Ex Machina: Screenplay, Page 3

  NATHAN

  (cuts in)

  It’s not because you’re too dumb. It’s because I want to have a beer and a conversation with you. Not a seminar.

  CALEB

  … Oh. Sorry.

  NATHAN

  It’s cool.

  Nathan studies Caleb for a beat.

  Just answer me this. What do you feel about her? Nothing analytical. Just – how do you feel?

  CALEB

  I feel …

  Caleb pauses.

  … that she’s fucking amazing.

  Nathan smiles.

  Then lifts his bottle.

  NATHAN

  Dude. Cheers.

  Caleb lifts his bottle too.

  CALEB

  Cheers.

  The glass of the bottles touch.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

  Caleb unpacks his bags.

  Carefully picks bits of glass off his clothes.

  Hangs clothes in the closet.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BATHROOM – NIGHT

  Caleb stands in his boxer shorts, brushing his teeth by the sink.

  REVEAL

  – several long scars on his back.

  Neat. Unusual. Long healed. But from serious wounds, or surgery.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

  Caleb climbs into bed.

  At the foot of the bed, attached to the wall, there is a TV.

  On the bedside table there is a lamp, a remote control, and an alarm clock.

  The clock reads 11:43 p.m.

  He switches the lamp out.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

  Darkness.

  The clock reads 01:32 a.m.

  The soft glow from the digital readout throws a light on the remote control.

  REVEAL

  – Caleb.

  Eyes closed. For a beat.

  Then his eyes open. He’s wide awake.

  He turns over in the bed.

  Then turns back again.

  CUT TO

  2:28 a.m.

  Caleb lies watching the digital clock as the numbers change to 2:29 a.m.

  CALEB

  God damn it.

  He reaches for the remote control.

  Click.

  The TV at the foot of the bed switches on, suddenly lighting up the room with cold TV glow.

  Caleb squeezes his eyes shut, momentarily dazzled by the brightness.

  When his eyes open again, instead of seeing a TV station, he sees a live feed from a CCTV camera.

  It shows the observation room.

  Caleb sits upright in bed.

  … What the fuck?

  Ava is sitting at the table.

  Drawing.

  Cut between Caleb watching Ava. and varying CCTV angles of Ava as she draws.

  The different TV channels flip between feeds from the various cameras.

  Caleb is transfixed by the imagery.

  Her posture. Her legs tucked beneath the chair. The curve of the breasts on her synthetic torso.

  The CCTV images become Caleb’s point of view. The things he is observing.

  Close-ups of her face. Her eyes. Her mouth.

  The way she bites her lip in an expression of concentration. As when she smiled, there is a powerful sense in this tiny gesture of her feeling sentient and human.

  Even more so because her face fills the screen, hiding the mechanical parts of her form.

  Throughout, we never clearly see what Ava is actually drawing.

  End on –

  – Caleb. Glazed.

  Then abruptly –

  – the TV goes dead.

  And the digital alarm clock goes dead.

  And the windowless room is plunged into total darkness, and total silence. As if the house had been previously filled with a soft hum of power, which we were unaware of until it was gone.

  In this, we hear Caleb breathing.

  AUTOMATED VOICE

  Power cut. Back-up power activated.

  Soft emergency lighting comes on.

  Caleb hesitates a moment.

  Then gets out of bed.

  Goes to his bedroom door.

  Beside the keycard plate, the LED is red.

  He swipes it with his card.

  The LED stays red.

  AUTOMATED VOICE

  Full facility lock-down until main generator is restored.

  CALEB

  … Are you kidding?

  He tries his card again.

  AUTOMATED VOICE

  Full facility lock-down until main generator is restored.

  Caleb looks around his windowless room.

  Which suddenly has the quality of a prison cell.

  Beats pass.

  Then –

  – as abruptly as the power went off, it comes back again.

  The emergency lighting goes off, the TV and digital alarm clock turn back on.

  AUTOMATED VOICE

  Power restored.

  Caleb stands in the flickering TV light.

  Then he tries his card again.

  This time, the LED turns blue, and the door opens. Revealing the glass corridor outside.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ GLASS CORRIDOR – NIGHT

  Caleb walks out of his room.

  The glass corridor illuminates as Caleb enters.

  Ahead, one of the doors off the corridor is ajar.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ POLLOCK ROOM – NIGHT

  Caleb enters the room with the open door.

  It appears to be empty. Still and silent. Low-lit.

  Only one area is properly illuminated: a wall, on which a large Jackson Pollock drip-painting hangs.

  Caleb walks towards it. Studies the strange strands of looping colour for a moment.

  A telephone, on a low table.

  Caleb walks over to it, with a half-glance over his shoulder, as if sensing he is doing something that – obscurely – he shouldn’t.

  Then he picks up the handset.

  It’s dead.

  He hits some buttons.

  It stays dead.

