Daniel gave his "Proclamation of the Roman Emperor" at the Colosseum, which opened up a fantastic realm for him to make this film.

Through that ancient Colosseum, Daniel seems to travel back in time, as if he were in a time when Roman emperors ruled the land.

This even caused him to encounter some important difficulties in playing the role of Commodius as a prince.

"Daniel, I really don't know how to say it, you entered Emperor Commodius prematurely, but forgot about Prince Commerdius," Ridley was a little annoyed, Daniel was obviously shocked by the Colosseum, so that he completely fell into the power of the supreme emperor, so that it was difficult to perfectly express that Xiàn was still just a prince, a man who waited and believed that his father would pass on his heir. It's almost impossible to explain an important adaptation of the play, which is that he strangled Marcus, the great old emperor of the Roman Empire, and you can't imagine that an emperor would murder his own father with his own hands, and the pride and self-indulgence of the supreme power would make such a design lose its right to justify itself.

"You've said very good, really, very good, it's just that Ridley is asking too much."

Aside from Ridley's and Daniel's discussion of what happened to his performance, including Universal's producers Walter and Russell Crowe, they were a little helpless. In their opinion, Daniel's performance was good enough, even perfect.

But Ridley insists that there is a problem, and Daniel seems to approve of Ridley.

"Thank you," Daniel forced a smile to himself, of course he knew Crow's kindness, but his performance could not satisfy Ridley, let alone himself.

Before coming to Rome, Daniel really didn't think this would happen.

But he kept thinking of what Ridley had told him: "Daniel, it was you who told me that Commodius should be more three-dimensional, more flesh-and-blood, more real and vivid." But now, yes, you're doing it so well that I'm not even sure if the audience can see if there's anything wrong, but you and I both know that this scene isn't like that, it shouldn't be like that, if it's just because it's fake, treat it as if it's real. So, Daniel, what's the point of us insisting on a living Conmerdius? ”

As Ridley said, it is not the most urgent matter to fool the audience, because first of all, these performances have to pass their own level.

The work of the crew even had to be adjusted because of this.

Daniel first filmed the scene after the succession.

In the chamber of the palace, Senate Councilor Quigs was chattering with Commodius about political affairs.

Commodius, who had just ascended to the throne, forcibly endured, and he sat jerkily on the throne, listening to the demands and questions of the self-righteous parliamentarians "on behalf of the people", and pretending to play with a sword that seemed to act like the authority of the emperor and gave him courage.

Then he could not bear it anymore, for he could not wait to show in his heart that he was a good emperor, and that it would be better if he could deny his predecessor, Marcus, who was worshipped by the people as a god.

And he is already an emperor, he can say whatever he wants.

He interrupted Quigs and rose from his throne with his sword.

He did not hesitate to accuse Marcus of indulging in the scrolls of the Senate rather than the real needs of the people. And he, the new, even greater Conmerdius, will love his people with all his heart, and not the so-called senate representing the people.

However, it was clear that the new emperor had not yet established his authority, and Craggs was not afraid to interrupt him several times, even to make mockery of him.

Feel-good, but easily provoked, Commodius pointed his sword at Quiggs......

This large section of the performance is almost not NG because of Daniel, in fact, Ridley only reshot once because a certain background congressman swung his body too much, and the other scenes are almost all one.

Daniel is a vivid illustration of the game between a new emperor who has just ascended to the throne and an old powerful courtier, and importantly, it is easy to see that the emperor feels good about himself and is desperate to dismiss his predecessor, his father, and in addition to his lack of political skills, he has recklessly used his authority, and finally even left in anger.

Daniel used two designs throughout this whole process.

One is the sword, the sword that symbolizes authority.

At first, he pointed the tip of his sword on the ground and spun it for amusement, suggesting that he regarded authority as a plaything in his hands at the beginning of his ascension to the throne.

After interrupting the councillor's discussion of political affairs, he took the sword in his hand and made a striking gesture. Then he talks about his father's "stupidity" in his old age - knowing only to indulge in the scrolls of the Senate, and not to the thoughts of the "real" people, at this moment, the authority in hand, asserts the world.

And when Craggs satirizes that he has not experienced human suffering, but talks about the needs of the people, he carries the authority around his neck and begins to talk about the topic of "love" and the empty and imaginary idea of governance. By this time, Commodius had come to realize that the pressure of authority was not just a pleasure privilege, it meant that you had to take on the same amount of responsibility, and even worse, he was beginning to realize that he didn't seem to have it.

Finally, after being interrupted again, he pointed his knife at Quiggs, his anger pulling out the evil and brutality of the power like a poisonous snake about to attack.

The sword in Daniel's hand changes in different scenes, and these show the changing process of Commerdius's perception of imperial power to the audience in a concrete way, and this sword will become a mental hint that will bring the viewer into the cognitive world of Commerdius.

Aside from the sword of power, Daniel's gaze may be even more appealing.

It's completely different from the sword variety.

His gaze only went deeper on Cheng Dù.

As the scene progresses, his gaze keeps getting deeper, darker, and more frenzied.

But throughout, the tone of the eyes remains the same.

