET Script PART 1: Hugo s dad: Hugo, I ve found something interesting at work in the museum. It s an automaton. It s a windup figure that s very complicated. I think this one can write. I m sure if it were working it would write out some kind of note. Maybe it would write a poem or a riddle.but you d need the key of course, but I don t know where it is. Besides, it s too broken and rusty to do anything now. I made some sketches of it. Here. (Hugo s dad gives Hugo the notebook.) Hugo s dad: Since I m a clockmaker, I should be able to fix it. (They both leave and Hugo s dad returns with the automaton. Then stage ninjas bring the fire across the stage. Hugo s dad falls.) Hugo s dad: No! (Hugo s dad crawls away and the fire gets moved out. Hugo returns for the automaton and carries it from the stage. Uncle Claude and Hugo come out.) Uncle Claude: I m your uncle Claude and you ll be living with me. Your father s dead and I m your only living relative. You ll be my apprentice. You ll live in the station with me and I ll show you how to take care of the clocks. Apprentice Timekeeper. It s a good title for a boy. You won t even have to go to school! (Uncle Claude grabs Hugo s arm and yanks him away, and stage ninjas pull up street scene. Hugo goes to his room.) Hugo: Uncle Claude? Uncle Claude! Where is he? If he s gone, I ll have to wind up the clocks on my own. I ll have to stay away from the Station Inspector in case he tries to send me to an orphanage. What will I do? (Hugo walks to automaton and pulls cloth off it.) Hugo: I ll fix it. (Hugo moves to the station and acts out what the narrator says.) Narrator: The story I am about to share with you takes place in 1931, under the roofs of Paris. Here you will meet a boy named Hugo Cabret, who once, long ago, discovered a mysterious drawing that changed his life forever. But before you begin to watch this play, I want you to picture yourself sitting in the darkness, like the beginning of a movie. On screen, the sun will soon rise, and you will find yourself zooming toward a train station in the middle of the city. You will rush through the doors into a crowded lobby. You will eventually spot a boy amid the crowd, and he will start to move through the train station. Follow him, because this is Hugo Cabret. His head is full of secrets, and he s waiting for his story to begin. This is 6 months after Hugo found his uncle missing. Hugo has been taking care and winding up all the clocks and av oiding the Station Inspector all on his own. He steals food and clothes when he needs to. He also

steals mechanical parts and gears from the toymaker in the Station next door, and starts to fix the automaton with them. (Hugo goes to the Station and tries to steal mouse.) Papa Georges: Thief! Thief! Someone call the Station Inspector! (Hugo tries to get away.) Papa Georges: I finally caught you. Now empty your pockets! (Hugo empties his pockets and Papa Georges flips through his notebook.) Hugo: Give it back! Papa Georges: Ghosts...I knew they would find me here eventually. Did you draw these pictures? I said, did you draw these pictures? Hugo: No! Papa Georges: Get out of here you little thief! (Hugo goes and winds up the clocks and returns to the toybooth.) Papa Georges: Pick up your feet. I hate the sound of shoe heels clicking on the floor. What is your name, boy? Hugo: Hugo...Hugo Cabret. Papa Georges: Listen to me, Hugo Cabret. Stay away from me. I will drag you to the Station Inspector myself if I see you again. (Stage ninjas pull down street scene and Papa Georges and Hugo step out onto it. Stage ninjas also change side display to 2.) Hugo: Give me back my notebook Papa Georges: I am going to burn your notebook! (They walk down to the end and Papa Georges goes inside. Hugo throws stones at the top window of the building and Isabelle comes out.) Isabelle: Who are you? Hugo: Your grandfather stole my notebook. Let me in. Isabelle: Papa Georges isn t my grandfather. And I can t let you in. (Hugo tries to pick up another stone, but Isabelle pushes him to the ground.)

