Birth of an actor

When Madeleine Bradley unpacked the last box containing Christmas ornaments from the carton, William and Mike had just placed a Christmas tree made of natural fir trees next to the fireplace in the living room. There was a thin layer of sweat.

It is a tradition in many American families to make Christmas trees with real fir trees or foreign pine trees. After Thanksgiving, many forest farms that cultivate Christmas trees in the suburbs of cities will welcome a large number of families to buy Christmas trees in person, and the decorated Christmas trees will always be kept. By the end of the new year, each community will have specialized personnel to recycle the used Christmas trees. These natural trees will not be thrown away, but will be crushed and made into organic fertilizers for recycling. As for those who choose plastic trees as The Christmas tree family is simpler, just continue to use it before Christmas the next year.

Many families started to decorate their Christmas trees after Thanksgiving. The reason why the Bradley family started so late was that they didn't get all of them together until today.

William usually spends Thanksgiving with Madeleine, and Christmas is rarely together. This year, we spend Christmas together because we want to introduce Mike to William.Mike is Madeleine's boyfriend, who is five years younger than her. He is an art dealer. The two met in Mike's gallery and have been dating for a year and a half. This year, Madeleine invited him home together Christmas is the first official meeting between Mike and William. Mike is a mature and wise man, probably because of his professional influence, and he is also good at talking. William learned from Mike that the two are currently enjoying love. None of them had the idea of ​​getting married. While giving blessings, William also expressed respect for the decision of the two. When he changed his surname to Mike's name, William could feel that the other party was secretly relieved.

"Are we going too tall?" Mike said, looking at the seven-foot Christmas tree.

"It doesn't look harmonious when the house is too big and the tree is too small," said Madeleine, setting down the last box of Christmas ornaments: "And, rest assured, we have enough decorations."

The house where William and the others are now is not a mansion in Beverly, nor a single-family house in Santa Monica, but the one he bought for 500 million US dollars a few months ago, located on Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York The apartment on 71st Street is a duplex structure directly connected to the top three floors. It was purchased from the widow of a wealthy Italian businessman who sold the property after her husband died and wanted to return to her hometown.And that's right, it's on the same street as Lance's apartment, within a 10-minute walk.

Mike watched Madeleine open the five cardboard boxes, each of which was full, and he couldn't help being speechless: "Now I wonder if this 'fragile' little tree can bear so much weight. Haha , I saw a few packaging boxes with a sense of age, these decorations are not all new, right, are they your collection?"

"It's mainly Will's collection. What we are decorating today is his Christmas tree." Madeleine gently stroked the items in the carton and said, "It contains all his memories from childhood to adulthood."

"Brandley's Christmas family tradition is that everyone should have their own Christmas tree after living independently, so that even if they are not with their family and spend the holidays alone in other cities, they can decorate a Christmas tree by themselves , when the lights are on, seeing all kinds of decorations on the tree that have special meaning to you, you will not feel lonely while enjoying the sense of accomplishment. I have been collecting Christmas decorations since I was a child, and many friends and relatives know our This family habit often gives me gifts. Now, these boxes have moved with me several times and traveled all over the United States."

William took out a palm-sized brown wool elk from the box: "Look, this is what my grandmother knitted for me."

"very cute."

William and Madeleine took things out of the carton one by one. The first thing they took out was a string of small white lights in the shape of hexagonal snowflakes, and they were loosely wound around the Christmas tree. Light up the whole living room.

Mike was very interested in not participating in this kind of family activity. He went to the wine cellar to choose red wine, a decanter and suitable wine glasses.

The small white lights of the hexagonal snowflakes are only wrapped around the middle and upper part of the tree. The top circle is a string of lights of gingerbread men. William wrapped the lights around the top of the Christmas tree, next to the gingerbread men Hang the elk with brown wool, and then took the first decoration from Madeleine. When she saw the bird pendant lying in the palm of her hand, she couldn't help but smile.

