Chapter 27 

 In fact, to be honest, Jenny didn't know why she was trained in singing and dancing. The character of Kitty has no room for opening in the original drama or the movie version, "Chicago" is a very clear two-protagonist drama, almost all the singing passages are contracted by the two heroines Lockhee and Velma, and the remaining five female prisoners, the warden and the female reporter have only sporadic performance opportunities, not to mention Kitty who appeared to stimulate Lockhee.

 Moreover, she also received the script very late, even later than the time when CSI's cameo came in the mail, Jenny is very unfamiliar with the internal rules of Hollywood, and she doesn't know if this is customary, of course, it may also be that her role is really insignificant, so the filmmaker's attitude is also very lazy.

 Judging from the script received, Kitty and Richard Geele's male lead lawyer Billy have a pas de deux, and other scenes have also been changed, such as Kitty has lines in the murder part, and there are some performances after being imprisoned. is very different from the finished film that Chen Zhen saw in her previous life.

 From Jenny's point of view, of course she hopes that the more scenes she has, the better, so much so that the third heroine doesn't care. But from the perspective of the audience and fans, she thinks that the film in her previous life was handled more neatly and streamlined. Adding a song and dance to Kitty would bloat the entire structure of the film, and the destruction of the structure would be beyond the viewing effect of the song and dance, and there was no such part in the original musical, so the quality control would be a problem for the choreographed dance and lyrics for the film.

 But these things are not for her to suggest, firstly, no actor would suggest cutting his own scenes, and secondly, Rob Marshall is so controlling, and he does not seem to be a man who can humbly accept the fingers of an unknown person.

 On the day of joining the group, Jenny drove to Universal on time to get the pass, entered the No. 14 studio in Area A to sign in, and then went to the dressing room to get her number, and returned to the cart to wait.

 Compared with "Chicago", the scene of "CSI" is indeed much smaller, first of all, there are fewer staff, and secondly, there are not many actors who need to make up and change clothes. But "Chicago" is a period drama, everyone has to change their clothes, and they all have to put on makeup, the male and female protagonists have their own makeup artists, and other actors have to go over to line up, just like a hospital visit, and the assistants go to the rest area one by one to call the number.

 Jenny is also considered a 'female No. 3', there is a few minutes of solo show, she actually has a trailer, although it has to be shared with the warden's 'mother' actors, but the treatment is not bad, as for the makeup order, it is ranked after 'mother' - in the crew, the makeup order is reversed, the higher the status, the less time you need to wait with makeup, so theoretically speaking, 'mother' is the last to put on makeup in this group, and Jenny is the penultimate one.

 Jenny has already seen the shooting schedule for this day, and her first scene is scheduled for the second scene in the afternoon, which is to shoot her wearing a fancy costume, being taken down from the prison car, and being chased all the way into the prison by reporters.

 In this way, if you deduct the singing and dancing scenes between her and lawyer Billy, you can actually finish filming all her scenes in two to three days, and the $30,000 is quite easy. But Jenny would rather be busy than relaxed, and this is late 2001, and it has been seven or eight months since she crossed back, but so far she has auditioned twice and only got two supporting roles. Even if they are all good characters, there is still no decline in their hearts, and there is some panic that they don't know where the next meal is.

 Because today is the first day to enter the group, her makeup order is still ranked second, after determining the shape, she went to the costume room to try on makeup, it may be that Jenny has given the size before, the costume designer has prepared several sets of costumes waiting for her, of course, the pompous fur that was particularly popular in that era, and it was tossed for more than two hours, during which the director came to take a look, and gave the makeup and costumes.

 Everything seemed to be going well, and Jenny said hello to Catherine Zeta-Jones on her way to the try-on, and the two were just in a hurry. However, she still left a deep impression on Jenny, Catherine is bright and moving, full of charm, and she is also an actress that Chen Zhen particularly liked in her previous life.

 Of course, the crew is all on a package basis, and there is a large buffet area outside the studio for the actors to pick up, and the food is hearty. When Jenny walked over, she saw a large number of female prisoners, reporters sitting there and eating lunch with laughter, and of course a group of colleagues from the film crew sitting with them, and the visual effect was quite strange. Jenny also saw Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, and Catherine queuing up to pick up their food. Even the big stars don't play any tricks on the queue at these times. - If you want to play with privileges, just call the assistant to pick up the food and go to the trailer to eat.

 Jenny must be very attentive to Renee, if she can, she still doesn't want to make a Bully incident on the set, which will definitely have a greater impact on her as a newcomer. So the safest thing to do is not to gamble, regardless of whether Renee's agent's promotion of Lucy's position has passed to Renee's side, the best way is to avoid contact completely.

 Fortunately, Renee doesn't seem to have noticed any signs of her, she has been chatting with director Rob, judging from the demeanor of the two, the unhappiness at the casting time has not been left until now, and the two should have already released their old suspicions and rebuilt their friendship.

