Birth of an actor

Amon Goffman was very disappointed-someone told William the news of "Titanic" one step ahead of him!

"Who told you?!"

"Uh, it's Kate, you know, we worked together on Sense and Sensibility."

Amon Goffman was suspicious: "You guys really got it?"

"……Do not."

"She took my job and I hate her."

"Oh, Amon."

"Okay, let's get down to business. The script will be in my office in a few hours, and I'll have Eric send it to you. Don't do anything until the audition. Try to figure out the script, Will? It's only a few thousand words , you can finish it in one night, but it's not easy to figure out the characters, let alone we only have three days, huh, Jesus Christ, I really really hope you can get this opportunity, that's Cameron... ...Will? Will? Are you still online?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"What's wrong with you, scared? Sorry, man, I didn't mean to put pressure on you."

"No, I'm not afraid." William shrugged and said, "It just feels a little unreal."

Although William doesn't know much about the future film industry, but "Titanic"?If he doesn't even know that, he's out of date.

In 1998, after a special screening in Zhongnanhai, "Titanic" was released vigorously in China because of the high praise of the top leaders. Even the most remote counties would be allocated a screen. At that time, Xue Yizhi had already entered middle school. , the boys secretly go to the cinema to watch movies without their parents behind their backs (because movie tickets are too hard to buy, how to steal the tickets distributed by the parents’ unit or sneak into the cinema is also a knowledge), and at night, they are blushing and heartbeating secretly Get together to discuss Ruth's nudity, accompanied by some innocent teenagers' stupid guesses: "Did she really take off all her clothes? Isn't she wearing some tights?" Movie veterans come out to popularize science, and they can chat until midnight.

Then in 2012, when "Titanic" was re-released in 3D, many young people would spend dozens of dollars to go to the cinema to relive their memories, so William was really impressed by this movie.

After getting the news confirmation from Kate and Amon, William was pleasantly surprised but also a little unbelievable: he was so close to "Titanic"?Close enough to be in the movie?

Amon still thought that William was dazzled by joy, but in fact he was a little bit too: "Okay, Will, let's make more preparations for the audition. If you want to have a carnival, wait until you sign the contract."

"Let me double check, the audition is in three days?"

"Yes."

"The script will arrive in your office in a few hours, and you'll hand it to me right away?"

"Let Eric do the errands, yes, he'd be happy to take the job, and if you were a rocker, I think he'd be your craziest bastard. He's been whispering next to my ear since we last saw each other Your name for three whole days, until I warned him not to have unreasonable thoughts about my actors, otherwise I will fire him." Speaking of this, Amon Goffman couldn't help complaining: "God , Eric also said that he is not gay, I think he is gay."

William thought of Eric, the brown-haired young man with bright eyes and red cheeks when he saw him. To be honest, he had a deep impression of Eric: "I can't actually stay at home and wait for Eric , I'm going out soon, let him give the script to Madeleine."

"Are you going out?"

"Yeah, I'm going to the library to do some research on the Titanic, buy a few books from BookSoup, and recharge my batteries, in case Cameron asks me about the Titanic during the audition, And I can't answer anything."

"But now there are only three days until the audition, and you still have scripts to read."

"I can figure it out."

"Very good, go for it, boy, I'll pray for you."

"And Eric?"

"He will still go to your house to deliver the script, as quickly as possible, because I will not tell him that you are going out."

……

Twentieth Century Fox has more than 180 studios, one of which was transformed into the first-class cabin of the Titanic to shoot the interior scenes of "Titanic".

It is said that James does not burn money and is uncomfortable. At first, Sky Cameron really wanted to get a freighter converted into a luxury passenger ship in the 2500th century, and shoot "Titanic" on the spot at sea, and finally sink it (…), there are also shipyards that have agreed to build and offer quotations—as long as they give the Gdansk Shipyard in Poland [-] million US dollars, they will agree to use old passenger ships to refit the Titanic, and use high-tech means to build the Titanic. In the era when it cost millions of dollars to synthesize a huge luxury passenger ship sailing on the sea for more than ten seconds, the price of building a ship was not expensive. With a real passenger ship, the crew could save a lot of money to spend on other Aspects of money.

