Birth of an actor

The first thing to appear in the camera is a pair of black dragon leather boots. The hasty footsteps and the tumbling black robe bring out a depressing atmosphere. The angle of view slowly moves up, revealing more than half of the sterling silver snake-headed cane held tightly by the black leather gloves Standing on the body, the light golden long hair is scattered on the black robe, and the back alone exudes the aura of being arrogant and not allowing strangers to enter.

Then a cold and arrogant pale side face suddenly broke into the camera, and the cold and inorganic light gray eyes glanced at the glass window of the department store in front of it. A doll in the window immediately nodded and waved it together. Fingers, the door opened automatically.

The interior of the department store is another noisy and busy scene, like a complex of hospital emergency room and information desk, there is a flash of intersecting bones and wand patterns on the wall, which is St. Mungo's magic injury Hospital logo.

Some people in strange costumes are stealing the spotlight, and some people in dark green wizard robes are carrying out diagnosis and treatment with wands in their hands, or rushing through the hall, and the waiting reception area in the middle is full of people Ruzhi, a chubby blond witch was sitting there with a smile on her face. When she saw the visitor holding a snake-headed wand, she immediately stood up from her seat in fright.

The tumbling black robe flew straight past the reception, turned around at the sign of "Biological Harm Unit", walked through the corridor and stopped at the door of a ward, where "It's all Harry Potter's fault!" was heard from the room. With these words, the visitor raised his eyebrows, and pushed open the door with a snake-headed cane.

"Father!" Draco Malfoy, who was lying on the hospital bed, immediately turned his head and shouted. He was wearing a pinstriped hospital gown, and his right arm was exaggeratedly bandaged with gauze. Immediately showed an aggrieved expression: "You have to vent your anger for me!"

Lucius Malfoy walked to the hospital bed, frowned and looked at Draco Malfoy's bandaged arm with only the fingertips exposed, with obvious anger and distress across his face: "Who hurt you?"

"Hagrid's Hippogriff named Buckbeak almost killed me!" Draco Malfoy's cheeks flushed with excitement: "I want them to regret it, Hagrid and that one Big ugly monsters are all!"

The coldness on Lucius Malfoy's face suddenly disappeared. He calmly played with his cane, and said softly: "The Hippogriff is a very dangerous beast, and it doesn't do anything to XXX-level magical creatures. Put it into the school in a protective manner, and hurt my son, Dumbledore is responsible for it." After a pause, "He and the half-blood giant, I want them to watch this animal be executed with their own eyes."

……

"CUT!" Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón glanced at the monitor beside him and nodded with satisfaction: "Great, this scene is over, everyone can call it a day."

Like a pardon, the well-ordered "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" scene suddenly became lively. Just now, it was like a picture scroll of a magical world isolated from the world, and now there are many staff members in modern attire Walking around, it immediately added a bit of technology and civilization to the fireworks.

In the old-fashioned British classical building, cameras can be seen everywhere. Many actors in dark green wizard robes gathered together in twos and threes, and asked the passing staff to take a photo for themselves—they all played St. Mungo’s Hospital Therapist, the dark green wizard robe is the symbol of the therapist at St. Mungo's Hospital in the original book-St. Mungo's Hospital has a strong sense of presence in the "Harry Potter" book, but in the movie series, the first Three, and St. Mungo's Hospital appeared for the first time.

J. K. Rowling once described in detail how to enter St. Mungo's Magic Hospital for Injuries and Injuries. Just like the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, St. Mungo also used magic to hide himself from Muggle eyes , in the eyes of Muggles, St. Mungo's Hospital is an abandoned department store named "Clear Department Store", but with the sign of "Closed for Renovation". Talk, and the doll will move its fingers to let the wizard into the hospital.

In order to restore the appearance of St. Mungo's Hospital in the book, the crew of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" specially rented a century-old red brick and white window old department store in England, and then carefully decorated it , the appearance is [-]% restored.

