Birth of an actor

Carl represents money and secularism. He is a cold and violent person full of desire for control. With such a fiancé, Ruth can fall in love with Jack very logically. Moreover, the more vulgar and utilitarian the engagement relationship between Ruth and Carl, the more the relationship between her and Jack is. The more romantic and pure the love is, and after Jack died for Ruth, this love is completely sublimated, beyond death, and beyond time.

William didn't think so deeply at the beginning. Like other actors, he felt that as long as he played his role well according to the director's requirements, he would do his job perfectly.

But the deeper he read the script, the more confused he became, and he couldn't help thinking a lot, until James Cameron just made it clear, and William suddenly realized: James Cameron actually doesn't really care whether Carl loves Ruth or not, He just wants Carl to act like a jerk, to be cannon fodder for Jack and Rose's love affair.

"I don't think I can be bad for the sake of being bad." William also said to Cameron: "Even if Carl is going to be a bad guy in the end for the sake of the plot, he can't be a jerk from the beginning. Carl Hockley is an American The heir to the Iron King, who has received the best education since childhood, has a good reputation in the upper class, and is the son-in-law carefully selected by Ruth's mother, shouldn't be a despicable and shameless person from the beginning."

Speaking of this, William looked up at Cameron's reaction, and saw that the other party was sitting expressionlessly, showing no emotion at all, and then said: "Why does Carl have to act like a jerk from the beginning? ?Like those villains in Disney animations who come out with villain BGM, the meaning of existence is to be defeated by the prince and become cannon fodder in the love story of the prince and princess? In the real world, it always takes a process for people to become bad. There are neither purely good people nor purely bad people in this world. I can accept that Carl will do anything to escape in the end, but I can’t accept that he slapped his fiancée because of jealousy at the beginning. I think the role of Carl is complicated. His character, his behavior, there should be embarrassing motives behind it."

The way James Cameron looked at William gradually changed. He thought for a while and said, "You think about the problem from the perspective of the director and screenwriter, and even a little bit from the perspective of the producer. Few actors I was amazed to be able to skip the whole story and read the script."

"But? Usually, after your tone of voice, there is always a but."

"Yeah, I have a but—but, 'Titanic' is important to me, it's important to Twentieth Century Fox, and I can't afford to fail." James Cameron said: "For example, Even if I have cancer now, I still want to continue filming, you understand this, right?"

William thought he understood what James Cameron meant—Cameron would give up himself for this movie, let alone everything else.

"I understand," William replied.He felt a heavy stone fall from his stomach.

"Okay, let's go." James Cameron waved to him: "I need to think about it, think about it." He said this in a very low voice.

William walked out of the lounge slowly.

He suddenly couldn't figure out what James Cameron meant.

After such a huge controversy and disagreement, when Cameron mentioned that "Titanic" was very important to him, William thought he was going to be given up, but judging from the meaning of Cameron's last sentence, it seemed that he was not. Want to give up on him?

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were waiting at the door of the lounge, and as soon as William went out, they asked, "What did Jimmy ask you for?"

"You didn't fight, did you?"

"I don't know." William said hesitantly.

"Don't know what you mean?" Kate Winslet asked.

"Jimmy has always liked you, I like you the most, more than me and Kate, everyone can see that." Leonardo DiCaprio took the initiative to think about the bright side: "Even if he scolds you again, Wouldn't really do anything to you, man."

"I might need to make a call first." William hurriedly bid farewell to the two, went outside to find a pay phone, and first called Amon Goffman's private number: "Hey, Amon, I might have messed up work .” After a pause, he smiled wryly and said, “That’s right, once again.”

……

Twentieth Century Fox CEO Bill Mochanek visited a Mexican beach on a sunny afternoon.

The helicopter stopped on the beach, but only the producer and an assistant director came to pick it up.

"Where's James?" asked Bill Mochanek, wearing dark glasses as he walked toward the studio.

"Working in the director's office," replied producer Jon Landau.

"Then the assistant director is in charge of filming now?"

"Correct."

Nearly 2000 people worked on the "Titanic" crew in Mexico, but when Bill Mochanek approached the 200-plus-foot-long film set, it sounded surprisingly quiet.

How amazing, the director is not even here, and the studio sounded too quiet, even the lines spoken by the actors standing on the set can be heard far away, except that the director has extremely strict requirements on the chances of the set, and the power is very strong Heavy, so heavy that no one would want to foul easily even if he himself is not, there is no second explanation.