It was originally a colorful bird brooch inlaid with rhinestones. It was the result of William's handicraft class at school, and it was also the first gift he made for his mother. In fact, William's craftsmanship was not very good at that time. , the bird's eyes are a little crooked, and the tail is too long, but Madeleine has always liked it very much, and has worn it to attend several formal occasions. Later, the brooch was accidentally damaged, and Madeleine repaired it It was changed into a more delicate and beautiful little pendant, which has since become one of the must-have ornaments for the Bradley family to decorate the Christmas tree every year.

William took out the Christmas decorations in the box one by one. Although almost all of them were from his own collection, because they were all gifts from relatives and friends, Madeleine also had the same memories of most of them, so the two of them When carefully decorating those pendants on the tree, similar memories are always evoked: the amber that Edwin made for William to seal a bee; the painted balls painted by Madeleine herself, each A character from a Hans Christian Andersen or Grimm fairy tale was painted on the sphere; the red wool stockings that William used to hang above his bed on Christmas Eve when he was a child; the white felt snowman his grandfather made with obsidian eyes; a gift from Isabella Blue wind chimes; red tin British soldiers from Danny; crystal pine cones from Claire...

Madeleine picked up a miniature trophy and couldn't help laughing: "This is the first trophy you got. I can still think about everything that happened in Louisville." The trophy is not real, but It is a scaled-down model of the real trophy, and the words "1986. Kentucky Derby. Winner" are engraved on the base.The reason why the model is used is because if it is to be used as a pendant, the real trophy is too heavy.

William picked it up and put it in the box together with the trophy, which took up half the space. The teddy bear is about 28cm high. Its eyes are black spinel, and the brown hair made of pure wool is slightly curly and soft. A very luxurious dark blue velvet cape with rolling white polka dots is tied by natural red, yellow and green tourmaline buckle chains. There is a crimson ribbon in front of the body and three metal medals pinned to it. The name of this teddy bear is Called Ludwig II, it was the Bavarian king of the Wittelsbach dynasty who built Neuschwanstein Castle. The pure gold earrings and white red bottom label on the left ear indicate that this Steiff is not only limited in the world, but also abnormal. A precious limited edition teddy bear.

William turned a metal key behind Ludwig II, and magnificent and passionate classical music poured out from the built-in music box, which was Wagner's "March under the Double Eagle".

Mike was attracted by the music: "Ha, what a beautiful teddy bear." After speaking, he looked at Madeleine narrowly, obviously thinking that this gorgeous teddy was her old taste.

Madeleine smiled and shook her head: "It's not from me, it's a gift from Will when he was nine years old, from... ahem, a little prince."

Using "The Little Prince" to describe Lance in her teenage years, Madeleine really did not use the wrong word, she has shiny soft blond hair, a meticulous three-piece suit, and a perennially stern pretty face , if there is a royal family in the United States, the prince is probably like this, but as soon as there are toys in hand, the image of the "little prince" will collapse immediately, especially the soft Teddy, who can immediately put the high cold The little prince transformed into a soft and cute little boy.

This Ludwig II Teddy was originally Lance's favorite toy. As long as he was not going to school, he would carry it wherever he went. One Christmas Eve, when William was decorating the Christmas tree at home, Lance came to look for him with him in his arms. He, knowing that William had just received a pair of bells from other friends, had to give him something to hang on the Christmas tree, looked at himself, and thought that Ludwig II would be the best As soon as he made a move, he reluctantly held up the teddy and stuffed it on the Christmas tree. William knew that Lance loved this Teddy the most, so of course he had to give way. The two of them kept coming and going, and branches and leaves were scratched and dropped, almost giving away half of the Christmas tree. The scourge is bald... Of course, William finally accepted the second king, and this is also the largest of all his Christmas ornaments.

But Mike was confused: "Is it the British prince, the Danish prince, the Dutch prince, or the Belgian prince of Monaco?"

William smiled and hung the teddy bear on the top of the Christmas tree, just below the star of Bethlehem, which symbolizes the Magi finding Jesus. In order to echo the name of Ludwig II, he also found a teddy bear. The white swan is placed next to Teddy.

