Chapter 135: The D-Lister

[Chapter 135: The D-Lister]

Eric returned to his spot, and two minutes later, shooting resumed.

This scene, which featured the main characters, lasted over three minutes, but it was impossible to film in one go. Eric divided the three minutes into seven shots, each lasting less than thirty seconds, and he aimed for perfection with each shot. As a result, the number of takes far exceeded those of the other scenes filmed in recent days.

Cruise and Hanks gradually seemed to realize something, holding themselves to increasingly high standards. By the end, it was clear they were competing with each other. Sometimes, when Eric felt a take was good enough, Cruise or Hanks would point out flaws in their performances, insisting on redoing the shots.

Eric welcomed this situation. Who knew when these two superstars would collaborate again? Perhaps this would be their last chance. Therefore, Eric wanted to capture a perfect scene between them for this movie.

"Cut..."

After another take that didn't work, Eric glanced at his watch. From the last shot to now, over an hour had passed, and they had only completed five of the seven crucial three-minutes' scenes. The last two, particularly the important minute-long persuasion from Andy, had not yet been filmed.

However, it was time to wrap up. Watching Cruise and Hanks still sparking with energy, along with Joe Pesci, who had been waiting to play the detective, Eric reminded them, "It's quitting time, fellas."

When Eric spoke, he looked at Cruise and Hanks with anticipation. Deep down, he had no aversion to overtime; he hoped the two would voluntarily propose to stick around and finish those scenes.

But upon hearing his words, the previously eager Cruise and Hanks immediately broke character, stood up, shook hands with each other, their expressions revealing a sense of camaraderie, then greeted Eric before they began packing up to leave, with no thoughts of overtime in mind.

Eric sighed in frustration and shrugged his shoulders, declaring the end of the day's shooting.

...

Finally, Eric found a moment to walk over to Joe Pesci. "Sorry, Joe, for making you wait for an hour."

Joe shook his head dismissively in his distinctive voice. "No problem, Eric. I just watched an hour of absolutely amazing performances. Now I'm a bit worried my performance might not measure up."

"You really don't need to worry about that. If anything, I'd say it's Tom Hanks who should be worried about. I imagine he might be upstaged by the character you play. Your lines and physical comedy are just too funny."

"That's true, but I've never starred in a comedy before. You know, the roles I did before, including my recent one, weren't comedies."

"Joe, I honestly think you'd be perfect for comedy. Maybe after this film, you'll realize you have a knack for it. To be honest, when I was shooting Home Aloen, I thought the older, bumbling thief Harry was meant for you."

Joe blinked in surprise. He suspected Eric had no reason to mislead him; after all, this was shaping up to be a box office hit, likely crossing the $300 million mark.

"Well, why not...?" Joe expressed his disappointment with a vague gesture, fully aware of what missing out meant.

Eric understood; he raised his hands in a helpless shrug. "Because at that time, I couldn't afford you. The budget was too tight."

"Well, maybe... you could have tried to invite me anyway," Joe said.

"You know that wasn't possible. If I'd offered you $20,000 for the role, you'd have turned it down without a second thought."

Joe recognized the truth in Eric's words. He was not an exceptionally well-known actor, but he had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Unless he had been able to foresee the future, accepting $20,000 would have been a stretch. He shook his head and said, "That's... really unfortunate."

"Alright, enough about that. We already have a chance to work together now," Eric reassured him.

"Honestly, Eric, bringing this up makes it hard for me to sleep tonight. I can't believe I missed such a great opportunity."

"Everyone misses thousands of opportunities in life, so it's not a big deal. Go home, wash your face, brush your teeth, take a bath, and maybe have a drink or two. Get some sleep, and you'll forget about it." Eric patted Joe Pesci on the shoulder in comfort.

"How could I forget?" Joe rolled his eyes playfully at Eric before shaking his head again. "Forget it, I'll head back. This is just...."

Seeing Joe Pesci leave with a disappointed expression, Eric began to regret mentioning the news to him. He had only wanted to bond a bit with Joe.

Hopefully, Joe wouldn't turn into a broken record over the next few days, repeatedly lamenting "I can't believe I missed that."

...

After making sure everything was in order, Eric was ready to leave when he spotted director Martin Brest at the studio entrance, flanked by an assistant carrying a thick stack of file folders.

Eric took one look and knew what was inside. After exchanging pleasantries, he asked, "Martin, weren't you supposed to finalize the shortlist the day after tomorrow? How come it's ready so quickly?"

"Sorry, Eric. We had planned for the day after tomorrow, but due to various reasons, we finalized it two days early. Al wanted to start the shoot as soon as possible, so I had to wait for you here."

"Where's Al?" Eric asked curiously.

Martin explained, "Al has already started getting into character. He's been adjusting to the lifestyle of a blind person and specifically asked me not to disturb him."

Eric nodded in understanding and then pointed to a Passat parked not far from Martin. "Is that your car?"

Martin nodded.

"Let's talk in the car, then. I need to head to Malibu; could you drop me off?"

"Of course, no problem."

They all climbed into the car, and Eric announced the address. Martin's assistant started the engine.

In the back seat, Eric opened the vital shortlist for one of the main roles, the teenage Charlie Simmons.

Martin explained, "Eric, these are all young talent chosen through two rounds of auditions. Since there are many teenage roles, we have a total of thirty candidates. Once you select the actor for Charlie Simmons, we can find a series of classmates from the remaining candidates."

"Sure," Eric said, pulling out the thick stack of materials before casually asking, "By the way, how's that Gabrielle Anwar I introduced?"

Martin, sensing a potential connection between Eric and the petite girl, gave a detailed explanation. "Once her role was confirmed, she returned to England for a bit but came back quickly and is currently staying at a hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. By the way, she visited you while you were unconscious that day. Do you need the address of her hotel?"

"No, that's alright," Eric said, just making casual conversation as he scanned the list, noticing it was arranged alphabetically by last names. He immediately spotted two Hollywood A-listers whose names both started with the letter D.

*****

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