Chapter 243: Quite Good at Stirring Things Up
Chapter 243: Quite Good at Stirring Things Up
Although the female lead Annie worked in Baltimore, aside from shooting a few exterior scenes outside the Sun building and in other parts of Baltimore, all of Annie’s remaining scenes were filmed in Manhattan, New York.
The reason Eric did this was to simultaneously accommodate the preparations for Home Alone 2. Most of the scenes for Home Alone 2 were centered around Central Park in Manhattan.
Inside a renovated apartment room, Eric once again called for an NG, then said to a plump white woman in her thirties, “Ms. O’Donnell, when you say those lines about the character’s ex-husband, make yourself sound a little more vicious. Remember, when you deliver that part, you should carry a sense of resentment inside. Everything was your ex-husband’s fault and had nothing to do with you.”
Rosie O’Donnell, who played Annie’s roommate and coworker, shrugged.
“You know, Director, I have absolutely no feeling for that kind of thing, so we’ll probably need a few more takes.”
The surrounding crew members burst into laughter.
The reason Rosie O’Donnell said that was because this thirty-six-year-old rapper and actress was not only an extreme feminist, but also a lesbian. More importantly, unlike certain other public figures, she had never hidden it. The woman not only had a steady same-sex partner, but the two were already living together.
Although after arriving in New York, the scenes here were far more chaotic than in Seattle, and all sorts of problems inevitably arose, filming progress had so far remained perfectly in line with previous estimates, so Eric was not anxious at all.
Hearing Rosie O’Donnell say that, he laughed together with everyone else and said, “No rush. We’ll take it slowly. I believe after a few more tries, you’ll get the feeling.”
Rosie O’Donnell nodded, and Eric immediately called for filming to begin again.
This sequence was relatively long, so it demanded a great deal from both Nicole and Rosie’s acting performances. In fact, they had already gone through several NGs earlier without success.
Amid the crisp clap of the slate board, Becky, played by Rosie, began reciting her lines. Following the dialogue between the male and female leads in An Affair to Remember, she guided Annie into writing a letter.
Annie furiously clacked away on the typewriter, only to realize she had gone crazy. Somehow, she had been bewitched into wanting to arrange a Valentine’s Day meeting atop the Empire State Building with another man, just like in An Affair to Remember. Yet Valentine’s Day was supposed to be the big date she had planned with her fiancé Walter.
Frustrated, Annie scratched at her hair, then casually crumpled the finished letter into a ball and tossed it away.
Becky picked up the little paper ball from the sofa and looked at it. Then, apparently reminded of something, she said resentfully, “You know, because of that terrible fate, I married Martin and bought a house with a dead tree. So I divorced him, and then I crashed my car and met Rick.”
When Becky said those words, there was not the slightest trace of self-reflection in her tone. Instead, her expression carried obvious hatred.
Behind the monitor, Eric nodded slightly, though he also felt Rosie’s expression was somewhat exaggerated. Still, he did not immediately call cut and instead allowed the conversation between the two women to continue.
Holding a bowl of popcorn, Annie sat down beside Becky. Hearing her friend’s complaint, she asked with interest, “Wait, you never mentioned you got divorced because of a tree.”
“It was because of the gardener,” Becky blurted out.
Annie immediately followed up, “You fell in love with the gardener?”
After saying that, Becky briefly showed a panicked expression before hurriedly saying, “I never said I fell in love with him. Did I say that?”
She tossed the question back, then quickly changed the subject, directing Annie’s attention toward An Affair to Remember playing on the television.
Annie then joined Becky in reciting the classic lines between the male and female leads from the movie. As they reached the emotional parts, the two women completely disregarded their image and began bawling dramatically together.
But their expressions looked extremely exaggerated. Rather than making people feel sadness or emotion, the scene instead came across as hilarious.
Pfft—
Eric heard a short snicker.
His eyes, which had been fixed on the monitor, instantly swept toward the source of the sound, throwing a stern warning glare at the lighting technician who had laughed. The other man immediately showed an apologetic expression toward Eric.
Originally, Eric had thought the latter half of the scene, where the two women foolishly cried at the television together, could still be edited into the movie. But with that burst of laughter, the scene was ruined as well.
After calling for a stop, Eric rubbed the corner of his forehead and said, “Alright, I know two women crying their hearts out over a romantic comedy probably looks ridiculous to a lot of men. But remember, you’re working right now. If anyone can’t hold it in, wait until you leave the set. If I catch anyone disrupting filming again, even if it wasn’t intentional, I won’t let it slide. Everybody get ready, one more take!”
