Striving for perfection

Al Pacino didn't immediately mention his thoughts about Levi; he was still silently observing Levi's recent every move and didn't say much because he knew that Levi had been too busy these days.

After Winona's mood improved, the filming progress of the film was much faster. And the other leading actor, Bale, is also well-prepared for this play. Although his restrained acting style is a bit close to neurotic, it is not a big problem for this play - all the characters in the film Emily have their problems, and no one is perfect.

The adult part was completed very quickly, and even some New York scenery that needed to be shot on-site went smoothly. The Big Apple City has seen too many people who come here to film these years, from Woody Allen to Spike Lee; the city has received all kinds of directors here. New York University is one of the American film industry's most important talent training bases. Levi himself is still a graduate student here. Finding someone to assist in filming here is not more difficult than in Los Angeles. The progress of this film is still very fast.

And the last little part is the children's part. For this part, Levi has no easy way. He can only follow the usual Hollywood way of treating dogs and cats, food induction, and a little bit of deception while shooting for a long time to intercept some useful shots and make this part the best it can be.

Fortunately, his approach was quite successful. The child Taylor Momsen did a pretty good job. Her appearance is very cute, and the child's personality is also very cheerful, with a variety of obvious expressions. Yep, she's doing fine. It also made Levi quite satisfied.

"Taylor shot this part really well. After the filming of this part is completed, we will see if there is any part that needs to be re-shot. If there is no problem with the dubbing of this part, our movie can be finished." When all of Taylor Momsen's scenes were over, Levi was also quite satisfied and expressed to Winona and Al Pacino present, "The latter part is post-production. The task is more heavy this time, but I will try to hurry up."

"It should have been over long ago." Hearing what Levi said, Winona hadn't said anything yet, but behind them, Winona's agent, Jason, had already started to open his mouth.

He muttered in a low voice, but Levi pretended he didn't hear it — Levi knew exactly what he was thinking: preparations for the film began in February. The filming started after the Oscars ended, and now it is the end of May, but the filming work has just finished. There are a lot of special effects in this movie, and there are many things that need to be handled meticulously. It is difficult to get everything done after two months of post-production work. Thus, no matter how fast this movie is, it will be mostly released in August. This speed is much slower than expected.

That's what Jason complained about. If things go wrong, the movie might miss the entire summer schedule. The summer schedule is a great time for movies to make money. It is not a good thing to miss this time.

"We are filming a romantic comedy. It doesn't matter if the romantic comedy is released in the fall." Al Pacino explained beside him. Indeed, people generally think that the fall schedule is not good because the movies in the fall schedule are primarily for women, and the blockbusters are not very popular. However, releasing romantic comedies in the fall schedule is perfectly fine.

"Maybe it will hit the schedule with Cameron Diaz's movie." Jason was still a little worried. Cameron Diaz is also now filming a rom-com, and as an icon of the genre, Cameron Diaz has a better box-office appeal than Winona Ryder and is more likely to win a good box office.

Can the box office of this movie make money? Jason was very worried about this. Winona was invited, and Al Pacino was invited. That alone is already a considerable expense. Although Bale's salary as a foreigner is low, but if you calculate it, the investment in this movie is more than 30 million. This romantic comedy can only recover its cost with a box office of over 100 million, but Jason is very familiar with the box office of the movies that Winona performed; it is a common phenomenon that her movies do not sell well. How can achieving a box office revenue of 100 million is so easy?

Winona didn't have to worry about investing in a movie with Levi, but as an agent, he couldn't ignore it.

"Jason, you really talk a lot." Jason's worry was because of Winona, but Winona just curled her lips and didn't care about it at all, "I like this movie; I made it very well. Being happy, isn't that more important than anything else? Being happy about making a movie is more important than anything else, don't worry so much about money." Jason was quite helpless with

his client's words. He also admitted that Winona's mood had improved a lot since these days, which is indeed a good thing, but such a good thing has nothing to do with money.

