The top of fame and fortune [Comprehensive British and American]

"Miss Parker, I think you should have read the audition script before starting this interview." Producer Stanley Jaffe asked her.

This young girl who couldn't be ignored was not recommended by Paramount, which made him a little puzzled.

Erica was about to answer, but Michael Ovitz explained to her first, "Erica is my latest signing client, and she read the audition script a few hours ago."

Ovitz's remarks surprised those present.

It wasn't because the girl was recommended by CAA to audition, Ovitz had already 'bundled' the film talent of the entire cast anyway, and he certainly wouldn't mind adding another one.What is surprising is Ovitz's words——

He said it was my contracted client, not a business-like claim that she was an actress under the name of CAA.

Ovitz signing an unnamed rookie himself?is it possible?It's like a fantasy. In the past few years, even if it is the first-line star business that occupies the top of the Hollywood pyramid, Ovitz has only handed it over to his partners and subordinates, and has no interest in taking time to manage it himself.

But now, he is clearly expressing his respect and support for the young Miss Parker.

Ovitz's behavior made Alan Rosenberg, the representative of the Screen Actors Guild of America, who was in charge of supervising the audition process and avoiding violations, said vaguely, "It seems that Miss Parker is extremely good."

Although Rosenberg was complimenting Erica, the deeper meaning was to try to remind Ovitz not to use his strong hand anymore, so that this audition would bend to his will.

And the super-agent, seemingly confident in his new client, said, "Of course, I think she can win everything."

Ovitz looked at Erica at the audition. After arriving in Rome, she put on a very Italian-style long dress. The tailoring was exquisite, and the luster of thick silk flowed, outlining a tall and concave-convex perfection. stature.At the same time, it also has a Sicilian style, a perfect fusion of classical elegance and glamorous beauty.

But her face looks so young, and the dark hair color after the change highlights the strong contrast with the white skin, which makes people feel a little unreal.

And this undoubtedly deepened her unique atmosphere and beauty, almost out of tune with the mediocre audition scene.

She knows very well how to magnify her outstanding qualities in different occasions.

At this time, Ovitz emphasized that he valued Erica Parker's support, which naturally increased her winning chips.

He respects Miss Parker's spirit of fair competition very much, but as a qualified broker, he should strive for the best interests of his clients, even if it is by any means.

Although the director Coppola is not disgusted with Ovitz's behavior, it is naturally impossible to like it. Coppola has always insisted that the power of the "Godfather 3" crew is in his hands, not by Paramount or CAA. The casting angle left and right.

So Coppola re-examined Erica Parker with almost strict standards, and told her the audition requirements, "I need you to perform the scene where Mary Corleone talks to her cousin Vincent for the first time at the ball."

In terms of the script, this is the first scene where Mary speaks the dialogue, which is almost equivalent to the official debut, and its importance is self-evident.

As for the role of Marie Corleone, it is actually very difficult for an actress to make her performance so eye-catching.Because in the "Godfather" series of movies, which is revered as the male bible, all female characters, without exception, can only be called marginal existence.

However, the movie script of "The Godfather 3" is still a typical male drama, and the female characters are thin and one-sided, which naturally leads to very limited room for actresses to play.

But Mary Corleone is also an important role, so both Paramount and Coppola are very picky when choosing actresses—

As the most beloved daughter of the godfather Michael Corleone, Marie also staged a "brother and sister" full of Italian tradition with her cousin Vincent, the young and handsome successor of the godfather, whom she hadn't seen for many years and only met once in childhood. love of".

And she not only enjoys the love of the two most important male characters, but also lays out the context of the entire movie.

It was even because of her death that the godfather, who was sitting on the power of capital and the city was deep and invincible, became the last sad old man who could only hold the corpse of his most beloved daughter and cry.

In other words, Erica's performance should not only be a qualified vase, but also show the charm of the character that is enough to rationalize the whole movie.

