Chapter 203: The Intense Effect

"Your acting talent?" Murphy frowned, as Margaret leaned forward, turning her face to look at Murphy with great eagerness to know his answer, "Yes, yes, how about my acting talent?"

"Sorry, Maggie," Murphy shook his head without hesitation, "I don't see anything like acting talent in you."

"What?" Margaret's voice immediately rose, "I have no acting talent? How is that possible?"

She didn't believe Murphy's words, "I've never been exposed to acting before. Today was just my first few attempts, and you already passed me!"

"Because my expectations for you were very low!" Murphy spoke the truth, "Maggie, you've never been exposed to acting, many emotions are not properly expressed, including the last one, I passed you because the film's requirements for this role are not strict."

"Really?" Margaret was somewhat disappointed.

Murphy nodded seriously, "You have good psychological quality, not nervous, not stage-frightened, I can give you ten points for that aspect, but when it comes to acting talent, you only have a normal level of sixty points."

He might be wrong, but the likelihood of this estimate was still high.

Margaret returned to her seat, somewhat dejected, "I was thinking, if I couldn't become a female knight, becoming an actress wouldn't be bad either."

"Being not talented doesn't mean you can't be an actress," Murphy casually comforted, "As long as the opportunity is good, you can still be successful."

"Ah, forget it," Margaret waved her hand, "Let's wait until I grow up a bit more."

In the following shooting, Margaret officially became the actress for young Nancy. David-Robbie approached Bill-Rossis, asking him to temporarily act as Margaret's agent and signed an official actor contract with the crew.

Just as Murphy said, Margaret's acting talent was mediocre. Her performance during the shooting was not particularly good, but young Nancy's role was limited, and the requirements were not that high. As long as she didn't get as nervous as Nikki-Milton, who couldn't control herself and cried out loud, even if some emotions were not properly expressed, she could still pass.

After shooting young Nancy's role, James-Franco, who played Dwight, also joined. Because of Murphy's appearance, James-Franco's acting career underwent significant changes, the biggest of which was that he didn't play the Green Goblin in "Spider-Man" but continued to struggle in independent films with Murphy and a few close friends.

In the film, the three most important male roles were all different, crafted as if tailor-made. James-Franco's Dwight had the least monologue, perfectly fitting the character's cool demeanor.

During shooting, each character's design was also uniquely distinctive, each with a clear feature that differentiated them from others, while also showcasing the character's personality traits, such as Marv's strange face, Dwight's red sports car, and Hartigan's forehead scar, among others.

However, the most eye-catching character was the "Yellow Bastard", a high-profile figure in the city. The bishop dominated the city through controlling the church, and his brother was a senator, their family power was so strong that they could make their only child, the Yellow Bastard, the President of the United States. In such a situation, the so-called state machinery had no justice to speak of, with police and gangs essentially no different.

When the Yellow Bastard repeatedly raped and killed little girls, except for Hartigan, a soon-to-retire policeman with a heart condition who decided to eliminate the menace, other policemen ignored it, and Hartigan's assistant even shot at him. After Hartigan was seriously injured and saved young Nancy, the Yellow Bastard's predecessor, Roark, used his power to convict Hartigan of raping a minor.

Meanwhile, a special effects team formed by three studios entered the Disney studio, specifically responsible for processing the shots Murphy had already filmed, with color grading being one of the most important tasks.

Murphy's shots were all in color, and to achieve the comic's black-and-white style, extensive color processing was necessary.

During his spare time, Murphy also communicated frequently with the special effects team, promptly reviewing their work.

For "Sin City"'s shooting and production plan, the use of color was undoubtedly an element Murphy valued highly.

The movie's scene color tone and style would differ, one for narrative needs, the other for visual style needs, often with significant differences between them.

Murphy demanded a strong contrast of black and white, along with shot composition and lighting angles, many shots could be appreciated as individual comic frames, especially the use of black in the film, which needed to be richly layered to reveal "Sin City"'s true face, achieving a visual quality that color films could not.

Moreover, the movie's advantage in action scenes and ease of color use far surpassed the comic aspects, directly delivering visually intense effects.

