America 1987

Chapter 106 Personal Experience

Catherine changed into a long, fitted, hooded black coat. The overall design was crisp and clean, hugging her body lines to create a low-key and elegant silhouette. Without any extra embellishments, the plain black color perfectly complemented her cool and mysterious aura.

"You've already prepared your clothes so quickly?"

"Yeah, didn't you say you wanted to recreate Veronica Lake's iconic peek-a-boo style?"

Catherine intentionally used her side-parted curly hair to cover half of her face. "How is it? Does it look like the real thing?"

"It's like it, very much like it."

David deliberately turned on the lamp next to the sofa so he could see better.

The clothes she was wearing appeared to be made of lustrous satin silk fabric. The pale yellow light shining on her gave her a "half-glowing" effect, and the low-saturation black and white colors enhanced the exquisite feel of the retro style.

The overall style perfectly matches the core characteristics of 50s Hollywood women's clothing, emphasizing a cinched waist to accentuate the figure, a preference for exquisite and lustrous fabrics, and a retro combination of delicate red lips and elegant curls. Hoods and similar headwear were also common accessories for everyday and formal occasions at the time.

"Why are you suddenly so enthusiastic about this role?" David asked curiously. "Do you know how important this outfit is to the character's development?"

"Of course, I have a deep understanding of the characters in the script; that's my own opinion."

Catherine confidently explained, "Lynn's character is outwardly a high-class prostitute controlled by the mob, so she needs to maintain an air of mystery, aloofness, and sexy 'trophy wife' to the outside world, therefore—"

'

Yes, the explanation is basically correct.

The half-hooded design is indeed intended to echo the character setting that "everyone can only see her beauty, but not her true inner self," fitting the suspenseful theme of the work: "everything is suspicious, and nothing is as it seems on the surface."

Paying homage to the iconic half-covered look of Hollywood's Golden Age star Veronica Lake, the film not only recreates the retro atmosphere of 50s Los Angeles but also uses the classic "femme fatale" imagery of old Hollywood to quickly immerse the audience in the character's aura.

"Alienation?"

"Yeah, isn't that right?"

"Of course not, I just wanted to hear what you had to say," David gestured questioningly, "How did you come to the conclusion that she was distant?"

"There are many places where you can see it," Catherine said curiously. "Isn't the scene where Bud punches her in the face because he lost control the best example?"

Indeed, that scene really showcased her detached personality. There was no hysterical arguing, no deliberate attempt to please or salvage the situation; she simply calmly accepted the conflict without making excuses or getting entangled. Compared to Bud, Lynn was frighteningly calm.

"Oh right, speaking of which, I almost forgot to ask you," Catherine looked at him with a sudden realization, "You're supposed to play Bud, right?"

"Of course," David readily agreed, "Such a charismatic character should definitely be played by me."

In the original timeline, the character Bud was played by Russell Crowe. If he hadn't been working in the Australian film and television industry at that time and hadn't come to Hollywood at all, it would have been difficult for him to find someone for a while.

Moreover, why would a male actor go to such great lengths to fill a role with him?

It's not an exaggeration to say that Bud has charisma; at least after watching "L.A. Confidential," David's favorite of the three male protagonists was Bud.

A character whose sense of justice is ingrained in his instincts and who is completely free of scheming, he acts solely out of passion to protect the weak, without any ambition to climb the social ladder. In the end, he helps the female lead escape unscathed and is the purest of the three.

Ed's sense of justice is a tool to serve his ambition. He prioritizes weighing the pros and cons and following procedures and rules in everything he does. He is willing to compromise temporarily for the sake of promotion. Even when he discovers a scandal, he will choose to deal with it in the way that is most beneficial to himself. In the end, he successfully takes a high position in the police force by covering up the scandal.

Jack, needless to say, was a tragic character who spent years in the world of fame and fortune, exchanging favors through connections and being used to protecting himself. It wasn't until the end that his ideals were awakened, and he was the first to find the core clues to the conspiracy, but he was also silenced by the villain.

"Why do I feel like you took this role because it's the easiest to play?" Catherine looked at him with a hint of mockery. "A character who is full of a sense of justice, a little reckless, and likes to solve problems with his fists—it doesn't seem like a very complex character at all."

"I admit that's part of it," David didn't deny it. "After all, I'm not a professionally trained actor. This role isn't too difficult to play, so I just used it to practice."

Bud's core trait is that of a "pure brute." He doesn't need to be as precise as Ed in grasping the scheming of an ambitious person, nor does he need to be as insightful as Jack in portraying the tragic undertones behind worldliness.

As long as the "straightforward and passionate" character is portrayed, the basic framework of the character is established, and the room for error is much greater than that of the other two characters.

Of course, the most important thing is that the "Roro Tom Circus" scene doesn't require Bud's participation. That classic scene that went down in film and television requires a level of acting skill that David can't reach at his current level.

"I think this character is a feminist, and you mentioned later in the script that it's because of his family background," Catherine asked curiously. "It's written very movingly; is it based on your own experience?"

"No," David shook his head in denial, "My childhood was very happy, there aren't that many stories."

The so-called family background refers to the fact that Bud witnessed his alcoholic father abusing and killing his mother when he was young. This experience left him with a deep psychological shadow, making him completely intolerant of any violence that harms women and instinctively wanting to protect all women in distress.

This can be seen as a supplementary explanation of Bard's various actions in terms of his character.

However, although David did not experience it personally, the original author in the original timeline did.

In the original timeline, the screenplay for the movie "L.A. Confidential" was adapted from the original novel, which was originally supposed to be published in 1990, but David Robinson hijacked the project.

When creating the characters Bud and Ed, the original author James Ayrroy did indeed incorporate a lot of his own personal experiences.

According to his own account in an interview, his parents divorced when he was seven years old due to domestic violence, and he lived with his mother.

However, when he was a thousand years old, his mother was raped and murdered, and the murderer was never caught. This matter has troubled the author ever since, so several characters in L.A. Confidential actually reflect aspects of the author himself.

To some extent, Bud and Ed are actually two alter egos of the author himself. The former corresponds to the author's hatred for domestic abusers, while the latter corresponds to the author's obsession with finding his mother's killer, "Roro Thomasy."

Yes, no wonder in the movie, Jack died after being shot once, while Bud survived several shots. The treatment of biological children and those from other families is indeed different.

In the end, David couldn't help but sigh, "Was America in the last century really that dangerous? It's one thing for the actors to have stories, but how come even the author has such a complicated and difficult childhood?"

"If you didn't experience it yourself, how did you write it so realistically?"

Catherine was a little puzzled. "I feel like a lot of the lines are quite relatable. Don't you really have similar experiences, David?"

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