Dust Devil

A screenplay by Richard Stanley

This is a draft of the Dust Devil screenplay, a draft completed some time after Hardware opened and prior to the on-set revisions.

The most significant difference when comparing the draft to the finished film is the character of Hitch. Still a somewhat talkative character, he's more akin to the Nicolas Cage appearance than the ethereal figure Robert Burke would go on to forge. Other things still intact include references to Wendy's illfated past, forming the core of her behaviour and the pattern to her unfortunate relationships, as well as some more brutal outcomes in character interaction.

While the script is written in Stanley's characteristic style, filled with phrases visualizing the mood (as in Hitch not seeing the sunrise while in Saartjie Haarhoff's shower), it contains slightly awkward moments and lines. This could be explained by the fact that the character of Hitch is particular was still changing from a more 'Good Old Boy' -serial killer into a completely otherwordly being.

The finale in particular is a soft spot, as if Stanley felt the need (or was asked to) make some of the characters' choices more morally acceptable. Fortunately, this was one thing that was improved in the final cut.

"We should be happy because of death, because life is random, because it is so short yet so filled with beauty."
   - Hitch

	Date	December 1990
	Page count	109
	THE SCRIPT (Acrobat PDF)