Hollywood Domination Chapter 98: Double challenge

Before the director officially calls 'Action', the core creative team will often hold several script reading meetings, and of course there will be multi-line preparations such as makeup trials, sets, props, and costumes. David Frank showed his advantages at this time. Prada, Channel, LV, Gucci, and of course YSL, Ferragamo and other big names in clothing, hats, shoes and bags all promised to provide sponsorship. Although Anna Wintour has a cold attitude towards this film, there is news that she warned the fashion circle not to participate in the production. But after all, she is not the century ruler of the entire fashion kingdom, and it is impossible to really block the big names that sponsored the film. The relationship between the big names is good, and Jenny, the popular little queen who has obviously driven the sales of brand single products, is not the difficulty in the film preparation process to find sponsors. The biggest difficulty is to grasp and discuss the characters in the script, which is more artistic. In movies, this is also the most important core of pre-creation. Actors, directors and even producers must reach an agreement on the understanding and shaping of characters.

In the film "Prada", due to the existence of the original book, the process is more complicated. Meryl Streep decided to take this film after reading the original book. Can she accept a lot of The adapted script is still unknown, and an actress with such superb acting skills may not get a high salary because of her low commercial value, but she has a unique influence on the film itself. The script even has a certain right to speak.

Jenny is not worried about whether the script will be approved by Meryl, but she is a little afraid of meeting Meryl, and this fear even extends to Emily Blunt. ——These two women are both super-talented actors, not to mention Meryl. Emily Blunt has made a name for herself in Hollywood with her acting skills. With her not outstanding appearance As well as being a British actor, she can get many roles with room for development, which only shows one point: her acting skills are really good enough for that. Although she is not as superb as Meryl in acting, Emily's performance has a unique and charming personal style. Jenny liked her very much in her previous life, and she basically watched her movies. After adapting "Prada", she tried to use empathy to simulate some of Emily's roles, including "Prada" and "Looper". Love, the acting effect is not as good as Emily. This shows that Emily's performance is a genius performance with strong personal characteristics that cannot be imitated by others. If the character itself is 100 points, and Jenny's empathy can achieve 100 points, then Emily will use her own The unique temperament injects 120 points of charm into the character.

Although Jenny has also been praised by the public as an "acting school" for her performance in "The Notebook", she is still a little nervous in front of these two enchanting actresses, even if she can use empathy , this tension may not fade easily, not to mention that there is another very important reason why she hopes to adapt "Prada" using the original version of ideas, that is, she finds that the current version of Andy is an unusable The role of empathy, in other words, she can't cheat...

After a large number of adaptations of the script, the current "Prada" is basically two stories compared with the original version. Different adaptations, the Andy empathized with in the original movie, and the current Andy are completely different characters. ——Now Andy has a brand-new character that refers to Lauren Weisberg's personal character and has undergone many modifications and adaptations. For this highly customized character, in other films It is almost impossible to find a character with a similar personality in the movie, and the possibility is close to zero. She used Monroe to empathize with Juanita before, because Juanita's character setting is very simple, she only needs to rely on Monroe's charm and aura, and Monroe has many biopics that can be used for reference, Jenny guesses The empathic projection of a biopic should correspond to a real person in history, but that is not the case for Andy, a purely fictional character. Her prototype Weissberg has no one to make a biopic, even if she wants to empathize with her for reference Will not work.

So, I can only use the simplest method to figure out this role: a lot of practice, observation, research and analysis.

"I think Andy's mentality should be very clear," said Jenny at the first script meeting, "At first she was very confident. This is her first job as a talented woman who contributed to The New Yorker. Andy is still very ignorant of the society. She thinks that she can play well in the workplace—she thought she was the center of the world, but her confidence at the beginning was beyond her confidence. The moment he entered the "Flyover" building, he began to be destroyed. From here until the fifth page of the script, when Miranda appeared, Andy's self-confidence was constantly being destroyed. Emily played an important role in it. She is the one who directly tortured Andy, and Miranda appeared when Andy's confidence fell to the bottom, so Andy was dazzled by Miranda's demeanor, but based on her instinctive self-preservation psychology, she also appeared. Denying her admiration for Miranda, because to admit that she adores Miranda means admitting that she is a fashion loser and layman at the moment, which the confident Andy cannot accept anyway.”

