King of Hollywood

Chapter 201: Chapter 201 Very Good

“Good,” Adrian clapped his hands, “Very good, you two did a great job, but we need to do it again.”

He walked over to Renault, who was lying on the ground, looked down at him for a few seconds, and then gestured to the crew, “I think we might need more tomato juice—not on the face, but on the back and the ground.”

“Great,” Renault on the ground seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, “I thought you were planning to cover my face with blood.”

“It seems better to be a neurotic cop with a lot of subordinates,” Oldman, holding the prop gun, raised his hands and looked around jokingly, “At least I don’t have to be covered in tomato juice.”

Laughter erupted immediately around them.

“Alright, keep up your neuroticism, Gary,” Adrian laughed and patted his shoulder, and then was about to go back to his position to start filming when an assistant hurried over, “Mr. Adrian, Miss Natalie and her mother have arrived.”

“Great, where are they?” Adrian’s eyes lit up, and he immediately looked around in the crowd.

“Hi, Adrian,” Natalie and her mother, Shelly, quickly walked over and waved to him.

“You’re early,” Adrian said with a smile, then reached out and shook hands with Natalie and Shelly, candidly mentioning that holding the girl’s tender hand felt very nice.

“Just a few minutes early,” Shelly spoke for her daughter.

“I still have a few shots to film here. Meanwhile, the stylist and makeup artist can prepare you,” Adrian looked at Natalie, “Are you ready, Natalie?”

The girl pinched her long hair, though reluctant, she quickly nodded firmly, “Ready.”

“Then let’s proceed,” Adrian said, and instructed the assistant to take Natalie to the trailer with makeup facilities, then returned to the camera and clapped his hands forcefully, “Alright, everyone, let’s continue.”

After about ten minutes of filming the shots where Renault hastily stuffs a grenade into Oldman’s hands, the crew took a break, and the two actors also took the opportunity to clean themselves off. Another ten minutes passed before the stylist brought Natalie back to Adrian.

She was no longer the girl with long hair. Her brown coat, light-colored trousers, and canvas shoes were gone, replaced by 1930s bubble head straightened short hair, a striped tank top, a Bohemian cashmere coat, short shorts that reached her thighs, and brown leather shoes, her smooth legs exposed. If her makeup wasn’t a bit dirty for the film, with some scars on top, the outfit would attract a lot of attention.

“I have some good news, gentlemen; the girl you’re competing for just arrived,” Adrian jovially introduced Natalie to Renault and Oldman.

“Hey, Ed, that doesn’t sound quite right,” Renault joked.

“It’s okay, Adrian is just kidding,” Natalie quickly defended him, then boldly extended her hand, showing no signs of shyness, “Hello, I’m Natalie Helarg.”

“I’m Jean Reno; you can call me Jean,” Reno said, looking at the girl curiously.

“Gary Oldman, just call me Gary,” Oldman waved his hand casually.

“Thank you, I really like your movies,” the young girl chirped, “Although I just watched ‘The Big Blue’ recently and it was really touching; unfortunately, ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ and ‘Assassination of Kennedy’ are R-rated movies, Dad won’t let me watch, but I heard Gary’s portrayal of Count Dracula was really cool.”

“Not bad, I’m used to these darker roles,” Oldman shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright, Natalie, you can start working on getting into the mood,” Adrian spoke up, noticing that Oldman seemed reluctant to discuss ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ further. When he had earlier jokingly called him Count Dracula, a touch of melancholy had flashed through Oldman’s eyes, suggesting he had encountered numerous troubles while filming it, like, for instance, Winona not liking him—a fact confirmed by Dennis.

“I’ll start right away.” Natalie hurriedly replied, smiling at Renault and Oldman before sitting down to seriously look through the script. Adrian then began to arrange the crew to prepare for the little girl’s first shot.

Natalie’s role was simple, it was the shot where Matilda escapes from the exhaust pipe and walks up to the street from the underground exit. The whole process was simple and had no dialogue, but it really tested the actor’s skill and grasp of the character. For example, the nervousness and worry when first looking outside from the underground exit, or the calmness tried to maintain when coming out, and the shock when the police took her picture and hurried her away, it was not easy at all.

“Are you ready?” Adrian, having arranged everything, walked to Natalie’s back with the camera, and the little girl took a deep breath and nodded at him.

“Very good.” Adrian said, lowering his head to check the camera lens, and simultaneously making a gesture to the script supervisor.