The people of Commodius are also the same.

He's just more willful, more crazy, more power-driven, more stubborn about himself.

Such a brilliant performance is a reflection of the previous performances.

Walter, Crowe, Richard Harris, Connie Nelson...... Both recognized Ridley and Daniel's "dissatisfaction".

Daniel's play is getting better and better, but the actors and even the staff in the same group are becoming more and more polite to him...... And stay away.

Despite his patience, Daniel has no choice but to reveal some of the neuroticism of Commodius in his life, staring at the staff who have done the wrong thing with those deep and mysterious eyes, and showing irritable and unbearable feelings when other actors are in the play.

Of course, no one cares about this with him, at least on the bright side. Especially because his characters are becoming more and more vivid and real, as long as Director Ridley shouts to start, all the people standing in front of him always involuntarily enter that era and situation, just ask, if you believe that the emperor standing in front of you is the emperor of the Roman Empire, then convince yourself that you are in this era, obviously, it is much simpler.

Ridley was really worried and excited.

The worry is that Daniel's play is getting deeper and deeper into the bone marrow, and when the song is over, whether he can get out of the play, and it would be too bad if the sunny, modest and hard-working Daniel became a person like Commerdius who was spoiled by power.

But on the other hand, Daniel's entry into the play almost brought the performance of the entire crew to a higher level, even the characters of Maximus, Marcus and Quiggs have sublimated themselves in the process of playing with him. Ridley is in a state of hormone overproduction every day, because every day the actors put on an Oscar-level rivalry in front of him.

In the end, out of rational considerations, Ridley slowly reduced Daniel's workload, on the one hand, because it was too smooth in the early stage, so there was room for adjustment. The second aspect is to hope that Daniel can adjust, at least not to get closer to Commerdius.

This is by no means something that a Hollywood director has to think about.

Even for those who are successful, directors often worry that their performances are too far away from the characters, and people can't feel the characters in the full script through them. Ridley, however, was annoyed that his actors were too close to the characters.

For the director, this is really a happy annoyance.

Daniel spent more time in the room after the scene was reduced, and of course he tried to adjust himself, but with little success.

Because there was no scene all day, Daniel had been in the room all morning today, and when he came out, Assistant Andy did not see Daniel before coming to Italy, and the shadow of Commodius still hung over him.

Daniel himself is extremely puzzled by this kind of deep bone marrow into the play.

Perhaps he took the role too seriously and prepared too well, and the filming location, the Colosseum in ancient Rome, gave him a preconceived mental shock, and even the twenty years of filming that he had accumulated in his memory, which caused him and Commerdius to be inseparable.

"Daniel, would you like something to eat? Macaroni? Andy raised the bag in his hand.

"Andy, I want you to go out again-"

"Oh, what do you want to eat? I'll go right away. Andy showed a rare indulgence and positivity, and Daniel had been eating for a long time.

Daniel waved his hand, "It's not food, I want you to help me buy some oil painting tools, drawing boards, canvases, oil paints, pens and the like." ”

Andy was stunned, but the good work made her nod quickly, and then watched Daniel turn back to his room and close the door with his backhand.

Andy was lucky, there were several shops dealing in painting materials not far from here, and it took less than an hour to buy them all.

After the afternoon began, Daniel sat in a corner of the Colosseum with the oil paints and sketchpads he had just bought.

This is the first time he came to the United States to hold a paintbrush, in the last life, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, although he did not embark on the road of pure art in the end, but painting has become his bridge between film and reality, he will never play a painter in the movie, because as long as he holds the pen, he can come out of all kinds of life, back to his own life, and will not be schizophrenic by a deliberately created story.

When he redrew the first stroke, he did find the long-lost ease, and then the tight heartstrings were released, and this trick still worked for him.

Commodius temporarily departed from him.

It may be a bit supernatural to put it that way.

But for Daniel, the feeling was very distinct, akin to instinct, and with his soul came to this body.

His brush depicts a corner of the Colosseum, a section of ruin, and a few weather-beaten seats.

Daniel's Chinese paintings were most influenced by Fu Baoshi, while oil paintings were taught by the French Impressionist master Monet.

Of course, he can't integrate Chinese and Western, that is Xu Beihong. But as an amateur or semi-professional, Daniel is already quite an accomplished painter.

This has a lot to do with his diligence in painting, he only acted in a dozen films in the last twenty years of his life, and did not have any other forms of works, and most of his time outside of this time was spent on painting.

So it's not so incomprehensible that Nelson's eyes popped out in shock when he saw his sketchpad.

The actors and producers who weren't in the play all walked around half of the Colosseum and stood behind Daniel.

The brushstrokes on the drawing board are clumsy, but the colors are bold, and this is an unforgettable oil painting.

"Daniel, you still have this hand?"

Crowe was the last to come running, and not long after he arrived, Daniel put down his brush, and the little oil painting was finished.

"Unbelievable?" Daniel turned around and smiled at everyone, Daniel, who had been hidden in the shadows of Commodius for several days, seemed to be back in the sun at this moment, so that everyone in the crew was a little stunned when they saw his smile.