"And Emily is complacent here." Emily Blunt said, turning to the page in the script where she appeared. "She just got a promotion, she was actually very excited and wanted to show off, but in "Flyover" she had to be indifferent, with Andy she had disdain for potential competitors, and she really needed someone Considering the assistant, of course, there is also the fear, admiration and neurotic pursuit of perfection of Miranda. Andy is a safe trash can because she understands almost nothing. Emily guards against her from the beginning and wants to To show off in front of her, but also irritated by Andy's ignorance, but in the final analysis, she doesn't hate Andy, these are just common methods in the workplace, I think Emily is a typical workplace elite villain image, and some buffoons Color, her speech speed should be fast, her makeup should be heavy, but a little tacky, she is an exaggerated, laughable little villain.”

Both David and Wendy nodded, and had no objection to the actor's understanding, but David did not comment, but cleared his throat, turned to Meryl Streep, and asked respectfully , "Meryl, what do you think of the views of the two girls?"

Meryl Streep also sat up straight—although it hasn't been long since the script came out, she has already rolled up the version in her hand, "This is consistent with my understanding. This part of the interview The drama is a typical female drama. Miranda has the most single-minded mentality here, and it is easy to grasp. Miranda is a big shot. She believes that her wisdom determines the popularity of this magazine worldwide. "Flyover" is The best fashion magazine in the world, and Runway USA is the best of them all, Miranda believes she is influencing thousands of people, she is at the top of the industry, and all of her Colleagues - the American version of these colleagues are just her tools, she is a very sincere selfish person, but Miranda's nature is not bad, it's just that her mind is thinking too much about important things in moments other than private life. so that she has extremely low tolerance for her colleagues and subordinates.”

Meryl paused, "I read the original book, Miranda doesn't like her subordinates chatting in the elevator, Lauren calls this 'elevator ban', and thinks she hinders the normal social interaction among colleagues But according to my understanding, the reason why Miranda wants to be socially isolated is not that she is concerned about her subordinates saying that she is not good, she just has a strong desire for control, and she does not need her colleagues to talk about work in private and bring other people's views to work .When she appoints who is responsible for which piece, she needs someone's aesthetics, not others' judgment. Miranda has no humanity at all in her work, she is a professional machine."

Not only David, but Wendy, script writer Elle, and Michael King (David's golden partner, who was pulled into the project after the plot adaptation became complicated), all sat up straight, showing interest From the expression, Jenny can see that Meryl's experience and analysis of the characters has in turn inspired them, especially the interpretation of "inhumanity at work", which may not even have been thought of by the director and screenwriter.

"Back to the interview scene," Meryl flipped through the script, "Miranda was in her own world the whole time, neither Emily nor Andy was human in her eyes, but she A tool to achieve work goals, she almost habitually suppresses Emily's confidence and expresses her dissatisfaction. Miranda's charisma lies in her extreme specialization, and of course her flaw also lies in her extreme ego... This is a very Interesting character."

For such a precise interpretation, David, Ellie, and Michael all nodded in agreement. Wendy smiled and asked, "Meryl, do you think Miranda should have the same blond hair style as Wintour?"

"I don't have much opinion on this." Meryl returned to the script, "It's all about the effect of the script—since Wintour already thinks that there is a rift between us, then I think it's okay to use her." It’s impossible to offend her more, isn’t it?”

Although she is well-known all over the world, she has already held two Oscars for Best Actress, and there are countless nominations, but Meryl's character has nothing to do with elegance and calmness. Serious enough to be almost paranoid, even impatient, and very aggressive. For example, now, Jenny can see that she doesn't care at all about offending Wintour. Meryl only cares about what she received. Not an interesting character.

