Chapter 134: Acting Opposite Each Other
Chapter 134: Acting Opposite Each Other
“Hi, Tom.” As soon as Hanks appeared in the studio, Eric warmly went up to greet him. Compared with Cruise, who had always maintained a polite attitude with him, he liked the mild-tempered Hanks a little more.
“Hi, Eric. I’m not late, am I?” Hanks stepped forward, hugged Eric, and asked.
“Of course not.” Eric nodded to Hanks’ assistant, then turned back to Hanks. “The set still needs about fifteen minutes. You can use the time to get your makeup done.”
The two walked side by side toward the makeup room. Hanks greeted the crew members warmly, looked around, and asked curiously in a low voice, “Where’s Cruise?”
“He probably went to touch up his makeup,” Eric said lightly.
Hanks nodded and said nothing more. After their previous meetings, Hanks also did not have much of a good impression of the actor who shared his name. Cruise was too arrogant. Even when he was polite to someone, he made others feel as if they were receiving charity.
Everyone in the crew had already completed their makeup tests, so Hanks did not need too much time for makeup.
After the breakfast restaurant set was ready, cinematographer Nick walked over to Eric, who was explaining the scene to Hanks and Cruise. “Eric, you’d better come take a look.”
Eric apologized to the two stars, stood, and followed Nick to a corner of the restaurant, where a camera had been set up.
“Eric, look here. There will be a fast whip-pan shot later, but I can only stand in this position to operate the camera.” Nick awkwardly demonstrated once. “See? This makes it difficult to operate. It’s awkward, and the force is hard to control.”
Although Eric was not as professional as Nick, he still understood many filming techniques. He stepped forward and tried operating the camera crane, and it was indeed awkward. But the best operating position was occupied by the wall behind him.
“Nick, what do you think?” Eric let go of the camera and clapped his hands as he asked.
“I can only try a few times. This position has the best shooting angle. If it really doesn’t work, and you want the best effect…” Nick pointed behind Eric. “Then we’ll have to tear down this wall.”
“Let’s try a few times first,” Eric said. He did not mind tearing down the wall. After all, this was a soundstage, not an exterior location, and Columbia would certainly cooperate. But it would waste at least another hour.
“Alright,” Nick nodded. “Then let’s begin.”
This small restaurant set had three scenes. In the first scene, the two were complete strangers, each eating breakfast. Of course, according to the plot, Andy had already started paying attention to Sean at this time, but Sean knew nothing about it. The second scene would show the two brushing past each other, with Andy leaving Sean a coaster marked with the number 13. The third scene, also the longest one, was where Andy used one minute to convince Sean to make the police cooperate with him in arresting the main villain, the Bald Monk, to avenge his father.
“Everyone, attention. Running Out of Time, Scene 12, Take 1!”
Sean stared at the newspaper in front of him while eating cake. Hearing the restaurant door being pushed open, he naturally looked up, then quickly shifted his gaze back to the newspaper.
“Good!” Eric gave Hanks a thumbs-up. Next was the shot of Andy, played by Cruise, eating while staring slightly dazed at the television above his head. This shot was also no difficulty for Cruise, and Eric fairly gave Cruise a thumbs-up as well.
In the original version, this scene had three shots of an animated cartoon. This was probably a cartoon Andy liked very much. Unfortunately, with only four weeks left to live, every time he saw that familiar image, it made Andy feel the sadness of having little time left. That was also why Andy stared blankly every time he saw this shot.
Here, Eric did not plan to casually find an animated cartoon to fill in. He planned to use footage from Friends.
Although Friends currently existed only in Eric’s plans, after The Others and Scent of a Woman started filming and entered the right track, Jeffrey would begin preparing Friends. It was only April now. As long as the six leads could be confirmed, Eric had plenty of time to shoot several classic Friends scenes and insert them into the film.
Eric Williams’ personally directed television footage would appear in the new film. This would be a good gimmick for the film’s promotion, while also promoting Friends. It was another win-win.
After the two shots were completed, they quickly began the most difficult whip-pan shot.
After the clapperboard snapped, Eric stared fixedly at the monitor. Nick first held the camera on Hanks’ face for one second, then began swinging rapidly. Eric clearly felt the stiffness and unevenness of the camera transition.
Although the camera finally landed accurately on Cruise’s side profile, Eric could only call cut.
