Birth of an actor

"I re-watched 'American Beauty' yesterday."

"uh-huh."

"I have a whole new appreciation for the character of Colonel Fitz, as well as for Dan White. Dan White is likely to be as close as Colonel Fitz."

"Ok?"

"You see, Colonel Fitz is a stodgy Marine Corps officer, a decent person in the eyes of the world, he lives strictly according to dogma, treats homosexuals or suspected homosexuals with contempt and hatred, and even The son is gay and fights, trying to use violence to correct his son's sexual orientation. But in fact? His son is not gay, he is. Colonel Fitz has been self-repressed for decades. He hates homosexuality because he is afraid of being gay. For his own homosexuality, but in the end he couldn't escape the natural desire, ran to the man to ask for sex, collapsed and despaired after being rejected, and ended the life of the other party with a gun - don't you think that Colonel Fitz and Dan White have many The similarities? Maybe they are invisible gays, but they are so afraid of it, so they try to create a nearly perfect image of conservatives, and they are very anti-gay, and hey, they both have a detached house and blonde wives , a child and two dogs, this is simply a textbook model of middle-class family life."

"..."

"Will? Hey, are you asleep buddy?"

The advantage of cooperating with friends is that it will be very lively and interesting, and you will not feel lonely and boring, but sometimes it can be too lively, especially when the other party is eager to talk and wants to share everything with you.

William silently turned his head to Leonardo, and the makeup artist's hands were still moving near his mouth, creating light nasolabial folds to make his appearance look more mature.

Leonardo saw that William was temporarily inconvenient to speak, so he was quiet for a while, watching how the makeup artist used shadow powder to artificially create wrinkles—Hollywood makeup artists used a special texture of latex, which can make up the faces of people in their 20s At the age of 80, the wrinkles are still very natural, but Harvey Milk was only in his 40s when he died, and he was younger when the film first started, but he didn’t need this special makeup tool. With proper lighting, the actor's age can float up into the teens.

When the make-up artist moved away from the lower half of William's face and began to arrange his hair, William continued Leonardo's topic just now: "Strictly speaking, Colonel Fitz and Dan White are two different people. One is pure fiction, the other is a real person."

"But Dan White has the shadow of Colonel Fitz in him. Maybe the screenwriter of "American Beauty" also referred to some real-life characters when portraying Colonel Fitz?"

"perhaps."

Leonardo's brows were furrowed together, and three forehead lines appeared out of nowhere on his forehead. The hidden information that was not clearly pointed out in the script is actually the key to whether the character can have flesh and blood, three-dimensional plumpness, and the depth of the character determines the quality of the performance. The level is a little different, and it is very different when it is displayed on the big screen.

Seeing that Leonardo was really distressed, William changed his previous absent-mindedness and suggested: "Your idea may not be wrong. There are indeed some legal experts, psychologists and scholars who study the history of homosexuality. According to Dan White's growth experience And character analysis, it has been suggested that White is very likely to become a mystery, but the person has long passed away, and this guess can never be confirmed."

In the era of Harvey Milk and Dan White, even the murderer Manson had crazy admirers, and attacking gays was often regarded as a "just act" by default. Dan White killed Mayor Moscone. After being with Milk, apart from his family, friends and neighbors who have always supported and defended him, there are also many voices in the society defending him. This is why the legal team can easily convince the jury that Dan White, who killed two people, was sentenced to only seven years in prison. The reason why he was granted early parole for good behavior in [-], and five years later—an era when anti-gay voices were indeed mainstream, and crimes against the gay community were treated with extra tolerance.

But just two years after his release from prison, Dan White committed suicide by burning carbon monoxide in his car.Regarding the cause of his death, there have been different speculations from various parties. Experts and psychologists who have been studying him have put forward bold assumptions. They speculate that the main reason for his suicide is unbearable pressure and psychological despair, which is different from his. Covert homosexuality, and unacceptable self-identification.

