mesbooks Chapter 318 Filming wrapped, suit fell off
Chapter 318 Filming wrapped, suit fell off
Chapter 318 Filming wrapped, suit fell off
In late autumn on Kuroki Island, the air is filled with a salty, fishy sea fog that seems to never dissipate.
The filming of "Shutter Island" has officially entered the most intense stage, which tests human nature the most.
Inside the massive Gothic castle, the lighting crew, following Kitahara Shin's instructions, created a cold, oppressive, and even somewhat eerie gray-green color scheme. The entire set was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; all the staff held their breath, afraid to even breathe loudly.
Because everyone could see that Kitahara Shin, sitting behind the monitor, had completely transformed into a cold-blooded and ruthless tyrant on set.
Under the full force of his directorial expertise, Makoto Kitahara demanded near-perfection from every shot. And the one who bore the brunt of this pressure was undoubtedly the lead actor, Nicolas Cage.
The scene being filmed today is a pivotal moment near the end of the film—in the lighthouse, Teddy's lies are exposed by his attending physician, and the horrific memories he forcibly sealed away about his wife drowning their three children begin to resurface in his mind like a tidal wave.
"Click! That's not right!"
Kitahara Shin's cold, hard voice echoed through the empty lighthouse backdrop via loudspeaker.
Nicolas Cage gripped his hair tightly with both hands, his entire body completely soaked in sweat. The newly crowned Hollywood Best Actor had bloodshot eyes and his chest heaving violently.
"Nicholas, your performance is full of technique, but I don't need technique!" Kitahara Shin stood up from the director's chair, strode over to Cage, and stared at him with eyes as sharp as knives. "You're playing a normal person who realizes he's gone mad. But Teddy in the script is a madman who fabricated an entire world to escape his pain! When that false shell is shattered, what floods in isn't shock, but despair! The kind of despair that makes you want to rip your own brain out and smash it!"
"Throw away your Hollywood-style facial expressions! Throw away your pride! You're not a superstar anymore, you're just a pathetic wretch who watched his child float on the lake and then killed his wife with his own hands! Here we go again!"
Faced with Kitahara Shin's almost soul-tearing pressure, Cage did not refute. He gasped for breath, his eyes becoming increasingly neurotic.
"Action!"
The camera started running again.
This time, Cage didn't say any lines. He stared intently at the empty space before him, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably. His eyes quickly filled with tears, but they weren't tears of sorrow; rather, they were physiological leaks caused by his brain's inability to withstand immense pain.
He slowly opened his mouth, and a mournful whimper, like that of a wild beast on its deathbed, escaped his throat. He stumbled backward, finally sliding helplessly to his knees on the cold floor, clutching his head tightly with both hands, curling himself into a ball as if trying to erase himself from the world.
The chilling yet heartbreaking sense of devastation pierced through the lens, bringing tears to the eyes of several crew members present and even giving them goosebumps.
"Cut! Perfect!"
Kitahara Shin finally uttered the words that everyone had been waiting for.
The quality of this scene is absolutely textbook-level in film history! Under the extreme pressure from Kitahara Shin, Cage successfully shattered his original acting ceiling and touched a god-like height that is difficult for ordinary people to reach.
However, when the lights came back on and the staff were about to hand Cage a towel, they noticed something was wrong.
Cage remained curled up on the floor, his hands covering his head, his body trembling violently. He was still mumbling lines from the script: "No—she's not dead—my child is still waiting for me by the lake—"
He couldn't get out of character.
The extreme psychological pressure and deep immersion caused a crack to appear in Cage's mental defenses. He was trapped in Teddy's mind, filled with despair and madness, unable to extricate himself.
The assistants were terrified and at a loss, some even wanting to call a doctor.
"Everyone step back, don't surround him."
Kitahara Shin gave the order in a deep voice, dispersing the surrounding crowd. He knew that with such deep character immersion, an ordinary director might be satisfied and head to the editing room after filming the scene, completely disregarding the actor's well-being. Many Hollywood method actors have suffered from depression or even self-destruction because they couldn't escape the extreme pressure of playing such repressed roles.
But Kitahara Shin isn't the kind of irresponsible vampire.
He took off his trench coat, strode over, squatted down next to Cage, and draped the coat over the still trembling Oscar-winning actor.
