Chapter 849: Chapter 255: Important Matters
Don’t let outsiders benefit, Adrian always adheres to this principle when making movies, so apart from the female lead, as long as a role is suitable, it is basically played by his own women. For example, the cameo of Sophie in The Matrix—Blanchett, Gwyneth, and Liv don’t count, as they are major roles in The Lord of the Rings—or currently Amanda.
However, these opportunities are not many. In recent years, apart from two series, the films he directed were basically to send women to the throne of movie queen, and only this Brokeback Mountain has slightly more female roles.
If there is a chance in the future, well, he thinks making films like Eight Women should be quite good—okay, Adrian admits, he just wants to enrich his collection. Imagine women appearing in the same movie, and…
Well, back to the point, despite this, not just any of his women can play a role in his films. For example, Amanda, who plays the eldest daughter of Ennis in the third stage, is suitable in terms of age and acting skills. Although her skills have some way to go, after the grind of a few previous films, handling such a role is a piece of cake for her.
And there was originally another substantial female role in the film, a woman Ennis meets at a bar after his divorce, who actively pursues him, and he doesn’t refuse, but ultimately fails. It’s a role worth developing, with interaction with Little Alma. Adrian originally hoped to let Jessica try it, but he gave up the idea after a private audition. Although Fantastic Four is about to be released this year and Jessica has somewhat grown in her acting due to a series of roles, playing such a role still requires a long journey.
Honestly, Adrian was quite inclined to turn her into an artistic vase like Liv, and together with Megan, it should feel quite promising. As for that woman’s role, among the women there will always be someone suitable.
“Very good, Sarah, your line ‘Has your father thought about forming a family again?’ was spot on,” after calling a stop, Adrian praised, of course not forgetting Amanda either, “Amanda’s response was also good, let’s do it again.”
Sarah is the most content among his women. Even Kate couldn’t help but be excited facing an Oscar nomination, but Sarah said she wasn’t interested in these honors and has stuck to that, mostly participating in romantic comedies over the years. As a result, Adrian naturally cherishes her dearly, arranging mostly high-box office films, with one coming out this year. With these high-grossing romantic comedies, Sarah succeeded Buffy as America’s Sweetheart.
More importantly, although Sarah stars in light-hearted comedies, it’s not that she lacks acting skills; critics have given her high praise, so Adrian let her play this role.
“You don’t like it?” After finishing for the day, while walking around the small town with Sarah, Adrian asked, “The role doesn’t have many scenes, and I thought you were suitable, so…”
“No, Ed, I feel great, the role is indeed quite good, if I wanted to refuse I would have done it early on, not leave it till now,” Sarah interrupted him with a smile, then held his arm even tighter, “I’m just wondering when you’ll be satisfied, or what will it take for you to be satisfied.”
Adrian’s eyebrows jumped immediately, given the rapport between her and him second only to Kate and Charlize, he certainly knew what she was referring to. Of course, Sarah was not complaining, as she had repeatedly stated before, she had seen and understood everything over the years by his side, so she was only trying to give a slight reminder.
This was not beyond Adrian’s expectations; after all, Sarah was lured into being by his side at not a young age, and with years of rapport, naturally sensitive to this aspect of things, but Adrian didn’t have any other thoughts, at least not for the time being.
In the film, Ennis has two daughters, and the eldest has three stages, besides Amanda who plays the 19-year-old daughter, there are also stages of around ten years old and two to three years old, though the latter two appear very little and don’t require deliberate casting, even though Adrian would really like Dakota to play the second stage daughter. The second daughter also has two stages, infancy and seven to eight years old, with a few lines such as at Thanksgiving and dining with the father, prompted by her sister to change the topic and ask about some amusing stories of Ennis’s work.
Adrian has cast Chloe Moretz, who once played the youngest Piaf, in this role. After La Vie en Rose, this lovely little girl began her acting career under Adrian’s guidance, making several cameo appearances in TV dramas last year until now, and will also play a supporting role with substantial scenes in a horror movie by Bossworth this year, fitting this role perfectly.
In fact, she did very well, so Adrian suggested to the mother accompanying her to maintain this favorable environment for Chloe.
“Children who become famous too young face many temptations, and as they grow up, will bear more pressure. Critics are lenient with children but harsh toward adults. Let her slowly accumulate experience in various supporting roles, hone her acting skills, and then shine at the right time. I have high hopes for Chloe; she is a very intelligent kid, and my sight is rarely wrong,” Adrian said this to Chloe’s mother, Duke.
This is his genuine thought at the moment, to know, Chloe is even younger than Lily. But making Sarah not think this way is hard; Adrian has a long history of making early moves, and besides her, there are several others, Kirsten being one instance. Moreover, Chloe really likes the movie Legally Blonde, and it’s rare to meet the lead actress on set and play a role in the same film, so naturally whenever she sees Sarah, she loves to talk to her.
Sarah quickly liked this little girl too. At such times, seeing her and Adrian intimately talking—though Chloe and Adrian only collaborated on one film and her screen time was limited, yet the little girl being inspired into acting soon began worshipping him upon hearing Miracle Director’s accomplishments. So this time, Chloe excitedly attended the performance in Brokeback Mountain, often pulling Adrian to ask questions, and inevitably Sarah began imagining certain things.
“Okay,” Adrian muttered, “I knew it, shouldn’t have arranged for you and Amanda to act together.”
Generally when he posed this way, Sarah would choose not to probe further, but today she didn’t relent: “So, you’re not going to answer, are you?”