Because of cooperating with a big name, Jenny attaches great importance to it. Judy and others also talked about Meryl's criticism of the actor's performance and conflicts with the director on the set, so as to prepare for Jenny's relationship with her. ——This actress who is very low-key in real life and almost only talks to the audience through characters is an out-and-out performance madman. In order to get into the role, she will do anything, in order to perform a frozen scene, She did not hesitate to bury herself in an ice pack for half an hour. For "Sophie's Choice", she asked a tutor to learn Polish and German. Meryl has very strong opinions about her role, even including the appearance. After asking, David obviously doesn't have the confidence to make Meryl back down, not even Wendy, and he has to ask Meryl first about everything about Miranda.

"Fine, then maybe in the first scene we can have Miranda's flawless short blond hair in contrast to Andy's dirty blond hair," David agreed. "So, can Emily have brunette hair, or red hair? Red hair is more aggressive. We'll have the stylist over after the script reading - now let's read the interview." One paragraph. Start with Andy, Jenny, Go."

"Hi, I have an appointment with Emily Charlton." Jenny read. Read it with confidence.

"Andrea Sykes?" Emily quickly picked it up. Although she was reading the script, she still had expressions of wariness, astonishment and anger on her face, and the disdain in her tone was even more obvious. Clearly, with just these two words, Emily's image was completely established.

"Yes?" Jenny read. She stiffened her back and threw herself into Andy's emotions. Now Andy is on guard because she has discovered that she is out of tune with the environment and Emily's disdain .

"That's great." Emily is getting more and more involved in the drama, she said in a pretentious tone, "It seems that the HR department really has no sense of humor."

The next paragraph is almost all Emily's monologue. She quickly introduced the basic situation of "Flyover". Meryl put down the script in surprise, and looked at the British newcomer with brand new eyes. David and Wendy also exchanged eyes, showing satisfied expressions. Jenny looked at the ordinary Emily without makeup, and suddenly felt the mood of Dietrich, Ann and others looking at her. ——In the industry of actors who value talent very much, there are some people you really can't envy.

"This sounds like a great job, and I'm honored that I got in for the interview." Andy has very few lines in this segment, and Emily is the main performer. She followed up with Jenny's words, biting her lips and laughing a few times, "Andrea, "Flyover" is a fashion magazine..."

The play between these two people has been full of sparks during the script reading. It can be fully seen that both Jenny and Emily have read the script and practiced it at home in advance, not in the script. I hurriedly skimmed it a few times before the reading was held. Not only David and Wendy, but even Meryl is nodding now. As a master who can't lose the chain professionally, what she fears most is that a young and energetic little queen like Jenny treats the role lightly , which lowers the quality of the entire movie.

"The way of speaking is completely different from "The Notebook" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". Lun’s own background.” This detail made Meryl’s evaluation of Jenny a little higher, “But Emily is the most brilliant in this episode, and her performance even made me feel a little pressure...”

After David cameoed in Nigel's dialogue, Meryl cleared her throat imperceptibly and began her own speech.

"I don't know why it's so hard to confirm an appointment." On the word Difficlut, Meryl paused, and her voice softened, forming a normal and energetic voice just now The stark contrast, and then steals Emily's dialogue, "Your incompetent details don't interest me."

Jenny noticed that David had made a mark on the script—this meant that Emily’s lines were going to be changed here. more convincing.

"Tell Simon I don't want the girl he chose for the Brazilian version." Meryl continued to read without pausing, her expression was very calm, and her tone didn't fluctuate too much, but it was slightly bored and tired, But the image of a strong woman who manages every day has already emerged. Both Jenny and Emily's speeches are wonderful, but in front of Meryl's speeches, their performances seem a bit artificial.

Jenny unknowingly exchanged a look with Emily. At this moment, they seemed to be possessed by characters, and they both ignited the mood of not admitting defeat: among the three most important female characters in this movie , Meryl seemed to be leading the race, and neither Jenny nor Emily wanted to be the last one.

David and Wendy looked at each other and smiled: "These three outstanding actresses have already started to play before the official start. This is of course the best phenomenon for the film crew."

