King of Hollywood - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Everything Goes Smoothly

Adrian did not just say it for fun when he mentioned that speed and quality were directly proportional to him, which was well-proven by ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Memento’. Although ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ had a high investment, he did not take it as an obstacle because the only bottleneck was the cast’s performance.

“For now, though Red isn’t very fond of Andy, he doesn’t dislike him in any way, so his tone and expression should be neutral. Do you understand, Morgan?” Adrian explained to Morgan Freeman and moved his limbs in an exaggerated manner from time to time. It was his way of adjusting the cast’s emotions.

“Like a shop owner taking in a customer even though the owner doesn’t want to,” Before Freeman replied, a young black man beside him responded.

“Alfonso’s right. You can think of it in that way, but not too much, and make sure you have good control over it.” Adrian later gave the young black man a thumbs-up, who also did the same in return.

Alfonso Freeman was Freeman’s youngest son and appeared in the “original”‘The Shawshank Redemption’ as he played the young black man who called Andy a “fresh fish” when Andy entered prison. Adrian let him have the part since it was not a big deal, and the old Freeman would be indebted to him.

“As for you, Tim, do you need me to explain anything?” Adrian turned to ask Tim Robbins.

“Let me think…” Robbins wondered, then looked up after turning twice in the same spot. “Eddy, what do you think about this?”

He closed his eyes and coughed, then opened them again once he was ready. He looked at Freeman with a plain smile, but his mind could not be read. “You’ll know when you get it.”

“Excellent!” Adrian clapped his hands. ‘Indeed, using the “old cast” is the best option, and if I guide them according to the scenes from my memory, the shots will be much more effective.’

“Take your positions, we’ll begin soon.” He later waved at the others and announced, “For the others, stop getting things wrong.”

It had been five days since the first shooting was done, and Adrian became steady at handling big scenes, as long as the extras did not make simple mistakes—appearing in wrong areas at the wrong time, or holding something that did not belong to the era in the film—the rest of the shots met his requirements.

They were shooting the scene of Andy and Red’s first encounter at that moment. Andy wanted to get a rock-hammer through Red, and Red realized something unusual about Andy through his speech and behavior.

“I could see why some of the boys thought he was a snob. He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn’t normal around here. He strolled like a man in a park without a care or worry.” This was Red’s narration when he watched Andy leave after their conversation.

Though the narration would only be recorded during post-production, Adrian who was behind the camera subconsciously thought about it. Robbins’ performance was amazing, especially when he smiled and strolled off toward the crowd. He portrayed Andy’s indifference perfectly.

“I can feel the male lead’s feelings. He’s calm, sorrowful, but never gives up. From a certain aspect, he’s very much like me. I’m glad that I didn’t miss this,” Robbins expressed when he was asked.

Adrian recalled Robbins to be someone who always kept a low profile. Even though his reputation was sky high due to ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, he rarely publicized himself to the media, apart from participating in politics. There were many ways of being low-profile, and most people did it for the sake of it as if it was their way of attracting attention. On the contrary, Robbins truly kept a low profile, which was probably why he was together with Sarandon for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, Hollywood was a realistic place, so what was bound to happen would eventually happen.

Robbins performed the best among the main cast, but the other two brilliant actors were not far behind—there would have been three, but James Whitmore did not have any outdoor scene. It was a given that Freeman did well because he began grasping his character the moment he accepted the offer. Additionally, Adrian’s explanations were just right for him, so he was able to be one with his character.

Bob Gunton, the prison warden, was outstanding too. He was slightly younger than Freeman, and never jumped bridges like Freeman did in a film, but one could tell from the characters he played that he would never seem like a bad guy if he played a good one, and vice versa. While Prison Warden Norton did not have many scenes outdoors, Bob did very well in showing his awful character and keeping a serious face at the same time.

“No matter what, you must listen to me from the beginning till the end.” When they were taking a break from shooting the scene of prisoners working outside the penitentiary, Bob joked around.

Freeman who was quite close to him immediately teased him with a counterattack. “But you’re still doomed in the end. Right, Andy?”

