Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Plans Can’t Keep Up with Changes

“Klink, come over here, set up the lighting rig! And you, um… what’s your name again? Right, Bright, move that thing over there, tell them to clear the area, and make it quick!”

As the director’s assistant’s voice echoed, the room in the motel bustled with activity. The staff of “Pulp Fiction” was arranging the setting under the supervision of a director’s assistant, preparing for the upcoming shoot. Meanwhile, Director Adrian was on the other side, discussing the scene with Bruce Willis.

Just as Adrian had anticipated, a bottomed-out John Travolta only pondered for a few minutes before agreeing. He took only a $100,000 salary–of course, a share of the box office was still to be written into the contract. After all, despite his downturn, he was still a long-established star, and if the box office flopped, he wouldn’t get much anyway.

Adrian didn’t pay too much attention to this. No one other than him knew how much box office revenue the movie could generate. It didn’t make sense for Travolta to act at such a low price without a share, so Adrian simply pressed down the percentage of the box office cut.

Samuel Jackson was the same; he had just started making a name for himself and his collaborator was a well-known genius director in the industry, so he had no objections to the terms offered. However, Bruce Willis, who didn’t have the strong popularity he would have two years later, initially asked for $7 million. Of course, Adrian was unwilling to accept that. No matter what, the cost couldn’t be higher than the original’s, right? After several negotiations, Willis finally agreed to lower his pay to $3 million, with the compromise being a share of the box office, albeit a lower percentage than Travolta’s.

It seemed like a loss, but if everything went smoothly, Bruce’s share would definitely exceed $4 million. However, Adrian didn’t think so. It was an opportunity to form a good relationship with Bruce. He was interested in the agents of Travolta, Jackson, and Willis; bringing them over would be hugely beneficial to the development of his own talent agency.

“Impatience and anger, what you’re feeling is impatience and anger, along with some panic, because the golden watch is an heirloom your father went through great pains to leave you; it’s incredibly important to you. But you can’t fully vent out, because your woman is here. Even though you’re furious with her for forgetting to bring the watch, even though in your mind you’re thinking, ‘Oh, this stupid woman!’ at the end of the day, you still love her,” Adrian explained, gesturing.

“Ed, do you think this works?” Willis pondered and then said.

He closed his eyes to muster the emotions, then suddenly threw back his head and started breathing rapidly, his shoulders and abdomen heaving violently. His hands were raised, constantly clenching into fists and then opening. After sustaining this emotional state for several seconds, he gradually calmed down.

“Excellent!” Adrian clapped his hands to show his praise. “That’s it. You did well, Bruce. Those who say your acting is terrible should jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.”

“That’s an exaggeration, Ed,” Willis said, touching his thinning hair and laughing heartily, “I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

“So, let’s get started,” Adrian saw the assistant director give the “everything is ready” signal and patted Willis on the shoulder before walking toward the camera.

All of the scenes this time were to be shot outside, anyway, the only locations needed were motels, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, basements, etc., and it was much cheaper to rent these places in the suburbs than to construct sets in a studio. The only trouble was having to move back and forth, which could easily expose the production if the bar and restaurant used for filming were too close to one another.

Adrian had initially wanted to shoot the robbery scene at the restaurant where he and Kate had been robbed before, but after careful consideration, he put the idea aside. The safety of that area had not improved significantly, and the two robbers from the last incident were still at large. The reputation of the American police wasn’t that great, so he decided against it.

The scene being filmed now was the second of three stories: “Golden Watch.” Willis played Butch, a boxer who fought in underground boxing matches, and who had a golden watch left to him by his father that he treasured immensely, always keeping it with him. This time, the gangster boss Masha offered him money to throw the next boxing match. Butch pretended to agree but bet all the money on himself instead, then proceeded to beat his opponent to death in the match, grabbing a large sum of money and attempting to run away with his girlfriend. However, his girlfriend had left the highly treasured golden watch at home, forcing Butch to return for it, only to run into Masha who had been waiting for him at his house. After a series of bizarre events, he was somehow able to reconcile with Masha and leave with the money intact.

Actually, the first story Adrian had wanted to film was “Bonnie’s Situation,” which was primarily set indoors, and the restaurant scenes could be left until the end to complete. But Willis only had two weeks as he also had another movie to shoot, so Adrian had to film “Golden Watch” first.

Indeed, the main settings of this story were also indoors, primarily in three locations: the motel, the grocery store and its basement, and Butch’s home. However, there was a chase scene between Masha and Butch that had to be shot in broad daylight on a busy street in front of many people, requiring a lot of extras and posing significant logistical challenges.

Fortunately, at least Willis had surprised him. The burly man’s acting wasn’t as rough as his exterior suggested. For instance, in the tender scene in the motel room, he used body language just right to convey the gentleness expected of the character, without making his co-star, Karina Plamo, uncomfortable.

It was just that his appearance was somewhat… how should one put it, rugged, with a squarish face as if chiseled by a knife, and though his eyes were small, they gave an impression of determination, which is no wonder he became famous as a tough guy in “Die Hard.” But because of this, having played too many tough guy roles had typecast him, and when he tried different roles, it made the audience feel disconnected. Over time, he even earned the nickname “Mr. Expressionless.”

Alright, let’s not talk about that anymore. After spending three days finishing the scenes at the motel, Adrian began preparing for the next scene. In order, it should be the grocery store, the chase scene, and finally Butch’s home because in Butch’s home, there was a shot of Travolta getting killed by Willis with a gunshot. Leaving these scenes for last would allow him to continue shooting Travolta’s scenes after Willis had finished filming.

But after some consideration, Adrian decided to shoot the chase scene first, as that footage was shorter and the sooner it was completed, the better. However, plans never change as quickly as they do, whether long-term or on-the-spot. Just as Adrian began filming the chase scene on the second day, the 64th Oscar nomination list was released.

(Went to say hi to mom, so I’m a few minutes late, please recommend!)