Chapter 80 Summer Night Fun
In recent years, the abyss of war, the crisis of faith, the economic turmoil and the confusion of the rebellious generation have become a deep fear in the hearts of this generation of people.
Whether it is the Cold War or the honeymoon, whether it is the United States or the world, in fact, every region and every person is inevitably shrouded in the terrible shadow of an unknown future.
At the same time, a new Hollywood movie was born that was rebellious, wild and full of sparks.
But now, the crises beneath the calm surface seem to have slowed down their pace as the top policies have changed.
Thus, the traditional theme of "great ordinary people" that symbolizes Hollywood, such as "Jaws", has once again emerged.
From what Kubrick said before, Su Yun knew from the beginning when she joined the crew that Spielberg actually didn't like "Jaws" which would make him famous and wealthy in the future - because he once had a dream of becoming an artist, not to make one assembly line movie after another just to make money for the sake of fame and fortune.
After all, he is still a young man, and he is somewhat aloof and regards money as dirt.
However, one has to bow down to the pressure of money, so Spielberg threw himself into the filming of "Jaws" in order to keep Universal's promise that "you can shoot whatever you want after this movie."
Reluctant personnel, inadequate skills, and a lack of knowledge in model making led to a vicious cycle of multiple reshoots, including constant failures of models entering the water and difficulty in cleaning up the surrounding area. This ultimately resulted in a continuous extension of the shooting cycle and a gradual increase in the film's budget.
Having finally survived the financial and technological crises, the film is now in a stable period. Su Yun believes that if she puts forward some constructive suggestions, it would be easy for Spielberg to adopt them.
Moreover, the originally purely commercial "ordinary people" adventure thriller has been given an enduring environmental core, which is consistent with his original intention of not wanting to make commercial films just to make money.
Therefore, after a detailed discussion with Su Yun, Spielberg added this small detail to the script.
Regarding this additional detail, the evaluation of later generations is: great people with a long-term and accurate vision will always feel compassion and fear for everything, while those mean and cunning people will only care about the immediate interests and ignore the warnings that may harm their descendants.
What we are mocking are some idiots who, for the sake of profit, have turned small incidents into huge disasters, and are unwilling to admit it, apologize, or make amends, and only want to drag the whole world into the disaster.
Of course, at that time, Su Yun and others had no idea that the reality of later generations would be even more "exciting" than the fictional stories.
Now, when Spielberg has begun to rearrange the main plot and details of the script because he has obtained sufficient investment, an opponent has jumped out.
"I admit that Sue's addition of details is good, but I don't agree with the change in the ending." The person who said this was Peter Benchley, the author of the original novel of "Jaws". Because it was a benefit for the original author, he made a cameo appearance in the film as a TV reporter reporting on the beach situation, and he got to see with his own eyes that his own written story was about to be turned into a moving picture.
"Since you can't impress Gregory Peck, the original tribute at the end should not be changed - otherwise it would be a blasphemy to the work!" After reading the revised ending, Benchley immediately showed his dissatisfaction.
"But the ending after this revision has a highlight and can better capture the audience," Spielberg explained patiently.
Benchley adjusted his glasses. "So what? The breaking point is the so-called great white shark being blasted in the head by the cylinder? That's totally untrue!"
"But the film was originally born out of reality and yet detached from reality." Su Yun interjected: If she were to be honest, she preferred Spielberg's revised ending - whether as a viewer or as a film practitioner, the visual excitement of a gas cylinder exploding in the head is definitely more eye-catching than the dullness of slow bleeding.
Perhaps from the text, one can feel the panic and hope that gradually elapses with the passage of time; but in a movie that is positioned as a commercial film, a dramatic and visually impactful ending is the best ending to enjoy.
There is no doubt that even though Spielberg was reluctant to start, he immediately used his keen business sense to make corresponding changes to the script story after officially getting started; in comparison, the original author Benchley's insistence on being an amateur commanding professionals became an obstacle that held him back.
Therefore, we should never underestimate those who always maintain a gentle personality, because once these people get angry, they can be more ferocious than those who usually have a bad temper.
This round of controversy ended with Benchley being "asked" to leave the filming location.
Seeing Spielberg suddenly transform from a moderate into a tyrant, Su Yun sighed silently: this is a tyrannical operation that will get you kicked out if you disagree. No wonder Spielberg and Kubrick are good brothers regardless of age difference. Even if their personalities are opposite, they can still talk to each other...
It turns out that they all have an absolute control mentality that cannot be questioned in private.
As for the huge success of the film, after it was released, Benchley, who was asked to leave the filming site, said in an interview that the revised ending was very exciting and that the controversy at that time was a bit narrow-minded on his part, but that is another story.
On this side, Spielberg's liking for Su Yun increased a lot: there were not many people who could share the same spiritual ideas with him, not to mention that Su Yun was a talented financial sponsor who had studied under his idol and helped solve the funding problem of the crew.
Making friends with wealthy people is something that people are eager to do, and Su Yun is his "ideal type": when Spielberg was young, he fantasized that he would be a genius in the future, and his dream was to be a young genius director. Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished - when he made the award-winning "The Great Escape" in Cannes, he was already 28 years old, a "senior age" that he was reluctant to mention.
There are also rumors that in order to make himself appear younger and more successful, he deliberately changed his age by 2 or 3 years.
