I'm in Hollywood

Chapter 236: Lie down and take a bullet

When Eric had initially intended to cast Nicole for the lead role in "Sleepless in Seattle," he had her audition, and though she had met his requirements, she was far from the performance she gave this time. This time, Nicole had transformed herself into another person, the exact same Anne Reid from the script.

It seems that Nicole has not been indulging in the glory of becoming the lead of Seattle Nocturne, but has put in a lot of effort to understand the role in private. In Hollywood, an actor will eventually have to rely on their acting skills to speak, and compared to many beautiful stars who are stuck in the flowers and glory, Nicole obviously understood this early on.

Upon hearing Eric's compliment, the girl had a happy expression on her face and then cautiously asked, "Eric, can I tone down the lip color a bit?"

Eric looked at the girl's lips, which were thick and bright red, and glanced at the two makeup artists. He couldn't figure out what was going on for a moment.

The older makeup artist quickly explained, "Mr. Williams, this is the styling we did for Miss Kiddman based on the initial makeup design. I had also suggested lightening Miss Kiddman's lip color at the time, but it seemed like you personally vetoed the suggestion."

Eric gave it some thought and then suddenly realized, "Oh, I remember now, this is just right, no need to adjust."

"But it looks so unnatural," the younger makeup artist chimed in weakly.

"This is the effect we want," Eric explained. "If we fix even this flaw, Nicole will be too perfect. Don't forget that Annie Reid is a woman who lacks a bit of care in her life. How can a woman like that make herself perfect without flaws? Some flaws fit her character more."

Upon hearing Eric's words, all three of them nodded thoughtfully.

Eric continued, "I know you are all very professional makeup artists, but don't forget that you are styling for actors, so your job is not to make the actor perfect, but to create the actor's image as much as possible according to the director's requirements, no matter how ugly or beautiful it is."

"Thank you for your advice, Mr. Williams, we know now." The older makeup artist nodded hastily.

Due to her thorough preparation, Nicole had very few NG takes, so the scene of Sam and Annie's first meeting on Alki Beach was completed quickly. In the coming days, once a few airport scenes were filmed, Nicole could leave the crew temporarily if she wanted to.

As usual, the crew didn't shoot any complex shots on the first day, except for the scene where Sam and Annie meet, which was mostly just a few scenes of Sam playing with his son.

In order to be able to act as a father-son duo with the young actor Viktor Moeris, Hanks had started spending time with the little one a week before, so by the time the shooting started, there was no barrier between the two. After the first day of getting to know each other, the "father and son" were already in the flow, and with time not allowing the crew to take it slowly, the second day started with more complicated scenes. Of course, problems followed.

The backdrop of the scene is that Jonny reveals his home address to the radio station, and soon Sam receives love letters from all over the United States.

The living room table was stacked with a pile of mail, and Jonna casually picked one up, reading aloud, "Dear Sleepless in Seattle, you are the most attractive man I have ever heard of, pfft..."

The little fellow snorted, throwing the letter aside. He reached out to open another.

Before Hank had a chance to speak his line, Eric shouted "Cut!" again. The boy had not the mischievous look that he should have had on his face, but rather a look of anxiety. His eyes could not help darting around.

Eric made a gesture to the others and said, "Forget it; let's take a break; Victor, come over here and let's talk."

"Did I not do it right again, Mr. Director?" The little fellow hopped off the chair and came over to Eric, asking timidly.

Although he had only taken five shots, the boy had become timid after the third shot. Seeing this, Eric decisively stopped shooting. He knew that forcing him to shoot any further would create greater psychological pressure on the boy and might even make the little guy lose the confidence to continue acting.

Upon hearing Victor's words, Erik quickly shook his head: "No, no, no, you have done well enough; it's just that you haven't done your best. Do you want to be the best one?"

Victor nodded fiercely and said, "Of course, when I grow up, I want to win an Oscar too."

"Hmm, what an ambitious kid, but the Oscar is not so easy to get. Those who can stand on the Oscar podium and receive the little gold man are the best of the best."

"What should I do?" Viktor asked with anticipation on his face, momentarily relaxing under Eric's gentle encouragement. At Eric's gesture, he even sat beside him.