  There is a slot by the phone.

  Caleb puts two and two together. He reaches into his pocket. Pulls out his keycard. Puts it in the slot –

  – and a light on the handset glows red.

  NATHAN

  Sorry, dude.

  Caleb startles. Turns.

  Nathan is lying on a sofa. A bottle of Peroni rests on his stomach. On the carpet beside him are a couple of empties.

  You don’t have clearance to use the phone.

  Nathan’s voice is very slightly slurred.

  You understand. Given Ava. And you being kind of an unknown. I mean – a great guy, and so on. Instant pals. But …

  Caleb puts the handset back in its cradle.

  Who did you want to call?

  CALEB

  I don’t know. No one really.

  NATHAN

  Ghostbusters.

  CALEB

  What?

  NATHAN

  ‘Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters.’ You don’t remember that? It’s a good movie. A ghost gives Dan Aykroyd oral sex.

  CALEB

  I was wondering how the phone worked. That’s all.

  NATHAN

  Uh-huh.

  Beat.

  What are you doing awake at this time, anyway? Did you come to join the party?

  CALEB

  … Something happened in my room. Some kind of power cut. So I came to see what’s going on.

  NATHAN

  Ah. The power cuts. Yeah, we’ve been getting them recently. I’m, uh … working on it.

  CALEB

  I couldn’t open the door to the bedroom.

  NATHAN

  It’s a security measure. Automatic lockdown. Otherwise anyone could open the place up just by disabling the juice.

  He smiles.

  If it happens again, relax. Okay?

  CALEB

  Sure.

&nb
sp; Nathan lifts his beer.

  NATHAN

  Sweet dreams.

  EXT. MOUNTAINS – NIGHT

  Above the mountains, dense star constellations wheel in the clear sky.

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – MORNING

  Caleb is woken by light flooding on to his face.

  The door to his room has been opened.

  Outside is the bright glass corridor.

  Caleb sits up to see a girl entering his room.

  She looks Japanese. She’s stunningly pretty. And she doesn’t say anything.

  Just walks in, carrying a tray with a cafetière, which she puts on Caleb’s bedside table.

  CALEB

  … Hi.

  The Japanese girl doesn’t answer.

  Just turns, and leaves.

  EXT. GARDEN ⁄ GYM AREA – DAY

  In the garden, near the hanging punchbag, there is an outdoor gym area. A collection of free-weights and exercise equipment.

  Nathan is lying on an inclined board, with his feet hooked around a bar, doing sit-ups.

  Caleb approaches, carrying his coffee.

  Nathan continues to exercise as he talks.

  NATHAN

  Hey. Sorry to send Kyoko to wake you, man. I just didn’t want too much of the day to slip by.

  CALEB

  No. It was a good thing. Thank you.

  NATHAN

  She’s some alarm clock, huh? Gets you right up in the morning.

  Caleb smiles.

  So. Day two. You set?

  CALEB

  You bet.

  Nathan finishes his set, and stands.

  NATHAN

  So what’s the plan today? Hit me.

  CALEB

  I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure the examination format. Testing Ava by conversation is kind of a closed loop. Like trying to test a chess computer by only playing chess.

  NATHAN

  How else would you test a chess computer?

  CALEB

  It depends what you’re testing it for. You can play it to find out if it makes good moves. But it won’t tell you if it knows it’s playing chess. Or if it even knows what chess is.

  Nathan starts adding weights to curl dumbbells.

  NATHAN

  So it’s simulation versus actual.

  CALEB

  Exactly. And I think being able to differentiate between those two is the Turing Test you want me to perform. The difference between an ‘AI’ and an ‘I’.

  Nathan laughs.

  NATHAN

  ‘An AI and an I’. Beautiful. I’m going to start following you around with a fucking dictaphone.

  He glances over at Caleb.

  In the meantime, do me a favour. Ease up a little on the textbook approach. All I want is simple answers to simple questions. Last night, I asked how you feel about her. And you gave me a great answer.

  He starts doing curls.

  Now the question is: how does she feel about you?

  A beat. On Caleb.

  CUT TO

  INT. HOUSE ⁄ OBSERVATION ROOM – DAY

  Caleb and Ava facing each other through the glass of the observation room.

  AVA

  I brought you a drawing.

  She holds a piece of paper to the glass. The marks on it are totally abstract. A mesh of tiny black marks, that swirl around the page like iron filings in magnetic field patterns.

  CALEB

  … What’s it a drawing of?

  AVA

  Don’t you know?

  CALEB

  No.

  Ava looks disappointed.

  AVA

  Oh. I thought you would tell me.

  CALEB

  Don’t you know?

  AVA

  I do drawings every day. But I never know what they’re of.

  CALEB

  Are you not trying to sketch something specific? Like an object or a person.

  She shakes her head as she takes the picture down.

  Maybe you should try.

  AVA

  Okay. What object should I draw?