Isabelle: Stop. I promise I ll make sure he doesn t burn your notebook. Go back to the toy booth tomorrow and ask him for your notebook again. (Isabelle lets him up and goes back into her building. Stage ninjas pull up street scene and change side display back to 1. Hugo returns to his room, gets into bed, and sleeps.) (Hugo gets up and goes to the toy booth.) Papa Georges: I thought I might see you here today. (Papa Georges takes out handkerchief and unties it to reveal a pile of ashes. Hugo takes them and drops them on the ground.) Hugo: No Papa Georges: What is your attachment to this notebook? Why won t you tell me? Go away. Please just go away. It s over. (Hugo sniffs and wipes his hand over his eyes. He runs back to his room and winds up the clocks. He sits next to the side display and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he goes and buys a coffee from Madame Emile, and she hands him a note.) Madame Emile: A little girl asked me to give this to you. (Hugo sits down at table, drinks coffee, reads note.) Hugo: Meet me at the bookseller s on the other side of the train station. Isabelle P.S. Your notebook wasn t burned. (Monsieur Labisse comes to the side display, then Isabelle steps out.) Monsieur Labisse: Good morning, Isabelle. Isabelle: Good morning! (Hugo comes to side display.) Isabelle: Papa Georges still has your notebook. He s tricking you. I m going to find it for you. I want to see what s in it. Hugo: That s a secret. Isabelle: Good. I like secrets. (Isabelle leaves and Hugo goes back to the toy booth. Stage ninjas change side display to 1.) Hugo: I don t believe you burned my notebook.

Papa Georges: You don t? Well I don t really care. Maybe you re right, maybe those were not the ashes of your notebook, but you won t ever find out, will you? You should not have returned here, Hugo Cabret. Now go away. (Hugo goes, winds up the clocks, and goes to bed.) (Hugo returns to toy booth. Papa Georges sighs and gives him a broom.) Papa Georges: Be useful. (Hugo sweeps while Papa Georges watches.) Papa Georges: Go buy me a coffee, unless you re going to steal my coins too. (Papa Georges gives Hugo some money and Hugo buys a coffee. Papa Georges drinks it, then gives Hugo a broken toy.) Papa Georges: Fix it. (Hugo fixes toy.) Papa Georges: So I was right about you. You ve got some talent. If I didn t burn your notebook, there s a chance I would give it back to you if you work for me. But you are gambling your time. I might have burned it. Do you understand? (Hugo nods.) Papa Georges: You begin tomorrow. Narrator: Hugo spends the next few days working for the old man at the toybooth. He works while the old man does card tricks. At night he continues to work on the automaton, using parts he steals from the toy booth. (Hugo goes to the toy booth and sweeps up while Papa Georges does card tricks.) Papa Georges: Buy me a coffee. (Hugo does, then goes back to work and Papa Georges falls asleep. Hugo steals a gear. Isabelle walks up.) Isabelle: Meet me at the bookstore in 5 minutes. Papa Georges doesn t want me here. (Isabelle leaves, and comes out at the side display. Hugo also goes to the side display.) Isabelle: I started looking for your notebook. Hugo: Don t look in it! Isabelle: Ok, ok. (Etienne enters.)

Isabelle: Etienne! Etienne: Hello, Isabelle. I haven t seen you for a while. How are things at the toy booth? Isabelle: Fine. This is my friend...um Hugo: Hugo. (Hugo and Etienne shake hands.) Isabelle: Etienne works at the Film Academy. He brings me to movies because Papa Georges won t allow me to see any. Etienne: I always take pity on people who love the movies. I can t help it. Do you like the movies, Hugo? Hugo: Yes. Etienne: I could take you both tonight. There s a good one playing. Hugo: I can t... Isabelle: Maybe another time then. I ve got to go now. There s something I have to look for. Goodbye! (Isabelle leaves.) Etienne: Well, it was nice to meet you, Hugo. (Etienne and Hugo leave. Hugo returns to his room and puts gear into automaton.) Hugo: That piece fits perfectly! (Hugo winds up the clocks and goes to bed. The next morning he gets up and goes to the toy booth. Papa Georges isn t there, but Isabelle is.) Isabelle: I think I have an idea of where your notebook is. I was thinking about it last night. Etienne snuck me into a movie. Hugo: Why doesn t Papa Georges want you to go to the movies? Isabelle: I don t know. He s never said why. I bet my parents would have let me go to the movies. (They sit down at table.) Isabelle: My parents died when I was a baby, and Papa Georges was my godfather, so they took me in and raised me. They are very nice, except when it comes to the movies. (Station Inspector walks in. Hugo ducks behind table. Station Inspector leaves.)