 With makeup on her face, Jeanne didn't even eat the salad in order to avoid trouble, so she took two slices of dry bread and stood under the pergola to nibble dry.

 "Jennifer, right?" Instead, Renee's manager came to greet her. "I'm Veronica, Renee's manager. "

 "Hi Veronica, nice to meet you. Jenny nodded with her. Veronica is a woman in her late 30s, and she looks very serious, perhaps because of Renee's popular relationship in recent years, her attitude is a little arrogant.

 "Nice to meet you. Veronica took the burger to her left hand and shook her hand. "You're beautiful. "

 "Thank you. Jenny said, unnoticeably wiping her fingers on the napkin on the bread pad - Veronica had burger sauce on her hands.

 They were silent for a moment, and then Veronica said, "Hmm, I've seen your makeup try-on, and your costume is beautiful. "

 "Thank you. Jenny felt the atmosphere a little awkward, and she added, "Renee's costume is also quite gorgeous. "

 "That's just a bargain. Veronica said contemptuously, "Lockhee is a low-class dancer, and her clothes are cheap and exaggerated, but they are not in vain. You're wearing a genuinely high-quality product, and although it's not so eye-catching, a discerning person will understand its price at a glance. "

 Okay, is this the first episode of the crew's scheming? Jenny kind of wanted to laugh, but she didn't—Veronica's words were a clear warning that if she responded with a provocation, the conflict would likely escalate. Anyway, she got the role, and it wasn't a big deal to let Veronica vent her temper.

 "Yes. She said meekly, "You're right, Veronica. "

 It seemed that she couldn't pass this level by pretending to be stupid, but Veronica's temper became more obvious, she smirked at Jenny, reached out and patted Jenny on the shoulder, "Good luck with you in the afternoon, Jenny." "

 "Have a good day, Veronica, too. Jenny said, watching Veronica walk back to her client. - Renee is still eating and chatting with Rob, and doesn't seem to know anything about the scenery.

 To be honest, Jenny doesn't know if she knows it or not, the relationship between celebrities and agents and managers is sometimes very complicated, and it is not something that outsiders can see through at a glance. It is very likely that Renee didn't know about the wrestling around Kitty's character from beginning to end, and of course she didn't know that Veronica just came to 'take revenge' on her, and if she was a little confused, she directly thought that it was really just a matter of coming to say hello.

 She looked over her shoulder and casually wiped the hamburger sauce on her head with a tissue, which was a stain on her shoulder, of course, but it was just a cheap T-shirt, and she could buy another one at any time.

 Veronica just wanted to put some mental pressure on her, but these off-the-board tricks couldn't have much effect on her, and Jenny gave up thinking about the whole mess of 'Renee supports Lucy'. She came here to film, and all she had to pay attention to was her drama.

 The second scene started filming on time in the afternoon, because it was a long shot, it was okay to rehearse and move before filming, what Jenny had to do was to keep struggling, and then be outflanked by the people around her and sent to the police station, just such a simple shot, reshot about 20 times repeatedly. - because the director is not satisfied.

 The director was not dissatisfied with the performance, but dissatisfied with the effect, he modified the camera position four times, and deleted several actors, this scene was filmed for more than 2 hours, Jenny felt that she had struggled with today's exercise.

 But she didn't protest, she didn't show the slightest dissatisfaction, just repeated the simple shot again and again.

 Rob Marshall is directing a first-time film, and there are bound to be miscalculations, coupled with his perfectionist temperament with attention to detail (seriously, over 2 hours of shooting, Jenny completely understood this), and he was the one who kept shouting that Cut was the most frustrating. Don't look at him on the surface now, he can even say that he is a little excited, but Jenny assures that if anyone dares to show impatience, what awaits him must be the director's indiscriminate bombardment.

 It's been a month since the filming of "Chicago" started, and the staff may have blocked a lot of guns before, acting as a channel for a lot of emotional venting, so they are all doing their own things obediently and silently, half an hour later, the scene is finally filmed, the set designer begins to change the scene, and a new batch of extras are called over, or the scene at the gate of this prison, to shoot a few scenes during the day.

 Jenny went to the drink bar to get some ice cubes and wrapped them in a napkin to massage her wrists - after nearly three hours of shooting, her hands were a little swollen from the backcuffs, especially her wrists, which were strangled with bruises.

 "Hey. Director Rob came over to greet her with a glass of water in his hand, and he was startled, "Oh, your hand looks sore." "

 "Actually, it's fine. Jenny smiled at him.