"Someone told me that James' spending methods and violent temper can often turn the set into hell. It seems that this is not a lie."

Jon Landau laughed awkwardly.

Bill Morcanick stood off set watching the shoot for a moment before giving the order: "Where's James' room, I want to talk to him."

Jon Landau asked: "Is there anything I have to tell Jimmy? He is worrying about the movie now, and he didn't eat dinner yesterday. If he is not required to be there, you can tell me."

"Can you control James Cameron so that he doesn't spend money lavishly?" asked Fox's CEO.

Jon Landau was embarrassed again.Of course he couldn't help it.

"I saw the financial statements for Titanic this morning and you guys are over budget Jon, the movie is less than half way done and you've already spent $8000 million! You know how crazy I was when I saw that number Surprised?" Bill Mochanick asked the producer of "Titanic": "How much money does James want to spend on this movie? Does he want to spend 4000 million while shooting? Then What about post-production costs? Publicity costs? Distribution costs? The studios aren't going to take an extra dollar, not a penny."

Jon Landau rubbed his hands: "So you flew here from Los Angeles just to talk about the budget?"

"There are other things, but the point is the budget." Bill Mochanick squinted his eyes and asked, "Did something happen to the crew, so you don't like to see me here?"

"Of course not." Jon Landau said with a dry smile: "The crew was calm, er, calm, and the shooting went smoothly."

"It's better to be like this." Bill Mochanek had a rare helplessness on his face: "4000 million US dollars is probably not enough-don't curl your lips, Jon, we all know the virtue of James burning money, If he didn’t overspend once or twice, he wouldn’t be called James Cameron—the unprecedented big investment, I persuaded the board of directors to pass James’ proposal, and it was also the first commercial giant since I became CEO. You know, if "Titanic" is over, not only you are over, James is over, it's probably me too."

"I understand." Jon Landau sighed and opened the door of the director's room first: "Please go in, Bill, but uh, Jimmy has not been in a good mood these two days, I hope you can be more tolerant to him, Don't make a fuss."

"As long as he doesn't ask me for an additional budget." The young CEO of Twentieth Century Fox straightened his collar and walked in.

Bill Morcanick thought that Cameron was working when Jon Landau said that he was writing and drawing on a pile of reports and scripts, but he didn't expect to change the director's room into a small screening room. Sit inside and watch a movie.

Walking into the dark room, Cameron, who was sitting in the front row, didn't notice the movement behind him at all. Bill Mochanek wanted to say hello, but he soon discovered that "Titanic" was playing on the screen The movie clips had already been filmed, so he sat in the last row and watched them.

'If I saw something was wrong, I had to ask James to fix it. ’ Bill Mochanick thought: ‘This is his movie, but it’s the money I found. I will never allow any behavior that pursues artistry while ignoring commerciality.Who will make a movie that loses money?Saving capital and making money, this is what a movie must do first, and then everything else. '

……

The Titanic officially set sail, sailing from the port of Southampton, England to New York, this is its maiden voyage.

Because the film has not yet undergone post-production, the outdoor scenery is inevitably a bit crude, and the large green screen plays the role of the ocean. As a half-professional filmmaker, Bill Mochanick inevitably has some dramas after watching it—— Bill Mocanick started from an MBA from a prestigious school, the chief secretary of the studio director, studio executives, and CEO step by step. He has a deep understanding of how to manage a film company, how to make money, and how to make movies. When watching a movie, he looks more from the perspective of an operator or an ordinary audience, rather than a producer-but when the picture enters the room, Bill Mochanek immediately enters the scene Yes, because the interior scenes of the Titanic are really exquisite, every piece of furniture, props, costumes and decorations are very particular.

Especially the first-class living room, the decoration is particularly luxurious, with plenty of sunlight, comfortable seats, several pots of green plants are placed in the huge space, full of ocean style.

On the screen, a man wearing a white striped shirt and a vest of the same color, with the arrogant and dissolute temperament of the upper class before the Great Depression in the 30s, walked leisurely into the living room with champagne in one hand and a wine glass in the other. The waiter in uniform said "This is your private deck, Mr. Hockley." That way, it was full of territorial declaration.

The waiter asked respectfully, "Do you have any other orders?"

Carl poured himself a glass of champagne leisurely, waved the other hand casually: "No."

"Retire." The waiter walked out.

From the next room came the voices of Ruth talking to the maid, who were talking about Ruth's collection of paintings.

