Movie Master

In the next few days, Lance was looking up information. Unknowingly, the dazed state has disappeared, far away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, and seems to be far away from the shadow of Diorama Films; he has returned to the creation of new works , It seems to have returned to the vitality of chasing career.

The leisure and tranquility of Napa Valley really makes people linger. Get up in the morning and breathe the cool air, walk on the estate path; drive to the nearby supermarket to buy some daily necessities, and come back to prepare lunch; you can enjoy a cup of black tea or coffee in the afternoon. Chat with the nearby local residents; enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal in the evening, paired with a glass of mellow red wine... It really has the artistic conception of picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely.

Recently, Lance first investigated a lot of information through the Internet to understand the basic information; then he found a professional psychologist through Percy, and asked in detail about the psychological causes and manifestations of pedophilia/pedophilia through telephone consultation The method is to communicate with each other through many phone calls, and then confirm each other with the data of my own investigation; finally, I made a special trip to San Francisco, bought basic professional psychology books, and read and understood them carefully.

After sufficient preparations, Lance had a certain idea of ​​the role of Jeff.

The main cause of fetishism/pedophilia is the abnormal acquired psychological development. The main causes can be divided into three types, and then form three different types. However, due to the complexity of psychology, the so-called causes and manifestation types are not fixed, and may often be mixed with each other.

Jeff is a typical regression patient. They look like ordinary people on the surface, can establish good interpersonal relationships with others, have a normal love history, and even get married and start a family. However, they always have good memories of their childhood in their hearts. It may be the nostalgia for childhood, and they hope that they will never grow up. , Tired of the interpersonal relationship between adults, so simple-minded, innocent children become their spiritual sustenance. In serious cases, it does not even distinguish between genders, and only targets children.

This type of patients is prone to regression when accidents occur, and they are under too much pressure in family, study, work, etc., or after encountering major mental stimulation, they return to immature sexual expressions. The objects they hunt are often They are unfamiliar children, whose behavior has obvious impulsive characteristics, and some of them are also accompanied by avoidance phenomena such as alcoholism.

That's what Jeff is. Genelle was his first love. At that time, he was only fourteen years old. Genelle left an indelible mark on his life. The two were crazy for each other. He thought that the future of the two would be a bright future Bright, but the two still broke up. He tried to persuade him to stay, but it still ended in failure. The huge mental pressure made Jeff start to collapse. He strongly missed the beautiful fourteen years old and longed never to grow up.

At the beginning, he just tried to find the figure of Genelle in the child, so he was always keen on the fourteen-year-old girl; but as time passed, he began to forget his original intention, and he seemed to always find his own belonging in the child. This was accompanied by intermittent drinking and the impulsive crime that accidentally killed Donna.

If you go one step further, you can also conceive like this. Jeff may have a lot of criminal records. Every time he encounters emotional setbacks or career setbacks, he will return once. When he meets a new relationship partner, the symptoms will temporarily disappear and return to normal. Because of this, he may have left the regular workplace and chose to become a freelance photographer, for the convenience of committing crimes, and also to avoid showing flaws in social life.

Before that, the reason why Jeff was never discovered was not only because he thought carefully and did not show his feet, but also because his behavior was not completely out of control and was still within the controllable range.

Before Hayley attacked Jeff, she made an in-depth investigation and grasped Genelle's situation, so she became her means of controlling Jeff. When Hayley uses Genelle as a threat, Jeff's pain, grief, and despair have psychological support.

Since Jeff exists as a supporting role in Hard Candy, the script cannot give him too much ink, so how to express Jeff's psychological shadow has become the biggest test for the screenwriter.

This part was missing from both Bryan's first draft of the script and the finished product of the previous life.

Lance believes that he can start from two aspects: the first aspect is to show from the perspective of interpersonal communication. Jeff and Hailey met in a coffee shop. Not good at, or to be precise, not good at dealing with intrigue and confrontation between adults.

So, if someone had a physical confrontation with Jeff in the coffee shop, how would Jeff handle it?

Soon, Lance rejected this idea, because the conflict in the coffee shop was too straightforward and too obvious. Most importantly, it would destroy the rhythm of the movie and create drama in the first half of the foreshadowing period, which did not match the overall atmosphere.

So, what would Jeff do if someone at the coffee shop joked with him about going on a date with his daughter?

