Male Monologue
Background- This is a monologue by Elijah (Samuel L. Jackson) in the film Unbreakable. In this scene, Elijah explains how he came up with the theory that there are people in the world who are superheroes but do not know it. He has a rare type of bone disorder that makes him prone to injuries (i.e. the nickname The Glass Man). It has caused him great pain in his life. Davids part will be done by one of the staff, so just concentrate on Elijahs part. We will keep you going. :D
Instructions- I want to see an actor who can show the years of pain that Elijah has been through simply by the way you speak. In addition, the actor must have a childlike innocence, a fear of evil and hope for what cannot be seen. This will reflect through your performance.
David stares at Elijah impatiently. ELIJAH There are probably only four or five individuals in the world who can claim more knowledge of comics than myself. I've spent a third of my life in a hospital bed with nothing else to do but read. I have studied the form intimately. I have seen the patterns in them... The references to social and cultural events and the atmosphere that surrounded them. I've come to believe that comics are our last link to the ancient way of passing on history. ELIJAH The Egyptians drew pictures on walls about battles, and events. Countries all around the world still pass on knowledge through pictorial forms. (beat) I believe that comics, just at their core now... have a
truth. They are depicting what someone, somewhere felt or experienced. Then of course that core got chewed up in the commercial machine and gets jazzed up, made titillating - cartooned for the sale rack. Elijah gazes at David. ELIJAH This city has had its share of disasters. Well publicized ones. It was around the time of that plane crash, when it first entered my head. And there it stayed, as I waited and watched the news over the years... (beat) And then one day I see a news report on a train accident and its sole survivor who was miraculously unharmed. (soft) And just like that, an idea blossoms into the flower of possible reality. DAVID What was your idea Elijah? Beat. ELIJAH(soft) If there is someone like me in the world, and I'm at one end of the spectrum... Couldn't there be someone the opposite of me, at the other end? (beat) A person who can't be hurt like the rest of us. A kind of person they were talking about in those stories. Elijah points at the framed comic sketches. ELIJAH(soft) A person they believed was
put here to protect the rest of us. Guard us.