After several more attempts, the scene finally passed, and by then it was already noon.
After Eric announced a break in filming and was about to head off for lunch, Elizabeth hurried in.
“Eric, Donald Teplang has been waiting outside for you for two hours already. But since you were filming earlier, I didn’t notify you. Do you want to go see him?”
Eric asked in confusion, “Who’s Donald Teplang? Are you very familiar with him?”
Elizabeth explained, “Not that familiar. I just know him. He’s a real estate tycoon in New York. He’s built buildings named after himself all over America. He’s a very impressive person. I met him a few times at parties before.”
After hearing Elizabeth’s explanation, Eric quickly dug up fragmented information about Donald Teplang from his memories.
There was not much information. Apparently, Donald Teplang had managed to leave a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as someone outside the Hollywood industry by relying on several wildly popular variety shows. He really did seem quite good at stirring things up.
At the same time, Eric quickly recalled the man’s beautiful daughter, Ivanka Teplang.
In his previous life, internet media that loved stirring up attention had once ranked Ivanka Teplang first among the world’s top ten unmarried heiress billionaires, with assets exceeding two billion dollars. Eric had seen photos of Ivanka Teplang online before. She truly was a great beauty, somewhat resembling Big Bingbing from the mainland entertainment industry in his previous life.
Although he remembered the man now, one worked in film while the other worked in real estate, so Eric was not particularly interested.
“What does Donald Teplang want with me? We don’t know each other.”
Elizabeth shrugged.
“How would I know? I was just informing you. If you don’t want to meet him, I’ll just tell him you’re busy and don’t have time.”
Eric checked his watch.
“Since Mr. Teplang already waited two hours for me, then let’s meet him. It’s lunchtime anyway.”
“Then come with me,” Elizabeth said, leading Eric outside the set.
Eric soon met a blond middle-aged man in his early forties wearing a gray wool coat.
“Hello, Mr. Williams.”
Upon seeing Eric walk out from the set, the middle-aged man immediately climbed out of a luxury car and enthusiastically shook Eric’s hand.
Eric felt somewhat baffled by the man’s excessive familiarity, but still smiled politely.
“Hello, Mr. Teplang. May I ask what you wanted to see me about?”
Donald Teplang seemed to appreciate Eric’s directness and smiled.
“I figured it was about time for your lunch break, so I asked Miss Murdoch to pass along a message. Eric, you don’t mind me calling you that, do you? There’s a nice restaurant nearby. I already reserved seats. May I invite you to lunch?”
Eric was not particularly bothered by forms of address. He nodded first, then shook his head apologetically.
“Mr. Teplang, I only have one hour, so I’m afraid—”
“I guarantee I won’t delay your work. The restaurant is just around that corner up ahead.”
Donald Teplang pointed into the distance.
Faced with Donald Teplang’s enthusiasm, Eric momentarily did not know how to refuse. He turned to glance at Elizabeth, wanting the woman to help him out of the situation.
But Donald Teplang had clearly misunderstood.
“Miss Murdoch is welcome to come along too.”
Just as Elizabeth had been about to help Eric find an excuse, hearing herself dragged into it, she immediately shook her head.
“No need, Mr. Teplang. I still have work to do.”
“What a pity,” Teplang said with a shake of his head, then enthusiastically opened the luxury car door for Eric.
“Eric, then let’s go.”
I don’t think I actually agreed yet, Eric muttered inwardly.
Still, seeing the other man act so warmly, refusing again would make him seem too unfriendly, so he could only climb into the car. Donald Teplang followed him in and instructed the driver to head for their destination.
The two soon arrived at a restaurant. Led by a waiter, Eric and Donald took seats in a quiet corner.
After sitting down, Donald immediately instructed the waiter to start serving food. Once the waiter left, he finally relaxed and carefully sized up Eric sitting across from him.
Originally, the two truly had nothing to do with one another at all. The reason Donald Teplang had suddenly come personally to invite Eric was entirely related to his current situation.
As a real estate businessman, he had been building his career since the mid-1970s. Relying on both his own talent and assistance from the previous generation, Donald Teplang had amassed wealth totaling as much as 1.7 billion dollars in just over a decade.
However, beginning in 1987, the collapse of the American stock market had also impacted the real estate industry, causing a massive downturn in the property market.