King of Hollywood-Chapter 524 - 245 Do you remember what I said?

Frankly speaking, conveying emotions through body language is no easier than using expressions and tone. However, there was no better method for Monica. Previously, it had been mentioned that her performance using her own demeanor was somewhat lacking, but her body language was quite good. The dance sequence with Travolta in "Pulp Fiction" was one of her best performances.

As long as Monica performed impressively, Adrian, with proper editing in post-production to fully showcase her strengths, could notably enhance her allure. Moreover, the original "Malena" mainly utilized Monica’s limited screen time for body language; Adrian, while revising the script, amplified this aspect even further.

The changes were necessary. Just a few years ago, Anthony Hopkins had won the Oscar for Best Actor for 20 minutes of outstanding performance, but Monica’s acting couldn’t compare to his and, moreover, he was a man. Faced with inherent disadvantages at the Oscars, Adrian was determined not to make mistakes if he intended to secure an Oscar statuette for Monica using this film.

Naturally, these modifications were minor, such as altering the male lead’s age in addition to adding more plot. A 15-year-old male protagonist spying on women was one thing, but engaging in prostitution, especially led by his father, was non-objectionable in Italy; however, gaining mainstream acceptance in the United States was utterly unfeasible. Thus, Adrian increased the male lead’s age to seventeen; after all, as long as it remained unmentioned, it was acceptable.

Furthermore, those overly explicit scenes were also revised. Many directors, particularly from Europe, had a peculiar predilection—they wouldn’t relent until the female lead in their films was completely undressed, believing this to constitute art. Adrian recalled a European film about lesbians he’d seen in his past life while collecting movie materials; 80% of it depicted the two female leads rolling around in bed, and yet some claimed it was profoundly aesthetic, which was absurd.

The scene in "Titanic" where Jack sketched Rose was genuinely aesthetic, whereas those directors’ works, no matter how tricky the shots and gentle the hues, couldn’t erase their provocative essence.

"Let me tell you what true seduction is," Adrian had said while revising the script. In "Mulholland Drive," he had done just that; the love scene between Naomi and Nicole was even smaller in scale than usual yet, under his editing, it emitted an exceptionally enticing aura, garnering substantial acclaim from critics; Spanish newspapers even claimed the scene was "subtle yet intensely passionate."

These people always thought that the larger the scale, the better the revelation of human nature, not realizing that to resonate with the majority, it must be grounded in societal foundations. Besides, a large scale was never the standard for a good film. How many directors who produced films more beloved by the majority flaunted scale in their works?

Adrian wasn’t particularly worried about Monica. He had enough patience for shooting the film, since most scenes were in a Los Angeles studio rather than in Italy. Both he and Monica had visited Siracusa Island in Sicily, indeed the ideal location to film "Malena," but Adrian, after all, was not Giuseppe—was not Italian; being in Sicily meant nothing to him.

He always prided himself on being a law-abiding citizen; MGM was cast aside by him just for having connections with certain individuals, let alone Sicily being their origin. Even though Adrian was quite powerful in Hollywood, a strong dragon could not repress the local snakes. There had even been recent talk of a business executive in notoriously gang-ridden Russia, who, after failed negotiations with some businessmen with gang affiliations, was murdered.

So, Adrian decided to minimize shooting in Italy and establish as robust relations with the local government as possible before traveling there. Though this might seem like overkill, considering the individual murdered in Russia wasn’t precisely clean himself, being cautious never hurt, as he always preferred thorough deliberations.

"Don’t rush; take it slow, deeply feel her emotions, let’s shoot a few more times. We have plenty of time," Adrian often reassured Monica on set.

Because he aimed for perfection, each shot progressed slowly, especially those Adrian deemed crucial, often repeating them forty or fifty times before being satisfied. Although he did not tire, others could not keep pace with him; even if rest periods were reasonably scheduled, endlessly repeating the same task could wear anyone down.

At such times, Adrian would schedule easier shots, such as the ones in the movie where the male protagonist, David Marino, fantasized about Marina several times, imagining himself as various film protagonists like a gladiator in the Roman Coliseum or a cowboy in the American West, with Marina as his leading lady. These shots obviously could not be created by cut-and-paste methods, capturing snippets from old movies and overlaying faces; therefore, props and set pieces were manufactured in the studio and filmed using black-and-white film.

However, these shots were short and not cumbersome to produce, providing an excellent opportunity to uplift everyone’s spirits and further hone Monica and male lead David Marino’s skills.

Marino was a fresh 18-year-old, bushy-browed and seemingly naive yet with a hint of shrewdness, especially his dense eyebrows paired with bright eyes, emanating a pure vibe, perfectly aligning with the male protagonist image in Adrian’s mind. Thus, despite his complete lack of acting experience, his distinctive presence convinced Adrian to choose him.

