Three Hundred and Forty-One - After Everyone Was Released, Filming Started
In the penthouse suite of the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, Wayne stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, with the night view under his feet brightly lit and busy with traffic. This place was different from the glitz and bustle of Los Angeles and had a more modern atmosphere.
Ever since the assistant lady said that something was wrong, he fell into silence and stood alone in front of the window all night, until it was completely dark, and the ashtray at hand was already filled with cigarette butts.
There are many things that cannot be determined by just guessing. However, analyzing the current situation, it does not cause him any trouble at all. This is what makes people most confused.
It's just a few photos. Even if he publicly admits that he is the father of the child in Naomi Watts' belly, so what?
According to the usual trend of public opinion, it will only allow the public to discuss it for a while, and perhaps most people will give their blessings, and then the media will follow up and hype up the golden boy's character. This is in line with the normal fermentation of things.
But the former agent who was fired by Naomi Watts suddenly appeared and was willing to take the risk of offending himself by identifying the child in the media, which made Wayne smell something unusual.
"Someone gave her greater temptation and benefits..."
Muttering softly, this was the only thing he could think of, but even so, he still couldn't guess what these meant.
"Nina."
Wayne stubbed out the cigarette in his hand again, turned around and called the assistant. "Tomorrow morning you contact Anthony Pellicano and ask him to investigate who the photos were first leaked from."
Nina nodded. "Okay, boss."
If there is anyone who is the most useful information collector in the Hollywood circle, it must be Anthony Pellicano, the eye of Hollywood. The assistant lady has always been in contact with the other party in the past two years. As long as someone collects information about Wayne, they will know it immediately.
Compared with his charging standards that far exceed the well-known private detectives, his work efficiency is also far higher than that of ordinary people. In Wayne's mind, this person is like a master of data analysis, who can always find what he wants to know from clues. information.
"This is the case for now. At least I can't see how it will harm me." He shook his head at the assistant lady and walked to the bedroom without eating dinner.
No matter what happened, the first task before him now was the filming of the film. As for other issues, Wayne could only wait passively to see what was fishy about it.
Early the next morning, the crew, nearly 150 people on and off stage, walked out of the hotel in an orderly manner amidst the hustle and bustle of the early morning, forming a long motorcade and quickly arrived at the filming location prepared in advance.
A building here was rented, and dozens of local movie fans and media reporters gathered outside the crew isolation zone downstairs. Because there were so many people at the scene, Wayne had to ask Nina to inform Ector- Henry, ask him to contact the local police department to maintain order.
Until everything is clear, he will not accept any media interviews. Even if some of the fans who are watching are coming for him, they have no intention of stopping to sign autographs and say hello. After the car stops, he just lowers his head and enters. building.
Since the morning, staff members have been congratulating him non-stop. Today the news has completely spread, and almost everyone knows that he is going to be a father. In the minds of normal people, this is a good thing.
Originally, a large number of media gathered around the film as soon as it started shooting, which was a mixed blessing. Although the quiet shooting environment was lost, too much media attention would slow down the work, but at the same time, it could also gain more attention for the film. to the role of advance publicity.
When such a suitable opportunity arises, what Wayne should do most is to accept interviews to create more attention-grabbing topics and, by the way, give the film a wave of free publicity.
If it weren't for Naomi Watts' former agent's revelations, he wouldn't have hesitated to do this at all.
Although his previous films have achieved great success at the box office, if you think about it carefully, the first two films are mostly made up of tricks, while the latter film itself is an adaptation, which inherently has great popularity and topicality, making the film create The high box office has a good foundation.
Frankly speaking, this "The Departed" can be regarded as an original script. No matter how good the reputation is after it is filmed, it will still not be able to escape the limitations of non-sequel adaptations. This kind of limitation will not be mentioned by him in another twenty years. No one can break the circle.
Movies still have to make money after all, not to mention that Greenberg's studio still holds 50% of the investment, so it's even less likely that he will let his money go down the drain. Being an Oscar winner is not that expensive.
"How about I organize the reporters and let Brad Pitt and Chris be interviewed to promote the film?" Ector Henry walked up to Wayne and looked at the crowd through the window with him.
Faced with such a good publicity opportunity, as the second producer, he was also moved. This is simply a free promotion channel in advance.
