LUNA MOTH

LUNA MOTH: A SCREENPLAY BY ESSIE

EXTERIOR. DOOR- DAY, 2009.

The door is old, patterned with blue and pink moons. There is a large, green luna moth. Close up on the wings.

UNKNOWN GIRL (Voiceover)

Phalena plumata caudata. Actias Luna. American moon moth. Giant silk moth. The many names for this creature you see before you. Named after it’s moon spots. Luna Moth. What I’m named after. Well, not really-

Cut to:

INTERIOR. LIBRARY- DAY. FLASHBACK, 1997.

We’re above a little girl, 7-year-old LAINEY AZLIN, hunched over a notebook. She has bright yellow hair, and is wearing a baby blue top. She looks like a Disney character. The girl writes out ‘LAINEY AZLIN,’ in green felt tip. The Z is backwards.

INT. BEDROOM, WALES - NIGHT. PRESENT, 2009.

A black and white haired girl lies on a bed, 19-year-old Lainey Azlin, eyes closed with headphones on. Radiohead is playing faintly. The room is bathed in a low, green light.

LAINEY AZLIN (LUNA MOTH) (V.O.)

My name is Lainey Azlin. It means ‘shining dream.’ The name my mother gave me. (A pause) She’s gone now. Maybe that’s why I needed to reinvent myself. Most people have their mothers until they are adults, and know who they are. I am 19. I do not know who I am. But…I know what I want to do. And I don’t want to stay here. So, what do you do when you can’t actually leave here? Where do you go? Somewhere warm, of course. Somewhere dark. Safe. A cocoon, if you will.

EXT. LONDON- EVENING.

We open on a bright white sign, reading ‘Verisimilitude.’ Below, it states ‘Starring LUNA MOTH.’ We zoom in to show we are at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. There is a bustle of the audience settling in to their seats, soft music plays in the background.

Luna Moth (V.O.)

I’ve always been good at creating things. Places. To hide. I don’t even have to go anywhere. It’s already inside me. Transforming. Wriggling out. Cream-coloured worms. Black and white. Newly hatched. Why would I stop?

INT. COACH- RAINY NIGHT

Luna Moth is sat in the only seat where the light above is not working. She is wearing her headphones, staring out the window. Nobody else’s eyes are turned towards the window. She is watching pirates run and fight, unfazed by the weather. They JEER and their swords CLANG. Close up on a woman’s pirate hat.

Luna Moth (V.O.)

I can be anywhere. Anything.

EXT. PIRATE SHIP- DAY

Luna Moth dressed in a pirate costume, looking like a Gothic, female Jack Sparrow. She holds her bejeweled dagger up, glinting from the sun. She smiles at the sea.

Luna Moth (V.O.)

Sometimes I’m here. But-

CUT TO:

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM- DAY.

‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ plays on a TV on the wall across from the hospital bed. A woman wearing a blue bandanna lies there, EMMA AZLIN, Luna Moth’s mother. She smiles bravely at Luna Moth, but she is very sick. A monitor BEEPS. Luna Moth thinks of how brave tigers are when they’re wounded. Luna Moth closes her eyes tightly, searching for something to stop this. She focuses on the pirates. She looks up to the camera, shaking her head-

OVERHEAD SHOT of hospital room-

Luna Moth

No. Not yet.

INT. STAGE OF A THEATRE- NIGHT.

Luna Moth (V.O.)

Sometimes I’m there. I’m a performer.

Luna Moth is alone on a huge, dark stage, nothing but lights in front of her, they are dazzling and disorienting).

Luna Moth

I’m seen.

Luna Moth turns her head to the three people in the audience, they are unfocused, we are unsure who they are- we see huge, red curly hair, a man with longish black hair, and another man. They are similar to the actors/actresses from the posters in her room. Her real room.

Luna Moth (CONT’D)

And I’m never alone. Not really.

She looks at a seat very high up and smiles sadly, but we do not see who this is yet.

I can be anywhere at any time. I am in so many places. Just never here. No, I’m never here. Moths stay in their cocoons for what is it… like a couple weeks? I’ve been in mine for much longer than that.

(STITCHING SOUND)

Who knows when I’m coming out?

Silk begins to grow from her hair, covering her head.

INT. BEDROOM- night.

Back in Luna Moth’s bedroom. She sits up, turning to face something off-screen. Another figure comes into view, LUNA MOTH’S ALIAS. This is how Luna Moth sees herself. This is who she is when she closes her eyes. She has long green hair, black and green wings, dressed in a fairy-looking costume, and lightning bolt streaks cover her body. They turn their heads to look at each other for a beat.

CUT TO:

INT. BACKSTAGE OF REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE. LONDON.- NIGHT.