At this moment, at the audition meeting, after Coppola issued the performance request, Erica did not find out the audition script and read it again, repeating and memorizing the lines of this performance.She didn't even pause for a moment, and when the director's voice fell, the temperament revealed immediately changed.

That kind of change is impossible to ignore. She put away her strong and seductive charm in an instant, and replaced it with magnified elegance, tranquility, and even implied solemnity and restraint.And this kind of dramatic atmosphere is exactly the movie temperament presented in the previous work of "The Godfather".

But she didn't seem to notice the amazing reactions of several interviewers. At this time, she was turning her body slightly, looking at the southernmost end of the audition meeting, a baroque square table with no one sitting around. There is a faint joy and bright expression on the face.

She tried to arrange her long brown hair so that they could show the most perfect appearance, and then she took brisk and elegant steps and approached the baroque long table.

Then, leaning lightly against the square table in an extremely elegant, moving and aesthetically pleasing posture, looking down at the unoccupied seat, with a charming and intoxicating smile, "Vincent, I remember you."

And after she spoke the dialogue, the interviewers were surprised to find that she changed the tone of her voice——

Erica's original voice was a slightly deep female alto, which always highlighted her sexy self-confidence, as if she could handle everything; but now, when she became Mary Corleone, she deliberately made her voice become Softer for a bright and cheerful young-girl scent.

She did not cooperate with the other actors, but accurately grasped the speed of the conversation, and began to answer the non-existent Vincent's doubts about "where have you seen me", she said in a soft and affectionate tone, "In a At the party."

"Have you been to the club?" Vincent Corleone continued.

Mary's voice became slightly unhappy, as if she was not satisfied with the other party's answer, "No, it was a wedding."

"wedding?"

The young Miss Corleone moved a little closer to her cousin whom she had only met once in childhood, her voice tightened, with imperceptible nervous anticipation, "I was eight years old and you were 15 years old."

And Vincent was still cynical, "I had a lot of girlfriends when I was 15."

"Any eight-year-old?" Mary asked him back, with a displeased expression, her eyes wide open, and the look in the green eyes made it impossible for anyone to look away.

And the young and handsome Italian man in front of her deliberately said, "There are a lot of eight-year-olds."

"You haven't kissed me as a greeting ceremony yet," Mary looked at the man intently, "Kiss is a kiss when relatives meet, I'm your cousin."

Vincent's expression became serious instantly, "Who is your father?"

"Let me give you a hint—" Mary said with a drawn out voice, in a slightly mischievous tone, "he is Italian."

Her voice, face, body posture, everything constitutes a completely eye-catching beauty.

This comes from Erica's intentional creation, based on the image of the script, she tried to construct 'Mary Corleone' who is slightly ignorant of the world, but bright and light and charming, making her likable enough and unforgettable.

In the interviewer's seat, the producer Paramount was amazed by her "top vase" charm, but the director Coppola was able to discover more——

This young girl with almost no acting experience has shown extremely outstanding expressive acting skills.

In this scene with very limited room for development, she used her external expressions, body, language and tone to perfectly shape and highlight the image of 'Mary Corleone'.

Whether it is a sense of ease, sense of form, or beauty and integrity, there is no deviation at all.Dazzling enough, but forming perfect restraint, without any exaggerated performance of excessive force.

And her line skills almost made Coppola mistakenly think that this is a talented actor who came out of Broadway.

But she actually only participated in an acting summer camp for only two or three months when she was young. Coppola was almost a little angry that she had wasted her talent so much in these years.

So Coppola said in a not-so-gentle tone, "In the next scene, Mary talks to her father about the Corleone Foundation."

This is one of the most important scenes between Corleone and his daughter.

Mary Corleone, who has just grown up, has been awarded the post of honorary chairman of the Corleone Foundation by her father, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the church, which seems to fully demonstrate the love and indulgence of the godfather to his daughter.

But Mary's brother, Anthony Corleone, pointed out to her that her father was using Mary.

And this baffled the very young Mary.