The decorations of the five cardboard boxes were all hung on the branches in the end. The originally slender fir tree was full of fat, and the bottom layer of branches was so heavy that it almost fell to the ground.Every decoration on the Christmas tree has a different origin, some are gifts from relatives and friends, and some are full of commemorative significance. Most of them are old. The metal ones look a little faded, and the crystal ones are not as bright as before. , but when William turned on the power, the small white lights in the shape of hexagonal snowflakes and the lanterns of the gingerbread villains lit up, the crystals and rhinestones on the branches refracted the light, coating the surrounding objects with a layer of halo, It looked very bright and dazzling.

Even Mike, who has a very high artistic taste, was thinking that the Christmas tree was a bit too colorful and many pendants looked too cheap. He had to admit that this is indeed a very beautiful Christmas tree after the lights are on, What's even more beautiful is the warm atmosphere surrounding Bradley's mother and son. Even he looked a little bit nostalgic for his childhood when he decorated the Christmas tree with his family.

……

Although it was Christmas Eve with only three people, William still drew up a luxurious menu, not only oysters, salmon, salad, baked ham, cherries, mince pies, creamy mashed potatoes, Christmas pudding, but also a whole The turkey is only roasted, and the dessert is even more ingenious. The traditional ginger biscuit is replaced by chocolate cake with almond jam. When the rich food is laid out on the table in sequence, it brings more than just visual The shocking power is simply the temptation of all aspects of color and fragrance.

Mike was flattered by this. He never expected William Bradley to accept him at the first meeting. He even envisioned some exaggerated scenes of making things difficult, such as being picked up by a few bodyguards in black and sunglasses and thrown out of the house. Yes, but what he got today was a little bit beyond expectations, so after the surprise, he couldn't help but become more attentive and enthusiastic about this Hollywood darling who might become his stepson in the future, but what he didn't expect was that the more enthusiastic and considerate he was, The more times William Bradley looked at himself, the more strange his eyes became. He was stared at by those particularly shocking eyes for a long time, and there was a faint meaning of observation and speculation. Mike's heart rose a little. I was very nervous, and when I was cutting ham, I accidentally scratched the knife across the plate and made a harsh sound, and when I was cutting a pie, I almost cut my hand.

"It will take a while before the turkey is ready, Mike, can you play some tunes for us?"

Almost as soon as he heard Madeleine's words, Mike responded with "my pleasure", then smiled at William with a stiff smile, and quickly stood up from the dining table and sat down in front of the piano.

"I played one wrong, no, two notes." Madeleine listened for a while, and couldn't help lowering her voice and said to William: "You prepared a table for Mike that he never expected to eat. I have a big meal, but I have been staring at him, I guess he must be a little uneasy now, probably thinking about whether you are satisfied with him or not."

After finishing speaking, Madeleine looked at William intently, as if she was also waiting for his final opinion on Mike.

In fact, William wasn't dissatisfied with Mike at all. He just paid too much attention to Mike for some reason. He didn't expect to cause such a misunderstanding. With a slightly guilty smile, William explained the reason dryly.

Madeleine couldn't laugh or cry: "I just want to observe from Mike how a man reacts to his girlfriend's family? God Will, you're going to scare Mike."

"I will apologize." William said sincerely: "The next movie I want to make, the biggest highlights and laughs will be between the clumsy son-in-law who is eager to please his girlfriend's family and the picky and shrewd father-in-law. ——" Seeing Madeleine's high raised eyebrows, he quickly added: "Of course I didn't put myself in the role of father-in-law, but Mike, don't you think that the nervous expression and the behavior that made mistakes in the middle of a busy schedule appeared like that in him? Is it actually very interesting for a man who is usually very gentle and steady?"

Madeleine looked at William with a funny and angry look, and then looked at Mike with gentle and affectionate eyes.The originally mature and wise man seemed extremely flustered and clumsy when facing his girlfriend's family. Isn't it because he paid too much attention to his girlfriend?

Probably touched by some kind of emotion, Madeleine turned her gaze to William: "If you have someone you like, you can also introduce them to me. I promise I won't treat her like you teased Mike."

William listened intently to the sound of the turkey turning in the oven in the kitchen, and rarely continued the conversation.

It took a few seconds for Madeleine to come back to her senses. She asked in surprise, "Has this person already appeared? God Will, why didn't you tell me earlier? What's her name?"

