Chapter 8: A Bold Lady
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Every director must have his own authority on set, even if it was a commercial film where everything was up to its investors. Unless the producer was an idiot, or the director was too presumptuous, a producer would always protect the director’s authority on set as it would affect the progress of the film. If a director could not direct with ease, the film would be a disaster.
As such, every director also had their own way to declare authority. For example, James Cameron from ‘Terminator 2’ liked to yell on set, hence he was called a set tyrant by others. Nevertheless, this was not how Adrian did it, because he preferred belittling those who made mistakes through words, but this method was more suitable for those who had been working with him for a long time.
Those with experience would know how he reacted to different situations, but since the current workers were temporarily gathered, they might cause the opposite effect if they were to say something wrong. During those times, they needed someone to mediate the dispute, and Dennis was the one who played the role.
It was worth noting that Dennis was good at taking hints. Adrian did not notice when he first ridiculed the others on set, but Dennis took over the topic in time and managed to comfort those people skillfully. From then on, whenever there was a need to resolve matters or to comfort others, he also handled them perfectly.
“You know, it’s a waiter’s job to watch a person’s mood, and there’s a set procedure for us to handle a customer’s dissatisfaction. We must play along until the customer calms down before we defend ourselves,” Dennis explained.
With that, Adrian became more fond of him and was considering making him famous, but it was not the time yet because he had more important things to take care of at the moment.
“Joseph! Where are you! Where’s the person I asked for!” Adrian shouted angrily. Before long, a person who was catching his breath arrived. “I’m here, Mr. Adrian, I’m here.”
The thin man who hurried over was followed by a roughly 20-year-old lady who was 5-feet 5-inches tall. The lady kept looking around curiously.
“I… I found the person you asked for, Mr. Adrian.” Joseph wiped the sweat off his forehead, then pulled the young lady over to introduce her, “This is…”
“This is the actress I asked for, Joseph? This is it?” Adrian glanced at the lady, then tried his best to suppress his anger as he questioned, “Do you actually know the kind of actress I need, Joseph?! Look at her, look! I need a thin lady who looks sick, but who did you find? A person with messy short hair who looks like she has never cleaned herself up. Don’t tell me that she’s actually a male!”
“Mr. A… Adrian, I can explain…” Joseph quickly waved his hands.
“There’s nothing to explain, Joseph. How many times have you done this already?” Adrian looked at him sternly. “I won’t talk about the past, but we discussed the actress a few days ago—even though her character won’t have many scenes—you kept dragging it! Did you think that you could finish your task by finding a random person on the streets?!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Adrian, I was…” The poor assistant looked like he was about to cry.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Director, can I say a few words?” A clear voice was heard, and the British accent was pleasing to the ear, but the person who spoke was extremely frustrated.
“I regret to inform you that I won’t let an inexperienced person play this role, young lady. If you were thinking of giving this a shot because you’re curious, you may leave,” Adrian said mercilessly.
“I must say, Mr. Director, you’re not a gentleman at all!” The lady mocked. “I won’t mention the slandering about my gender, but I really want to know how you concluded that I’m inexperienced.”
Adrian gulped a little as he was stared by a pair of bright brown eyes, but he was not going to admit fault. He quickly asked her back, “How are you going to prove your experience, young lady?!”
“Yes, I may have been dragged by Mr. Joseph off the street, but that doesn’t mean anything. My parents are outstanding and famous performers, so I can say that I was born into a family of performing arts, and I have also played many characters in my school’s drama club—of course, you don’t need to know, Mr. Director.”
The onlookers on set laughed softly until Adrian turned to glare at them. He was about to rebut when the lady spoke again, “But you’ll definitely say that it doesn’t mean anything. After all, plays and films are different, just like how theory and practice are different. But the problem is—you won’t even let me try, so how can you deny my capabilities so casually? Oh, yes, you have the authority to, even if it means that you’re not going to be fair and just.”
Adrian’s face slowly turned dark as he did not expect the sharp-tongued lady would publicly talk to him in that manner. ‘It took me a very long time to… Alright, since I don’t have other options now, I’ll let you see what’s fair and just!’
“Virgil, come over and do her makeup. We’ll try two shots after.” After staring at the lady for a long time, he turned to call for the makeup artist.
The young lady was obviously relieved, but she quickly lifted her chin up again when Adrian turned his head. Unfortunately, he did not look at her as he was walking toward the camera. The lady pouted her lips, then swung her fists behind his back before following Virgil for her makeup.
“Alright, you’ve got the role now—” Adrian took a look at the signature on the contract. “Ms. Katherin Beckinsell, I believe that Joseph told you the details, and I’m sure that you have no further questions?”
“Yes, Mr. Director… I’ll do my best.” Katherin wanted to ask for Adrian’s name, but she quickly got rid of that thought when she saw his expressionless face. She later stuck her well-developed chest out. “You won’t regret this, Sir.”
“I hope so,” Adrian simply answered, then turned to direct the others to finish the remaining shoot. On the other hand, the lady shrugged and sat down to read her thin script. She did not notice Adrian curling his lips.
Once the crew was done building the drug dealers’ den, Adrian made a few simple shots on his own as usual, then eventually handed the task over to the cameraman. A few simple parts later, it was Ms. Katherin’s turn.
Being the only female character in the film, she did not have many parts and could finish shooting in three days if she were to do well. Katherin played the girlfriend of one of the drug dealers, who was constantly high because of weed. She laid on the couch, and needed support everywhere she went. Of course, though her character seemed like a useless one, she was going to make a shocking performance during a crucial time.
In fact, the seemingly simple parts required great performance skills, because a person who was unconscious from taking too much weed should not be laying on the couch with a blank expression. It would be normal for a new performer to cause continuous NG takes, especially when Adrian the director had bad intentions.
“Please tell me, Ms. Beckinsell, please. Do you look like an unconscious person from taking too much weed? Are you sure that you smoked too much weed, not because the corpus in your brain was suddenly cut off?” Adrian, who had shouted “cut” began questioning unforgivingly.
“I…” Katherin kept quiet after she uttered a single word because the same scenario happened ten times already. Even a fool could tell that he was targeting her.
“How many times have I told you, Ms. Beckinsell?” Adrian continued to deride her. “You must put yourself in the character’s shoes, then express your emotions with your body and language! Do you know how much film you’ve wasted because of the NG takes?! Yet you haven’t changed at all. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the law, I would actually make you smoke weed until you’re in that state!”
The whole set fell silent, such that only Adrian’s words echoed. Dennis, who would normally mediate the dispute, kept quiet as well because he knew what Adrian was doing. To put it simply, it was because of a director’s authority. Although Adrian was the boss, the producer, and the director, he was still new to this. More troubles would arise if he did not build his reputation. Initially, he was almost done with that, but the challenge from Mr. Katherin Beckinsell made things worse again. Therefore, it only made sense that Adrian went after her now.
Fortunately, Adrian had a good sense of propriety even though he was extremely unhappy. He finally stopped after a while, then announced that they were done for the day.
All of a sudden, the set became lively again. Katherin, who had lowered her head, let go of her fists and glared at Adrian hatefully before she helped to pack things up.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