After hearing Director Coppola's request, Erica still stayed at the original square table, but the external dramatic atmosphere she showed changed again——

She sat there in silence, with a sense of excellence and precision before she even started to speak the dialogue.

Director Coppola was keenly aware that she had changed her acting skills—the external characteristics of expressionism were disappearing, and her emotions were so delicate and real in her expression.

"Dad——" Erica still looked at the wicker chair that she had set to be Vincent Corleone three minutes ago, but now it was Mike Corleone.

Her tone was gloomy and low, and while she was unwilling to believe, there was a hint of tentative emotion, "Anthony said that you use me to control the fund so that you can use it at any time and improve your public image."

"Don't say that," Mike Corleone denied, persuading his daughter, "Mary, this fund is sincere, and I will not interfere with your decision unless you ask me to help."

The majestic and credible words of the godfather failed to convince Mary immediately.

She stayed away from her father since she was a child and was brought up by her mother. While longing for her father's love and admiring her father very much, she is also sensitive enough.

Her eyes were extremely focused, looking at the empty wicker chair, as if looking for a reason to convince herself, "Why did you do this?"

"Why should I do this?" Mike Corleone said like every Italian man who valued his family, "I think about my children, and you should also think about your children."

"Is this fund going to help other people?" Mary asked again, trying to hide her almost cautious look, expecting to get a good answer, her body involuntarily leaned towards her father.

"Of course, that's what it was created for," replied the godfather. "I swear the fund is legitimate."

When Mike Corleone's answer fell, the brown-haired young girl's face burst into a gorgeous smile almost immediately, she held her father's palm, and said in a light and sincere voice, "Dad, I hope it can bring us closer."

At the audition meeting where there were no rival actors, Erika controlled the pause time of the dialogue extremely precisely, and she focused on the unmanned wicker chair in her green eyes, showing unreserved trust and love.

It was bright like broken crystals, but for some reason, it almost made people want to cry.

Next, Mike Corleone heard his daughter's words, hugged her into his arms and kissed her cheek and hair side, "I will do my best to protect your safety."

Erica hugged the empty wicker chair tightly, and she leaned her face on the back of the chair, as if leaning on her father's arms. This posture allowed several interviewers to clearly see her face.

God, her eyes—crazy mixed with confusion, loss, sensitivity and depression, and all these negative emotions are constantly competing with the love and longing in her eyes.

In the end, she let everything come down to trust, she believed in it without reservation, decisive and fanatical.

She tightened her arms and finally closed her eyes.

At the audition meeting at this time, almost all the interviewers were shocked by her strong sensual emotions. She looked so complicated and full of contradictions.

But they only felt that everything in front of them was real, and this young girl was Mary Corleone.

And Erica Parker, who made all these convincing performances, quickly resumed acting.She left the square table and walked back to the original audition position.

Director Coppola once again raised the question, "Didn't you just use experiential acting techniques?"

Coppola always thought she was giving an experiential show until she was on the fast track—

She must have deliberately triggered the recall, her own experience similar to the plot, and with the help of "emotional reference" and "emotional memory" to stimulate the performance, it was only in such a short period of time that she was able to shape "Mary Ko Lyon".

It not only enters the characters, but even digs out the deep complex characters, and it is so delicate, real, concise and full.

But she plays so quickly, compared to the experiential school who is hard to get rid of the influence of real emotions, she is too rational.

"On the basis of experientialism, I borrowed part of the performance method advocated by Mr. Michael Chekhov," Erica replied, "using creative imagination to replace one's own emotional memory, and at the same time relying on appropriate expressionism Perform externally to interpret reality.”

After all, in her life, the role of father has never appeared, and she really has no real memories of her own to learn from.

After receiving Miss Parker's answer, Coppola could only draw one conclusion——

Standing in front of him was an astonishingly talented acting genius, and she had just performed a show of arrogance and arrogance.

Yet she is so great that she is persuasive, overwhelming, and submissive.

So he had to say, "Congratulations, Miss Parker, Mary Corleone is yours. I think she can only belong to you."