A stage-hand with blonde hair, LIZZIE, wearing a headset pushes through the throng of cast and production members, we follow her quickly. Focus on the green wig she is clutching. Reaches a door with a green moth painted on the middle, enters to find Luna Moth in a black and green costume. Her eyes are closed.

Lizzie

Get out of your head, Luna Moth. Almost curtain. Can’t make it happen inside there.

Luna Moth (Eyes still closed)

There’s a quote I could repeat right now. By a wizard. Only, I can’t quite place who said it…

The blonde woman fits the wig on Luna Moth’s head, fussing and perfecting it.

Lizzie (Good-naturedly)

It’s always wizards and bloody goblins with you. Oh, have you finished your script yet? Heard Thaws talking about it.

Luna Moth

Eh. It’s a lot more than that. And, no. I started something else. I could not ignore it. Have you ever seen something hatch from an egg, Liz? That’s what happens in my head. Like worms spilling out. It’s a mess.

Lizzie (GIGGLES)

Hatching brain worms? Sounds fun. Reckon if you’re in there long enough, you’ll be eaten.

Luna Moth opens her eyes. They are bright green.

Luna Moth

Where else would I be?

We zoom on her face. A GOLDEN light suddenly shines on her, making her glow. She snickers, she is very pretty, and very odd. We stay on her eyes which close again, and then-

INT. BEDROOM. WALES- AFTERNOON.

We cut to Luna Moth opening her eyes. There is a harsh difference in lightning, it is much darker in this room. We see the full room, it’s a mess. She did not want to wake up. There is a humbling SILENCE, then a BEEPING CAR brings her back to reality- not fun.

Wide shot of the bedroom, as Luna Moth sits up in bed. Dim light attempts to peek through the blinds. The walls are plastered in posters, drawings of spiders, snakes, owls. There is a half-full ashtray on her desk. Zoom and stay on the desk, as Luna Moth pushes leaflets out of the way. They are for acting schools, theatre companies, publishing houses, auditions, singing classes. The song continues to play.

We focus on the walls. It shows posters of ‘HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX,’ ‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,’ ‘PETER PAN,’SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET,’ ‘ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND,’ ’THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE,’ ‘CORALINE,’ ‘LABYRINTH.’ There are also music posters- ‘PEARL JAM,’ ‘TALKING HEADS,’ ‘BAUHAUS,’ ‘THE CRAMPS,’ ’T. REX,’ ‘BJORK,’ ‘MAZZY STAR,’ ‘DAVID BOWIE.’

A small disco ball rests on a shelf below these posters. We see Luna Moth’s hand flick it on, emitting the same GREEN glow from before. The posters are illuminated.

There are famous actors and actresses too. Focus on the frizzy, red-haired woman, ELENA BONNIE CLARKE, and the long dark-haired, could be-a-villain-looking man, JASPER THAWS. He is extremely attractive, in his late 30s.

We understand that Luna Moth is coping with her loss by escaping using fiction and fantasy.

MUSIC CUE: “when you sleep” by my bloody valentine

Luna Moth walks past, and the disco ball changes to a GOLDEN light, with different posters. Of her own making. They read ‘CAGED BIRD,’ ‘THE ESCAPE ARTIST’ ‘VIOLET FROST’ ‘THE WILLOW DRAGONS TALE’ and in the middle, the boldest print letters of all:

LUNA MOTH’S COCOON.

Credits roll quickly. Abrupt cut to-

INT. HALLWAY- DAY. TRACKING

We follow Luna Moth downstairs, passing a painting of a middle-aged woman with short red hair, Emma Azlin. Next to her is a young girl with matching short red hair. She has tiger face-paint and looks very happy. There are bluebells surrounding them. We linger on this painting as Luna Moth passes, her eyes also staying on the painting for a few beats.

Luna Moth (V.O).

‘The Luna moth’s sole purpose is to reproduce.’

Can you believe this fact?

Luna moths only live about a week as adults and then perish. Males usually emerge from cocoons first, and get a head start on the females.

I don’t like this fact.

Firstly, only a week? I’m beginning to think moths weren’t the best symbol I could use. But, I guess it’s a reminder. Life is short. Or, it can be. When you’re an adult you think you’ve got all the time in the world. You’re an adult from age 18. My mother was 32 when I was born. She died at 50. She was only an adult for 18 years. That’s how long I’d been alive when she died. Isn’t that odd? I became an adult when her adult life ended. It was like she only had a week. I can only hear her in my dreams. People don’t realise that. People take things for granted. I took them for granted, really. Everything. How it was before. Do moths miss being a caterpillar, do you think?

Beat.

