I Am In Hollywood 130 Little Favors

Johnnie To is one of the few Hongkong film directors who Eric likes the most, because of the big success of "A Better Tomorrow" a film made by John Woo in the year 1986 . Most people only think of John Woo when they see Chinese action films with that kind of violent aesthetics, but Eric prefers Johnnie To distinctive personal style, his movies have their own blend of cold, violent, tragedy, philosophy and other elements that evoke pity or sadness .

"Running Out of Time"is one of the few films made by Johnnie To that impressed Eric the most, if you Judged the film from the perspective of the ordinary audience, then the word that will appear the most is definitely the word: Cool! That's the main reason why Eric chose this movie .

This was a bold attempt by Eric, he wanted to see if a movie that didn't exist in Hollywood history can succeed .

From his memories, he found that the copyrights for most of the films that were able to succeed in the next ten years were already sold to other studios, taking those films from the hands of those big giants is almost impossible . Especially if they know that Eric himself is looking for those movies, and the film that hasn't been sold yet are hard to find, if he keeps shooting films at his current pace, in a year or two he wouldn't find any thing to shoot .

Of course, this is a fairly safe attempt, first of all, "Running Out of Time" have a very exciting story, and the film also received Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks recognition, which shows that there is no difference in the taste of the eastern and the Western tastes audience .

Second, The name recognition of the two Toms and Eric, can guaranty that the film will do good at the box office, at least at the start there won't be any problems . According to the Columbia data Department, with Tom Cruise popularity once again reaching a higher peak after experiencing the success of "Rain Man", and Tom Hanks just getting nominated for the best actor at the Oscar for his role in "Big" . Plus the box office appeal of Eric's name, it was very easy for the film to get more than $100 million dollars at the box office .

On April 5, in a large studio owned by Columbia, Eric officially started shooting "Running Out of Time", the first things he was going to shoot is a series of indoor scenes, but this time Eric wasn't going to shoot the scenes in a chronological order like he did in "Pretty Woman" .

In "Running Out of Time" the image of the two protagonists is very clear, so he decided not to add any changes . As long as the actors can successfully do their role, no matter from which scene he began shooting he wouldn't have any problems . So Eric decided to start from the simplest to the most complex .

---- ----

In an examination room, Cruise who plays Andy learned that his condition has gotten worse, so as he slowly wore his clothes he asked the doctor .

"How long?"

"Four weeks, if you start bleeding, you will die at any time . " The fat doctor who was sitting behind a desk replied with a hoa.r.s.e voice .

Andy didn't stop dressing when he heard the bad news, and after he fastened his belt, he handed a dozen banknotes to the doctor and said: "It does not matter, just give me four weeks of painkillers . "

Taking the bottle of painkillers, Andy put on his coat and decided to leave, as he opened the door the doctor who seemed sad said: "I don't think we'll meet again . "

"Maybe in the next life," Andy calmly replied .

"Pause!"

This scene was completely finished, when Eric shouted pause, he didn't say 'good' which means that something wasn't right, sitting behind the monitor, a slight frown appeared on his face as he was thinking about something . Although he has been discharged from the hospital, Eric still had bandages wrapped around him, and he will occasionally get a headache, but after getting inspected several times, the doctor found no problems, so he wasn't nervous about it .

Cruise acting was perfect, so Eric can easily combine the footage from this scene to the footage of Andy's on the rooftop, and with some montage to slow some shots, he was sure this part of the film can achieve the desired result .

The staff who worked with him several times in other movies, have a tactical understanding not to disturb Eric once he gets caught in thinking, so they all started cautiously sorting the instruments without making any noise, waiting patiently for Eric to recover .

But after waiting for a minute Cruise got impatient, he felt that there was nothing wrong with his performance, and he really didn't mind repeating this scene several times, but this silence was driving him crazy .

"Hey, Eric, how was that shot, do you need me to do it again?" Cruise finally could not help but walk to Eric side, and gently say to him

Eric who quickly come back to himself, raised and said to Cruise: "Sorry, Tom, I was thinking about something, so I got distracted . "

"It doesn't matter," Cruise showed a generous smile: "How was to shot, do you need me to start over?"

"I'm afraid we'll have to do it again," Eric answered, "Can you wait for a moment?"

Shrugging Cruise retreated, and watched as Eric called the light engineer and ordered him to do something, then a few moments later all the lights in the studio began to dim, Eric who was staring at the monitor, and only told the light-engineer to stop when he was satisfied with the tuning .

