American History X - Original Script

Original Script

American History X underwent significant changes during the filming process, and some important parts of the script were lost. Among the changes made were:

• Seth and Derek originally beat up a gay student, with Seth kicking him while Derek reads a newspaper article on school funds going to a Gay And Lesbian organization.
• The script involves heavy drug use (cocaine), and Cameron uses Derek to obtain the drug, and later Danny.
• The scene where Derek kills the two men robbing his house was originally of a greater significance in the overall plot against Cameron. In the script, the Crips' motives were not to rob Derek's house, but to steal the cocaine hidden in the trunk of his car; Cameron hired them to steal it back from Derek so he could profit twice. Also, the original getaway driver was Seth, with Cameron in the passenger seat.
• When Derek curb stomps the Crip, he is drunk.
• In prison, Derek is beaten by African American corrections officers paid off by the white prison gang and the black prison gang. Sometime during his prison stay he is forcibly given a huge tattoo across his back which reads PECKERWOOD.
• Stacy is cheating on Derek with Cameron.
• Derek's original motive for distancing Danny from Cameron was because Cameron was using Danny as a drug runner, similarly to the way he used Derek before he went to prison.
• Seth and Cameron discuss killing Derek.
• There is a dialogue between Seth, Cameron, and a homeless man that ends with Cameron beating the homeless man.
• In an early draft, Seth and Cameron harass a multiracial couple (as shown in a deleted scene from the final cut); however, in the draft, the black man pulls out a cell phone and calls his gang, who shoot Seth and Cameron and proceed to curb stomp Cameron, thinking he is Derek.
• In the original ending, before Little Henry (seemingly reluctant to do so) shoots Danny, who tries to take the gun from him, he breaks down and collapses to the floor. The scene ends with Little Henry pulling Danny's eyelids down over his eyes.