However, such extravagant shooting conditions will only be used this time in the third film. If the scene of St. Mungo’s Hospital appears again in the subsequent series of films, it can only go to the Harry Potter studio that has been under construction in the suburbs of London. It was filmed in the same location as the Gringotts scene, "The Sorcerer's Stone" was filmed at the Australian embassy in the financial district of London. After "The Chamber of Secrets", due to various reasons, it was necessary to use models and build sets to replace it. filmed.

In addition, the scene of St. Mungo's Hospital was actually added by the director Alfonso Cuaron. It is not known whether there will be another scene of St. Mungo's Hospital in the future. Take a group photo under the sign of St. Mungo's inside and outside the building, and save the precious footage.

The shooting has ended, and Tom Felton no longer struggles to maintain the illusion of an arm injury. To be honest, he has been lying on the hospital bed for half a day and took five shots in a row before passing. He can't wait to take off the bandage on his hand up.

Tom Felton stretched his waist, let out a long breath, and began to remove the bandage on his right hand. Just halfway through the bandage, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and he hurriedly raised his head to look around. When the producer was talking to William Bradley, the corners of his mouth were bent upwards, and there was eagerness in his eyes, but he hesitated again in the next second.

"Mr. Bradley, can we, no, take a picture with me?"

So when William finished his conversation with the producer and turned around and saw a shy Draco Malfoy, he thought he was delusional, and was slightly taken aback, only to think of Tom Fair outside the camera Felton and Malfoy are actually completely different people - Draco Malfoy on the screen is arrogant and arrogant, but Tom Felton is a gentle boy next door, not only has no arrogance but also loves to help others, It is very popular among the young actors in the crew.

"Of course." William took the camera from Tom Felton, called the passing staff casually, put his arms around Felton's shoulders, and asked them to take pictures for them.

After a few "clicks", Tom Felton couldn't help fiddling with the camera, thanked William with a blushing face, and regretted: "It's a pity that you are leaving London soon, otherwise I would like to ask you As for the few scenes, although the performance teacher taught them well, they were too patterned and not as thorough and vivid as your analysis."

William thought for a while and promised: "If you have any confusion about acting, you can call or email me. You know my private phone number and email address. However, a better suggestion is that you take advantage of the vacation Coming to Los Angeles for a few weeks, Tommy, I can introduce you to a very good private acting class where established stars such as Anthony Hopkins and Robert De Niro regularly teach students A few lessons."

Tom Felton's eyes were bright, and he smiled shyly while nodding: "I'll think about it, thank you, Mr. Bradley."

In "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", William only had this one scene, and he could leave on the same day after filming. It is not an exaggeration to say that he came to play a cameo.

The story of this one is that Harry Potter was in the third grade at Hogwarts. Hagrid became the professor of the protection of magical animals and brought the Hippogriff Buckbeak into the school. In the middle, Draco Malfoy provoked Buckbeak but was injured. As revenge, Lucius Malfoy used means to make Hagrid lose his position and Buckbeak was executed. Of course, his conspiracy was finally caught by Harry and Hermione Teaming up to break, the two also used the time-turner to go back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius.

In fact, William was not arranged to appear in the script at the beginning, because Lucius Malfoy is a name hidden behind the scenes in the story of "Prisoner of Azkaban", which is much smarter than in "Chamber of Secrets". , he planned the whole thing, but he didn't have to show up at all.

However, director Alfonso Cuarón deliberately revised the script, adding a scene that required Lucius Malfoy to appear, and strongly urged William to schedule a guest appearance.His original words were: "You have been a cameo in "The Sorcerer's Stone", and there are many scenes in "The Chamber of Secrets", but there is no scene in "Prisoner of Azkaban". When this news is made public, there will definitely be many fans. Disappointed - no, I'm not exaggerating, Will, fans love you, did you forget the box office polls CinemaScore did when the first two films were released? In North America alone, your fan drive was at the box office Calculated in tens of millions of dollars."

