Birth of an actor

"Although when I first read the script, this story reminded me of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", Paul Newman's "The Liar", and even Henri Bresson's " Pickpockets, but the closest I found was Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo."

Ever since he learned of the existence of Christopher Nolan and his script "Following" last time, William has been fascinated. He asked for Christopher Nolan's contact information from his agent Amon Goffman and contacted him. And after revealing his identity, he said that if "Follow" has not been officially filmed, he can be an investor in the film and help when the film is released.

For Christopher Nolan, a "layman" who studied in London, knew almost nothing about Hollywood, majored in English literature, and was only interested in making movies with some like-minded friends in the university club. A timely rain-Christ, they are in the most difficult situation where they have no money and no relationship. If they can't find anyone who is interested in the script, Christopher Nolan and his friends from the "16mm" club will Prepare to raise funds to buy equipment and become an actor. Even if you sell your underwear, you have to shoot the film first!

But overnight, they suddenly got acquainted with the most powerful young upstart in Hollywood, and won the favor of the other party, and had a shortcut to Hollywood-although at the beginning they received the assistant who claimed to be William Bradley. They thought it was a prank, but when a lawyer from a well-known law firm in London brought an investment agreement and a check, claiming to be an agent of William Bradley, they came to discuss film investment matters with them. Nolan and his friends realized that this was not a dream, but a wonderful reality.

Hallelujah!Christopher Nolan is now very grateful for his persistence at the beginning. After the script of "Follow" was released, other members of the "16mm" community suggested that Christopher Nolan should find investment and find a film company in London (because 16mm is the University of London society, and most of its members are British), it was Christopher Nolan who insisted on mailing the script to Hollywood for a gamble, and now he knows that he won the gamble!The London filmmakers who were placed high hopes by other members did not take a second look at them, but Hollywood, thousands of miles away, threw a precious olive branch!

So Christopher Nolan couldn't help but call himself to thank the man who gave him the opportunity, William Bradley.

The first half of the call was awkward and rusty, full of slightly cold self-introductions, pleasantries and blunt thanks - no way, who let Christopher Nolan be an Englishman, they are not naturally good at talking warmly with people for the first time , unless it’s about the weather—but after William took the initiative to chat about movies, the topic gradually opened up. Movies are obviously the biggest commonality between William and Nolan, and when they talked about Christopher Nolan’s "Following ", the atmosphere became more enthusiastic, and the latter also abandoned the set of British people who are always polite to the outside world, and the words became more and more vivid.

Surprise and delight can be heard in Christopher Nolan's answer: "Yes, yes, "Following" is a tribute to Hitchcock, and Hitchcock is the film I want to make. The biggest reason is that I want to be a director who has the same fantastic ideas as him."

Although "Following" uses a flashback technique, if you turn this flashback and narrate it according to the timeline, you can find that it has many similarities with Hitchcock's "Vertigo", such as the hero's hobbies / Career is stalking people, they both stalk a beautiful blonde woman and fall in love with each other (albeit with different motives), then both get tricked and fall into a serial trap.

“What do you want to do with Following, Chris? Quentin Tarantino or the Coens or pure Hitchcock?”

"Although Quentin and the Coen brothers are great, I'm sure I don't want their style. Of course, I can't just imitate Hitchcock." Christopher Nolan said: "I want to do it in my way." Organizing this story so that people see this film and think of my name first, Christopher Nolan, not Quentin Corman brothers Scorsese or whoever."

"A very good ideal." William said: "Since Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" filmed in 1950 opened the multi-threaded narrative mode, the directors' storytelling techniques have not improved for a long time. I have my own unique narrative mode, not to mention whether it can be done, just having such ambition and self-confidence is very admirable—”

Amon Goffman's voice suddenly broke in: "Will, we're here."

"Give me 1 minute." William nodded to his agent covering the microphone, and then said to Christopher Nolan on the other end of the phone: "Sorry, Chris, I have to hang up, there is a very important audition in half an hour .If you encounter any trouble after filming, or if you need my help, call me or go to the lawyer from last time, okay?"

"Okay, Will." Christopher Nolan said before hanging up the phone: "When the film is finished and edited, I, I want to invite you to be the first audience, is that okay?"

"My pleasure."

"Thank you. Your opinion means a lot to me."

Seeing William hang up the phone, Amon Goffman asked his doubts: "Christopher Nolan, is there anything special about this man?"