"Nicholas, look at me." Kitahara Shin's voice was no longer that of a cold tyrant, but instead had a remarkably calm and reassuring tone.
Cage looked up somewhat blankly, his eyes still unfocused.
Kitahara Shin reached out and pressed hard on Cage's shoulders, saying each word clearly, "The movie is fake. The lake is fake. The pain is fake too. You're not Andrew, you're Nicolas Cage, you're on the set of Blackwood Island, the filming is over. You did a fantastic job, you gave a great performance. Now, back to reality."
Under Kitahara Shin's reassuring words, which were like the booming of a bell, Cage's unfocused gaze gradually returned to focus. Looking into Kitahara Shin's deep and calm eyes, the violent heaving in his chest slowly subsided.
"Kitahara—" Cage let out a long breath, as if waking from a long nightmare. He wiped the cold sweat from his face and gave a wry smile, still shaken. "God, I really thought—I was going crazy."
"Go to the lounge and take a hot shower. The crew will be taking a break for the next three days." Kitahara Shin pulled him up from the ground and patted him on the back.
Over the next three days, Kitahara Shin demonstrated his sense of responsibility as a top leader.
He not only brought in top-notch psychological counselors from Boston overnight to assess Cage, but also personally put aside his work and took Cage for a stroll around this desolate island.
They fished on the cliff edge with the sea breeze in their faces, drank strong liquor by the fireplace in the castle, and chatted about Hollywood gossip, sports cars, and surfing. Kitahara Shin's down-to-earth daily life gradually pulled Cage back from that gloomy world of scripts, allowing him to reconnect with the realities of life.
Three days later, Cage had fully recovered.
One evening by the campfire, Cage held a glass of wine, his eyes filled with unprecedented gratitude and unwavering devotion as he looked at Kitahara Shin.
"Kitahara, I've worked with countless great directors in my life—Spearman, John Woo—but none of them have ever pushed me to the brink like you have, and then caught me perfectly." Cage tossed back his drink, his tone incredibly solemn. "After this film is finished, I bet all of Hollywood will be amazed by you. From now on, just say the word, and I'll be there for you, even for free!"
Kitahara Shin simply smiled and raised his glass, saying nothing more. He knew that this sharp Hollywood actor's blade had completely won his heart.
All of this was witnessed by Eva Green, who was standing on the second-floor balcony of the castle.
During the more than two-month filming period, Eva, as the location provider, observed Kitahara Shin almost every day from the edge of the set.
At first, she was simply curious about the Asian man's arrogance because of the bet. But as time went on, she found herself completely captivated.
She saw Kitahara Shin's godlike dominance behind the monitor; she saw his profound understanding of human nature when directing actors; and she saw even more his powerful sense of responsibility when facing actors on the verge of collapse, instantly transforming from a tyrant into a solid support.
This man's charm is multi-dimensional and fatal. He has the power to destroy everything, yet also the confidence to embrace everything.
Eva's once proud and disdainful attitude towards the entertainment industry underwent a dramatic transformation under Kitahara Shin's subtle influence. She suddenly felt a strong desire to step into the lens controlled by Kitahara Shin, to experience the feeling of having one's soul's potential unearthed under extreme pressure.
That afternoon, the film crew was preparing the set for the next scene.
Eva took a deep breath and walked straight up to Kitahara Shin, who was looking through the storyboard.
"Director Kitahara." She addressed him differently, her tone less arrogant and more earnest. "You said before that if I were interested in acting, I could come to you. Now I'd like to give it a try. Could I have a cameo role in one of your films?"
Kitahara Shin raised his head, looking at the girl in front of him with her cold and beautiful appearance and unique temperament, and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips.
He had been waiting for her to say those words.
"There are very few female characters in this movie. Besides the male lead's wife, there are only a few female patients in the mental hospital." Kitahara Shin put down the script. "I don't care about family background, I only care about ability. Go get your makeup done and change into a hospital gown. I'll give you a scene, and if you can satisfy me, I'll let you appear on screen."
Without any hesitation, Eva turned and walked into the dressing room.
Half an hour later, when Eva came out again, many staff members on site gasped in surprise.
