King of Hollywood

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Plotting

After returning from London during Thanksgiving, Adrian began the post-production editing of “Scent of a Woman.” Much like with “The Shawshank Redemption,” he focused solely on editing and delegated other tasks to others. As the film company advanced further under Laverne’s leadership, the efficiency and capability of each department improved, and the two teams that had been formed to keep pace with his fast production were nearing perfection. Thus, Adrian simply handed over other tasks to them and only involved himself in the final supervision instead of questioning everything.

To be honest, if “Scent of a Woman” hadn’t been so important to him and if there were other editors in the company who met his standards, Adrian would’ve really liked to pass the detailed editing work onto them.

Regardless, compared to the previous three movies, Adrian found himself with more free time. So, while working on “Scent of a Woman,” he also kept an eye on the other two films in production.

One of them was naturally “Casper,” starring Sarah. After several weeks of pre-production, filming began in the studio. As Disney was the production company and Bossworth Film had only invested, they merely sent an executive producer to oversee the finances.

Sarah was well-liked within the team. Both director Brad Silberling and Bill Pullman, who played her father, praised her as a fine actress, even when she performed convincingly in front of a green screen, addressing thin air.

“I try to hypnotize myself, telling myself that Casper is right there. After all, I’ve watched plenty of related cartoons before and am quite familiar with this little ghost,” Sarah said to Adrian during a break, sitting on a prop box, her pale legs swinging as she smiled, fully displaying the pure beauty and freshness of a young girl.

“As long as one is willing to work hard, everyone can succeed,” Adrian said with a smile as he stroked her head.

“Do you really believe that, Mr. Adrian?” Sarah asked, tilting her head to look at him. Though her cheeks were cute and well-behaved, there seemed to be something complex moving in her brown eyes.

“Of course,” Adrian replied with a slight smile. “Once your efforts reach a certain level, all you need is a little opportunity to become a star that attracts everyone’s attention.”

The girl raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. Adrian stroked her head again, “You know, sometimes you look rather gloomy. Although I don’t know what’s troubling you, I think a little more smiling would be better. Miss Roselan would definitely prefer to see you smiling, right?”

“I understand,” Sarah said after a moment of silence, nodding with a smile.

The other film was “Guncrazy,” promised to Drew Barrymore. The screenplay was a rework by a male screenwriter named Matthew Bright, based on a 50’s movie. He and a female director named Tara Davis were looking for investment everywhere, hoping to make the movie, and eventually came to Bossworth Film.

Adrian remembered many things, including these offbeat films, but they were not so easy to find in his memory since it lacked a search engine. He needed clear cues, such as the flirtations from Drew at the celebration party. With such desserts delivered to his doorstep, Adrian saw no reason to pass up, especially with such a screenplay in hand.

And so, Matthew Bright and Tara Davis secured the investment. Although Drew was designated as the leading actress, they had few objections. As for Drew, Adrian personally called her to describe the advantages of this film.@@novelbin@@

This is a low-budget film with an investment that won’t exceed $1 million, plus it’s a remake, so box office estimates aren’t too optimistic. However, the role of the lead actress allows for considerable scope of performance. After all, Drew isn’t suitable for playing those pure and innocent characters anymore. Taking on this type of criminal role could at least solve her current dilemma of not having a film to work on. Since “once upon a time” she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for this movie, the present Drew should be able to achieve that as well.

Drew was clearly aware of this, so after a few words from Adrian, she said there were no problems.

“I trust the genius director’s judgment won’t be off, right?” She giggled over the phone.

Since the other party was so cooperative, Adrian didn’t mind striving for another Golden Globe for her in the next but one ceremony. With only 99 jurors, winning a Golden Globe is much more influential than an Oscar. After all, it’s an award that has never been free of controversy.

That was all that related to film production. Besides that, there were a few matters concerning the scriptwriting. After returning home from a busy day working on the post-editing of “Scent of a Woman,” Adrian would spend some time writing a few new scripts each day.

One of them was “Twisters,” which he planned to have Kate star in as the lead actress. This disaster movie, produced in ’96, had secured a place on the box office charts at the time. The use of CG in the film wasn’t extensive, and the tornado theme is very appealing to Americans. Even if it only reached 90% of the original’s standard, it would still bring in a significant box office return.

The main reason he chose this movie for Kate was to build her popularity. Initially, Adrian wanted to arrange for her to hone her acting chops in low-budget films, like Dennis had, and then pick a performance-driven film for her to play a lead or supporting role in, thus cementing her standing in Hollywood with the label of an exceptional actress.

Unfortunately, Kate isn’t the same as Dennis. Dennis’s four years hustling in Hollywood had enriched his life experiences, and combined with his natural acting talent, following this path would pose no problems. Although Kate was also hardworking, her acting was comparatively lacking. Adrian, who had personally coached Kate, was well aware of this, and he kept in contact with the instructors from the performance department of the California Institute of the Arts—let’s not forget Los Angeles is his territory.

When you think about it, it took the Kate from his previous life nearly a decade to find roles that suited her, and she was still often criticized as just a pretty face, so Adrian had no choice but to first focus on building up her popularity. Besides, although “Twisters” was a commercial film, it didn’t mean that it required no acting skills.

However, Adrian didn’t plan on directing the production himself. He had a lot of other things to take care of, and even the script he would outline, as he did with “Casper,” before handing it over to the scriptwriting department to flesh out the content.

The other more critical script that needed his personal touch was the one he mentioned to Kate that night, the one inspired by last year’s Thanksgiving robbery—”Pulp Fiction”!

Once Adrian had finished the post-production of “Scent of a Woman,” he would immediately start preparations and then shooting, aiming for a nomination for Best Director at the 65th Oscars and next year’s Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

(125570764, group number, I hope friends who like it will join, various invitations, ah!)