10th November, 2007
{3rd Person POV}
"Did you know, Oliver?" Said Christopher Bird.
Oliver turned to look at him, and hummed. "Hm? What happened?"
They were both currently standing inside the building dedicated to filming on-set in Atlanta, Georgia.
Currently, they were watching the set for the inside shots of 'The Departed' being made. The principal photography was to be started by next Wednesday.
"Seems like 'Night at the Museum' finally got a director attached to it. I think it was Vincent Lee." Explained Christopher.
"Ah, I see." Oliver nodded at the new piece of information. "That's good news. Hopefully, it gets released in a year or two."
"Year or two?" Christopher side-eyed Oliver. "Aren't you the one who wants to release 'The Departed' before the summer begins?"
"Well, it's different for me, you see."
"How so?" Asked Christopher.
"I'm confident in my ability to complete the movie quickly and without many setbacks." Explained Oliver.
"That seems like you're being arrogant." Christopher fully turned to face Oliver.
Oliver meanwhile, just stood as he had. "Well, I guess you could look at what I said that way." He said. "Though, I didn't mean to sound arrogant."
Sighing, Christopher turned away from Oliver and observed the construction of the set for the Police station.
Quite a lot of the movie was going to take place here, so constructing it first seemed like an obvious choice.
Both Oliver and Christopher stood in silence for a long time. The silence felt really awkward to Oliver, so he tried to break it.
"Hey, Mr. Christopher. Do you have any movie in production?" Asked Oliver.
A bit surprised by the question, Christopher answered anyway. "No, not now, at least. I have to overlook this film before I can do my own thing." He sounded a bit irritated to Oliver.
He thought of Christopher's situation to be that of a babysitter: someone who had to look after a baby who couldn't be left to their own devise. Otherwise, they might just break the house.
An idea popped into existence inside Oliver's head. "Mr. Christopher, I have a pretty fun idea." Oliver said with a playful grin.
Christopher, however, was quite disinterested in what this "fun idea" was.
"I want you to make a historical fiction film." At this, Christopher furrowed his eyebrows.
"Why should I?" He asked.
"Because you should branch out into other genres too, no? I think it'll help your career."
Christopher, wanting to say something, opened his mouth, but then immediately closed it. What Oliver had said was quite a good point.
But one thing about it bothered him.
"Why historical fiction?" He asked out aloud.
"Because I have an old script for it lying around." Oliver casually explained, as if what he said wasn't a huge surprise.
"What?!" Christopher exclaimed, but then calmed himself.
Oliver had another script with him.
But this begs the question, why didn't he make that into a film, rather than creating 'The Departed'?
"If you had it, then why didn't you sell that screenplay or make that one into a film? I'm sure a historical fiction film would garner far more interest than a mob flick."
"It would be too large scale for me." Oliver's answer was short and simple. It explained his reason.
And yet, it still left Christopher wanting to know more. He wanted something more than "I can't handle large scale productions."
Unknown to Christopher, Oliver was currently buying the aforementioned screenplay from his system.
[Buy the screenplay for 'Gladiator'?]
[Yes]
[No]<--
'Yes.' Oliver mentally ordered.
[Purchase complete]
[-2,500 Entertainment Coins]
[Total Coins left: 122,100]
'Quite expensive.' Oliver thought.
This was the movie he wanted Christopher to make. He wanted to see what kind of film 'Gladiator' would become if directed by him.
'While I would have loved to direct it myself, letting others put their own flavours on these scripts is a very interesting idea.' Oliver thought.
'Then there's also the fact that I can't direct all those critically acclaimed and popular films from my old world, too. So having others direct these films isn't that big of a deal.'
"I'll send you the screenplay late. It'll be all up to you to decide whether to direct the film or not, but I think it'd be an important experience for you too."
After hearing Oliver's words, Christopher thought that the boy had a point. There was no harm in expanding his reach, and getting more experience would never hurt him.
It was a tempting offer, one that Christopher was willing to take.
A sigh escaped Christopher's lips. "Alright, alright. You win." He brought both his arms up, showcasing his defeat. "I'll take you up on your offer. However, I wouldn't start the pre-production stage till at least July. I have some other things to do till then."
Oliver had a smirk on his face.
'This was going to be fun.' He thought.
***
15th November, 2007
{3rd Person POV}
The day of the filming had arrived, and Oliver was quite excited.
He was currently sitting on the director's chair, explaining how he wanted the scene to be shot to Benjamin Lucas, who Oliver had partnered up with again.
"Basically, I want it to be mostly static, with very few moving shots." Explained Oliver.
"I see." Nodded Benjamin. "So, two cameras inside the interview room, and one outside, right?"
"Yep." Oliver confirmed.
Oliver was waiting for the actors to be ready and to practise their lines.
By the time he had finished his talk with Benjamin, the actors had gotten ready.
Among them was Keanu Reese, who would be playing the role of Billy Costigan, a rat in the Irish mob. He was currently talking with Eric Newman, who would be playing the role of Collin Sullivan, a mole in the police.
Seeing that the actors had all gathered, Oliver walked to grab the microphone and shouted through it. "Alright everyone! Get in your positions."
Saying that, he walked back to the director's chair while bringing the microphone with him.