Hugo: I ve got to go. Isabelle: Go where? And why don t you want to be near the Station Inspector? I don t know anything about you, but you know everything about me. If we re going to be friends, then I think I should know about you. Why won t you tell me? (Hugo starts to run.) Isabelle: Stop! Wait for me! (Isabelle tries to run after Hugo, but she trips and the key falls out of her shirt. Hugo goes back and helps her up.) Hugo: The key to the automaton! Where did you get that? Isabelle: What automaton? Why are you so interested in my key? (Isabelle turns around and stomps off. Hugo goes back to his room and goes to sleep. He goes to the toy booth the next day.) Papa Georges: Give it to me. Hugo: What? Papa Georges: How dare you break into my house! Hugo: What are you talking about? Papa Georges: Where is it? Where is the notebook?! How did you get into my house? How stupid can you be? I was going to return the notebook to you! I took you in, but you repaid me with theft and lies. I watched you stealing my mechanical parts, yet I didn t stop you. You kept the booth clean and were good at fixing the toys. You were helpful. My God, I even like your company! But then you break into my house? I m shocked you would even dare to show your face here again. You are nothing but a disappointment. (Isabelle comes out holding the notebook. Hugo runs to Isabelle.) Isabelle: I told you it wasn t burned! What are those drawings? Hugo: I told you not to look. Now give it to me. Isabelle: No. (Papa Georges starts coming towards them. Isabelle pulls the notebook away from Hugo and he takes the key. He goes back to his room and goes to the automaton. He puts the key into the automaton and then Isabelle comes in and pushes Hugo to the ground.) Isabelle: You stole my key!

Hugo: What are you doing here? Isabelle: Why would you steal my key after got you your notebook? I was going to give it to you! I just wanted you to tell me about it! Hugo: Get out of here! You re ruining everything! Isabelle: What is this place? Hugo: This is where I live. (Isabelle looks around and sees automaton. She goes over to it.) Isabelle: That s what was drawn in your notebook. Hugo: My father made it before he died. Isabelle: Why would my key fit into your father s machine? Hugo: I don t know. Isabelle: Well, see what it does. (Isabelle turns the key.) (Hugo slips drawing onto automaton s desk. The automaton s arm starts to move.) Isabelle: What s it doing? It s not writing, it s just making lines. (Hugo sits on his bed and puts his head in his hands. Isabelle gasps.) Isabelle: Hugo, it s not trying to write. It s drawing a picture! (Hugo comes over and they pick up the picture and stand up to show it to the audience.) Hugo: It s from that old movie, Isabelle and Hugo: A Trip to the Moon! Narrator: That brings us to the end of the story and the play. Now you know how the mysterious drawing I mentioned at the beginning of this play came to be discovered. It had been hidden inside the clockworks of a well loved machine, waiting to be released by the turn of a stolen key. Here the curtains close, and we can fade to black. (Stage ninjas close curtains.) But another story and another play begins, because stories lead to other stories, and this one leads all the way to the moon.

(Actors leave stage. Xan enters.) Xan: Before we go on to Part 2 of our play, get up, stretch your legs, use the bathroom, and get some refreshments.we ll start again in a few minutes. PART 2: Isabelle: Look, Hugo. It sighed The name Georges Melies. That s my godfather. This can t be your father s machine.you are a liar! You stole it from Papa Georges! (Isabelle takes her key and puts it around her neck. Then she takes the drawing.) Hugo: What are you doing? Give that to me. Isabelle: It has my godfather s name on it. It s mine. (They both grab it and pull until it rips in half. Isabelle starts walking away through the train station.) Isabelle: I m going to ask Papa Georges what s going on on. (Stage ninjas change side display to 2. Hugo and Isabelle step outside and stage ninjas pull down street scene. Stage ninjas change stage to Papa Georges house.) Isabelle: Go away, Hugo Cabret. (They keep going until they reach the apartment and Hugo grabs Isabelle s arm.) Isabelle: Leave me alone! (Isabelle goes in and slams the door on Hugo s fingers. Hugo screams and drops to the ground.) Isabelle: I m sorry. Come on in. (She pulls Hugo through the door and they all go backstage and come out in Papa Georges living room. Isabelle takes his hand and looks at it. Hugo screams. Isabelle bandages Hugo s fingers. Papa Georges coughs.) Mama Jeanne: Oh no! Papa Georges is back. He can t know you re here. Quick, get into our bedroom and stay quiet. (They go to other room.) Isabelle: I ve never been allowed in Papa Georges room before. Let s look around. Hugo: Ok. (They look under bed and find box of pictures. Hugo takes it out.) Hugo: This is heavy.

