[US Entertainment] Superstar

Chapter 25

"We have arrived!"

Robert's voice awakens Eve, who is immersed in the reading world.

She glanced around blankly and found that the car had come to the underground garage of Los Angeles Airport.

"It flies so fast, I feel like I've only watched it for a while."

Eve folded the page by hand, and then put the book into her carry-on bag.She vaguely felt that these plots were somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember them all at once.

It is still difficult to combine text and images.

Los Angeles International Airport occupies a very large area. Even though it is already night, there is still a constant stream of planes taking off and landing.

Robert had booked an American Airlines ticket in advance, took off after midnight, and it was almost morning when he landed.

Los Angeles is on the west coast of the United States, while New York is on the east coast. It takes about six hours to fly across the entire belly of the United States.

After exchanging boarding passes and checking luggage, the two of them found a coffee shop and sat down, surrounded by almost all passengers waiting for the plane.

Unlike ten or twenty years later when everyone lowered their heads and played with their mobile phones, now everyone is either reading books or newspapers, or carrying heavy laptops to handle official business, or couples and friends get together to chat.

Eve was going to sleep on the plane, so she ordered a cup of fruit tea, while Robert ordered a cup of skim latte.

"Have you brought the book? If not, I can lend you the movie script." She jokingly said, "I keep you refreshed after reading it, and you won't feel any sleepiness at all."

"No!"

Robert refused righteously. He knew what kind of story "Death Comes" was like, and he never wanted to read it before taking the plane. "Just stay here and have a good rest, I'll go out and make a phone call."

Eve waved her hand. She was about to finish reading "The Girl Who Broken the Line" in front of her in one sitting. The story is very powerful.

The whole book uses documentary text to describe the people and things in the mental hospital, and each chapter is preceded by Suzanne's medical record card, which seems to be closely related.

The girl calls the imagined world that is different from the current one a parallel world.

In the text, Eve saw the psychological process of a young girl, and knew how the girls lived in that unknown hospital.

In addition to Suzanne, there are many other patients, such as Lisa, Daisy, Georgina, Polly and others.

These girls have all kinds of differences. Sally, who is antisocial, is the leader. She leads Georgina, who is a liar, Polly, who is afraid of flames, and Daisy, who can't eat in front of others. Of course, the protagonist Suzanne has done many things that have caused headaches in the mental hospital.

As soon as you close your eyes, you can see the girls locked in the house with the doors and windows locked, and see their every move in the hospital.

Whether the girl who keeps denying herself can regain herself, and whether these girls can return to normal life, these are what Eve wants to know.

Even if she knew in her heart that Suzanne must have recovered, otherwise she would not have written such an autobiographical novel.

The more she looked at the back, the more familiar she felt in her heart, and she suddenly realized with a shock, isn't this plot the same as the "Soul-moving Girl" that she had seen before?

It happens to be starring Winona Ryder!

Everything is right.

The other protagonist is Angelina Jolie, and these two goddesses have a very exciting rivalry in it.

"I don't know how the casting process is going, I hope there is still a chance." Eve silently thought in her heart, if she wanted to play another heroine, she might not be able to compete with Julie.

Acting skills may not be better than the other party's. Popularity and qualifications are even worse. Maybe you can look at other roles. If you can play the supporting actress well, it will be quite eye-catching.

She was not dazzled by the heroine of "Death Comes". Even if she is not in this movie, it will be another newcomer actor.But "The Girl Who Moved the Soul" is different. Columbia Pictures wants to shoot a literary film, and what they need to find are influential and acting actors.

You can't become fat if you eat in one go.

Eve knows that there are quite a lot of brighter supporting roles in "The Girl Who Moved Soul", so she can draw them gradually.

If you play a heroine once, you have to play the heroine all the time. There are no such lucky people in Hollywood.Heart is higher than sky, life is thinner than paper.

What's more, Julie and the Lisa character are one and the same, both are so rebellious, surly, wild and uninhibited.Playing the role by yourself may not be better than Julie.

She has passed the age of fantasies, and being down-to-earth in the entertainment circle is the most important thing!After correcting her mentality, Eve found a tissue and wrote their names, personalities, and backgrounds on the tissue with a pen.

These supporting roles each have their own differences, but the one that impressed her the most is Daisy.

