Computer Graphics (8)
Several months earlier, Hollywood had been rocked by one massive piece of news.
It was the trial between Darian Heralson and Anita Vermont.
The two had ended their marriage in a settlement divorce after a year and a half. But Anita gave interview after interview claiming that Darian had repeatedly beaten her during the marriage, while Darian denied it outright.
In Hollywood, assault, drugs, and infidelity could all be forgiven. Beating a defenseless woman never could.
Because of it, Darian Heralson’s image plunged to the bottom of the ocean, and with every film and commercial contract canceled, he was forced to hang all his hopes on the trial.
The opening stages went badly for Darian.
In domestic-violence cases, the testimony itself tends to carry enormous weight.
Anita submitted video evidence in court, footage that showed Darian drunk, raging, and hurling insults.
The video was shocking in its own right.
People pitied Anita as she spoke through tears and turned their criticism on Darian.
His history of alcohol-fueled outbursts and assault, his notorious personal conduct, and his repeated push for settlement all worked against him as well.
But once Darian replaced his entire legal team, things began to shift little by little.
Lillian Jia, an Asian-American female attorney, pressed Anita with cold logic.
Lillian Jia pointed out that on the very day Anita claimed the assault had occurred, she had gone shopping with friends, and she called the employees who had been working at the store as witnesses.
The cosmetics clerks who had dealt with her that day testified that she had shown no bruises or injuries on her face or arms.
Anita claimed she had concealed the bruises with makeup, but that contradicted her own statement that she had fled straight out of the house after the assault.
Anita’s side called witnesses of its own.
Among them was Jessica MacKellan, Darian’s ex-wife, with whom he had parted on bad terms.
“Darian was not a good husband. He’s stupid and selfish. The kind of man who cares only about himself and doesn’t know how to love anyone else.”
At those words, Anita smiled.
But what the witness said next was the exact opposite of what she had expected.
“However, I swear to you he never once laid a hand on me. He may drink, make a scene, and break things, but he doesn’t hit women.”
Anita’s lawyer looked flustered.
“During the divorce proceedings, didn’t you break your right arm? Wasn’t that because of Darian Heralson’s abuse?”
“I already told you. I slipped while dancing alone in the bathroom. There should still be a 911 record from that day.”
Even actors and crew members who had argued or fought with Darian on set testified that they had never seen him strike Anita or noticed any signs of abuse on her face, and Anita found herself cornered more and more tightly.
Darian stayed consistent, repeating the same account every time, while Anita’s testimony kept changing. She revised her story so often that even her own lawyers seemed unsure what to believe.
The public, which had first rallied behind Anita, gradually turned away.
And at last, the verdict came down.
Contrary to predictions that the jury would be split, the panel ruled unanimously in Darian Heralson’s favor.
Because Anita Vermont had failed to prove the domestic-abuse allegations, the court determined that her claims were entirely false and defamatory to Darian Heralson’s reputation.
The judge accepted Darian Heralson’s claims in full and ordered Anita to pay $10 million in compensatory damages and another $3 million in punitive damages.
After the trial ended, Anita fled the courtroom with her legal team as if she were running for her life, while Darian strode out through the front entrance with his head held high.
The hundreds of fans waiting outside erupted into applause and cheers.
Darian bowed his head and said, “This lawsuit was about revealing the truth, no matter the outcome. I want to thank the jury for giving me my life back. And if it hadn’t been for all of you who believed in me and stood by me…….”
Emotion choked off his voice before he could finish.
Darian thought of the Asian man he had met at the Barbados resort.
What would have happened if I’d never met him?
The reason he had been able to win so quickly in court was all thanks to that man’s advice. No amount of gratitude would ever be enough.
In domestic-violence cases, it was rare for the accused to win. Even if they came out ahead in court, they often lost the battle for public opinion.
But Darian Heralson had won both the case and the court of public opinion.
Through the media, Anita announced that she would appeal, saying, “This ruling is the worst possible verdict, dragging us back to an era when women who were harmed and spoke up about it were publicly shamed and humiliated. I will keep fighting for every woman who has suffered abuse.”
Unfortunately for her, the public reaction was ugly.
Darian Heralson was Hollywood’s biggest star.
So much so that even the fans who hated him would say, “You can tear him apart as a person, but you can’t deny his acting.”
After winning the trial and shaking off the false label of a domestic abuser, offers poured in from every direction.
Darian chose the next project from director Benjamin Diamindi.
The title was Liberty, a cyberpunk film.
Set in the near future, it followed a man who fought alongside his comrades against machine-human beings.
Benjamin Diamindi was one of Hollywood’s greatest directors and an old friend of Darian’s.
Even when everyone else was condemning Darian at the start of the scandal, he had believed in him until the end and stayed by his side.
Pre-production had already been completed long ago, with only the casting of the lead left unfinished, so filming began immediately after the trial.
Though he had been away from acting for a long stretch, Darian still delivered a performance worthy of the top tier.
The only thing that had changed was his attitude.
Unlike the arrogant man he had once been, he greeted the staff warmly, treated them with courtesy, and took photos and signed autographs for the fans waiting on set.
Everything went smoothly.
