Perhaps their emotions were still stirred by Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon's performance. Without needing a script or preparation, in the empty studio, the two of them strolled down the dimly lit street, and the lines came out naturally, as if by instinct.
When this scene, which lasted nearly twenty minutes and would take up four or five minutes of screen time even after editing, was finished, Wayne felt a long-lost sense of exhilaration, as if he had returned to his school days in his past life.
"Darling, how was my performance just now?"
"Very natural, no trace of acting at all," Wayne said sincerely, praising her.
For many actors, scenes requiring emotional outbursts are easier to perform. It's the seemingly ordinary, even somewhat plain scenes, that require more skill. How to make the audience feel the character's inner emotions and feelings without appearing exaggerated or artificial is the real challenge.
Obviously, Jessica's acting skills had improved significantly since the filming of "The Bourne Identity 1" due to her recent studies and training.
Although she was still far from winning an award or even getting a nomination, she had already shed the "vase" label and could be considered a capable actress.
Most importantly, if she could maintain this state, the filming progress of this movie might be faster than expected.
"When will the lakeside villa be built?" Wayne asked Mia as they left the studio.
For the small lake depicted in the film, full of cypress trees and swans, he had also chosen the original filming location, "Cypress Gardens" lake in Charleston, South Carolina.
It was already a tourist attraction known for its beautiful lake and spectacular aquatic plants, but there was no lakeside villa, so they needed to build one themselves.
Moreover, they needed to first build an abandoned wooden house and then build a real three-story wooden villa suitable for living and filming in a better location.
This task was also the first to start in the pre-production preparations.
Even if many of the interior scenes of the villa were moved to the studio for filming, there were still many scenes that needed to be shot there.
"The original plan was to finish on April 13th. Should that be enough time?" Mia reported the time directly without checking her work notebook, and she also roughly guessed Wayne's intention in asking.
"I don't know, but if Jessica and I can keep up this state, if I were the director, I guess every scene could be done in one take."
Jessica, who was praised, immediately showed a happy smile, while Mia frowned slightly and said, "Okay, I'll call the production assistant and the construction team leader in charge there and ask them to speed up the construction, but everything must prioritize safety and quality."
Wayne nodded and didn't say anything more. After all, if the house was built with poor quality, he and Jessica, who would be filming inside, would be the ones in the most danger.
However, with various modern tools and a professional construction team of more than twenty people, and without needing to consider the durability of the villa, building such a three-story wooden villa should be quick.
He felt that if it were the infrastructure maniacs from across the sea, such a project wouldn't even take a month, probably ten days would be enough.
"It's almost lunchtime. Let's go out to eat."
"Okay, you and Jessie wait for me. I'll go arrange some work first." After saying that, Mia quickly ran towards the neighboring filming set, while Wayne and Jessica slowed down and walked towards the gate.
Just as they reached the gate, a voice suddenly came from not far away.
"Hey, are you Mr. Wayne?"
Since the release of "Accepted," he had often been recognized by some younger female fans, especially after the box office success of "Happy Death Day." So Wayne wasn't surprised and calmly turned his head to look.
However, after seeing the girl's face clearly, he showed a surprised expression.
"Miss Swan? Do you also have a film being shot here?"
"Yes, 'XAK' is in the studio over there. Has your 'The Notebook' started filming too?"
"Yes, it just started yesterday."
"So are you going to lunch? Want to join me?"
"Sorry, I have an appointment with other friends."
"..."
The person who came was Dominique Swain, whom he had met once at Harvey's party, the heroine of the once-popular movie "Lolita."
Dominique Swain became famous at a young age with this movie, similar to Natalie Portman.
However, their development after that was completely different.
Although Wayne looked down on Natalie Portman a bit, he had to admit that her scheming and tactics were indeed good. Although she was a bit of a troublemaker and didn't have a good reputation, at least it was effective, and she managed to become an A-list star.
But Dominique Swain was different. After that, her acting path seemed to be fixed, and all the roles she played were similar, some even comparable to the actresses in the neighboring San Fernando Valley.
The problem was that she couldn't stay 15 years old forever, so although she had constant film offers in recent years, her resources and salary were rapidly declining.
Of course, she had tried to transition, but her acting skills were average, and coupled with the audience's fixed impression of her, the transition failed without surprise.
However, these weren't the main point. The main point was that Wayne actually rejected her invitation.
Not only was Dominique Swain herself surprised, even Jessica, who was standing beside her, couldn't help but be stunned, her eyes filled with surprise.
Although Wayne was indeed very good to her and impeccable in other aspects, like a real-life Prince Charming, she knew that if Wayne really liked a girl, he wouldn't care if they were around or not.
So...
"Darling, you don't like this Dominique Swain? I think she's pretty." After Dominique Swain left with regret, Jessica couldn't help but ask.
"Whether someone is pretty or not is a very subjective judgment. I think Dominique Swain is average, far from you and Mia. Can't I have my own opinion?"
"No wonder Hannah always says you have strange taste~" Jessica, who was praised, couldn't help but hug his arm happily while complaining.
However, the real reason Wayne refused was that he thought Dominique Swain was too old.
That's right, born in 1980, Dominique Swain, who was only 21 years old at the moment, either due to her natural features or some lifestyle habits, looked like she was in her late twenties, even older than Naomi Watts.
If it were six years ago, or even three years ago, he wouldn't mind having a deeper interaction with Dominique Swain. But now, weren't young Scarlett Johansson, Camilla Belle, and Avril Lavigne more appealing?
Amanda Seyfried's looks and figure were better than Dominique Swain's, right?
