"In short, the tone of the whole story is gray, although there is a long section in the middle, all of which are bright and pastel tones, and the camera is not so sharp, but the gray is not missing."

"So can I understand that? Ripley's character always has a desire in his emotions, a desire to be in high society, and no matter how his personality changes, this desire is always there. ”

"That's right, a focus that runs through the whole film, but one thing you have to warn is that it's just my opinion, and while the director agrees with that, it doesn't mean he won't change it in the actual shooting."

"Xiexie, Roy, I'll remember that."

Soon, in the midst of a lively conversation between Sean and Locke, another afternoon passed. It's very rewarding, by exchanging opinions on the script with different people, Tom? Ripley's image became clearer and clearer in his head, and not only that, but he also used John? Harrington taught him the technique to design and summarize three patterns with different emphases.

One is introverted, does not like or is not good at expressing his feelings; One is relatively outgoing and has more body language; And another, accustomed to wearing a mask woven with a smile and politeness. Sean devised different details for this, and kept performing in front of the mirror, or pulling Galen to play.

So much so that Galen complained, "Look at the way you look, you're about to become a different person." ”

Sean's answer was, "That's right." ”

Of course, he did not forget that these can only be used as references, and whether they are appropriate or not requires the opinion of director Minghella.

In addition, there are some gains from such exchanges, such as the fact that Locke has a good impression of him. In the face of those hidden enemies, Sean needs friends, needs to have friends in the crew, has low expectations, does not need them to support him much, but at least has a good impression of himself.

"Get in touch with them more, show yourself more in front of them, show yourself in a targeted manner, don't feel troublesome, don't feel that this is not in line with the principles, do too much, sometimes it will play an unexpected role." This is the PR advice that Frederick introduced to him.

Male, thirty-six years old, named Richard? Leyson, an employee of the well-known Edelman PR firm, is very good at handling interpersonal relationships. I have to say that these PR are of a very high standard, at least Leyson's suggestion is very in line with Sean's thinking, that is, the fee is not cheap, about 75 to 100 dollars an hour, and the monthly salary is 1500 to 3000, so he has no plans to hire him for a long time being.

Basically, the second half of January 1999 was spent like this, and everything was fine, except for the occasional mediation between the assistant and the agent.

"I really can't stand your agent, he's a megalomaniac who dictates my work all day long." Galen said so.

"I really can't stand your assistant, he doesn't understand anything, and he doesn't give a damn about my reminders and suggestions!" That's what Frederick said.

Well, it's Sean's fault, because Galen has no experience as an assistant, so he handed him over to an agent for a short period of training, but because he was busy with his own business, he didn't give a detailed explanation to the two of them, and even just called Frederick and asked Galen to find him, so it became like this.

In that case, Sean had to clean up himself, call them out, and have a face-to-face conversation: "Okay, listen to me, guys. First of all, Fred is my agent, and all his considerations are from my point of view, so, Galen, you have to respect and understand him, and listen to some opinions appropriately, and if there is any problem, please tell me directly; Secondly, Galen is my brother and now my assistant, and his consideration is also from my point of view, so, Fred, you also have to respect and understand him, be patient, although Galen is a novice now, he will definitely do a good job, if there is a problem, please tell him directly, OK? ”

Then he added to his tone: "We all know that the next few months will be the most important period of my life. So I hope you guys can unite and do your best to support me, instead of distracting liliang because of discord, without your support, it's hard for me to get to zuihou, understand? ”

"I'm fine." Since Sean said so, Frederick naturally wouldn't hold on to it.

"I'm fine." Galen was more honest and said directly to the other party, "I'm sorry, Fred, I'll get familiar with the basic work of the assistant as soon as possible." ”

During this time, he had listened to Sean talk about his life in Los Angeles, and he knew a little bit about the difficulty of being an actor, and he also understood the significance of the actor in "Talented Ripley" to Sean. And Galen's biggest advantage is that once he knows that he is indeed wrong, he will never insist on it for the sake of face or anything else, which is one of the reasons why Sean asked him to be his assistant.

Galen made this gesture, even if Frederick was still unhappy, for Sean's sake, he could only press it down, and make a look of "it's good to know it's wrong", and the interior finally stabilized so much.

So, as time went on, it finally came February 5th.

"Let me see...... Great, that's all! What about over there? Steven, how is the set over there? "Anthony? Minghella walked around the studio with the assistant director and assistants, checking what he wanted.

