Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 772 Chapter 4 The Big and Round Moon

A few days later, on New Year's Day in [-], the second filming of the crew of "Moonlight" officially started in the studio in Toronto.

All indoor scenes are shot here.After a day of adjustments, Ronald began to regain his rhythm without being disturbed by union representatives.

The most troublesome thing about trade union representatives is that some representatives really take the rules and strictly implement them.

For example, the stipulated shooting time is up, and it is time to have lunch, but the crew still has a scene to shoot, and they need to work overtime before eating. This is a very normal requirement.

The state of the actors is also gradually adjusted in place in each shooting.If a difficult shot is encountered, it is normal for an actor to shoot more than a dozen shots.If at this time, I was interrupted because of eating lunch, after an hour of eating and resting, the actor's state did not know where it went.

The union also has a way to deal with this kind of thing. It is not as rigid as its counterparts in Britain. When it is tea time, they put down the equipment and leave without staying for a second. Even if you are George Lucas, It's the same treatment.

The two actor unions in the United States stipulate that when they have to work overtime for a filming, the director can ask for 15 minutes of overtime.This is a rigid rule, and the crew and actors must also obey it unconditionally.

The problem is that 15 minutes is enough to shoot one and a half.If the protagonist needs to touch up his makeup or re-brew his emotions, there may not even be enough time for one.

If you didn’t finish filming the first 15 minutes of overtime, then I’m sorry, but for the second 15 minutes, you need the consent of the union representative and the main actors before you can continue.

Moreover, double overtime wages must be paid in order to continue filming.

If the second 15 minutes has not been filmed yet, there will be a third and final extension.This extension period will pay three times the wages of all staff that day.

Once the three extension periods are up, whether or not your actor happens to be favored by the God of Movies, you will soon be filming a clip with a name for the film and television. I'm sorry, this is the end of today, and we can't continue filming.

Filmmaking is a highly uncertain artistic creation process. There are many wonderful shots where actors and crew collided, discussed, and even abused each other, and found a solution in a flash of inspiration.

Forcing a creative time as rigid as office secretary work is like stipulating that Michelangelo can only paint the dome frescoes of the Sistine Chapel within the specified time every day.Maybe you can get a model that supports the work of the trade union, but all the brilliance in the movie is almost lost by this rigid regulation.

So, in Toronto, without interruptions from annoying union representatives, the creative inspiration of the crew began to flow again.

Historically, Toronto has not been a traditional filming location.So MGM's set crew found a vacant warehouse on Leslie Street in Toronto and built it to look like the home Loretta Castorini lived with her parents.

The ground floor is a living room with half of the wall removed, and the kitchen and dining area.The stairs on the second floor were also restored with wood, with common carpets and wallpapers in Brooklyn, New York. There are two rooms above, which were reproduced according to the photos of the old house in Brooklyn.

Ronald put a lot of Italian and Greek-style snacks, as well as traditional Canadian barbecue slices, out of the camera's sight.Serve with some mild and carbonated drinks.

Try to let the actors eat their favorite snacks between filming, and if necessary, drink and relax.

This kind of arrangement similar to the Broadway rehearsal venue made all the actors relax a lot compared to the five-week shooting in New York.

And the effect of relaxation is a better grasp of the characters, and impromptu lines on the spot that flash from time to time.

Ronald was particularly satisfied with Fyodor Chaliapin, who played Grandpa Loretta.Although he is deaf, he never lost his rhythm when filming rival scenes.

That day saw Loretta come home for dinner.The old man likes to go out for a walk with his dog when he doesn't do anything every day.The breeds of several big dogs are not pure, they look like stray dogs picked up by the old man from the street.

But the old man treated them very well, not only took them out to play twice a day, morning and evening, but also gave them the best meat to eat.

His daughter-in-law Rose is in charge of three meals for the entire family.That night Rose's brother and sister-in-law came to eat at home, and she made delicious minced beef for everyone.

Seeing the beef on the plate in front of him, the old man stood up while his daughter-in-law was not paying attention, walked to the dog cage next to the fireplace, and stuffed the plate in from under the cage.The big dogs began to eat happily.