#

The first script reading went quite smoothly. Meryl did not criticize the two co-actors. Of course, she did not immediately praise anyone rashly. The cooperating partners seemed to be studying their respective acting skills, but it was only a short time. After finishing the script reading, Meryl regained her professional image and talked to the staff cheerfully and cooperatively. It seemed that Miranda just now was just a phantom, with no emotion left.

Perhaps this is the first time that I figured out the relationship between the characters by myself. After reading the script, Jenny still couldn’t get out. She kept thinking about Andy’s role positioning, as well as the difference between the adapted script and the original, and the original version of the script. , she was relatively taciturn throughout the makeup trial process, including Emily, who also seemed a little emotional. Although both of them simply kept silent, it could be seen from their eyes and expressions that they were still adjusting their emotions Returning to reality, at the same time, Meryl had already started chatting with the makeup artist. The entry and exit of a role like Miranda was no longer a problem for an actress of her level.

"Dirty blond long hair, I want a very natural effect." David held his chin, and discussed Jenny's style with the makeup consultant in a negotiating tone, "There are some fluffy and miscellaneous hairs, but not too much Messy, too messy makes it all feel like a farce, and the best result is a pristine, unpolished college girl with maybe a few shaggy hairs between her eyebrows, natural blond hair with brown roots, looking a bit Dirty, it makes her look very inconspicuous, yes, she doesn't need too much makeup foundation, if she can give her some freckles, it would be great."

"I probably understand the effect you want, but in that case, Jennifer's figure will look too fashionable. You need a girl with a size 6, but Jennifer usually wears a size 2." The makeup consultant whispered to David Discuss, "This is not a film shot in chronological order..."

"We can use doubles for some body-showing scenes, so we need some fillers to make her look like a number 6 at first."

"The **** needs to be at least one size bigger... Also, Jennifer is a bit too pretty for Andy in the early days, and I hope to see a surprise, dramatic contrast. Let her transformation have' Wow' effect, if she was pretty to begin with, then this scene would be meaningless..."

After a series of discussions and trials, Jenny put on a wig, tied a layer of cotton pads around her waist, combined with shoulder pads and ingenious makeup techniques—a foundation that was one shade darker than her skin tone to lighten her contours The special highlights... When she walked into the lounge and saw herself in the mirror, Jenny was a little afraid to recognize her. "I put so much effort into making myself more beautiful, but you guys destroyed all my efforts in two hours."

Laughter erupted in the lounge. Meryl, who had just tried on makeup and put on a blond wig, turned around from the chair, looked at her for a while, and smiled, "Jennifer, you should be glad they didn't Let you eat fat and then lose weight for the role, if that's the case, I'm afraid you will have to spend several months destroying your good figure, and then spend several months to exercise it back."

Jenny is also very glad that she doesn't have to do this. In addition to the hardship of losing weight, the bigger reason is that doing so is very damaging to her health and skin. Gaining weight quickly and losing weight in a short period of time can easily lead to loose skin, and the body As an actor, too much Botox is tantamount to suicide—if you can’t even make facial expressions, how can you act? In her opinion, any behavior of changing body shape for a large range of roles in a short period of time is an overdraft of an actor's career.

"Fortunately, our schedule does not allow us to shoot in chronological order." She made an air of relief, "God knows David really hoped that I could eat a little fatter and lose weight back."

"Yes, I also have some doubts about this point." Meryl closed the script, stared at Jenny sharply, and seemed to have some Miranda charms in a trance, "I noticed that you are talking with Emily struggled a bit with the play - can't say what it was, but I could sense your insecurity and nervousness. You know, Andy is a complicated character, and you're taking the same role as the previous few. The completely different acting methods of the movie, I was thinking, whether shooting in chronological order will help you get into the play?"

Although her tone was very tactful, what she said was tantamount to commenting on Jenny's performance just now—she thought that Jenny's performance just now was not on par with Emily, and it might not have reached the point of pressing the show, but Meryl thinks Emily has stolen Andy's thunder.