---- ----

"OK, everyone ready, let's do it again," Eric shouted .

A moment later, with everyone in his place, they started shooting again .

Eric carefully stared at the monitor, this picture of Andy and the doctors was perfect, much better than the one at the start .

This scene is used to ill.u.s.trate the status of Andy and why he was in a hurry, Eric was gonna combine this shot with the shot on the roof to demonstrate to the audience that this was a memory, and create a misunderstanding in the mind of the audience that Andy was gonna commit suicide by jumping from the roof top, and in the montage he was gonna make it look like this was a flashback .

Since this scene was gonna be used as a flashback, Eric felt the original lighting in the original film was too bright, the light was exactly the same as the light in the sunny rooftop, so this scene wasn't able to give the audience a sense of difference, so the effect was much worse .

Eric wasn't going to just remake the film while making the same mistakes, he was going to add his own touch . Johnnie To used the same light tricks John Woo used in his films, but unfortunately, he wasn't a master in using light and color like John Woo,

Solving the light problem, Eric began focusing on Cruise performance, although this small scene doesn't require too much acting, he wouldn't let things slide . If Cruise performance can bring unexpected surprises, then he will be happy, and if not, then he wouldn't hesitate to make him do it again until he meets his personal standards .

Eric didn't care if Tom Cruise gets any award nominations for his performance, and he also didn't care if this film gets any awards, all Eric cares about at this point in time is the film box office .

As for the Oscar he promised Cruise, he really doesn't know if he can win it, he only told him he can win the Oscar, so he agrees to dress as a woman, and he really didn't feel guilty about tricking him . All directors, producers, actors, want to win the award but most of them don't . So that's why he is more concerned about the movie box office, after all, he is still young, he can still win it in the future, and for now, he will focus on making more money .

The theme of "Running Out of Time" is certainly novel, Only G.o.d knows if this film can get the attention of the Oscar judges? . In his past life, Andy Lau was able to win the Hong Kong Film Award for the Best Actor for his role in "Running Out of Time", but if you think about it, public relations probably helped a lot . Plus, in 1999 the Hong Kong Film Awards has been in full decline, so not many excellent films were competing for the awards .

---- ----

After repeating the shot for three times, Eric finally gave his approval, and the crew began moving to another room in the studio, this process took more than half an hour . When making a movie the time spent by actors in front of the camera is really short, most of the time is used to set the layout of the scenes .

Most of the scenes filmed in the first two days are Cruise's one-man show, he completed the scenes where he talks to 'Sean' the character played by Tom Hanks on the phone, as well as the scene where he dresses as a woman, as well as other scenes .

Although he had the entire original film in his mind, Eric still chose to design some new scenes himself, So that when the time for post-production comes he will have enough material, After all, this is a brand new Hollywood movie, he will have to add some changes .

According to the shooting schedule, this process will last three days, in the Fourth days Hanks and the other come to the studio . Eric was looking forward to the moment Tom Cruise and Tom Hanksinteract and show their acting skills on the screen . Because, in his past life, the two superstars have never worked together on the same project .

Unlike in his past works, Eric has plenty of time to shoot the film, so on the fourth day Eric told the whole crew to pack up and leave after only eight hours of work, and told the deputy director to take the good film rolls to the editing room, and hurriedly left . In addition to shooting "Running Out of Time", he has other things to do .

The initial casting work for "The Others" and "Scent of a Woman" has been completed, but he still needs to attend the final selection process . Moreover, he also needs to keep an eye on the shooting progress of "Steel Magnolias" far away in Louisiana .

Herbert Ross has been filming "Steel Magnolias" for a month now, but he was very slow . In this month he only completed less than half of the film, and he will probably spend another month to finish filming, and at least another month for Post production .

Moreover, the film may even face the risk of overspending, Eric was hoping this will happen, because Firefly isn't the only investor in "Steel Magnolias", Herbert Ross also invested three million dollars .

So Eric didn't mind spending another two million in the film, which will allow him to expand the shares of the Firefly, he was just waiting for Herbert Ross to ask .

---- ----

"Hi, Eric, is your head all right?"

Back to the Firefly's office, Eric found that Jonathan Demme was already in his office waiting for him, he could see the fatigue on Jonathan's face, but his voice was still full of energy .

thanks for your concern, I'm much better now, did you bring the information with you?"