"Winona, I think your manager has his own thoughts when he says these things." Unlike Winona, who doesn't worry much about these things, Levi still understood the overtones in the manager's words, "If you have anything to say, just say it."

"Actually, there's nothing..." Jason hesitated, "I think, even if the movie doesn't make much money, Miss Ryder can rely on her own and get back the advertising costs. If you want to get more attention, you need more publicity, and if our movie is released in August, then there will be a natural publicity platform."

"Venice Film Festival?" Levi thought right away.

"Yes, Venice Film Festival. Our film will be finished in August, which happens to be the time of the Venice Film Festival. This may be a good opportunity if we send the film to Venice Film to participate in the selection."

The agent, Mr. Jason, mentioned the Venice Film Festival, which made Levi suddenly interested. Although he is sure that the film will not lose money, participating is not bad if it can get more praise.

This film is suitable for Venice - as long as it is a little rushed, it can participate in the Venice Film Festival.

"The film's brand-new shooting technique, narrative structure, as well as the artistry and ideological connotation of this film are all top-notch. Coupled with the rather novel shooting technique, if you participate in the Oscars, you may not be able to win an award, but if you participate in the Venice Film Festival, then you will definitely be able to win an award."

The agent is very sure about the film's award: let's not talk about the film's post-production; only the shooting method and editing level are worthy of the award.

But, listening to his words, Levi couldn't help laughing, "If I remember correctly, I have said that the main direction of this film is the Oscars. Why are you thinking about the Venice Film Festival again?"

In the eyes of Americans, the three major film festivals in Europe do not have a very high status. If a small actor wants to become famous after receiving this kind of award, it is fine, but if a big star wants to use this to consolidate his position, it is not enough. Winona Ryder is not lacking in fame now, and competing for this kind of award is somewhat unnecessary.

"Anyway, it's an award." The manager's tone was a little reconciled, "This year's Oscar competition is very fierce; Spielberg's film is participating in this year's awards, so our film may not be able to win, so..."

"So? Do you want to win other awards?"

Levi understood his thoughts this time: the promotion of Saving Private Ryan is getting more and more intense now, and people's expectations for this movie are also getting bigger and bigger. As an agent, although the movie hasn't been released yet, he was already intimidated by the two names of big production and Spielberg - last year's Titanic could win awards. In terms of the film's shooting level and depth, Spielberg is even better than James Cameron. After all, James Cameron's movie is just a gimmick borrowed from the word blockbuster, and when Spielberg's movie wants to be profound, it can be shot very profoundly.

His thought made Levi take a deep breath, "Since I was asked to shoot this movie, I said you might win an Oscar. Just listen to me and try your best to win the Oscar. Why do you have to go to Venice to make do with it? Do you think I can't do what I said?"

Levi does not reject participating in the film festival, but he is not happy that Jason has no confidence in his films. He has put a lot of effort into this movie, and the filming is excellent. Although the scene is not comparable to Saving Private Ryan, he has a different opinion if anyone wants to say that his movie should actively avoid it. Titanic is better than his debut, he can't help it, but he can't do it every year.

Especially now, when the time came to post-production of the movie. If you get discouraged at this time and think that you are no better than others, how can the film production be so good? This is absolutely unacceptable to Levi.

"Mr. Agent, I want you to know that we're making a movie that has a good chance of being the best movie of the year. Confidence is one of the most important things in making a movie like this. One moment you're scared of Cameron Diaz, the next, you are afraid of Spielberg. Is your client so bad in your eyes that you will fail if you meet any opponents? This mentality is terrible! Please remember we want to shoot the best work, so you have to adjust your mentality. Only with a good enough mentality can you produce excellent work — I can accept that the work cannot be perfect, but in terms of mentality, it must be perfect!"

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons

Cherif Doghri

Adam LV

Danny York

Scott DePaepe

MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999

The Main Man.

Sandra Torres

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.