Birth of an actor

When filming "Gangs of New York", Daniel Day Lewis accidentally broke his nose. He didn't want to have surgery on his face and didn't care much about his appearance, so he didn't do corrective surgery. During the season, he always appeared on camera with a crooked nose. This change naturally caused an uproar among the media and fans. In addition, some media asked the crew and learned that Lewis was filming the fight scene with Leonardo. All of a sudden, reports began to appear on magazine websites that Leonardo broke Lewis' nose during filming, and Leonardo became the only "murderer" who caused Lewis's nose to be broken.

In fact, the real culprit was not Leonardo at all, it was a sack prop that caused Lewis’s nose to crooked, and Lewis himself——in "Gangs of New York", there was a fight where Lewis bullied Leonardo The scene was very intense, but Leonardo did not fight in person when filming this scene, and it was not a stand-in who replaced him and Lewis to fight fiercely, but a sack. He got into the drama so deeply that he broke his nose abruptly!

Thinking of that scene, Leonardo's own nose was sore. He was sure that if he was under Lewis at that time, if Lewis hit his nose, the bridge of his nose might be broken, and then I can't be more thankful that Martin Scorsese arranged for a sack stand-in.

It's certainly comforting that William understands that he's innocent, but that doesn't mean he's happy to hear William slander his skills!

"My skills are pretty good." Leonardo retorted: "For filming, I have also received professional fighting training, there are two of them."

"Under the pressure of contract requirements and agents." William added, "and often skipping classes."

There was an awkward silence between the two who hurt each other.

Well, it's mostly William who hurt Leonardo.

After "Spider-Man" became popular all over the world, William once jokingly asked Leonardo if he would also participate in Marvel's movie universe plan. It may be because he had dreamed of being a hero when he was young. Leonardo once said He was very interested, but the enthusiasm only lasted after he saw Toby's fitness list - it would not be an exaggeration to describe Leonardo's expression at that time with a big change in his face, and it didn't take long for him to make I made the decision to keep a lifetime of friendly distance from superhero movies.

Under the repeated orders of his agent, it is his limit to insist on going to the gym twice a week with his friends. In order to play a superhero, he spends many years in the gym, and how many hours of high-intensity training every day?God, this opportunity should be left to others.

However, this "hurt" dialogue seems to have completely opened Leonardo's heart knot. For the first time in history, he opened his heart and said something to others that he sometimes refused to admit: "I'm jealous Thank you, Will, for your steadfastness of purpose, your unwavering ambition, even your statuette. Maybe this emotion still exists in my body now, and it comes out whenever I feel powerless and lost .”

This sentence, after the sun sets today, Leonardo will never admit that he said it.In fact, he regretted it when he just said it. Fortunately, William just listened quietly and didn't hold on to it.

"I wanted to change, so I made "Gangs of New York". When I met Daniel Day-Lewis on the set and saw his superb acting skills, I knew I had finally found a goal..." Leon Nado murmured.

"—to be a method actor?"

"Isn't Oscar particularly fond of method actors? You know this, Will." Leonardo looked at William calmly: "You also know how the old men in the academy think of me. They used to I also looked at you with the same eyes, and now you have changed their minds, of course I don’t want to carry the halo of business and idols for the rest of my life, it will make me feel forever shorter than you.”

"Well, Leo, have you forgotten that you are indeed shorter than me?"

"It's only less than two inches shorter, and my height is the standard golden height for Hollywood actors." Leonardo emphasized.

"Okay, let's put the height controversy aside for now. Let's talk about how you plan to completely 'resurrect' Howard Hughes-I think I need to teach you a lesson, Leo."

Give him lessons?Leonardo wanted to snort.

But he didn't in the end, he knew that William had the right to say so.

In Leonardo's view, his old friend has a talent that is probably bestowed by God. He is always the fastest to understand the essence of the character. The man appeared naturally, and he was very curious about how William viewed the role of Howard Hughes.

And, let's be honest, Leonardo really needed some advice.very urgent.

……

William asked Leonardo a question: "In your understanding, what is the most obvious character trait in Howard Hughes? Or, what kind of shortcomings led him to eventually self-destruct?"

Leonardo talked eloquently: "Hughes is a perfectionist. He has extremely strict requirements on himself. Whether he is making movies or flying, he does not allow the slightest flaw. He only does the best and most perfect. Let his career always wander between two extremes, either to bear the risk of bankruptcy, or to achieve the greatest success. At the same time, he also has very severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and cleanliness, and refuses to eat when the order of the beans is disturbed , Seeing any companion who goes to the bathroom at the same time as him is like looking at germs, whether it is a friend or a lover, maintaining an intimate relationship depends on patience, he cannot fully open his heart to others, so he is doomed to have a long-term and stable relationship... "

"Do you think he has low self-esteem?"