"You always knew? Ah, yes, you recommended me to watch "American Beauty"!" Leonardo pretended to be angry, no, he might be really angry: "But you just told me now?"

"It's very interesting to see you guessing." William shrugged: "Besides, who told you to just stare at the script instead of looking through the old materials."

If it wasn't for the assistant who just opened the door and called Leonardo to take a photo, Leonardo was so angry that he would have taken off William's wig - a hippie hairstyle just done by the makeup artist, long black curly hair reaching shoulders, forehead There is also a bohemian-style headband on the front, which is a popular hairstyle in that era.Milk was a hippie for a while when he was young, so he also took two sets of makeup photos, one in hippie style and one in elite politician style.

However, before leaving, Leonardo made an uncivilized gesture to William viciously, but William turned a blind eye to it.

Not long after, the field manager knocked on the door and announced that it was William's turn to take pictures. William thanked the makeup artist who had just finished work, got up and pushed aside the curly hair on his forehead that blocked his view, and pushed the door away. go out.

Outside is a very large studio converted from a warehouse, and it is simply divided into several areas such as make-up, props, costumes, and shooting, all of which are filled with retro-style things from the 70s and [-]s, such as rotary telephones and boxes. Similar TV sets, film cameras, radios and recording pens, a dozen brown leather suitcases piled up together, dozens of seemingly identical three-piece suits hung neatly, hundreds of black leather jackets and blue jeans Coats are just barely discernible in slightly different styles, and there are numerous ties, wig covers, flared trousers and old mechanical watches.

There are still a lot of photography machines in the studio. People are busy shuttling among the machines. The overall atmosphere is lively but not noisy. But when William appeared, the surroundings were quiet, and even the faint voices disappeared, only the clicking of the cameras. The sound is crisp and sweet.

Members of Harvey Milk's former campaign team were also present, and Spielberg specially invited them here, asking them to give more opinions, and try to make the costumes and props details of the crew 100% restored to history. The response is also the greatest.

"It seems that Harvey has suddenly become 100% hotter, no, 200%!" said Danny Nicoletta, who has become a professional photographer. What has changed, is still so exaggerated: "I can't breathe!"

Gay rights campaigner Clive Jones agrees: "I'm already sweating at the thought of William Bradley playing a younger and hotter Harvey who we've been with for years."

"When I first heard about this incident, I even lost sleep all night." Several other people also said: "Everyone keeps the photo with Harvey, can we apply to visit the class in the future? The venue and actors took the same photos as in the past?"

"This idea is great! Can we try to ask Director Spielberg for it?"

"But didn't you find a problem?" Anne Kronberg, Milk's former campaign manager and current deputy secretary of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, who is also an out-of-the-closet LES, said silently.

"what?"

"Has Harvey ever been this handsome?"

Several people searched for Harvey Milk's voice and smile in their memory, looked at William, exchanged eye contact with each other, and shook their heads in denial.Yeah, even the added wrinkles and baggy hippie clothes didn't take away the handsomeness that Harvey didn't have.

……

Steven Spielberg and Harvey Milk's one-time assistants felt the same way.

William Bradley was handsome, no doubt, but no one would have guessed that he would be so well suited to hippie attire.No, or rather, because he had never tried such an outfit before, it made everyone feel extremely fresh and amazing.Black adds mystery, long hair makes temperament melancholic, wrinkles add life experience, and these are combined with other hippie elements, like an unruly prodigal son who has gone through vicissitudes, full of strong hormonal taste, and fatal attraction.

Spielberg quipped: "If Will picks up his guitar and goes wandering, there's a battalion of bohemian girls running after him."

"If I met him when I was young, I would abandon everything and follow him to wander." Screenwriter Larry Kramer said humorously.

Spielberg called William, art design, and costume design together, pointed to the wig that William was wearing and said: "Change to a dark brown wig, tan or golden brown is fine, anyway, it can't be pure black. On the head Don’t wear a headband, and the curls should be smaller, the old-fashioned ones, don’t wear your hair, just braid it in the back, it will look great when you wear it.”

