muscle actor

Chapter 445
"Actor Spielberg wants to play Tom Hanks!"

Su Yao explained: "The reason why I got the script is that I hope you will play the second male lead, an Asian news reporter."

Ding Cheng nodded. After reading the script, he already had a hunch that the role of the male lead is indeed not suitable for him, and the second male lead has a role to play.

"After all, it is the Golden Triangle of Oscars. Spielberg and Tom Hanks should be working together for the fifth time. With the addition of three Oscar queens, Aunt May, the nine statuettes have joined forces..."

Su Yao said with a smile: "even the male second is a potential stock worth trying!"

Just as Ding Cheng thought, now that the box office has proven its commercial capabilities, it needs several profound themes to prove its acting skills and background. This is a good start.

I contacted the director and agreed to act as the male second. I am looking forward to working with the top luxury lineup.

Two days later, I got a hundreds of pages of background information, not only about my own role, but basically covering several leading actors and real history, and many secrets that have never been disclosed to the outside world.

The Washington Post was a small regional family business at the time, headed by a female heroine, played by Aunt May, Catherine.It was an era when women could only chat and gossip at tea parties, and men would leave the table when they talked about politics.

The position of the head of the family was originally passed down from her father to her son-in-law, but Catherine was the one who took the lead because her husband committed suicide.Because of poor operating conditions, the Washington Post decided to partially go public for financing.

At this juncture, after the rival New York Times began publishing explosive content, the Nixon administration issued a temporary restraining order through the courts on national security grounds, and the New York Times was temporarily silenced.

The reporters headed by the editor-in-chief of the Washington Post, Ben Bradley, also got the report from the leaker Daniel through some efforts.

This is where conflicts and controversies arise.If it insists on publishing the leaked content, the Washington Post will definitely suffer a lawsuit from the White House, and the lawsuit will scare off investors for the soon-to-be-listed Post, which may go bankrupt.And because of the anti-espionage law, the head and the editor-in-chief are even in danger of going to prison.

The lawyers of the Post firmly opposed the publication based on risks, while the editors and reporters firmly supported the publication based on professional conscience.Sandwiched in the middle is the newly appointed but middle-aged female leader Catherine.

In Ding Cheng's view, the historical background of this event is complicated, but at the Washington Post, which the film focuses on, the plot is actually very short and straightforward: risking lawsuits, bankruptcy, and prison, publish or not publish. ?

Even today, we all know that it was finally posted, and we all know that media freedom is already a noisy topic in the United States today.But the calmness of this script completely isolates the noise in reality.

There were no red-faced demonstrations holding slogans, and no passionate speeches raising arms and shouting.Especially that multi-party phone call, analyzing the stock price, analyzing the consequences, and analyzing the legal risks. Although tit for tat, they all treated each other honestly.

He didn't even gloat over the New York Times being banned, but regarded his competitors and himself as one, a matter of life and death for the publishing industry.

All of this convinced the audience that the parties concerned were not going to risk everything to become famous despite the risk of going to prison.The reason why it is resolutely published is not to shout politically correct slogans.This is out of an absolute human conscience.

Another bright spot is the rise of women. The female boss, Catherine, as a rich lady, has never worked for more than 40 years, let alone take on any major responsibilities.

In that man's world, even though she was in a high position, the men around her didn't pay much attention to her, and more importantly, she didn't have the confidence.

For example, at the investment bank meeting about going public, she had prepared a speech for a long time in advance, but she couldn't speak it out.As a subordinate, the editor-in-chief visited many times unexpectedly, and the conversations were full of the self-satisfaction and arrogance of an insider.

Recalling that Meryl Streep often plays some domineering and strong roles, the most impressive one is the fashion devil in "The Devil Wears Prada".

This time, the image was completely subverted in the script. She is gentle and indecisive, but after making up her mind, she proves that she is the strongest person in the whole movie without shouting.

In particular, the screenwriter designed that after the victory, coming out of the Supreme Court, the men of the New York Times got all the spotlights, while she quietly came out of the side door, and she was greeted by a group of motivated women.

Spielberg is undoubtedly a great director. This is not only a work for the media and idealism.The well-organized drama text contains three themes: one is how the media, which represents the power of public supervision, overcomes the government's power beyond the border.

The second is how a newspaper office can get rid of its business difficulties and become a winner in the market competition.

The third is how its boss, a woman who has been a housewife for 15 years, overcomes the shadow of self-confidence and gender pressure, and achieves growth in life.

The standard dilemma-challenge-victory traditional hero narrative, which seems old-fashioned, is perfectly unified in the event, and there are topics for interpretation no matter from which angle.

Comparing with "Focus", we can see this obvious difference.All the personalities and behaviors of the former revolve around the report on the religious scandal, and the group portraits of the editor-in-chief, editor-in-chief, and reporters perform their duties in it, with different levels of performance.

In the "Post", as the central incident progressed, three clues interspersed and advanced alternately: the media's revelations and government interference formed a value contradiction in the background, the value orientation of the newspaper and the business considerations of the board of directors formed a real risk, and the female president The embarrassing state of existence and the complex situation she faced formed a personal inner conflict.

When the event reached the climax of the countdown to publication, the triple contradictions were also brought together into one focus—the thrilling conference call.

The heroine stood alone and listened to the war of words of the men on the phone. Everyone tried hard and soft to persuade her, but she had to make a decision that would determine success or failure and get out of this darkest moment.

Ding Cheng even closed his eyes, imitating himself as the director, how to deal with this scene?
If the traditional parallel lens is used to show the images of multiple characters at the same time, what will be the difference?
Will it disperse the tension of the plot and lose this huge sense of oppression?
Finally ushered in the time for the official start of filming, seeing the director and the two seniors, I am also looking forward to joining the other party.

In fact, the role of the second male lead is not much. Most of the time, he is observing the director's scheduling and camera use. These are valuable experiences that the system cannot give.

The master-level scheduling makes the rhythm of the plot neither hasty nor impatient, and the drama conflicts increase layer by layer, pushing the characters into the dilemma of "to be or not to be".

A seasoned time lock is set on the narrative line. When the story progresses to a specific time, some specific events or problems will be triggered, forcing the characters to solve them within the predetermined time.

The first 10 minutes introduce the main topic, present the basic characteristics of the characters, and fully reveal the top-secret information that leads the whole story as bait.

Once the tension is established, the tone of the film is expressed and stabilized in the characteristic lighting and scenes.

In Ding Cheng's eyes, "Washington Post" has many movie elements that Spielberg used in "Bridge of Spies", but it is different in thematic refinement.

The opening characters and story line seem complicated, but after entering the second act, the complexity began to be simplified, and two absolute characters began to stand out, namely, the female boss of the Washington Post, Kay, and the legendary editor-in-chief.

(End of this chapter)