"Howard Hughes has an inferiority complex? How is it possible!"

"But obsessive-compulsive disorder and cleanliness are very difficult to destroy a person. After all, there are many people with these two psychological disorders, and perfectionism is an essential element for every entrepreneur to succeed. You know Hughes is a little deaf right?"

Leonardo nodded: "Well, I have indeed seen such statements in some old newspapers and biographies. Some said that the Hughes family had a history of hereditary deafness, and some said that he chose it because of psychological factors. Sexual deafness, and it is said that he was deaf because of an air crash. I specifically found the medical record report of Hughes after the air crash that year, which did not mention that his hearing was severely damaged, but it is certain that Hughes was in middle age Deafness was already severe when he started self-isolation, because he had to use hearing aids when he later attended congressional hearings - so I think, for whatever reason, Hughes was already deaf when he was young , and later because of the air crash, his deafness was further aggravated."

Leonardo's answer shows that he did put a lot of effort into playing Howard Hughes well. He read more than a dozen old newspapers and biographies of Hollywood's golden age movie stars from decades ago.

"I know what you think, Leo, just looking at the life trajectory of Howard Hughes, it is indeed impossible for a person like him to feel inferior - he was born rich, handsome and rich, romantic, courageous, persistent, and a good friend Mind, such a person can only be proud. In fact, it is true, whether it is a lover, friend, or subordinate, the word "arrogance" is included in the evaluation of Hughes." William analyzed Leonardo Dao: "But a person who believes in perfectionism, has a high degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder and cleanliness, when he realizes that he has a flaw that cannot be concealed, or a disability—"

"—he won't be able to bear it. I think I understand what you mean, Will." Leonardo interrupted William hastily, and his face gradually revealed an expression of sudden realization: "Hughes is extremely proud. I can't bear any innocuous flaws, let alone my own flaws such as deafness. And throughout his life, except for being forced to wear hearing aids at congressional hearings, Hughes has never admitted to anyone or any media. He has a hearing problem, which just demonstrates how much he cares about his handicap."

"Hughes saw his deafness as a major handicap. He could not accept his disability and was unwilling to admit it to others. Although he had countless lovers and friends and subordinates, none of them could really open up. Yes, plus he also has a high degree of cleanliness and obsessive-compulsive disorder, these problems superimposed, seriously hindered Hughes' communication with others, made him more and more paranoid, and finally caused him to lose control and self-enclosed."

"Hughes does have low self-esteem, which even he himself will not discover and admit, because it is a subconscious low self-esteem. The low self-esteem affects him all the time, subtly, and even changes his life."

Once he opened up a new way of thinking, Leonardo even looked at the role of Howard Hughes from a different angle, and made a new interpretation for each scene to be filmed: "When Hughes pursued Katharine Hepburn , Hepburn's film career was in jeopardy, and it was he who bought her the adaptation copyright of "The Philadelphia Story", helped Hepburn successfully transform, and saved her troubled career, which gave Hughes a sense of satisfaction. And when Hughes When I went to Hepburn's house as a guest, but couldn't be welcomed by her family, and couldn't get into the noisy atmosphere of Hepburn's house, I began to repel him, and finally parted ways with Hepburn."

Even for the scene that kept NG, Leonardo has a new interpretation, "Like the scene now, Hughes's first emotional outburst in public is really because of Errol Fowler. Did Lin take a pea from his dinner plate, causing his obsessive-compulsive disorder and cleanliness? This explanation is a bit too obscure, and there may be a point that in that environment, Hughes couldn't hear and join the other three talk, but he is unwilling to explain, which will lead to embarrassment..."

"Come back to your senses!" William rolled up the script and shook it in front of Leonardo's eyes: "You're going crazy, Leo."

Leonardo stopped talking, grabbed the script dangling in front of him, looked at William, took a deep breath, and said sincerely, "Thank you, Will."

William let go, and Leonardo held the script in his hand: "Don't thank me so quickly, you still have a long way to go if you want to conquer the academy and become the best actor in the Oscar. And what you have to do Working hard is not just about playing Howard Hughes well, it's just the most basic."

"The most basic? What else is there to do?"

"You also have to be able to sell the story."

"What?" Leonardo looked confused, "I'm just kidding."

"I also gradually realized this truth-even an actor with superb acting skills like Daniel Day Lewis cannot do without the packaging of the story."

