Chapter 2113: 2113 Super Lineup
Hugo was an actor before he was a screenwriter. This can be felt in the two scripts of "Before Sunrise" and "As Good as It Gets". His portrayal and sculpting of the characters is really commendable. "Before Sunrise" earned Charlize her first Oscar nomination, and "As Good as It Gets" went one step further, earning both Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt Oscar nominations.
This time "A Beautiful Mind" is no exception.
As the protagonist John Nash, Hugo devoted almost all his efforts, not only to John's life, but Hugo also consulted a lot of psychological materials, and talked with several different psychiatrists, trying to make John's image Fully three-dimensional shape up. The core content of the entire script is John's schizophrenia, which is unimaginably difficult for the performance process.
In the process of writing the script, Hugo actually entered John's spiritual world step by step, which is why the script creation could not be accelerated. It took Hugo more than 60 days to complete the writing of the script. In fact, although it has not yet officially started filming, Hugo has already begun to slowly find the rhythm of the performance. It's just that Hugo's control over his acting skills is very good now, so it didn't completely get out of control.
Except for John, Hugo spent a lot of energy on the research of a supporting role, and spent a lot of pen and ink on the description of the supporting role. Because the content was too much, Hugo had to spend more than ten days to delete the content and fine-tune the content of the script.
The character of Alicia Nash was actually recreated by Hugo—more precisely, Hugo recreated the entire story. Because it is too difficult to truly present John Nash's life, and the background of the times is too grand, so Hugo adopted John's life structure according to the subject he set - from genius to schizophrenia to Nobel Prize —and thus construct a semi-fictional story. So, Hugo rewrote Alicia.
Alicia in "A Beautiful Mind" is actually more complicated, but also more real. Her mentality changes, psychological struggles, and emotional ups and downs are the most real, and they can almost be said to be situations that may occur to every normal person in real life. But the only difference is that Alicia chose to stay, maybe because of the power of love, maybe the burden of responsibility, maybe because of the fetters of friendship... Hugo didn't deliberately point it out in the script, but left it for the audience to learn from themselves. perspective to interpret. However, what is certain is that Alicia's persistence has become the key to John's improvement, just like a ray of light in the darkness.
The role of Alicia may not be as complex as Irene Aenos, but the difficulty of acting is no less difficult. Because what this role requires Charlize to show is the softness and fragility she does not want to show to others, that delicate and sensitive struggle, like a gentle sunrise, weak but tough, tearing apart the dark haze bit by bit, letting the sun Cover the earth again.
In fact, this role is somewhat similar to Charlize's vulnerability in "The Devil's Advocate", but it is completely different. This puts super high demands on Charlize's control.
Although Charlize already has two acting statuettes in hand, the road to acting is still very long. "A Beautiful Mind" can definitely be said to be a new challenge. Hugo wanted Charlize to play Alicia, not just relying on favors - because Hugo knew that Charlize could play the role and could interpret a completely different style, he also looked forward to another confrontation with Charlize play.
The same goes for the other characters in "A Beautiful Mind," and Hugo was definitely not written for favors.
For example, William Pacher, Hugo hopes to be played by Leonardo. But in fact, at the very beginning of writing the character, Hugo conceived Ed Harris, the actor who had just played Christopher in "The Truman Show." But with the perfection and modification of the script, Hugo felt that Leonardo was more suitable for this role.
William Parcher is a fictional character created during the course of John Nash's schizophrenia. In John's consciousness, William is a federal agent. He came to the door, hoping that John could help crack the enemy's code and maintain national security, which made him a behind-the-scenes hero hidden in history.
The appearance of this character is definitely not Hugo's inexplicable setting. After Hugo studied John's life, he found that although John was a genius from childhood, he was always a freak, always ridiculed by people, and he always disdained those so-called social interactions, as if in his world Just math. But in the depths of the subconscious—even the depths of the subconscious that he himself is not aware of, he still hopes to be recognized by society.
Maybe not those ordinary people who "have no knowledge, no culture, no experience", but those who can really appreciate his ability, his wisdom, and his talent. He hopes that he is not just a nerd who studies mathematics, he hopes to be able to Recognized by the social elite, he hopes to truly create a career.