After that, Nick tried six more times in a row, but all ended in failure. Eric knew the reason for the flaws in this shot, so he patiently let Nick try again and again.
But after the eleventh failed attempt, Cruise finally grew impatient. He had already eaten many pieces of cream cake in a row and did not understand why such a simple shot, in his view, required so many attempts. While the staff reset the camera to its original position, Cruise stood up, swept a slightly contemptuous glance over Nick, whose forehead was covered in sweat, and said to Eric, “Eric, maybe I can introduce you to a better cinematographer.”
Cruise had no intention of lowering his voice and said this in front of everyone. The atmosphere instantly became awkward.
Because of the awkward posture, Nick had operated the camera more than ten times in a row, and even his waist had begun to ache. He had not expected his efforts to receive such an evaluation. He wanted to glare angrily at Cruise, but he was afraid doing so would make things difficult for Eric, so he could only stand there helplessly.
Many members of the crew felt dissatisfied with Cruise’s rude words. They had worked with Nick for many years and were very clear about his ability.
Although they had just gone through more than ten failures in a row, everyone more or less understood the reason through Nick’s posture when operating the camera, and they patiently accompanied Nick through attempt after attempt.
Facing everyone’s gazes, Eric knew this matter had to be handled carefully. Otherwise, it would create conflict between the crew and the actors. But it was not easy to both soothe Cruise’s emotions and avoid upsetting the staff.
After thinking for a moment, Eric could only stand and walk to the camera, patiently explaining to Cruise why this shot was so prone to failure.
After listening to Eric’s explanation, Cruise also realized he had wronged Nick. He shrugged and gave the cinematographer a faint smile. “I’m really sorry. Then let’s continue.”
After saying that, Cruise sat back in his seat.
Eric comfortingly patted Nick’s shoulder and said softly, “Try two or three more times. If it still doesn’t work, we’ll tear down the wall.”
Nick knew that Eric personally explaining the reason to Cruise already counted as defending him, so he did not mind Cruise’s insincere apology. Instead, he nodded gratefully to Eric. “I’ll do my best.”
Although this little storm seemed to pass lightly, it was destined to leave some traces in many people’s hearts. In any case, several crew members who had originally liked Cruise very much because of his series of films no longer showed enthusiasm toward him.
Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it was for another reason, but on the second attempt after they resumed, the shot finally passed. When Eric called “Good,” many people could not help applauding. Nick also let out a breath and shook his aching arm hard.
After that, the second scene, where the two brushed past each other, also passed easily. Finally, it was time for Cruise and Hanks’ first scene opposite each other.
“Hey, you’re here so early, Inspector?” Seeing Sean push the door open and enter, the waitress greeted him warmly.
“Yeah. I’m meeting a friend,” Sean replied and walked toward the counter.
Andy had pastry stuffed in his mouth. Hearing Sean’s words, he laughed, his expression carrying smugness. These past few days, he had toyed with Sean, this once-renowned police elite, and sent him in circles. It was indeed something worth feeling smug about.
Sean came to Andy’s side with a tense face and slapped the coaster marked with the number 13 onto the counter.
“Sit,” Andy said, putting down his glass.
Sean took a photo out of his suit pocket. “You calculated everything very accurately, Mr. Zhang.”
“You found it?” Andy turned his head.
“You stole the gem, avenged your old man, and still asked me out. Why?”
“I told you, this game has to be played for three days.”
Sean nodded toward the pocket on his chest where his ID was usually kept. “You’re not the one in charge now. I’m the police.”
“Cleaning the warehouse, changing the light bulbs…”
After Cruise said this line, Eric called stop.
“Here’s the thing, Cruise. Your smile needs to look a little more mocking.” Eric first walked up to Cruise and gave his opinion. At the same time, he pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile, wanting to demonstrate for Cruise, only to discover that he did not have Old Master Tsui’s gift for demonstrating everything to actors. He could only say in disappointment, “Anyway, take a two-minute pause and brew the feeling properly.”
After instructing Cruise, Eric turned to Hanks. “Hanks, when you hear Andy’s mockery, you’re showing too much embarrassment. Although you are indeed very embarrassed inside, you also have your own pride. So while embarrassed, you need to use some body language, such as nodding, to cover up your embarrassment.”
“Mm, Eric, I’ll think about it some more,” Hanks nodded.