"I’ve said before, making movies is quite an exciting business; as long as you can immerse your emotions into it, ignoring us around you, you’ll discover a new world," Adrian encouraged him more than once.

"Yes, sir, I’ve been doing as you said," Marino always replied shyly and respectfully.

The personality of this young man was almost synonymous with his appearance: clever, yet quite shy. The male lead had several scenes fantasizing with Marina, and every time they shot these scenes, Marino would blush and mess up, causing NG. Many people in the crew liked to tease him about this, even Monica couldn’t resist doing it a few times.

His looks fit, and he had a good, honest nature. That was why Adrian had chosen him. Of course, another major reason was that his English was quite good. When he first arrived in Los Angeles, he stammered a bit, but it didn’t take many days for his speech to smooth out. David was a common name, but Marino was distinctly an Italian surname—yes, he was indeed Italian.

Although the original movie was in Italian, for the sake of the Oscars, it was better to switch to English. However, considering the quality of the film, it was preferable to have Italian actors, not Italian-Americans. Therefore, in search of suitable actors, Adrian had racked his brains considerably, and finding a male lead gave him a long-lasting headache.

For this reason, he utilized many connections and even went out of his way to meet Martin Scorsese, who was almost unrelated, hoping for a recommendation. Even when he was closely surrounded by reporters at the Cannes Film Festival, he found an opportunity to talk to Scorsese. Fortunately, he finally found David Marino, a young man. Although not 100% perfect, he was quite satisfactory.

However, even as Adrian painstakingly adjusted the crew’s morale, accidents sometimes still occurred.

"How many times do I need to stress this, Monica? How many times?!" Adrian, arms crossed in front of him, looked at Monica with extreme seriousness, "What did I say? This scene is critical, the first complete exposure of Marina’s inner world. You need to convey the most sincere emotion through body language, yet it must not be too intense. But what did you do?!"

He quickly walked behind the monitor, having the previously shot footage rewound: "This is the twenty-first time, look, spinning so fast—are you a spinning top? This is the seventy-third time, your lips nearly curled up to your forehead! The one hundred forty-sixth time, no curling of the lips, but it looks like you’re dancing with a piece of wood; then the one hundred eighty-second time, again starting to spin quickly... Have you seriously tried to understand, tell me, Monica!"

Monica hung her head low, lips pressed into a tight line, hands tightly clasped together, slightly trembling. Everyone around didn’t dare to breathe a word; they knew that interrupting at this moment was sheer suicide.

After glaring at Monica for a good while, Adrian finally exhaled deeply and with a sharp gesture sat back down: "Again!"

Then, less than two minutes later, he sprang up.

"Wrap it up!" He bellowed before turning and walking away without looking back.

Although Adrian was usually very calm and rational, directing demanded a bit of passion, especially when it was his own script that had undergone surgery, and he had set big goals for it. This scene, one of the three most crucial in the entire movie, occurred when the male lead was peeping. Marina played music, dancing elegantly, holding her husband’s photo, with a barely-there smile, using this way to express her love for her husband far away on the battlefield.

Monica needed to fully display this subtle affection in this shot, with her light dance moves, a lingering love-filled expression, and a barely perceptible sweet smile—all of these required considerable skill. Although Adrian was prepared, it wasn’t surprising that he was relentless in his scolding as the most important dancing shot could not pass even after three days of shooting.

Yet Adrian was still Adrian. Reaching the door of the studio, he took a deep breath, a breeze blew across his face, and he completely calmed down. After some thought, he soon turned and walked in another direction. After a few turns, he arrived outside a row of doors, quickly scanned, and found the room he was looking for.

Just then, a staff member exited the room and looked up to call out, but luckily he was quickly silenced by Adrian’s hushing motion. Adrian then pointed to the door that wasn’t fully closed. Understanding immediately, the staff member nodded and quickly left following Adrian’s waving gesture.

Adrian quietly entered the room, closed the door behind him, and looked around the temporarily empty lounge. As he walked deeper in, intermittent sobs could faintly be heard even before he got to the cubicle.

Sighing internally, Adrian quickly walked to the entrance where Monica was sitting on the couch, hugging her arms, occasionally wiping tears from her cheeks with her hand. When she saw him come in, she suddenly screamed and looked as if she wanted to run away. Naturally, Adrian wouldn’t let her do so; he quickly approached, scooped Monica into his arms, and sat down on the couch.

The lady struggled, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break free from Adrian’s hold; she eventually gave up and buried her head between her arms.

"Have you calmed down now?" Adrian began to soothe her by stroking her back.