"Here, I did what you said, and screened out the actors to a small list, that was exhausting . " Jonathan smiled and said .

He's really had the hardest job these days, even though "The Others" only need two child actors, but because Eric was the one who wrote the script, Firefly received more than five thousand resumes .

Many of the resumes sent to the Fireflies showed that the children didn't have any acting experience . Because the parents who sent their children's resumes had the illusion? That their child can be the next Stuart Runkle .

Some unscrupulous parents even deliberately fabricated their child resume, saying that their child was a guest actor in a certain movie or TV series, so the staff had to spend a lot of time confirming the authenticity of these resumes .

So identifying the small actors who had potentials, was harder than they imagined .

Eric didn't want to rely on his past life memories to directly find the children who had potentials .

Although he can remember everything from his past life, he still can't remember a thing he didn't know, like the names of all the actors he saw in his past life, he can still remember their faces but other than the names of the big stars he didn't pay attention to the others .

He thought about telling the staff the names of the famous Hollywood star of the future, but he soon gave up on this idea .

---- ----

The files Jonathan handed him, include not only the resumes of the child actors that pa.s.sed the audition, but also the list of the actors who will play the roles of the three servants and the husband .

Although for those minor supporting roles, Eric gave Jonathan the authority to decided, Jonathan still wanted Eric to see if they were right .

The first file he opened was the file which has the child actors information, glancing at the list of the little boys, Eric was surprised to see the name of Macaulay Culkin, as for the other boys he didn't know any one of them .

Reading Macaulay Culkin information, he found that although "Home Alone" isn't on his resume, the boy still has acting experience in two films "Rocket Gibraltar" and "Uncle Buck", which explains why he appeared on the list . Seeing Eric go directly to Culkin's resume, Jonathan asked curiously: "Eric, do you fancy the boy?"

Shaking his head, Eric said: "No, he should be eliminated . "

"Well, I think, the boy called Macaulay Culkin is one of the best child actors I have ever seen . . . . . . "

Eric couldn't tell Jonathan, that he doesn't want Macaulay to become as famous as his past life, although "The Others" can't bring him as much fame as "Home Alone", he will certainly get a lot of attention .

Keeping that little boy out of the spotlight is for the best, at least until he became an adult, then he can choose his own way .

He didn't want history to repeat itself because if the little boy became famous, he was sure the boy parents will certainly destroy the poor little boy like they did in his past life .

"Jonathan, you forgot that in "The Others" the boy character is very somber, now look at the picture of this little boy, don't you feel he is very clever . "

Looking at the picture, Jonathan quickly admitted his mistake: "uhh, I really overlooked that . "

Eric smiled and continued looking at the remaining child actors, but suddenly he looked up and stared at Jonathan Demme who was sitting opposite him: "Jonathan, do you know any of these kids?"

Jonathan Demme face became slightly flushed, after stammering a little, he finally nodded and drew out a boy's information: "This . . . . . . This is Brian Beck the son of a friend I worked with, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done this, but I swear, I carefully interviewed the boy, and I can guaranty that he has the qualification to be on the list . "

Jonathan was going to throw the resume in the trash bin, but Eric quickly stopped him, and took back the resume, after carefully reading all the information, Eric said: "Jonathan, give him the role . "

"I'm really sorry, I didn't . . . . . . huh, what did you say?" Jonathan who was going to apologize looked at Eric in wonder .

Eric smiled and said: "I mean, if he is good, then it's okay . You know I don't have the time to interview all of them, plus, I believe you won't treat this film as a joke, right?"

"Of course, " Jonathan nodded in affirmation, he know this was his last chance . If this movie succeeds, then he will have a bright future in Hollywood . But if the film fails, then he will have to find another job .

"So, is there anyone else?" Eric asked again .

This time Jonathan firmly shook his head: "Absolutely not, Eric, all the remaining actors have nothing to do with me . "

Eric decided to do Jonathan this little favor on the spur of the moment, only because he thought that Jonathan Demme has potentials because in his past life the guy didn't only direct "The Silence of the Lambs" he also directed "Philadelphia" the film that got Tom Hanks his first Oscar .

Now that the child actor was identified, Eric found that there was no need to look at the rest, so he quickly switched to the little girl's list .

The first two names he saw were Kirsten Dunst and Sarah Mich.e.l.le Gellar .