Hearing Lewis' name, Leonardo, who had just adjusted his goal to the opponent, immediately pricked up his ears.

"Actually, there are still many similarities between you and Lewis-don't smile so brightly, Leo, I'm not complimenting you-I mean, except that your current acting skills really can't be compared with his , and you love clubbing too much, Lewis pays attention to private life and keeps a low profile, you are both very dedicated actors, and your love history is equally chaotic."

Leonardo rubbed his nose, looked at the ceiling and the carpet, but did not look at William, and finally became very interested in a coffee stain on the cover of the script in his hand.

Daniel Day Lewis is actually more famous than Leonardo for his passion. In the early years, it seemed that every time he made a movie, he could have sex with the heroine because of the play. Winona Ryder, Julia Roberts and Juliette Binoche are on his list of rumored lovers. French national treasure actress Isabelle Adjani also gave birth to a son for him. Lewis is marrying Rebecca, daughter of writer Arthur Miller Before, it was just a note for Adjani to inform her about her marriage.

In fact, the actresses rumored to be with Lewis are far more famous than those supermodel girlfriends of Leonardo, but for many years, the impression left by Lewis to the media and movie fans is only that he went crazy, got injured for the play, and acted like What.

For example, when filming "My Left Foot", he really went to a nursing home to imitate the life of a patient with cerebral palsy, and the crew insisted on sitting in a wheelchair for several months. Filming "The Last of the Mohicans" lived in the wilderness to learn fishing a few months in advance Hunted, changed his accent for "In the Name of the Father," lost 30 pounds, slept in a cell every day and asked his staff to treat him like a prisoner.

Love history does not occupy the majority of Lewis' career as an actor, at least not as much as Leonardo's current newspaper entertainment page three times a week and twice related to love. Naturally, members of the academy and major unions recognize the former's acting skills is also much higher than the latter.

""Gangs of New York" is considered a large-scale production team, and there will be at least dozens of staff members present for a scene, but why do all the media say that you broke Lewis' nose during the award season, and no one deliberately refuted the rumors ?Naturally, it is because adding your name and Lewis’s name together can attract more people’s attention and spread this story. This is actually the same as film marketing. Lewis’ team knows to collect every story of his hard work in acting, and after packaging Then do the marketing, so now people know how much Lewis sweated for which movie and applaud him. And you have no one around you to do the job for you - does the media know how much work you put in to make the movie ? They probably only remember how many times you had a relationship change."

Leonardo's facial expression is paralyzed, a bit like being stimulated, or it may be that there is too much information and he is processing and digesting it.

"Your little golden man..." Leonardo barely absorbed all the information, and made a little speculation.

"I didn't do anything superfluous to get it." William shook his head: "However, the reason why I understand this truth is also the experience summed up after "A Beautiful Mind."

The most well-known behind-the-scenes of "A Beautiful Mind" is the series of stories that happened to William in order to play a good role, living with Nash himself, experiencing nursing homes and electric shock therapy, injuries, etc., but this is not the promotion and marketing of the crew or William , and it was completely the result of unintentional insertion.

However, although it is a rare masterpiece of biographical films in recent years, without the series of news triggered by the film, it would be difficult for "A Beautiful Mind" to blossom and bear fruit in the Oscars. Since then, William has thoroughly understood the role of marketing actors and This is the principle that marketing movies are interoperable in nature.

Leonardo felt that it might take him a while to fully digest what William said today, and he also needed to hold a day and night meeting with his agent and other team members to decide on his future career plans. However, this did not prevent him from starting in advance. William for some advice.

"But I'm not you, and I don't want to hurt myself. What do you think I should do next?"

William thought for a while, and suddenly he had a flash of inspiration: "I think it's a very good story for you to play Howard Hughes well and make people hate dogs in the crew!"

Leonardo hesitated between thanking William and letting him go, his expression was very distorted for a while.

William looked at the time, went to the door and opened the car door, then turned to Leonardo and said, "I'll leave you half an hour to be lazy, and I'll tell Martin that your psychotherapy is complete and you're ready to start working again. He pointed to the clock on the wall: "It's almost half of today. If the scene can't be finished today, he will definitely go crazy. I don't want to change the ticket back to New York."

'The last sentence is the point. Leonardo thought, "If William becomes a psychiatrist, he can certainly treat a large number of patients, but he will also arouse enough hatred during the treatment process, and then he will be assassinated by patients in revenge within a few years of practice." '

"Understood." Leonardo lazily replied, got up from the sofa, and was about to go to the bathroom to find a mirror to adjust his hair.

