Chapter 341: The Doctor Fainted
Chapter 341: The Doctor Fainted
The commercial van Eric was riding in left Emeryville, where Pixar was located, crossed the San Francisco Bay Bridge on Interstate 80, and entered downtown San Francisco. Its destination was the set of Basic Instinct near Pacific Heights in San Francisco.
Pacific Heights, near the Presidio of San Francisco, was the most expensive residential district in the city. Several scenes in Basic Instinct were being filmed there.
Following the address Jeffrey had provided, Eric arrived at the filming location on Broadway Street in Pacific Heights. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw dozens of fully armed riot police standing guard outside a mansion surrounded by police tape.
Just as the group got out of the car, Jeffrey came forward to meet them.
“Jeffrey, isn’t this a little exaggerated?” Eric asked, pointing at the riot police. Although he had heard about some of the situation here while filming Ghost in New York, seeing it in person still surprised him.
Jeffrey gave a bitter smile. “Eric, let’s go inside first. If anyone finds out you’re here, there’ll probably be trouble again. Seriously, I advise you never to write another script like this.”
After leading Eric and the others into the filming location, Jeffrey explained, “San Francisco is already the main base for the gay community in North America. After some plot details from Basic Instinct were leaked last time, San Francisco’s gay organizations felt the film was suspected of discriminating against homosexuals. During this period, there have already been four protests with over a hundred people. To prevent some radical gay activists from forcibly obstructing the shoot, we had no choice but to be more careful.”
Eric walked alongside Jeffrey. After listening to him, he asked, “What’s the county government’s stance?”
Jeffrey pointed at the riot squad outside. “Just look at them and you’ll know. Our film has an investment of more than thirty million dollars, and most of it is being spent in San Francisco. That means considerable tax revenue for the San Francisco county government. Add in the donation I mentioned to you before, and they won’t allow anything to happen to the crew. However, the riot squad can only prevent extreme behavior from the gay activists. They can’t forcibly disperse them.”
“That’s good enough,” Eric said with satisfaction.
The group arrived outside the filming area, only to see several crew members guarding a door.
“They’re filming the scene inside where Catherine Tramell kills Johnny Boz. The set has already been cleared,” Jeffrey explained.
Just as Jeffrey finished speaking, the bedroom door opened.
“Quick, someone fainted. Help carry him out,” the crew member said anxiously, then immediately returned to the bedroom. The few set assistants guarding the door also went inside.
Eric and Jeffrey exchanged a look, both worried as they looked toward the bedroom.
“Because this scene is too bloody, we specially arranged for a doctor to stay inside in case anyone was overwhelmed and fainted, so don’t worry. Nothing will go wrong,” Jeffrey explained.
Eric recalled the image from memory and nodded. A seductive sex scene suddenly turning into a murder with blood splattering everywhere would inevitably be shocking, even if everyone knew it was fake.
Just as Eric was wondering whether he should go in and take a look, a middle-aged man in a white coat, eyes closed and face pale, was carried out on a stretcher by several crew members.
“That’s… the doctor we arranged?” Jeffrey muttered in disbelief.
Seeing this scene, Eric’s mouth also twitched. He exchanged another glance with Jeffrey, wanting to laugh but not daring to. After all, laughing in this situation would be too inappropriate.
Still, when faced with the bloody scene, none of the filming crew had an accident, yet the doctor responsible for handling accidents fainted instead. No matter how one looked at it, the scene was a little funny.
“I’m very sorry, Mr. Williams. There was a bit of an accident,” director Roger Spottiswoode soon walked out and shook Eric’s hand.
“It’s fine. So, may I go in and take a look?”
“Of course,” Roger nodded. Seeing Joanna Pacuła behind Eric, he added, “I suggest this lady not go in. Although the room has already been given an initial cleanup, it’s still rather ghastly.”
“Joan, wait outside, then,” Eric told her before following Roger Spottiswoode into the bedroom.
It was a very spacious European-style bedroom. According to the script setting, a huge mirror had also been installed on the ceiling. At this moment, several crew members were cleaning up the “blood-soaked” bed. Of course, it was not real blood, nor was it tomato sauce, but it looked extremely realistic.
The female lead, Diane Lane, soon came out of the bathroom nearby. She was wearing a large white bathrobe. Seeing Eric appear, surprise flashed in her eyes as she walked forward.
“Hello, Mr. Williams. I really didn’t expect you to come today. Mr. Spottiswoode didn’t tell me.”
Eric shook hands with Diane Lane and smiled. “It seems the scene just now didn’t cause you too much discomfort, Ms. Lane. That’s quite fortunate. I just saw the doctor being carried out.”
The originally smiling Diane Lane seemed to think of something and quietly restrained her smile. “Actually, I felt terrible just now too. I even felt like vomiting, but after washing my face with cold water, I felt a little better.”
Roger Spottiswoode gave the lying woman a strange look. When the scene reached the end earlier and the doctor standing nearby rolled his eyes back and fainted, Diane Lane had laughed out loud. If the shot had not already been completed, they might have needed to do another take.
However, Roger Spottiswoode had no intention of exposing such a trivial matter.
Eric nodded. Hearing the sound of running water still coming from the bathroom, he asked curiously, “There’s still someone inside?”
“Yes. Mr. Cabell is cleaning the stains off his body. If this kind of artificial blood plasma isn’t washed off immediately, it becomes very difficult to remove from the skin once it dries,” Roger Spottiswoode said.
“There’s a curtain inside. I only washed my hands just now,” Diane Lane quickly explained.
Eric looked around. Seeing that the crew members had already started moving the filming equipment out, he suddenly asked, “By the way, I remember the next shot should be the police investigation of the scene, right?”
Roger Spottiswoode explained, “To coordinate the schedules of a few supporting actors, that shot was already filmed earlier.”
“What’s next?” Eric asked again.
Roger Spottiswoode took the shooting schedule from his assistant and handed it to Eric. “Next, we still need to go to Catherine Tramell’s villa to shoot several sets of scenes. It isn’t far from here, just nearby on Vallejo Street.”