It's interesting to me that many people assume The Book of Eli is a Christian film with a pro-religious message. For the record, I'm an atheist, and for me the film is as much about the destructive and pernicious power of religion as it is anything else. I love the film that was made and feel very lucky that it is extremely faithful to the script I wrote, but if I have one regret it's that I wish we had pushed that angle a little more. Aside from allusions in the backstory to how the world was destroyed, in the film that point is really only made in a couple of scenes in which Carnegie (Gary Oldman) talks about the pervasive influence of The Bible and how it can be used to control people. But in movies it's always better to show rather than tell and so I wrote a couple of scenes designed to really illustrate how Carnegie ran his town like an old-fashioned biblical despot. Those scenes never made it into the shooting draft and they are published here for the first time.
Actually they're two versions of the same scene. In the final film the Carnegie minion charged with standing guard at Eli's door but lets him escape is punished with a simple bullet to the head, which is shocking but not as shocking, or as thematically on point, as these two variations might have been. Here's the first one:
EXT. DESERT TOWN - POTATO FIELD - DAY
On the outskirts of the town. A few acres of ground have been ploughed into a POTATO FIELD. The soil is dry, baked by the blazing sun.
Carnegie walks between the plowed furrows, with JORDACHE - the guard who fell asleep beneath Eli’s window - alongside. Jordache has sobered up, appears very nervous to be here.
Ahead in the distance, THREE MEN are at work in the field, driving some kind of STAKE into the earth at its center.
Carnegie squints as he gazes up at the searing sun. CROWS circle overhead, cawing. More fly low over the potato field, pecking at the crops.
CARNEGIE
Damned crows. As is it wasn’t difficult enough to raise a crop out of this blighted earth...
JORDACHE
Mister Carnegie... I’m so sorry for what happened this morning.
Jordache looks at him imploringly, desperate. Carnegie pulls a potato from the earth and examines it. A meager specimen.
CARNEGIE
Look at this. They said nothing would ever grow here. If this here isn’t proof of a miracle...
He stands and looks again to the sky, contemplative.
CARNEGIE
God doesn’t ask us for much. Not in comparison to all that he has given us. But when he does ask - when he sends us a sign - we have a duty to heed it, to set aside our own selfish wants and desires.
They’re closer now to the field workers, the three men just about finishing up their work.
JORDACHE
I know. I was weak. I’m so ashamed. All I ever wanted was to do my part for you and this town. If you could find it in yourself to forgive me-
CARNEGIE
But it’s not my forgiveness you should be seeking, is it?
JORDACHE
Of course. I’ll do whatever I’ve gotta to get square with the Lord.
Carnegie puts a comforting hand on Jordache’s shoulder.
CARNEGIE
You don’t need to do anything. That’s the beauty of it. He’s already forgiven you.
Jordache breathes a sigh of relief.
As the three field workers finish up, we see their completed work - TWO WOODEN POLES tied together in a T-shape and driven into the earth.
The sight of it unsettles Jordache. But before he can react ONE OF THE WORKERS JUMPS HIM FROM BEHIND, wrapping a LENGTH OF CORD around his neck and pulling it taut.Jordache slumps to his knees, eyes bulging, choking. Flailing helplessly as the cord is pulled tighter. Carnegie looks down upon the dying man dispassionately.
CARNEGIE
It’s comforting, isn’t it? To know in your final moments that all your worldly sins are washed away. And that even in death, God can find for you a purpose.
Jordache’s dead body has been CRUCIFIED ON THE WOODEN POLE, arms outstretched. Arranged to form a GROTESQUE SCARECROW.
And here's an alternate version of the same scene:
EXT. DESERT TOWN - MAIN STREET - DAY
Carnegie stands before a wall, where an old TELEGRAPH POLE has been staked into the ground. The wall is POCK-MARKED, dented and beat-up, peppered by a thousand small impacts.
Tied to the post is JORDACHE, the guard who fell asleep beneath Eli’s window. Now stone sober, he WEEPS, terrified. Carnegie regards him impassively. Addresses himself to an UNSEEN AUDIENCE, off-camera. Once again, in performance mode.
CARNEGIE
God doesn’t ask us for much. Not in comparison to all that he has given us. But when he does ask - when he sends us a sign - we have a duty to heed it, to set aside our own selfish wants and desires.
Carnegie looks at the terrified Jordache with disdain.
CARNEGIE
Or else we betray him.
Turning back to the unseen audience:
CARNEGIE
Ours is a loving God, but he is also a vengeful one. He doesn’t tolerate failure or infidelity. He has no mercy for those who pervert or undo his works - and as his faithful servants, neither must we.
(beat)
I wish this were not necessary. But our Lord has made his judgment be known, through me. If this town is to continue to receive his blessing and protection, he demands of us a show of our commitment - our loyalty - to his divine will.
CARNEGIE
May God have mercy on your soul.
Carnegie steps away - and as he does so, our new angle reveals a GROUP OF TOWNSFOLK standing a few yards away, facing the bound man. Men and women, adults and children - each of them holding ROCKS IN THEIR HANDS.
A child steps forward and HURLS HIS ROCK. It strikes Jordache’s forehead, cutting it open. He CRIES OUT in pain. But there is no sympathy for him - the first stone thrown serves as a floodgate for all the others that follow.
The townsfolk STONE THE MAN TO DEATH in a barbaric execution the like of which we haven’t seen in a thousand years.
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