King of Hollywood - Chapter 52
Chapter 52: Goodbye Sarah
“Cut!” After Adrian shouted, the two men who were looking at each other at the long table looked up, and the people who were eating or walking around them stopped too. They looked toward the camera at the same time.
“No, Tim, your expression isn’t right. Your expression is too solemn, and it doesn’t match the relaxed look you had when you came out of solitary confinement,” Adrian mentioned after he looked at the monitor. The part that was shot was after Andy finally came out of solitary confinement for playing ‘The Marriage of Figaro’. He talked about hope when he ate with his old friends, but Red warned him that “hope” was a dangerous thing.
The scene should have been passed easily, but Robbins somehow could not meet what was expected because he either reacted half a beat too slow or revealed the wrong expression. There were already more than ten NG takes.
Adrian turned twice on the spot before he approached the two men, then said to Robbins, “Tim, perhaps you should rest for half a day, and we’ll do this again after we’re done with the other shots. What do you think?”
Robbins pondered for a while, then agreed with the suggestion. He was in bad form for days, and although he was a great actor, he was still human, thus it was inevitable that his performance was inconsistent. Furthermore, he and Freeman were the most important characters in the film who appeared in almost every scene, so it was reasonable for them to make mistakes.
Therefore, Adrian did not say much even though he wanted the shootings to be done as soon as possible. In any case, there were quite a number of scattered scenes and scenes that only required Freeman to be present, thus it was fine to shoot those first.
“Then let’s shoot the remaining scenes for Dan first, he looks like he can’t wait to leave already,” Adrian suggested after taking a look at the schedule.
Soft laughs were instantly heard. Dennis raised his hands with the intention to say something at first, but he ended up just scratching his head and sighed.
Before long, the crew on set were done preparing the storeroom where the prisoners worked. The next scene to be shot was Tommy’s conversation with Red after hearing Andy’s story.
Although Dennis caused more NG takes in the film studio for the indoor scenes, and they were mostly because he was absent-minded—this was why Adrian teased him that he could not wait to leave—he was unusually serious for these few scenes.
“Caught his wife in bed with some golf pro. Greased them both.” Once Freeman was done with his lines, the camera slowly shifted toward Dennis who was shocked at first, but he later looked at Freeman blankly until Freeman asked strangely, “What is it?”
“That was great!” Adrian clapped his hands. From his point of view, Dennis’ performance was ten times better than the original version.
Robbins was done adjusting himself after that, so they continued shooting his scenes until he was beginning to feel off again. The shootings alternated accordingly, which was quite troublesome, but they were surprisingly progressing more effectively than they did the day before. As such, they lost some but gained some.
Soon enough, the day ended. Adrian had a short discussion with the assistant director and a few others for a while, then he packed and walked out of the film studio.
“Hey, Eddy, do you want me to send you out?” Dennis’ familiar voice was heard as soon as Adrian stepped out. He was waiting by the road in his electromobile and had clearly been waiting for a long time.
“You little fella.” Adrian shook his head with a smile, then went in his car.
The film studio normally disallowed private vehicles from coming in, and all vehicles were replaced by electromobiles. This applied to Adrian too, so he always parked his car at the parking lot outside, then rented an electromobile to get to the studio.
“Do you have a party tonight?” Adrian asked while looking outside the window.
Dennis chuckled as a sign of agreeing silently.
“I told you before, you have to figure out the rest by yourself.” Adrian could not help but roll his eyes. “Do you not know how to pursue a lady at all?”
“It’s okay, I comprehended it, really! I think that I’ll understand more if I talk to you,” Dennis mentioned.
Adrian smiled bitterly because he knew that he could not get out of the car anymore, hence he had to converse with Dennis. They did not talk too much since the parking lot was not too far from Film Studio No. 23, and Dennis left right after dropping him off.
‘I really don’t know what to say about him.’ Adrian sighed while walking to his car. Just as he was about to open the door, he noticed a familiar person on the street outside the parking lot.
When he realized who it was, he found it strange, so he decided to approach that person.
“Hey, Sarah, why are you here?” Adrian greeted that person from a distance away.
