[US Entertainment] Actor

On the first day Ebert entered the studio, he was praised unreservedly by director Gary Rose.

Mr. Director also simply explained the reason why Ebert was asked to unbutton his shirt at the end of the audition that day-although "The Pentium Era" took the route of civilian epics, it was essentially a professional horse racing movie. Movies have extremely high requirements on the willpower and body shape of actors. Therefore, when choosing the actors who auditioned that day, the interviewers did not hesitate to eliminate some candidates who were not good enough.

Although Ebert's figure does not particularly meet the requirements of the role of Rhett Pollard in the movie, among all the candidates in the audition, his control over the body shape is enough to rank in the top three, especially in that one Against the backdrop of his handsome face, the moment he unbuttoned his buttons and showed off his muscles was really shocking.

Directors generally don't have too high requirements for the appearance of actors, unless it is the director of those fan movies.Besides, under the increasingly mature lighting and post-production effects, the actor's appearance is often secondary. Directors and film companies pay more attention to the actor's acting skills and ability to attract money.

Ebert also doesn't want looks to play too much of a role in his landing a role, though he admits the face has helped him attract fans.But if the audience is only willing to go into the movie theater for the actor's handsome appearance, when he is no longer handsome or plays an ugly character, he will not buy it, it is very sad for the actor himself.

No one will stay young forever, and the change of old and new in the film and television industry is so fast that it makes people panic.In Ebert’s previous life, in those years when he was just born, actors usually started to play roles around the age of 20, but by the time he became famous, it was not uncommon for 14- or 5-year-old actors to be sought after by others. Those actors who are 27 or 8 years old are already called "old actors".He doesn't want to be a replaced person, so he has always followed the route of acting.

Age is also very applicable to the choice of characters, just like Tom Hanks always plays the role of some ordinary middle-class men, Johnny Depp is always so weird and weird in movies... They are already considered Hollywood's top figures, but once they break away from the fixed routine, they may be abandoned by the audience.

Thinking of this, Ebert also sighed slightly. Fortunately, he found a rather considerate manager. If Lynn only planned to push him in the direction of a male idol, he might be easily affected in the future. limit.

The most important thing is that he has ambitions for awards, but the academy doesn't like guys who easily get screams from fans with their good looks.Leonardo DiCaprio in the post-"Titanic" era is ironclad evidence. A certain vampire actor who became popular all over the world with "Twilight" has not won any decent awards, even if they One look can fascinate thousands of girls.

After going through these messy thoughts in his mind, Ebert couldn't help being very curious about Gary Rose's kindness towards him.

It stands to reason that since Tobey Maguire participated in the audition for this film and he is Gary Rose's favorite, Gary Rose should put him first.You know, Tobey Maguire is the star of Gary's first movie "Happy Valley", and they should be more familiar with each other.To be honest, although Ebert is very satisfied with the fact that "The Pentium Era" finally chose him as the leading actor, he is also a little curious about the process.

The reason is actually not complicated at all. Although the movie "The Age of Pentium" can be called the big production of Universal Pictures this year, its cost is second only to several films such as "The Incredible Hulk" and "The Raging Sea". Compared with other movies, "The Age of Pentium" is The action is more dangerous and requires more physical strength of the actors.When screening the actor who played the role of Rhett Pollard, the crew directly excluded actors over the age of 30, because their physical flexibility, weight and energy are difficult to compare with actors under the age of 30. compared to young people.

This ruled it out, even though Ebert, who was not outstanding in the eyes of many media, stood out instead.

There are only a few suitable candidates left, and after excluding some young actors with inexperienced acting experience and poor body management, the only ones left are Tobey Maguire and Ebert.

Compared with Toby, Ebert has two advantages, one is cheaper, and the other is more adventurous.

