Birth of an actor

"...Since it's a spoof, why not subvert all the important plots in "Scream", and the killer doesn't have to be set as the original one, that would be nothing new, choose someone who no one can guess, and the audience Will definitely be screaming loudly when the final answer is revealed."

"Who do you think is the better killer real body of the subversive version of "Scream"?"

"Dewey, of course Detective Dewey."

Harvey Weinstein raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

William talked eloquently: "Because in normal horror movies, Dewey is the most upright and kind-hearted one. He is a police detective, no, a model among men. The image and plot of this character are well set. Adding interpretation can leave a good impression on the audience. Most people’s first impression is deeply ingrained and difficult to change. The audience watched the normal version of the movie first, and then watched the subversive version, and found that Dewey had become the biggest The villain, and has been acting to fool everyone from the beginning to the end, it must be interesting, isn't it?"

"You said that I am more and more interested in making a subversive version of "Scream." Harvey Weinstein touched his chin and said: "You really don't consider my proposal and write a script Coming out? I promise I'll buy it."

Harvey Weinstein was very interested in some of William’s jokes about the spoof of "Scream". Summarize all his ideas into a story and change it into a script. He will pay for it. William refused after thinking about it for a while, but the two still had the best idea on how to subvert "Scream" and spoof it. After a thorough discussion, Harvey Weinstein became more interested the more he listened, and he came up with the idea of ​​making a script.

"I really can't write scripts now. You see, I'm not a professional playwright. I'm just a college student about to enter in the fall." William explained helplessly: "And I don't think the fragmentary fragments I just talked about , can support a 10-minute movie.”

In fact, not being able to write scripts is just one of William's reasons. Another reason he didn't say is: "Scream", a spoof version of "Scream", was filmed in 1999 and released in 2000. It achieved both box office and word-of-mouth hits when it was released. Why?Because "Scream" not only spoofed its own original horror film, but also spoofed the classic plots in many films released between 95 and 99, such as "I Know What You Did Last Summer" adapted from Stephen King's novel, Kill or Kill, Tiny to Die, The Blair Witch, The Matrix, The Usual Suspects, Grim Reaper, 007, Zombieland and more - these movies , most of which have not yet been released.

So here comes the problem, if "Scary Movie" should be released in 2000 is moved to 1996 or 1997, although it is still an interesting and funny movie just by looking at the story, it will definitely lose that sense of irony. The humorous taste of the movie, and this will greatly lose the color it should have—unless the screenwriter has a genius, he can find other horror movies that have been released so far to satirize, which is not a small test for the screenwriter's skill. William, who has not systematically studied screenwriting writing, believes that he does not have such writing skills yet.

"Well, actually, even if the script is ready, I won't prepare it soon. I have to wait for "Scream" to get a good response after it is released, and then release its subversive version, which will have a good market effect ’” Harvey Weinstein smiled at William: “May I make a request?”

"Please say."

"If you finish the script at your leisure, leave it to me with the right of first refusal."

"It's not a problem, I don't have anyone else to sell." Thinking that "Scream" and "Scream" seem to be produced by Dimension Films, William added: "And, uh, actually Strictly speaking, these ideas do not belong to me, and many of the jokes were discussed when I chatted with everyone, you can find other playwrights to complete the script, don't worry about me."

Harvey Weinstein was so surprised, his eyes moved flexibly, announcing that his cerebral cortex was very active at this time: "You mean, you want to give up your creative rights?"

In Hollywood, a good idea can sometimes bring tens of millions of dollars in profit. For example, before the "Seinfeld" turned out, no one thought that a third-rate talk show host would play himself in a daily sitcom, It can be so popular, but Jerry Seinfeld realized it, so he has achieved great success now - Jerry Seinfeld is the star/producer/screenwriter of "Seinfeld", and his annual salary and copyright income are as high as With tens of millions of dollars, he is one of the most financially savvy actors in the TV circle, making more money than many movie stars.

William knows that the idea of ​​"Scream" is not his own, so he doesn't mind if he can get money for his inspiration to Weinstein, but Harvey Weinstein doesn't know this, so the surprised expression It was too revealing, very uncharacteristic of Weinstein.

"If you feel uneasy, you can also give me—" William thought for a while, then shrugged and said, "Give me $20 to buy this idea, and when the movie is made in the future, maybe this can be a good conversation."