Luna Moth (Cont.)

Secondly, fuck reproducing!

EXT. back garden- FLASHBACK, 1996

YOUNG LUNA MOTH with messy tiger face paint. It is SILENT. Same as in the painting. She always chose the same face-paint when she was younger. She always pretended to be a strong tiger, prowling in the long grass. Luna Moth has always been obsessed with identity.

Young Luna Moth crouches in the grass, sunlight illuminating her. She is happy with child-like wonder. She turns to the camera and shakes her head. You are not this age anymore. You are not her anymore. Everything has changed.

Luna Moth (V.O.)

I’m not a tiger anymore. I was stronger when I was smaller. You think you can do anything. I once had a dream about a tiger. They are supposed to symbolise the power inside you. Your inner self. But, the tiger swallowed me whole. What do you think that means?

INT. KITCHEN- DAY.

A different middle-aged woman, AUNT IRIS, with curly but short hair is opening the fridge. She is Scottish, short, wearing a blue shawl, with matching blue glasses. She is quirky looking but thinks of herself as modern and fashionable. Their house is a large cottage and looks old-fashioned and dark. Little sunlight reaches the room, but it makes a picture of a woman on the fridge glow. We stay on this picture long enough to recognise her as EMMA AZLIN. It is a funeral pamphlet reading:

EMMA AZLIN (1963-2008)

In Loving Memory.

Luna Moth has the exact same eyes as her mother.

MUSIC STARTS TO FADE.

Aunt Iris (Scottish accent)

It’s almost noon. All you do is lie in that bed. How can you just sleep the whole day away?

LUNA MOTH ignores her, but eyes the bottle of WELSH WITCH DRY GIN, on the tabletop.

Aunt Iris

Are you finished with your work yet? Are you going to apply to any jobs? Are you going to do anything at all?

Luna Moth (Coolly)

Are you going to have another drink, Iris? It’s only noon, you say? Should have an empty bottle by now.

Aunt Iris

Smoking isn’t much better, dear.

Luna Moth smirks. She decides not to fight back. They will go back and forth for hours.

Luna Moth (V.O.)

We sometimes get on. We sometimes don’t. We both lost her, though. The best part of both of us. It usually happens that way, doesn’t it? It’s like God is laughing.

Joking, there is no God.

(To the camera) Obviously.

EXT. BACK GARDEN- MORNING.

LUNA MOTH listening to music through headphones, leaning against the brick wall of the cottage. Blue butterfly ornaments climb the wall. She flips open a notebook, crammed full of messy handwriting. There is a drawing of a moth, similar to the one on the dressing room from her dream. We stay on this moth for a beat.

Wide angle of LUNA MOTH smoking and staring into space. The pack of cigarettes is facing us, the warning is clear. Zoom on the ‘Smoking can cause cancer. Stop now.’

“Disorder” by Joy Division can be heard playing on full volumne through the headphones.

Two CROWS fly by. LUNA MOTH associates these with her late mother. She is visibly moved by this, stubs her cigarette and exits.

INT. HALLWAY- DAY.

LUNA MOTH passes on the stairs, we stay on the painting again, zooming in.

EXT. CASTLE RUINS- DAY. FLASHBACK, 1997.

Extreme wide shot of a sunny field, with overgrown grass and wild flowers. A family get ready for a game of rounders in a castle ruin. We can see Aunt Iris, her daughter, COUSIN LILY, and another woman, AUNT MELODY. They are shouting playfully. Everyone is happy. This is a core memory for LUNA MOTH. We can see Emma Azlin with BLUE BUTTERFLY STICKERS on both cheeks, ruffle young Luna Moth’s hair.

EMMA AZLIN

Come on, tiger. You’re on my team. We can beat these slowcoaches.

YOUNG LUNA MOTH

Are tigers the fastest?

Emma

You, my little cub, are the fastest tiger in the world.

Young Luna Moth (Giggles)

I am, I am! And you’re a butterfly Mammy, that means you fly quicker because they’re magic! That means we’re going to win. Slowcoaches!

Aunt Iris

Oh, aye! We’re the slowcoaches are we? Lainey, love, your Mammy canny throw a metre in front of her. You won’t be running anywhere.

(AUNT MELODY laughs O.C.)

Emma (Laughs)

Mel, I don’t know what you’re laughing at. Cheek!

LILY

I wanna go first!

Emma

Okay honey. Who’s ready then, eh?

Lily throws the ball terribly, the family’s good-humoured shouts fill the air.

Young Luna Moth SHRIEKS with laughter, and runs after the ball. She trips over some dandelions, scuffing her knee on the harsh ground. She immediately tears up and looks for her Mum.