Tobey Maguire's agent is clinging to the salary of more than 1000 million U.S. dollars and refuses to let go. No matter how Universal Pictures emphasizes the advantages of the script and the strength of the lineup, there is no real dollar that can make the Sherlock-like brokers are satisfied.In addition, Tobey Maguire, who played Peter Parker in "Spider-Man", has undoubtedly become the most sought-after actor in Hollywood this year. His agent frowned when he saw the various dangerous horse racing scenes in the script. He frowned—this is why Tobey Maguire and Universal Pictures couldn't agree on an agreement. Once Toby was injured, the amount of compensation Universal had to pay for him was sky-high.

The reason why Ebert received the notification from the crew of "The Pentium Era" two days later is also because the first candidate of Universal's preference is still Tobey Maguire, until it is determined that there is no room for continued cooperation between the two Only then did Universal reluctantly accept the reality of Ebert as the leading actor.

The reason why Gary Rose expressed his kindness to him is nothing more than the fact that the director considers that the filming cycle of this film will last for 4 months, and it is very necessary to deal with each other well.Of course, the more important thing is that Gary Rose is very satisfied with the figure that Ebert has built - it is not a problem for Ebert to directly shoot like this, and his posture on the horse is professional enough, oh, who doesn’t like sensible and hardworking Where are the actors?

Even Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper, who were not very satisfied with Ebert during training, maintained a warm attitude towards him. The filming is about to start, and a good atmosphere in the crew is very helpful to the success of the film .

Although the actors have made full preparations, the filming of the movie "The Pentium Era" has not been so smooth from the beginning.

First of all, the actors are not professional jockeys. Before the filming started, even though the actors had a sense of familiarity with the horse racing through a period of running-in, the real situation was still changing after the filming started.

Compared with other actors, Ebert encountered more difficulties in acting.

His character, Rhett Pollard, is a jockey who was abandoned by his parents when he was a child. He has a bad temper and can only vent his feelings through matches in underground boxing rings.In terms of character setting, Ebert faces two problems. One is that he must show professional jockey qualities, and the other is that he must know how to become a boxer.

The first horse racing scene finally passed smoothly under the careful care of the crew.In order to fight for the road, the actors beat the horses desperately, lest the horses not follow the original setting of the script to determine the ranking.In order to make the details of the shooting more in place, the crew specially purchased a special mobile photography platform and used a lot of close-up shots. From the perspective of shooting techniques, this movie almost uses the most advanced technology in Hollywood.

After taking off the protective clothing he was armed with, Ebert took a deep breath and patted his beating heart hard.

After watching the replay, Gary Rose ran over to Ebert and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Ebert nodded, relaxed and said, "It's okay."

Although the circus race is indeed dangerous, Ebert was still a little nervous when he stepped on the horse, but when the camera pointed at him, his mood completely calmed down.He has undergone professional training for a certain period of time. Although the horse racing scene is dangerous, not all scenes require actors to complete, and there are also experienced special effects artists.

Next, there is the sound of rolling horseshoes.While a 1200-pound racehorse galloping around a track at 40 miles per hour feels like riding in an open car, the danger is far greater, and as sensitive animals horses are vulnerable to high-altitude cameras. Fear... In short, throughout the filming process, Ebert firmly held the reins and tried his best to play according to the requirements of the script.

"This is just the first time, and you may feel unfamiliar." Seeing that Ebert's face was still rosy, Mr. Director couldn't help letting go, "It's not difficult to make a horse sprint energetically, but it's not difficult to make a horse sprint. It is really not easy to understand the instructions and move forward in order like a human being. Your next shoot should be much better."

"How was the scene shot? I mean, did I get my expressions and movements right?"

"It's okay." Gary Rose nodded, "but I think you can do better. Ebert, this is the first time, and your movements haven't stretched out yet, so this scene may need to be reshot .”

"I have no problem."

Gary Rose couldn't help showing surprise at Ebert's firm answer.To be honest, he thought that this young man who was young enough to play the leading role in a Disney youth film would hesitate before answering, and would consider postponing the scene, but Ebert agreed without hesitation.

Gary Rose is well aware of the thrills of this scene.Horse racing is indeed a fanatical sport, but fanaticism is often accompanied by danger.In the United States, there are more than 2000 injury notices from racetracks every year, and cases of death and paralysis of jockeys are also common. This is already the most professional person, and it is undoubtedly more dangerous for non-professional actors .