Daisy has curly blonde hair and a sweet voice, just like a princess in a fairy tale.However, she has been sexually abused by her father and refuses to eat in front of outsiders.Facing the two protagonists who took out of the mental hospital, Daisy kindly took them in.

But Lisa not only did not restrain herself, but intensified her efforts to tear open Daisy's wounds, exposing the affairs between Daisy and her father, which eventually led to Daisy hanging in the room, which became the introduction for the heroine Susanna to wake up.

Although there are not many plots involved in Daisy, they are very eye-catching. If she can act well, it will be enough to show her abilities to the outside world, and let the critics and audience realize that she is not a vase in horror movies, but an actor with acting skills. people.

After Eve determined the goal, it still didn't work, so she had to discuss it with her agent to see what they thought.

"What are you laughing at?" Robert had just used the phone to put his daughter to sleep, and when he came in, he found Eve reading a book and laughing. This is obviously a relatively heavy and realistic work.

"I want to play Daisy. She's one of the few supporting characters who can make a deep impression. What do you think?"

"The one who cut his wrists and then hanged himself?"

"Yes."

"I personally think it's okay. In the novel, she died alone, and catalyzed the heroine's return to reality. Don't think too much now, just shoot the movie in your hand. I will stare at this project in Los Angeles and make progress Keep you informed."

For new actors, the most taboo thing is distraction.

Eve also understands this truth, she doesn't want to eat what's in the bowl, but still thinks about what's in the pot.

"I laughed because I thought it was very funny. I didn't die in a horror movie where the god of death kills people, but I ended up acting in a biopic and committed suicide instead. Will the audience attribute this suicide to the god of death? , play directly?"

Robert looked puzzled: "Is it funny?"

"You have no sense of humor. This should be regarded as a propaganda method."

"Girl, the premise is that "Death Comes" is liked by the audience, otherwise no one cares whether your next movie is dead or alive."

Eve held the book in her hand and said confidently: "I think this role is very dignable, I will spend my spare time preparing well, no matter who it is, I have to compete with her."

……

JFK Kennedy Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. Eve had already seen the sunrise before the plane landed, and now she cheered up and was ready to face new challenges.

It is obviously impossible for the crew to shoot in Manhattan, but to choose a location in the suburbs of New York, in order to get tax rebates from New York State to save production costs.

She was the last actor to come, and before she checked into the hotel, she didn't have time to take out the clothes in the suitcase and hang them up, so she took the script, mobile phone, ballpoint pen, and notebook with her without stopping, and went to the first script research meeting with the film's creators .

Before filming, directors, screenwriters, leading actors, cameras, and props all have to gather together, while familiarizing themselves with the script, they discuss how to shoot and express their respective ideas.

"Hi, Mr. Perry, good morning." Eve saw the producer Craig Perry at the door, so she went up to say hello.

Craig turned to look at her, and said with a smile: "Good morning, I heard that you have just arrived in New York. Are you sure you don't need to rest?"

"I slept on the plane for hours and can't wait to start filming."

"Then go in quickly, the director is already inside."

Eve hurried into the meeting room, and there were already a few scattered people in the room.

Director James Huang is chatting with a middle-aged man, and seems to be a little dissatisfied with the setting of the scene.

"Hi, you are a young girl in the meeting room, I guess you must be Claire's actor?" A handsome young boy wearing a black hooded vest stopped the script that was spinning in his hand, stretched out his hand and introduced himself He said, "You can call me Cole. I played your classmate Carter in the movie, the one who lived most of the movie but died at the last moment."

After listening to the introduction, Eve knew that her neighbor Josh Duhamel would definitely be eliminated. He was called back to audition for this role.

"I'm Eve, nice to meet you."

Cole's personality is very similar to the character, he is a typical big American boy, he looks familiar, pointing to the blond-haired Nan Hai with melancholy eyes and said: "This is your partner Alex, he It's Devon."

Devon's demeanor looks a little quiet and elegant, which coincides with the image of the protagonist Alex in the movie. It is probably because of his careful life that he can detect the tricks of death.

"Hi, I'm Sean..."

This young man looked like a silly sports student. Before he finished his introduction, director James Huang clapped his hands and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please be quiet first. Although you have all seen the movie The script, but Jeffrey and I are still going to explain the setting of the script to you, if there is a problem or something is unclear, you can interrupt us at any time."