In fact, it is the sense of existence. Everyone needs the sense of existence, even the smallest people need their own sense of existence. Maybe it's the presence of the head of the family, maybe the presence of excellent grades, or the presence of the whole world in the eyes of a loved one...or, like John, the presence of being recognized in a certain field.
So, Hugo set up the role of William Parcher. During his schizophrenia, John virtualized William. Although he was forced by William to "sell his life for the country", he actually enjoyed it himself. Even if it was dangerous, he tried his best to "obey orders" , because in the depths of his subconscious mind, he is eager to prove his worth in this way-this also echoes John Nash's fables about politics in real life, and embeds the clues of reality into the story line in a metaphorical way. Even when people later told him that it was a fictional character, he refused to believe it.
So Parcher has very distinctive characteristics, mysterious, authoritative, strong, rational, wise, clever, cunning, and can even see through all conspiracies and tricks. This is the definition of "authority person" in John's heart.
Hugo originally hoped that Ed Harris would play this role, because Ed's image is positive, tall, serious, and at the same time has a hint of ruthlessness. But later it was discovered that Ed was actually too strong, especially his acting style was completely open and closed. He could show Parcher's authoritative side, but it was not enough to outline the inner entanglement between Parcher and Nash. Strictly speaking, Parcher is actually a projection of Nash's heart, that is, a part of Nash, and Ed is not the best choice to show this connection.
Later, Hugo considered Leonardo, and Hugo was very hesitant at first. Firstly, Leonardo is too young and far from the role; secondly, Leonardo’s performance is more than delicate, but not thick enough. When the role lacks a crutch, he can only rely on his acting talent to interpret, so The pace of acting is hit and miss, making it difficult to maintain a consistent average.
Because of the role of William Pacher, Hugo re-conceived the script several times, but he never had a clear idea. Because when Hugo wrote the script of "A Beautiful Mind", he made overall arrangements for the fantasy roles of John Nash. One is William Pacher, who represents John's dream and is also a colleague, who is loyal; The roommate represents John's friendship and is also a friend, which is trust; the other is Marcy, Charles' niece, which represents John's family affection, and at the same time is the spiritual maintenance of sympathy, which is sympathy, tenderness and love.
Finally, there is Alicia in real life, representing John's love. She is not only John's confidant, but also John's trust, loyalty and tenderness.
Therefore, the setting and personality of each character are completely different, which is why Hugo needs to recreate the story of John Nash-the part of the virtual illusion, John always refuses to talk directly with Hugo.
Later, after the roles of Charles and Marcie had been perfected, Hugo suddenly became enlightened. He realized that Leonardo's disadvantage was actually his advantage. Leonardo's youth is incompatible with the role, but this also complements the fact that "William Pacher" is completely fictional, especially John's youthful fame-he created game theory at the age of 21, so in In his subconscious mind, William Pacher, who is also an authoritative figure, should not be a middle-aged man, but a top existence who is similar to his age but has already achieved great success. This makes John even more eager to become someone like William.
In addition, Leonardo has been relying on crutches during the performance, but it was under Hugo's persuasion that he took over the filming of "Titanic". However, "Titanic" left Leonardo with limited performance space, and James Cameron is not a director who can capture actors' performances.
Now, William Pacher of "A Beautiful Mind" can give him a perfect platform. Once Hugo was still worried that after "Titanic", Leonardo's acting exploration path would repeat the same mistakes, but now "A Beautiful Mind" is a brand new opportunity to get Leonardo back on track. The only question is: is Hugo willing to believe in Leonardo's talent?
The answer is yes.
From Charlize to Leonardo, although they are all close partners of Hugo, this is definitely not emotional, but the result of careful consideration. As a producer, Hugo hopes that "A Beautiful Mind" will be successful more than anyone else, so he also pays more attention to details than anyone else.
As for Charles and Marcie, Hugo also had a draft in mind. After a simple audition for the role of Charles, Heath Ledger successfully persuaded Hugo; .Fanning) starred. After the entire cast was confirmed, Hugo discovered that he had formed a dream team.