The costume designer nodded, pointed to the actors who were talking not far away and said, "Do you want to make it into a small roll like Tobey Maguire or Amy Adams?"

Tobey Maguire and Amy Adams will play Clive Jones and Anne Cronenberg, Milk's male and female campaign managers, respectively.They have just finished taking makeup photos, so they are all wearing costumes, black leather jackets and denim flared pants that are quite similar, and they all have curly hair on their heads. The small screw curls that start to be ironed at the top make the whole hair look curly and swollen, like a ball from a distance—yes, this is the so-called afro, which was a very trendy hairstyle in the 70s. People really perm their hair like this.

In fact, not only them, even James Franco, who plays Milk's boyfriend, has freshly permed curly hair. For the sake of the role, the makeup artist took special care of him, and the final hairstyle looks a bit like David.

"Basically, instant noodle rolls or screw rolls. In short, the more ordinary the better for Will." Spielberg replied to the costume designer's question, and carefully looked at William's whole body again, pointing at his clothes and constantly correcting them. : "Here the cuffs of the jacket, pull out the fur, the collar is a little old, it feels like it has been washed many times, and a hole is cut out here at the knee of the jeans, don't be too big... All Will's tops, Including the shirts, all of them should be one size larger. He should feel loose after wearing them. No, the pants don’t need to be changed completely. The jeans should be tight. The suit pants are normal size, and the suit represents the status of a politician...”

The art design and costume design were kept in mind, and soon someone sent over the adjusted fake. After William wore it again, it looked much more ordinary at first glance.

After taking the photo, Leonardo walked over from the camera and gave William a high-five. He raised his eyebrows and "commented" his new hairstyle: "The braids are good." He was wearing a slim three-piece suit, and even his hair was tied down. Smooth and smooth, if it hadn't been for the recent weight gain, the body appeared stronger, and it would look highly similar to Howard Hughes in "The Aviator".

William smirked at him, took the camera handed over by his assistant, and walked to the front of the curtain. Just as he stood still, there were continuous shutter sounds.He fiddled with the camera casually, and the shutter sound became more and more intense.

The camera is a film SLR camera. Milk went to San Francisco in the late 60s following the wave of gay relocation, and then opened a photo studio to make a living. Therefore, the camera is one of the necessary props in the film.

The camera William holds in his hand has Nikon (Nikon) clearly engraved on the front of the fuselage, and there is a capital subtitle F on the top, and the appearance of the camera is exactly the same as the Nikon F, the most famous film SLR camera in history. This camera is famous for its excellent quality. It was used for war correspondents. The photojournalist Robert played by Clint Eastwood in the movie "Bridges of Madison County" used the same camera.

And yes, this is an ad placement from Nikon.According to the investigation, the camera brand that Milk used the most at that time should be Konica, which was very popular in the 70s, but this brand has basically disappeared now, and the manufacturer is on the verge of bankruptcy, so Nikon's product placement was introduced.

Speaking of sponsorships, a Steven Spielberg movie starring William Bradley and Leonardo DiCaprio with Spider-Man and the Green Goblin was originally It will attract manufacturers to flock to it, but because of the subject matter of the film, the process of talking about advertising sponsorship in "Milk" is quite twists and turns.

For example, Harley Motorcycle, one of the popular icons in the 70s, was the first to contact the film crew, but suddenly withdrew its sponsorship decision on the eve of signing the contract. There is also a car brand and a watch brand, which are repeated in the same way, although they use both Other reasons, but everyone knows that manufacturers probably think that homosexuality is detrimental to the masculinity of the brand.

