On the Boat (3)
It had been a long shoot.
"And even that ends today."
Santa Monica Beach. Elena, who had fully adapted to shooting on location, looked out at the ocean with a relaxed expression. Standing beside her, Daniel Summit looked like he had lost at least five kilograms compared to three months ago. Yet, his face beamed with pure happiness. Throughout the shoot, he had watched Elena's talent and growth unfold, directing the exact film he had envisioned to his heart's content.
"You've worked so hard. Truly."
"Don't mention it. You're the one who really went through it, Director."
At Daniel's words, Elena smiled softly, recalling the various landscapes they had visited for the shoot. Dense forests, vast deserts, and serene lakesides. Though she had been to some of these places before, being thrown into them with only her younger brother made the experience feel entirely different. Moreover, unlike a typical Hollywood production, she had been so deeply immersed throughout this period that she wondered if she could have pulled it off without the tight-knit crew working in perfect lockstep right beside her. Thanks to that, she could now drive a pickup truck quite well.
Sunny and Andy had traveled, met various people, and braved diverse environments before finally reaching their destination. And what awaited them there was not their mother. It was the truth that their mother was no longer of this world. Yet Sunny, who had shed her sheltered past during the journey and learned to seek a different life, asks her younger brother, Andy:
'Where should we go?'
At those words, Andy grins widely.
'Anywhere!'
The film ended on a note of freedom. Reflecting on the power and responsibility of freedom, Elena stood up with an incredibly relaxed expression. A young actor who had just arrived on set walked over to her with light, pattering steps.
"Elena."
"Leo, did you sleep well?"
"Yeah... You didn't forget we're going to the arcade later, right?"
Those three months were more than enough to turn the two actors into real siblings, and to transform a boy who had forgotten his age back into a child. Leo, who had been forced to grow up far too quickly in the harsh environment of Hollywood, seemed to have found a sense of freedom and comfort through this shoot. Crouching down in front of the boy as he rubbed his eyes and asked about the arcade, Elena offered a bright smile and a far more exciting proposal.
"How about this instead? What if we go to an amusement park together after we finish shooting?"
"...! I-I'd love that!"
"Today is our last day of shooting, so let's give it our all. Okay?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Nodding eagerly, Leo ran off to the trailer to get his messy, travel-worn styling done. Daniel spoke up, his face tinged with emotion.
"He looks noticeably better than when we first started shooting."
"I know. He's so adorable."
"You know that's all thanks to you, Elena, right? He used to act so mature and polite, but taking him to the arcade a few times and buying him some toys turned him right back into a kid."
"That's probably who Leo really is. I hope this shoot helped him find himself again."
After all, the same was true for Elena herself.
'Is this the charm of indie films?'
In that sense, she felt deeply grateful to CK Entertainment and Sion Lee for providing this opportunity. Drawing attention wherever she went, with every single move turned into a tabloid headline—the Hollywood environment trapped actors in a cage of self-censorship and control. But during this shoot, through the freedom of acting, Elena had caught a faint glimpse of where she stood, what she was working for, and where she needed to go.
'Sion. Did you feel this way when you were shooting your indie film?'
Just before the final shoot began, standing in front of the pickup truck, Elena took a deep breath. A new world that Sion had opened up for her as she restarted her acting career. She wanted to keep moving forward, carrying this experience with her.
A few hours later, on the set of Titanic.
"Tell us about the accommodations in third class, Mr. Dawson. I hear they're quite good."
At the words from Rose's mother, Ruth, Jack grins and fires back.
"The best I've seen, ma'am. Hardly any rats."
Laughter erupts among the guests. Not expecting such an answer or reaction, Ruth awkwardly eats the bread in her hand. She had intended to take a jab at Jack for drifting through the lower classes, but his nonchalant response left her utterly flabbergasted. Rose looks uncomfortable with her mother's blatant hostility. Right on cue, Cal smoothly interjects.
"Mr. Dawson saved my fiancée's life yesterday. I invited him as a token of our appreciation."
He had read the room in an instant. The other first-class passengers didn't look down on Jack's presence. In fact, they barely cared at all. Except for one person: his future mother-in-law, Ruth, sitting right beside him. Cal subtly shifted his gaze, making a gesture to restrain Ruth. The actress playing her, Frances, was momentarily taken aback. Yet, she soldiered on with her lines.
"And where exactly do you live, Mr. Dawson?"
"Right now, my address is the Titanic. After that, God shall provide."
"And how is it you came by your ticket?"
"I won it in a poker game."
