Birth of an actor

After the living room footage was played and the room went back to darkness, Bill Morchanick was about to stand up and go say hello to James Cameron, but when he saw James Cameron fiddling with the equipment and started playing the second movie During the clip, he immediately sat back—speaking of which, he had just met William Bradley’s Carl and Kate Winslet’s Ruth, and they were undoubtedly very qualified, but he hadn’t Meet Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack.

Luckily, in the segment played by James Cameron, Jack Dawson appears soon after.

In Class A of the Titanic, the blond Jack was lying on a bench looking at the stars. The scene changed and he came to the banquet hall of the first class cabin. , Karl is talking with business partners, Mrs. Bucket is chatting with the ladies, except for Ruth, she is out of tune with the lively atmosphere around her, and if you experience it carefully, you can feel her huge emotional loneliness and hesitation.

Through ingenious camera cuts and hints, Bill Mochanick can easily know that Ruth, a noble lady in the first class, is about to have a relationship with Jack, a poor boy in the poorly dressed lower class.

Sure enough, the next scene is that Ruth could no longer bear the hypocrisy of the first class cabin. She stood up suddenly from her seat, rushed to the stern with hurried steps, and cried while running, with tears on her face.

Ruth is going to kill herself.

The reason for suicide was that Ruth seemed to have seen her own future from the upper-class people around her: dealing with hypocritical people all her life, having no other common topics except status, money, jewelry and clothing, and spending the rest of her life Life is wasted in endless parties and dances, until the moment of death... What a vain and shallow life, a life that can be seen at a glance.

Then when Ruth slowly climbed up the railing and was about to jump into the dark blue ocean to gain eternal peace, she was seen by Jack.

The blond-haired Jack looked kind and enthusiastic. From the way he looked at Ruth's back, he could guess that the young artist would never watch a young girl commit suicide by jumping into the sea, so Jack stopped him and took off his shoes. Jacket, climbed up the railing, and uttered the very touching line: "If you want to dance, I will dance with you."

'Ha, clever boy! Bill Mochanick speculated with relish: "A high-class lady who has received a good education since she was a child must not have the heart to drag others to die together. It is certain that she will dispel suicidal thoughts because you dance and I dance. It's simply too pleasing to people.Kill two birds with one stone. '

Sure enough, Ruth gave up the idea of ​​suicide, but when she wanted to climb over the railing and return to the deck, she slipped and fell into the sea.

Luckily Jack had already grabbed her hand!

——In the post-production film, Ruth’s feet should be the sea, and then Jack and her clasped palms and staged a life-and-death struggle between the sea and the railings, but now Bill Mochanick sees it on the big screen There is only a green screen, so even though the expressions of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are very real and terrified, he is still in a trance for a while, and when he comes back to his senses, Jack has put Ruth was hugged off the railing, and both of them rolled onto Class A, and even the crew members rushed over after hearing the sound.

The crew members who came after hearing Ruth's call for help did not see the scene where Ruth almost fell into the sea, but instead saw a first-class lady lying on the ground with disheveled clothes and messy hair, and was rescued by a woman from the lower class. The man hugged him, and the man's clothes were also in a mess, even his shoes were taken off.

The crew thought that Jack was trying to do something wrong to the noble lady in the first class, so they handcuffed him severely.

At this time, Ruth's fiancé Karl also came after hearing the news.

Ruth had already been supported by the crew and sat on the bench to rest. As soon as Carl arrived, he ordered the housekeeper to bring her hot tea and blankets, then turned to Jack, and angrily reprimanded: "It's so audacious, how dare you Touch my fiancée!"

Faced with such anger and accusations, Jack flinched, and looked at Ruth involuntarily, with a completely innocent and speechless expression.

The shift of Jack's gaze made Carl even more angry. He firmly believed that his fiancée had been taken advantage of by the other party. He grabbed Jack's collar with his left hand, pinched the other party's chin with his right hand, and scolded loudly: "Look at me, you bastard!"

Jack looked at Carl obediently.

Jack's obedience did not dissipate a little bit of Carl's anger. He just ran out from the banquet, and he was hot with anger in a thin dress. He grabbed Jack's collar and pulled him close to Jack's ear. Almost stuck to his chin: "Are you tired of living?"

The voice was close to a whisper, low, silky, and cold.There is a dangerous smell.

Jack looked at Carl blankly.

——In this near-frozen gaze, Bill Mochanek felt a small spark appear.

Ruth stood up and ran over, pulling Carl's arm away: "It was an accident!"

"An accident?" Carl's movements stopped, he let go of Jack's collar, turned his head to look at Ruth, expressions of shock and incredulity slid across his face one after another, and finally condensed into something funny, as if Shocked by Ruth's words.

