King of Hollywood-Chapter 98 - : Finally Wrapped Up

Chapter 98: Chapter 98: Finally Wrapped Up

“Now, I’ll count to three, and when I reach three, I want you to put down the gun, place your hands on the table, sit down, and don’t make any sudden moves,” Jules said, pulling Little Pumpkin, who was holding a gun, in front of him. He pressed his own gun against Little Pumpkin’s chin and said sternly, “Ready? One, two, three!”

After he finished counting, the robber Little Pumpkin paused for two seconds, then slowly sat down in front of him. His eyes, unblinking, were fixated on the muzzle of the gun, his nerves taut.

“Let him go now!” shouted the female robber Little Rabbit, standing on another dining table.

“Calm down, Yolanda!” Jules, using the name he had just learned from Little Pumpkin, admonished. “Your shouting makes me nervous, and when I’m nervous, I get scared, and when I get scared, my gun might fire.”

Having said so much in one breath, his eyes were still fixed on Little Pumpkin, and he leaned his aimed gun forward. Tense Little Pumpkin couldn’t do anything but lick his lips to try to calm himself.

“Excellent!” Adrian, who was controlling the camera, couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. “Samuel’s tone is spot on; Dennis also did great, especially that little lip-licking action; of course, Allison did well too, her excited emotions were totally on point. Well done, everyone!”

...

After giving individual feedback, he then announced, “The conflict scene is smoothly completed. Now, take a five-minute break, and then we’ll start shooting the scene where Little Pumpkin and Little Rabbit discuss the robbery.”

Samuel Jackson’s acting was indeed commendable. Having received the script notification, he started to study the script over and over, so among them, he was in the best form. Even Travolta, who has long been familiar with Adrian’s style and cooperated very well, had his scenes stolen by Samuel several times. The only issue was that his voice wasn’t very pleasant to hear.

Actually, it wasn’t exactly a bad voice; it was just a bit hoarse, slow-paced, and not problematic, but speaking too fast or too much gave a sensation like tearing paper. Well, that wasn’t a huge problem; Adrian was interested in his acting skills, not needing him to conquer the world with his singing like another Jackson.

“Hey, Dan, how do you feel?” Adrian approached Dennis after discussing with his assistant.

“No problem, I can get into character anytime.” Dennis, who had been looking at the script, looked up and replied.

Having not seen him for several weeks, his demeanor had become much calmer. Although he perfectly portrayed the madness of the robber during shooting, he would quickly return to normal once the camera stopped. Adrian admired this. Whether the calmness was feigned or natural, at least it showed he was learning to control himself. To succeed, one first must learn self-control, and keeping calm and rational, not showing feelings, was the first step.

“Frankly, your current outfit and demeanor don’t match,” Adrian joked. “It’s like a gentleman in a suit is doing manual labor at the dock.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Dennis smiled and shrugged.

“Alright, next I need your facial expressions to be a bit richer, add a touch more of an erratic feel, just a touch, not too much, like an impatient, chattering ghost,” Adrian discussed the role.

Dennis pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, “You want to portray his pseudo-neurotic nature more, right? I think… perhaps body language could achieve that effect, especially since he remains calm at crucial moments.”

Watching Adrian gaze intently at him, he quickly added, “Of course, I’m just offering my opinion, the final decision is up to you.”

“A good suggestion,” Adrian pondered for a few minutes and then smiled, “You have your own ideas, Dan, that’s good, everyone should have their own ideas and not just be yes-men—as long as you know what you should do.”

Indeed, it was a good suggestion, and upon reflecting, body language indeed made it easier to express the desired emotion. This isn’t to say facial expressions wouldn’t work, but they demand a high level of acting skill—it wouldn’t have been a problem for Al Pacino in ‘Scent of a Woman,’ but it was unlikely with Dennis.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that Dennis’s acting was poor. From ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ to ‘Memento’ to ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ his progress was quite evident, especially this time where he could not only switch states well but also brought up constructive suggestions, which was really impressive. One wonders what he would be like in that low-budget film ‘Vanity.’ Initially picked up randomly on the street, he seemed like an inconspicuous pebble that was used once and then disposed of, yet, turned out to be a raw jade.

“Let’s go with that, brew on it a bit and then we begin,” Adrian nodded, then seemed to remember something, “By the way, don’t overthink things, some matters can’t be deemed victorious until the very end, cheer up, the Oscars are at the end of the month.”

“Decide a winner?” Dennis looked confused.

Adrian raised his eyebrows. “I remember, last month, Johnny and Winona publicly declared their love, saying it was stronger than gold, and they even held hands tightly in public.”

“Oh, that,” Dennis suddenly looked a bit embarrassed, “Actually… Five days ago, Noni and I already slept together.”

“Already… slept together?” Adrian asked in surprise.

“Yes,” Dennis waved his hand, “They argued several times over this issue and then Noni came to me to talk, and then… it just happened.”

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Adrian smacked his lips and gave him a thumbs-up: “Well done.”

Not bad, he has potential, keep it up.

“All right, guys, let’s get ready to start,” Adrian clapped his hands and called out loudly.

The restaurant robbery scene wasn’t vast. Although Adrian had mixed some emotions from a robbery he experienced two years ago while writing this part, the robbery in the camera demanded more action than the actual event. At least, the two robbers from that incident, after driving people out from the kitchen, didn’t make them lie on the floor nor showed any extreme behavior—except for chasing after Sarah for money. By that standard, those two robbers were quite decent.

It took about a day and a half to finish shooting the robbery scene and then Dennis hurriedly left the crew for Los Angeles. From his expression as he left, one could easily guess what he was eager to return to.

Adrian didn’t mind; he took the crew to a rented house to shoot the remaining scenes. Although the story still had hundreds of shots left, they completed it in five days and then officially wrapped up the shoot. The speed was quite astonishing, especially since, due to Adrian, these were all critical shots that could hardly be cut!

(Folks, how about some more recommendation tickets?)