Capítulo 422: Chapter 423: Thoughts
[Chapter 423: Thoughts]
During the morning shoot, everything felt normal. But as lunch approached, the atmosphere on the set of Twister, located in the fields outside of town, took a strange turn. Most people began speaking and moving around quietly, and whenever someone accidentally created a loud noise while moving equipment, they would be met with curious glares. Although everyone pretended to be engrossed in their tasks, their eyes would often dart over to where Virginia stood.
Twister had been filming for three weeks, and even the slowest of crew members had picked up on the relationship between Eric and the leading lady, Joanna. Virginia's unexpected visit to the set piqued everyone's curiosity about what might happen next.
However, to everyone's disappointment, the imagined confrontation between the two women never took place. In fact, the two women barely interacted at all. After Joanna showered, she spoke softly with Eric for a few moments before heading off to lunch with some of the other main actors. Eric called over Virginia's assistant, Shania, while he grabbed two lunches, then headed into a trailer with Virginia.
...
Once the door to the trailer closed, Virginia could finally drop the facade and leapt into Eric's arms for a hug. After a moment, Eric released the woman and said with a smile, "You must be hungry. Let's dig in, though the food here might not be great, so you'll have to make do."
Virginia knew the timing wasn't right but still couldn't help but sit right next to Eric at the table instead of across from him.
Eric handed a straw from a juice box to Virginia and asked, "I thought you went to Ireland? I've never been there. How was filming in Ireland?"
Virginia immediately showed a hint of complaint as she replied, "It was freezing! If I had known, I would have turned down this movie. I almost froze to death. Kepler said this film could lead to an Oscar nomination, and that's why I agreed to take it. Plus, they only offered me $3 million."
Eric recalled a few things and said, "Speaking of which, Paramount even sent me the script to look over."
Virginia then asked, "So, what did you think? Is there a chance of a nomination?"
After carefully recalling the script, Eric summarized it. It was about a man who, after years of struggling abroad, returned to his hometown in Northern Ireland after a business failure, where he met a young single mother. The film's themes were very mainstream, focusing on family, kinship, and life perspectives. Movies in this style, if done warmly enough, would have solid box office potential even without award wins.
"The theme is too sentimental," he said. "The Oscars tend to favor deeper material, so winning is unlikely, but a nomination is very possible. So what's the budget for this film?"
Virginia answered, "It's about $15 million. The leading man isn't too well-known, so his salary isn't very high, but his acting is excellent. I often feel overshadowed by him. It's quite embarrassing."
Eric remembered that the main character in the script was a middle-aged man in his thirties. Virginia's acting might not reach Oscar-winning levels, but she certainly wouldn't be easily overshadowed, especially not by a lesser-known actor. Curiously, he asked, "What's the leading man's name?"
"Kevin Spacey."
"Oh... who?" Eric hesitated for a moment, then suddenly realized, confirming with, "Kevin Spacey?"
"Yeah, Kevin Spacey," Virginia repeated, sensing Eric's puzzled expression. "He's just a lesser-known actor, I think he used to do stage plays. Do you know him?"
Eric nodded, "Yeah, I've heard the name before. I remember he had a small role in Working Girl with Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith a couple of years ago."
With that, they dropped the subject. Initially, Eric thought that since Kevin was still relatively unknown, maybe Kepler could find a way to sign him. But then he realized that he wasn't connected to an agency anymore and pushed the thought aside.
"Hey, Eric," Virginia said after sipping her juice, hesitating before asking, "Should I go say hello to her?"
Eric knew she was talking about Joanna and smiled, "Maybe not now. Let's wait until we wrap for the day and head back to Ponca City for dinner together."
"You mean the three of us go to dinner together?"
"Or I could step away, and you two could have some time alone, but you better promise no fighting."
Virginia laughed, saying, "Ha, as if! If we women start fighting over you, it'll just boost your ego. Besides, we're not little girls anymore."
...
After a simple lunch, the crew quickly resumed the tense filming. While Oklahoma didn't boast Los Angeles's almost year-round sunny weather, the northern part of the state still enjoyed plenty of sunshine during the early summer, making overcast conditions rare.
Virginia, though present, couldn't help with much and decided to stay cooped up in the trailer with her assistant, feeling bored. The afternoon set was just as lively as before, capturing the scene where the male and female leads encountered a tornado in a ditch.
Given the scale of this special effects film, Eric couldn't simply replicate his memories of Twister without any variations; many scenes were entirely new. Therefore, Eric needed to accumulate sufficient filming material. Although the first tornado scene wasn't the most demanding visually in the film, if any of the footage was unusable and had to be reshot, it would raise issues beyond just funding -- it could impact the post-production effects as well.
Though he couldn't replicate the original movie entirely, and many specifics in the script were adjusted, Eric remained confident in the film. After all, the main draw of Twister was its realistic hurricane special effects. Even with script modifications, the pacing of the film remained tight.
Eric had thoroughly analyzed the original production; aside from the introductory setup and the climax with a Level 5 hurricane at the end, the middle segment maintained a rhythm of five to ten minutes of dialogue interspersed with special effects, ensuring neither audience fatigue from lengthy dialogue nor visual overload from too much action.
The roar of Boeing engines echoed throughout the afternoon. As four o'clock approached, that segment finally wrapped. With only an hour left, the crew couldn't start with any new scenes, so they began methodically packing up the equipment to head back to Ponca City.
