Chapter 38: Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

Rehearsals went on until around eleven o'clock. Due to Kerry Mulligan's afternoon school commitments, they had to temporarily end. Murphy still had other tasks to attend to, so he quickly bid farewell to the three people and hurriedly left the warehouse. However, as he opened the warehouse door, the corner of his eye caught James Franco leaning towards Kerry Mulligan...

At this point, Murphy naturally understood some of James Franco's intentions. With Bill Ross keeping an eye on things, there was no need for Murphy to intervene unnecessarily. Shaking his head, he left the warehouse and headed to Milton Café in Los Angeles's Hollywood area to meet Jessica Chastain. They were driving to a company specializing in film equipment.

While driving, Murphy couldn't help but think about James Franco. Had this guy done something similar before?

US law is very strict on the protection of minors, especially in places like California. If something were to happen between him and a minor, it would cause a lot of trouble.

However, Murphy didn't think James Franco was stupid.

As the car turned onto Sunset Boulevard, a road notorious for accidents, Murphy quickly shook his head, dispelling these messy thoughts, and focused on driving.

Their visit to the Hollywood area was primarily to deliver a deposit for the film stock. Jessica Chastain glanced at the inventory list on the way and noticed an additional item compared to before. She couldn't help but ask, "Why are there ten more rolls of Kodak 5222 film? Are you planning to shoot a black and white film?"

"I'm using it for the opening scene."

Murphy had only added this yesterday. After considering the sensitive nature of the opening scene, where a minor girl is brutally killed, and learning about the MPAA rating system, he was concerned that including it might drag the entire film into the NC-17 quagmire. Therefore, he decided to shoot it in black and white.

Ten minutes later, Murphy's used Ford parked near a large film equipment store on Sunset Boulevard. They had been here before, and they would also rent cameras from here, so purchasing film stock was familiar territory.

They were greeted by a middle-aged man. Murphy wasted no time and handed the inventory list to Jessica Chastain. Once they paid the deposit, the items would be delivered that afternoon.

In addition to the ten rolls of Kodak 5222 film, Murphy also ordered a large quantity of Kodak color motion picture film.

This 35mm Kodak color film, like the Kodak 5222 film, came in rolls of 122 meters each. Based on current film shooting and projection standards, shooting for one minute usually required around 27 meters of film, so one roll could shoot approximately 4.5 minutes of footage.

By this calculation, twenty rolls of color film seemed sufficient.

However, Murphy ordered 240 rolls, and this was a conservative estimate. The actual consumption of film stock would likely be higher.

In Hollywood, almost all directors shoot several times the length of the final film. Directors like James Cameron might even shoot hundreds of times the final length.

The cost of film stock alone for a film crew could be a significant expense.

Fortunately, Kodak hadn't yet dug its own grave, and the price of Kodak's original 35mm motion picture film wasn't as outrageous as it would become later. After some negotiation, Murphy managed to bring the price per roll down to $150.

"A total of 250 rolls of Kodak film."

On the way back, Jessica Chastain reminded Murphy about the money they needed. "We need $37,500."

This figure made Murphy's heart skip a beat. Including today's expenditure on film stock, the pre-production of "Hard Candy" had already cost over $150,000, including salaries, equipment and location rentals, prop making, makeup and wardrobe purchases, and more.

He seriously doubted whether his initial $300,000 budget would be enough to complete this film.

The pre-production phase was the most expensive stage. While the shooting phase might seem less costly, Murphy didn't forget about post-production. He still needed to hire experienced and professional editors and rent post-production facilities...

Just thinking about it made his head spin.

Now Murphy couldn't help but feel grateful that he had earned $100,000 from his collaboration with Kobe Bryant. Without that, the $230,000 from the Bill Ross incident alone wouldn't have been enough to complete this film.

Even so, Murphy felt that $300,000 might not be enough. After all, he was a complete novice, and he was bound to encounter unforeseen challenges.

Finally, in October 2000, after extensive preparation and after Kerry Mulligan and James Franco had gone through all their scenes, filming for "Fruit Hard Candy" began at Milton Café in LA's Old Chinatown.

Early that morning, Lynch, the owner of Milton Café, hung a "Closed for Filming" sign on the door. The two large booths in the corner of the café were tightly enclosed with screens and fabric curtains, serving as temporary dressing rooms for the actors.

From the moment they entered the café, Murphy stood across the counter, directing the lighting technicians to set up according to the plan, the set decorators to adjust the interior decor based on the storyboard, the props team to check the prepared chocolate cake and other props, Jessica Chastain to manage miscellaneous tasks with the three interns...

Since there was only one makeup artist, all the actors had to take turns for makeup. Fortunately, the main actors were only two, and Lynch and his staff were just background extras who didn't need elaborate makeup.

"When will it be my turn?"

As Murphy looked around the café, which was almost set up, he was about to take a breath and have a cup of coffee to refresh himself when Kerry Mulligan walked over. "I've been waiting for makeup for so long."

She nervously bit her lip, visibly anxious.

This was Kerry Mulligan's first time playing a formal role, and she was not yet sixteen years old, so it was impossible for her not to be nervous.

"Kerry, you're nervous," Murphy took a step back, leaning on a coffee table. "And you have dark circles under your eyes."

Kerry Mulligan immediately touched her under-eye area, forcing a smile. "I had trouble sleeping last night."

This was not a good sign. Murphy frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then changed the subject abruptly. "How's your relationship with James now?"

Teenage girls in their rebellious phase find it difficult to change their first impressions of someone, so Kerry Mulligan's mouth almost curled up to her ears. "He's been trying to please me, but I feel like he has ulterior motives. He's up to no good, and I still don't like him."

Murphy couldn't help but shake his head, but Kerry Mulligan reached out and tugged at his sleeve. "You can relax, Murphy. I won't deliberately embarrass him."

Then, with a hint of bitterness, she added, "Why do I still hate him so much?"

Just as Murphy was about to say something, he saw Jessica Chastain approaching with someone. He quickly went over to greet them.

"Hey, Carla."

As he walked over, Murphy opened his arms and lightly hugged Carla Fess. "What a surprise, I didn't expect you to come."

Stepping back, Carla took off her sunglasses. Her words were still sharp as ever. "I just wanted to see how you fail."

"You'll be disappointed," Murphy shrugged and gestured to a nearby booth. "Feel free to sit."

Carla put down her handbag and sunglasses, then pulled out a chair and sat down. She waved her hand at Murphy. "You go ahead and do your thing. Don't mind me; I'm just here to watch."

Murphy wanted to roll his eyes at her, but he held back and turned to Jessica Chastain, instructing her to get coffee for Carla as well. Then, he went back to his busy work.

The rest of the crew continued to set up, and Murphy walked to the right side of the counter. A 35mm camera was already set up in the corner, while another shoulder-mounted camera was nearby, ready for him to switch between different scenes.

Compared to the cameras he had used on the other side of the Pacific, these could be considered relics. The film industry was a rapidly evolving field, with technology being constantly updated.

Murphy had already carefully studied these two cameras before, so now he just did a simple test.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the preparations gradually came together. When Kerry Mulligan came out of the makeshift dressing room, filming could finally begin.

Murphy carried the camera mounted on the Steadicam and first aimed it at the counter to capture Kerry Mulligan's delicate and beautiful figure from behind. Then, he quickly adjusted the lens. When someone pushed open the café door and Kerry Mulligan turned to look, he gave her a close-up of her face.

"Cut!"

Seeing the close-up shot, Murphy immediately called for a stop. The filming effect hadn't met the requirements at all.