The girl in his arms didn’t make a sound.

"Okay, I actually... came to apologize," he continued, "Yes, I want to say I’m sorry, I was a bit impatient. I kept reminding myself from the beginning that this was a daunting task, that I must be very patient, but unfortunately, things still went wrong... I’m sorry, Monica, I shouldn’t have said that about you, especially in front of so many people..."

Finally, Monica lifted her head, tears constantly streaming down her face. Due to not having removed her makeup and having wiped it several times before, some areas were smudged. Her brown eyes revealed a mix of surprise, confusion, shame, sadness, and finally, anger.

"Am I really that horrible?" she suddenly raised her voice, glaring angrily at Adrian, "Have I never put in any effort? Am I always just going through the motions?! Haven’t I improved at all!"

The more she spoke, the angrier she became, and by the end, she was so agitated that she almost started to struggle again. At first, Adrian was a bit confused, but he soon understood where the problem lay and hugged her even tighter.

"Calm down, Monica, calm down," he kept saying, holding on to her no matter how much she squirmed.

Eventually, having exhausted all her energy, Monica’s chest heaved as she softened again, yet she still bit her lip and glared at him hatefully.

"Can you listen to me now?" Adrian asked, looking at her. Although she didn’t respond, he continued anyway, "First of all, I want to say, you did very well, Monica. Even those actresses who have won countless awards couldn’t have done any better in this position—please let me finish, okay?"

His expression turned extremely serious: "But in my eyes, it’s still not enough. I hope you can do even better, become the only one capable of playing this role! I want you to surprise everyone, I want you to completely change the critics’ opinion of you, I want you... to ascend to the throne of an Oscar-winning actress!"

Monica’s eyes widened, the earlier anger vanishing as Adrian spoke.

"You mean... you mean..." she stared at him, asking in a murmuring tone.

"Yes, that’s what I’ve prepared for you, a film that could lead you to become an Oscar-winning actress," Adrian nodded and then leaned in to kiss her lips, "So it’s not that you’re not doing well, but I have been demanding way too high standards from you. This is my fault. I set the standards too high and I didn’t communicate with you, then I got impatient in front of so many people... I’m sorry, Monica. Will you forgive me, please?"

Listening to these tender words, Monica became visibly moved.

"No, Ed, I... I also... I also have..." she stammered, trying to say something, but the next moment Adrian kissed her again.

After the not so passionate but lingering kiss, Adrian caressed her cheek, "No, dear, it’s indeed my fault. If I had communicated with you earlier, it wouldn’t have turned out this way. The problem is not whether your performance was spot-on, nor is it about me scolding you, but that I disregarded your feelings. Fortunately, I’ve realized this now, so please accept my apology, okay?"

Monica reached out and cupped Adrian’s face as her eyes suddenly began to redden again.

"Hey, don’t cry anymore, your makeup is already smudged, do you really want to make it worse?" Adrian said seriously.

Monica suddenly burst into laughter, then playfully punched him, "You always do this, taking all the blame onto yourself, making me fluctuate so much that I can’t even hate you."

Her tone was reproachful, yet a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of her eyes.

"So, have you forgiven me?" Adrian asked with raised eyebrows.

"Of course, do I even have the option not to forgive you?" Monica snorted, then her eyes twinkled, "But I want compensation!"

"Compensation?" Adrian blinked, a hint of a smile appearing at his lips.

The creaking sound echoed through the bedroom, a relatively new bed making such noise could only imply the intensity of the action on it. Indeed, the range of motion on the bed was unprecedented in the dim light, accompanied by the woman’s passionate shrieks and the man’s heavy breathing, and the intense thumping sounds alone were enough to make one’s heart race.

Finally, a high, ecstasy-filled scream that seemed to soar into the clouds marked the end of the vigorous activity. free𝑤ebnovel.com

"Oh, Ed... you’re so annoying... getting it... in again..." Monica said tenderly, her tone carrying slight reproach but without any real blame.

"How’s that for compensation?" Adrian asked playfully.

"I knew it..." Thinking of the conversation in the studio earlier, Monica sighed helplessly and then teasingly asked, "You’re so excited today, didn’t you take something?"

"You’re insulting me, Monica, do I need that kind of stuff?" Adrian replied discontentedly, "Considering your rudeness, I think you need a thorough lesson."

"No..." Monica, exhausted and limp on the bed, immediately cried out.

Adrian chuckled lightly, playing with her particularly full and soft curves before whispering in her ear, "Do you remember what I once said?"

Monica initially looked puzzled, but then thinking of something, her eyes flickered with ecstasy and uncertainty: "You mean... a baby?!" (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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