America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 235 Treasure Boy
New York, known as the world's largest open-air studio, is the first city to be destroyed by Hollywood movies.

The crew chose to shoot here instead of shooting on location in Boston because New York promised a high tax rebate.

In the face of huge commercial interests, even a director of Martin Scorsese's level still has to compromise.

The crew began filming in a studio located on the border of Brooklyn and Queens.

In a telephone booth set up on the outer wall of the studio, Martin spoke his lines quickly while holding the phone.

The sound engineer squatted outside, fixed the recording microphone, and kept his body as low as possible.

Director of photography Michael operated the camera, which slowly slid along the rail surrounding the telephone booth to shoot.

"Cut!" Director Scorsese called for a stop.

Martin put the phone down and turned around.

Scorsese, with a wireless headset hanging around his neck, strode over and said directly: "The tone is wrong, the emotion is okay, but I think you can do better."

This was Martin’s first scene, and he hadn’t quite gotten into the groove yet, so he said, “Shall I try again?”

Scorsese reminded: "Pay attention to the relationship between Colin and Frank. Colin has been instilled with his set of values ​​by Frank since he was 12 years old. Frank is equivalent to his father in a sense, and he is a very strict one."

Martin listened carefully and showed great professionalism.

Scorsese added: "During this time, Colin has wanted to get rid of Frank, but he has not yet had enough courage and practical action."

Martin nodded repeatedly: "I understand."

Photography was restored and filming began again.

Martin returned to the phone booth, picked up the phone and started his one-man show.

His tone was sincere and without any hesitation, but his expression was a little helpless and annoyed, and he was fed up with the repeated pressure from the other side.

"Stop! Good job!" Scorsese encouraged Martin loudly: "Mobilize all your emotions and state, you can break through the limit, let's do it again!"

Returning to the gangster movies he is good at, this great director has high requirements for every aspect, especially the actors' performances.

With Scorsese's praise, the shot was shot three more times, with Martin performing better each time.

When the director finally called it a pass, Martin even took a few deep breaths.

Although he is very familiar with the role of a two-faced man, it is not easy to actually perform it in front of the camera.

Scorsese came up to him and said directly: "When I first worked with Robert De Niro on Mean Streets, he was not as good as you."

Whether this was encouragement or really the case, Martin was quite confident at this moment: "Director, you will find that choosing me is definitely not a mistake, but one of the most correct decisions you made in the production of this film."

Scorsese nodded: "I'll wait and see your performance." He waved his hand: "Go and take a five-minute break, and then shoot the next one."

Martin did not leave the set, but came to the set of the next scene to familiarize himself with the movements and lines.

Scorsese saw all of this, and although he didn't say anything, he felt that choosing Martin was the right choice.

Not far from here, on the beach, Warner Bros. project executive Daniel and crew producer Granham King were sitting under a parasol drinking coffee together.

The latter added sugar to his coffee cup and asked, "I heard the schedule has been set?"

Daniel said, "It will premiere in North America during the Toronto Film Festival next September." He took a sip of coffee and said, "The film has a high investment and the pressure to make a profit at the box office is huge. We need to think of some ways to promote it."

Granham said: "Leonardo and Scorsese have enough appeal. Even if the box office fails to make back our investment, the subsequent DVD and TV copyright markets will be enough for us to easily make a profit."

Daniel said: "No one would doubt their appeal."

Graham added: "Jack is old, but he still has a large number of old audiences supporting him. Matt Damon is also good."

Daniel reminded: "Don't forget, there is Martin Davis."

"Look at me, I almost forgot about this new guy." Graham asked, "I remember he has been working with Warner Bros., how is it?"

Daniel said simply, "The best performance was The Hills Have Eyes. It was re-released after the Burbank High School incident and grossed $1.15 million in North America. Overseas screenings have basically ended, and the global box office is $2.07 million."

Even a veteran producer like Graham looked askance at such box office figures: "It's a blockbuster!"

Daniel smiled and said, "The DVD sales in North America have reached 5000 million US dollars. Martin is the absolute leading actor. He and the film complement each other. The popularity of The Eyes Across the Mountain has also continued to another film, Summer of Jeans. Originally, Warner expected the North American box office to be around 4000 million US dollars. Now the North American box office has accumulated 7200 million US dollars. Most of the extra money is due to Martin."

Graham said: "He turned out to be a treasure boy."

"Who said it wasn't?" Daniel said, "Martin's new film Wanted has just finished a rough cut. Do you know our internal estimate?"

Graham was surprised: "It's hard to tell the quality of the film from the rough cut."

