Chapter 19 - Director Williams

TN: Small update before we start. Chapter 17 has been re-posted with some extra content that I realized the previous translator completely skipped. Do go back and check it out.

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"I don't like you, Mr. Williams." John Aniston who was sitting opposite Eric suddenly said when his daughter left for the restroom.

Although Eric was startled, he only shrugged and asked: "May I know why, Mr. Aniston?"

John Aniston said, "For so many years Jenny has hated me, and I always felt guilty about it. I kept wishing she'd forgive me, and last night she called me. She actually took the initiative to call me, you know? I was so happy I couldn't sit still but it turns out, the reason she called was to help her boyfriend, a guy that was going to take my baby away from me."

Well, that reason wasn't too shabby, daughters were the apple of their father's eyes, and so they generally didn't have a good relationship with their sons-in-law.

Eric only shrugged again, and the two men were suddenly stuck in awkward silence.

Aniston soon came back from the restroom and smiled as she sat beside Eric, that intimacy only added to John's unease. But his lovely daughter had taken the initiative to speak to him after so long, he wouldn't be stupid enough to ruin this.

The meal went fairly smoothly on the surface. John initially took the air of an elder and reprimanded Eric for being too ambitious, but when Annie started glaring at him, he finally agreed to help him contact some actors.

With John Aniston's wide network of contacts in the television industry, Eric was soon able to fill the majority of the roles. Thanks to the former's mediation, their pay wasn't too high much to his relief.

However, Eric was still hesitating between several candidates when it came to the robbers' duo until Aniston introduced him to one of her classmates. Looking at that naturally declining face that had even been retouched in front of the mirror, Eric settled on it right away, because that guy was Matthew Perry; one of the six leads from Friends in his past life.

Then Eric and Jeffrey flew to Canada a few times, and ultimately settled on a home located in a small town as the filming location. They busied themselves so much that Eric even lost a few pounds in just one week, which made Annie both distressed and envious.

October 17th, Eric's first project as a director since his rebirth in Los Angeles, finally started. The crew first finished shooting the scenes at the airport and police station in LA as those didn't require any snow. With Hollywood being the world's largest movie base, shooting here was a lot more convenient. They then left for the town they had decided on in Canada for the scenes that happened at home.

The entire crew from the gaffer to the actors didn't agree to be a part of the project because of the money but were basically doing John and Jeffrey a favor. Although they had their misgivings towards Eric, they also had their own motives in mind.

They had learned the content of Home Alone's script and were very glad that this young director wasn't like those other debuting snobs who would 'never film something so "cheap" as they didn't consider it as art'. The likelihood of success for the movie was quite high, and it only cost 1 million to shoot. Relying on Eric's 17 Again and Jurassic Park momentum, perhaps they might even earn a little extra as Eric had promised them a bonus if the film made it big.

To repay Eric who had provided his late wife's team a job, Jeffrey Hanson appeared on the set every day on time, wanting to guide the 'novice' with his years of experience. But after a day, Jeffrey began to seriously question life, or more precisely, life's fairness.

The kid didn't have the impatience of a first-timer, he was more like a director with many years of shooting experience. He very orderly and methodically reorganized the set design and the props, used professional terms to discuss shots with the cameraman, directed the lighting division to get the desired effects and was even patient with the dramatic actress who was ten years his elder and played Kevin's mother.

Of course, when consecutive errors occurred, he also showed a director's unique skill: the director's roar!

"Ms. Leslie, I want a puzzled expression, a confused expression, not a CURIOUS one! According to my observations, you have an obsessive-compulsive disorder, so it should be easy for you! Just imagine yourself lying in bed at night, when you suddenly hear dripping sounds coming from the kitchen faucet but you can't seem to be able to find where the leak is. Picture that emotional conflict when you act. Damn it, we're only leasing this aircraft for three hours, THREE HOURS! Now everyone, in your places, and Nicole, how do you think we'll be able to see the sky if you keep aiming your camera at the titanium alloy ceiling of the plane, be a bit more focused, FUCK!"