William spent a few seconds of silence, thinking about what kind of answer he should give, and the different consequences of different answers. In the end, he decided to confess a little bit first, just a little bit. "Not s—"

But William hadn't even finished "she" when someone said cheerfully, "We have a new guest who is going to spend a long night with us!"

William and Madeleine looked up together, and then they were stunned: "Lance?" X2

Isn't the man with blond hair shining in the firelight standing next to Mike wearing a dark trench coat and taking off his scarf exactly Lance Roderick?

William and Madeleine were chatting just now and were a little distracted. They didn't notice when the doorbell rang and when Mike stopped playing to open the door.

Lance put the untied scarf on his arm, and tilted his head slightly to the left: "Come here rashly, am I a welcome guest?"

"Of course you are, Lance dear," said Madeleine. "I was pleasantly surprised to see you. I thought you'd spend the evening at Roderick's mansion, or at one of the endless receptions and dances."

It’s not that Lance didn’t spend Christmas with William in previous years, but not this year. Lance has finished his studies at Cambridge this summer, and the last layer of student status has also been removed. Since then, Lance has been in addition to the Roderick Group The identity of a person, in the group company, in the eyes of the media and the public, and even in the social world, is regarded as a sign of complete adulthood, and will also assume more responsibilities and obligations, and an adult and mature Rodri As the ruler of the Ke family, the usual Christmas Eve activities are spent in different receptions, dances, charity auctions, so William originally thought that he would never see Lance again tonight, but he did not expect the other party to come, and also It's so early.

Of course, William was very happy to see Lance appear, but it would be great if the other party could appear a few minutes earlier. In that case, William and Madeleine would not talk about "like". He wanted to confess to Madeleine A little, but not ready to be forced to expose everything on the spot.So, I just hope that both Madeleine and Lance can forget about the conversation just now.

"I seem to smell the smell of roast turkey?" Lance said while taking a seat next to William: "For me, no banquet in Manhattan is more attractive than the dinner at Bradley's house." gone."

Madeleine's expression showed that she liked the compliment, and Mike sat next to her at this time, and Madeleine formally introduced him to Lance.

Of course Mike knew Lance Roderick. Coincidentally, Lance also had an impression of Mike. He had visited Mike's gallery before.

"By the way." After chatting with Mike about the current art auction market, Lance asked casually, "Will, who interesting person were you and Madeleine talking about just now?"

"I suspect Will has a girl he likes," Madeleine said, "but it seems like he just wants to keep it a secret."

"Maybe that girl is also a movie star?" Mike guessed: "Will has a special status, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to have a secret relationship."

Lance just tilted his head and stared at William seriously. His blond hair was glowing with fire, his eyes were like the clear Antarctic sky or transparent sea water, and there was also a bit of coolness in the polar climate.

"In the name of the Fifth Amendment, I refuse to answer." William put his left hand on the table, raised his right hand with the palm facing outwards, as if swearing in court, and read the words that often appear in legal dramas. lines.

The significance of the existence of American law is not to seek truth and justice, but to ensure that the rights of the country will not be so great that the government has the opportunity to exploit citizens. The core of the law is basically "It is better to let go of ten guilty than to wrongly judge one innocent. "In the Fifth Amendment, there is a clause "shall not be compelled to testify against oneself in any criminal case", which is extended to court trials and life, that is, every citizen can use the name of the Fifth Amendment to refuse to answer questions that may be of interest to him. Legally unfavorable issues arise.

Madeleine felt helpless when William, who was serious and shameless, smiled and looked away.

'Will and Lance talk about everything, the girl that even Lance doesn't know, I must be mistaken. ’ thought Madeleine.

However, William and Lance's eyes met. Both of them seemed to have noticed something from the other's expression. When they looked carefully, there was nothing.

'Fooled over... huh? ' thought William.

'Oh, it's weird. ' thought Lance.

'Hey, the oven beeped just now, and the turkey is already roasted, why didn't anyone pick it up? ' thought Mike.

……

"Pam (Pamela's nickname), is that your friend outside?" In the warm classroom, a blond girl in yellow clothes pointed out the window and said.

Kindergarten teacher Pamela turned around and saw her boyfriend Greg dancing and muttering to himself on the opposite road, which seemed a bit strange.