Following Kitahara Shin's instructions, the makeup artist gave her an extremely pale and sickly look. Deep-set eyes, bloodless lips, and a baggy, worn-out mental hospital gown. Even so, her emerald green eyes still radiated a breathtaking beauty.
That kind of beauty isn't the sweet, sunny look of a Hollywood girl; it's a kind of "Gothic dark beauty" that's full of destructive tendencies and neuroticism.
Kitahara Shin gave her a simple line, which was about a crazy woman the male protagonist encountered during his investigation who had killed her husband with an axe.
"Let's begin." Kitahara Shin sat behind the monitor, his gaze sharp.
Eva stood in front of the camera. For the first second, she was a little reserved, but soon, the rebellious and crazy genes in her bones were completely unleashed.
She suddenly laughed. It was a chilling laugh. She looked at the camera as if she were looking at her dead husband, her eyes filled with a morbid obsession and cruelty, and slowly recited the chilling line in a tone like a lover's murmur.
"Click."
Kitahara Shin didn't waste any words, but the admiration in his eyes was evident.
It must be admitted that some people are simply blessed with natural talent. Eva Green's innate gothic and dark aura is unique in the entire film industry. She is born to play those morbid, alluring, and villainously charismatic characters.
"You passed. Go check the camera positions with the assistant director. We'll shoot your scene tomorrow." Kitahara Shin nodded.
Eva, who had received approval, couldn't hide the excitement in her eyes.
In the subsequent filming, Eva successfully completed her short cameo role. Although it was just a minor character with less than two minutes of screen time, when she truly stood under the spotlight and felt the thrill of detaching herself from reality and immersing herself in another crazy soul, she completely fell in love with the feeling.
She knew that it was Kitahara Shin who had personally opened the door to a new world in her life.
Time flies, and life on the island goes by quickly.
Unbeknownst to him, Kitahara Shin and his crew had been stationed on Kuroki Island for nearly three months. This was the longest he had ever been away from mainland Japan since his transmigration.
-
Filming for "Shutter Island" has finally come to a close.
In the final scene, Teddy stands outside the lighthouse and delivers his classic line to his doctor: "Do you want to be a living monster or a dead real person?" before calmly walking toward the guards who are preparing to perform a lobotomy on him.
As this scene was perfectly captured, the entire set erupted in thunderous cheers and applause.
Champagne corks were pulled out one after another, and golden liquid splashed in the air. After three months of arduous filming, this epic film, destined to leave its mark on film history, finally completed its initial material collection.
As night fell, the wrap party was held on the lawn of the manor.
Everyone was slightly tipsy, and the atmosphere was lively. Kitahara Shin, holding his wine glass, quietly withdrew from the noisy crowd and walked alone along the stone path outside the castle towards a rose garden near the edge of the cliff.
A sea breeze swept by, bringing with it a slightly chilly floral fragrance.
When are you planning to go back to Los Angeles?
A languid voice came from behind. Eva Green, wearing a long black trench coat and carrying a small velvet box, walked slowly to Kitahara Shin's side.
"My flight is tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do in post-production editing and music composition, and there's a ton of stuff waiting for me in Los Angeles." Kitahara Shin turned his head and looked at Eva, who looked exceptionally charming in the moonlight.
Eva remained silent for a moment, her emerald eyes flashing with complex emotions. There was reluctance, but more than anything, there was a firm determination to achieve her goal.
"I told you, I'm not that kind of boring woman." Eva suddenly smiled and handed the velvet box in her hand to Kitahara Shin. "This is a specialty of Kuroki Island, and it's also my wrap-up gift for you. Thank you for showing me a completely new way of living."
Kitahara Shin took the box and gently opened it.
Inside lay a dried rose, preserved in a special resin. The rose possessed an eerie yet beautiful dark color, retaining a chilling, cold elegance even in its withered state. It was set in a vintage silver brooch base, exuding a strong Gothic charm.
The moment Kitahara Shin's fingers touched the brooch!
[Ding! A special artifact containing the essence of dark aesthetics and the awakening of the soul has been detected.]
[Congratulations, host! You have picked up and obtained an epic (purple) special equipment: Rose of the Night (Vintage Brooch)]
Kitahara Shin's gaze sharpened slightly.
Another purple-tier item! And it's a purple-tier item with a very unique effect!
