Chapter 317: A Chill Down the Spine

In the dimly lit room, where silence reigned supreme, Murphy and the others hid in the corner, with the camera lens focused on James Franco. A fiery and passionate girl was on top of him, kissing him wildly, much like a goat in heat.

"Cut!" Murphy called a halt. "This take is good."

James Franco stepped back and sat on the sofa. Jack Watson went over to touch up his makeup, while his assistant approached Amanda Seyfried, applying makeup to the not-yet-twenty-year-old girl.

"Good job, Amanda," Murphy gave a thumbs up in her direction.

This was his usual style, always more inclined to praise actors than criticize them, especially the younger ones. As long as their performance wasn't too bad, he'd help them build confidence.

Amanda Seyfried's performance was quite commendable among girls her age. In quiet moments, she had a way of moving the audience with a sense of pitiable vulnerability. When the role demanded craziness, she exuded an irresistible sexiness and allure.

Just like the split personality of the character itself, Murphy ultimately chose Amanda Seyfried for the role, aiming to divide the audience with her performance.

He enjoyed this method of character introduction. Amanda Seyfried's character, like a werewolf, stealthily advanced from the back door and pounced on Nick Dunn, who was clearly not too resistant.

When initially searching for an actress to play Amy, Murphy was clear about wanting someone who could instantly divide the audience. Like wielding a great sword to split the theater in two—women would cross their arms in disgust, leaning back in their seats muttering, "He's really something," while men, stroking their chins and leaning forward, would respond, "Yeah. But, it's understandable."

During the auditions, Amanda Seyfried demonstrated this capability, and the scene just filmed proved she had it in her. She managed to make people understand Nick Dunn's reasons for infidelity, yet also feel that his actions were utterly reprehensible, deserving severe punishment.

This character might seem simple, but mastering it was not easy. Murphy provided ample guidance to Amanda Seyfried. The creation of a successful character is often the result of joint efforts between the actor and director.

Film, being a comprehensive art form, inevitably goes through a long process of adjustments, debates, and sparks of creativity. The director shapes the actors; the actors inspire the director, sometimes changing the director's original intent with their charm and energy, leading to unexpectedly better results. And the director might further refine the material in post-production.

In a film, the scriptwriter is the soul, the actors are the soul, and the director is also the soul. Classic films are the result of these souls tirelessly gnawing with intelligence and blood.

In this process, no link can be missing.

After filming scenes involving Amanda Seyfried, Murphy took the entire crew outside the town to start filming scenes where Amy's fans form a search party to look for her.

Filming was conducted during the "Golden Hour," also known as "Magic Hour." This term underscores the precious and magical moments of this time period. It's brief, predominantly golden in color, and usually takes place just after sunrise or before sunset.

When the sun is near the horizon, the light becomes warmer and richer. The atmosphere absorbs most of the blue light, leaving the warmer components of the spectrum, showcasing the charm of golden light.

The golden hour's light, with its golden hue, can transform ordinary scenes into something extraordinary. Unlike the warm yellow of artificial lighting under daylight lamps, the natural light outdoors during golden hour is warm, soft, and has depth. With the sun just above the horizon, shadows are longer and more profound, adding many possibilities for shooting.

However, Murphy and the crew had to prepare extensively for this.

The golden hour is brief, and Murphy would arrive at the location several hours in advance with the crew to set up everything, thus avoiding many potential mistakes. If it couldn't be completed in one go and there were multiple takes, it would waste a lot of time.

During shooting, he had Phil Raschel shoot the search party against the light using wide-angle lenses. The lighting conditions during the golden hour could make any scene look stunningly beautiful, enhancing details and creating layers. Using close-ups or telephoto lenses, however, would obscure the advantages of the golden hour.

Throughout the filming, Murphy coordinated everything, rarely involving himself directly in the tasks anymore.

Directors are different from cinematographers, lighting technicians, art directors, and editors. They need to consider aspects from storytelling, scheduling, and editing, to actors, set design, sound recording, and scoring, requiring knowledge and skills in each specific trade and extending to aesthetic expressions to fulfill the director's personal taste, political views, and worldview.

