King of Hollywood-Chapter 205 - : There Are No Better Adjectives Than This

Chapter 205: Chapter 205: There Are No Better Adjectives Than This

The props team quickly bought back the item Adrian needed, which was a long string of orange and red beaded curtains. Although many people felt it was nonsensical to bring back such a thing, their puzzlement did not last long. But as the bead curtain was hung up in the room and Adrian started reshooting, they began to understand its purpose.

“What should I say to them?” asked one of Stan’s men as Stan prepared to leave and instructed him to interact with the arriving police.

“Tell them,” Stan, having already walked some distance away, suddenly turned around, took a few steps towards the beaded curtain, and looked through the slender bead chains with wolf-like eyes at his subordinate, “we are simply doing our jobs.”

“Good!” Adrian, operating the camera himself, looked up and gave Gary Oldman a thumbs-up, “This shot is quite nice, Gary, the effect with the bead curtain is indeed better. I believe it, along with Natalie’s shot from yesterday, should be the one of the most outstanding shots in the film.”

To a large extent, this was just flattery. Indeed, with the intuitive addition of the beaded curtain by Adrian, Oldman’s shot did look more sinister and dangerous, but it was essentially different from Natalie’s. Matilda crying outside Lyon’s door begging to be let in was a key turning point in the story; if Lyon didn’t open the door, the film could not proceed. While Stan sending his man to deal with the other police was only meant to underline his neurotic character, something superfluous, that even if not demonstrated here, could be shown elsewhere.

But, saying a few complimentary words didn’t cost anything and would make their relationship more harmonious. Everyone likes to hear nice things, so why not?

“I have to say, the effect with the bead curtain added is obviously much stronger than without it.” Oldman, who had specifically gone over to the monitor to watch the shot, said, “No wonder they say you always have an endless stream of ideas.”

Compliments were always reciprocal.

“Let’s continue then, we still have many shots to do,” Adrian said, ready to have everyone redecorate the room, but assistant director Masterson stopped him: “Wait, Ed, before that, there are a few shots we need to reshoot, right?”

Adrian raised an eyebrow, then remembered. There were mainly two shots happening here just before; apart from the one where Stan sent his man to handle the police, there was also the shot where Stan verbally toys with Matilda’s father. With the bead curtain now in place, the previous shot obviously needed to be redone. Otherwise, if there were inconsistencies with the bead curtain appearing and disappearing, it would be a joke.

“Indeed,” Adrian said, calling over the actor who played Matilda’s father, “I’m sorry, Brinkley, but I need you to perform the scene from Scene 54 in Take 104 again.”

“No problem, Mr. Director,” said Brinkley, who looked a bit portly and sleazy, promptly.

“Good, guys, we’re going to start reshooting, let’s get moving,” Adrian called out to everyone, then half-jokingly added, “To be honest, you should feel lucky. If I had thought of using the bead curtain after we finished shooting all the apartment scenes, then at least half the shots would need to be redone.”

The joke did not elicit much laughter; everyone was busy preparing for the reshoots. Adrian, unbothered, went behind the camera to take personal charge again. This time, it didn’t take very long; both Oldman and Brinkley were already familiar with the process, and with the previous adjustments, Oldman’s performance was even better.

Adrian seized the opportunity and pressed on with shooting, luckily completing the day’s schedule before its end. It should be noted that although the schedule planned for the massacre scene only required two days of shooting, Adrian had already mentally extended this by at least half a day, because this scene involved the role of a four-year-old child.

All directors and producers know that the most headache-inducing actors to work with during film production are not the big stars or the inexperienced extras, but animals and four- to eight-year-old children! Because they simply do not know what emotions and feelings the director wants them to convey; a single mishap in collaborating with them could spell disaster.

Fortunately, the boy playing Matilda’s brother had only a few parts aside from hiding under the bed and then running out due to a sudden incident; there was virtually nothing else. Even the shot of him being shot was represented by one of Stan’s men firing bullets into the wall — in American films, scenes depicting the corpses of young children are extremely rare, and even with Kubrick’s audacity, he could only depict the scene of the twin girls lying in a pool of blood with a fleeting shot in “The Shining.” This is the MPAA’s bottom line, not to be crossed.