Most importantly, through the feedback from the crew doctor, Mr. Director is very clear about how the skin on Ebert’s thigh has been ground to bleed, scab and bleed again during this period of time. The feeling of sitting on the saddle for most of the day is not pleasant. , even though there are extremely high requirements for the quality and progress of the shooting, Mr. Director has no intention of forcing Ebert forcefully.

If he still had doubts about Ebert's ability to play a good actor before the film was officially shot, now Ebert has completely impressed the director with his professional attitude.

In his opinion, it is undoubtedly the most correct choice to choose Ebert. He is dedicated, willing to endure hardships, has a sense of responsibility, and loves to study. He is undoubtedly the favorite actor of every director.

Gary Rose patted Ebert's shoulder lightly: "Your shooting is all over today, go back and have a rest, and continue tomorrow."

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Before filming "The Pentium Era", Ebert never knew that a movie could be made with such suffering.

Really tormented.

After a month of filming, the scars on both sides of Ebert's thighs had almost disappeared. Instead, a layer of calluses formed that was rough to the touch. The bruise, while painless now, looked like an ugly dump of chicken skin over the pristine skin.

And Rhett Pollard's favorite boxing match.In order to show the effect of shooting, Ebert is usually on the real body, letting his fists rain down on his face-although in order to make the picture realistic, Ebert's pig-headed face and red and swollen skin are both It was drawn deliberately, but when the filming of the scene was over and the makeup was removed, the redness and bruises on his face were real.

"Hiss, slow down, slow down." Ebert bared his teeth and yelled twice. Bruce, who was applying the medicine to him with a cotton swab, couldn't help shaking his hands, but accidentally touched Ebert's wound, causing trouble. Ebert screamed even more horribly, "Do you want to kill me?"

"Feel sorry."

Ebert simply snatched the wound medicine from Bruce's hand: "I'll do it myself, hiss—"

After he finished taking the medicine and his face was tied up with gauze, he cosplayed in the shape of a mummy and went to the director Gary Rose to ask things: "Gary, there should be no The boxing scene, right? I suggest you double check to make sure there is nothing wrong with my performance, I don’t want to be beaten again with gauze tied, it will be disfigured.”

Gary Rose nodded: "I'm pretty sure, Ebert, you've worked hard."

Ebert waved his hand: "Don't say that, Gary, I'm an actor."

Although the filming was hard, Ebert also won the trust of the whole crew with his fighting spirit, swollen and bulging face and solid acting skills.Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper's attitude towards Ebert has changed from ignorance to 100% appreciation. This is not all because of Ebert's horrific wound, but also because of their relationship with Ebert. Burt has faced more than one scene, and Ebert's excellence far exceeded their expectations.

After a scene was filmed, both Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper ran over to express their deep condolences to Ebert's injury: "Ebert, are you okay?"

Ebert nodded: "Fortunately, David told me that after two days of rest, my injury should be less noticeable. This is really good news."

"of course."

"After all, I live by my face." Ebert's intentional addition made the two elderly actors laugh, and Jeff Bridges even patted Ebert's shoulder, "Now Are all young people so confident?"

"Jeff, it's the 21st century."

After the boxing scene ended, the filming of "The Pentium Era" finally got on the right track, and the next scenes were all related to horse racing.During the two days that he was allowed to rest, Ebert stared at his face all the time, seeing the redness and bruises gradually disappearing, he was completely relieved.

Makeup artist Hammer Hunter held his face and looked at it carefully: "Well, the swelling has disappeared. Fortunately, your skin is good. It doesn't matter if you don't wear makeup now."

Director Gary Rose couldn't help but feel relieved when he heard the words, and he just ordered the lighting engineer and photographer to take more care of Ebert during the shooting. It is impossible for him to provide Ebert with more rest time. Burning money.

Compared with "Pirates of the Caribbean", the cost of "The Pentium Age" is actually not huge. After all, part of the cost of the movie comes from the 50 horses purchased by the crew. What a big production, after all, horse racing itself is a job that burns money.

