Hugo was an actor and then a screenwriter. This can be felt in the two scripts "Before Sunrise" and "Perfect", and his portrayal and carving of the characters is really commendable. "Before Sunrise" earned Charlize his first Oscar nomination, while "Perfect" went one step further, allowing both Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunter to win the Oscars.

This time, "A Beautiful Mind" is no exception.

As the protagonist of John Nash, Hugo poured almost all his heart and soul into it, not only John's life, but also Hugo also consulted a lot of psychological materials and talked to several different psychiatrists, trying to create a completely three-dimensional image of John. The core of the whole script is John's schizophrenia, which is unimaginably difficult for the performance process.

In the process of writing the script, in fact, Hugo entered John's spiritual world step by step, which is why the script writing has never been accelerated, and Hugo has spent more than 60 days to complete the script writing. In fact, although it has not yet been officially filmed, Hugo has begun to slowly find the rhythm of the performance. It's just that now Hugo's control over his acting skills is very good, so this is not completely out of control.

With the exception of John, Hugo spent a great deal of energy on the study of a kind of supporting role, and spent a lot of pen and ink on the description of the supporting characters. Due to the fact that there was so much content, Hugo had to spend more than ten days to cut the content and fine-tune the content of the script.

The character of Alicia Nash, in fact, was recreated by Hugo - more accurately, Hugo recreated the whole story. Because it is too difficult to tell the life of John Nash realistically, and the context of the era is too grand, Hugo uses the structure of John's life - from genius to schizophrenia to Nobel Prize - according to the subject he has set to construct a semi-fictional story. So, Hugo rewrote Alicia.

Alicia in "A Beautiful Mind" is actually more complicated, but also more real. Her changes in mentality, psychological struggles, and emotional ups and downs are the most real, and it can be said that almost every normal person in real life can possibly occur. But the only difference is that Alicia chose to stay, maybe because of the power of love, maybe the burden of responsibility, maybe the fetters of friendship...... Hugo did not deliberately point it out in the script, but left it to the audience to interpret it from their own perspective. However, what is certain is that Alicia's perseverance has become the key to John's improvement, like a ray of light in the darkness.

Alicia's role may not be as complicated as Erin Enos, but the performance is by no means inferior. Because this role needs Charlize to show the softness and fragility that she does not want to show to others, the delicate and sensitive struggle, like a gentle morning sun, weak but tenacious, tearing apart the dark haze little by little, allowing the sun to cover the earth again.

In fact, this character is somewhat similar to the vulnerability shown by Charlize in "The Devil's Advocate", but it is completely different. This puts a lot of demands on Charlize's control.

Although Charlize is already a two-time performer, the road to performance is still very long. "Beautiful Mind" can definitely be said to be a new challenge. Hugo wanted Charlize to play Alicia, and it was definitely not as simple as relying on favors - because Hugo knew that Charlize could play the role and interpret a completely different style, and he was also looking forward to another confrontation with Charlize.

The same goes for the other characters in "A Beautiful Mind", and Hugo definitely didn't write it for the sake of favors.

For example, William Patcher, Hugo wants to be played by Leonardo. But in fact, at the very beginning of writing this role, Hugo conceived the subject of Ed Harris, an actor who had just played Christopher in "Truman's World". However, with the improvement and revision of the script, Hugo felt that Leonardo was more suitable for the role.

William Patcher is a fictional character from John Nash's schizophrenia. In John's mind, William is a federal agent, and he comes to the door in the hope that John can help crack the enemy's code and maintain national security, which makes him a behind-the-scenes hero hidden behind history.

The appearance of this character is definitely not Hugo's inexplicable setting. After studying John's life, Hugo found that although John was a genius from childhood to adulthood, he was always a freak, always ridiculed by people, and he always disdained those so-called social interactions, as if his world was only mathematics. But deep in his subconscious, which he was not even aware of, he still wanted to be recognized by society.

Maybe it's not those ordinary people who "have no knowledge, no culture, no insight", but those who can really appreciate his ability, his wisdom, his talent, he hopes that he is not just a nerd who studies mathematics, he hopes to be recognized by the social elite, he hopes to be able to really create a career.