"Moreover, my style is completely different from that of director Steven Spielberg. The two films he directed are warm and childlike, but I have to take the completely opposite style route-although I am very fond of my own films. I am confident, but I can also imagine that audiences who are accustomed to the screen style of the first two films will definitely have doubts and discussions about "Prisoner of Azkaban". Maybe there will be a large number of fans who don't like this film .So, I think about the possible decline in the box office in advance, you must come to the cameo, Will, who made you a panacea for the box office."

Now William didn't make a trip to the "Harry Potter" set in London.

"Will, come here!" As soon as he thought of Alfonso Cuaron, the other party shouted and waved to William.

William exchanged private cell phone numbers with Tom Felton, agreed to keep in touch and said goodbye, and went to the screening room of the "Harry Potter" studio in the suburbs of London with Alfonso Cuaron. A rough cut by the editor in Yueli.

A formal crew with a large investment like "Harry Potter and the Movie" usually has an editor who follows the crew to roughly cut and color the film footage shot every day to facilitate post-production. Of course, there are also some directors Acting as an editor himself - when filming "Sorcerer's Stone", Steven Spielberg did the first cut by himself, and then handed over the rest of the work to the queen editor Michael Kahn, who pressed I edited my own ideas for the second time, but when it was Alfonso Cuarón’s turn, he didn’t have that much power. He had to communicate more with the editor and try to reach a consensus. If the ideas were really different, he would ask the producer. When deciding who to listen to, producers generally choose editors rather than directors, because the former can give popular edits that are most conducive to ratings and box office.

Alfonso Cuarón was very slow in filming. It took more than a month to shoot, and there were not many initial products after rough cuts. The place replayed it, told William about his filming ideas, and his thoughts on the next plot, and asked William for his opinions from time to time.

"Any thoughts, Will?" Alfonso Cuarón asked impatiently once the screen returned to darkness.

It may be because Willot played a big role in the contract negotiations between Willlot and them to sign two consecutive films, and it may be because he maintains a good personal relationship with Rowling, the original writer and screenwriter-so far William is still Rowling's unrecognized character. One of the test readers who published the new book-although William was not listed as a producer on the crew, both the former Steven Spielberg and the current Alfonso Cuaron respect his opinion very much.

William recalled the shot just now. No matter the picture, artistic conception or detail processing exceeded expectations, Alfonso Cuarón was indeed very talented. Even if it was only the first editing, the traces of his personal style were already obvious—Hollywood series Movies will always continue the same style. Some sequel movies have changed directors, but the audience can't tell the difference in the cinema. However, Alfonso Cuarón, "Prisoner of Azkaban" under his lens is quite different. The first two "Harry Potter" movies have made subversive changes in style.

Under Spielberg's lens, the tones of "Sorcerer's Stone" and "Chamber of Secrets" are warm and bright, and the picture has a fairy-tale cheerfulness, but the picture of "Prisoner of Azkaban" is generally blue-green, The dark and deserted tones inexplicably reveal a serious and frightening atmosphere.

For example, the department store used as the filming location for St. Mungo’s Hospital is an old-fashioned British classical building that has just been renovated recently. The red bricks and white windows are very colorful. In the picture, the bright red becomes dull, and the tone of the film suddenly becomes dark and ominous.

"This movie will make the audience feel very fresh." William judged: "For book fans, it may give them the shock of seeing the ending of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" for the first time."

Rowling has finished writing "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and is preparing for publication. The latest "Harry Potter" book on the market is "Goblet of Fire", which is also the one that shocked readers the most and caused the most discussions. Ben, because at the beginning and end of the book, a Muggle and a Hufflepuff are brutally murdered, and this is when many readers, like Harry Potter, face death for the first time.Before that, they thought that "Harry Potter" would have a beautiful process and ending just like Disney's fairy tales.

Speaking of which, Alfonso Cuarón's "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Goblet of Fire" novels have the same touch. They suddenly changed from the previous Disney-like dreamy beauty to advanced into the dark and brutal world of adulthood.

"Uh, I haven't read the novel." Alfonso Cuaron seemed embarrassed.