Originally it was just a joke, but Jeff's answer didn't have any loopholes, because he had already figured out how to deal with it. But after the other party left, Jeff seemed a little anxious. Not only will such small details not interfere with the rhythm, but it will further promote the sense of suspense and gradually build up the horror atmosphere.

However, if this is the case, then there will be high requirements for Jeff's actors-not too deliberate, not too obvious, not too redundant, subtle, to the point, just right but able to Accurate and sharp. This kind of freely retractable performance seems to have no traces of performance for the audience, but the requirements for the actors are very strict.

The second aspect is to show from the level of psychological suggestion, such as the decoration of Jeff's house, which is also the main display place of the movie. On the surface, all the decorations in Jeff’s house are quite normal and modern, completely in line with the style of an elite photographer, but he has designed a small garden in the center of the hall of his home, which can be called a small garden, and it is also It can be said to be a children's playground, or a swimming pool - all in all, it is a childlike world. It doesn't need to be too big, maybe two meters long and two meters wide is enough, with pebbles piled inside and some succulents. Children can play in it.

Even, Jeff can design a safe here, and hide the photos of children's naked bodies and related materials about child/pedophilia that he took in it.

There is also the wine cabinet in the kitchen. In the script, Hayley made a cocktail for Jeff, the rich collection in the wine cabinet, and the contradiction between Jeff's desire to drink but avoid exposing himself and suppressing his impulse, and finally he couldn't restrain his desire/desire. drink wine. Small details like this can bring out signs of Jeff's inner struggles and the resurgence of pedophilia symptoms.

In addition, the color of the room is very bold, the use of sky blue, bright red, and lemon yellow is full of lively jumps, but Jeff himself is dressed in a very low-key way, with dark tones such as gray, brown, black, and dark blue, including The same goes for the clothes in the closet. This also means that the mask outside the skin is a serious adult, but the soul under the skin hides the greed that seduces children.

Even the plush toys on the bedside table can be used as suggestive props. However, Lance is not sure about this. He needs to consult a professional psychologist before making a measurement.

Of course, like Haley, Jeff's lines also need to be adjusted accordingly. Unlike Hailey, Jeff has two faces. Before the truth is revealed, Jeff speaks righteously and is full of justice; after Hailey discovers the truth, Jeff is ashamed, fearful and cowardly.

In the final version of the last life, the anger shown by Jeff took the main place. Jeff was always trying to control the situation. Even though he was tied to a chair, he thought Hailey couldn't escape from his palm. And when his true face was revealed, the hoarse voice of anger took over.

But Lance believes that Jeff's inner nature is timid and cowardly. His so-called toughness is just a shell of pretending. He only needs to be a little bit stronger, and he will become extremely cowardly like a balloon that has been punctured. . Therefore, Jeff's anger is more of a bluff and a vain show. This slight gap is not only a difference in the way of acting, but also makes the finished character more vivid and three-dimensional.

Jeff's performance focuses on change. The change of his mental state revolves around the timidity and cowardice of his soul. With the advancement of things, his mental state is gradually approaching the edge of collapse. Jeff actually had the courage to choose suicide - which also needs to be done through acting.

After watching the Hard Candy in the previous life, people will applaud the performances of the two actors, each with its own shining points, although Hailey has assumed the thickness and depth of the story, the reflection after the movie is all It was triggered by Hayley; but in fact, from the perspective of performance difficulty, Jeff is the most difficult, and needs to show richer layers in a narrower space. It's a pity that whether it's Jeff or Hailey, the script doesn't give them more room to play, which creates people's illusions.

In the original version, Patrick-Wilson (Patrick-Wilson) played the role of Jeff. There is no doubt that he has dedicated a wonderful performance, but he has not received more recognition due to the overall quality of his works.

Patrick is an actor from Broadway. He has solid performance skills, can sing, dance and act, and has even been nominated for the Tony Award twice. Moreover, his gentle and gentle appearance can often burst out powerful performance energy, which is impressive. With admiration. Later, Patrick was more active in horror movies, and his acting skills were not tapped by Hollywood.

In Fruit Candy, Patrick's panic and despair on the verge of life and death are indeed impressive. Now, Lance has adapted the script to give the role of Jeff more soul, can Patrick still be competent?