Despite this, the few simple shots still took a long time to complete; the four-year-old boy, although very cute, did not show any sense of fear, nor did he like to speak much. Whenever Adrian told him to appear more tense or more panicked, he would just gaze at him with large, uncomprehending eyes.

This was definitely a frustrating matter, and although eventually, those few shots were barely acceptable, the thought of needing him on screen again when shooting Matilda’s family life made Adrian feel gloomy and stressed.

“Well, there’s still some time before we shoot that scene, and today has already ended,” thought Adrian as he wrapped things up with Charlie. He then left the set with Monica. The plan for the evening naturally included dinner and shopping. Although Monica had been to New York a few times for Fashion Week as a model, and had seen some sights, her experiences had been quite superficial, just a brief glance at best.

Adrian, though he rarely visited New York before, had come to the city more frequently since the late ’90s to rebuild relations with his uncle, so he’d gained some familiarity with the city and had no problem playing the role of a simple tour guide.

Fifth Avenue, Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty at the Hudson River mouth were must-visit places, even if both of them had been there before. It was only after they had a lot of fun and enjoyed themselves thoroughly that they returned to their apartment to continue what they loved doing.

The following days were much the same, except Monica wasn’t always on the set of “The Professional” during the day. She would go out on her own while Adrian was directing, but as soon as Adrian wrapped up, they’d head out together and return to the apartment.

As such, it was no secret to anyone in the crew, newcomers or people like Oldman, what the relationship between them was. Of course, no one said much about it; it was all too normal. Oldman had even once joked with Adrian about it, but Adrian had lightly brushed it off.

“We’re just shooting the upper body, Shafei, and if you feel uncomfortable at any point, let us know, and we can alter the action,” Adrian said to the two actors as he stood in the cramped kitchen hallway, directing the scene. The slightly chubby and slightly sleazy-looking man playing the father was Brinkley, while the woman with dyed blonde hair wearing a leopard print silk coat was Shafei, playing the stepmother.

“No problem, Mr. Director, I’m all ready,” Shafei immediately expressed her readiness.

“I’ll keep an eye on things, Mr. Director,” added Brinkley.

“Great, then let’s go over the lines one more time. We’ll start the first take in a few minutes,” Adrian nodded, then walked away to talk to someone else.

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They had already finished shooting the massacre scene, and were now capturing the everyday life scenes of Matilda’s original home, set in the morning of the day they were wiped out. Practically speaking, once these shots were done, the apartment scenes would also be completed.

“Hey, look here, Toby, I’m a little goat, a little goat, munching away at the tender grass all day long,” Adrian heard coming from one of the rooms as he passed by, accompanied by giggling laughter.

Curious, he stepped back a few steps to look inside and saw that it was Natalie playing with the boy who played her brother. She was sitting on the bed with her hands positioned on her head like horns, her face illuminated with a playful and adorable smile, winking and sticking out her tongue now and then, making the little boy laugh with delight.

“You look more like a bunny, Nata,” Adrian couldn’t help but say from the doorway.

“That’s impossible, everyone’s always told me I’m quite good at impersonating a goat,” Natalie retorted upon seeing who it was.

“But your hands, they really do look more like ears than horns,” Adrian said with a grin, and then he mimicked her by sticking two fingers up beside his head and waggling them.

“They are not like that…” Natalie was about to argue back when she suddenly wrapped her arms around her chest, tucking in her legs, and pouted at Adrian with a mock glare of ‘anger’: “How can you spy on us! That’s not gentlemanly at all!”

Adrian nearly choked on his own saliva, torn between frustration and amusement at Natalie, unsure of what to say. They were currently shooting morning scenes, and since Natalie had already finished the scenes where she receives the call from the reform school, she was still dressed in the large blue and white striped shirt, along with a white tank top and safety shorts, not yet having changed.

Though she was just a few days shy of turning 12, her slightly developing breasts already had a hint of curve, and her pale, slender legs were exposed – coupled with her delicate face wearing a mix of embarrassment, irritation, dissatisfaction, and slyness – it was as if Matilda and she became one. She exuded a green yet fatally alluring charm, even though Adrian had seen her dressed like this while filming the phone call scene before.

“Vladimir, I curse you once more, and praise you once again,” Adrian sighed silently to himself. In a flash, he thought of the famous line from “Lolita,” and wasn’t there a more fitting description than that? (To be continued, for further developments please visit www.qidian.com. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)