Disabled Persons

Comments from the outside world are flying everywhere, and the crew led by Levi is also conducting its filming at this time.

At this moment, in front of the camera, in a room that looks quite elegant and quiet, an old man sitting in a wheelchair is looking up at a new piece of art on the wall, and a connoisseur is explaining the painting to the old man. The nurse standing next to him also made his own comments.

"The creator of this painting was very ingenious, and he fully embodied the beauty of art from the special structure..." 

The connoisseur's voice made the old man show some approval, but the caregiver beside him could not agree.

"Just a pool of nosebleeds? How can you see so many things?" Listening to the connotation of the connoisseur's painting, Driss came over very dissatisfied. He didn't understand any of these things and felt they were all deceptive. "I just want to ask a question: how much does this pool of nosebleed cost?"

"About thirty thousand dollars."

This price made the black man turn his head and open his eyes wide at the white man in the wheelchair.

"Thirty thousand dollars? For a pool of nosebleeds? Hey, if you want a pool of nosebleeds, I can make it better for you. It's much cheaper than this, and you can have as much as you want."

The connoisseur had a look of astonishment on his face, while the white man in the wheelchair had a slightly tolerant smile on his face. However, he, who should have moved away calmly, could not help but laugh at this moment.

"Cut."

Seeing this scene, Levi had to shout stop. 

Bridges, in the wheelchair, stood up when he heard his voice and apologized quickly, "I'm sorry, director. This is my mistake. I shouldn't laugh, but this guy's expression is so funny..."

"I'm supposed to be funny here..." Cuba Gooding Jr. spread his hands helplessly, "Isn't this the kind of comparison you want?" 

"I said it was my mistake. I'm sorry." Bridges shook his head again.

"It's okay, we can do it again," director Levi smiled and expressed his forgiveness to Bridges. This made Bridges smile again, and sat down without saying anything.

He was quite grateful for the director's attitude: the director knew it was difficult to act like a disabled person and was very tolerant of him. This was a blessing for the actor.

Actually, as early as the 1990s, Hollywood already had in-depth experience in the performance of disabled people. Since the time of Forrest Gump, computer special effects have been used to deal with amputated legs. There were a lot of people filming these scenes.

This time, Bridges was faced with filming a completely paralyzed person, which was a slightly more demanding performance.

Almost all of the body of a paralyzed person cannot move. It is not just necessary to tie up the whole body to perform such a role. The human body is connected everywhere, and the body is paralyzed. 

It will also have a great impact on people's movements and demeanor, and at the same time, people who are paralyzed in bed need to take a lot of medicine, and medicines can also have some side effects on people. These effects range from muscle stiffness to blurred vision. 

It is extremely difficult to perform all of these well.

If you want to express yourself as a disabled person, not only do you have to show off your physical problems, but expressing psychological problems is also a very important aspect.

As disabled people, they all have a common characteristic: the loneliness unique to disabled people. 

Inferiority complex is caused by a mixture of self-esteem, sensitivity, suspicion, and emotional instability, but with greater compassion for the weak. 

People with physical disabilities often have strong self-restraint and high tolerance for their surroundings. 

The psychology of disabled people is inevitably different from that of ordinary people. In fact, from the beginning, this movie is the story of a rich man who is psychologically sensitive, has too much self-esteem, and cannot accept sympathy from others. It is very important to pay attention to grasping the psychological level.

These aspects are more difficult to express than physical disabilities.

People value normal people acting with disabilities because they are very different from normal people in everything from their movements, demeanor, to their body language, and mentality.

In 1989, Day-Lewis became a cripple in order to perform. He insisted on not using his right foot on the set during filming. During the entire filming period, he acted like an actual disabled person and experienced the movements and moods of a disabled person to show a disabled person vividly. It's not easy to play such a role well.

Now, Bridges cannot insist on being paralyzed during filming - there is a big difference between being lame and paralyzed. Of course, he has made some experience attempts and tried to remain motionless for a long time. However, it is impossible to move completely like a paralyzed person.

That would be too difficult.

Fortunately, Levi didn't ask him to do that.