The crew members knew Eric was teaching the young one his way of acting, so in order not to interfere with the two, most of them left the room consciously. Only a few staff members remained in the room, and all of them were moving around lightly.

Hank pulled another chair and sat on the other side of the little guy with a smile. This action made Viktor more secure, after all, compared to Eric, Hank, who had been with him for more than a week, could bring him a sense of security.

Eric ruffled the boy's head and smiled, "It's simple. When you encounter failure, don't be discouraged. Like the shooting just now, if it didn't work out this time, just try a few more times. But if you become unconfident because of one or two failures, then one can never progress."

The boy nodded vaguely, as if he realized something, but then he scratched his fingers and said in a low voice: "But, seeing so many uncles and aunts wasting their time because of me, I'm a little worried and afraid that they will get angry."

"No, you're wrong," Erik said. "You got paid to act, same as them. They get paid too. And they're different from you. They get paid by the hour. The longer you shoot, the more they get paid, so they're actually quite happy." Erik gestured to Nikolas, who was changing the film in the camera and had a faint smile on his lips. "Nikolas, are you happy now?"

Nikolas released a forced smile and nodded, "Of course, little one, you can try as much as you want. The more takes we have, the happier we'll be. Of course, we can't deliberately mess up the shot because the director will definitely notice and we won't be paid for it."

Eric gave Nick a stern look to stop him from rambling on, then said to Victor, "So, tell us about your performance, Victor. Have you seen Home Alone?"

"Of course, Kevin and the two dumb thieves, but unfortunately I only watched it once. Mom no longer took me there. Director, sir, Mom said that movie was directed by you, will this movie be as interesting as "Home Alone" now?"

"That's for sure. So, if you do a good job, kids all over the US will look up to you just like they do to Kevin."

The boy immediately showed a yearning expression, although he didn't quite understand what Eric said because he hadn't learned the meaning of the word 'worship', but the little guy instinctively felt that being worshipped by children all over the United States must be something very impressive.

In order to prevent the boy from steering the conversation off-topic again, Eric said, "Since you've seen Home Alone, you must remember how Kevin looked in the movie, and that's what you're going to have to do for the role of Jonah. It's similar to Kevin. What you just did wasn't right, when you were reading the letter. You should be a bit more mischievous, like grinning and glaring. Oh, and can you do a silly face?"

"Wow--" The little one immediately hooked up the corner of his mouth, rolling his eyes and making a funny face.

Eric patted the boy on the shoulder: "Good job, so then you're going to do it like this..."

In ten minutes, shooting will resume.

Still the same pile of letters, the little one opened one and read it as usual: "Dear Sleepless in Seattle, you are the most attractive man I have ever heard of, puff..."

"Cut!" Eric shouted out instinctively, but then realized it was inappropriate.

He had just built up confidence in the little guy, originally thinking that he would wait until the boy finished the scene completely before saying anything else. But seeing the boy's expression not being done properly, Eric instinctively shouted out, but it was too late to take it back at this point.

The boy looked back with bright yet hesitant eyes, and Eric had a sudden idea. He grabbed a baseball cap beside him and threw it towards Nicholas, who was not far away. It hit the innocent photographer's face: "Nicholas, you idiot, you messed up such a good shot with the shake of your camera."

Eric roared while giving Nicholas a few winks, even though he was shot in the ground. The poor photographer didn't dare pretend he didn't understand Eric's meaning and could only apologize with a forced smile: "Sorry, director, this was really an accident. I will pay attention next time. Can you forgive me?"

"I'll let it go this time, but if you do it again, I'll... deduct your salary," Eric said with gritted teeth, then changed to a gentle look and said to the boy, "Victor, it's not your fault this time, it was Nicholas who messed up the shot. See, even adults make mistakes too, so don't be nervous; shall we continue?"

"All right, Mr. Director," the little one said firmly.

Perhaps encouraged by the idea that even adults make mistakes, I failed a few times after that, but this shot eventually made it through.

Having found that this method could stimulate the confidence of the young ones, Eric immediately singled out a few 'dummies' and even Hansen complied and played the fool a few times. This was followed by a sudden improvement in the boy's performance.