Chapter 235: Seattle
Eric hastily said goodbye to Anniston and the others, taking Nicole, Elizabeth, and the other staff members to the boarding gate. The ma.s.sive Boeing plane glided along the long runway and rushed into the clouds. After the plane steadied, Eric unbuckled his seatbelt and finally sighed with relief.
Elizabeth coldly snorted as she inadvertently glanced towards Eric, "This is the fate of greedy men, humph."
Eric did not want to discuss these things with Elizabeth, this little girl was obviously trying to stir things up, so whatever he said sounded like he was trying to provoke her, and the best thing to do was to remain silent.
The plane arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after four hours of flight. Looking out the window, the runway was wet and the sky was gloomy, obviously, it had just rained.
In comparison to Los Angeles"s more than 300 days of sunny weather per year, Seattle"s weather is practically the opposite extreme due to its temperate marine climate. Seattle is kept in a state of dampness all year round, even when it"s not raining, giving it a perpetually moist feeling. It is said that the line in the original screenplay, "It rains nine months of the year in Seattle," was a complaint from director Nora Ephron due to filming delays caused by rain during production.
With the flight attendant"s careful reminder, Eric and the others added an extra layer of clothing before disembarking the plane. However, as soon as they stepped out of the airport, they still felt a chill in the air.
In Los Angeles, the temperature in September can still reach 30 degrees occasionally, but here in Seattle it is already autumn chill. The temperature is only around 15 degrees.
"Hi, Eric." After Jeffrey saw Eric, he walked up and the two of them embraced.
After Eric greeted him, he let go of Jeffery and asked, "How"s it been in Seattle lately?"
"That"s too bad. I really don"t like the weather here," Jeffrey shook his head.
Eric smiled rea.s.suringly, "Just bear with it for a few more days, when I get things back on track here, you can go to New York."
"Let"s go, the car is outside," Jeffrey said, greeting the rest of the group. With everyone together, they left the airport and boarded a few business cars.
After a half-hour journey, the group arrived at the filming location of the movie in Seattle, Alki Beach. The beach is located on the southwest side of the city, about twenty kilometers from the city center. Because it is relatively remote, the living environment of the crew is also quite simple.
Elizabeth stood in her room, looking at the simple bedding and furniture in front of her with a face of terror, as well as the old-fashioned TV that looked like a little box. She complained to Eric, who had been dragged in by her, "Eric, is the budget of the drama team so tight now?"
"Of course not," Eric found the girl"s expression very amusing. Teasingly he said, "But it"s not to the extent of building a five-star hotel here just for the cast to stay."
"But, I..." The girl gestured disdainfully at everything in the room.
"Liz, you must understand that we are here to shoot a movie, not to enjoy ourselves. In order to save time, we must choose a place to live nearby. We can"t have the crew driving more than 20 kilometers from the city every day just for a better residence, right? This area within several kilometers is all residential. You can imagine how much traffic would be caused if people drive to the city for work every day. How much time would be wasted."
Elizabeth frowned and said, "But this place looks... so dirty."
"If you can"t stand it, you can go to the city and stay in a hotel. This nearby motel is still pretty good, you see. Look, there"s even a television." Eric smiled and pointed to the old television set with a wooden box-like sh.e.l.l. He was calculating whether he should take one of them home. This thing has been in existence for more than ten years and it will give people a feeling of postmodern literary style if it is placed in the house.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and gave Eric an expression of "Are you kidding me?".
Eric joked, patting the girl"s shoulder: "Liz, didn"t you say you wanted to become a producer? If you can"t even handle this, I suggest you give up now. When you make movies in the future, you will often encounter shooting environments even worse than this one, like camping in the wild. What will you do then?"
"Um..." The girl bit her lower lip and couldn"t help but ask, "Does everyone in the drama team stay in a place like this?"
"Of course," Eric said, "I"m in the room across from you, and Nicole is across from you. And a hotel can"t fit everyone, so I said this was the best one. The crew and prop master are staying in the one across the street, and it"s worse."
Elizabeth paused for a moment, then turned silently and dragged her suitcase inside.
After having lunch, Eric spent the whole afternoon to do a field inspection of the locations selected by Geoffrey and others. Later that evening, the crew had a simple opening party and the next day, 《Sleepless in Seattle》 officially started shooting.