"A deal," Harvey Weinstein said.

In the end, William got a personal business card in addition to a banknote with Andrew Jackson's face ($20). "I like young people like you, keep in touch, and hope that we will have other opportunities to cooperate in the future." In the future, the top famous figures in the world film industry will participate in the production of films that will receive more than 300 Oscar nominations, and embrace the little Oscar gold Harvey Weinstein, who has had more than 70 times, said.

Harvey Weinstein has always been as cunning as a fox, and the profit-seeking side of the Jewish nature is fully reflected in his character. To be honest, the reputation of Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein in Hollywood It's not good, because they don't particularly pay attention to honesty when they say it. Of course, they will still keep their promises, but more often they are playing around the edge—but at this moment, Harvey Way Ernstein's commitment to William was very sincere, perhaps because he thought the young man in front of him was cute and silly, or maybe he hadn't seen such a newcomer in Hollywood for many years.

Just like people who have been in the dark for a long time and see the light, although they will only watch carefully from a distance and will not pounce on them, they will always have a little kindness to those who have bright and positive energy that they do not have.

But whether what Harvey Weinstein said at this time was true or false, William did not know, nor did he care.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, William made a money-losing deal, at least if Armon Goffman knew about it, he would definitely say: "You are cheated, stupid boy, the Weinstein brothers were born on the queen In the district, they are ambitious and calculating, their heads are full of money, they are not people who value human feelings, what is the use of gaining their favor? It is not as good as a check."

But William didn't do it for Weinstein's favor. He just felt that if he accepted the other's check, he would be ashamed.As for whether Harvey Weinstein's favor can be cashed out in the future and bring other benefits to William, it is not something he wants to care about at present.

……

Because the number of NGs is relatively small, "Scream" ended shooting at the end of July, only 7 weeks after it was started.

After William returned to Los Angeles, he didn't stay long. He attended a few parties, had a meal with Madeleine's new boyfriend, packed his luggage, left Brady Veyron's car keys to Madeleine, and rented a A Land Rover goes on a road trip—William prepares to kick off his college years with a cross-state road trip.For road trips, the Bugatti Veyron is uncomfortable and too ostentatious, and it is not cost-effective to buy another car. The convenient and affordable process of renting a car is the best choice for road trips.

It takes about 3000 miles from Los Angeles to Boston, and it takes five hours to get there by plane. If you drive by car for 5 or 6 hours a day and enjoy the scenery along the way, you can get there in a week.

William is going to start from Los Angeles, all the way east, after staying overnight in Las Vegas, passing through Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York State, and finally arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, which is expected to be in mid-August, and the universities have already started to prepare for the orientation activities. It's not far from New York, and William thinks it shouldn't be a problem to adapt himself), while looking forward to the arrival of college life.

The fun of road trips lies not only in the scenery along the way, but also in the people he meets along the way. William thought that he might meet some hitchhikers during the 1-mile journey, but he never thought that he would meet them so early and so Coincidentally, not long after driving on California Highway [-], he encountered people who were rubbing cars along the road.

California Highway 1 is a famous seaside sightseeing road in the United States. It is hundreds of kilometers long. Hollywood has shot many movies on this road. The road is close to the coastline and the scenery is beautiful. There are many travelers and tourists. Looking up towards the sea, there is a high chance of seeing surfers and bikini girls.

The flaxen-haired boy was standing on the side of the coastal road, wearing braces, wearing a blue T-shirt with a French bulldog smoking on it, jeans and casual shoes, looking like an ordinary man from a distance. A tourist or surfer boy, but William knew he was not, because not long ago, the boy was jumping and waving his arms, trying to stop the four-seater sports car in front of William, which consisted of two men and one woman, but The three people in the sports car not only did not stop the car, but turned up the noisy rock music to the maximum, whistling past the boy, leaving behind a choking car exhaust.

Choked by the exhaust gas, the young man coughed a few times, angrily raised his middle fingers towards the buttocks of the sports car, then lowered his head in frustration and squatted on the side of the road to draw circles, over and over again, with the deliberately raised hairstyle on his head It seems to be sluggish.

William drove past the boy. He glanced sideways at the frustrated golden head. After driving for a hundred meters, he stepped on the brakes, then slowly backed up the car and stopped in front of the boy.

