I’m in Hollywood

To Qifeng is one of the few Hong Kong film directors that Eric likes more. If Bai Ge Wu, because of the great success of The Hero Himself, has formed his own set of three-pronged violence in the fumbling by mistake. In terms of aesthetics, Du Qifeng has formed a mature and distinct personal style after groping and experience in dozens of films. Its films have their own set of black philosophy that combines elements such as coldness, violence, fate and sadness.

Dark War is one of the rare films in Du Qifeng's works that is free and easy and comfortable. If you evaluate this film from the perspective of ordinary audiences, then the word that appears the most must be one word: cool! This is the main reason why Eric chose this movie.

At the same time, this is also a bold attempt by Eric. He wants to see if such a movie that does not exist in Hollywood history will be successful.

In my memory, in the next ten years, many of Hollywood's best-selling movies now have their own copyrights. Eric wants to take food from those giants. It is not very difficult, especially when others know that he is optimistic about a movie after the movie. And there are not many big-selling movies that don't have copyright ownership. If you work hard at the current progress, maybe it will be finished in two or three years.

Of course, this is also a fairly safe attempt. First of all, the story of Dark War is very exciting, and it has also been recognized by Cruise and Hanks, which shows that this story does not have the taste of Eastern and Western audiences. difference issue.

Secondly, the two male protagonists that Eric enabled are now very secure at the box office. Tom Cruise has just experienced the success of Rain Man, and his popularity has once again reached a small peak. The Flying Beyond the Future has just been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. Combined with the box office appeal of Eric's own previous films, and this cool script, according to Columbia's data department analysis, the film's $100 million box office in the summer is easy. matter.

On April 5th, in a large studio of Columbia Pictures, Dark War officially started. The first thing to shoot is a series of indoor scenes. This time Eric did not plan to do it in chronological order like the last Fengyue. shoot.

The images of the two protagonists of Dark War are very distinct, without any changes before and after, one is shrewd and capable, the other is evil and wise. As long as you can enter the movie smoothly, no matter which scene you start shooting from, there will be no big problem. Therefore, Eric determined the shooting process from the simple to the complex, and from the inside out.

In the ward, after Andy, played by Cruise, learned that his condition was worsening, he still got down from the hospital bed and began to dress slowly.

How long?

Four weeks, if you bleed internally, you will die at any time. The spirited doctor sat behind the desk and replied hoarsely.

Andy's dressing movement did not stop at all because of the bad news. After he fastened his belt, he handed a dozen banknotes to the doctor: It doesn't matter, just give me four weeks of painkillers.

After taking the painkillers, Andy finally put on his coat and prepared to leave. The doctor, who seemed to be a little emotional, said, I don't think we will meet again.

It's just this life, Andy replied calmly.

Card!

When this scene was completely finished, Eric called for a pause, neither saying 'Good' nor 'No-Good', sitting behind the monitor, frowning slightly as if thinking about something. Although he has been discharged from the hospital, Eric still has a bandage on his head and occasionally has headaches.

However, after repeated inspections, no problems were found, and Eric was no longer nervous.

There is nothing special about Cruise's performance, and he can easily complete it with his acting skills. In the later stage, this scene will be combined with Andy's scene on the rooftop, using montage techniques to mix and cut, and will also use The processing method of fast motion and slow motion, there will be two switching between fast and slow motion in just two shots.

The reason for doing this, and the tense dubbing is also mixed with the click of the second hand, is to subtly hint to the audience that time has passed. Andy has only four weeks to live. After a few short shots of language His expression will cause tension and curiosity in the audience. What will he do in the remaining four weeks?

The staff present are all the old team that Eric has worked with several times, so I saw Eric fall into this kind of thinking more than once during the filming process, so everyone has a tacit understanding not to disturb him and lightly tidying up the instruments, patiently waiting for Eric to come back to his senses.

But after waiting for a minute, Cruise finally got a little impatient. He felt that there was nothing wrong with his performance just now. If he could, he would pass. If not, Cruise felt that he would not mind repeating a few more times. Second, what's going on in this situation now?

Hey, Eric, how's the shot just now, do you need to do it again? Cruise finally couldn't help walking to Eric's side and gently pushed him.

Eric felt a figure suddenly appear beside him, because he was in the studio, and all the lights were artificial. When Cruise appeared next to Eric, he just blocked a headlight behind him. A faint shadow formed in front of him.

shadow!

Eric suddenly raised his head with awareness, saw Cruise's expression, and explained, Sorry, Tom, I've been distracted by some questions.

It's okay, Cruise showed a generous smile: How about that scene just now, do you need to do it all over again?

I'm afraid we'll have to do it again, Eric replied. Wait a minute?