However, mentioning age in front of women could easily lead to some unpleasant consequences, so he found an excuse based on aesthetics.
After all, not everyone could maintain their looks as well as Nicole Kidman and Monica Bellucci.
It was a pity that Scarlett Johansson had already gone to Europe with the crew, Camilla was still at the company waiting to sign the contract, and Avril Lavigne had gone to the recording studio to record songs.
So after lunch, Wayne first sent Mia and Jessica, who wanted to stay and observe, back to the set, and then drove to Sarah Michelle Gellar's place, calling Anne Hathaway, Naomi Watts, and Keri Russell over.
It was worth mentioning that although he had contacted Keira Knightley, who was currently running errands in various small-budget films, through Mike and even met her in person, after careful consideration, he still gave up the idea of giving her the female lead in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series and planned to give it to Keri Russell instead.
He wouldn't comment on who was prettier between Keira Knightley and Keri Russell, but he already had enough women and wasn't interested in adding Keira Knightley to the mix.
As for whether changing the female lead would ruin the classic, he wasn't too worried. After all, this was just an investment, not a movie produced by his own company, Hera Pictures. If it was ruined, so be it.
As long as he could earn the funds returned by the system, that was enough.
As for "The Intern," which was originally planned for Keri Russell, he intended to give it back to Anne Hathaway. After all, he was a bit too busy now, and he didn't know when the originally planned "Love and Other Drugs" would start filming.
As for "The Intern," as long as "Hotel for Dogs" was finished, it could be handed over to Nancy Meyers to start.
The only thing to worry about was whether Nancy Meyers' physical and mental health could handle it.
Serving as the director and producer of three consecutive films, even James Wan would probably faint from the workload.
Early the next morning, Wayne specifically went over and thoroughly exhausted Amanda Hearst and Lydia Hearst, who had finally recovered after a whole day and night, to the point where they didn't even have the strength to get out of bed for breakfast. Only then did he feel refreshed and arrive at the set with Mia and the others.
That's right, starting today, he and Jessica would officially join the crew and start filming.
Hannah, as his assistant and bodyguard, and mainly because she didn't want to be left alone at the manor to face the Hearst sisters, naturally chose to come along.
However, according to the original shooting plan, it wasn't Wayne who would be acting with Jessica in the next few days, but Nicolas Cage.
This included scenes where Jessica, playing the female lead 'Allie,' met Nicolas Cage, playing 'Hammond,' while volunteering as a nurse.
There were also scenes of 'Hammond' driving his vintage car to find 'Allie' after being discharged from the hospital, and 'Allie's' parents inviting 'Hammond' to dinner, being very satisfied with him, and the two discussing marriage.
Wayne's main scenes in these few days were 'Noah's' experiences after 'Allie' went to New York for college, including scenes of him joining the army and going to the European battlefield.
To ease the pressure on the system's funds, Wayne asked Mia to adjust the shooting plan and speed up the process, which made the three of them, except for Hannah, very busy every day.
But there was no other way.
Initially, Wayne planned to finish filming "Hotel for Dogs" first, so he could get another 60 million in funding from the system.
However, there was a problem with the pre-production of "Hotel for Dogs," mainly because he underestimated the arrangement of the film's most important set - the abandoned hotel.
He had calculated based on the speed of the infrastructure maniacs from across the sea, slowing it down by about 30%. But in reality, although the props and sets created by the prop masters and set designers here were more refined, they took much longer than planned.
Also, the main actors, especially Lily and Camilla, needed to familiarize themselves and bond with dozens of different dogs, which also took longer than expected.
Therefore, "Hotel for Dogs," which was originally scheduled to start filming the day after tomorrow, on March 24th, would probably be delayed by at least a week.
As a result, he needed to speed up the production of "The Notebook."
[Remaining film investment funds: 58.59 million]
[Currently ongoing film projects:]
[Resident Evil 1 & 2: Production budget 175 million, currently invested 157 million]
[Taken: Production budget 35 million, currently invested 17.22 million]
[Ocean's Eleven (18%): Estimated investment 15 million, currently invested 7 million]
[Pirates of the Caribbean (16%): Estimated investment 20 million, currently invested 0]
[Spider-Man 1 (22%): Estimated investment 30 million, currently invested 10 million]
[The Notebook: Estimated investment 62 million, currently invested 17.39 million]
[Star Wars Episode II (4%): Estimated investment 15 million, currently invested 7 million]
[Hotel for Dogs: Estimated investment 20 million, currently invested 6.9 million]
"I must complete the entire production of 'The Notebook' before April 25th, otherwise, the second part of the investment for 'Star Wars Episode II' and 'Spider-Man 1' will be a big problem."
On the set, Wayne, taking a break from his busy schedule, sipped the iced juice Hannah had specially made for him and opened the system interface.
According to the original shooting plan, the filming of "The Notebook" would be finished on April 22nd. Considering Richard Curtis' age and past experience, Wayne gave him two weeks for post-production, which meant it needed to be completed by May 5th.
But now it seemed that not only did the shooting progress need to be accelerated, but the post-production time also needed to be compressed. Excluding pre-production, the original production cycle was only about 50 days, and now it was directly compressed by 10 days...
"I hope Richard Curtis can handle it!"
Unfortunately, even with such a tight shooting schedule, he had to take time off to deal with some things.
For example, the Oscars ceremony on the evening of the 25th, the "The Bourne Identity 1" preview on the afternoon of the 26th, and the premiere of "The Bourne Identity 1" on April 1st.
These were all unavoidable.
(End of Chapter)