Su Yun was actually quite confused when she heard about this: It turns out that besides celebrities changing their age for various reasons, directors also like to do this to facilitate their character settings?
Spielberg did not say anything about this issue: compared to Su Yun, who has already won an Oscar and gained fame and fortune at a young age, he now has to fight against difficult sharks and work passion that he dislikes just to make a living.
It doesn’t matter. If you can’t be the person you want to be, being friends with the person you want to be is almost the same…
Therefore, Spielberg, who is not sure whether he should be regarded as an adult with a childlike heart or an over-mature old man, was the most humble collaborator when facing Su Yun. In addition to letting her learn this and that by his side, he also "excessively" let her take the lead of the second camera unit, and forced her to get the rights of assistant director or even deputy director at a young age.
Such outrageous actions naturally aroused people's thoughts.
However, when I thought about the fact that Spielberg basically did most of the work himself and the second unit only assisted him, I just turned a blind eye and let him do it.
Although the beach is sunny in June, the actual temperature is only around 18 degrees Celsius, which is quite cool.
Add to that the large group of actors on the beach wearing only swimsuits to shoot a summer beach scene, and it makes people feel even colder.
Su Yun looked at Tom, who had put the blanket aside and was only wearing a pair of red swimming trunks, and asked with concern: "How is it, can you bear it?"
"No problem." Tom warmed up and set off to take his position.
This scene shows people running towards the shore in panic from the sea after discovering a great white shark has appeared and is hunting humans. The unlucky person who is killed by the great white shark as an example to others is the little boy played by Tom.
So he was made to wear a pair of red shorts - a display of youth and vitality, but also a hint of violence and danger.
Anyway, Su Yun took many photos of his shivering expression and his shy face after taking off the blanket because he was wearing "cool" clothes: A true good friend is one who professionally records all the dark history that the other person never wants to recall...
As for the crowd actors who were also dressed scantily, a large portion of them were hired at high prices as locals who loved to watch.
This was suggested by Su Yun, who had experienced the difficulty of clearing the set when filming in Hong Kong. Her principle is to let them join in if you can't beat them: Don't you like to watch and can't be driven away, so you always get in the shot and affect the filming?
Let you become part of the lens!
Under the temptation of a high salary of $64 per person, this group of onlookers were indeed recruited to become a crowd actor.
To be honest, it was quite an advantage because a large part of the onlookers were local fishermen who depended on the ocean for their livelihood. They could tolerate the cold sea water better than the ordinary extras, so most of the playing in the water was done by them - although the distorted expressions on most of the actors' faces when they ran ashore from the sea were not entirely acted out.
Perhaps only by putting themselves in the shoes of actors and understanding the difficulties they face can the onlookers truly empathize with them and stop unconsciously obstructing filming.
The filming of this scene was completed smoothly, and Su Yun quickly took a blanket to pick up Tom who had been "eaten" by the great white shark in the plot.
"How is it? Are you okay?" In addition to the blanket, Su Yun also brought him a cup of hot cocoa.
Although Tom repeatedly expressed that he was fine while drinking hot cocoa, Su Yun was still worried and took Tom, whose role had already ended, back to her room to rest: given Tom's status, he should obviously live in a large room with several other adults, so Su Yun took him to her single room to rest, and generously gave up her bed, sleeping on the small sofa next to it tonight.
After all, his stepfather Seth will come to pick him up tomorrow as agreed. If Tom doesn't recover well or gets sick, it will go against her previous promise to take care of Tom.
She tucked Tom into the quilt and covered him up. She even brought him dinner. In short, Tom could not get out of bed until Seth arrived tomorrow.
"I'm healthy, I don't need to rest!" Tom protested faintly from under the quilt.
"Every patient says this before they get sick." Su Yun put away the cutlery and dishes, then continued to hold him down and tuck him into the quilt, still using the same moral blackmail method. "We are good friends, and I promised to take care of you. If anything happens to you, I won't be able to explain to Uncle Seth."
Tom struggled to reveal a small blond head from under the quilt: "So, are we better friends than the friend you call every night?"
"How do you know I make phone calls every day?" Su Yun was a little surprised: Because it is a hotel in a tourist attraction, there is a phone at the entrance of the stairs that can make international long-distance calls.
Taking into account the time difference and work schedule, Su Yun always chooses to call at night to chat with her family in Hong Kong during the day about the situation on both sides.
"One night when I woke up, there was no water in the kettle. I was about to go downstairs to get a glass from the faucet, and I saw it," Tom said with a dark face.
Seeing him calculating, Su Yun rubbed his forehead helplessly: So, don't think there is no fighting between children - because sometimes, the possessiveness of children over their good friends is much stronger than the possessiveness between men and women.
"Don't worry, you are my best friend." Because everyone there is family, their natures are completely different.
Tom didn't realize that he was fooled by Su Yun's flirting. He thought he had got a satisfactory answer and went to bed with peace of mind.
It's another summer night with a moonless sky and few stars.
After listening to Wang Jiaju's words that Grandma Su has been in particularly good spirits recently and that he and his brother's musical performance has also improved significantly, Su Yun held the phone and chatted happily.
When she hung up the phone contentedly and was about to sneak back to the room, she looked up inadvertently and was so surprised that she paused on the spot.
How to say it?
In the slanting blue and pale moonlight, Tom stood at the top of the stairs and looked down. It was as if he saw a ungrateful person who was eating from the bowl while looking at the pot.