William: "..."

Alfonso Cuarón immediately defended himself: "But my son is a loyal fan of "Harry Potter". I learned a lot about this set of books from him, and I have also read Spielberg. The first two films of the director, to be honest, their atmosphere is too fairy tale, and Harry Potter is too like a sensible boy. In the script of J.K. Rowling's "Prisoner of Azkaban" , there are people who have been wronged and imprisoned without justice, and there are plots where wizards discriminate against Muggles and Muggles fear wizards, so I think what Rowling wants to create is not a perfect fairy tale world, but a real wizard World, Harry Potter should also have a bit of adolescent anger and impulsiveness, and the growth that every 13-year-old teenager will have... I talked to Rowling, and she seemed to be going to let Hermione and Ron be together, so We also need to arrange some details that hint at the budding of love..."

Alfonso Cuarón has a lot of ideas and is also very creative. Perhaps it is because he has not read the original work that he is not bound by the impression of the novel. He dares to add more fantasy to the movie, and dares to make each character appear in the film. While maintaining the characters in the novel, there are character performances that are more in line with their real age.

Although some viewers may not accept such a dramatic style change after the movie is released, when Rowling publishes the last few novels in the "Harry Potter" series, those who have read "Goblet of Fire" and after Fans of novels will understand that Spielberg's style will not always be suitable for "Harry Potter". Alfonso Cuaron's timely transformation will allow this film series to maintain the same style as the later novels, There will be no embarrassing situation where the style of the movie and the original novel are very different.

Thinking of this, William immediately issued an invitation: "Are you interested in renewing the contract with Willot and continuing to direct "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"?"

Alfonso Cuarón was stunned for a moment: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban hasn't even finished filming yet... Are you so confident in this movie?"

There are still some words that Alfonso Cuarón didn’t finish. He took over the guide tube from Spielberg and completely subverted the other’s film style. He made a sequel according to his own ideas. It will definitely succeed, what if the audience doesn't like the particularly bad word-of-mouth?What if the box office hits the street?

"I have faith in you. You're a great director, Alfonso, and you won't screw up."

……

Alfonso Cuarón stared at William for three seconds before he was sure that what sounded like a joke was really not a joke.The other party's eyes and tone are serious, and he can't fail to see it.

He was a little flattered by the trust, really.

There are so many famous directors who have worked with William Bradley, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Ann Lee, David Fincher, etc., among them Alfonso Cuarón also admires the directors he admires, and now William praises him, as if he is similar to those famous directors in the eyes of the other party. Has ever been so appreciated by any A-list actor. ——especially William Bradley, who just won the Oscar winner—to be honest, there is no B-list. Even if the two parties have conflicts, the possibility of the director being replaced is greater than that of the leading actor.

As for the proposal to continue directing "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"... Alfonso Cuaron couldn't help thinking deeply.

Hollywood is the center of the world's film culture industry. Every year, countless directors and actors come to Hollywood from all over the world to seek opportunities. However, Hollywood's resources are not unlimited, and the distribution of opportunities is uneven. The opportunities that Americans get are naturally Among the remaining foreigners, although the British media always complain that British actors are discriminated against in Hollywood, in fact, apart from native Americans, the best people in Hollywood are the British, followed by Canadians, Australians, etc. English-speaking Commonwealth countries, followed by European countries, American countries and Asian countries.

This is not to say that foreigners will not succeed in Hollywood, and those who are truly capable can succeed everywhere, but in Hollywood, it is more difficult for non-Americans to start, have fewer opportunities, and the process of becoming famous is more difficult, such as Alfonso Cuarón himself, who attracted the attention of Hollywood producers in 91 with the success of his debut feature film "When Love Is Hysterical" at the Toronto Film Festival, opened the door to the United States, but after coming to Los Angeles, Alphonse Suo Cuaron's career as a director has become more tortuous. His dream film shooting plans have repeatedly failed, and he can only get a few B-level film contracts. The big producers did not favor him because of his talent.