"understand!"

"understood!"

"OK!"

The actors and staff answered in unison.

Huang Yiyu is not only the director of the film, he is also the screenwriter, and almost the entire film was conceived by him and Jeffrey Redick.

"As you can see, we tried to create a Grim Reaper who can't be seen and who doesn't show his face. He has an indescribable mysterious power, causing the survivors of the plane explosion to die in various unexpected ways. .For human beings, the greatest fear is ignorance. Once death appears, this sense of fear and oppression will be greatly weakened.”

"That's right. Although "Reaper" also has a small number of bloody scenes, it is not the dominant genre. Unlike other horror thrillers on the market that focus on visual impact, we pay more attention to the creation of atmosphere and environment, full of oriental weirdness, from The soul makes the audience feel ups and downs following the actions of the protagonist of the movie."

Eve actually thinks that Hollywood horror movies are more disgusting, and all kinds of plasma, body organs or makeup bring physical discomfort.Some horror movies in the East can make people creepy, and after watching it, they will still shiver for many days.

She especially agrees with Huang Yiyu's words. Perhaps among so many people present, she is the only one who can truly understand what the Chinese director wants to express.

"The real horror is when people think they've escaped death, but they've only escaped temporarily. You might get a second chance at life, but you can't fool Death."

This movie breaks through the genres and shooting techniques of all previous horror thrillers. There are no monsters, no horror, no perverted murderers, no ghosts and ghosts.

Everything is so unknowable.

Watching the characters being taken away by objects that can be seen everywhere in life, who can't feel a chill down their backs!

Any small omission can allow the god of death to find loopholes, link a series of accidents together, and eventually kill people.

Huang Yiyu saw that the main characters in front of him were all young people, and he couldn't help telling: "When you are performing, you must substitute into it, imagine yourself being chased by the invisible god of death, the other party is everywhere and all the time!"

If the unexpected feeling of negligence in life can be staged, and the dying struggle before death can be staged, it will make the audience even more frightened.

Eve thought for a while and said, "You mean the point of the movie is not the novel way of death, but the chronic torture before death? This is like Hitchcock's timing bomb theory. The audience almost knows that these characters are going to die, so the process of waiting for death should be the point?"

Hitchcock believes that suspense is the core of the story. The timed bomb theory means that three people play cards around a table, and there is a timed bomb under the table that will explode in 5 minutes. Director How to shoot to play the biggest role in suspense?

If you don't explain the bomb and shoot the explosion scene directly, you will only get the shock of the audience, which is at the lowest level.

If you tell the audience in advance that there is a bomb under the table, and then continue to film three people playing cards, although this will create suspense, it will be dull and worthless, barely at the intermediate stage.

So what is the advanced shooting technique?

Hitchcock's approach is to tell the audience in advance that there is a bomb under the table, and then turn to portray the different reactions of the three people.The three of them were about to leave after playing for 3 minutes, but one of them didn't want to leave, so they played for another minute.When they were about to leave again, another person wanted to stay and drink.

This shooting method constantly created suspense and successfully touched the hearts of the audience.In the last minute, no matter whether this timed bomb will explode or not, it can firmly attract the attention of the audience!

The top master of suspense is to tie the audience's own desires and expectations to the plot.

The professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts once talked about this easy-to-understand example, and the original owner's memory is very deep, so Eve was asked to draw inferences from one instance.

Huang Yiyu gave Eve a surprised look, he was really surprised.

I thought she was a Hollywood actress, but she didn't expect to understand her intentions.

Not many people die in the movie, everyone has a long death process, and this process is actually torture, and it also whets the appetite of the audience, allowing them to experience the suffocating feeling of being on pins and needles and unable to breathe through the mouth and nose.

"Everyone will die. Human death is something designed by the Grim Reaper long ago. He has a death list. I don't want to see the image of the Grim Reaper in the traditional sense. There is no need for him to wear a black cloak and wield a scythe to harvest everyone's life. .”

The setting of the death list is actually a bit like the book of life and death of Hades. Eve is a little curious, wondering if the director's inspiration comes from oriental myths and legends.