But the problem is that the Gdansk Shipyard needs two full years to refit the passenger ship, and Cameron and 1991th Century Fox can't wait, especially Cameron, who has been brewing "Titanic" for several years. The preparations for "The Terminator" - Cameron, a deep-sea diving enthusiast, has always liked the ocean very much. In 2, after finishing the filming of "Terminator 1958", by chance, he saw the theme of the sinking of the Titanic. His movie "Shipwreck in the Ice Sea" is an old black and white movie from [-], which describes the complicated human nature of passengers of different classes on board before and after the sinking of the Titanic.

"Ice Sea Shipwreck" gave Cameron the inspiration to retell the Titanic incident, so in fact, as early as 1992, he had already reported this subject to Fox, but Fox didn't pass it at that time. Long made two more blockbuster films for the studio before Fox made up his mind to let him start the project.

Everything was ready for the shooting of "Titanic". Neither Cameron nor Fox could wait two years until the Gdansk shipyard slowly built the ship, so Fox gave Cameron a fortune. Money, let him buy hundreds of acres of land on the coast of Mexico, blow up an artificial lake, and then spend a lot of money to build half of the hull and a model of the Titanic, used to photograph part of the deck, and the ship eventually sank role.

"Fox chose the wrong shipyard. They should go to China, so there must be time." When William went to Amon to pick up the car before the audition, Amon asked William about the magic of Cameron, such as James Cameron. Mellon is so good at burning money and making money, every studio wants to crush him when the film is being shot, and when the box office is rising and loves him, William told such a cold joke .

No one laughed, not even Eric.

In this era when China has not yet become a "world factory", probably no one except William would find this sentence funny.

"Okay." William shrugged and muttered, "You will understand my joke in ten or eight years."

Amon drove William to Fox, William went to audition, and Amon talked to his old friend - an old friend who was a middle-level cadre at Fox and had a good chance of promotion, to see if he could get some inside information about casting information.

Although the decoration has not been completed, Fox's Titanic studio has been decorated very luxuriously, and it can be competent for the shooting of any period drama, probably.

Along the way, props were piled up in a slightly larger space on the ground of the studio, such as reliefs, chairs, oil paintings, and costumes full of Edwardian style. What's even more amazing is that there is a large open space where hundreds of suitcases are neatly stacked. , it is well-made at first glance, and the style is very retro.

The assistant who led the way saw that William looked at the boxes a few more times, and immediately explained proudly: "They are all handmade and genuine. Mr. Cameron placed an order with an Italian leather workshop. The workshop is for Armani and Louis Vuitton did it."

"My God." William exclaimed in a timely manner.

"Mr. Cameron takes "Titanic" very seriously. He has to see every prop before passing the level. Can you believe it? Even Kate, uh, Ruth's dresses are designed by him. What? What impressed me the most was a white evening dress, which was studded with pearls with gold thread, hundreds of real pearls! I heard that those noble ladies wore such clothes in the past, which is too extravagant... ..." The assistant kept talking, as if he had finally caught someone who was willing to listen to him, and was about to pour out all the things accumulated in his stomach.

But William is willing to listen to this little brother’s nagging, which can help him relieve the pressure before the audition, and he can also get a lot of information. For example, the crew of the Titanic has built a more luxurious studio in Mexico. Most of the film will be filmed in Mexico, of course, because it will eventually be bombed there, and the props and costumes that cost a lot of money can’t be cheaper than the beaches in Mexico, so Fox’s studio should be kept as it is, and the scenes in Mexico will be roughly Once it's finished, all the costumes and props will be shipped back, and the reshoots will be completed in Los Angeles.

There are hundreds of staff members busy back and forth in the studio. Cameron and the assistant director or photographer are sitting in front of the camera and talking about something. Not far from them is a very luxuriously furnished room. It looks like a living room or small living room.

William waited for them to finish talking, and walked over to say hello.

Cameron shook hands with him, his expression a little serious.

"When do the auditions start?" William asked.

"When you're ready." Cameron stared at William for a minute, then turned to call a woman: "Martha, take him to make up."

"No problem." Makeup artist Martha looked at William critically for a while, then smiled: "Come with me, young man, I will make you look good."

Ten minutes later, William almost ran out of the dressing room. Ten minutes ago, when Martha gave him a foundation highlight shadow and brushed his hair up to make it shiny and smooth, he started She gestured in front of him with various styles of waistcoats and dress shirts, until William felt something was wrong, and kindly reminded her: "I think I'm auditioning for the role of Jack Dawson, a poor painter, rather than, uh, first-class airliner." My guest." At that time, Martha screamed softly: "Sorry, I forgot this." Quickly put the presents aside, and began to rummage through countless clothes racks for clothes that didn't look very good at first glance. clothing.