"No, these people are not focused on the film. We are mainly focused on filming." Wayne shook his head, took one last look at the gathering crowd, turned around and walked towards the elevator with his assistant and others.
Gilmore, Schwartz and others have been up there for a while. They are coordinating various departments to set up the shooting scene, arrange the camera positions and adjust the lighting in advance.
According to Wayne's idea, although this film has commercial attributes, the production method is more similar to an independent film. There is no clear release date, which naturally leaves enough time for filming, as long as it can be completed before April or May next year. .
It is now early December. As long as nothing goes wrong, and the film can be screened or officially released in Los Angeles before the summer holiday next year, the film will inevitably be screened for a long time in order to gain admission to the 1997 awards season.
This kind of non-sequel adaptation of a realistic gangster movie is itself a banned genre, so it is naturally impossible to have a large market. It cannot be compared with science fiction or action movies, so the awards season is his specialty. place.
Even co-investor Warner Bros. knows that if Wayne's new film wants to obtain a North American box office of over 300 million US dollars, even if God comes, there will be no way. The natural audience determines the film's box office ceiling.
Adjustments to the camera position and lighting have been completed on the roof. Christian Bale and Brad Pitt took advantage of the gap to continue to exchange lines. They had already practiced the specific performance requirements, and they only shot the first scene. The ending of the film was something no one expected, which made the two people who were not familiar with each other face even greater challenges.
After arriving at the main camera, Wayne checked everything one by one again and confirmed the work with Robert, Steve and others before the official shooting to avoid any oversights that would lead to problems after the official shooting started.
Even though many films have been shot, the launch of every new project is the beginning of a new challenge for the director. Any negligence in work may waste the hard work of dozens or hundreds of people on the crew.
Therefore, no matter how many successes there are, every new movie shooting is a journey for the director to constantly solve difficulties again.
After making sure that everything was fine, Wayne walked back to the reserved monitor, picked up his director's notebook, took a look at it, and compared the scene arrangements. The director's sufficient preparation in advance determines the efficiency of the subsequent shooting. He never likes to play with the influx of inspiration and uses it on the spot.
This is Hollywood. Even if this type of film is aimed at the awards season and is not required to produce a tight time, it is impossible for him to shoot a film for several years like Mr. Xu.
Through the image transmitted from the camera to the monitor, Wayne picked up the loudspeaker on the table and shouted to Steve Wilson: "The light is getting harder, now it's softer, yes, it's darker, I needed to deliver a cool effect.”
While the lighting team was quickly adjusting, he pointed to the background wall on the side of the rooftop. "Wicks, the old paint buckets under that wall have been repositioned so they can't show from behind the camera now."
"It'll be ready soon." Wicks-Hart nodded quickly and ran over with two assistants from the prop team.
"Is there anything inappropriate?" Gilmore, as the assistant director, came to him and asked nervously. "I mean about the set or other preparations."
The assistant director was responsible for coordinating and arranging all of this in advance. Since it was his first time to work with Wayne, he hoped to learn more about his shooting habits.
"Just some fine-tuning, don't be nervous." Wayne understood what he was thinking and pointed at the monitor. "There is never any room for sloppiness in the construction of a film's scene, and it must be refined. It depends on the story that happened before the camera, the on-site shooting and the crucial post-production."
While the staff was making adjustments, Gilmore immediately perked up when he heard Wayne's words. He knew that these were the work experiences accumulated by the other party, which were quite rare for him.
"Just like the lighting just mentioned, if we want to change the tonality according to needs, the easiest way to achieve the effect you want is the lighting. The lighting adjusted through post-production is far less accurate than on-site The lights..."
Wayne kept talking casually, "This way he can get into work as quickly as possible, forget about the media reporters gathered around the studio downstairs, forget about his child who is about to be born in Los Angeles, forget about all other irrelevant things, and concentrate on Come up with what you are best at.
"The lighting is OK!"
"The set is OK!"
"The camera is also ready!"
The crew stepped back from the camera. After everything was ready, Brad Pitt, who played Billy, and Christian Bale, who played Colin, walked into the camera together. Everyone looked towards the director's seat. , just waiting for Wayne to start officially filming the first scene.