When the director stopped, Sean asked: "Director, I have a small request, can you put more plasma on me during filming, I want to see my head cut off in the movie, Blood spurted from the neck."

As soon as his words fell, there was a burst of nonono rejection in the conference room.

Eve, Devon, Cole and others shook their heads in unison.

No one wants to get plasma all over the place.

"Practice your lines, we will officially start filming the scene on the plane tomorrow."

Most of the location shooting of the crew is in the suburbs of New York, and the budget spent on the venue is not too high. The biggest expense is actually the rent for night shooting at Kennedy Airport.

Of course, the plane is not and will not be a real plane, but a built-up model of the plane, as long as the interior is arranged according to the normal cabin.

Next, the producer talked about a bunch of words of encouragement for win-win cooperation and a quick end to the filming, which made the cast and crew a little drowsy.

After the rest of the people left, only the actors were left in the conference room. Most of the actors were young people, and only two teachers were played by middle-aged men and women.

"Where do we start? The airport scene doesn't need to be practiced right now?" Chad, who plays Todd, rubs his hands excitedly.

Devon opened his own script and said, "Let's start from the side where you get on the plane. This line should belong to you, Brandon."

Students in a class are going to travel to Paris, of course they need a lot of extras, it is impossible to have a camera and lines.Brandon read the script carefully, and said: "There are children on the plane, which is a good sign. The younger the better, basically nothing will happen, otherwise God must be psychopathic."

As soon as he finished his lines, everyone in the meeting room burst into muffled laughter.

It really is a flag.

The audience has a similar mentality, and Brandon just spoke the aspirations of the vast majority of people.

Because of this, there will be an airplane explosion at the beginning, which directly breaks the audience out of their inertial thinking and the usual means of other horror thrillers, and puts on a good show.

These actors are basically newcomers or low-level actors. It is too rare to have such a chance to star in a movie with an investment of 2000 million US dollars.

Eve doesn't have a lot of roles in this part, but she still listens attentively, wanting to see how the acting skills and lines of these opponents are.

……

In the huge studio, a cabin of the same proportion appeared in front of Eve's eyes. She had already changed into the black costume of the heroine in the movie, exposing her small waist.

Britney Spears' "Babyonemoretime" to Christina Aguilera's "GenieInaBottle" have led the fashion of young girls, and even some big names and stars are dressed similarly.

The top must be short. If it is too long, you can choose to tie the hem of the clothes or cut it off with scissors.

It happened that Eve was tall and thin, so she managed this outfit very well. The high heels were mostly hidden by the slim-fit flared pants, and her snow-white skin was faintly visible. On her long blond hair was a pair of Walkman headphones, and she was holding a glass of Starbucks coffee cups and a Paris travel guide.

After entering the interior of the cabin, she realized that there was another universe inside. She thought that everything was restored in 1:1. Unexpectedly, there were all kinds of steel frames, ropes, and wires in the area that the camera could not capture. The cabin is actually not capped. .

The extras are comforting the children, the actor playing the oxygen-absorbing disabled is trying various poses, and cameras are placed in front of the aisle to capture the movements of the actors, and even a sound engineer is holding a microphone to listen to the scene.

"Let's practice walking first. After a while, the camera will gradually advance. There will be no staff to remind you when to go in, so everyone has to be more proficient." Huang Yiyu is not tall, but standing next to the camera has the majesty of a director .

Even though there will be no long shots in this horror film, and most of them are edited together with short shots, proper practice can still reduce the loss of film.

In the case of insufficient funds, too much waste is not allowed.

Remember the position of the camera, you can’t deliberately look at the camera, and you can’t point the back of your head or a certain side face at the camera. If you want to show the front face, you should show the front face.

Trials and positioning are very important, and the actual shooting starts only after the director confirms that the cameras from all angles are ok.

The workload of lighting, camera, and field affairs is huge. The lighting during shooting will definitely be different from the effect after shooting. How to make the lighting on the big screen look the same as the light of the plane in reality becomes the lighting group and prop group. Our puzzle must be changed slowly with optical instruments.

Fortunately, there are many talents behind the scenes in Hollywood, otherwise it would be difficult to meet so many requirements.

"Eve, come here for the last costume and makeup check, and the shooting will start soon!" The field assistant arranged in an orderly manner.