Alfonso Cuarón didn't want to waste his talent and energy on low-cost plasma films, so he never got a plan to direct a real feature film. He just worked as an assistant director in Los Angeles, and was forced to make ends meet. TV series, and it was like this until 95, when Warner finally offered him an olive branch and asked him to make the adaptation of the famous book "The Little Princess".

"The Little Princess" didn't do well at the box office but had some award nominations and brought some fame to Alfonso Cuarón, who was gearing up for more film projects at last, but, no.The studios started throwing adaptations of famous books at him this time around, as if that was the only thing he was good at.Alfonso Cuarón waited for a long time but failed to find the film project he wanted to make. The script he found himself was not accepted by the studio. Finally, in desperation, he had no choice but to accept the invitation of [-]th Century Fox to film again. "Great Expectations" based on Charles Dickens' novel.

The filming of "Great Expectations" made Alfonso Cuaron very painful. He even had the idea of ​​leaving Hollywood. After the film was completed, he really returned to Mexico. Taking on multiple roles as screenwriter, director, and producer, he made a movie that he really wanted to make, "Your Mom, Too".

The production cost of this Mexican independent film was only a few million dollars, but he was much happier making it than "Great Expectations" with an investment of tens of millions of dollars. After the Venice Film Festival became an instant hit, it won more than 20 awards from multiple film festivals and film associations around the world, and also received more than [-] nominations for Oscars, Golden Globes, and British Oscars.

At this time, Hollywood really favored Alfonso Cuarón, and the studios began to throw olive branches at him with different types of scripts. I took a fancy to "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", which has not found a replacement director since Steven Spielberg resigned.

Alfonso Cuarón's reason for wanting to make "Harry Potter" is very simple. This kind of A-level production that has received a lot of attention during the filming period, invested hundreds of millions of dollars, and has a lot of visual effects. There are not many of them. Once the filming is completed, it can become an excellent springboard, and enter the vision of the entire Hollywood upper class in one fell swoop. From then on, it will gain weight in negotiating with the big studios. If you want to make an independent film with a script, you can easily form a crew.

Yes, unlike ordinary directors who simply pursue fame and money, Alfonso Cuarón is more idealistic and pursuing. Compared with commercial films that can make money, he always prefers independent films, and dreams of one day classics from Born in your own hands.

Moreover, the ten years of hard work in Los Angeles taught Alfonso Cuarón a truth-a rookie director with no talent but no representative work in a big studio, the best ending is also a filming tool. If you want to become a first-class director, You must have masterpieces, and if you want to have the right to speak, you must first produce results.

Since he wants to use "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" as a springboard, it is enough to make one film in this series, and it will be tasteless if there are too many - he is not Spielberg, he can In the past ten years, he has wasted a lot of time in making films as he likes. Now, he wished that every film he made was of a different style. Take it all over.

However, William's invitation was hard to turn down. There are not many companies like Willot that give the director a high degree of creative freedom in A-level productions. Making a film seems like a good option as well.

"Thank you, Will, I really don't have any new film plans after filming "Prisoner of Azkaban". I will seriously consider your proposal." After careful consideration, Alfonso Cuarón replied.

The reason why he didn't agree is because he makes movies slowly and carefully. It will take at least more than a year to finish this "Prisoner of Azkaban". With an incredible script, no amount of salary can stop him from striving for the approval of the movie he wants to make.

William also saw that Alfonso Cuarón had his own ideas. He nodded and didn't pay too much attention to it. Directors with talent and personality were not easy to win over with salary. "Keep working together. If you have a suitable script, you can also recommend it to Willot. If the budget is not high, you can retain the final editing rights of the film."

Alfonso Cuarón suffocated, and coughed twice, choking on the saliva.

The right to final cut, this word was so easily spoken by William, but it represents the right that every director dreams of - if he is not busy with "Prisoner of Azkaban" now, it will be more than two years before the film is released. For more than a year, the idea of ​​the next movie is still unknown, and he almost wants to sign Willot right now.