Murphy, as a director, not only possessed the ability to control details but also had the comprehensive ability to oversee storytelling, scheduling, editing, actors, set design, sound recording, and scoring.

After filming the search party scenes, the crew left the small town and moved to a nearby lakeside villa area to shoot scenes where Amy is imprisoned by her ex-lover, Collins.

Here, Murphy filmed many explicit scenes, including Charlize Theron using a wine bottle in a very graphic manner, along with numerous nude shots.

This was destined to be an R-rated film, something Murphy was very clear about. So, early in the contract signing, it was specified that there would be nudity involved for both male and female actors. James Franco and Charlize Theron were not issues in this regard.

Charlize Theron, having acted in films with nude scenes before, was no stranger to this.

One of the most important scenes was Amy fabricating evidence to frame Collins for her kidnapping, before killing him.

Murphy polished many of the lines in this scene to minimize logical flaws. For instance, when Amy enters, Collins tells her that he had just activated the surveillance system, primarily focusing on the exterior and the vicinity of the front door, rather than the interior.

No one likes living under surveillance, even someone with strong controlling tendencies like Collins.

As for how Amy, despite being bound, managed to get ahold of a box cutter, Murphy intentionally left this plot hole. It was meant to be shown to the audience, corresponding with later anti-Hollywood sentiments and blatant critiques of the media.

This part of the film was deliberately exaggerated.

From the start, Murphy didn't intend for this segment to be very realistic. Instead, he wanted Amy's captivity and subsequent revenge to be exaggerated to the point of incredibility, with even more bizarre developments to follow. Yet, he enjoyed the filming process.

This wasn't about two people coexisting sweetly; it was about one achieving their desires at the expense of the other becoming a sacrificial lamb. This scene was more troublesome to shoot than expected, not because of its content, but due to cleanup issues.

Murphy spent two days filming, changing wardrobes, beddings, and pillows over thirty times, because each retake required replacing all props stained with fake blood.

"Having someone butchered like a lamb during intercourse is despicable, but it's necessary for someone to do it."

Gal Gadot, visiting the set, stood near the director's monitor, watching the freshly shot footage with Murphy. Perhaps due to the recent stress, Murphy was more talkative, "Amy is attempting to use these recordings to fabricate a new incident,

 adding to her list of victimizations. So, she messes up his hair, rips his shirt, makes his mouth bleed, and of course, she lets him have one last moment before sending him off."

However, from the footage, only the blood could be seen; Collins' severed windpipe would need to be added in post-production.

Gal Gadot, having read the script, curiously asked, "Does slicing the windpipe lead to instant death?"

"That's one of the reasons Amy lets him have one last moment. After vigorous activity, blood circulation speeds up."

Thinking further, Murphy added, "In prison, if you want to kill someone, it's often done on the yard because after intense exercise, the heart pumps faster. If you injure a major artery then, death comes within seconds, and by the time help arrives, it's already too late."

Hearing this, Gal Gadot suddenly felt a pang of sorrow, drawing closer to Murphy and embracing him. Only she knew that in the dead of night, Murphy was often awakened by nightmares, with memories from his time in prison having a profound impact on him.

"It's okay." Murphy could feel Gal Gadot's concern, and without minding the set around them, he gently kissed her and continued the topic, "Amy's character is a highly educated Harvard graduate, well aware of this fact, so this dramatic handling fits her psychopathic nature."

Every time Gal Gadot saw this character, she felt a chill down her spine. If such women existed in the real world, it would be terrifying indeed.

To be frank, she was never a fan of Murphy's films. His works did not suit her taste, and this one was a prime example.

This was a script that left her feeling suffocated because, in the end, there was no proper catharsis. Was Amy brought to justice? No. Did Nick expose her? No. Their marriage ended up more suffocating than at the beginning, locked up tighter than ever.

At least initially, although they resented each other, there was still a possibility of divorce. Now, they had to feign harmony while harboring hatred, a performance for others, which was more torturous than a death sentence.

Gal Gadot's eyes shifted back to Murphy, "This guy always likes to delve into the darker aspects of human nature."

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