The Best Director

Chapter 307: Chapter 307 Too Awesome!

The Moritz siblings were making their debut in a film, everything in the production studio seemed so fresh to them. Chloe Moritz sat at the edge of the set, watching the scene handlers pushing photography equipment, the backdrop team arranging the set, the director giving orders now to the actors, now to the camera crew… There was also the director’s wife who treated her like she was a three-year-old kid, though she was already seven. A sweet smile meant to charm children appeared before her, “Are you hungry? Do you want some candy?”

Before Chloe Moritz could reply, Jessica laughed as she handed her a lollipop, “Here you go.” Chloe Moritz was indeed a bit peckish, she happily took it and started licking it after unwrapping, “Thank you.” Jessica sat down on the actor’s rest chair beside her with a satisfied smile, and asked with great interest, “You’re really well-behaved. Chloe, what do you like to eat the most?” Chloe replied with a smile, “Pasta, Italian pasta. I love pasta! And Chinese food.” Jessica, who was also unwrapping another lollipop, was immediately taken by surprise, “Really? I can make those! Oh my God, what Chinese food do you like the most?”…

“Yeah, I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly I found two movie tickets in my jacket pocket for ‘Ice Age 2′, which opens this weekend. So, can I invite you to go see it with me?” Robert Downey Jr., who wasn’t scheduled to shoot today, also arrived on set, where a busy fight scene with blue gloves was being filmed, and he made a date invitation with a light-hearted yet sincere tone. Susan Levin looked at the man nine years her senior with a strange expression and laughed, “I’ll consider it, I’ll consider it…”

People say that Robert Downey Jr. is a jerk, a jerk even after turning over a new leaf with his evil tendencies always at risk of resurgence. However, having interacted with him quite a lot recently, Susan Levin found the rumors to be somewhat exaggerated; she found this former addict to be quite witty and humorous, possessing gentlemanly manners. Maybe it’s worth a try, she nodded, “Okay, what about this weekend?” Downey was pleasantly surprised that she considered so briefly, and joyfully exclaimed, “Friday night! I’ll pick you up.”

Susan said nothing, glanced over at the set within the backdrop, and smiled, “You’d better focus more on your acting, take a look at Heath Ledger.” Robert Downey Jr. feigned indifference with a huff, Heath Ledger was impressive, but! He laughed, “I haven’t even begun to try yet, wait till we film our scenes together, I’ll crush him.” Susan with her arms crossed over her chest calmly said, “I hope you can do that. I don’t like conceited people.” Downey replied repeatedly, “No, no, no! It’s not conceit at all, don’t think I’m not focused on the set. I’ve prepared for this too long, just wait and see!”

“Wow!” Witnessing Heath Ledger’s almost miraculous movements and expressions, Ellen Page, who was standing by the camera, was also greatly amazed. She remembered when Ledger tried to act cool in ’10 Things I Hate About You’, and now his performance, slowly peeking his face out from along the corridor door, perfectly captured the atmosphere of pretending to play hide and seek with a child. Even though she was unaware of the detailed content of the script, he truly seemed like a fearless psychopath!

“Hello.” The tone and pitch of this single line from the scene they had just shot made everyone feel uncomfortable, spectators such as Tye Moritz, Joshua, and others couldn’t help but marvel at Ledger’s extraordinary talent, hearing that he even locked himself away for a month to get into the role. Director Wang Yang then shouted, “CUT! Wow, great job! Heath, that was fantastic! You’ve completely surpassed my own acting genius!… OK, prepare for the next sequence, we need the little girl on stage now, Chloe, Chloe—”

Tye Moritz quickly made his way to the actors’ rest area at the side of the set, where he saw his sister laughing and talking jovially with Jessica Alba. He interrupted them, “Chloe, it’s your turn on set! Mrs. Wang, hello.” Jessica and Chloe both responded and stood up to walk towards the set. Since Tye had become capable of independent responsibility, he had been in charge of accompanying and taking care of Chloe in all her acting endeavors, but today, his authority had been taken away.