It turned out that the rumors about Willot in the industry were true.Alfonso Cuarón already has high interest and yearning for continuing to cooperate with Willlot in the future, and he has a little more enthusiasm for William: "Speaking of which, Will, the Oscars are over for a few months, What's your next movie? Is it true that the script your agent received after the Oscars flooded the office? It's such an exaggeration, it shouldn't be true—”

William frowned helplessly.Many film companies probably want to be the first to finalize his schedule. Scripts of various themes and characters are sent to Amon Goffman's office. It took several weeks to finish watching, and some companies did not send the script, but offered a huge salary, and bluntly said that they would tailor the script for William. For such companies, the IAA generally refused.

Alfonso Cuarón saw the expression on William's face, he said "Oh", and suddenly realized: "It's true." Then he couldn't control his curiosity, and asked cautiously: "Then those about the salary? Rumors also..."

After the end of this year's Oscars, in addition to the next film of the winners becoming the focus of the media's attention, the soaring salary of the best actor and actress has also become a hot topic on the streets. It is said that Halle Berry's agent has already made her The salary of William's film was called 2000 million U.S. dollars, and William's salary rose even more exaggeratedly. All commercial films start at 2000 million U.S. dollars, and those who rely on his appeal to enter the global box office market need to add a dividend agreement-and this The dividend agreement is not a surplus dividend, but an early dividend.

Most A-list movie stars can now get a profit sharing agreement in commercial movies, that is, after deducting production costs and marketing costs at the movie box office, they will then share with the actors. Good, then there will be no dividends.As the name suggests, early dividends are directly divided into box office revenue. In Hollywood today, only a few people such as Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson can negotiate early dividends with film companies.

It's just that these are gossips, the stars have not signed contracts with the studios in black and white, and all the talk about the pay is guesswork, at least one thing Alfonso Cuarón knows is that although Halle Berry The film's salary has risen to 2000 million, but currently no studio has actually negotiated a contract with Halle Berry at a price of 2000 million, which is considered priceless.

But as we all know, it is impossible for William Brandley and Halle Berry to have the same remuneration-although there are various discriminations in Hollywood, but this is really not sex discrimination-but William's representative works are many, in commercial films and The field of independent films is extremely brilliant, but before Halle Berry became an Oscar queen, his representative work was only one biographical film "Blood and Blood", "X-Men" with a good commercial box office, and one of the supporting roles in group dramas. She has never been the protagonist in a major A-level production, and the bigger the momentum of this Oscar queen, the more embarrassing her real status will be.

Therefore, even though they are both Oscar winners, it is normal that Halle Berry's remuneration quotation is more watery than William's.

Alfonso Cuarón generally doesn't gossip like this, but if the rumors are true, then Hollywood's highest salary will have to be replaced by someone else. He is still an ordinary person, and ordinary people are more or less curious. , he is now particularly curious about the truth of this rumor.

In the face of Alfonso Cuarón's curious gaze, William admitted little by little: "There are some companies that have offered agreements with early dividend clauses, but the scripts are not good, and some even have no scripts. I dare not make such a contract." sign."

"Fortunately, "Harry Potter" is a series of Willot movies, otherwise I would not be able to invite you to come as a guest star now." Alfonso Cuarón joked.

"That's not necessarily the case. If there is a good script, I would like to learn from the boldness of Julia Roberts and George Clooney when they collaborated. Even if the salary is only ten dollars, I will still act."

Alfonso Cuaron immediately said: "Is there a chance to work together in the future?"

"No problem." William readily agreed.

"So you haven't met a suitable script yet." Alfonso Cuarón said, "However, according to the gossip from Los Angeles, it is said that there are several big productions that are confirmed to be you. Is it just hype? And that you’re going to play a superhero like Batman or Captain America, ha, that doesn’t sound plausible.”

"It's really not a rumor. Not exactly." William shrugged and said, "Marvel wants me to play Iron Man and Leonardo to play Captain America—"

Alfonso Cuarón: "Huh?"