"It was an accident!" Ruth still had tears of panic on her face, but she opened her mouth wide and stared at Carl with her sparkling eyes, trying to impress him: "I accidentally slipped on the railing when I was lying on the railing." , because I leaned forward to see--"

She looked at Jack with pleading eyes. Jack's brows went from frowning to loosening slowly, and suddenly she realized that Ruth wanted to absolve herself of the crime.Jack looked back at her with confused and amused eyes, as if waiting for some good excuse Ruth could make up.

Ruth was helpless again, her eyes wandered all over the place, her fingers twirled, not knowing where to point: "Look... ah, uh..."

"Propeller?" Carl asked when Ruth was about to die of embarrassment.

"That's right, I accidentally slipped and fell." Ruth immediately responded enthusiastically.

The next scene is a close-up shot of Carl: his gaze swivels between Ruth and Jack, and the temperature gradually disappears from those dark green eyes, replaced by a colder emotion.The corners of his mouth moved slightly, as if he was almost unable to restrain the overflowing emotions in his chest, and before the facial expression revealed more inner activities, the green eyes moved away and cast their deep gaze to a place that others could not catch.

After almost a breath, Carl put on a fake smile commonly used by the upper class on his face, and calmly nodded to the people around him: "Ruth just wants to see the propeller."

Bill Mochanek has only now regained the breath he had been holding just now: that look just now is great!

'Interesting, when the jealous fiancé finds out that his fiancée has a little secret with other men, his first reaction is to help his fiancée whitewash the peace. "Bill Mochanek Mochanick has been deeply attracted by the movie, and he is doing analysis with all his heart: "The young lady suddenly fell from the railing, and the rescuer still had time to take off her coat and shoes .Why look at the propeller, ha, Ruth's lie is still too clumsy, and Jack's shoelaces haven't been tied yet!Some of the guards, crew or other passengers must have seen through Ruth's lie, but they didn't want to dismantle it out of respect. '

As Jack Dawson rises from criminal to hero, a first-class passenger, Colonel Gracie, suggests that Carl give Jack a bonus for saving Ruth's life.

Carl's next actions and expressions made Bill Mochanik absolutely amazing——

"Give him 20 dollars." Carl turned sideways to Jack, and while tidying up his cuffs, he casually ordered his butler Spicer.

Although there was no expression or voice to reveal the emotion of "contempt", Carl's whole body seemed to be emitting an aura called "contempt", and the aura was bearing Jack, who was obviously blond.

The matter should have ended here, but Carl's words annoyed Ruth. She asked in disgust, "Jack saved my life. The woman you love is worth 20 dollars?"

"Ruth is not satisfied, what should I do." Carl's voice was low and smooth: "Ah, yes."

Carl walked up to Jack slowly, stared into Jack's eyes, and entertained him with a fake smile: "Please join us for dinner tomorrow. Please tell us about your heroic deeds then."

Jack looked back at Carl without showing any weakness: "Okay, I will go."

Carl twitched the corner of his mouth: "Then, see you soon."

Carl and Jack stand face to face, and the two look like two opposing classes, like the South and the North in the American Civil War.

The atmosphere froze again.

Ruth shivered tremblingly.

Carl immediately puts his arm around her shoulders and walks back with Ruth in his arms, glancing back at Jack before turning the hallway.

It was a complex and cold look, full of suspicion and vigilance.

This is the first time Carl has shown such deep, gloomy eyes on Jack since he met him tonight.

Jack responded by raising his eyebrows and whistling at Carl.

The meaning of Carl's eyes is very clear. He already knows that there is an unknown connection between his fiancée and Jack Dawson. Something happened to them that he doesn't want him to know. Carl feels the crisis. That's why he sent Jack with 20 dollars first, and then deliberately invited Jack, who was in the lower class, to have dinner in the first class—the purpose was to defeat the enemy on his own territory, hoping that Jack would make a fool of himself and let Ruth see it. Let Ruth know how vulgar Jack is and how good he is. '

What a sensitive sense of smell, what a jealous man, Carl's every move fully demonstrates the essence of a businessman, but the world is often unpredictable, Ruth is a rebellious girl far beyond Carl's imagination, the more he wants to belittle Jack, Ruth will The more you like Jack.Poor Carl Hockley, a man destined not to be favored by Venus. Love, love, love! '

……

The picture pauses when Carl and Jack turn around and look at each other, the screen suddenly plunges into darkness, and the whole room is pitch black, only the faint light and noise from the projector.

Bill Mochanek was still immersed in the plot of the movie just now, and he didn't even realize that the screening was over.

It was only when he saw the actual film that Bill Mocanick realized how little he had dug into the script.