“Perform well, and keep it up!” Jessica held Chloe’s small hand, giving her an encouraging squeeze as they walked, “Don’t be scared of the director. Yang is under my care, and he’s most afraid of me! So with my protection, just do your best!” Chloe Moritz smiled broadly, feeling not the slightest bit nervous or afraid, “I’m not scared of him.” Jessica was a bit surprised, as many child actors of Chloe’s age needed a piece of candy from mom after every shot, but Chloe Moritz said, “He’s really funny, and quite handsome too.” Listening to these childlike words, Jessica couldn’t help being delighted, “Really? Yeah, I think so too. So you should do your best, think about the thing you fear the most! Or… the vegetable your mom forces you to eat and you hate the most.”…

“For this scene, you need a few key changes in your performance.” By the bedside cabinet in the bedroom set, Wang Yang squatted down next to Chloe Moritz, who was sitting on the floor hugging a teddy bear, explaining and stating his expectations. A few years ago in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, he had accumulated a lot of experience in directing children, knowing how to make a child understand; meanwhile, he had to greatly limit their artistic freedom, setting performance milestones. And unlike Jessica’s poor performance in the American version of ‘Ghost’, Chloe Moritz was dazzlingly impressive, she had a natural talent for portraying fear.

With Heath Ledger as her formidable on-screen counterpart, Wang Yang wasn’t worried about the number of NGs for this scene. He explained, “When Blue Glove yells ‘Why,’ you’re about to burst into tears, whoo, and then you stop immediately! Like a hiccup. Have you ever hiccupped? Hic, hic, hic…” Seeing Chloe Moretz’s eyes wide as if she was about to run out of breath, she laughed and hiccupped, “I know.” Wang Yang said OK, patted the big teddy bear in her hands, and told her, “Hold onto this bear, keep holding it tight, and when you get the injection and close your eyes, hold onto it tight even as Blue Glove tries to take it away.”

“Heath, you’re up next.” After briefing Chloe on her part, Wang Yang stood up and started to instruct the attentive Heath Ledger. Heath alternately nodded or looked puzzled, brewing the emotions of Blue Glove, but deep inside there was only one voice: “This is so cool!” Indeed, it was too cool—this was an incredibly exciting set. Compliments and encouragement appeared all day long, not to mention the laughter and ‘cool’ remarks; these didn’t detract from his immersion in the scene but instead fueled his performance drive even more.

This was an obvious, almost “leaping” kind of mental and physical action, with numerous acting details emerging spontaneously! This was also thanks to the director, who offered guidance and expressed his requirements while also allowing a great deal of freedom, enabling Heath to control the lifeline of Blue Glove. It was exhilarating to perform, and moreover, there were fewer interviews on the sidelines… Damn! Heath Ledger sometimes thought it would be great if he could work with the marvelous Yang all the time.

“Action!” After discussing the shooting angles with Valarie Fest and others, and after the scene mark was reported by the clapper loader, Wang Yang finally called “action.” The scene couldn’t be shot in one take, and for this time, the bedroom was a “┐” shaped set with two wall backdrops, with several cameras filming from different angles.

“Hello.” Chloe Moretz sat slumped next to a cabinet, shivering. The arc light outside the window simulated sunlight that streamed in and formed a line of light toward the doorway. The steady footsteps of Heath Ledger, pulling on his gloves as he entered, blocked the sunlight—if there were a corridor wall backdrop behind the door, a long shadow would have spread across it. This shot naturally meant darkness was arriving.

Stopping in front of Chloe Moretz, Heath Ledger squinted at the window as if he saw a beautiful sea of white sunflowers. He had asked Wang Yang why it had to be sunflowers? What did this storyboard shot mean? Was it an allusion to the Communist Soviet Union? Because the sunflower is the national flower of the former Soviet Union, Russia, and the anarchic, purely good, fair distribution philosophy pursued by Blue Glove could be seen as Communist.