Young Luna Moth

My knee…

Emma is there by Young Luna’s side to comfort her straight away. She brushes some mud off her daughter’s knee, and lifts her chin.

Emma

It’s okay. Look, sweetie, no blood. Bet that hurt though, didn’t it?

Young Luna Moth (Nods)

Yeah, but did you see? I went really fast, didn’t I?

Emma

See? I barely saw you. You were flying. Are you sure I’m the one with the wings? Now, I think you can get up, don’t you?

Emma helps Young Luna to her feet, playfully tapping her nose. She smiles back at her Mum, eyes shining. They are very close.

Emma

See? Tigers are strong. Brave. They run even when they’re wounded. Now, come on little cub. We’ve got a game to win, don’t we?

Young Luna high-fives her Mum, watching her go after the ball that was almost lost. Young Luna turns her head, looking at the bluebells near them. They shine in the sunlight. Move closer into these bluebells. They are the same as in the painting on the wall.

CUT TO:

EXT. back garden

(LAUGHING, birds TWEETING from the memory fade)

We focus on the blue butterflies on the wall. We can see the symbolism of them now. Aunt Iris is leaning against the wall and smoking in the exact same way Luna Moth was earlier. There is absolute SILENCE. She turns, billowing smoke as she ponders on the same memory.

A crow lands on an empty garden chair right next to her. Aunt Iris smiles, takes another drag, looks back at the bird and:

Aunt Iris

Fine. Fine.

She docks the cigarette out, turning back to the bird, who squawks at her, almost knowingly.

Aunt Iris (CONT’D)

Yeah, no shit they’re bad for you.

Cut to:

INT. bedroom- NIGHT.

A computer screen is open on an internet browser. An article reads ‘What do moths do at night?’

PETER PAN plays on Luna Moth’s vintage TV. Tinkerbell flits across the screen, Captain Hook seizes her.

ZOOM OUT

We are facing Luna Moth. She tilts her head, studying the screen. She puts earphones in, then looks up. Arms with red sleeves reach for her face. She closes her eyes, lets him stroke her cheek.

EXT. BEDROOM WINDOW- NIGHT.

Green moth-like wings erupt from Luna Moth’s back.

CUE MUSIC (faintly): “YOU CAN FLY! YOU CAN FLY! YOU CAN FLY!” BY OLIVER WALLACE

MUSIC FADES AS WE CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN- EARLY MORNING

There is a large ENVELOPE addressed to Lainey Azlin on the counter-top of the kitchen.

Luna Moth runs downstairs, clearly she had been waiting for news. She RIPS it open. It is an acceptance letter to train and perform at the Regent’s Park Air Theatre in London. Something she has been dreaming of for a long time, to move far away and pursue her passions. Truly escape.

Aunt Iris appears, SNIFFING. Luna Moth does not notice. She is transfixed by this. It is her golden ticket. Her Hogwarts letter. It cannot be real.

Luna Moth

I got in. I’m in. (Reading) We are happy to inform you that…

I’m in. They, they… I’m going to be on that stage. The same stage as Jasper Thaws. The same stage as Elena Bonnie Clarke! Holy shit! Iris! Iris-

WIDE ANGLE

MUSIC CUE: “KIDS” BY MGMT

INT. CAR- EVENING.

They are driving to London, to follow Luna Moth’s dreams. She has a rocky relationship with her alcoholic Aunt, but she supports her. Luna Moth dances erratically to the music, Aunt Iris drives with a look of humour on her face.

Luna Moth (SINGING ALONG)

Control yourself! Take only what you need from it! (DRUMS against the dashboard)

The song ends, the next one begins to play:

MUSIC CUE: “CALL ME” BY BLONDIE.

INT. CAR- MORNING. FLASHBACK, 1987.

Sudden cut to a different woman, YOUNG EMMA AZLIN singing in the car. The same song plays. Her movements mimic Luna Moth, they have very similar voices, and a fun, youthful gleam in their eyes. Iris laughs along, as Young Emma turns the window down and sings loudly and terribly.

INT. CAR- EVENING. PRESENT, 2009.

Aunt Iris watches Luna Moth with a sadness in her eyes. They pass a field, CROWS fly overhead.

THE SONG GETS LOUDER

OVERHEAD of the car driving AWAY FROM US.

EXT. REGENT’S PARK THEATRE- DUSK.

BILLBOARDS loom above them, illuminated by the theatre’s lights. They read ‘MANTHER MAY’ ‘MOONAGE DAYDREAM’ ‘WE ARE MERELY IN DIFFERENT ROOMS.’

Luna Moth looks up at the theatre she will flower in. Where she will be seen.

*

TBC.

This was a screenwriting project for university (74/100)