"Yes." Facing the window, Pamela said in a funny and helpless tone with her hands on her hips, "It's him."

"Why don't you talk to him?" Another little black boy asked provocatively.

"You think I should go?" Pamela smiled sweetly and shyly at her students.

"Yes!" The children urged her enthusiastically.

Pamela had no choice but to pick up her coat and go outside to meet her boyfriend, but judging from her bright eyes and sweet smile, she was still very happy to see Greg at this time.

What Pamela didn't notice was that as soon as she walked out of the classroom, the children walked to the window with a letter board on her back foot. Ten children and ten letter boards just formed the sentence "Marryme Pam" (marry me, Pam) - this is actually a long-planned marriage proposal, and Greg has already bought Pamela's students.

After crossing the road, Pamela trotted into Greg's arms: "Hi dear."

Then he put his arms around her boyfriend's shoulders, and was about to kiss her mouth-to-mouth——

Several faint white lights broke into the picture suddenly, destroying the composition of the whole scene.

It looks like it was taken by a camera with a flash on.

An angry male voice sounded: "NG! Clear the field! Clear the field! The staff come over and tell the people around to back off!"

Hearing the director's order, the two young men who were still hugging and almost kissing just now—Greg and Pamela, played by William Bradley and Jennifer Aniston—quickly paused, and the classroom A group of children who were holding up the alphabet board also put down the things in their hands. It turned out that they were just filming a movie.

And that angry voice came from Jay Roach, director of the crew of "Meet Your Father-in-Law".

Behind the camera, the director Jay Roach with a loudspeaker was still having a headache and yelled at the surrounding crowd: "Who just turned on the flash during the sneak shot? You have seriously interfered with the filming of the film! Please put the camera back immediately. Put it away, and step back another ten meters, otherwise, I will have to order someone to temporarily confiscate your cameras!"

No wonder Jay Roach was angry, and he was very rude to the pedestrians watching the filming around, because this is the number of times today, the crew of "Meet the Father-in-Law" is not because of the actors themselves, but because of external interference Filming was forced to stop.

Most of the story scenes of "Meet the Father-in-Law" take place indoors. There is only one scene that needs to be shot outdoors and uses street scenes, which is the one William and Jennifer Aniston are currently filming. The actor Greg is by the road. A drama about wanting to propose to the heroine Pamela.

The main filming location of the film has been determined. It is in a wealthy community in the suburbs of New York, so the outdoor scenes were also chosen to be shot in New York. Filming was carried out on an ordinary street in Brooklyn—the commercial area in Brooklyn is underdeveloped, the buildings are generally not high, and there are many old houses with a history of more than a hundred years. Regular, more suitable for framing the daily life of ordinary Americans than Manhattan or Queens.

The relevant departments of the New York City Hall quickly approved the filming permission of the crew of "Meet the Father-in-law" and designated a residential street in a non-commercial area for the crew to shoot. At first, everyone thought the plot was simple and not difficult to shoot. In the end, it may take only a few minutes on the big screen to finish filming, but unexpectedly, it was such a seemingly simple scene that encountered many difficulties after the official filming started.

Because there are too many people watching and shooting.

And when there are too many idlers, all kinds of things will happen. The screams of excitement because of seeing the stars are still trivial. The more difficult thing is the situation just now—probably because the weather in New York is not good today. Great, the clouds are overcast and the lighting is poor. Some fans ignorantly turned on the flash in order to get a clearer shot of William Bradley and Jennifer Aniston. The camera faithfully took the flash into the film and destroyed it. everything.

The most important aspect of movie shooting is the picture. Even if the messy noise is collected into the microphone, it can be removed in the later stage. However, if the picture is damaged by the external flash, it cannot be repaired in the later stage. This group of shots must be reshot, that is, Said that the busy work of all the actors and staff of the crew just now was in vain.

In fact, it wasn't so exaggerated when the filming started in the morning, but because of the fame of several leading actors, the movie "Meet Your Father-in-Law" is now very well-known?Almost every pedestrian who passed this street and recognized William or Jennifer Aniston had the same reaction: stop, stare, scream, and notify relatives and friends.