"Mr. Director, they're here." One of the assistants, Dekkers? Roman walked over at this point.

"Haode, I see." Minghella nodded, explained a few more words to the others, and then followed Roman out of the studio.

A few minutes later, he was in the actors' lounge, where the main characters were already standing or sitting.

"Hey, Jude, Philip." Minghella was greeting from afar.

"Hi Anthony." The two men who were talking immediately stopped, waved their hands and replied with a smile.

"How are you, Gwyneth." Minghella followed and looked at the heroine sitting in a chair drinking water.

"I'm ready, Anthony." The blonde girl smiled, not very pretty, but charming to laugh at.

Then, Minghella looked at the young man who was sitting in another chair, still looking through the script: "Sean, what about you?" ”

"I'm ready, Mr. Minghella." The young man immediately stood up.

"That's up to you." Minghella patted him on the shoulder and didn't say much.

He could see that he was actually a little nervous, otherwise, how could he still look down at the script knowing that he had already come. However, young people, it is the first time to play the leading role in a movie, and he has also taken on a lot of pressure before, so it is normal to be nervous.

"Alright, let's get ready for the first meeting." Minghella said with a wave of his hand.

Then, the four actors followed him to the tent where the meeting was held, called the drama manager, and hired a few more people to help, and the first set meeting of the movie "The Talented Ripley" began.

said that it was a meeting, but in fact, the main actors who were about to participate in the filming came together to talk to each other, and by the way, they took this opportunity to get to know each other.

"God, you're wearing that coat in Italy?" This is the supporting actor, that is, Jude, who plays Dick, who was the first to greet Minghella just now? Lowe's lines.

"Good morning, Tom, come and sit together." And then one of the supporting actresses, Gwyneth who plays Dick's girlfriend Maggie? Paltrow's lines.

"Honestly, I want your job too, Tommy. Oh, you're still saying that you live in Italy, you live in Dick's, you eat Dick's, you wear his, and his father has to pay you. If you don't want to do it, let me know and I'll do it. "With Philip who plays Freddy? Seymour? Hoffman's lines.

"It's a nice day." followed by Sean, the youngest of several actors, who plays the male lead? Don's lines.

As for the other characters, they are not important people, so they are all done by the staff who are brought in.

This line is neither long nor short, it took about ten minutes to get it right, but Hoffman and Sean are the most involved in their relationship, followed by Gwyneth and Jude. It's not that Jude isn't serious and professional enough, it's just that in comparison, Sean and Hoffman are more impressive when they read aloud.

Although Minghella frowned in his eyes, he didn't care too much, and this situation is not uncommon, the actor is careless when he is on the lines, but he is extremely serious in front of the camera.

So, after the assistant came over and told Minghella that everything was ready, and just as the lines were right, everyone was ready to start.

The first shot is of Dick, Maggie, Freddy, and Ripley having breakfast together, and Fred laughs at Ripley mercilessly in front of Dick and Maggie after hearing about Ripley, and Ripley, who can't say anything, can only divert his attention with irrelevant topics.

This shot is not difficult, Freddy's contempt, Dick's indifference, for experienced actors, are easy things. Ripley is a little more complicated, both embarrassing and very inferior, which can be regarded as a test of acting skills. As for Maggie, just a few lines, it's basically a vase and can be ignored.

So, this set of shots was shot for an hour and a half, with a 15-minute break in the middle. Even so, Minghella was still not very satisfied, and always felt that there was something missing.

"Is it because of Sean?" Assistant director Andrews simply asked, of course, privately.

"No, he did a good job, you can see that he has done a lot of homework, he has a good emotional grasp, although sometimes he still pushes too hard, but as long as I remind him, he will correct it." Minghella shook his head, thought about it, and then asked the crew to do it again.

It was probably because the shoot had been repeated many times, and this time it was done smoothly and quickly, but Minghella, who was still frowning from beginning to end behind the monitor, walked back and forth a few times in the middle of the set, as if looking for something.

"What do you think is the problem?" Mingla, who always felt that he couldn't catch it in front of him, asked about a few actors.

"I think it's good."

"Maybe the feelings are a little stronger?"

"Hmm...... I think it's good too. ”

Jude, Hoffman, and Gwyneth said this separately, and then, after a few more seconds, Sean's voice rang out, "Perhaps...... Can Ripley say nothing from start to finish? ”