Jack effortlessly parried every question meant to humiliate him with easygoing charm. Combined with Leonardo DiCaprio's pure, striking beauty, the scene truly came alive. As everyone gradually fell under the spell of Jack's free-spirited, charming nature, Cal placed a cigarette between his lips.
"Cal, here."
When Jack tossed a matchbox, Cal caught it without even looking. And the gazes of the two actors briefly locked.
"I envy you. Your life."
...And from here on, it was pure ad-lib.
"To be free to make your own choices."
Cal, cigarette in mouth, struck the match and slowly exhaled a plume of smoke. Sion, whose hair had been dyed black for this role, had it slicked back neatly with pomade in a classic, old-fashioned style. The imposing masculinity he exuded commanded the attention of everyone present. At some point, even the director, James Cameron, stopped focusing on directing and simply watched Sion's portrayal of Cal with deep fascination. He played his role strictly as Jack's antagonist. Though his job was to make Jack shine, he simultaneously cast his own dark, brilliant luster. Like a dark, mesmerizing black flame pulling everyone in.
"I, too, once had dreams. But now... this is my dream. To build a good, healthy family with a wonderful wife, and to shoulder my responsibilities. To contribute to my country and society. There is no freedom for me in that, but even so, I believe this is a rather decent life."
"..."
Jack, listening intently to those words, responds:
"That sounds wonderful, Cal. But if I may ask... what was your dream?"
Upon hearing this, Cal's hand moved with extreme subtlety. He instinctively reached with his left hand to touch his right shoulder, only to let it drop back down.
"I left it behind where I laid it down."
A wry, bitter smile.
'This is insane, absolutely insane.'
'Baseball? Was it baseball? Or maybe fencing? Horseback riding?'
'I don't know! But I want to know! He's so incredibly sexy...!'
Everyone on set couldn't help but marvel. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sion Lee. The two actors exchanged glances, presenting starkly contrasting figures from their respective positions. One was a free-spirited, lower-class artist. The other was a bound, duty-shackled upper-class businessman. Holding his breath, James Cameron seriously debated whether to keep this scene in the movie, captivated by the intense contrast the two actors were generating. But the moment he saw the look in Sion's eyes captured on the monitor, he was certain. This had to stay. Sion Lee would make it work. ...And Leonardo DiCaprio would make it work too.
Sure enough, after a moment of quiet contemplation, Jack spoke up.
"If that is the freedom you chose for yourself... then it is wonderful."
He cast a subtle glance at Rose. A line directed at 'the woman who was miserable because she had chosen nothing.' In that moment, James Cameron realized exactly what Sion Lee was aiming for in this scene and with his portrayal of Caledon Hockley. ...He was a seductive incubus, and Cameron began to think that this portrayal would actually serve the film's thematic core much better.
'Because Rose's character will shine even brighter for rejecting such a tempting offer to choose freedom instead.'
Calling "Cut!", James Cameron walked over to Sion with a satisfied smile.
"Ugh, the smell."
"Haha, what's that about? You looked so cool smoking it."
As Frances, the actress playing Ruth sitting next to him, playfully teased Sion for grimacing at the smell, he shrugged, put out the cigarette, stood up, and walked over to Leonardo DiCaprio. He extended his hand.
"Huh...?"
"Great acting just now."
"Whoa, really? Does that mean I don't have to get thrown into the ocean?!"
"If anything, I'm the one who's going to get thrown in."
"Hahaha! How could I ever? You were absolutely amazing too. And the dynamic between the three of us right now is perfect!"
The two of them chuckled like schoolboys, talking about things the others couldn't quite grasp immediately. Watching them, James paused in his tracks and thought.
'Come to think of it, Leo delivered that last line.'
A sudden realization struck him. These two young actors, drawing on each other's script interpretation, were naturally pushing the emotional stakes of the film to their absolute limit.
After the shoot, which dragged on late into the night.
"Phew."
Having changed his clothes and bid farewell to the staff, Sion stepped out of the set. It was about a twenty-minute drive to the nearby hotel where he had booked a long-term stay for the duration of the shoot. Yawning deeply from the physical and mental exhaustion of acting all day, Sion slowly made his way to the parking lot.
"Sion!"
Just then, someone called his name from behind. Turning around, he saw a handsome young man waving his hand... and a hesitant young woman standing beside him.
"Leo? And Kate too?"
"Wait up! You always slip away the second we wrap!"
Hurrying over, Leonardo DiCaprio was buzzing with childlike excitement.