 "Hmm, uh. Rob still looked a little reluctant, "Sorry, I've been spending too much time on this camera—"

 "No, no," interrupted Rob by Jeanne, "I heard Vijeri—I heard something from Cesare, Mr. Marshall, and I really appreciate your dedication. "

 She stared into Rob's eyes and said calmly and sincerely, "I believe that this pursuit of perfection will make the movie amazing, three minutes, three hours, three days, and as long as you are not satisfied, we will continue to shoot again." "

 Rob looked a little overwhelmed, he touched his nose, "Wow - call me Rob, girl - Jennifer right? You're so polite, in LA, no one but the waiter calls anyone that, just call me Rob." "

 "OK, Rob. Jenny grabbed another handful of ice cubes and began to apply ice to her right hand, "Seriously, you don't have to be too polite to me, I'm completely on your side, I'm your man." "

 Different from the expected touching and appreciation, Rob first frowned, looked at Jenny studyingly, and then thought about it, then smiled, and gestured to touch the cup with Jenny, "Thank you for your support - oh, but you make it difficult for me to say the next words." "

 "You mean?" Jenny probably had a bottom in her heart.

 "You know I was going to play for Kitty, which is why I chose you instead of Lucy Liu, who has a better singing and dancing foundation than Liu. Rob explained, his brows furrowed, "but things were more ... than I expected when filming started."

 He hesitated for a moment, but still used a straightforward statement, "It's more difficult to control, I was a little too confident before the start of filming, and I kept doing addition, but now I can only do a little subtraction, and I still focus on the framework of the original play, so your song and dance may have to be deleted." "

 This is a very sudden notice, which means that Jenny's singing and dancing class in the past month has been in vain, which is of course difficult for ordinary people to accept, but Jenny is mentally prepared, she nodded approvingly, "No problem, Rob, from the perspective of the whole script, of course, it is more concise and neat to be deleted, the audience does not need to waste too much attention on Kitty, she is a bite, a stimulus, just let the audience cheer up, give her a song and dance will make the script a little bloated in the middle." "

 Rob stared at her in surprise for a moment, and Jenny smiled and said, "Why? Can't a blonde (Blonde) be a little wise?"

 "But I—you're not—" Rob took a moment to calm down, "well, I've read your resume, and to be honest you're very different from what I thought. "

 He glanced at Jenny with fresh eyes, "I'm starting to understand what Chesa has been talking about, you're different from most girls in LA. Maybe - his proposal makes sense. "

 "What offer?" asked Jenny, blankly.

 There was a shout from the field in the distance, Rob shook his head, and did not answer her question, "I'll contact Chesa, Jenny, thank you, you're professional, it's a pleasure to work with, I should go, see you tomorrow." "

 He nodded hurriedly at Jenny and turned to leave. Jenny watched him disappear, and then went down to remove his makeup and change his clothes.

 So what was Cesare selling to Rob Marshall without her?

 No, there was nothing to hide from her, he just didn't bother to tell her - Cesare was really a bossy kind of agent, and Jeanne guessed that he had a plan for herself, but she didn't know anything about it as a client so far.

 Not knowing what she was betting on, she made up her mind not to call Cesare until he reached out to her. - Life is like a strong X, it is managed arbitrarily, and she can at least choose to be treated with dignity and coldness, instead of uselessly calling and asking questions.

 This time, though, Cesare didn't keep her waiting long, and Jeanne had just slipped home from Washington in the evening when he called.

 "What did you do on set?" Cesare asked. Jenny asked as she went upstairs, 'Huh?'.

 "You know I told you to be good on set. Cesare said.

 Jenny was a little confused, "But I did do a good job, ah—if you're talking about my song and dance being deleted—"

 "Your song and dance have been deleted?" Cesare raised his voice slightly, but changed his mind before Jenny could reply. "It's okay, it's a good thing for the whole script, it's not a loss. What I want to know is what did you do on set? Rob acted like a tyrant on set, and you conquered him on his first day in the group?"

 Jenny's heart pounded, but she still managed to hold her composure, even teasing Cesare. "Did I hear surprise in your voice? Vijri, surprise? These are two words that are hard to connect together. "

 Perhaps aware of his slight gaffe, Cesare's tone narrowed down a bit, "Let's meet and talk about it - do you have a play tomorrow morning?"

 "No," asked Jenny, "you want me to come to you?"

 "I asked Rob to have dinner on Saturday, and you want to come too. "For the rest of the week, you're going to have to prepare for that meal." "

 "You mean?" Jenny was starting to get a little impatient. "Do you know you've been hanging your appetite, Cesare?"

 "I want you to behave well at that meal. "Cesare finally unveiled," asked Rob to nod and stuff you into the cast of the Chicago musical, I want you to take the role of Loke, you understand? I want you to put Renee Zellweger's performance under your feet on Broadway and make her a stepping stone for you to ascend to the top. "

 The author has something to say:

 Notes: 1 Chicago is indeed Rob Marshall's first film, with which he made a name for himself in Hollywood. Before that, he was a Broadway elite, choreographing and directing many excellent plays, and later directed "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 4". But other than that, about the character of this person, the flaws of the first director's film are all fictional. Renee's manager is also fictitious, as is the decision on the order of makeup.

 2 Blonde is a blonde term, a term that is generally considered derogatory, as there is a social prejudice that blondes are stupid, so Jenny is laughing at herself.