The old man pretended to be all right again, and went back to the dining table without hesitation.

His son Cosmo told his wife Rose, "I think my father needs a new plate."

At this time Rose glanced over, and Fedor Chaliapin hurriedly lowered his head to avoid his daughter-in-law's gaze.

Rose scolded the old man for giving the dog his delicious food, but took a new plate from the corner of the long dining table and handed it to his sister-in-law Rita.

Rita was very surprised by the old man's behavior, but seeing that Ross didn't complain, she had no choice but to save her eyes, added some beef and vegetables to the old man, and passed them over.

"Cut"

Ronald was very happy with the tacit performance of several main actors in this article. The closeness and distance between members of this big family, the plot of being fed a dog, was performed by several outstanding Broadway actors. , as natural as a real family.

After calling a stop, the actors went to rest.Ronald specifically asked his assistant to help the 81-year-old Fedor Chaliapin to sit on a sofa specially set up for him.

Fyodor Chaliapin gave Ronald a smug smile as he passed him.Ronald responded with two thumbs up, the old man was very happy.

Looking back, Ronald said to DP David Watkin:

"Do you know how he acted? I feel that he is very deaf. Sometimes I call Action and he doesn't respond. But in this shot, Olympia Dukakis, who plays Rose, looks over, and he immediately Can catch it. The rhythm and strength are right, what is his secret?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" David Watkin smiled, and joked with Ronald, "Maybe when he is happy, he will pass on his acting secrets to you."

"It's really difficult to communicate with him." Ronald also smiled, Fedor Chaliapin was really deaf.Sometimes if you want to talk to him, you have to speak very loudly.

"You will know when you pay attention to his eyes in the next shot. This is the benefit of years of acting experience." David Watkin didn't say it directly, but let Ronald observe it by himself. I found a recliner by myself and fell asleep.

When the camera was repositioned and the lighting was good, Ronald asked his assistant to wake up David Watkin and continue shooting.

Rose's older brother, Raymond, is also played by a Broadway actor, Louise Guth.They are character actors.

It's an old term used to describe actors who play supporting characters with different personalities.Compared with stars with similar personalities, supporting roles often have different personalities, and the playing time is limited. It is necessary to let the audience feel the different personalities of the supporting roles in a limited time.

Well done by Louis Gus, and Rose's brother, Raymond, was delighted to hear that Loretta was out and did not return for dinner in preparation for the wedding.He is very worried about this niece, who has been homeless since her husband died unexpectedly.

When the interest came, Raymond told a story about the past.

When Cosmo was still in love with his sister Rose, Raymond was woken up by something in the middle of the night.He looked out the window, and it turned out that Cosmo was standing in the moonlight, wanting to date his sister.

The moonlight was very big and bright that day. It seemed that the moon was bigger than the house, as if it was going to crush Raymond's house.

Under the moonlight, standing is Cosmo.

Ross enjoyed this story very much. He was very happy to watch his brother recall the past of his love, and then glance at her husband Cosmo from time to time. They have not had sex for a long time. I don’t know if this romantic memory today can make The husband becomes romantic again.

But Cosmo didn't appreciate it. He didn't want to talk about his admiration for Ross when he was young.He found a lover outside by himself, and he was a little ashamed of this kind of past, and a little dissatisfied with his shy self in the past.

So he said to his wife's brother Raymond, there must be no such thing, and Raymond must have dreamed it when he was dreaming.

"No, it's not a dream. I'm awake. No one told me when I was young. I was so impressed. You stood under the white moonlight that night. I was so impressed. I was a little angry at that time, thinking It was you who brought that big, round moon to my house, and the moonlight was so bright that it shone through the window and woke me up."

"You must be dreaming, you are like a dead pig when you sleep." Cosmo knew that the conversation continued, and Ross must remember the past when he was young, so he asked his sister-in-law Rita to take the glass of red wine and pour it for himself. I took a big cup and took a big sip.

"It's not a dream, you are clearly in the moonlight under the window." Like all elderly people, Raymond is particularly stubborn about the memories of his youth.