"I've been dying to talk to you! About acting, your personal life, how you approach your roles... even my friend Tobey is a huge fan of yours. Seriously, the two of us have watched Pain Walker so many times. Your portrayal of Lucid was incredibly impressive."
Contrary to his polished appearance, Leo was quite playful and cheerful. However, having worked on various sets since childhood, he was mature beyond his years on the inside, and he took good care of Kate—who was a year younger—like a little sister. Much like Sion and Elena.
"..."
Kate stood silently beside Leo, stealing glances at Sion. Although Sion had been intentionally maintaining a haughty, somewhat arrogant attitude to stay in character during the shoot, he figured it would be best to make his true intentions clear to at least these two co-stars. Leo would likely understand him through the lens of 'cinema' regardless, but Kate might not.
"My acting is a bit intense, isn't it? Please understand. The character I'm playing is just like that."
"Oh, not at all! I absolutely loved it."
"W-Well..."
Leo brushed it off with Jack-like ease, but the issue, as expected, lay with 'Rose'.
"...May I ask you just one thing?"
"Sure, anything."
When he replied in a slightly gentler tone, Kate's face instantly brightened. This was an A-list actor who had shown absolutely no interest in her on set. Though their characters were deeply entangled, she had been simultaneously intimidated and captivated by his character building and sheer acting prowess, feeling a mix of fear and admiration.
"Well, your interpretation of the character is a bit different from what I had in mind..."
"How did you picture him?"
"I thought he'd be more of a vulgar, nouveau riche villain. But seeing you play him now, he's incredibly sophisticated and has such a firm philosophy... especially with the way you deliver your lines and ad-lib."
"Ah, that."
Sion smiled after a brief pause.
"Well, it's not that different from the script. Maybe it just feels that way because I'm so handsome?"
"...Pfft, hahaha!!"
Leo couldn't hold back and burst into roaring laughter.
"That's true! Seriously, when you're standing there in a tuxedo, you look like a British king!"
"Well, you look like an angel who descended to save Rose yourself, Leo."
Sion chuckled, offering a similarly gentle smile. Watching the two of them trade compliments, Kate thought:
'...You are both insanely handsome. If I were Rose, I would have taken both of you.'
Kate, who had intentionally gained weight to reach the 60-kilogram range to portray the ideal beauty standards of 1912, had been worried about many things. She feared she would be completely overshadowed by the dazzling looks of these two men when the movie was released. A pure, kind-hearted, romantic male lead searching for freedom. An overbearing fiancé who possessed everything but maintained a neurotic, high-strung attitude to keep it. The contrast between them was striking, and she felt that the faces of these two actors alone could easily rake in hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Well, jokes aside, it was intentional."
With a trace of amusement in his eyes, Sion slowly stepped closer to Kate.
"I want to be a man Rose cannot easily reject."
"..."
"Rose talks a big game about freedom. Of course, as a woman of that era, she had no choice... which is why she ultimately gets swayed by a man like Caledon Hockley. After all, the 'Titanic' is nothing more than a ship destined to sink."
"Oh, so you mean... Cal is a symbol of the Titanic itself? In terms of wealth and status?"
"That's how I see it. Wealth and status. They're great. They have the power to dominate everything around them, but in the end, they are defeated by forces like icebergs, love, and death."
"Oh my god, that's incredible..."
Kate was so deeply moved by Sion's validation of her concerns and his profound interpretation of the script that her eyes welled with tears.
"I was just thinking, if Cal plays that kind of role, and Rose and Jack overcome it, it will make the movie so much richer! So there was a reason you were acting so cold and pushing me so hard on set?"
"I might look like a jerk, but I never act without a reason."
Speaking gently, Sion then added a mischievous remark.
"Oh, and my attempt to seduce you was genuine. In my experience, women are often like that. They say 'no, no' with their mouths, but deep down, they want a capable, bad-tempered man to dominate them."
"H-How can you say something like that?!"
"Pfft, hahaha! Exactly! Exactly! If you treat a woman too well, she gets bored and leaves!"
"Wait, what? You're agreeing with this, Leo...?"
"Man, I can't take this. Sion, why don't we head back to the hotel and grab a drink together? You clearly have way more experience with women than I do, so I'd love to get some advice."
"Hmm, isn't it as simple as saying, 'Let's get burgers. Come out,' and then, 'Let's date. I won't treat you well, though'?"
"Well... there are some people that doesn't work on. *Sigh*."
"Ah, right, right. Those exist."
"Right?!"
Staring blankly at the two of them, who had hit it off in an instant, Kate thought:
'With these two around, I don't have to worry about the movie... but the shoot is going to be so much harder.'