When Fox was reviewing and discussing "Titanic", Bill Mochanek read the script once, but he didn't read it very carefully at that time-a professional judge whether the script is good or not, as A CEO, Bill Mochanek, only needs to know what kind of story the new movie that Fox is about to invest in tells the story-the only characters that impressed him most at the time were Jack and Ruth.

To be honest, Bill Mochanek didn't pay much attention to the role of Carl when he read the script, but now, after seeing the movie-although it is only a semi-finished product that has not been completed in post-production, and there are only a few fragments-he finds that it is not only Jack And Ruth, the other actors also have a sense of presence, such as the chief designer of the Titanic Andrew, the servant Lovejoy, and Carl, especially Carl, is not as described in the script , is a bad guy with facial makeup.

Bill Mochanik breathed a sigh of relief, the reality was better than he imagined.much better.

Although it is not the first time that Fox has cooperated with Cameron, since the filming of "Titanic" started, every time at the meeting, the chief financial officer reported how much Cameron spent, the high-level executives felt a toothache.

Cameron’s ability to burn money is too crazy, which probably has something to do with his pursuit of perfection and picky personality. The clothes and props used in the filming of "Titanic" are all real goods, ranging from embossed decorations to small chairs and water glasses. It is made of real materials from the factory, and strives to restore the real scene on the Titanic in the 19th century - like the carpet on the floor of the corridor of the first-class cabin. The company that made the carpet on Nickelodeon found historical materials to restore and customize it, and the costume designers also made a total of 90 sets of costumes for movie actors.

These expenses are nothing more than that, although they are expensive, they are necessary. Facts have proved that Cameron’s ability to burn money on necessary and unnecessary items is equally staggering. Not long ago, after filming a scene where first-class passengers eat , Cameron suddenly discovered that there was no logo on the first-class tableware. According to historical common sense, the tableware should have the logo of White Star Company engraved on it, so he ordered a remake, and a batch of tableware was redone with the logo of White Star Company, food The film, costumes, and extras were all remade. This reshoot cost Fox more than 200 million U.S. dollars.

Bill Mochanik's assistant was chatting with the financial director's assistant yesterday. Bill Mochanik passed by and listened: The latest news from the "Titanic" crew, Cameron lost his temper again in the crew, it seems It was dissatisfaction with a certain scene and actors that had just finished filming, which caused the crew to shoot slowly in the past week, and the results were very unsatisfactory.

This news shocked Bill Mocanick. Is it necessary to reshoot or change actors?God, does Cameron want to spend all of Fox's investment this year on this ship?

Because he was worried about Cameron and because of his personal likes and dislikes to spend money lavishly, Bill Mocanick rushed to Mexico in a private jet, just to see how the movie was shot, and to knock Cameron A wake-up call for him to exercise moderation when signing checks.

At the front of the room, Cameron fiddled with the projector beside him, as if he wanted to play it again.

Bill Mochanek came back to his senses and coughed heavily.

James Cameron was surprised: "Who?"

"It's me." Bill Mochanek stood up and turned on the light in the room.

"Bill?" James Cameron asked in surprise, "When did you come here?"

"About 10 minutes ago?" Bill Mochanek replied, "You were already playing a movie at the time, and I didn't want to disturb you so I didn't make a sound. Besides, I also want to see how the movie is going."

"So." James Cameron stared at Bill Mochanick, his expression seemed a little uneasy: "What do you think?"

"Excellent, better than I expected."

James Cameron looked as if a hundred-pound backpack had just been dropped from his shoulders.

"However, looking at the schedule, the progress of the crew seems to be very slow these days. Why?"

"There are some problems." James Cameron said: "But I will solve it soon." After a pause, he hesitated and asked: "If I want to reshoot some scenes or change actors..."

coming.Bill Mochanek thought to himself, and then pretended to hear the news for the first time, and asked very surprised: "Change actors? Who do you want to replace?"

"William Bradley, he's not acting the way I want him to be."

Bill Mochanek was really shocked this time: "But in my opinion, he played very well! Why did you replace him?"

James Cameron took the script from the side and handed it over: "I wanted Carl to be a villain, the kind that fans would hate, but William Bradley played Carl so movingly, I was worried Some movie fans will be dissatisfied with the love between Jack and Ruth because of his performance, which will affect their views on the movie."

Bill Mochanick took the script and read it carefully for half an hour, especially those places marked by Cameron, and then raised his eyebrows and asked: "Is it really a joke to change the actors? I think the movie clips just shown are better than the script." Everything is great."

"What do you think—?" James Cameron was taken aback.