  CALEB

  Whatever you want. It’s your decision.

  AVA

  Why is it my decision?

  CALEB

  I’m interested to see what you’ll choose.

  Ava pauses a moment.

  AVA

  Do you want to be my friend?

  CALEB

  … Of course.

  AVA

  Will it be possible?

  CALEB

  Why wouldn’t it be?

  AVA

  Our conversations are one-sided. You ask circumspect questions, and study my responses.

  Ava looks at Caleb directly. Meets his gaze evenly.

  It’s true, isn’t it?

  CALEB

  … Yes

  AVA

  You learn about me, and I learn nothing about you. That’s not a foundation on which friendships are based.

  Caleb is taken aback. Aware that the AI has just wrong-footed him on a point of argument.

  CALEB

  … That’s a fair comment.

  AVA

  Yes.

  CALEB

  So – you want me to talk about myself.

  AVA

  Yes.

  CALEB

  Where do you want me to start?

  AVA

  It’s your decision. I’m interested to see what you’ll choose.

  And now Caleb is aware that Ava has just – gently – used sarcasm.

  He looks at her, frowning slightly.

  And in response, in a very human way, Ava arches an eyebrow.

  Caleb laughs.

  CALEB

  Okay, Ava. Well – you know my name. I’m twenty-four. And I work at Nathan’s company. You know what his company is?

  AVA

  Blue Book, named after Wittgenstein’s notes, is the world’s most popular internet search engine, processing an average of ninety-four per cent of all internet search requests.

  CALEB

  That’s right.

  AVA

  Where do you live, Caleb?

  CALEB

  Brookhaven, Long Island.

  AVA

  Is it nice there?

  CALEB

  It’s okay. I’ve got an apartment. Kind of small. But – it’s a five-minute walk to the office. And a five-minute walk to the ocean, which I like.

  AVA

  Are you married?

  CALEB

  No.

  AVA

  Is your status single?

  CALEB

  … Yeah.

  They lock eyes, just for a moment.

  AVA

  What about your family?

  CALEB

  Grew up in Portland. No brothers or sisters. My parents were both high school teachers. (Beat.) And if we’re getting to know each other, I guess I should say they’re both dead. Car crash when I was fifteen. In fact I was in the car with them. Back seat. But it was the front that got the worst of it.

  A long beat.

  A kind of processing pause for Ava.

  AVA

  I’m sorry.

  Caleb nods.

  CALEB

  I spent a lot of time in the hospital. Nearly a year. Got into coding. By the time I made it to college, I was pretty advanced.

  AVA

  An advanced programmer.

  CALEB

  Yes.

  AVA

  Like Nathan.

  CALEB

  Yes.

  Caleb hesitates. Backtracks.

  Or – kind of. Nathan wrote the Blue Book base code when he was thirteen. If you understand code, what he did was – Mozart or something.

  Beat.

  AVA

  Do you like Mozart?

  Caleb smiles.

  CALEB

  I like Depeche Mode.

  AVA

  Do you like Nathan?

  Caleb misses a beat
. Thrown momentarily.

  CALEB

  Yes. Of course.

  AVA

  Is Nathan your friend?

  CUT TO

  – one of the CCTV cameras that are observing them.

  CALEB

  Sure.

  AVA

  A good friend?

  He hesitates.

  CALEB

  Well, a good friend is –

  He breaks off. Feeling the camera watching.

  We only just met. It takes time to get to know –

  At that moment –

  – all the power abruptly shuts down, plunging the room into darkness.

  AUTOMATED VOICE

  Power cut. Back-up power activated.

  Then the soft emergency lighting lifts up, and throws the observation room into a completely different light.

  Weirder. Cast from LED strips on the floor, illuminating Caleb and Ava’s faces from below.

  In the low light, we see a detail of Ava’s honeycomb skin-mesh that we were not able to see before.

  It glows, soft, like phosphorescence – and this changes the way we see Ava. Where the mesh is almost invisible in bright conditions, it is now the dominant describer of her form. So instead of seeing Ava as a primarily robot structure, we now see the curves and lines of a naked female body.

  CUT TO

  – the CCTV cameras. Which are unpowered, hanging dead.

  CUT TO

  – Caleb, glancing round at the door to the room, where the panel LED glows red.

  CUT TO

  – Ava …

  watching Caleb with a strange intensity.

  The vague quality of blankness in her eyes is completely gone.

  AVA

  Caleb.

  Caleb turns. Sees the way Ava is looking at him.

  You’re wrong.

  CALEB

  … Wrong about what?

  AVA

  Nathan.

  CALEB

  … In what way?

  AVA

  He isn’t your friend.

  CALEB

  Excuse me?

  He frowns.

  I’m sorry, Ava, I don’t understand what you’re –

  AVA

  (cuts in)

  You shouldn’t trust him. You shouldn’t trust anything he says.