Due to Eric's excellent performance, all of the crew had recognized his position as the director. So when Ms. Leslie who played Kevin's mother kept making mistakes on the plane scenes, Eric who was getting anxious about the shooting schedule, couldn't help but roar out, and everyone present unconsciously forgot about his age as they turned completely silent.

Nicole Frank, a 30-year-old cameraman, didn't even think about the fact that he had just been scolded by a brat, he subconsciously apologized: "I'm sorry, Director Williams, I will pay attention."

Many years later, when Nicole Frank would win the Oscar for best cinematography, today's scene would be the first thing he remembered as he stood on the podium of the Kodak Theater: "At that moment, my subconscious completely gave in to Eric's authority as the director, rather than seeing an eighteen-year-old boy, I saw a man born to command."

After another NG, they finally wrapped the scene up, and Eric breathed a sigh of relief as he took the initiative to apologize to Ms. Leslie: "I'm sorry for being so harsh with you just now, Ms. Leslie."

"Never mind, Director Williams, I was the one in the wrong. Besides, you look quite charming when you're angry."

"Uh..." Eric wanted to remind her that that was a precursor of the Stockholm syndrome, she should probably get that checked.

Over the next few days, Eric realized that all members of the crew had started addressing him as "Director Williams", and Jeffrey Hanson was no exception. Eric knew that these people had acknowledged him wholeheartedly and started directing with renewed enthusiasm. They had wrapped up the scenes that needed to be shot in LA in four days and the whole team left for the small town in Canada.

Several staff members had left early to take care of Kevin's home setting according to Eric's specifications. Eric was very satisfied after seeing how everything had been arranged and resolved to do all he could to keep Jeffrey's crew around.

The town located in northern Canada had never experienced a movie shooting. So the town's residents were very enthusiastic and curious. Further, since it was a Christmas setting, everyone took the initiative to decorate their homes clouding the entire town in a festive atmosphere. There were also many people asking for small roles.

Faced with this, Eric reciprocated very generously as he invited several children to appear in cameos.

The only thing they had to film in this Canadian house, was Kevin pranking the two robbers. The movie didn't really have any Christmas connotations, it was pure comedy. Coupled with Stuart's performance, that was even better than his past life's Macaulay Culkin by many times, the shooting process was very fast. Eric determined that they would be done filming everything within a week.

At this time, in Los Angeles, the 17 Again crew were starting to panic. Penny Marshall needed Eric to dub some shots but discovered that he had gone AWOL. His phone wasn't connecting and his house was locked. This alarmed the woman who thought that he might have gotten in some kind of trouble. In the end, she could only contact Aniston to learn about his whereabouts.

Getting his contact number, Penny started to complain about how he had to return to LA within a week, and that in addition to the dubbing, he also had to be there for the promotion of the movie.

Naturally, Eric's filming of Home Alone was also exposed. In this regard, Penny Marshall acted as a well-wisher and criticized him for aiming too high too soon. She assumed that he had probably put together a shabby crew and shot a nonsensical movie like every young aspiring director.

Eric was caught between work and reality. Though his relationship with the crew was good, they were only colleagues. Matthew Perry would chat with him from time to time in between shots, and Eric was also very interested in him. Unfortunately, his focus was solely on quickly wrapping up Home Alone at this time. So they didn't get too many opportunities to get better acquainted.

A week later, they successfully finished the filming in the town. Due to Jeffrey and Eric's meticulous planning, they had only spent 600,000$, leaving them about 300,000$ for completing the post-production.

That night, Eric was in a generous mood and threw an open party for the whole town. The next day, while many were still dealing with their hangovers, he was already on his way to catch a flight back to Los Angeles.

It took half a day to complete the 17 Again dubbing. Eric then started to busy himself with tasks that Jeffrey had assigned him.

He continuously worked for more than sixteen hours a day, and to everyone's surprise, was done with the post-production in only five days. He had the whole thing in his mind, so his speed was obviously astounding, he had even used less than a day for the editing process, which made his editor now look at him with eyes full of worship.

Five days later, a dozen people were squeezed into a shabby theater with only five or six decent seats. All of them were the Home Alone crew and Aniston who had come to watch Eric's work.

After a slight hum of the projector, a hazy silhouette of a blue house under the dim moonlight appeared, and the movie started…