Daniel shook his head and said, "As long as the quality of the film is not too bad, with Martin's popularity and Angelina Jolie, it won't be difficult for it to make over 100 million in North America." Graham asked, "Does Warner Bros. have such confidence in him?"

Daniel said the key point: "He is not only an excellent actor, but also always has unexpected actions in publicity and marketing. The unconventional marketing of Wax Museum and The Hills Have Eyes were originally conceived by him. Jeans are the direct beneficiary of the Burbank Middle School incident. I believe in Martin's ability to stir up trouble. He has proved this three times in a row."

He gulped down his cooling coffee. "I feel like in the marketing for this movie, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson were both put in the back, with Martin listed behind Leonardo in the cast."

Graham said: "Damon's appeal..."

Daniel reminded: "He has too few roles."

The two seemed to be chatting casually, but they reached a consensus on the ideas of publicity and marketing.

The filming continued until half past eleven, when the crew temporarily stopped work and went to the food truck to get lunch.

Martin has his own separate rest trailer and eats lunch with Bruce in the car.

Bruce said as he ate, "I just heard that Matt Damon is coming to New York next week." He remembered something important: "Menet is coming next week too. He spent a lot of time talking to Allen and is basically sure that the only person who has been in and out of Jack Nicholson's company for decades is Meryl Streep."

Martin felt a toothache: "Oscar winner."

Bruce's words were not on the same channel as Martin's: "Remember that Meryl was married a long time ago, and she would show off her good wife and mother from time to time, and she played so many tricks in private. Now I completely agree with what you said, marriage is definitely a nightmare for Hollywood men."

Martin thought for a while and said, "From what I know, Meryl Streep and Harvey Weinstein have a special relationship."

Bruce stopped talking about useless things: "It's not surprising in this case. Sofia and Harvey had a conflict. With Harvey's ability, it won't be difficult for him to find out that you have a relationship with Sofia."

Martin added: "I turned down Weinstein's invitation. He wanted to use that invitation to disrupt my audition for this film, probably for Damon."

"Congratulations to you. No, congratulations to us." Bruce was very aware: "There are enemies everywhere."

Martin didn't care. He pinched out five centimeters with two fingers, thought about it and reduced it to one centimeter: "The chance is so small. How can it fall on us if we don't fight for it? We might as well go back to Atlanta and be a gigolo."

Bruce reminded this troublemaker: "There is no grudge, so make good relations as soon as possible."

Martin nodded: "The ones with the most important roles in the crew are Leonardo, Old Jack, and me." He picked up an apple and tossed it in his hand: "Leonardo will join the filming in the afternoon. I want to ask him, where are the Victoria's Secret Angels he promised to be?"

Bruce was very curious and also wanted to learn: "Have you thought of a party theme?"

Martin couldn't help laughing: "I can easily find a hundred of them."

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Leonardo and Jack Nicholson appeared on the set one after another.

The three of them took turns filming.

Compared to Martin, who adjusted his condition in the morning, and the talented veteran actor Nicholson, Leonardo had the most NGs.

An actor's fame and status actually have little to do with how good his acting skills are.

During a break in filming, Nicholson approached Scorsese, pointed at Martin and said, "This guy has good talent, only slightly worse than I was back then."

Scorsese didn't give his old friend any face: "When you were his age, you didn't have such good acting skills."

In the rest area on the other side, Martin approached Leonardo: "Leo, we have been in New York for two days, where are the Victoria's Secret Angels you mentioned?"

Leonardo said, "It will take some time for the news of my coming to New York to spread." He was quite conceited: "If nothing unexpected happens, someone will call this afternoon."

He asked Martin, "Is the theme ready?"

Martin nodded and asked, "Yacht or villa?"

Leonardo said: "Let's go on a yacht. We can go to the sea and avoid those boring paparazzi and entertainment reporters."

As the two were talking, Jack Nicholson came over and asked, "Did you forget something?"

Leonardo asked Martin, "What do you think?"

"As long as there are enough beauties, I don't mind bringing this old bastard along." Martin said, based on the other party's behavior during the last contact, "Old Jack, you must listen to me when it comes to setting the theme for the party."

Nicholson smiled evilly: "We have already tried all the tricks we can play back then. I want to see what new tricks you can come up with."

The assistant came over at this time and said to Leonardo: "Miss Naomi called and asked you to have dinner together tonight."

Leonardo said: "Tell her to call a few more people out and tell them that I am going there with the great American hero Martin Davis."

Nicholson got anxious and poked Leonardo's arm.

The latter added: "And an old bastard called Jack Nicholson."

(End of this chapter)