"I don't want to talk about it." Cosmo took another sip of red wine.

"Then what do you want to talk about?" Ross was a little dissatisfied with Cosmo's rude attitude towards his brother, and what was even more dissatisfied was that Cosmo pretended to be confused.Cosmo seemed afraid to bring up the sweet and romantic memories of the two when they were young.

Drinking desperately to cover up, when it's time to go to bed, I can use the excuse of being drunk and falling asleep, I have no interest at all...

"Why do you drink so much?" Rose saw that Cosmo went to pour red wine into her glass again, far exceeding the amount of table wine that should be drunk for dinner, and she was upset.

At this moment, Ronald turned his head behind the camera and stared at Fedor Chaliabin, who played the old man, without taking his eyes off it.

David Watkin reminded him to watch the old man's eyes.

Fyodor Chaliapin saw Olympia Dukakis, who played Rose, pointing to her husband not to drink too much, and knew it was her turn to play.

He immediately stood up, took the second pot of beef, and secretly stood up again to feed the dog.

"Old man, if you are feeding the beef I made for you to the dogs, I will kick you to death!"

Fyodor Chaliapin walked to the kennel, counted the time and felt that Dukakis had almost finished his lines, turned around, and noticed Dukakis's lips, and waited for her lips to stop moving. , immediately began to return to the table with the plate.

Fyodor Chaliapin made a look of grievance, and did not dare to look at his daughter-in-law's face. He pouted and ate the beef slowly with a spoon.

Rose had a very embarrassed expression on his face.My elder brother and sister-in-law looked at her. It was impolite to say such words to the old man, but she didn't dare to say anything about her husband's complaints, so she just found a punching bag.

"Cut!", Ronald laughed out loud. It turned out that Fedor Chaliapin relied on the lips of the actors who watched the opponent. Decades of experience in stage performances prevented him from hearing other people's lines, and he could From the reaction of the lips and the body, find the position of the sentence break. Experience has made his rhythm never wrong, but very precise.

"Bravo!" Ronald took the lead in applauding. This scene is a multi-person eating scene, and the scheduling is complicated, taking into account the expressions and reactions of multiple people. Although it is not as complicated as the last scene, it also cost himself and David. Watkin's countless brain cells.

Fortunately, I gave these Broadway character actors enough time to rehearse, and let them play to the fullest, without restricting their performance methods.

Today they performed very well in improvisation. This kind of subtle emotions among many people, progressively, really made these old actors fully display their life skills.

"Oh..." Several actors were also very excited.They have all played supporting roles on Broadway for decades, and today Ronald gave them the treatment only the protagonists have, and it is also the most enjoyable scene they have filmed in many years.

Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia as Cosmo, Louis Gus as brother, and Julie Bovasso as sister-in-law and accent coach, came up one by one with Ronald. Tight hug.

They were all surprised. This script was written by an Irish-born playwright in his 30s, and the director was an unusually young Ronald. Why could he understand the delicate and restrained emotions that middle-aged people have so clearly? Che.

And Ronald didn't have the domineering attitude of Hollywood directors, like Hitchcock, who treated actors like livestock.On the contrary, he has great respect for his own Broadway supporting roles. During the intense shooting process, he gave a few people enough time to rehearse and allowed himself room to improvise.

As long as the original intention of the script is not violated, Ronald does not require to follow the script one by one and make no mistakes at all, but respects the improvisational elements of each performance, which is the most touching moment in theatrical performances.

"I have to say, it's really a pleasure filming with you. I hope that on Broadway, there are directors who respect actors like you."

Dukakis was very excited. She originally came to the film crew to pay for her child's college tuition.Unexpectedly, I gained the most satisfying shooting experience in recent years.

"Oh yeah? I heard Broadway doesn't welcome Hollywood directors." Ronald joked.

"No, you can. You think you are a very good director. You are the kind of director that our actors are most satisfied with. According to legend, everyone knows it, but few people have good luck. The so-called 'director of actors'. "

Vincent Gardenia, who plays Cosmo, is very sure. He has won a Tony Award on Broadway and has worked with many Broadway directors and screenwriters. Like Ronald, he understands the abilities of actors and can trust them. It is every actor's dream to meet a director who can make them perform well.