However, there are also some companies that are not worried about angering another group of consumers when they are involved with LGBT movies, or they feel that the movie will bring them more benefits than losses, such as Coca-Cola, Coors Beer, Nike Brands such as , Gillette, Crest, and LuckyStrike cigarettes (Lucky Strike cigarettes), which have done advertising placement in "Shawshank's Redemption", have signed generous sponsorship contracts with the crew.

There are even "San Francisco Chronicle" and "Los Angeles Times" that will place advertisements in the movie. Of course, the two newspapers don't give real dollars, but they will give the page publicity in exchange when the movie is released. But this also helped the crew leave considerable publicity expenses.

The production budget of "Milk" was originally only 2000 million U.S. dollars. After changing a whole set of all-star lineups from the director to the starring role, the production cost rose to about 4000 million U.S. dollars-this was after everyone unanimously reduced the pay Moreover, Amy Adams has almost no salary. When she filmed Spielberg's "How to Get Away with Law" two years ago, she got the price of a newcomer actor, and it is still the same now.And in order to grab this opportunity, she went through three or four rounds of auditions and killed at least hundreds of opponents, even if she had to wear a leather jacket, have a haircut, and play a lesbian.

LGBT movies, originally the most worrying thing is the box office, because there has never been a movie with a gay protagonist that has sold well at the box office. In terms of the cost of 7000 U.S. dollars, it can only be said to be barely recouped—but now, it is no exaggeration to say that the advertising placement alone has already made "Milk" recoup more than half of the cost. It's all a shot in the arm, at least now they can have no worries and just think about how to make a good movie.

……

When William drove his old Porsche up the long driveway from the gate of the villa and found Lance's new Aston Martin parked next to the garage, he suddenly felt guilty and had the urge to turn around and run away , but reason quickly stopped him.

As for why William was so timid about going home... it was James Franco's fault, really.

Steven Spielberg has never prohibited actors from discussing "Milk" in public, let alone issued a password to prevent actors from being interviewed by the media. After all, "Milk" is a biographical film, not a suspenseful feature film , Appropriate exposure is also good for movie promotion.

However, because the three giants of the crew—Spielberg, William, and Leonardo—it is difficult for reporters to interview other actors, even producers, screenwriters and other behind-the-scenes staff, it has become a media chase inquiry. Among them, Tobey Maguire and James Franco, two actors who starred in the hit superhero movie "Spider-Man", are the most popular. This is the next best topic after William Bradley and Leonardo DiCaprio to play opposite each other after "Titanic".

Due to his personality, Toby didn't talk about dealing with the media. He was often reticent to the actors in the same crew, so soon, the most interviewed person in the crew of "Milk" became James Franco.

Franco is a person who is very passionate about movies and has great ideas, and at the same time he is a bit outspoken—this may be related to the fact that he was born in a well-educated and wealthy family, and he starred in Hollywood when he first entered Hollywood, and he has not worked hard at the bottom— He never hides his thoughts. At the script discussion meeting, when others are still familiar with the script, he has read it from beginning to end, and raised objections bluntly, "Since Milk and Scott can Lovers who eloped together from New York to San Francisco, why are there not many intimate scenes of them in the script?”, and suggested adding a few more kissing scenes, if necessary, he would not mind contributing his body to the art.

Then some media blocked James Franco near the set and asked him what his role in the movie was like and what kind of relationship he had with Milk, Franco replied solemnly: "I will be with William in the movie. Playing a gay couple, yes, a love relationship with lots of kisses and lots of sex."

Maybe Frank was just joking, but no reporter understood his cold joke. On the contrary, the media began to make a big fuss. It doesn’t matter if no one secretly took photos on the set. Some gossip magazines combined William and Franco’s previous kiss drama photos together. It was disguised like a real set photo, deceiving countless movie fans.

William has been shutting down the filming. When he learned about it from the publicist Barbara Wilson, the night before, even a talk show host believed the photos and talked about the scale of gay movies on the show. It seems to have become a hot topic in the society again.