(He drops it and Isabelle falls to the ground, knocks over the box, and screams.) Isabelle: Ow! You dropped that on my foot! (Papa Georges comes in.) Papa Georges: No. No. No. No! No! What is going on here? Where did these drawings come from? Who is playing this trick on me? (Papa Georges starts ripping up the paper and Isabelle and Hugo try to stop him.) Mama Jeanne: Stop it, Georges! Stop! This is your work! Papa Georges: This isn t my work? I didn t draw these! They aren t mine! I am not an artist! I am nothing! I m a penniless merchant, a prisoner! A shell! A windup toy! (Papa Georges starts crying and Hugo and Isabelle put the drawings back under the bed.) Papa Georges: No, no, no, no. An empty box, a dry ocean, a lost monster, nothing, nothing, nothing (Isabelle puts Papa Georges to bed.) Isabelle: Oh no, what are we going to do? (They all go to other room and Isabelle bandages her foot.) Isabelle: Ah, this hurts. How s your hand Hugo? Hugo: It hurts. I should probably go. (Hugo steps out of stage. Stage ninjas bring down street scene and change Papa Georges house to Station and Hugo s room. Hugo walks down the street. Stage ninjas pull up street scene and change side display to 1. Hugo steps into his room and winds up clocks. He sleeps. Stage ninjas change side display to 2. Hugo walks through the station and to the bookstore. Monsieur Labisse and Etienne are there.) Etienne: Hello Hugo! Good to see you again. Hugo: Hi Etienne. Monsieur Labisse: Is there anything I can help you find? Hugo: I was just looking for something to read. Etienne: I m reading a good one now. It s called The Invention of Dreams: The Story of the First Movies Ever Made. Want to look at it? (Etienne hands Hugo a book and he starts to read.)

Hugo: A Trip to the Moon, Georges Melies most famous film, followed a group of explorers as they went to the moon, fought the moon men, and returned home with a captive, to great acclaim. If one day far in the future, mankind is truly able to fly to the moon, we will have Georges Melies and the movies to thank for helping us understand that if our dreams are big enough, anything is possible. Unfortunately, Georges Melies died sometime after the Great War, and many, if not all, of his films are lost. Died? He s not dead. Etienne: What? What do you mean, he s not dead? Hugo: He runs a toy booth in the train station. He s Isabelle s godfather. Etienne: Hugo, this is amazing news! I know someone from the Film Academy who will want to meet him. I would like to meet him! His name is Rene Tabard. Could we both come to Isabelle s house to talk with him? Hugo: Sure, I guess. How about in a week? Etienne: Marvelous! See you in a week, Hugo. (Etienne leaves, then Hugo goes back to his room with the book. Monsieur Labisse leaves stage. Isabelle walks through the station to Hugo s room.) Hugo: What are you doing here? Isabelle: I snuck out. I m sorry I slammed your fingers in the door. I was mad because you took my key. Papa Georges is very sick with a fever, and he s talking to himself. I m so worried about him. What if he dies? Hugo: He s not going to die. Isabelle: You don t know that! And the toy booth made enough money for all of us, but now it s closed down and we have no money to pay for Papa Georges medicine. Hugo: It ll be alright. I have something to show you. Read this. (Hugo gives Isabelle the book and she reads it.) Isabelle: Papa Georges made movies? But he won t even let me go to the movies! Hugo: My father saw A Trip to the Moon when he was little and he told me about it. Isabelle: Why did Papa Georges stop? Why did no one tell me? Hugo: Etienne gave me the book and I invited him and a man from the Film Academy named Rene Tabard to come to your apartment to meet Papa Georges. Isabelle: You what? Hugo: They re coming tomorrow.

Isabelle: That s a bad idea. Hugo: When they come, it might answer all our questions! Come by the toy booth tomorrow. Isabelle: Why? It ll be closed. Hugo: No, it won t. (Isabelle leaves and Hugo sleeps. The next morning Hugo gets up and opens up the toy booth. Isabelle comes. Hugo takes out the mouse and makes it go across the booth.) Hugo: Did you ever notice that all machines are built for a reason? Maybe it s the same with people. If you lose your purpose it s like you re broken. Isabelle: Like Papa Georges? Hugo: Maybe we can fix him. Isabelle: How do we do that? Hugo: Maybe Etienne can help us with that. Before you go home, could you help me with the clocks? It s hard to wind them up with my hand. Isabelle: Of course. (They go back to Hugo s room and wind up the clocks. Then Isabelle leaves and Hugo sleeps.) Narrator: Over the next week, Hugo and Isabelle run the toy booth for Papa Georges. They earn enough money to buy Papa Georges medicine and he gets well enough to get out of bed. Now it is the day when Etienne is going to come visit Papa Georges. Isabelle is worried. (Hugo gets up and goes to Station. He steals coffee and croissant and eats them in his room. Then he goes back through the Station and out of the stage. Stage ninjas pull down street scene and change side display to 2. Hugo walks to other side of the stage and meets Etienne.) Etienne: Hello, Hugo. Hugo: Hello. (Isabelle steps out.) Etienne: Nice to see you, Isabelle! Isabelle: You to! Please, come inside. (They all go backstage and come out in Papa Georges living room. Papa Georges is there.) Papa Georges: Who is this man, and why is Hugo here?