"Okay, we're done with the bragging, let's continue with the sex scene."

Ronald asked the camera crew to start transitioning to the other two rooms in the studio where two sex scenes were to be filmed.

One is a sex scene between Cosmo and Ross.

Olympia Dukakis came in from the bedroom door in white pajamas.

She looked at her husband Cosmo, who was already asleep on the bed, walked to the head of the bed, and called him a few times.

Maybe he drank too much, maybe it was intentional, but Cosmo didn't respond at all.

"Hey, you drank too much. You don't sleep when you should sleep, and when you shouldn't..."

Rose was a little sorry, and she turned around to sleep on the other side of the bed.When I turned around, I was attracted by the moonlight shining through the window.

The moonlight tonight seems to be as big, round and bright as my brother Raymond said.The translucent white curtains illuminate the room brightly.

Rose walked slowly towards the window, every step was so gentle, as if he was afraid of the moonlight finding out, and fled away.

But the moonlight was not stingy with her, it just shone gently on Rose's body, and the white pajama dress had a hint of sacredness.

This light arrangement is a unique skill of the director of photography David Watkin.He put a Wendy's lamp of his own invention behind the window.The advantage of the Wendy lamp is that it is similar to the parallel light of sunlight and moonlight, so it is not as easy to change when it shines on people's faces as electric light sources.

Rose, played by Dukakis, stares blankly at the moonlight. She opens the curtains slightly with her fingers. The white moonlight shines on her face, and the close-up is aimed at her from the side.

A sense of grievance and sadness welled up in my heart.Husband Cosmo definitely has someone outside, and the intuition of the Italian woman is absolutely unmistakable.

But the moonlight still soothed her faintly, and the tears that were about to burst out of her eyes were smoothed by the moonlight again.

Life is like this, so the family doesn't have some emotional problems?Italians are like this, as long as it is for the harmony of the big family, some things can still be invisible.

"Cut!"

Ronald was amazed. The old actors have mastered these transitions and rhythm changes very well, and their familiarity with the script is amazing.The rhythm of every action and line is just right.You don't have to bother directing yourself at all.

Dukakis hadn't fully recovered from her emotions. She came over and hugged Ronald, and whispered her thanks in the director's ear, "Thank you, thank you, I enjoyed playing Rose so much."

"Hold on, we still have a restaurant scene, and I still have to rely on your normal performance." Ronald let the actors rest, and walked to a room next to him. There is also a sex scene here. It is Rose's brother Ray Mond and sister-in-law Rita's.

"Rita, Rita" Louis Gus, who played Raymond, kept patting his wife Rita's body on the bed.

"What's the matter?" Rita was in a drowsy sleep, and actor Julie Boissau looked as if she wanted to sleep and was woken up.

"Get up, look at this moon, which is the moon I mentioned that Cosmo brought to my house."

Raymond lifted the quilt and walked to the window. The same Wendy lamp was placed outside the window of this room this time.

"Is he down there?" Louis Gus made a look downstairs.

"Sleeping on the bottom?" Rita asked Raymond as she lifted the quilt after she lost her sleepiness.

"Cosmo."

"What is he doing here?"

"I do not know."

"Hey..." Rita suddenly smiled happily, "Raymond, do you know? The expression on your face in front of the window just now seems to be only 25 years old."

When Raymond heard his wife's words, he turned around and slowly showed a smile of reminiscing about the past.

He smiled sweetly, and walked slowly, step by step, towards the bed.

"Hey, hey..." His wife Rita knew that Raymond remembered the past when he was young, "What are you going to do? What are you going to do?"

Rita rolled the quilt and turned away.

Raymond insisted and wanted to bring his wife back.

"Don't, don't, hahaha, get lost..."

"Cut!"

Another perfect performance, these old actors are very skilled.Character actors can play different roles, so how to use the least amount of actions and lines to present a character that the audience can remember is their accumulation of years of experience.

"For a moment, I thought you two were husband and wife." Ronald hugged the two old actors and congratulated them, "Those details are great, how did you perform it?"