The small person was shocked. “You’re… Mr. Adrian?”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m happy to see you here, Sarah.” When Adrian looked at the girl from head to toe, he realized that she grew taller, her face was less round, and her outfit was nicer, but her dispirited character somewhat remained the same.
“Me too, Mr. Adrian,” Sarah responded politely with a nod, which was completely different from how she behaved back at the restaurant.
“Why are you here alone? Are you waiting for your mom?” Adrian glanced around.
He wrote a message to her when ‘Memento’ was about to be screened to inform her that her shots were all cut due to the plot, and he also apologized. Sarah later wrote back to him to say that she understood, but they never contacted each other since.
“Yes.” Sarah forced a smile. “I have a small role at Film Studio No. 16, and mom said that she’ll pick me up after I’m done, but I’ve been waiting for over an hour.”
“I think…” Adrian looked at the girl as he mentioned, “Perhaps your mom’s being held back by some matters, and she’s probably on her way here already.”
“Yes, I know. She works at a restaurant in Fort Lang, and it’s quite busy at this hour, so it’s… It’s reasonable that she’s late.” Sarah lowered her voice at the end of the sentence. She looked at the end of the street anxiously, but there was also a glimpse of resentment on her face that was not directed at her mom.
Adrian pondered for a while, then retrieved his phone from his suitcase. “Do you have the number of the restaurant she works at?”
“Yes.” Sarah looked inside her pocket quickly. “It’s 555-7231289.”
Adrian dialed the number right away. “Hello, is this… Bidwell Restaurant? I’m looking for Madam Rosellen Gellar… Thank you.”
About two seconds later, Rosellen’s voice was heard.
“Hello, Madam Rosellen, I’m Adrian Cowell… Yes, I’m the director from before. I just finished my work at the Film Shooting City, and I met your daughter who’s waiting for you… She’s fine, don’t worry… I understand how you feel. How about this, I’ll send Sarah home first if you agree… Alright, no problem.”
Adrian later passed his phone to Sarah. “Your mom wants to speak to you.”
“Thank you.” Sarah accepted the phone with both hands, then began talking softly with her mom after walking a few steps away.
They did not speak for long, so she returned Adrian’s phone to him very quickly.
“That’s it then, Madam Rosellen.” Adrian hung up after getting a reply, then gestured to the girl in front of him. “The Honorable Princess Sarah, please allow me to escort you home.”
Sarah was startled as she did not see this coming, then she burst out laughing. Although she controlled herself afterward, she looked more cheerful than she was earlier.
Adrian drove off after making sure that Sarah had put on her seatbelt in the passenger’s seat. They did not talk much at the beginning, so the atmosphere in the car was rather dull. Only after passing two streets when he commented that the traffic was quite smooth, she explained that it was because there were not many traffic lights, then they both laughed. Subsequently, Adrian made a few jokes to liven the atmosphere.
After a few more than 10 minutes, Adrian sent Sarah back safely to her house at Fort Lang.
“Thank you, Mr. Adrian, thanks for sending me home,” Sarah sighed and thanked Adrian after unfastening her seatbelt.
“I only had to lift a finger. Besides, I haven’t apologized to you personally.” Adrian shrugged.
“It’s okay, it’s very normal… Actually, I should thank you for that.” Sarah knew what he meant, and she had a complicated look in her eyes.
Adrian grinned, then called out to her again when she was about to leave, “Oh right, Sarah, your mom has always been your agent, right?”
“Yes.” Sarah nodded at him, but she was puzzled.
“I suggest that you look for a professional agent, because he or she will be able to secure more benefits for you, and if you’re willing to, I can introduce you to some. Besides, my film company will be preparing for a family film after summer. The lead of the film is a 13 to 14-year-old girl, so I think you can come for an audition,” Adrian mentioned to the girl seriously.
Sarah pursed her lips and looked at Adrian for a long time, then nodded her head hard. “I’ll consider, mister.”
Once the girl entered her house, Adrian left. He suddenly thought about ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’ earlier, and he figured that it was doable. In fact, he had asked Laverne to acquire the animated film rights and had also written the outline of the film which he stored at the Writers Guild. Since his company had recruited a few new screenwriters, it was the perfect opportunity to let them handle the script, then he would cooperate with Disney that had a special liking for family films. He would be killing a few birds with one stone—it would be great to rope Sarah in too.