Amazon's stock has been rising steadily, and the stock price has doubled in just a few weeks. Amon Goffman has recently been so happy to see the rising numbers in his personal account that he is almost flying, coupled with the wonderful feelings that happened to William in the past With good luck like the illegitimate child of God, Amon Goffman will no longer question most of William's decisions (of course, he will try his best to stop some ideas that sound absurd), regardless of what happens if there is If you are in doubt, Amon Goffman still has to try his best to figure it out.

Perhaps in the near future, when the energy in his hands is no longer able to help William, and instead William is supporting him forward, he will no longer be able to call him "my boy" openly.

This is by no means that Amon Goffman is worrying about his fate of being abandoned in the future.no way.

— Well, more or less, perhaps.

"How special Christopher Nolan is." William said as he adjusted his tie in the car mirror. "You'll know later."

"It's a trick again." Amon Goffman grumbled complainingly, but there was no trace of dissatisfaction in his tone, and he also wrote a memo to himself in his head: pay attention to Christopher Nolan and "Follow", if this person is in If Hollywood does have development potential, sign him.

……

"The actor Universal wants most is you or Brad Pitt. Today's audition is the final contest. The people who can influence the audition results, except for the producer Jim, director Martin Brest and the actors union. , and Stacy Schneider, yes, the woman who put our pigeons in "The Adventures of New Tom". The highest investment in the history of the film, as the top leader of the Universal Los Angeles region, Stacy Schneider could not have participated in the casting of the film."

"I don't think Stacy Schneider will play us anymore this time." William said: "Otherwise she wouldn't let the producer Jim take the initiative to hand us an olive branch."

"I thought so too, Will, after all we're not what we used to be. Universal better be fair, or I'm never done. Do it well, Will, fuck Pete and his- omg they are so stinky and shameless !"

what happens?William, who had been absent-mindedly listening to the chatter of his agent along the way, raised his head and followed Amon Goffman's gaze. He found Brad Pitt and his agent, a man named Anthony with a worrying hairline. The man was chatting with Stacy Schneider, who was wearing a white suit with a blond shawl, beside the elevator entrance in the lobby. Stacy Schneider, who looked only about 30 years old, was obviously very happy to be complimented, and the pleasant atmosphere was full of laughter.

"It's the trick of asking the actors to seduce the producer." Amon Goffman stared straight ahead, gritted his teeth and said, "I haven't gotten tired of playing for so many years, Anthony."

Perhaps it was because Amon Goffman's eyes were too hot. The three of them who were talking in front of them while waiting for the elevator soon noticed his and William's arrival.

Stacy Schneider's eyes lit up: "Hi, Will."

"Hi, Stacy." William lowered his head slightly and looked straight into Stacy Schneider's eyes, slightly raised the corners of his mouth, showing the most perfect arc of a smile: "Do I have the honor of calling you by your name?"

"You must call me Stacy, Will." Stacy Schneider caressed her chest with her right hand, her delicate makeup couldn't conceal the gradual blush on her cheeks: "God, you are really getting more and more attractive. "

'It's not just your Brad Pitt who is a beauty trap.Anthony. Amon Goffman looked at Brad Pitt's agent Anthony's unhappy face, and the joy in his heart was indescribable: "My Will will do better." '

Brad Pitt has short blond hair, wearing round sunglasses, probably just had his face trimmed before going out, so his skin looks smooth. Although he is wearing a gray suit and a wide tie, because of the unruly smile on the corner of his mouth and his shirt The neckline is not very meticulous, it looks very sunny and hot, no wonder Gwyneth Paltrow, another goddaughter of Steven Spielberg, was so obsessed with him. engaged.

Brad Pitt glanced at this side through the sunglasses. He didn't know who he was looking at, but William didn't feel much kindness from it, and his manager, the bald Anthony, walked over with a fake smile Greeting: "Good morning, Will. Amon, we haven't seen each other for a long time." While talking, he also made a hug gesture to Amon Goffman as a good friend reunited after a long absence.

Anthony's hypocrisy made Amon Goffman almost throw up, he took a step back to avoid Anthony's warm hug, and instead shook the other's hand with a necessary polite smirk: "A handshake is enough, Anthony, All of Hollywood knows our relationship isn't friendly at all."

Amon Goffman's attitude was so clear, "I don't like you", but Brad Pitt's agent's expression didn't change at all, he even smiled and shrugged and said: "I thought Can we get back together, Amon, you really love to hold grudges. The past must pass with the wind."