“Um… fine, Sarah, instead of fretting over this, why not think about how to surpass Qiqi.” Adrian continued to change the topic, adding another line: “Did you notice her expression? When I said I’d accompany you tonight, she wasn’t very happy.”
“I’m more concerned about the staff’s looks.” Although Sarah said this, her voice lowered, and her gaze began to wander, which Adrian saw with secret delight.
The character played by Sarah has three important scenes: first, meeting Ennis; second, a conversation with his eldest daughter; and third, crying during the breakup because she couldn’t accept Ennis’s semi-indifferent attitude. There’s no doubt that the third scene tests acting skills the most. Before this, Kirsten had already delivered a phenomenal performance in a scene involving a silent yet poignant argument with River, earning a lot of applause.
The context is a dialogue previously practiced between Kirsten and Adrian. Alma, who is divorced and has formed a new family with another man, invites Ennis over for Thanksgiving. After dinner, while talking in the kitchen, Alma finally reveals everything and angrily accuses Ennis of hurting her. Even though Ennis won’t allow her to criticize Jack, he is so deeply aware of the pain he caused Alma that he leaves with his fists clenched but unable to strike.
Kirsten’s performance in this scene was extremely remarkable. Her transition from calm narration to increasing intensity, pain, and despair was crystal clear, affecting many people. Even before Adrian could call for an applause, the audience was already clapping.
Although Sarah wasn’t present then, she watched the footage of this scene with Adrian later. She did well in the first two scenes, but wanting to outshine Kirsten in the third scene seemed almost impossible. Moreover, her role lacked the depth that Alma’s did.
No doubt, Kirsten, eager for attention, wouldn’t miss this chance. She wouldn’t provoke Sarah, knowing that Adrian disliked that, but her smugness was unmistakably visible. Sarah wasn’t entirely indifferent to these dynamics either, which is why… Adrian skillfully diverted her attention.
“Alright, don’t think too much, darling. Let’s get back and make some preparations. Even if you can’t surpass, you shouldn’t fall behind,” Adrian said, taking Sarah back to the hotel casually adding, “I can help you with the lines.”
Not to mention how Adrian “helped with the lines” with Sarah that night, but during the shoot the next day, she breezed through the scene in one take after priming herself emotionally, and it had considerable impact, especially when a single tear rolled silently down her cheek, perfectly capturing the character’s sadness and disappointment.
“You performed wonderfully, Sarah, actually thinking to use a single tear to express the character’s emotions,” Adrian praised.
“Thank you. I just thought about what tragic things would happen if I didn’t express the emotions well, and the feeling welled up,” Sarah shrugged.
Adrian couldn’t help but chuckle, while Kirsten pursed her lips at the side, and Amanda giggled. As for the crew, they acted as if they saw nothing – including River – as this situation had happened more than once before. Compared with the Oscars red carpet outbursts, this was inconsequential.
After completing this scene, it was time for Adrian to leave. It wasn’t because the filming was concluded, only four weeks had passed, and even if things went smoothly, it would still take two to three more weeks to finish filming. After all, Jack’s storyline hadn’t even started shooting yet.
Adrian always had plenty on his plate. Since the late 90s, he hadn’t managed to shoot a single film from start to finish without having to leave in the middle for a few days, and “Brokeback Mountain” was no exception. Moreover, the upcoming matter was significant, and failing to show up would have serious consequences.
Returning to Los Angeles, he made a point of visiting the “Transformers” studio to check on the progress—Cameron had just finished filming, but post-production hadn’t started yet. He clearly stated that to ensure the film’s quality, it wouldn’t be released this year. Well, that was typical of Cameron. Moreover, according to the finance department, the budget was already on the verge of being exceeded.
“You really know how to spend money, James,” Adrian could only joke with him.
After spending some intimate time with Megan, Adrian embarked on a trip to the United Kingdom. There were quite a few things to address there. Although the first three films of the Harry Potter series had been released and entered a rest period, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was slated for release the following year, and preparations had already begun. The main focus, as always, was the open casting for Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum, which also served as a promotional event, and all of these matters required Adrian’s attention.
“I have only one request: slightly relax the age restrictions; the actors don’t necessarily have to match the ages of the characters in the novel exactly. This gives us more flexibility,” Adrian commented during a meeting, with no other implication aside from hoping that the chosen actors would be more pleasing to the eye.
Besides, since arriving in London, he also attended to the women there one by one, including Liu Yufei and her mother. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” premiered early in the year in January on the mainland, and they and Eric, who played Harry, traveled there for promotion. After his repeated instructions, Liu Li didn’t say anything extra; everything was handled by their agent, naturally achieving outstanding results.
Needless to say, the unanimous praise on the internet. If the title “Goddess” hadn’t become totally mainstream yet, it might have surely been bestowed upon Liu Yufei. Even though some sourly claimed she was now a foreigner, that didn’t dampen the internet youth’s enthusiasm, and after all, it’s another form of Chinese recognition worldwide. That’s why “Harry Potter and Azkaban’s Prisoner” achieved far higher box office receipts in mainland China than the first two films—close to 9 million, of course, in US Dollars.
“What a pity I couldn’t return to Jiang City, otherwise, seeing the look on some people’s faces would have been particularly amusing,” Liu Li quipped, even with a hint of regret in her tone, the pride in her expression was undeniable. Undoubtedly, even though she didn’t return to her hometown, many acquaintances were probably calling to connect.
”
“I don’t know…” the woman murmured in a voice as soft as a mosquito while resting her head on his chest.
(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian () to vote with recommendation tickets or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)