He looked over at the cameraman, and signalled him to get ready.
"Quiet on set! 3, 2, 1… and action!"
"Congratulations on passing the detective's exam, and welcome to the Special Investigation Unit's." Said Queenam, the head of the section, congratulating Collin.
"Whoop-de-fucking-do." Commented Dignam, the Staff Sergeant. Collin said nothing at his remark and stayed silent.
"We won't be working together, that is, directly. You'll be working for Captain Ellerby," Queenam motioned to his right, where there was a giant glass wall, letting him see the people work. "But I like to see everybody."
Saying that, the Queenam paused for a few seconds, and then continued. "You're a worker. You rise fast."
"Like a 12-year-old's dick." Said Dignam with a smirk.
Collin looked at Dignam, and finally said something. "Thank you, Sergeant."
"My pleasure."
Collin turned towards Queenam, and bid his farewell. "Thank you, sir."
"Good luck." With that, Collin walked out of the room.
He closed the door behind him.
The receptionist leaned forward, and congratulated him. "Congratulations."
"Thanks, hon." He replied and walked away.
Billy, who was sitting on a seat next to the door, stared at Collin and the receptionist. He moved his head upwards, looking at the ceiling, but then immediately brought it down and looked at the receptionist.
"You can go in there now."
He stood up from his seat and fixed his clothes.
Walking in, he stopped right beside the empty chair.
"You can sit." Said Queenam.
Billy did as he was told, and sat on the chair, while Dignam moved back and sat on a table.
"So… Do you know what we do here? My section?" Asked Queenam.
Billy opened his mouth, contemplating what to say, before the next words left his mouth. "Sir, yes, sir. I do have an idea-"
"Woah, woah, woah. Let's just say you have no idea and leave it at that, okay?" Interrupted Dignam. "No idea. Zip. None."
Billy looked a bit confused, so Dignam explained.
"If you had an idea what we do, we would not be good at our jobs, would we? We would be cunts. Are you calling us cunts?"
At Dignam's words, Queenam explained his personality. "Staff Sergeant Dignam has a style of his own. I'm afraid we all have to get used to it." He said, while flipping over a page of a sheet in his hands and reading its contents.
Dignam got off the table, and put his hands on his hip.
"So, you have family connections down in Southie, right? Through your father? Why don't you tell us about your uncle Jack?" At his words, Queenam looked up from the page he was reading.
Billy looked at the floor, and fixed his tie. "He was a carpet layer for Jordan Marsh."
"Uncle Jackie was a small-time bookie who tended bars at the Vets in Somerville. He got popped by Nicastro in '95. We found his body at the airport."
Billy stared at the both of them before looking down. "That's right." He then breathed deeply and looked back up again. "I remember his funeral."
"Oh good. Closed casket?" Asked Dignam.
Billy stared at the air for a while before answering. "That's right."
"So, tell anybody up at Deerfield. That is before you get kicked out for whaling on a gym teacher with a folding chair. You had an uncle meet his demise like that?"
Billy remained silent, while Digman asked.
"I got a question. How fucked up are you?"
Billy looked back up at Dignam.
"Alright, cut!" Shouted Oliver. "That was fantastic!" He said while getting off his director's chair.
Keanu relaxed, heaving a heavy sigh.
Oliver walked up to Keanu, and patted his shoulder. "That was an amazing performance! I'm sure you'll get quite the spotlight after this film. Keep on working hard."
"Thanks." Said Keanu, while he took a bottle of water and drank it.
Oliver walked to the actors of Dignam and Queenam, Richard Evans and Elijah Parker, respectively. He congratulated both of them for their amazing acting.
Richard was only available today for a short amount of time, so Oliver had decided to get his scenes done first, that too with the new and upgraded 35 mm cameras that he got.
Digital cameras wouldn't really be mass produced until the early 2010s, so for now, he had to work with 35 mm cameras.
Martin Scorsese had chosen to make 'The Departed' look like a film from the 90s to make it feel more authentic, made obvious with the more grainy texture and greyer tones, as well as the bad sound quality.
The last one was a joke, if anyone was wondering.
Oliver didn't want to do that. This was a modern film, and to him, making it look purposely old was too time consuming, time which he didn't have.
And so, he spent the next two months shooting 'The Departed', and writing down 'Gladiator' to then sell it to Christopher.
~~~
A/N: Woo boy! Here's chapter 19! I've fulfilled my quota for this week! Yay!
Jokes aside, the first half was a bit difficult to write, mostly because I didn't want to show Oliver as being egoistic while I had him scared shitless last chapter. So he's a bit weird here.
I want to include more about how the film industry (and later on other industries) work, as you can see with either the narrator (Me) or Oliver explaining things here and there.
I want to go deeper than just surface level stuff. Because let's be real, why would you even write a story set in Hollywood and NOT explore that world?
So, expect more things to be added to your 'TodayILearned' list.
Oh, and keep giving me suggestions of movies you'd like to be made in this world. Obviously not all of them would be made by Oliver (That's why the first half of this chapter even exists), but still, feel free to share the names. I already keep on changing the movies he'll make anyways (I already have 7 movies planned, it's just which one comes first and their production time that I have to calculate, as well as their release dates.)
P.S: This is the 2nd longest chapter, crossing 2k words.