King of Hollywood
Chapter 295 - Chapter 295 Chapter 22 Spectacular Performance

Chapter 295: Chapter 22: Spectacular Performance Chapter 295: Chapter 22: Spectacular Performance “Is everything ready over there? Great, we’ll head over right away.” After getting the good news from Ray, Adrian said loudly, then turned to Hanks who had just taken a quick shower in the trailer, “How about it, Tommy, can you keep going?”

Hanks, drinking water, didn’t answer but just gave him a thumbs-up.

“Excellent, guys, let’s get moving and finish the remaining shots, and then you can all go home and sleep your hearts out,” Adrian immediately clapped his hands and raised his voice a few notches.

“We’ve already been sleeping our hearts out for several days, Ed,” Gary Sinise, who had been with the crew for more than a day and was trying to get his wrapped-up legs into a wheelchair, said humorously.

“Then why can’t you sleep more soundly, without having to jump out of bed as soon as I call, and then stumble into your clothes to rush to the set?” Adrian retorted right away.

“It’ll be the same even after we’ve finished shooting,” someone said, and a burst of laughter erupted.

“Okay, since you’re all so spirited, let’s compress all the shots into today and get them done,” Adrian dropped this bomb and turned to leave, not minding the chorus of “oh, no”s in laments that followed.

“Here’s the progress of several films at the moment,” back in the director’s exclusive trailer, Charlize, who seemed to have never moved from the table, handed him a folder, “Do you need me to sort them out and schedule them?”

“Of course, thanks, if… if it’s convenient for you,” Adrian flipped through it and handed it back, looking at her with a meaningful expression. Charlize glared at him again, still without responding.

It wasn’t really a big deal. Out of punishment for her standing him up, Adrian had given Charlize a good going-over in bed when he got back to Washington, despite the fact that her standing him up had objectively facilitated his communication with Sophie. This was also the second time Charlize resorted to using her mouth–the outburst in London was the first time, quite unexpected, right? But that was indeed the case.

Anyhow, Charlize was so exhausted by the ordeal that she lay in bed for a long time the next day before she could get up, and even then there was some discomfort in her walk, and she rested for most of the day before she started working.

“Have you become this starved, Ed?” Charlize once privately taunted Adrian with irritation, “Such vigorous libido, touring Europe like that and still not satisfied!”

She had no idea that such a question would only arise between the two who are closest.

“But you like it a lot, don’t you, Charli? Your cries were very soulful and utterly forgetful, and that word starting with ‘F’ was used with such proficiency, so how could it just be me?” Adrian answered smugly, making Charlize grit her teeth but unable to refute him. She looked so adorable that he would tease her with this from time to time.

Okay, this was all a side note. Compared to possibly brooding over such a matter for days in the past, Charlize adjusted very quickly now. After everything was packed up, a big group set off with the trailers from the square to the rented location for the final shoot, followed by many curious tourists and quite a few journalists.

These guys always had noses nimbler than dogs’, especially since the crew had made such a big spectacle in Washington, they had to come over or they weren’t fit for the job. Indeed, journalists mostly focused on Tom Hanks, although there were some who interviewed Adrian, it was more like going through the motions.

Even though Adrian had the title of Miracle Director, even though he broke records to become the youngest Palme d’Or winner, even though he caused a huge media debate between the UK and US two years ago, what journalists cared about most were those stars standing in the spotlight. It was only those glamorous stars that were their sources of news, a director, no matter how prominent, was always behind the scenes, always hiding himself. If Adrian frequented headlines with scandals like last year’s with Julia, journalists wouldn’t mind turning all their cameras toward him, but for the past year or so, he had kept his private life very well-protected, and without more concrete evidence, the past scandal gradually faded and thinned out, and naturally, journalists lost interest in him.

Adrian was pleased with this arrangement, offering a few simple answers before passing the matter on to another responsible person. Stirring up a buzz was not difficult, and besides, he already had his own media–apart from TBS, Claude had acquired two newspapers. Although they weren’t very famous, they at least had a print media presence.

However, now was not the right time to stir up topics. As things progressed, some issues would inevitably come to the surface, without the need for manipulation.

Despite Adrian having threatened his staff to finish all the shots within one day, it ended up taking about two days, as some shots were quite dangerous to film. Take, for example, the scene where Lieutenant Dan slides down the slope; even with thorough safety measures, Gary Sinise still got two scrapes, but fortunately, they were both minor and posed no serious issue.

“All right, guys, it’s been a pleasure working with you all for so long. Thank you, everyone, we’ll continue next time,” Adrian announced after the final shot was completed, and amidst the cheers of the staff, he declared that filming for “Forrest Gump” was wrapped up.

But that was only half the battle. For this movie, post-production was of utmost importance, especially the work to make Forrest appear in the documentary footage, which required the editor to handle it with great care. Although Adrian had some insights into editing, he decided it would be better to leave it to more professional hands under these circumstances.