Now William is wearing a gray painter's hat, his hair is deliberately messy and extending from under the hat, he is wearing a beige plaid shirt, and a brown coat on the outside. The whole person has a very " poor" attire.

As soon as William walked out of the dressing room, he attracted the attention of most people in the studio, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. Even though he had tried the mirror many times, he had never experienced this kind of walking performance with hundreds of people watching before. God, the scale of the crew of "Titanic" is several times larger than that of "Sense and Sensibility". It is said that after the official launch, the total number of people working on the crew will exceed 2000. More than half of the people are in Mexico. Perhaps this is the difference between an investment of US$600 million and an investment of US$4000 million—William took a deep breath subconsciously, and walked towards Cameron with the most calm and calm attitude.

"I'm ready," William said.

"Very good." Cameron looked up and down William, very professionally without showing any expression of evaluation, but nodded and said, "Scene 78 of Scene 1, you have 10 minutes to familiarize yourself with the script." Then turned around: "Nick, go to the dressing room and see if Kate is ready."

William hid in a quiet corner to read the script, he was so absorbed that he didn't even know when Kate walked into the studio, so that after he quickly read the scenes of the upcoming audition and took them deep in his mind As soon as he raised his head, he was taken aback by the person standing in front of him.

"Kate, you really don't make any noise when you walk." William took a step back and exhaled.

"You were too attentive." Kate Winslet deliberately spun around in front of William with her skirt in her hand: "How do I look?"

"Very beautiful. Well, so this is the dress they were talking about? The one with the hundreds of pearls on it?"

Kate has a very ladylike stance, more ladylike than she did on Sense and Sensibility, to be honest, maybe she's taking etiquette lessons now: "Yeah, I have one that's all embroidered with gold thread, and all the dresses are pretty They are beautiful and expensive, and now I am even careful when I try them on for fear of breaking one.”

"Your hair is still blond." William suddenly noticed a difference, and at the same time realized his slip of the tongue: "Sorry, I'm not saying they aren't pretty, in fact your blond hair looks very cute, it just seems like the script says Is Ruth red-haired?"

"I'll dye my hair auburn when I go to Mexico," Kate said. "Although I don't quite understand why it has to be red instead of blond, I don't look ugly with blond, do I?"

"It's not that it's not ugly, but it's very beautiful." William replied without hesitation: "I think this is a problem with the setting of the background. The script we got now has undergone a revision. In the original version, Ruth Bu Kurt is a descendant of a British aristocrat who was born in Philadelphia. In fact, he is already considered an American. It is probably okay for Ruth to be blond and red-haired. But in the current version, Ruth was born and raised in England, which is out-and-out British upper-class aristocrats, Bookett is the surname of a Celtic nobleman, and most pure-blood Celts have red hair, just like blond hair and blue eyes are the characteristics of pure-blood Germans, and black-haired and blue-eyed pure-blood Romans. Similarly, I think in the latest version, it would be too un-British to set Ruth as blond, and the red hair will be more retro and luxurious, and it will better reflect the sense of class."

Kate Winslet looked amazed: "Will, you are so, so incredible! The script we got was only a few dozen pages, but you did so many background checks, you did more than I did. You have to know that when I got the script and prepared to audition, I couldn't think of anything to do except shut myself in the room and recite the long and long lines..."

"Kate, William!" An assistant director called them ten meters away: "Ready to audition!"

William took a deep breath, and found miraculously that Kate looked even more nervous than him.

"I can't relax." Kate shook hands and explained to him: "You don't know how high Jimmy's demands are on actors-anyway, I get nervous as soon as I walk under his camera, which is an experience I've never had before. .”

"Come on, Kate, do as I say - inhale, go on, take a deep breath." After a pause of three seconds, William said: "Exhale slowly, slow down."

When Kate Winslet's chest rose and fell less rapidly, William asked, "Is it better?"

"It's much better." Kate Winslet shook William's hand and said, "I feel good now, Will. It seems that working with friends can really relieve my tension, thank you."

William smiled and put his right index and middle fingers together, and saluted Kate: "You're welcome, ma'am."