In fact, it is a sense of existence, everyone needs a sense of existence, even the smallest person will need his own sense of existence. Maybe it's the presence of the head of the family, maybe it's the presence of good grades, maybe it's the presence of the whole world in the eyes of the beloved...... Or like John, who has a recognized presence in a certain field.

So, Hugo set the character of William Palmer. John is in schizophrenia, imagining William, although he is forced by William to "work for the country", but in fact he himself enjoys it, even if it is dangerous, he does his best to "obey orders", because deep down, he is eager to prove his worth in this way - this also echoes the real-life John Nash allegory of politics, burying the clues of reality into the story line in a metaphorical way. Even when people later told him that it was a fictional character, he refused to believe it.

So Patchher has very distinct characteristics, mysterious, authoritative, powerful, rational, wise, intelligent, cunning, and can even see all intrigues. This is John's definition of an "authority figure" deep down.

Hugo originally wanted Ed Harris to play this role, because Ed's image is positive, tall, serious, and at the same time has a hint of ruthlessness. However, it turned out that Ed was actually too strong, especially his acting style was completely open, and he could show Patcher's authoritative side, but it was not enough to outline the inner entanglement between Patcher and Nash. Strictly speaking, Patcher is a projection of Nash's heart, a part of Nash, and Ed is not the best choice to show this connection.

Later, Hugo took Leonardo into account, and Hugo was very hesitant at first. For one, Leonardo is too young and far from the character; Second, Leonardo's performance is more than delicate, but the thickness is insufficient, and in the case of the lack of crutches in the role, he can only rely on his acting talent to interpret, so the rhythm of the performance is sometimes good and bad, and it is difficult to maintain a stable average.

Because of the role of William Palmer, Hugo reimagined the draft several times, but never had a clear idea. Because when Hugo wrote the script of "A Beautiful Mind", he coordinated the setting of John Nash's fantasy role, one is William Patcher, who represents John's dreams, and at the same time is a colleague and loyalty; One is Charles, John's roommate, representing John's friendship, and at the same time being a friend, is trust; One is Marcy, Charles's niece, representing John's family affection, and at the same time the spiritual bondage of sympathy, sympathy, softness and love.

Finally, there is the real-life Alicia, who represents John's love, she is not only John's bosom friend, but also John's trust, loyalty, and softness.

Therefore, the setting and personality of each character are completely different, which is why Hugo needs to recreate the story of John Nash - the part of the virtual illusion, John has always refused to talk to Hugo directly.

Later, after Charles, Marcy and other roles have been perfected, Hugo suddenly became enlightened, and he realized that in fact, Leonardo's disadvantage is precisely his advantage. Leonardo's youth is out of place for the character, but it also contrasts with the fact that "William Patcher" is completely virtual, especially John's fame at a young age - he created game theory at the age of twenty-one, so in his subconscious, William Patcher, who is also an authority figure, should not be middle-aged, but a top-notch existence close to his age but already famous, which makes John even more eager to be like William.

In addition, Leonardo has always relied on crutches during the performance, but it was under Hugo's persuasion that he took over the filming of "Titanic". However, the "Titanic" left Leonardo with limited performance space, and James Cameron is not a director who will capture the actors' performances.

Now, William Paccher of "A Beautiful Mind" is instead able to give him the perfect platform. Once Hugo was still worried that after "Titanic", Leonardo's acting exploration path would repeat the mistakes of the past, and now "A Beautiful Mind" is a new opportunity, a chance to get Leonardo back on track. The only question is: is Hugo willing to believe in Leonardo's talent?

The answer is yes.

From Charlize to Leonardo, although they are all close associates of Hugo, this is definitely not emotional, but the result of careful consideration. As a producer, Hugo wanted "A Beautiful Mind" to succeed more than anyone else, so he also paid more attention to detail than anyone else.

As for Charles and Marcy, Hugo also had a draft in mind, and after a brief audition for the role of Charles, Heath Ledger managed to convince Hugo; And Marcy was led by Dakota Fanning, who was only six years old. Fanning). When the entire cast was confirmed, Hugo found out that he had formed a dream team.