Regarding the physical performance of the paralyzed person, Levi did not deliberately shoot some plots that were difficult to express. In most scenes, all Bridges needs is to sit in the wheelchair and does not require any more movements. 

As for the few difficult scenes for people with paralysis, such as taking a bath, turning over, and riding in a car when going out, Levi also made special arrangements, trying to use special camera angles to reduce the difficulty of some performances.

Many times, relying on editing and camera angles, some of the actors' poor acting skills can be covered up. It's just hard to say whether the director is willing to do such work. 

Sometimes, directors pay more attention to the overall effect of the movie and are unwilling to sacrifice the movie for the actors. 

However, some directors are willing to make some arrangements for the actors. Young actors may not understand the subtle differences here, but Bridges knows this all too well.

Levi has always been said to be good at finding talent and does a good job at this point.

Not only that, but Levi also made a lot of changes in the arrangement of the scenes.

In the original movie, the old rich man, Philip, did almost nothing. He just watched the black Driss go on a rampage and then used his own financial resources to clean up the mess for him. 

Although the movie emphasizes that this is because Driss does not treat him as a disabled person but treats him as a normal person and does not discriminate against him, such blind tolerance also makes the character of a disabled person not contemplated.

Levi also read the original novel for this purpose, but he found that this problem also existed in the original novel. After all, this book is an autobiographical novel by a rich white man. 

Although he is grateful for the care of black people, deep down in his heart, he still cannot get rid of the influence of class and race. The attitude of being superior and treating friendship as charity is also inevitable and reflected in the novel.

These are the things Levi needs to change. 

He also added some plots in the movie with the original author's consent.

In terms of character creation, he used the white, rich man who only focused on his career and alienated his relatives and the loneliness of being unable to get the attention of his relatives after being paralyzed. The suspicion that others are only after their own money has been strengthened. 

At the same time, in the movie, he also made the white, rich man show some sympathy and tolerance for black people. On the other hand, it strengthened his psychological characteristics.

What kind of psychological characteristics a person is like can be enhanced by relying on the structure and conflicts of the plot. This aspect was not particularly strong in the original work, but Levi strengthened it now.

With these enhancements, it will be much easier for Bridges to express a disabled person.

Of course, as a veteran actor, Bridges himself has his own standards for these performances. 

Although Levi gave him a lot of convenience, it did not let him relax: he knew very well how difficult it was to succeed. 

After finally meeting a director who helped him, he had to work harder and perform the movie better. It would be better to perform at a better level.

Therefore, he also works very hard when performing. 

For example, when he plays a paralyzed disabled person, many people like to use some techniques to limit their movement space to make themselves more like a disabled person, but Bridges did not do so. 

He didn't put any restrictions on his body and just relied on his acting skills to overcome this problem.

Of course, this is more difficult. However, with his efforts, the movie's filming was indeed better than Levi imagined. Therefore, Levi tolerated the occasional minor problems.

However, this also exhausted Bridges.

"Honestly, I have never noticed before that being paralyzed is so uncomfortable. The only thing I hope for now is that when I get older, I will not be paralyzed." 

After filming, Bridges also drove with Levi and joked. What Levi finds quite interesting is that this old man is 55 years old but doesn't accept old age at all.

"If you are really paralyzed one day, I will really work as a caregiver for you." Cuba Gooding Jr. also joked at the side.

As another leading actor, he plays a caretaker in the movie. He has a very easy-going personality and a comedian's sense of humor, and he often makes casual jokes on the set.

"Forget it. I can't afford you, and your nursing skills are a nightmare." Bridges responded with a smile.

In fact, in order to shoot this movie, Cuba Gooding Jr. also did some training as a nursing worker. However, such short training only allowed him to learn the detailed work of a real nursing worker, but he still could not learn too much. 

But fortunately, in this movie, he is often not required to be a good caregiver. In the movie, he is more of a clumsy, careless, not very serious, but friendly and lovable character.

Of course, this character has also undergone some modifications: in this movie, he is not a simple person who accepts help.

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons 

Marcelo Maia

Britanna

Mandy G

Scott DePaepe

Oluwatimileyin Olayemi

Herylle Ian Gloria

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.