"Miss, do I need to take them all out?"

"Yes, this room needs some color embellishment." Ruth looked at a Degas painting "Dancing Girl" with a fascinated expression. This painting is colorful, but the lines of the characters are abstract and weird, which does not fit most Human aesthetics: "Look at them, how wonderful."

"Oh my god, it's those graffiti again." Carl walked into the living room from the living room, looked at Ruth admiring the paintings with her back turned to him, and said with disdain: "You just love to buy those things, it's a waste of money."

Carl Hockley leaned against the door, took a sip of champagne in his hand, his hair was combed shiny, his clothes were decent and elegant, his posture was leisurely and calm, and he was as handsome as an oil painting.

'A pair of young people who are so well matched in appearance and family background, but have no resonance in spirit. Bill Mochanek, who had read the script of "Titanic", watched the clips of the first edited version with great interest, and expressed some thoughts from time to time: "You can also make a painting for the unmarried couple. , Incorporating their expressions and actions at this moment, the male is called "Pride", and the female is called "Prejudice".Of course, this pair of Pride and Prejudice did not end as well as Jane Austen's. '

The development of the story on the screen is just as Bill Mochanick expected. No matter how glamorous Carl’s oil painting is, Ruth always has a “prejudice” and has no interest in him. She even keeps her back to Carl. Without even looking at him, he focused all his attention on the Picasso in his hand. Although his voice was as noble as ever, his tone was really not friendly: "Your taste is far inferior to mine, Karl, and you have no taste for art. Connoisseurship, these paintings are intoxicating, almost dreamlike."

All the servants in the reception room suddenly became very busy, everyone lowered their heads to carry things, even if it was just a small jewelry box, the hostess gave the host no face in front of all the servants?God, they didn't see this scene.

'The servants collectively look away at this moment is very good, there is a very tacit picture. ’ thought Bill Morcanick, ‘James is still as good at scheduling and directing actors. '

"What's the painter's name?" The maid asked in time, as if she was really interested in the painter, or she wanted to resolve the thick embarrassment in the reception room.

"Looks like Picasso," Ruth replied.

"Looks like Picasso? Hey, no one, he can't make a name for himself—" Carl walked towards Ruth from the door with a glass of wine, his face still wearing a mocking expression.

Ruth quickly walked into the bedroom with the painting, without even showing Carl a face.

"—Trust me." Looking at Ruth's back, Carl's expression changed from arrogance to embarrassment to frustration, and finally his eyes swept across the servants in the room, finding topics to cover up for himself in his annoyance: "Fortunately These paintings are not expensive, you can buy as many as you like."

Looking up and pouring a full glass of champagne into his mouth, Karl threw the bottle into the ice bucket angrily, showing a discouraged expression.

'Poor man, even though he is rich, his fiancée never takes him seriously. ' Seeing this, Bill Mochanick couldn't help thinking: 'I guess this should be Carl Hockley, no, William Bradley.So handsome and with such outstanding temperament, no wonder Valerie changed her face as if turning the pages of a book just by seeing him, regardless of the fact that she had reached an agreement with Billy Zane's agent before. '

As the CEO of Twentieth Century Fox, Bill Mochanek generally doesn't ask the studio about which movie to cast, even if it's "Titanic", but William Bradley The name left a deep impression on Bill Mocanick, even deeper than the film's hero and heroine Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, nothing more than because Valerie is in the company In the internal meeting, the day before, he and James Cameron had a quarrel with James Cameron. The next day they suddenly shook hands and made peace. It is said that the reason is that this actor named William Bradley and Valerie had dinner together.

Seeing real people on the screen now, Bill Mochanek has a feeling of "as expected"-if William Brandley played Cal Hockley in his true colors, with such looks and temperament, no wonder Valerie would I was fascinated by him at first sight. If William Bradley played Cal Hockley in his true colors, then with such looks and acting skills, this actor would be even more amazing, and his future must be bright.

In just a few minutes of film clips, Carl's handsome, rich, and arrogant, and Ruth's beauty, romance, and independence are deeply engraved in Bill Mochanek's mind.

’ Carl and Ruth are so sparky and at odds, such an ambivalent relationship really captured by James. Bill Mochanek felt much more at ease as if he had just taken a reassurance: "It seems that the 8000 million that has already been spent, James didn't waste much, at least from this clip, "Titanic" It shouldn't be a bad movie. '