"The Carl in the script is a bad guy, and the Carl in the movie is a sad, hateful and pitiful man, but no matter which Carl it is, he and Ruth are like any pair of upper-class couples, falling into a cold marriage due to estrangement and lack of communication. In the relationship. Carl becoming more complicated and charming will not have any effect on the result, at most it will make movie fans more jealous of Ruth: look at this woman, she is actually loved by two such excellent men!"

"But—" James Cameron told Bill Mochanek that he was afraid that Carl's role would be too good, which would affect Jack and Rose.

Who knows that Bill Mochanek doesn't care: "Do you know which movie characters Jack and Carl in the movie just reminded me of?"

"Which movie?"

"Interview with the Vampire. That's a typical win-win work in which the first male lead and the second male lead are good and evil, and both characters are popular." Bill Mochanick waved his hand and said: "Do you know how many fans 'Interview with the Vampire' got Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt? You can't even count them. They are both famous handsome guys, but before this movie , does anyone often compare the two of them together? No. Tom Cruise's fan base is much stronger than Brad Pitt's, but after this movie, my God, the two years of fashion magazines The sexiest male stars in the world, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt always occupy the top two positions, mentioning one of them, one must mention the other, ushering in a big explosion of popularity together.”

"In fact, before the release of "Interview with the Vampire", the studio's calculation was very simple. Brad Pitt's soft-hearted, priest-like Louie was going to be used to please fans, and Tom Ke The evil and weird Lester played by Ruth, who never puts human life in the eyes, is a breakthrough role in acting-God, Tom Cruise originally hoped to win an award with this role! But wait for the movie After the release, Dang Dang Dang Dang Dang Dang Dang Dang! Both characters are very popular!" Bill Mochanick gushed: "Don't you think Carl and Jack are like the next pair of Leicester and Louis? They are not opposites, Instead, they are complementary, there is no one who covers up who's light, but they all shine in the same lens."

After Bill Mocanick's prompt, James Cameron also suddenly remembered: When William and Leonardo played together, it seemed that there were very few NGs?Although William, Leonardo, and Kate have a tacit understanding when they cooperate with each other, when you think about it carefully, it seems that when the two actors are together, the camera sense is better.

""Interview with the Vampire" is not very profitable." Cameron muttered at last.

The investment of "Interview with the Vampire" is 5000 million US dollars, and the global box office is 2000 million US dollars.

Bill Mochanik almost rolled his eyes when he heard it: "If you can give me a return on investment ratio of 1:4, I will be very happy. I hope that the global box office of "Titanic" will exceed 6 million."

James Cameron didn't answer Bill Mochanek's words, his mind was still on "Titanic".

If William is allowed to make minor changes to the script and keep shooting like this, James Cameron has a hunch that the love triangle between Karl-Ruth-Jack may cause huge controversy after the movie is released-the movie is most afraid of release. The most important thing is that there is no controversy, because no controversy means no attention, which means that the box office will not explode, but if there are too many disputes, is it a good thing or a bad thing?

While Cameron was thinking, Bill Mochanick was still expressing his opinion: "The contrast between the script and the character of Carl on the screen reminds me of Amon Goss in "Schindler's List", the Nazi officer Gauss is a complete villain, but Ralph Fiennes played this role so well and so temperamentally that many movie fans knew that he was a demon, but they couldn't help but sympathize with him and like him, making people feel like him Loathing and being terrified at the same time can't help liking him, making the character of Nazi officer Gauss even more terrifying."

The balance in Cameron's heart is slowly tilting: Yes, what he wants to shoot is an epic, an epic of the Titanic, an epic of love, and it is not a fairy tale. There is no need to strictly distinguish between Good guys and bad guys, what Bill Mochanick said is right, William’s Carl does have something in common with Ralph Fiennes’ Gauss, which is actually not bad. , but also cunning and despicable full of shortcomings, fans will love and hate this character.

"Besides, no matter how much money the crew has, it won't be able to withstand your successive reshoots, extensions, and actor changes." Bill Mochanek finally said: "In short, don't even think about changing actors now."

James Cameron coughed suddenly, and when Bill Mochanek looked at him, he said with a guilty conscience: "Actually, I need more money."

Bill Mochanik froze for a moment, suspecting that he was hallucinating: "What did you say?"

"I made a report these days. 4000 million may not be able to support the end of the filming. I need more investment." James Cameron's voice became lower and lower: "If there is another 8000 million, it will Well, if not, [-] to [-] million will do.”

"You're about to spend 4000 million? That's 4000 million dollars! It's not yen or pesos!" Bill Mochanek's expression was clouded with lightning and thunder: "Do you want the studio to Suspend all the filming plans, and move all the funds into your wreck with an uncertain future? Fill it with your own salary!"

Unexpectedly, Cameron really thought about it seriously, and then said: "If you are willing to invest tens of millions more, I don't mind not getting a salary."

Bill Morcanick: "…"