Wang Yang laughed and said, “That’s one layer of understanding, which helps me win awards.” But there’s a deeper meaning, and that is “Silent Love,” the flower language of sunflowers, which serves to reinforce the evaluation of Blue Glove as a contradictory character.

“Beautiful flowers,” said Heath Ledger, breathing out lightly as he crouched down. Since coming to the set and seeing some of the storyboards, he had discovered that the director Marvelous Yang used a lot of deep, thought-provoking shot language in Firefly. To better understand the director, he had watched The Devil Wears Prada and other films, and found that the criticism of TDWP seemed justified; compared to that, Marvelous Yang seemed disengaged, whilst this film appeared to be his crowning work.

This was also one of the reasons why his desire to perform was boiling with excitement. Firefly was definitely a classic film; Blue Glove was definitely a classic character, as long as he could bring it to life successfully.

Looking at the pitiable Chloe Moretz and blocking the sunlight, Heath Ledger suddenly showed a sunny smile: “I’m not a bad guy, nor a good one.” Then it seemed he noticed something: “Hmm? Look at you, girl, so cute. Yet you live in such an ugly world! You should be living in a beautiful world. Why!! Why!!!!” He suddenly shouted madly a few times, his face full of anger and a sense of overwhelming sadness.

“Whoo…” Chloe Moretz was immediately frightened into a natural whimper by Heath Ledger’s sudden transformation from gentle to monstrously demonic, and she truly felt a bit scared, thinking about the impending injection, her fear rapidly spreading. Heath raised his left index finger shushing her, then shushed again, cutting off her hiccupping cry. He maintained his posture, whispering quietly with a mysterious and gentle undertone, “Don’t cry, you can’t tell anyone about this. But you’re a talented kid; do you want to see it come to life? Do you want to help bring it to life?”

As he spoke, he stood up and opened one side of his trench coat, revealing a variety of tools. He calmly and efficiently took out a syringe from a row of needles, removed the cap to expose the needle tip, and said to the little girl, “This will make you forget all this, you’ll just sleep, just like me.”

Watching the performance of the two actors, Wang Yang felt quite nervous. The range and speed of emotional changes in the character Blue Glove were significant in this scene: one moment a stormy rage and the next a sunlit cheerfulness. An actor could easily slip into a portrayal of a maniacal madman, but Heath Ledger didn’t. He still managed to take control of the scene, revealing a hint of child-like mischief and an adult’s tenderness, making his emotional changes align with a child’s ease of laughter and tears, rather than a lunatic’s frenzy.

This was a candid dialogue between Blue Glove and the child, these words, emotions, and expressions all stemmed from his speaking up and his self-defense, talking to the child and to himself. At that moment, his mentality reverted to that of a child. But the breath of a sigh at the beginning revealed that he also had a bit of pressure and confusion inside, when facing such wonderful scenery, such a lovely little girl.

Heath Ledger controlled this crucial scene, and Chloe Moretz’s performance was also full of spiritual energy, capturing her natural talent for portraying fright. She seemed petrified with fright, hugging her teddy bear tightly, tilting her head back as if trying to escape.

Wang Yang silently gestured, signaling the camera operator, Valery Fester, to move the camera closer and capture the shot from this side angle. Heath Ledger, holding the syringe, crouched down, and the large cloth doll just covered the scene of Blue Glove administering the injection to the little girl. The screen showed only the adorable smiling face of the teddy bear and half of Blue Glove. Chloe Moretz, not actually punctured, slowly closed her eyes, pretending to fall into a deep sleep, hugging the doll tightly as directed by the director.

“Goodbye,” Heath Ledger stroked Chloe Moretz’s hair gently, then put away the syringe and got up to leave. He suddenly turned his head again, his gaze resting on the doll, reached out and pulled it a few times before finally yanking it out of her hands, shook it expressionlessly, and tossed it up, punching it away. If there were special effects, the big teddy bear would have burst into blue light and vanished into smoke.