Of course, all this would wait until he was back in Los Angeles. After bidding farewell to Hanks and others with hugs, Adrian took Charlize to New York. Beyond briefly visiting his uncle and aunt again, he went to Natalie’s house in Long Island.

“I can’t wait to get in front of the camera and start,” the little girl said excitedly, having spent her time diligently studying the script to the point of being fully prepared. It must be said that Natalie really had a talent; the small part of the script she acted out in front of Adrian was incredibly engaging and attention-grabbing.

“You’re going to be a great actress, Nata,” Adrian complimented, taking in her father’s look of pride, dejection, and helplessness, all mixed together.

The investment in “Fly Away Home” was not big, and with Adrian’s early arrangements, the preliminary preparations were nearly complete, and filming would start shortly. The director chosen was Richard Ryan, the assistant director on “Forrest Gump.” Adrian had previously hinted at giving him a directorial opportunity when he let him take over the camera. Although Ryan had not yet directed a film independently, Adrian was clear on his ability; handling such a small-budget film wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Besides, when he had taken over from Adrian before, Ryan had shot some incredibly beautiful landscape shots. And one of the most attractive elements of “Fly Away Home” was its vast picturesque landscapes, which made Ryan an ideal choice to direct. Of course, the producer would still be Adrian, for reasons that go without saying.

Whether visiting his uncle and aunt in the Upper East Side of Manhattan or going to Long Island to see Natalie, these were all just small matters. Adrian’s most important work in New York wasn’t here.

“How much longer do we need?” Adrian asked the driver after withdrawing his gaze from the car window.

“Ten more minutes, Mr. Adrian,” the driver replied cautiously.

“All right, ten more minutes. I must say, the location you guys chose is quite far,” Adrian remarked without really complaining, turning his gaze back to the high-voltage power lines outside.

Standing tall on the somewhat desolate plains, the large structures of high-voltage pylons receded one after another with the speed of the car, without seeing any signs of life for miles. For a few minutes, Adrian thought they had left New York State and entered Pennsylvania.

“At that time, we looked at many places. The director said that one was the most suitable for filming, so…” The driver explained briefly, noticing that Adrian had no intention of responding, he shut his mouth.

Ten minutes later, they finally arrived at the suburban New York film set of “Seven Deadly Sins.” Although the story did not specify that it took place in New York, nearly every detail alluded to it, so naturally, the filming location was in New York as well.

They were currently shooting the film’s ending scene, in which Kevin Spacey’s character John Doe surrenders himself to complete his ritual, luring detectives played by Morgan Freeman (as Shamosai) and Dennis Knight (as Mills) to the suburbs. Then, with Mills’ wife’s severed head, he provokes Mills into committing the sin of “Wrath,” thus bringing his plan to fruition.

“No, no, no, Dan, you look more like you’re mourning for your family pet, I need the emotion to be more intense!” Fincher lifted his head from behind the camera and expressed his dissatisfaction with a rapid tone.

Dan didn’t speak, but simply raised his watch, indicating his apology; the number of NG takes for this shot had already exceeded ten. Adrian, who had been watching on the side, patted David Fincher’s shoulder, “David, give me a few minutes, let me have a word with Dan.”

Fincher looked at him with some surprise, then nodded his head, signaling the assistant director to announce a break.

“How has it felt during this time, Dan?” Adrian approached the water-drinking Dennis and asked.

“Alright.” Dennis wiped his face and replied briefly. He had been getting along quite well with Fincher, according to Adrian’s instructions, and Fincher quite liked him; just now, he had even praised him in front of Adrian–though that did not stop Fincher from loudly chastising him for his poor performance.

“So what do you think about this current shot?” Adrian continued to ask.

“David needs a close-up, so all the emotion is concentrated on the face, solely relying on the changes in facial features to convey it, which can easily go wrong if not handled properly,” Dennis reflected for a moment before answering.

“Good, you’re aware of that, so why can’t you do it? I don’t believe your emotions aren’t in place, considering we’ve worked on several films together,” Adrian slapped his arm.

“Probably… because I’m not immersed enough,” Dennis suddenly said, “I believe I’ve brewed enough emotion, but the key is how to express it step by step.”

In this segment, John Doe used Mills’s wife’s head and the fact that he killed her unborn child during the murder to successfully enrage Mills. Mills pointed the gun at John Doe’s head, desperately wishing to blow the latter’s head off, while Shamosai kept persuading Mills to drop his weapon, insisting that if he fired that shot, John Doe would win.

Expressing an intense emotional conflict with oneself through progressive facial expressions certainly isn’t easy. Think about how Brad Pitt did it? Oh, he screamed “God” while lowering his head, deepening the emotion with each bow–an effective method but also the most expedient.