The clapping sound rang, and after a delay of five or six seconds, Natalie, who was facing away from the camera holding the Jade Plant and a big bag, immediately started to trot. The sound of her footsteps started to echo at the underground exit, with Adrian carrying the camera following close behind, along with several assistants.

Natalie only stopped when she reached the exit steps, and a few seconds later, Adrian turned off the camera and raised his head: “Not very good, let’s do it again.”

Everyone immediately returned to their original positions, and the little girl started to run again, but unfortunately, it still wasn’t satisfactory and had to be redone. In fact, if really scrutinized, two takes would have been enough since it was merely shooting from behind with a handheld camera, which is very ordinary and doesn’t need that much skill in performance or filming. Even so, Adrian repeated the shoot six times before concluding.

It wasn’t that he wanted to deliberately make things difficult, but the key was that the crew had finally negotiated with the community and the police department to demarcate an area for filming, so the related shots had to be completed. This was Natalie’s first time performing in front of a camera, although her previous performances were stunning and she always seemed very confident, it didn’t mean she could fully settle into the role of Matilda yet, especially since this part required her to perform entirely through body language and facial expressions.

Thus, Adrian wanted to remind her through this method that filmmaking is not an easy task. Sometimes, the experience gained from practice can make a deeper impression than reminders through words.

Indeed, Natalie proved to be exceptionally mature and intelligent. Although she furrowed her brows after the fourth attempt, she showed a knowing expression before the fifth try began and then seriously completed the next two shoots. After Adrian confirmed that the shot could pass, she quickly closed her eyes to recalibrate her emotions.

Yet even so, during the face shot filming continuous NGs (No Good) occurred, Adrian felt her emotions were not in place and failed to express the required feelings, especially since he had specific scenes in mind for reference.

“Don’t get discouraged, Natalie, calm down and think about how Matilda should subtly express her anxiety, tension, and concern at this moment.” After roughly twenty NGs, Adrian declared a break and then approached the visibly frustrated girl to speak to her.

“I have been trying to feel it, but…” Natalie lowered her head, speaking somewhat gloomily.

Seeing her like this, Adrian suddenly wondered if he was being too eager. Generally, he should have started with shots where the emotions weren’t so intense, allowing the actors to communicate, adjust, and become acquainted during filming. In fact, that was indeed his plan, as the day’s schedule for Natalie, apart from the current scenes, only included a few interactions with the SWAT team, and the most crucial farewell scene with Lyon wasn’t included.

Anyway, it was an indoor scene, which could be filmed at any time, but the current scenes were outdoor, and if not taken advantage of now, it would be very troublesome to schedule filming for this area later, especially since this was in New York.

“It’s okay, after all, this is your first time acting in a movie, Natalie, it’s normal to feel at a loss. So don’t worry, we’ll take it slowly, one take at a time, and you will eventually get the hang of it,” Adrian continued to reassure her, as they could still use the demarcated area for two more days of filming, and if necessary, they could negotiate to rent it for a few more days. Any problem that money can solve is not a problem.

“How about this, you rest a little longer, I’ll go and see how their shooting is going,” Adrian said, preparing to leave since he had earlier arranged for the assistant director Masterson to film some fragments with the stand-ins using two cameras, and wanted to check on that.

“No, I can continue!” Natalie suddenly looked up, her eyes bright and large as she gazed at Adrian with a confidence that seemed never to have waned.

Adrian raised an eyebrow, watched her for about a few dozen seconds, and finally agreed to her request: “Alright, we continue.”

What followed were more than ten more takes of NGs, but both Natalie and Adrian maintained neutral expressions and words, always calmly returning to their marks after each “cut.” Even so, Adrian still recognized the little girl’s progress and nearly approved the nineteenth take but decided to hold back after some thought.

Natalie, after taking a deep breath and clenching her fists to encourage herself, returned to her position holding the pot of Jade Plant, the teddy bear, and the bag tightly.

Clap, with the crisp sound, the camera started rolling. The girl, her hair messy, slightly raised her head to look at the busy police officers on the street. A hint of distress flashed through her eyes, and her eyebrows slanted upwards. She opened her mouth but then closed it again, then lowered her head, lips pursed, and walked down the steps. Her eyes seemed to chew on tears but she endured, making a face as if everything was alright and walked forward with big strides, clutching the Jade Plant even tighter in her arms.

“Very good!” Watching all of it, Adrian finally shouted out loud. (To be continued, if you want to know more, please log in to , more chapters available, support the author, support genuine reading!)