Cruise shrugged, backed away, and watched Eric call the lighting engineer to instruct him, and then the lights on the scene began to dim slowly. It was no longer the scene that just simulated sunlight, and Eric stared at him. The monitor, waited until the lighting was adjusted to his satisfaction before the gaffer stopped.

OK, all the staff are ready, let's do the shot just now, Eric ordered loudly.

Moments later, the clerk stepped forward to lay down the slate, and filming began again.

Eric stared seriously at the screen of Andy and the doctor on the monitor, and secretly compared this shot with the rooftop shot of the reason in his mind.

This shot is used to illustrate the current situation of Andy in the movie, and it is very similar to Andy's memories on the rooftop. The audience will even have a misunderstanding that Andy wants to jump off the building after watching this, and even think that this may It is a flashback movie. Andy used four weeks to complete all his wishes, and then he had no love, boarded the roof of the building, and jumped down.

Since it was used for explanation and memory, Eric felt that the light of the lens in the original version was too bright. It was exactly the same as Andy's light on the sunny rooftop, which could not give the audience any sense of difference, so the effect of expression was much worse.

It's not Eric's rant, the use of lighting in To Qifeng's films is like the three-axes of the white dove and Wu. Except for the common high contrast and stage, there are not too many tricks. In this respect, the same personal style is strong, but the lighting There is absolutely no comparison with Wong Kar-wai, who is a master in the use of color. Of course, Wong Kar-wai follows the line of art films, and the films of the two cannot be compared.

After solving the lighting problem, Eric began to focus on the performance with Cruise. This small scene really has no place to play, and Eric does not mean to be picky. If Cruise's performance can bring unexpected surprises, then he Of course I'm happy, if not, don't be disappointed, as long as it meets his personal standards.

Anyway, the opportunity has been given to Cruise. Whether or not he can rely on this film to get nominated, or even win some performance awards, still needs his own efforts. Eric is more concerned about the box office of this film.

As for the Oscar prospect that was depicted in order to convince Cruise to agree to the plot of men disguising as women, huh... Didn't all the directors and producers say that when they tricked the actors into the group, Eric didn't feel guilty at all, he was more concerned about it What matters is the box office of the movie. After all, he is so young now, and his desire for Oscar awards is not very strong. It is the last word to bury his head in making money.

The novel theme of the film Dark War is certain, but whether it can win the favor of the Oscar judges, only God knows. In the previous life, Andy won the first Hong Kong Film Awards. If you think about it carefully, maybe there are more PR elements. In addition, in 1999, Hong Kong films have been in decline, and there are not many outstanding films. Only then did Andy achieve the golden statue. The long-cherished long-cherished wish of the Emperor Fengfeng.

It was only after two or three NGs that the shot passed, and the crew began to move to another room in the studio. This process took more than half an hour. A movie really didn’t spend too much time on the camera. Many, most of the time is spent in the long scene layout.

Most of the scenes in these two days are Cruise's one-man show. He will complete the scenes in his room to examine Sean played by Hanks, make women's clothes, vomit blood while drinking, and disguise himself as Andy's father Peter to confront the villain.

Although the original movie still exists in his mind, Eric still designed some additional scenes so that he has enough material for post-production. After all, this is already a brand new Hollywood movie. Department is exactly the same.

According to the shooting plan, this process will last for three days. After the fourth day, there will be a group scene of Hanks and others, and then there will be an indoor rivalry between Cruise and Hanks. Eric is looking forward to that moment. It has to be said that it is a pity that the big superstars have no intersection at all on the screen.

Because of the ample filming time for this film, the entire crew immediately stopped working after eight hours, and ordered the assistant director to send the filmed footage to the editing room. Eric left in a hurry. Except for the movie, he was better than others. There is more to do. The later stage of Dark War also needs to wait for the film to be completely closed before it can be carried out.

The initial casting work for Frightening Island and Scent of a Woman has been completed, and he still needs to finalize the cast. Moreover, he has to pay attention to Steel Magnolia filming in Louisiana from time to time. .

Steel Magnolia has been filming for a month, but with the efforts of Herbert Ross, an aging Hollywood film director, the filming progress of the film is less than half completed. It will take one month to close the mirror, and post-production will take at least one month.

Moreover, this movie may even have the risk of overspending. Eric is very happy about this. Steel Magnolia is not an independent investment by Firefly. Before that, Herbert Ross alone pulled three million. funds.

So Eric doesn't mind putting another million or two into the movie to expand Firefly's share, and Eric is now waiting for Herbert Ross to ask for money.

Hi, Eric, is your head injury okay?

Back in Firefly's office, Eric saw Jonathan Demme who had been waiting here. Jonathan's face was obviously tired, but his tone was still full of energy.