William's heart skipped a beat at the time. He had discussed the classification of "Milk" with Lance very seriously, and he was very sure that in order to be able to classify the movie as PG-13, there would be no excessive body parts in the movie. The contact and bloody scenes are now the headlines of gossip again. Although it is fake news, before it is completely clarified, it seems that he broke his promise.

Moreover, Lance sometimes behaves very coldly to the outside world, which actually comes from his sensitivity to feelings, not indifference.When William was single and not out of the closet, it was okay to contribute some bold shots in the movie. Now that his identity is different, and it involves a special work situation, he still has to try his best to gain understanding and support—I haven’t seen many people who have been deeply in love Hollywood star couples, will they still part ways because of unbelief and suspicion?

'Hope Lance didn't see the news. ' Opening the door, William thought as he hung up his coat, then he turned around and saw Kim Cosey lying on a pile of colorful books. 'Oh damn! '

Kim Cosey waved his fluffy tail lazily at him as a sign of welcome, but William couldn't scratch its chin as usual and play with it for a while, because he saw his own in those magazines at a glance. Face.And, of course, James Franco's.

Just when William was considering whether to take these magazines outside and throw them away, Lance heard the movement and walked over: "Will, you just came back—"

William raised his right hand and said frankly and quickly: "The photos of me and Franco are synthesized by computer, and the news is also fake. He proposed to the crew to add some romantic scenes, but it was rejected during the script discussion stage. .And, you know Spielberg, he even filmed the lesbian sex in "The Color Purple" very ambiguously, and considering the classification, he would not use too straightforward camera language when shooting men."

"I know." Lance replied without the slightest surprise: "The photo uses your stills from "Meet Joe Black", which is easy to tell."

William felt relieved for a while, and it’s great that Lance didn’t misunderstand and get angry, because sometimes he is really scary when he’s in a bad mood—it’s not unreasonable that Hollywood has always loved to use British actors as villains, although Lance is only half British. Bloodline, but this half bloodline obviously played a big role in his appearance and temperament composition.

William has no objection to Lance's British ancestry, except that he hopes that Lance will not inherit the fate of British men who are either U-shaped or M-shaped.Thank God, there is no sign of it yet.

"Speaking of which, you and Franco have a good relationship?" Lance's tone was so flat that it didn't sound like a question, but an accusation.

"It's not bad." William replied subconsciously, and then saw Lance's half-smile expression, and smiled helplessly: "We are just ordinary colleagues, but the relationship between Toby and him is a bit bad."

The relationship between Tobey Maguire and James Franco is really not very good. One is that the characters of the two are not in sync with each other. The other is that Franco originally auditioned for "Spider-Man" for the leading role, just because He was too handsome to be ordinary enough to play the Little Green Goblin. Under various factors, the two did not have the brotherhood that Peter Parker and Harry Osborn had at the beginning of the movie, and even William and Leonardo The relationship with Franco can only be described as mediocre.

William didn't explain more, and Lance didn't ask any more. He picked up two glasses and started pouring wine into them. The wine came from a bottle of champagne that had been chilled in the ice bucket next to it.

"When you came back, I was choosing wine. How about this bottle of Menil Ogle?" Lance said, handing William a glass.

William tasted the wine and found heady fruity, floral, and nutty aromas.There is no doubt that this is an expensive bottle of champagne, precious to give away, and sacrilegious to accompany ordinary meals.But this is Lance, of course he can waste it casually.

"Dinner will have to wait a while, you can have some pre-dinner snacks first."

William only had one question at this time: "Did you cook dinner?" There was even a hint of shock in his tone.

Not that Lance was a bad cook, but William never knew he could whip up a good dinner on his own.Yes, Lance can do simple kitchen tasks, like toast a marshmallow, but great cooking skills?William used to live in a rented house, and he had to arrange everything by himself. Although Lance went to study in the UK and lived by himself, there may be ten people around him in his life.

Sure enough, Lance's answer did not surprise William: "I called the chef over."