“CUT!” Wang Yang shouted excitedly. Having actors with such a miraculous performance was exhilarating! Just like countless times before, he exclaimed joyfully, “Ohoho! What else can I say, fantastic! Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor is—” lauding him so excitedly, looking at the smiling faces of the crew, although Heath Ledger always craved immediate praise on set, he was somewhat embarrassed, just smiling modestly.

“Wow! Chloe, that was so good!” Jessica didn’t hold back her applause, praising Chloe Moretz’s performance endlessly and truly happy for her. Chloe Moretz got up, picked up the cloth doll from the floor, and sweetly flashed a V sign their way.

Not far from the set, Susan Levin nudged Robert Downey Jr. with her elbow, laughing, “See that, Robert? How would you crush that? Show me.” Little Robert Downey Jr. grabbed his hair, exhaled, wanted to say something but couldn’t, spreading his hands: “I don’t have any shots today!”

In the blink of an eye, it was May 7, Friday, the beginning of a new weekend, and also the day that the 2004 summer movie season officially kicked off.

This week, a total of 15 new movies were released in theaters, with three of them having large-scale screenings. One was the action fantasy movie “Van Helsing” with a budget of $160 million, guaranteed by the commercial prowess of Stephen Sommers, director of “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns.” Universal Pictures had high hopes for this vampire-themed film starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale, launching in 3,575 theaters across North America, with virtually a global simultaneous release. With expectations of at least half a billion in global box office receipts, and perhaps even rivalling “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings”…

3,006 theaters brought in the film reels of “New York Minute,” a family comedy produced by Warner Brothers with a budget of $30 million, starring the Olsen twins and Eugene Levy, the dad from “American Pie.” On the walls of the cinema posters were also “Mean Girls” headlined by Lindsay Lohan, “Man on Fire” starring Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, “13 Going on 30” advertised as a “fashion fantasy comedy” using “fashion” as a selling point, “Kill Bill: Vol. 2″… and this week’s new release, “Ice Age 2,” which premiered in 3,053 theaters.

“Ice Age 2” declared a production budget of $75 million, this flame-labeled “visually stunning” family comedy animation movie, bringing the momentum of its predecessor’s $476 million global box office and the exceptional overseas popularity in its first two weeks, made a grand entrance in North America.

“What!!”, “Uh-uh, I misspoke, you are beautiful, but we’ve just met…” On the big screen, Manny the woolly mammoth looked innocently baffled, while the female woolly mammoth, Ellie, appeared quite fierce. Under the now exquisite and advanced technology of Blue Sky Studios, the emotions and attitudes of the two mammoths were vividly and naturally presented on the screen, eliciting laughter from the audience with the entertaining voice acting of Ray Romano and Queen Latifah.

The theater was packed, and looking around, there were mostly parents with their children, enjoying the prehistoric story together as a happy family. Also in the audience, Wang Yang and Jessica laughed heartily, as they didn’t go back to Los Angeles or New York for the premieres due to their shooting schedules, comfortably enjoying their “countdown” in Vancouver. Although Jessica eagerly awaited the countdown to end, craving for the baby, she didn’t drag Chloe Moretz to take on the role of their daughter. Moritz had already left the set to go home, and Ellen Page was a bit too old.

“Let’s go, you follow them by day and us by night!” Ellie commanded on the screen. Manny responded in confusion, “But we can’t see at night, can we?” Ellie coldly continued walking forward, “Then enjoy the flood!” The possum brothers on Ellie’s back mocked, “I don’t even want to see him!” and, “Weirdo!” One of the possums turned back to Manny and menacingly made an “I’m watching you” gesture.

“Hahaha.” The audience burst into another round of laughter.

As the theater sent off one batch of viewers and welcomed another amidst the laughter, time slipped away with each screening, May 7th, 8th, 9th, and the North American weekend box office rankings were released… When May 7-13th became history, the first week of the summer season’s battle had a victor.

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PS: Wow, just a reminder to ask for votes, recommendations, and monthly tickets, thank you all!! (.)