He called Robbins by his character’s name on purpose, which was self-explanatory. The others around them burst out laughing. Although Robbins chuckled too, he did not say anything. He got along with everyone very well, but like Andy, the male lead, he preferred listening to people talk.

Overall, Adrian was not too worried about the cast apart from a few supporting roles, so he mainly focused on controlling the production scene. As mentioned before, other than a few external shots in Ohio, the rest required a big group of people in the scenes, for instance, when the prisoners had break times or worked on the field; when Andy escaped but was captured by police officers at the pond; when the prison warden held a press conference; the classic scene where ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ was played, etc.

Even though Adrian had more experience in handling big scenes due to the shootings, it did not mean that he could be less careful. After all, there were plenty of extras. If one of them was a prisoner in the previous shot, but suddenly a police officer or a reporter in the next shot, it would be a huge flaw.

Adrian intended to fix the flaws from the original film with the help of his memory, such as when the “Miranda rights” was mentioned when the head of the guards was arrested, the muzzle when the prison warden committed suicide, and so on. Therefore, he was not going to allow any new flaws. While he could not control everything, obvious mistakes should not be made.

Almost three weeks later, most of the scenes that required a lot of extras were done. Adrian was not anxious about his plans being slightly delayed because there were naturally more outdoor scenes than indoor scenes. Furthermore, it would be acceptable as long as the shooting period did not exceed two months.

Throughout the period, there were murmurs of discontent from Nathan, but he did not interfere with Adrian’s work, and the people from the film company knew what to do and when to do it. Moreover, Nathan was not authorized to intervene in anything. Normally, unless a director’s actions would damage the interests of the company, the company’s representative would not give orders summarily.

Adrian planned to complete the remaining shots in three days. It was also proven that even for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, he was able to give targeted explanations through his memory to help casts with their emotions, which was helpful during the shootings.

“Clancy, I hope that you understand how your character’s feeling. He’s happy, curious, and he feels that that person is pretty good, but not like they’re best friends—don’t make me regret the fact that I should’ve shot this part first,” Adrian stood on the roof as he explained jokingly.

“I guarantee that you won’t regret it.” The actor named Clancy immediately waved and assured him.

“Very well.” Adrian later looked at Freeman. “Morgan, you have to pay attention to your expression, which has to match your inner narration, but I believe this is very simple for you.”

“No problem.” Freeman who was sitting next to Clancy shrugged with a smile.

Adrian spoke to a few more cast members, then looked at Robbins who was leaning against the wall. “As for you, Tim, oh God, it’ll be great if they’re like you, so I don’t have to worry about them.”

“Really? I always thought that you weren’t happy with me, or you wouldn’t have asked me to repeat the scene of when I looked at the sky from under the pipe,” Robbins responded.

Two days ago, Adrian shot the most thrilling scene of the film at the pond near the penitentiary, which was the part when Andy put his hand out in the rain and looked at the sky after he escaped through the sewage. The scene was repeatedly shot, more than twenty times because Adrian wanted to make it perfect, so Robbins had to stand under a sprinkler head for a long time. It was spring at that moment, but Ohio that was nearer to the north had a lower temperature than Los Angeles, hence Robbins sneezed quite a number of times after the shot. Luckily, he did not catch a cold after.

Upon hearing what he said, the others dissolved in laughter. Adrian simply shrugged, then signaled the “prisoner” behind him who was wearing a dirty white singlet and a blue peaked cap that it was time to work.

The scene that was being shot was the first redemption when the foreign workers were fixing the roof. Andy, who was smart, asked for a few beers for his inmates, and it was then when they felt a brief moment of peace and freedom.

“Nice. Fellas, be serious, now is the perfect chance to shoot, don’t delay this,” Adrian announced as he went back to his seat. The Sun has just risen, thus it was the perfect chance to shoot those scenes.

“Aren’t you going to be behind the camera?” A familiar voice was heard.

“Not every scene has to be done by the director, or the cameraman will have nothing to do,” Adrian answered softly, then he tapped on the person’s shoulder. “Take a good look, Dan. Your acting skills may be pretty good, but you still have a lot to learn as compared to them.”