Isabelle: He s a fan of yours, and Hugo s here because he s my friend. We found out who you are. Etienne: I m Etienne. I work at the Film Academy. (Papa Georges goes back to his room, gets out the drawings again and puts on the cloak. Everyone follows.) Papa Georges: The past, the past, it s all coming back to me. I started out as a magician, you know. My wife Jeanne was my assistant. I had a special workroom in the back where I built my automaton, and my audiences loved him. Then the movies were invented and I was enchanted. I built my own camera from leftover parts from the automaton. My beautiful wife became my muse, my star. I made hundreds of movies, and we thought it would never end. How could it? But the war came, and afterward there was too much competition, and everything was lost. I hated telling all my employees that I couldn t support them anymore. And just when I thought it couldn t get any worse, two of my dearest friends, a young cameraman and his wife, were killed in a terrible car accident. But their baby daughter survived. Isabelle: Me? Papa Georges: You. Your father was the cameraman on my last several movies. Your mother was a teacher at a local school, and I loved them very much. After they died, you came to live with us. I made my Jeanne promised she would never talk about my movies again. I burned my old sets and costumes. I was forced to get rid of all my movies.. After that, I started a toy booth in the Station and stayed there day after day. I gave my automaton to the local museum. But the museum itself burned. The only thing I had left was the key to the automaton. I gave it to Jeanne as an anniversary present, and even that disappeared after she died. I thought the automaton was gone forever, but I was wrong. Miraculously, it survived. Tell me where is it now? Hugo: I have it at the train station. Papa Georges: Bring it to me. Hugo: Yes, sir. Papa Georges: I do wonder what happened to the key. Isabelle: Papa Georges I have the key. I m sorry, I stole it after Mama Jeanne died. (Hugo steps outside set and stage ninjas pull down street scene. Hugo walks down to the end and stage ninjas change Papa Georges house into Station and Hugo s room. Hugo goes backstage and stage ninjas pull up street scene. Hugo comes out in the Station.) Madame Emile: You know, I heard the police found the body of the old Timekeeper in the river. Dead for months. That means that the clocks have kept on running without anyone to wind them up! The station must be haunted! (Hugo takes a cup of coffee and then drops it.) Madame Emile: My coffee! You little thief. Station Inspector! (Hugo runs and Madame Emile, Monsieur Frick, and the Station Inspector follow him back into his room. The Station Inspector grabs his arm.)

Madame Emile: That s him! He s been stealing coffee from me for months. Monsieur Frick: I saw the whole thing! He s a thief! Station Inspector: Thank you both very much. I m glad you were able to follow the boy. Now please, I ll take care of things from here. Monsieur Frick: What is this place? Station Inspector: The Timekeeper s apartment. Madame Emile: The Timekeeper! Monsieur Frick: The ghost! (Madame Emile and Monsieur Frick run away screaming.) Station Inspector: Stay still! (Station Inspector uncovers the automaton.) Station Inspector: What in the world What is this and how do you know about this place? Hugo: Can you loosen your grip? My fingers are broken. (Station Inspector does and Hugo runs into the Station and the Station Inspector chases him. Madame Emile and Monsieur Frick catch him.) Hugo: Let me go! Station Inspector: The only place you re going is prison. (Papa Georges, Mama Jeanne, and Isabelle come in.) Papa Georges: Get your hand off my boy. He has done nothing wrong. Tell him what you know, Hugo. Hugo: The Timekeeper was my uncle, and when he vanished, I took care of the clocks. Station Inspector: But But Papa Georges: Come on. We re going home. You can live with us, Hugo. (They all walk out and stage ninjas draw curtains.) Narrator: Six months later, Hugo is living happily with the Papa Georges and Isabelle. They are attending an evening event at the Film Academy for the celebration of the life and work of Georges Melies.

Etienne: Tonight Georges Melies, my boyhood hero, is being rediscovered. Now sit back, open your eyes, and be prepared to dream. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Georges Melies! (Cheers. Etienne steps to the side and Papa Georges comes out.) Papa Georges: As I look out at all of you gathered here, I want to say that I don t see a room full of Parisians in top hats and diamonds and silk dresses. I don t see bankers and housewives and store clerks. No. I address you all tonight as you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers. You are gathered here tonight to see me and my movies. Enjoy! Narrator: And that is where our story really ends. Goodnight. The End. (Stage ninjas open curtains and we bow.) The End