Obviously, Brad Pitt's agent is pretending to be mature, tolerant and stable at the moment, and trying to set off the image of Amon Goffman's childish and narrow impulse.

Although he was extremely upset with Anthony, Amon Goffman, who knew that he had done enough, showed a half-smiley expression to the other party: "The elevator door opened, Anthony."

Anthony looked back and found that the elevator had arrived. He immediately invited Stacy Schneider in, then Brad Pitt, and then pressed the door open button of the elevator, greeting Amon Goffman with a smirk. And William: "Would you like to come in together?"

Even though he said so, almost after he finished speaking the last word, before William and the others actually came in, Anthony let go of the door-opening button—obviously, although this bald man didn't show it on the face, he must hate him in his heart. Toyamon Goffman.

The elevator doors closed slowly, and Anthony, who had his back to Pete and Schneider, slowly showed a provocative smile on his face.

Before the elevator door was completely closed, Amon Goffman shouted to the inside: "It doesn't matter if you go first, this elevator is too crowded, Anthony and you alone take up two-thirds of the area, Wei and I Just wait for the next one!"

Finally, seeing Anthony's pissed off look through the crack of the door, Amon Goffman finally laughed happily.

"Anthony's brazenness is admirable, no wonder you couldn't play him before, Amon." While waiting for the next elevator, William said to his agent.

"It doesn't matter if I can play Anthony or not, as long as you can play Pete. You can do it, right?"

"Even if it's just for you, I have to kick Pete's ass hard, Ami."

"Love you, Will."

"You're welcome, Amon."

……

Maybe it's because I prefer this type of story, or maybe I want to relive the success of "Scent of a Woman". "Meeting Joe Black", also written and directed by Martin Brest, is actually similar to "Scent of a Woman". Knowing Women tells a similar story, except that the former has more love scenes, while the latter focuses almost entirely on the two male protagonists, Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell.

Death wants to explore why humans are afraid of him, so he incarnates as a beautiful man, carefully selects the well-known and respected billionaire William Perish, and comes to his home to observe his life, but unexpectedly and Perish's youngest daughter Susan fall in love, death and human beings, can their love have a perfect happy ending?

This is the story of "Meet Joe Black". Although there is death, there is death, but it is a thorough literary romance.

If I have to make an analogy, the relationship between Death and Perish (that is, the role played by Anthony Hopkins) is similar to the boarding student Charlie in "Scent of a Woman" and the blind lieutenant colonel Sphalan (Al. Pacino), the relationship between the Grim Reaper and the heroine Susan is a bit like "The Love of Ghosts", and at the end add a little drama that the public loves to see, the good guys go to heaven and the bad guys go to hell, the story is OVER.

To be honest, after seeing the script of "Meet Joe Black", William didn't particularly like it.

It is true that the lines are beautiful, and almost none of them seem to have been carefully crafted by the screenwriter, especially the lines of Death, which are concise and powerful, with the least lines highlighting the greatest character, and full of poetic rhythm. It's beautiful, and the artistic level of the plot is even higher than "Scent of a Woman", but it seems to be too artistic, and even the climax scene doesn't seem to be explosive enough, which doesn't suit William's appetite.

However, in order to be able to cooperate with Anthony Hopkins and avenge Amon Goffman, William will go all out for the audition!

What's more, after carefully savoring the script, William found that although the story is a bit dull, the scriptwriter has portrayed the characters very well, especially the two male protagonists, Reaper and Perish, who are full of flesh and blood and have distinct personalities, so they acted well Which kind of role can be particularly touching-I think it is because the character has a good personality and is challenging, so Anthony Hopkins was moved to play it.

Brad Pitt auditioned before William. When he came out of the room, his blond hair was as shiny as his smile. He seemed to be very satisfied with his audition results, and Anthony, who was walking beside him, was even more satisfied. Well, the eyebrows almost flew out of the forehead in laughter.

William couldn't help but wonder how Brad Pitt would play the Grim Reaper, but before he could figure it out, he was invited in.

'who cares. ’ William thought, ‘No matter what Brad Pitt’s acting style is, it’s never going to be exactly like me, I just have to make sure I’m better than him.It is best to be at the crushing level, so that you can completely vent your anger for Amon. '

Walking into the room with such determination, William found a big surprise: Anthony Hopkins!Today's audition is performed by the Oscar winner himself!