It's not that William is so kind and helpful to every hitchhiker, but that this young man looks too pitiful, and he looks too much like his friend Lance—except that his hair is not as golden as Lance.Thinking of being rejected by the vehicles along the way at this moment, and that the helpless and desolate young man looked so much like Lance, William couldn't help but extend a hand of friendship to him.

"Hi my friend, do you need help?" William called to the teenager, pulling down the window of the car.

The blond boy squatting on the ground and drawing a circle suddenly raised his head, took a serious look at William, and nodded quickly: "I need it!" Then he got up, ran to the other side of the Land Rover, opened the door to get in the car, The series of actions to fasten the seat belt was incredibly fast, as if he was afraid that William would turn his back on him.

William stepped on the accelerator amusedly, and continued driving on California Highway 1.

The blond boy kept silent except for saying "thank you" to William when he got in the car, but William could feel that the other party was secretly looking at him from time to time, so the blond boy finally couldn't help asking: "Are you ——" At the time, William quickly replied: "Yes, I am an actor."

"...I wanted to ask if you were going to Boston."

William: "..."

"Haha!" The flaxen-haired boy couldn't help laughing: "Sorry, buddy, I didn't really want to embarrass you so much, I know you are an actor, and I know your name is William Bradley, just now you pulled I recognized you when I got out of the window, but I thought it was true to ask if you were going to Boston."

William came out of the awkward atmosphere: "I'm going to Boston." He said, then turned his head and gave the blond boy a quick look: "But how did you guess? I mean, the average hitchhiker doesn't Will ask me if I’m going to some city 3000 miles away, in the direction I’m driving, wouldn’t it be more likely to go to Las Vegas?”

"First of all, you're driving a Land Rover and you have a suitcase in the back seat, people who go to Vegas to have fun don't travel like that, they mostly drive sports cars in groups, just like on the highway The car of bastards who played rock and roll racing cars, and secondly—" The flaxen-haired boy rubbed his nose, looked out of the car window on his side, and muttered: "I read the news about you being admitted to Harvard in the newspaper, Harvard is in Boston, that's a good guess."

"Have you seen my movie and followed the news?" William raised his eyebrows in surprise: "This is a surprise, thank you."

"To be precise, I'm not a fan of your movie, but I like "Sense and Sensibility" very much. Do you find it offensive?" After receiving a negative answer from William with a smile, the flaxen-haired boy heaved a sigh of relief, his demeanor and tone It's also more relaxed, even a little funny: "I like Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" type of movies, I don't watch TV very much, and I hardly watch classical movies, but my sister Carly and brother Scott I like you very much, so I can't help being promoted a few of your works."

"Your sister and brother? What do they like about me?"

"Beverly Hills, I guess."

William covered his forehead.

"What's wrong?" The flaxen-haired boy looked at William strangely: "Could it be that "Leap to Beverly" is your black history, just like "Excalibur" is to Schwarzenegger?"

"Queen Excalibur" is a bad movie released by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1985. Schwarzenegger directly admitted in an interview that this is the worst movie he has ever made. He also said he would use the movie to punish his children: "Whenever my kids make a mistake, I lock them in the room and let them watch Excalibur ten times in a row, and then they behave better."

"It's not about black history." William took his hand from his forehead and sighed: "It's just that my performance in "Beverly Leap" really didn't have any quality at all. I was just pretending to be cool. If your sister If the impression my brother and I have of me stays with this character, I will be sad."

"For Carly, as long as you keep acting cool, she will always like you. She said you are a mess."

William was struck by the "nice mess" comment: "...uh, thank her for me?"

"I will." The flaxen-haired boy yawned as he said it. He was too tired after standing on the road and stopping cars for almost two hours.

William glanced at the other party, closed the car window thoughtfully, turned on the air conditioner, and turned down the volume of the radio music.

"Thanks." The flaxen-haired boy squinted his eyes and glanced at William, before falling asleep on the seat.

When the flaxen-haired boy woke up, William was parked at a gas station in Las Vegas.

"Hi." The flaxen-haired boy rubbed his eyes half asleep and half awake.

"Hi," William replied, "I'd like to stop in Las Vegas for a night, do you have any ideas?"

"Great idea." The flaxen-haired boy stretched out his right hand to William: "I've been forgetting to introduce myself, my name is Christopher Evans, you can call me Chris."

Chris Evans?William found the name inexplicably familiar.