William waved his hand at him and was about to leave. His arm accidentally touched the storage bag hanging by the door, and a pile of card-like things poured out on the floor.William bent down to pick them up one by one, and found that they were mostly letters and photos. With his rich experience, he quickly recognized what these things were, "These are letters from your fans?"

"Ah, the agent sent it over, saying that feeling the love of movie fans can motivate me to work hard."

That being said, Leonardo doesn't act like he's inspired by fan letters.

William sorted out these letters briefly, and found that some of them had been unpacked. One envelope even had the card and the photo dropped out. name boy.It is said that he is a boy, but he is actually called a boy. He is only about twelve or thirteen years old. He has dark curly hair and a delicate and immature face. He is wearing a simple shirt and a pair of black-rimmed glasses. He is looking directly at the camera. He is very nervous, but the shot in this photo is full of sense, reminiscent of Natalie Portman in "This Killer Is Not So Cold", although it is the male version.

William said to Leonardo: "So you still have such young male fans, I thought only women would write to you."

Until now, more than 80.00% of the letters William received from fans were confession letters from female fans. Among them, those who attached nude photos on the phone and said bluntly that they only wanted a shot accounted for the majority. Fans who wanted to come to Leonardo The ratio in the letter will be more exaggerated.

Leonardo returned him with an indifferent expression: "You can talk after reading the content."

William waved the letter: "Can I read it?"

"what ever."

William looked at the photo again, and the teenager had already signed his name "Xavier Dolan" in the lower right corner.He flicked through the opened letter, in which Dolan mentioned that he was a boy's school student, but he hated boarding schools, that he had seen "Titanic" probably a hundred times, that Jack and Lou The boat scene with Ruth awakened his sexual consciousness and broke him. Dolan also talked about his school life and family life. He is considering coming out to his mother, wanting to be a director in the future, and some Philosophical issues, and he likes Leonardo very, very much, likes to put his posters all over the room, and often masturbates looking at the posters at night or in the morning...

The letter even talked about William, and listed William as his other dream lover, saying that his biggest dream is to work with William and Leonardo in a movie in his lifetime, even if they are just innocent It is fine to make a cameo appearance, but because this is a letter to Leonardo, the content of confessing to Leonardo still accounts for most of it.

All in all, this letter can be called "The Troubles of Young Dolan".

After reading the complete letter, William fell into a bewildered silence.

"Will you write back?" He couldn't help asking.

"Reply? Do you want me to be a psychiatrist for a little boy and accept his love?" Leonardo firmly refused: "No! I am not a child lover."

In all fairness, this letter from Xavier Dolan is indeed a bit too enthusiastic, and the love operation from underage homosexuals is also very suffocating. William can understand Leonardo's idea of ​​not wanting to reply to the letter, because Many Hollywood stars, including him, receive thousands of letters from fans all over the world every year. At the most exaggerated time, the brokerage company received hundreds of letters in a day. So many Of course, it is impossible to answer every letter, and it is impossible to answer all of them in person.

After every fan letter is sent to the brokerage company, there will be a special person to screen it, and then proceed to the next step according to the wishes of the actor or agent. For example, William is a person who is willing to communicate with fans. He often asks assistants to help Select some letters from children or movie fans who suffer from diseases, and then write some encouraging text messages to them in person to reply, but there are also some stars who don’t like to read letters, and the assistant will help them deal with all the letters, and only occasionally select some The lucky ones return some thank you postcards.

However, this letter from Xavier Dolan is immature and sincere. From the text, we can see the sensitivity of the young man, and he is very much looking forward to receiving a reply—usually, William doesn’t care about this It’s true, but William’s frank acceptance of sexual orientation change in the boy’s letter, as well as his fear of coming out to his family but fear of not being accepted, touched William a bit.

If the boy's expectations finally fail, he must be extremely disappointed. William can even imagine a scene where a boy calls home every day to ask if he has any letters, and sighs sadly on the phone after getting a negative answer.Thinking of this, I feel a little soft-hearted.

Searching in the RV, I found a set photo taken by Cassie a few days ago. It was a picture of Leonard listening to Martin Scasses with a solemn face during the filming interval. William took this photo In front of Leonardo, at the same time attach a signature pen: "Signature."

"For that little movie fan? It's strange, you never asked me for an autographed photo, do you know this kid named Dolan?" Leonardo complained while signing: "Let's just say, autographed photo is fine, I'm not going to write back."

"It's all right, I can write for you, if you don't mind." William shrugged.