……

The camera lens is aimed at a very luxurious reception room, which has a strong aristocratic style at the end of the [-]th century and the beginning of the [-]th century. The picture is still, waiting for the arrival of the audition actors.

And once you move your eyes to a place that the camera cannot capture, you can immediately find that this luxurious reception room is not a real room, but a well-prepared set. Outside the reception room, the space is huge and messy, but coming The movements of people going back and forth seem to be orderly.

Standing behind the camera were Cameron, representatives of the producer, and several assistant directors, all of whom were engrossed in the camera.

After two "DangDang" knocks on the door, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and a head wearing a painter's hat stuck in. After looking around in confusion at the empty room, he still walked in.

The man under the painter's hat revealed his true face. It was a face so handsome that all adolescent girls could scream. A few strands of dark hair that couldn't be suppressed by the hat were playfully raised outside, and there was a slight smile on the corner of his mouth. A little uninhibited, but the look in the dark green eyes can suppress the frivolous feeling brought by this uninhibited, and instead makes people feel a pleasant intimacy when they see this man.

'Foul look. Cameron stood in front of the camera, folded his arms and thought expressionlessly: "God favors William Bradley too much." '

After admiring the furnishings in the room, William Bradley's version of Jack Dawson walked around in doubt and restraint. Then he found the couch that looked very comfortable. After hesitating for a while, He jumped up and sat on it briskly, and pressed down hard, as if he was feeling the elasticity and softness of the sofa.

Cameron raised his eyebrows -- this was the first expression he showed in the three auditions he watched today.

The scene of the audition now is about Jack Dawson saving the aristocratic lady Ruth who tried to jump into the sea to commit suicide, and comprehended Ruth's hint, and concealed the truth about her suicide from her fiancé Carl. Knowing all this, he only saw Ruth flirting with the poor boy Jack, so he was full of hostility towards Jack, but at this moment, Ruth invited Jack to come to the first-class cabin to express his gratitude to him.

Jack is a poor boy who earns his living by painting and wins the ticket to live in the third-class cabin. He and the first-class passengers Ruth and Carl originally belonged to two worlds. But Jack is not only poor. He is good at painting and has a very high artistic talent. He has traveled around the world and he is well-informed. He has experienced many storms and waves. He has no class consciousness in his heart , and will not bow down to each other just because someone is an aristocrat or a wealthy country-this is the Jack Dawson in Cameron's heart, and the Jack Dawson he has been looking for.

Back to the subject of the audition: when for the first time in Jack Dawson's life the aristocratic worlds that don't belong to him meet and collide, what interesting things will happen?

For the play that William Bradley is currently auditioning for, Cameron also asked many actors to perform during the audition. Unfortunately, he has not yet found someone who is exactly the same as Jack Dawson in Cameron's heart.

In the reception room, William Jack Bradley's one-man show was still going on. He carefully admired the painting hanging above the fireplace for a while—it seemed to be a painting of Van Gogh, and then picked up a tortoise shell on a small table Playing with the golden telescope - not being intoxicated by the golden tortoise shell inlaid on the binoculars, but directly on the bridge of his nose, looking at the distant scenery through the lens.

'A performance very much in line with Jack Dawson's character. When William was enjoying the sofa in the nobleman's house, Cameron thought in surprise, "Although there are no lines, his actions and expressions seem to be talking about him, I'm not a thief!"In this sentence, if Jack Dawson really existed, shouldn’t it be this picture that he is free, can quickly adapt to all strange environments, and doesn’t like being restrained? '

Ruth Bukett, played by Kate Winslet, also entered the reception room at this time, and started a conversation with Jack Dawson, played by William Bradley.

The lines of the two young people are very strong. Kate Winslet's aristocratic accent is well practiced, and William Bradley's voice is a little more casual and free than his daily speech temperament.

But what Cameron is paying attention to at this moment is not whether the lines of the two young actors are up to standard, but whether their eyes, expressions, movements, and temperament are up to standard.

Surprisingly, this Jack Dawson's performance in the camera is so natural, so natural that he doesn't feel a little non-Jack emotion from him-Cameron can't help but suspect that William Bradley really Realized that what he was auditioning for was a big movie with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, and there was only a thin line between him and the leading actor?

And Kate Winslet's performance today is much better than in the previous auditions.

James Cameron nailed it: William Bradley and Kate Winslet can influence each other's performances, and in a good way.