Of course, Dennis could do the same, with just a reminder from Adrian. But he didn’t plan to do that, Adrian was more curious to see what Dennis could achieve on his own, so he merely hinted, “Simply put, once you work out the steps to increase the intensity of the emotion, everything else will fall into place.”

“Steps to increase emotional intensity…” Dennis muttered a few times, then his eyes lit up, and he said to Adrian, “I’ve got it,” before waving to David, “David, I think I’ve found something!”

David Fincher wasted no time, immediately summoning those who were resting to spring into action. If the shooting still ended in NG, everyone could tell that Dennis had changed, so Fincher just announced another take without comment.

“Put down the gun, Mills, put it down, if you shoot he wins!” Shamosai stared intently at Mills’s face, concealing the urgency in his voice; he could only stand still desperately trying to convince the other with words, any slight action might trigger Mills, who was on the brink of collapse, to take a lethal shot at the criminal.

And the kneeling John Doe still had a serene look, as if he was sure of his victory.

Mills, who had his gun pointed at John Doe, stared tightly at him, so tightly, his body trembling faintly, his eyes slowly widening, becoming so wide that the bloodshot in them was clearly visible, the anger and hatred so distinct. His lips pursed into a line quivered, and it seemed one could even hear the sound of teeth grating.

“No!” A low voice, yet full of immeasurable pain, rang out.

“No!” The voice grew louder, as if a dying beast were roaring in despair.

John Doe’s eyes slowly closed; he already knew the outcome. Bang! A gunshot rang out, hitting right between the eyes, and the madman fell to the ground like a scarecrow, while Shamosai beside him suddenly seemed to age decades.

“Great!” shouted David Fincher, the director of photography, face alight with excitement, clearly extremely pleased with the shot.

Adrian immediately began clapping his hands. Brilliant! It was the only adjective he could think of, even though he had a premonition after the previous shot’s NG, he really didn’t expect that Dennis would reach this level with just the second take. Those powerfully impactful emotions were layered and expressed on his face; even watching it live, one could still feel a piercing impact to the heart. While Brad Pitt’s style of acting might be similar to Dennis’s in portraying characters’ emotions, that level of impact and resonance was nowhere near enough.

Well done, Dan. Adrian silently praised him while clapping.

A round of earnest applause followed, everyone was impressed by Dennis’s brilliant performance, yet Dennis, who should have been receiving congratulations, showed no hint of happiness but instead slowly sat on the ground, covering his face and rubbing it.

Seeing this, everyone kindly ceased their applause, knowing that sometimes actors, especially when they plunge deeply into intense emotions for their role, need a lot of time to readjust. Fortunately, Dennis quickly got back up from the ground. Although there was still a hint of fatigue between his brows, he no longer had the overwhelmed look he had during the pause; after all, he understood his character well, and although the emotional scene was intense, it was brief.

“Not bad at all, Dan,” Adrian said, slapping Dennis on the shoulder as he walked back. Then Freeman, Fincher, and Spacey also came up to offer their congratulations.

“This really was not easy; I would have definitely had a breakdown if it was a few more times,” Dennis said, exhaling deeply.

“Going to have a breakdown? Don’t joke, Dan. If such minor troubles could cause a breakdown, Kevin would have had a split personality long ago,” joked Adrian. “I think he’s almost merged with John Doe, hasn’t he?”

The last comment was directed at Kevin Spacey, who, with a shaven head and dressed in orange prison garb, blinked in surprise and then shrugged: “Well, at least for now, I don’t feel like I’m having a split personality.”

Everyone laughed heartily, and then Spacey complained, “Even so, from the beginning till now, no one has given me a round of applause. Lying there just now, no one even came to help me up–you know I’ve just been shot.”

Laughter erupted again.

“Come on, Kevin, even if someone had to complain, it wouldn’t be you. Some people have lost their heads and still haven’t said a word,” Adrian said with a laugh, turning towards the gorgeous woman approaching, “right, Gwyneth?”

“What?” Gwyneth, coming over, looked puzzled at the few men in front of her, which provoked another burst of laughter.

“This is not funny at all!” Gwyneth, upon realizing what they were laughing about, immediately glared at Adrian and walked away without another word.

Adrian spread his hands helplessly and then followed her. Gwyneth was wearing simple casual attire, her blonde hair tied up, with thick bangs in the front, a bit like Sophie Marceau’s style that day. Only this time, instead of being pinned up, her hair was tied into a ponytail, a small change that gave her an entirely different charm from Sophie.

Gwyneth wasn’t supposed to have any scenes here, but she still appeared on set. When Adrian asked why, she said it was for gaining more experience. But the real reason, one only needed to think about his having notified the crew in Washington that he would come over to know. (To be continued. If you wish to learn what happens next, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)