Of course, everyone is doing it for the good of the film itself, and Jenny doesn't want others to praise her performance badly, but at this moment, she really felt the anger and unwillingness: Don't Empathy Goldfinger, is it really impossible to beat Emily, unable to compete with Meryl?

Don't fight for steamed buns, I still don't believe in this evil!

"Indeed, I also think Andy is a complex, dark and contradictory character, so I gave up some of the techniques I used to portray Elizabeth and Ellie before." She said with a smile, "In fact, I can say that yesterday I just found the inspiration—let me coordinate for a few more days, Meryl, believe me, if I feel powerless after shooting, I will bring it up to David.”

Meryl smiled, "Relax, I'm not blaming you, in fact I admire your talent, it's just that Andy's difficulty is more difficult than Emily's, and I thought— ——You know, since you proposed the idea of ​​adaptation, you should be more comfortable interpreting Andy."

Jenny did feel the heavy pressure from Meryl's words, her smile dimmed, and even David and Wendy didn't speak at this time - although Meryl said these words with a smile Yes, but the meaning of these words is not easy, it can be tantamount to doubting and accusing Jenny's ability.

After a short period of surprise, Jenny quickly returned to normal - she has experience with Cesare, and positive doubts and challenges rarely make her lose her composure.

"This is just a script reading after all." She said coolly, as if she didn't understand Meryl's words at all, "Whether I can play Andy well, this question will not be decided until the filming officially starts." The answer, isn't it?"

"Of course, my dear." Meryl showed a bright smile, as if she didn't say those few words just now. "David, now let's see how I look."

Before David and Wendy reacted, Jenny also switched modes, and praised her, "It is indeed very elegant, but I suddenly had an idea just now - a suggestion, why don't we try silver hair... ..."

#

After finishing the day's work, Jenny didn't say a word on the car on the way home—she was too tired to speak, and today's script reading and makeup test gave her both emotionally and spiritually. It's a lot of exercise, and it's the kind of job that makes you want to binge on ice cream after work. Both Meryl and Emily put a lot of pressure on her in various ways. On the contrary, the male stars Simon Baker, Adrian Granier, and Stanley Tucci who came over later somewhat enlivened the atmosphere, and Adrian even gave her some blood back with his seductive appearance. There are a few **** scenes with him in a few months, and Jenny is still looking forward to the future.

"You need a little sex, Jenny," Jenny said to herself, a little louder, and Mary turned around in the car, "Ah, what did you say?"

"It's nothing." Jenny shook her head, and Claudia laughed in the front seat of the car, "I heard——Jane, let me guess, is it Simon?"

"No—is Simon married?" asked Jenny, "I didn't see the wedding ring, but you know—"

Because of filming, many Hollywood movie stars will not wear their rings on set, lest they accidentally lose them.

"Married, they Aussie men get married early and rarely get divorced," said Claudia. "Is that Adrian?—Please tell me it's not Stanley, please don't be him .”

"Of course not!" Jenny exclaimed, "and he's married too!"

Amid the laughter of the car, Mary drove the car into the garden, "Oh, Mr. Vijay has arrived."

Jenny also saw Cesare's Bugatti Veyron, she pressed the bridge of her nose vigorously, and let out a long sigh, "Great, this is exactly what I need - no breathing time Continuous high pressure."

"I'm willing to give everything in exchange for you." Mary turned her head and said seriously, "Everything I have—Hell, I'm even willing to give everything just for the right to watch, as long as I can watch from the side Alright."

Jenny couldn't help but roll her eyes at her, and Claudia lowered her head and started texting, "I think Josh should already be in the show, he definitely doesn't want to miss this."

When they walked into the living room, Cesare had been teasing Washington for a while. He stood up when he saw Jenny and others coming in, and finally patted the dog's ears, "Is the work going well? Jefferson?"

"It's not going well beyond imagination," Jenny said grimly. "Don't waste time—let's get started."

"Let me bring you some good news first." Cesare picked up the folder and shook it at her, Jenny's eyes lit up, "Ah, I almost forgot—is the UK's first-day box office released yet? ?”