Most of the passers-by who came across the filming by accident would not leave again, but just stood there and watched, and some turned back to get the camera or notify relatives and friends. After half a day, the whole street, except for the filming zone that was specially separated Outside, they were all crowded by passers-by.

Director Jay Roach and the film producer now regret their decision not to apply for a street closure permit because they were afraid of trouble. The process of obtaining a street closure permit is relatively complicated. The relevant departments agreed to negotiate with the shops on both sides of the street, and even compensate them for their monetary losses during the closure of the street. Shooting, I'm afraid the scene is almost finished now!

Now the camera is repeated again and again, and the wasted film is worthless!

……

"Wow--!"

"Oh my God, it's time to kiss, it's time to kiss!"

"Ahhhh!!!"

Gasps and screams continued to erupt as the filming progressed, and the whole street was in a state of agitation—it was the crowd watching the filming of the movie "Meet the Father-in-Law" not far away who made the sound. It was very small, and many people covered their mouths consciously while being excited and tried to keep their voices as low as possible, but they couldn't bear the crowd, and even the smallest voices gathered together formed a very powerful noise.

If someone looks here from the top floor of a nearby building at this time, they will find that the flow of people on this street and nearby intersections is very strange. The whole street is almost full of people, but only a few layers of people are left in the middle of the street. Not to mention the irregular shooting area surrounded by it. This is not the rush hour for commuting, nor is it a bustling commercial street. It is just an ordinary street in Brooklyn, New York. There are even few pedestrians and traffic in places beyond three streets. , but the intersections on both sides of this street are in a state of heavy traffic jams, and despite the huge traffic volume, there are still private cars trying to squeeze in this direction, not to mention pedestrians on foot, there are so many people like There are generally parades.

"Mr. Hey, I heard that the entire street ahead is blocked. You should take a detour through other streets. If you have something to do but are delayed by traffic jams, it would be too bad." A Brook who patrolled here Police officer Lin knocked on the window of the SUA that was blocked at the end, and kindly advised the driver.

"Thank you." The driver poked his head out of the car window, looked at the long traffic queue ahead, and asked with some doubts and curiosity, "Did any accident happen ahead?" Otherwise, the heavy traffic jam and the flow of people at the moment cannot be explained.

"No, there's a movie going on in the street ahead," replied the patrolman.

"What movie caused such a commotion? Mr. Inspector, I thought the people of New York were used to such scenes."

The patrolman shrugged his shoulders: "I don't know too well. I heard it's called "Meet Your Father-in-Law". I'm not in charge of these streets, but I just heard from my colleagues that the traffic jams here are severe due to the power supply shooting, so I came to have a look. Something happened."

"It's the new movie of William Bradley and Jennifer Aniston! And Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt!" The driver shouted out the new information he just got from the newspaper yesterday.Turns out the movie was going to be shot in New York!

"Jennifer Aniston?" The patrolman's eyes lit up.Any ordinary American man who has watched "Friends" doesn't like Rachel, and doesn't like "America's Sweetheart" Jennifer Aniston.

The policeman who was going to patrol the five streets before getting off work seemed to have forgotten his earlier decision, and walked towards the street where the movie was being filmed .

The driver of the SUV, who apparently had the same idea as the patrolman, tried to pull the car over by the side of the road while stepping on the gas pedal and turning the steering wheel.

"Sorry, sir, parking is not allowed here." The patrolman still saw the movement of the SUV driver, stopped and reminded him.

"Understood the officer, I'm just turning around! I'm leaving now!" The SUV driver slowly moved the steering wheel, as if he was about to turn around and drive away.

The patrolman looked unsuspecting, turned and strode towards the source of the traffic jam.

The SUV driver waited for the other party to walk tens of meters away and was about to turn around the intersection and disappear, so he quickly parked the car on the side of the road, then turned off the engine, and got out of the car.

But then, the SUV driver made a silly face: the moment he got out of the car, the patrolman turned around as if he had eyes on the back of his head, ran back with lightning speed, and "snapped" With a sound, he pasted a ticket on the front window of the car, saluted him, then turned around and ran away quickly.

Glancing at the amount of the ticket: $214.

SUV driver: "..." Isn't it a bit expensive for him to take a look at the actor he likes?