Thank you for your relationship, Jonathan, much better, have you brought the information?

Here, I screened out dozens of candidate lists according to your requirements, but I'm exhausted. Jonathan smiled.

He is indeed the most tired person these days, all because of Frightening Island, because there are two small actors in the script, stimulated by Stuart Runkel, Firefly has received more than 5,000 copies one after another. Profile of the little actor.

Many of the children who sent the files had no acting experience at all, but many parents sent the files of their children with the fantasy of wanting to get rich overnight like the Lankers.

And there are also fake files. Some unscrupulous parents deliberately fabricate lies that their children have made cameo appearances in a certain movie or TV series. The staff have to spend a lot of time confirming the authenticity of these files. In this case, want to screen There is no potential young actor, the difficulty can be imagined.

It's not that Eric never thought of relying on the memory in his mind to directly let people find those potential children.

However, the difficulty of operating this kind of thing is estimated to be greater than screening potential young actors out of 5,000 people.

Although Eric completely copied the memory of the previous life in his mind, he still didn't know a lot of information that he didn't know before. If he randomly said the name of a famous Hollywood star in the future, maybe the staff could find hundreds of them in this country. A child with the same name and surname came out. Westerners are notorious for their lack of creativity in naming names.

He took over a dozen thick file bags handed over by Jonathan Demme, which not only included the candidate list of the two children in The Island, but also three servants, the real Victor family, Grace's husband wait for the actor.

Although Eric has let Jonathan decide for a few less important supporting roles, he still has to see it in person after all.

The first thing to open is the information of the two more important little actors. Eric glanced at the list of ten little boys and was surprised to see the name of Macaulay Culkin, while the other nine boys did not acknoledged.

Turning directly to Culkin's information, although there is no Home Alone, the boy still has experience in two movies, which also explains why the other party appears in this list. Pulling out Culkin's information directly, Jonathan glanced curiously: Eric, did you like this boy?

Eric shook his head directly: No, this one has been eliminated.

Well, I think this boy named Macaulay Culkin is the most exciting of the ten children...

It is also impossible for Eric to tell Jonathan that he does not want Macaulay Culkin to be as famous as in his previous life. Although Frightening Island cannot bring the same fame as Home Alone, its influence will certainly not be too low. .

The best thing to do is to keep Macaulay Culkin himself in the state of being in one or two less-than-great movies from time to time, and when the boy is an adult, he can also choose his own path for the future.

Holding the boy up now, his wonderful parents will definitely destroy the poor boy with a series of idiots just like in the previous life for the sake of money.

Jonathan, you forgot, the boy Nicholas in The Little Island has a relatively dull personality. Looking at the big eyes of this boy in the photo makes me feel too clever, so I can't.

Jonathan followed Eric's line of thought for a few moments and found that it was like this: Okay, I did ignore this.

Eric continued to look at the information of the remaining nine boys, suddenly raised his head, stared at Jonathan Demme who was sitting opposite and asked, Jonathan, do you know any of these children?

Jonathan Demme dodged his eyes a few times, his face flushed slightly, and finally nodded, got up and pulled out a boy's information: This... This Brian Baker is an actor friend I worked with before. My youngest son, sorry, Eric, I shouldn't have done this, but I swear, I seriously interviewed this kid to make sure that the little guy was qualified before adding it.

As Jonathan said, he was about to crumple the boy's information into a ball and throw it into the trash, but was stopped by Eric. He took the document and examined it carefully, and Eric nodded with satisfaction: Jonathan, just him Bar.

Well, I'm really sorry... Eh, Eric, what did you say? Jonathan came back to his senses and raised his head to look at Eric in disbelief.

Eric smiled and said, I mean, just him, you know, I don't have time for interviews now. And, I'm sure you won't joke about this movie, right?

When...of course, Jonathan nodded affirmatively. This movie is related to his future in Hollywood, and it depends on whether he can jump out of the gate.

So, is there anyone else? Eric asked again.

This time Jonathan shook his head firmly: Absolutely not, Eric, all the remaining candidates have nothing to do with me.

Eric also made up his mind temporarily and sold Jonathan a small favor. Although he had given him a great opportunity because of Cry on the Island, Eric didn't mind if he didn't have to pay anything. Give a little more. Jonathan Demme is a very good potential stock, and Eric has decided to win over him under his command. In addition to the future Silence of the Lambs, Hanks' first Oscar-winning film Philadelphia Story is his director. of.

Now that the boy has been determined, there is no need to read the following, just take the file bag containing the little girl's candidate actors and open it.

It seems true that Hollywood is actually very small. This time, there are two actresses who know each other.

Kirsten Dunst and Sarah Michelle Gellar.