"A very good number, we won the top spot." Cesare said, "The global box office of "The Notebook" has already exceeded the 200 million mark."

With the steady decline of the box office in North America, "Lian Lian Notebook" has gradually narrowed its theaters in the fifth week of its release. In about a month and a half, it will eventually be completely released in normal theaters. Theaters in remote areas and drive-in theaters will continue to show for a period of time to harvest some last box office. Now it has received a box office of 150 million in North America, and it is estimated that it will end between 180 million and 200 million in the end. Since the last two weeks, it has also opened overseas one after another. , Overseas box-country countries have already started showing "Lian Lian Notebook". Another final variable is Japan, where foreign films are usually released very late and their performance is also erratic.

Not to mention Japan, so far the overseas box office of "Lian Lian Notebook" is quite impressive. Up to now, it has received as much as 50 million overseas. Since the UK has just entered the gear, it has exceeded 100 million or even more overseas. It is also a very conservative estimate. After all, New Line did not pay much attention to this film before, and did not even do much publicity and distribution work overseas. According to common sense, the box office of word-of-mouth movies with little publicity should go for a long time. If there is a reversal, it is not impossible. Judging from this week, the final global box office of "Lianlian Notebook" is very likely to reach 300 million or even 350 million or 400 million. This amount of 100 million is also a normal fluctuation value in the global market.

What does this mean? For a romantic film, this means a complete miracle! After all, romance movies have always sold well on discs, but their box office performance is mediocre, and the reason is easy to understand. After all, going to the movies is a high-cost entertainment activity. Even if the ticket price and snacks are not a problem, the audience has to pay a solid cost of more than two hours in the movie theater. Then, of course, people are more inclined to watch some visual entertainment that cannot be seen on TV, or is uncomfortable to watch, such as special effects, big scenes, and explosion scenes. These are things that are uncomfortable to watch on a small screen. Unless there is a romantic movie with the spectacle of a big ship like "Titanic" as the background, wouldn't it be the same for two people on which screen they see each other? Even these films that easily evoke private emotions, many viewers still don't like to watch them in public places. Therefore, the box office of romance movies cannot be compared with visual blockbusters like "Pirates of the Caribbean". The current box office of "Lian Lian Notebook" is already at the level of an action blockbuster. With such a simple lineup and low investment, an unknown original work and a director who is not too experienced to achieve such results, every member of the crew Members should be proud.

Such an excellent result is completely beyond Jenny's expectations. She guesses that the performance of this film is much better than that of the parallel world. Otherwise, it is impossible for her not to have heard of this film in 2004 in her previous life. The name, I have to wait until later to hear about it in American dramas and other media. Especially in the overseas box office, if Rachel came to play, the performance would definitely not be so good.

Although she can't get the share of the overseas part, Cesare and she also value this part very much, because this figure can prove that she does have international appeal-this is very important for a Hollywood star, now The world's film market is developing rapidly. Although North America is still a stronghold that cannot be lost, it will account for a smaller and smaller proportion of the global box office figure. After 2010, those global blockbusters that Chen Zhen remembers have a global box office of more than one billion In China, North America probably only accounts for 200 million or 300 million. It is of course great to be able to build a global influence early in your career.

Hearing the good news, the exhaustion of the whole day seemed to disappear. Jenny smiled only when she was interrupted by the sound of brakes from the front yard. She glared at Josh angrily— — this guy sprints in without even taking off his make-up, yelling, "I'm not missing anything!" as he walks through the door, as if waiting to watch his favorite live TV show.

Cesare glanced at Josh, then looked at Claudia and Mary, and Jenny couldn't help but follow his gaze. She sighed and held her temples—Mary even had ice cream I ate them all.

"Then, let's start." Unusual, Cesare had a slight smile on his lips—not big, but sincere. He browsed casually in the living room, picked up an orange from the fruit plate, and put it in front of Jenny.

"I want you to sell me this orange today," he said, before adding, "The price can't be less than $100."

The author has something to say: updated,

There is only one update today~ but there are still 9K words, I hope everyone will be satisfied XD