……

After Leonardo got new inspiration, he was more comfortable playing Howard Hughes, and the character image became richer and more three-dimensional. The scene that had been NG before was successfully completed with only one extra shot that day, allowing Martin Scorsese was very pleasantly surprised, and the crew let out a sigh of relief.

And William ended his last cameo in the movie "The Aviator" in such a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere that the filming progress of the crew was speeding up-the last cameo of Errol Flynn played by William In one scene, after Hughes was hospitalized in a plane crash, he hurried to the hospital to visit his patients.

The anxious and worried footage of Flynn in front of Hughes' hospital bed is just a flash, used as a metaphor for the rumors that Hughes and several movie stars have same-sex ambiguous relationships that have been rumored in Hollywood for many years.

This is the "Aviator" in Martin Scorsese's mind. He puts all the good and bad details related to Howard Hughes into the movie, and tries his best to enrich the character image of Hughes. As for whether the audience will like this role, and what kind of opinion they have, it is up to them to evaluate it after the movie is released.

After playing the role of a movie star in the golden age, as well as a psychiatrist, he finished his filming from the crew of "The Aviator" and had dinner with everyone. William booked the nearest flight to fly back to New York, although he doesn't have many new movies now. , but the work is not easy, like after he returned to New York, some work related to "Brokeback Mountain" was waiting for him.

It's not that "Brokeback Mountain" is about to start, in fact, the movie is still far away from the official start of filming.

It's not a financial problem, because William is very interested in "Brokeback Mountain" and is very optimistic about it. Willlot is now one of the investors and producers of the movie, but because Ang Lee has some A new idea, and the script is being revised for the Nth time. Another reason is that the original story takes place in the summer of Wyoming, but the cost of filming in the country is too high. Now most of the northern hemisphere has entered autumn and winter, so Ang Lee is After inspecting some places in Canada, Australia, and even New Zealand, he found that he was faced with a dilemma. Either choose Canada as the filming location and start shooting at the turn of spring and summer next year, or go to the southern hemisphere.

Also, it's no secret that Hollywood has spread the word that William will be starring in Brokeback Mountain, and it may not be known by everyone, but well-informed actors have received the information.All of a sudden, the film attracted too much attention. The actors who were not interested or had already expressed their rejection also changed their attitudes one after another. They contacted Ang Lee again to express their optimism for the film, and they were even willing to participate in the public audition.

The number of actors who are interested in movies has surged, and many of them are well-known stars. It is imperative to hold an audition. In fact, William flew back to New York so quickly to catch the audition. Women The characters Alma and Rowling will be one step ahead of the leading actors and will be finalized within this week.

It was early morning in New York after getting off the plane, and the audition was scheduled to start at ten in the morning. William calculated the time and returned to the apartment instead of continuing to catch up on sleep. Instead, he took a hot bath as a rest.

The jacuzzi was so comfortable, in order not to fall asleep, he turned on the TV in the bathroom, randomly selected a news channel from a public station, and used the host's voice to wake him up.

The host of the Fox News station is a standard white elite male with a normal voice, and the hypnotic effect is greater than the refreshing effect when speaking, but the latest news he broadcast still quickly attracted William's attention, and even made him from Sitting up in the bathtub——

"Today we will first focus on a case of homosexual assault in New York."

“Police are investigating the attack on a gay man in Manhattan late last night as a hate crime because the suspect made anti-gay comments before attacking the victim.”

"The victim's name was Jonathan Bates, who graduated from Harvard University. He was the founder and CEO of the well-known website Hollywood News Online. He was also a high-profile gay rights activist. It is said that Bates loved to dress up in his life. Gay celebrity in town, that's probably one of the reasons he was attacked."

"New York police identified the assailant as Hank Olson, 29, who was recently released after serving time for assaulting two people at the Greenwich Village Pride Pride."

"According to the investigation, the attack took place outside a bar in the West Village of Manhattan. Olson peed at the base of the wall and saw Bates and another man kissing at the door of the bar. He stepped forward and insulted them with homophobic words. Walked away and followed them, asking 'are you together?' After Bates replied 'yes,' Olsen pulled a knife from his shirt, chased and stabbed Bates."

"Olsen then walked to Sixth Avenue, where he was stopped by police officers who saw blood on his clothes, and Olsen tried to run away, but the officers stopped him and recovered the bloody knife from him. "

"Bates was stabbed nine times in both chests, legs, and hands. One of them punctured the heart and caused shock. He was rushed to the hospital and was rescued, but is still in critical condition."

Picking up the phone by the bathtub, William dialed a New York friend's cell phone: "It's me, Will. Do me a favor and find out which hospital Jonathan Bates lives in."