"Hello, Director Levi. Please sit down. Please don't be restrained. You are my guest. I believe that a director who can write such a script must be a person with his own ideas. If my home becomes a bondage where your thoughts are restricted, that must be my problem."
On the second day after receiving the news, Levi took Theron to visit Kevin Spacey.
Spacey's family is not too big. In his family, there are only two people and a dog: Spacey has never been married and has no scandals. He never reveals his sexuality and lives with his mother. These are also news that is not considered news in Hollywood. Such a person really pays attention to comfort rather than a luxury in life.
"If possible, I also hope that there is such a home where I can let my thoughts wander freely in the house. How can this be considered bondage?" Levi agreed, and he was no longer polite and briefly introduced Theron. After taking a look at the home, she sat down too.
It has to be said that Kevin Spacey is a very personable person. From the moment they met, with just a few words, he let go of Levi's restraint and had a good conversation with Levi. As a director, if you come to invite an actor, it must be because the actor has a high status. In this way, the director will inevitably be restrained, and Kevin Spacey dispelled Levi's restraint in a few words. This also made Levi admire the actor even more.
Moreover, Levi also has to admit that Spacey's attitude towards him can be described as very friendly: he did not find an agent or assistant to conduct business negotiations with Levi. As he said, Levi is his guest, not the object of negotiation.
Such a way of dealing with people is enough to make people admire it. There was only him and himself here, so what the two of them were talking about was naturally about the movie. Without the outflanking of the agent, it would be difficult for the actor himself to raise some salary or make unreasonable demands to modify the script for himself. Spacey's refusal to let the agent come is obviously respecting the film's approach.
"Director Levi, I have already read your script. I am very interested in the performance of this character. I have tried to express the character with restrained acting skills before, but I have never tried to show such a level of inner changes with extremely restrained acting skills. It is fascinating to shoot this way. I am willing to try it. But I have my own requirements. I can accept this movie, but I hope to make some changes in some parts of the script." Kevin Spacey didn't talk too much nonsense with Levi and took out the script, "You don't have too many problems with this character, and the main line of the character's emotional changes is obvious enough and straightforward enough. But the character of this character is not plump enough. A person can be introverted and elusive, but it should not be monotonous and boring. Of course, if what you want to create is not a character but the entire monitoring system, and the character is the epitome of the social image, then this character is fine. If it's an expressive technique, then I'm taking the liberty. Miss Theron is here too. Please give me some pointers."
In the script that Kevin Spacey handed over, he used red and blue pens to outline different sentences and paragraphs. Obviously, when Spacey read the script, he didn't just skim over it but read it very seriously. Such an attitude made Levi flip through the script and keep nodding his head.
Beside Levi, Theron also poked her head over, looking at the script. She couldn't hide her surprise in her heart: she didn't expect someone to read the script like this.
"No, you are not presumptuous at all. And, you know, after watching this, I am more sure that the protagonist of this movie must be you." The success of an actor is not accidental.
After receiving the script, he is very good at analyzing and grasping it. He has to think about how to express the characters to be the best and the connotation that the film wants to express, and after receiving the film contract, he will first look at the salary and see if he is satisfied. It's not about being able to make a lot of money; it depends on who the people in the same crew are, whether you can become more famous, or even whether you have the opportunity to meet the heroine - such differences have already determined the differences in actors' performances.
Kevin Spacey is able to analyze the script, he can see where the challenges of the show are, and he also thinks about how to enrich better and shape the characters. This is, of course, a great talent, but if there is no fundamental willingness to analyze, willingness to read carefully, and willing to do things well, no matter how talented he is, it doesn't matter.
Kevin Spacey is not very handsome, and most of the characters in the performance are not positive characters, but he can still be recognized by the audience, not without reason.
A good actor doesn't care about how much money he has, nor how he can become popular. Whether the script is good or not has always been a question worthy of attention for actors.
"This character is not a microcosm of a social state but a microcosm of a crowd. His life is not boring, but because he has his own spiritual beliefs, for which he can sacrifice his life. However, The actions of the Minister of Culture are destroying his beliefs and abusing power for the Minister of Culture's selfish desires. This is not in line with his beliefs, and this is why he began to change..." Levi explained the concept of the script, and most of them describe the change in the thinking of the protagonist. Speaking with an actor should be the most important part as a director.
"If you say that, the script of your movie is still not deep enough." Spacey interrupted suddenly after listening to his explanation. He paused, seeing that Levi's expression didn't change much, and then spoke up, "In the movie, you let the minister directly force the heroine to submit. You simplified the ideological struggle into moral oppression. You did not compare the pros and cons of the two ideologies in detail but simply used a sense of morality to guide the audience's thinking—this approach is a bit opportunistic, and it also makes the work not deep enough. You can better present the conflict of thinking, which may be better."
"Kevin, you may have got one thing wrong." Levi laughed. "I didn't make this movie to reflect ideological struggle. I'm a filmmaker, not a politician, and I'm not God. I am not qualified to judge who is right and who is wrong, and I don't want to get too involved in this issue. How deep the film is, at least the level of the director, is enough. I don't think I have enough depth to discuss this issue. What I want to shoot from the beginning to the end of the movie is changes in Whistler's character—in the overall situation, the changes of ordinary people."
Not expressing his position is also a form of expressing his position—Space glanced at Levi.
From just now, Levi was talking, and Kevin Spacey was also observing Levi: he knew a little bit about who this young man was before. In Spacey's view, whether it is his background in the critics or his very profitable TV company, he can bring Levi a lot of proud capital, and his movie script is also very good, which is also a great achievement. With such talent and career at such a young age, Spacey originally thought that he would be a very arrogant person, but after he walked into Spacey's house, his attitude has always been humble. Spacey accused him of a problem with the script, but he explained it seriously instead of being in a hurry. But humility does not mean a lack of opinion. When Spacey suggested that the film should have a clearer position, he stuck to his position and did not back down.
Having an idea, a position, and a humble attitude made Spacey a little satisfied: he could see that Levi had the potential to achieve such an achievement in just one year, and it was not by chance. It should be fun to work with someone like that.
At this time, Theron was also thinking in her heart: When she saw this movie script, all she thought about was whether she could make this movie, whether she could play a role, and if she played a role, how it would affect her career. What kind of influence will it cause, how much money can be made, whether it can become famous and become a star? She didn't think there was anything wrong with these ideas before, but after hearing the discussion between Levi and Spacey at this time, she realized that how far away she was.
'Actors and artists have different ways of looking at things. If I want to become a top artist, I am afraid that I have a long way to go.'
"Since there are no problems, I can also consider this role."
Kevin Spacey expressed his willingness to accept this role, which made Levi very excited, but it was not particularly unexpected. The characters in this movie are very similar to Kevin Spacey's acting style. Kevin Spacey's acting is originally an actor with a feminine temperament and relatively restrained movements. There are not many scripts suitable for such an actor, except for the wily criminals in crime dramas. Just be sure he won't miss this movie.
"It's just that I have one or two small problems." Spacey continued, "I don't have any opinion on being in your movie. But you have to tell me why you chose me to play, and by acting in this movie, what can I get?"
A small question or two? Levi laughed. This is not a small problem; it is clearly the biggest test for himself - Spacey, as the interviewer, is asking himself a question.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons Cherif Doghri, Abdishakur Hasan, Adam LV, Danny York, and haze2343.
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