...
Eric pushed open the trailer door and spotted Virginia boredly leaning against a small couch, holding a prepared meteorology book while listening to music through a single earbud. Shania, the assistant, noticed Eric and stood up to greet him before discreetly leaving the trailer.
"Finally done?" Virginia asked as she removed the earbud and sat up.
Eric nodded and replied, "Yeah, we can head back to Ponca City soon. Come on, you can ride with me. This car is headed to the next shoot, not back to Ponca City."
As Virginia followed Eric out of the trailer, a cool breeze hit her. She glanced up at the increasingly gloomy sky and, suppressing her little hopes, remarked, "It wouldn't rain, would it?"
Looking at the low-hanging clouds, Eric responded, "The weather forecast said there might be light rain tonight, and tomorrow could still be overcast."
After a few paces, Virginia felt the chilly air creeping into her collar and said, "I just read in that book that Oklahoma is in the tornado corridor. This kind of weather wouldn't spawn a tornado, right?"
"Tornadoes aren't a joke. You can wish for a bit of rain, but let's forget about tornadoes," Eric shot down her hopeful thought.
Realizing Eric saw through her little fantasy, Virginia felt her face flush. A production stoppage was no small matter. With hundreds of crew members, even idling would cost tens of thousands of dollars a day. Even if Eric was wealthy, he couldn't afford such extravagance. She realized that secretly hoping for rain to spend more time with him did seem a bit irresponsible.
"I'm not... hoping for rain," she said meekly, casting a guilty glance at Eric while trying to defend herself.
...
At dinner, Jeffrey returned from another set to see Virginia but merely greeted her before abandoning his intention to chat with Eric over the meal.
Eric chose not to take the two women out for dinner but instead reserved a small restaurant within the hotel where the crew was staying.
Ponca City, with a population of just over twenty thousand, had already drawn too much attention to the crew's large production. While the initial wave of reporters had largely dispersed, a few stragglers still appeared occasionally, trying to dig up some news. If Eric were to stroll around with the two women, he knew it would undoubtedly make headlines for the following day.
The atmosphere between the two women was devoid of confrontation. At least, they maintained a very pleasant surface demeanor. Virginia and Joanna understood they were just Eric's objects of affection, and given their age difference, the likelihood of either marrying him was zero, eliminating the incentive for competition. Although Virginia sometimes hinted at being competitive, Joanna's nature was calm and unassertive, making it unlikely for Virginia to stir anything up.
This situation pleased Eric greatly. After more than an hour of dining, as evening settled in around seven, Eric looked at the two women still enjoying their conversation. He stood up and said, "You two keep chatting. I'm going to check on today's footage and discuss some special effects with Stan. I'll try to be back by ten."
...
Once Eric left, the previously lively conversation between Virginia and Joanna came to an abrupt halt. They silently picked up their coffee mugs, and after a moment of awkwardness, Virginia burst out laughing, "Finally, I don't have to tolerate that little jerk anymore."
Joanna chuckled lightly as well. The two women had maintained a harmonious front just to spare Eric any stress.
"He's been really exhausted lately. He's hardly rested before midnight and has to get up at six every day," Joanna commented, attempting to explain. But she soon realized how that might sound -- as if she was staying in the same room with Eric.
"Um... I'm in the room next to his," Joanna added, unable to resist defending herself.
...
The hotel where Eric was staying had a large warehouse to the south, which had once stored corn but had now been transformed into a sizable studio filled with various film equipment, including over a dozen computers. Despite being nighttime, members of the digital department working on Twister's effects were still hard at work.
Eric was in discussions with Stan Winston and several other special effects artists, deliberating over the footage they had shot recently and strategizing about the special effects solutions. Although the hardware was suitable for Twister's effects, this film heavily relied on CGI for many of its scenes, making it a first of its kind for the team. Everyone had to take their time to figure things out, occasionally developing specialized solutions for certain scenes.
"High-impact destruction scenes will become a major branch of the computer effects field in the future. This little program may suffice for this film, but its limitations are evident. Stan, have someone prepare a detailed plan. I'll have the San Francisco team develop similar application software," Eric instructed.
Stan nodded in agreement. They discussed an unrendered, fully gray scene on the computer screen for a while before Stan finally said, "We'll handle the rest, Eric. Maybe you should head back to rest."
"Ah?" Eric said, sounding puzzled. He checked his watch; it was only nine-thirty. Noticing the expressions on Stan's face, he suddenly felt embarrassed.
But Stan clapped a hand on Eric's shoulder and winked mischievously, "If you need it, maybe we could start a bit later tomorrow. No one would mind."
"Forget that, I'm good to go," Eric said, sensing the teasing looks from the others in response to Stan's comment. He decided not to stay any longer and exchanged a few words before leaving the studio.
...
Upon returning to the hotel and entering the room, Eric found Virginia, now dressed in pajamas, bored and lounging on the couch watching TV. He had already given her the key card earlier, so it didn't surprise him. However, Virginia sat up and curiously questioned, "Weren't you supposed to be back by ten?"
"I got kicked out," Eric shrugged, explaining.
Virginia, sensing the implications, felt a bit shy as she replied, "Um... that's alright, right? Am I interrupting your work?"
"Of course not," Eric assured her as he took off his jacket and walked toward the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower first."
Virginia switched off the TV and stood up to dim the lights in the room, leaving only a soft lamp glowing in the corner.
*****
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