"Most of the time, the shots are in black and white, only the splashing blood is bright and shocking, making the characters' blood-covered faces particularly striking."

In the special effects studio, Murphy explained the basic color adjustment concept to the special effects personnel, "This persistent black and white contrast... No, in fact, there's also the extreme rendering of red, yellow, and green. Whether it's the blood-red sky, the golden monsters, or the emerald green of a beauty's eyes, in a world of black, gray, and white, they appear even more imposing!"

Besides completely matching the comic's dual-colored world, the movie also brought effects unseen in the comics—maintaining visual impact while moderately reducing the negative effects of violence and gore for the audience, even making some gory scenes appear quite humorous, making the film more likely to pass the MPAA's R rating.

The overall shooting pace wasn't fast, Murphy always firmly controlled the crew's rhythm. Since the color-graded shots almost recreated the comic scenes, Frank-Miller, serving as another director, didn't hinder the shooting. Though the crew was large, it was relatively united, working together towards the same goal and direction.

January 2003 passed like this, Murphy gave the crew a three-day break, and David-Robbie also took a few days off, spending some time touring Los Angeles with Margaret before sending her back to Australia.

Entering February, the shooting continued busily, with more actors joining the crew, such as Mei Hui played by Violet-Zhang and Gail played by Rosario-Dawson, along with more actresses forming Sin City's red-light district.

The crew also began shooting more action scenes, Murphy not only used a lot of high-speed slow motion but also appropriately shot some fast action scenes, creating a strong contrast between fast and slow action scenes.

However, it was difficult to discern much from the shots themselves, as these depended more on post-production effects.

For a continuous week, Disney studio's stage three was filled with women in sexy leather outfits, armed with guns or whips, an absolute drool-worthy sight according to the comic's setting, where the women's clothing could not be shorter or scantier.

As Murphy had said before, he not only did not oppose the exposure that could stir audience emotions but also strongly supported it.

During breaks, these actresses, dressed sexily in front of the camera, were also a private topic of discussion among the crew.

"I swear, Downey

, I definitely didn't see it wrong!"

During lunch break, a few people gathered in Murphy's director's office. Jonah Hill declared emphatically, "The night before last, after the crew wrapped up, you entered Rosario's makeup room and stayed there for at least twenty minutes!"

James Franco fetched mineral water from the cabinet, tossing a bottle each to Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Seth Rogen, and Jonah Hill, and commented, "Really, Downey? That's quite the preference you have!"

Robert Downey Jr. didn't deny it, arching an eyebrow, "Jim, am I as adventurous as you?"

Hearing this, the three of them burst into laughter, with Jonah Hill curiously asking James Franco about his progress with Lily...

"Guys," Murphy said, opening a bottle of mineral water and taking a sip, warning the few mischief-makers, "Don't mess around during work hours."

"Don't worry, Murphy," Robert Downey Jr. shouted, "We're all staunch supporters of yours."

"Exactly!" Jonah Hill chimed in, "Even if we were to mess around, it would be after hours."

He turned to Seth Rogen, "You have a thing for Asian chicks, right? How about Zhang?"

Seth Rogen touched his nose, "She's alright."

"Better not set your sights on her," Robert Downey Jr. warned, "Her suitor is Avi Arad, deeply entwined with Hollywood's Jewish community."

James Franco added, "We better not mess with those Jewish guys; we're not in a position to do so."

"I'm not that foolish," Seth Rogen defended himself, "Zhang's not my type. I prefer Asian chicks with deep eye sockets and small noses..."

After some idle talk, James Franco mentioned, "Did you guys hear? The finalists for this year's Miss Universe have arrived in Malibu for training and promotion. If we have time, we should check it out."

Murphy recalled the party where he persuaded Frank Miller, asking, "When is the competition?"

"Interested?" James Franco thought for a moment, "If I remember correctly, it's soon, just a few months away."

The five agreed that if they were available, they would go watch the Miss Universe contest together.

As time went on, the crew's shooting reached the final stages, with Jessica Alba also entering the Disney studio.

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