"Hahaha, Ronald, you will know when you are married. Only married couples can understand many details." Julie Boisseau said to Ronald.

Immediately afterwards, the crew moved to another room where the scenery was set up.

This is the bedroom on the second floor of Ronnie's bakery, where he and Loretta first meet on the same night in the script.

"Hi Cher, is everything okay?"

Xueer is a big star, she came to Toronto the latest, had the most luggage, and accompanied the most people, Ronald asked many assistants to help, and it was considered a good settlement.

"It's not bad, there is no good hair stylist here, I have to bring my personal one, and you have to reimburse him for his board, lodging and air ticket."

"Of course, I've made all the arrangements." Ronald knew that the celebrity was a big fan, so he had already arranged everything.

This is a play in the moonlight.In order to persuade Ronnie to attend his wedding with Johnny, Loretta fried steak for him.Ronnie ate very well and thought this was the perfect woman.

The two drank some whiskey, Loretta talked about her unfortunate past, but Ronnie still insisted that he had no hands and no fiancée.

Loretta wanted to tell Johnny that everyone has their own misfortune, and advised him not to be too persistent.

Under the big and round moonlight, two frustrated people had impulses and emotions.

Ronnie was jealous of his brother for being able to get such a considerate, beautiful, and temperamental woman.Such a woman is still chattering to herself that she should not give up on herself.

Ronnie was being educated by Loretta, and he turned over the table in a moment of anger. Loretta trembled and was shocked.Loretta has no love for Johnny. The wolf-like masculinity she longed for is found in this younger brother.

The two looked at each other the same way, then hugged each other suddenly and kissed.

Nicolas Cage picked up Cher, went into the room, and put her on the bed.

"I don't care, I don't care anymore, come on." Xue'er still put her fingers together and gestured. She has longed for this kind of pure desire for a long time, and she has never felt it in Johnny. Besides, the moonlight is so beautiful.

"What about Johnny?" Ronnie asked, kissing Loretta.

"Don't you hate him? Take revenge on me, get my heart, let Johnny only get my body."

"My heart was dead before I met you." Ronnie said, looking at Loretta in his arms.

"Me too……"

"Cut!"

Ronald took the lead and led the applause.

Cage also bowed to everyone.

"Bravo, Bravo!" Ronald praised loudly.

Then he turned to director of photography David Watkin and whispered, "It's still a lot worse than those Broadway character actors."

"Ronald, the audience can watch the hunk and Cher kiss, what more do you ask for?"

"Yeah yeah……"

After filming three bed scenes, I still have to deal with the bright moon that I saw in all three scenes, and I will edit them together at that time.

David Watkin had already prepared for it. He used paper materials to paste a big moon, and then used small yellow lights to create the effect of parallel lights.

In a dark room, different background versions of the props have been prepared, with background panels of the Brooklyn Bridge and the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

This old-fashioned shooting method, which was more common in Hollywood before the 50s, is now rare.

But it is written in the script that this moon is the kind of moonlight that is seen occasionally and is bigger than buildings.Ronald asked the second group to shoot a few real scenes and was not satisfied, so he had to use props to shoot the big moon.

Although it is fake at first glance, the audience does not find it awkward in this romantic scene.

"Action!" Ronald made the props smoke, simulating the fast-moving clouds next to the moon.

The background is also lit with light. Looking at it from behind the camera, it has the artistic conception of a bright moon shining on a beautiful woman under the Manhattan seaside skyline.

"Cut! Change the background of the Brooklyn Bridge"

Ronald looked at the busy props and was changing the background.The big moon, still emitting a pale yellow light, shone on Ronald's face.

In this movie, the moonlight implies the love and passion between men and women, and is the catalyst for the hero and heroine to come together.This moon can put people in that romantic mood, so that the audience doesn't feel that the combination of Loretta and Ronnie is too abrupt.

So whether the moonlight is romantic or not is very important.

Ronald looked at the prop moon, and was still very satisfied with Watkin's level in his heart.

"It's really a big, round, and romantic moon."

(End of this chapter)