"Hey, Victor, how"s it been hanging with Uncle Hans these days?" Eric crouched next to a seven or eight-year-old boy wearing a red jacket and a baseball cap as the crew laid down the camera track.
Viktor Morris, the little boy, looked up to his mother standing by his side and, after receiving encouragement, said, "Uncle Hans is a very nice person; he bought me lots of gifts." As he spoke, he pulled a tiny Transformer model out of his pocket and waved it in Eric"s direction, looking like Optimus Prime.
Eric smiled and said, "Okay, if you behave later, I"ll buy you a gift too. How about a full set of Transformers?"
The little boy looked at his mother again and then shook his head: "No, Director Sir, my mom said you already paid me for the movie, so even if there was no gift, I would still perform well."
Eric patted the boy on the head and exchanged a few words with the little one before standing up and asking Hans, "What do you think?"
"Victor is well-behaved and clever. I just don"t know if he has the spark you are looking for. To be honest, I think a boy would be the best fit for the role of Jonah."
Eric knew that Hank was referring to Stewart. But clearly this wasn"t very likely, even as a supporting role. Stewart"s fee was also in the million range, while the little boy in front of him was only paid one hundred thousand dollars. Firefly may not be short of money, but it wouldn"t make such an unnecessary waste. Although Jonah plays a very outstanding role, he is still a supporting role, and Sam and Annie are always the male and female protagonists.
"Just try a few times and it will be okay. The key to why I chose this boy in the first place is that he is obedient. The shooting time for 《Sleepless in Seattle》 is not very flexible, if we choose an unruly child actor, it may delay the shooting time which would be a disaster for the crew."
"Haha. I understand," Hank laughed.
The shooting track was quickly laid out and Eric had a brief conversation with the two people, then Hans took the little boy to the beach.
The first scene was simple; it was mainly a shot of Sam taking Johnny out for a boat ride and playing by the sea. Since it was all long shots, there were no acting requirements, so as long as Hans and the kid improvised, it was fine. Eric gave a few instructions to the cameraman and a.s.sistant director, letting them take as many shots as possible, before walking over to the nearby trailer.
The trailer door was open. Eric walked in directly, the makeup artist was doing makeup for Nicole, waiting for the shot of Hanks and the little guy playing. The lady would also start her first scene, that distant gaze of the father and son playing, and also the first conversation between Anne and Sam.
Although the male and female leads didn"t have any interaction until an hour into the movie, Eric was determined to put this scene at the start of filming.
"Mr. Williams," the two female makeup artists greeted him as soon as they saw Eric coming in.
"Keep going," Eric calmed Nicole who was about to stand up and walked behind the girl. He looked at the beautiful woman in the mirror.
A moment later, the skilled makeup brush had cleared Nicole"s face. The makeup artist then said to Eric: "Mr. Williams, does this look okay?"
Nicole also got up and stood in front of Eric, showing off with a twirl.
The girl was wearing a white blazer and skirt, with white high heels, and an oversized gray hooded windbreaker on the outside, exactly the same as Meg Ryan"s outfit in her memory. But despite their similar beauty, there was no connection between their personalities, and Eric wanted a silly and sweet female lead.
"Nicole, imagine you"re Anne Reid, and then laugh for me so I can see." Eric leaned against a table and said this to the girl.
Nicole mulled it over for a moment before puckering her lips and tilting her head to the side, innocently staring up at Eric. In an instant, a silly yet sweet vibe filled the atmosphere. Eric was taken aback for a second before giving a thumbs up and praising, "Very good, that"s what I"m talking about."
After Nicole received Eric"s approval, she quickly collected her expression and changed back to the tall and cold Nicole Kidman, looking at Eric, was waiting for his next orders.
Eric didn"t mind the changes in Nicole"s expressions as long as she was able to transition quickly during performances.
"Right, you should have gotten a sense of Anne"s way of walking too, right?"
"Of course," Nicole nodded, glanced around, picked up a sling bag slung over her shoulder that looked like it was about to fall off, and then sauntered out to the trailer with a gait that was completely different from her usual one.
"That"s amazing," Eric said again, praising Nicole"s performance which was far beyond his expectations.