Two chefs appeared just at this moment, and together they brought a huge tray over.

William thought the pre-dinner snack should be Spanish ham sandwiches, or soda crackers with caviar, but he didn't expect to see a mountain of oysters placed on a mountain of crushed ice.

The huge tray is full of crushed ice, and palm-sized oysters are placed on top of the crushed ice, with some seasonings of sliced ​​lemons dotted in the middle. It really looks like a magnificent building made of oysters. hill.Moreover, the oyster has been opened, the oyster meat is white and tender, and the oyster shell is filled with juice. It should be a white pearl oyster from Normandy, France. William once ate it at the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

"French champagne and French oysters." Lance raised his glass to William: "Napoleon and Balzac's favorite."

Although William is not an oyster lover, the taste of champagne and oysters is really wonderful. He was about to pick up one, but he was a little confused: "I didn't see a knife and fork?"

There are actually no strict rules on how to eat oysters. The French like to hold the oyster shell directly and pour the oyster meat with seawater into their mouths, while the British like to pick up the oyster meat with a knife and fork, and then gently transfer it to their mouths. William always thought that Lance was more used to the latter.

"Sometimes you don't need a knife and fork, and it has a special flavor." As if making a special demonstration, Lance picked up one of the tightest and plump oysters, opened his lips, first sucked the juice inside with his tongue, and then sucked it lightly , the fat and tender oyster meat disappeared into those two rose-colored lips.

Lance's whole set of movements was unhurried, smooth and elegant, but it seemed to ignite a kindling, burning the surrounding air, filling it with burning tension.Especially when he was sucking on the oyster meat and watching William as if he was eating something other than an oyster.

Being watched, William seems to be able to feel the shape of the oyster, its sticky texture, and its taste, the salty freshness of the sea water, the crispness and sweetness of the oyster meat, and a little creamy aftertaste. There is a faint fishy smell of sea water, which is not annoying, but adds to the flavor.

Oysters, a food, had never given William other associations before, but now he suddenly understood why some people always associate oysters with lust—except that oysters are indeed high in zinc—this is the most blatant seduction With teasing, anyone who sees this picture will blush and even go out of their minds.

William chose an oyster that was also juicy. After thinking about it, he didn't use lemon. He used his profound acting skills to perfectly imitate all of Lance's movements. He deliberately ate very slowly, with the sound of water stirring between his lips and tongue. , and finally a sigh of satisfaction.

Lance stopped after eating only one. He was leaning against the table, looking at William silently, sipping wine slowly.His expression was cold, but his eyes were frighteningly bright. Nourished by the wine, his lips were surprisingly moist and bright red.

William leaned closer, put the empty oyster shell aside, slightly touched Lance's with his fingers, and then covered them, brushing every joint and line between the other's fingers.

"We are a normal couple, jealousy is never one-sided." He tilted his head slightly, as if recalling, and said with a smile: "You know, I have also been jealous of those New York socialites before. Petra Ecclestone, Amanda Hearst, Lydia Hearst, Georgina Bloomberg, Ivanka Trump, Ana Anisimova, Dee Len Lauren..." He listed them one by one.

Lance turned his head to a very small angle, the corners of his mouth moved, and he raised his eyebrows and chuckled: "Among the people you mentioned, some of them have just graduated from college."

"But they've had a crush on you since middle school, and it's always made me uncomfortable."

Lance's answer to this was to spit out a series of names without changing his face: "Isabella Barstow, Claire Kelly, Drew Barrymore, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Chris Evans, Leonardo DiCar—”

What the hell are those last names?William hurriedly stuffed everything that Lance hadn't said back into his throat.

Lance leaned back, leaning his back firmly against the edge of the table, his palms inserted into William's hair and resting on the back of his head.

William accidentally touched the stereo with one hand, and he pressed a switch on the console, and the melody of Bruce echoed in the room.

"People see me but they just don't know.

"What's in my heart and why I love you so..."