In the realm of filmmaking, according to Lyman's assessment, the most challenging phase was the pre-production preparation. It was a lot of hassle and work to get everything in order, but without proper groundwork, the subsequent filming wouldn't go smoothly.
It was akin to laying a solid foundation before constructing a house, so that subsequent work could proceed with a sense of security.
After about a week of bustling activity at Château d'Annecy, the visual style for the film was finally settled.
The remaining tasks of setting up scenes, creating props, selecting appropriate crew costumes, and such were still being monitored by René and Thomas.
Now, Lyman was finally free to move on to selecting the cast. Since shooting was about to begin soon, it wouldn't do if the cast wasn't complete.
Speaking of which, after a few phone calls with Heath, the details were still somewhat unclear on his end. He didn't know when he could free up his schedule. Lyman thought about it, and since Heath was almost done with his filming and only had some finishing touches left, he decided to directly go visit him.
...
Back at the guesthouse, he quickly packed his belongings and then took a car to the train station, followed by a train to the airport. The flight had already been arranged by Europa Pictures' staff. This time, he was traveling alone. Eva had wanted to come, but he had declined.
All this traveling around and a hectic schedule were too much of a bother. Staying on set was easier.
...
In the rain-prone summer, in the state of Wyoming, USA, a sudden rain shower fell at high noon. There had been no sign of dark clouds; it was a "sun shower".
On the straight road, within a smoothly moving Mercedes, Lyman witnessed the occurrence of this rain shower.
He had arrived at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday afternoon, then spent the night in a hotel there. Early the next morning, he had taken a car arranged by Paramount Pictures to come here.
The filming location for "Brokeback Mountain" was on a ranch in the state of Wyoming.
This film was an adaptation of a very well-known novel.
The original work was a collection of short stories written by Annie Proulx, who had even won a Pulitzer Prize.
In total, there were eleven stories, all set in Wyoming, and they broadly explored the theme of the challenging lives of farm people in the harsh and brutal natural environment.
After the stories were brought to the big screen, they had won the O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction in '98, as well as the National Magazine Award. So, it wasn't lacking in fame.
Subsequently, writers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana adapted the stories into a screenplay suitable for filming.
The story was a good one, but Hollywood wasn't short of good stories.
The script's inherent nature indicated that not many film companies would be interested. After a series of twists and turns, many directors like Gus Van Sant and Joel Schumacher had successively rejected taking on this low-budget film. In the end, producer James Schamus secured the film's screenplay for $3M and caught the eye of director Ang Lee.
Considering it, Ang Lee's situation was rather awkward.
In 2003, a film called "The Hulk" had nearly killed his previously successful track record.
With a production cost of $137M, not including marketing and promotion, the global box office earnings were only $245.36M. This directly resulted in Universal Pictures losing around $70M and indirectly caused the demise of Universal's superhero launch plan.
You see, Universal only had the rights to the Marvel films, with "The Hulk" being their most well-known property and having good commercial adaptation value.
The emergence of "Spider-Man" had shaken the industry with its market performance and fan appeal. Who wouldn't be envious?
Not to mention Universal, even 20th Century Fox's "X-Men", "Fantastic Four", and New Line Cinema's "Blade", all rode this wave of excitement and pushed out films consecutively.
The former goes without saying, as each of those films had achieved respectable results. Even though "Blade" didn't perform well, it still made some profit. The only exception was Warner Bros., who had mishandled popular comic book characters like the Hulk.
Can you really blame Ang Lee?
The reason he took on such low-budget projects probably had something to do with this situation. After all, Hollywood has always been practical.
...
The shooting location was a ranch. After the car arrived at the foot of the mountain, the road ahead became rough, so they decided not to push their luck by attempting to ascend. Lyman found a hotel, arranged his luggage and belongings, and then prepared to hike up the mountain.
It wasn't really far. The mountain wasn't particularly high; rather, it was more like a large slope.
After about 15 minutes of walking, as he neared the summit, he could already see the crew of "Brokeback Mountain".
The surroundings were lush with green grass, and there were plenty of cows and sheep grazing. It looked like a place ideal for pasturing.
Several set-up tents were placed around, and the crew members seemed to have not much to do, looking quite relaxed.
As he approached, he spotted Heath sitting on a chair, wearing a cowboy hat and dressed as if he were a ranch hand.
Next to him was...
Oh, right, Michelle Williams, one of the female leads in the film.
Seeing the two of them engaged in animated conversation, it seemed they had already hit it off.
"Hey, Heath."
He greeted.
"Lyman." Heath turned his head, only to find Lyman, who had come to ask about the address, already there.
"Long time no see. How have you been lately? What were you just talking about? I've been here for a while, and you haven't even noticed." Lyman teased.
They were quite familiar with each other. Even though they hadn't seen each other in a while, there was no sense of unfamiliarity.
"Nothing much. Oh, by the way, let me introduce you. This is Michelle Williams."
Michelle raised her head slightly and observed him. She was quite curious about Lyman, but currently, she was more intrigued by Heath, who seemed to have romantic intentions during filming, looking so familiar with him.
After all, Lyman was a renowned French director in Hollywood.
This kind of rapport didn't seem like a simple working relationship.
"Director Lyman, hello. Everyone likes to call me Michelle, and you can call me that too."
"Sure, hello, Michelle." Lyman gestured politely.
"What about the director? Where's Ang Lee?" he curiously inquired. When visiting someone else's set, it was only appropriate to greet the host. Besides, he admired this artistic director. He had seen several of his works multiple times in his past life.
"The director is out on business."
As expected, as soon as he arrived, he felt that there wasn't any ongoing filming here.
"How have things been? Is everything alright?"
"Not great. Originally, we could have wrapped up the final scenes yesterday, but due to some dissatisfaction with the way a particular scene was being handled, the director kept pushing it, and that's why we're still here."
Heath shrugged.