It is worth mentioning that in Europe and the United States, the welfare of animal actors and child actors has been extremely well implemented. During the filming of "The Pentium Era", members of the animal protection organization guarded the door of the crew almost early in the morning to prevent participation in the filming horses were abused or overworked, and with child actors, especially those playing infants, multiples were often selected for filming, so that when one infant reached the required labor hours, his twin brother It will be connected smoothly, and the filming progress of the crew will not be affected.

Overall, an investment of $8000 million is not a small amount.After all, this movie is just a feature film that Universal Pictures expects to make a difference in next year's Christmas season and awards season. It is impossible for Universal to invest hundreds of millions of dollars like investing in a big production like "Jurassic Park" .In the current Hollywood, film companies still prefer to invest in low-cost youth films and comedy films. Disney Pictures has a natural advantage in this area, and other film companies are also focusing on promoting the development of this type.

Anyway, who doesn't love low-budget, high-reward movies?For example, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which was released in North America in August this year, was produced by Tom Hanks and cost only $8 million. However, this small film has swept an astonishing $500 million across the United States. At the box office, the rate of return has reached 2 times. Even "Spiderman", which has already occupied the top three positions in the North American box office rankings this year, cannot compare with it.

Because of this, the pressure on Gary Rose during the filming can also be described as great.

Although the human resources of this film are very limited, the media and investors don't care whether the investment is spent on horses or horse manure, just like they don't care that the investment in "Titanic" is spent on them. In terms of the "broken boat" in their mouths, they only care about how much money the movie can make, and if they don't make enough money, it's great to use awards as rewards.

But as one media outlet said: "Gary Rose, a director with only one work and an actor Albert Dawson who has never been the mainstay to carry the box office appeal, obviously, from the movie "The Pentium Age" We don't see any hope here."

The outside world has doubts about "The Pentium Era" from beginning to end.If the director is replaced by a long-established director like Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard, even if they use those newcomers who are not at all famous, the media may not interfere much.But it happened to be Gary Ross, and it happened to be Gary Ross and Albert Dawson. This combination has already doomed the bleak prospects of this movie.

When Lynn relayed all this, Ebert was carefully reading the script. He had finally overcome the psychological pressure of horse racing recently and devoted more attention to the shaping of the characters themselves. hoped for.

After listening to Lynn's words, Ebert just curled his lips slightly: "So, what do you think I need to do?"

"Of course, play your role well and kick their asses hard with the facts!"

What Lynn relayed was only some of the media's opinions that were more pertinent.In fact, tabloids such as the "National Enquirer", which has always had a feud with Ebert, did not miss this opportunity to add insult to injury. They almost criticized Ebert as worthless, and firmly believed that Ebert must The great disaster of "The Puberty of the Girl Cheerleader" will be repeated!

The National Enquirer sourly declared: "Universal's plan for this movie is to get a seat at next year's Oscars, but I think they're more likely to get a golden raspberry, after all, they have Albert Dawson .”

Ebert said that he didn't know what to say to the "National Enquirer", a tabloid that insisted on blackmailing him for 1 years. He could only insist on slapping his face for 100 years.

After hanging up the phone, Ebert continued to write and draw on the script. Although he had filmed a lot of plots, he felt that his understanding of the role of Rhett Pollard was not deep enough. A resistance was felt.

If he can't resolve this resistance, he doesn't think he can shoot this role well.

The first step in analyzing a character is naturally to understand every word in the script.

After turning on the light, Ebert gradually forgot the passage of time, until a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, he opened the door, and saw the director Gary Rose standing at the door with a bag.

"Gary, I just finished work, what's the matter?"

Gary Rose smiled slightly: "When I came up from downstairs just now, I saw that the light in your room was on, so I wanted to take a look. Why, did you encounter a problem?"

It’s not the first time that Ebert forgot to go to bed studying the script. The last time Jeff Bridges, who went to the convenience store downstairs to buy cigarettes, happened to meet him studying the script, so he went upstairs to discuss the script with him for a while. Burt's not-so-secret secret was completely exposed to the public.