Then one problem appeared.
Because Green Screen shooting was such a major part of a cyberpunk production, a great deal of Liberty had to be filmed against it.
The moment Darian stood before the Green Screen, he felt something strange.
All he could see was a field of green.
It could have been any color, really, but the reason Green Screen was used was because cameras captured green more brightly.
On top of that, vivid green rarely overlapped with other colors.
Once the green background was replaced and composited with the actors, it created the lifelike visuals audiences saw in theaters.
Acting in front of a Green Screen depended entirely on the director’s instructions and the actor’s imagination.
Darian strained to picture the background he was supposed to imagine.
And in that instant, strange scenes began floating up across the Green Screen. Before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of a courtroom.
The judge shouted at him.
“You hit your wife! Men like you belong in prison!”
The jury sprang to its feet and pointed at him.
“Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”
Enraged members of the public hurled rotten fruit and stones at him.
Then Anita’s face appeared.
Darian felt as if his breath had stopped, and he collapsed on the spot.
Darian woke up in a hospital.
Benjamin, sitting beside him, asked, “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
Darian told him everything that had happened to him.
“Did this ever happen before?”
“No. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t acted in so long. I’ll be fine once some time passes.”
But even as time went on, his condition did not improve.
He had no trouble with any other kind of acting, but the moment he stood in front of a Green Screen, his body locked up and he would be seized by bouts of choking, shortness of breath, and panic.
Benjamin felt the seriousness of the situation.
Green Screen was essential to film production.
It wasn’t only used to create scenes that didn’t exist in reality; it was also used to replace sets that were too difficult to build and to stand in for overseas location shooting.
Hollywood films were generally shot in studios in Los Angeles.
If a production needed scenes set in New York or Paris, then in the old days the director, the actors, and the crew all had to fly there in person.
To shoot on roads or sidewalks, they had to obtain filming permits from the authorities and control both traffic and people.
But what if it suddenly rained? What if the weather turned cloudy?
Then shooting had to be canceled, and after waiting for the weather to clear, they had to apply for the permits all over again and once again control traffic and crowds.
But with Green Screen, those problems were easy to solve.
Any city could be shot in front of a Green Screen and the background composited later. Weather and seasons could be created exactly as desired, too.
Thanks to those advantages, the use of Green Screen had been expanding steadily.
But if an actor couldn’t perform in front of it? That was practically the same as saying he couldn’t act at all.
Maybe I brought him back too early.
Movie stars were always exposed to public scrutiny, which made them especially vulnerable to bipolar disorder or panic attacks.
And Darian had fallen from the highest peak to the gutter.
Throughout the trial, he had been isolated, suffering from severe depression, panic disorder, and alcoholism.
That was why he had spent a long time under psychiatric treatment.
He had thought the problem was gone once he won the trial, and now this had happened.
“For now, let’s leave the Green Screen scenes aside and shoot the other parts first.”
“But……”
“This is my decision as a director, not as your friend. Follow my lead.”
“All right. I’ll do my best.”
Benjamin believed Darian would overcome it.
Darian, too, threw himself into treatment, seeing a psychiatrist regularly and taking his medication with determination. But the fear he felt in front of the Green Screen still would not go away.
The production company pressured them to replace the lead actor immediately, and Darian himself declared that he was willing to step down.
“I think it’d be better if I quit now.”
“If you drop out this time, it might be hard to come back to Hollywood.”
The rumor that he couldn’t act in front of a Green Screen had already spread throughout the industry.
If he walked out in the middle of filming because of it, who would ever cast him again?
But Darian’s resolve was firm.
“I can’t cause trouble for everyone because of me.”
Benjamin, too, concluded that they could not keep filming like this any longer.
He ran through the footage they had already shot.
Darian’s acting was flawless. It was impossible to imagine anyone else playing the lead.
But if he couldn’t perform in front of the Green Screen, there was no helping it.
At this point, can we even find another actor?
Replacing a lead actor, not even a supporting one, within a day or two was impossible.
Production would be delayed by months, and because they would have to reshoot from the very first scene, the budget would only balloon further.
Benjamin made up his mind and picked up his phone to call Darian.
But just then, the production office called him.
“We just received a call from Legend Games. They said they had something they absolutely wanted to tell you, and asked whether they could speak with you directly. Would that be all right?”
“Legend Games?”
He wasn’t much of a gamer, but he knew Legend Games well enough.
What would a game company want with me?
Benjamin asked, puzzled, “All right. Put them through.”
[Understood.]
After a moment, a call came in from an unknown number.
“Hello. This is Tom Scott, CEO of Legend Games.”
He was stunned inwardly.
He had never imagined the CEO himself would call personally.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Benjamin Diamindi. What can I do for you?”
[I heard there’s been a problem with the film you’re currently making.]
“That’s right.”
Since it was already known to the media, there was no point denying it.
[I contacted you because I think we might be able to help.]
That left Benjamin flustered.
“In what way?”
[I think it would be better to show you in person rather than explain over the phone. How about you pay a visit to Darian Heralson and our company?]
“You’re saying there’s a solution if I come there?”
Tom Scott’s voice was confident.
[Yes. I’m certain it will help.]