[Equipment Attribute: This is a dark flower that blooms on the edge of a cliff, ravaged by the sea wind, yet only grows more alluring with each passing day.]
[Passive Skill 1: Abyssal Gaze. When the host plays a villain, serial killer, or dark character with severe psychological flaws in film or television works, this equipment will provide a 300% increase in visual tension. Every micro-expression of yours will exude a terrifying yet irresistible dangerous charm.]
[Passive Skill Two: Gothic Resonance. When the host is in a Gothic shooting environment such as darkness, heavy rain, or ruins, this equipment can automatically optimize the light refraction index within the lens, giving the image an ultimate oil painting-like texture.]
This "Rose of the Night" outfit is a perfect complement to Kitahara Shin, who wants to broaden his acting range and challenge more complex roles! It directly raises the ceiling of villainous charm to the maximum level!
"It's a very special gift, I really like it." Kitahara Shin put the brooch into his pocket, looked at Eva, and asked, "So, what are your plans now? To stay on this island and continue being your mistress?"
"No." Eva Green brushed her wind-blown hair against the sea breeze, her eyes burning with ambition. "I'll go to Paris to settle some family business matters. Then, I'll buy a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. Director Kitahara, I hope that when the time comes, the doors of your North American branch won't turn me away."
"You're welcome anytime, as long as you're ready," Kitahara Shin said with a smile, extending his hand.
Under the moonlight, the two completed a handshake that had no contract, yet was more solid than any contract.
Two days later, in Los Angeles.
A private jet landed smoothly at Los Angeles International Airport. Surrounded by security personnel, Kitahara Shin personally...
Carrying a bulletproof silver briefcase, he strode out of the airport terminal.
That box contained all the original negatives of "Shutter Island".
When news of Kitahara Shin's return to Hollywood spread, the entire North American film and television industry was thrown into a lake by a giant rock, creating a huge uproar.
Paparazzi from major media outlets practically blocked the airport passageways, with flashes going off like crazy.
The North American headquarters of the Kitahara Group in Beverly Hills.
Secretary Aida has been so busy these past few days that she hasn't even had time to drink water. The company's meeting room is filled with high-level executives from the six major Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros., Paramount, and Universal.
These usually aloof financial tycoons, however, were now sitting anxiously on the sofa, like students waiting for exam results.
"Mr. Aida, we heard that Director Kitahara has returned with the film. Warner Bros. is willing to provide the highest level of publicity and distribution resources, just to arrange an internal rough cut screening!"
"We at Paramount can offer the exclusive distribution rights! You name your price, but we need to see the film first!"
The reason these industry giants are so frantic is because they know all too well the power of the Nicolas Cage and Kitahara Shin combination! From the scattered intelligence coming back from Kuroki Island, they've learned that the film's shooting techniques are extremely avant-garde, even pushing Nicolas Cage to deliver an unprecedentedly divine performance. Everyone wants to be the first to grab a piece of this lucrative film, which is sure to shine at the millennium Oscars.
However, faced with these generous benefactors who came to their doorstep...
Secretary Aida received a cold order from Kitahara Shin in his top-floor office.
Secretary Aida straightened his suit, stepped out of the office, and faced the room full of Hollywood moguls. He gave a slight bow, his tone polite yet incredibly firm: "Thank you, everyone. President Kitahara's exact words: Before the final post-production editing and score for 'Shutter Island' are completed, no advance screenings of any kind will be accepted. No co-distribution funding will be accepted. Kitahara Productions will independently finance all aspects of this film's production."
"Please leave, everyone."
These words caused an uproar in the room!
Refusing to show them films? Refusing to accept investment? This is blatant arrogance! In Hollywood, no foreign company has ever dared to be so disrespectful to the six giants!
After learning of this news, major media outlets went on a frenzy of hype.
The Hollywood Reporter's front-page headline proclaimed: "The Ultimate Arrogance of an Asian Tyrant! Shutter Island Refuses All Test Screenings—What Amazing Masterpiece is Shin Kitahara Hiding?!"
This tough, almost arrogant stance did not deter Hollywood's giants; instead, it whetted everyone's appetite to an unprecedented extreme!
The entire North American continent is holding its breath, waiting for the day when the shrouded-in-mystery "Shutter Island" will finally unveil its secrets.
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