Chapter 156
"Actually, I am very helpless against this kind of questioning, because my age is large weak point. There are very few directors under the age of 30 in Hollywood, let alone me who is under twenty years old." Eric said: "Though I don't need to respond to this kind of questioning. After all, reality will be the best counter-attack weapon, but with the growth of this viewpoint, I feel that even if I ignore the irresponsible accusations of the media, I should at least give an account to the fans who have always supported my films. Just because of some coincidental factors, some videos of the filming process of《Running Out of Time》 have been preserved. Here, these are the videotapes."
Eric said as he took out more than ten cassettes from the small box and stacked them between himself and Sofia.
"Wow, is this... shooting footage?" Sophia asked.
Eric shook his head: "No, in brief, I won't appear in the camera. These are some trivialities that were recorded with an extra camera within the《Running Out of Time》studio."
"You mean a documentary of the《Running Out of Time》production process, taken from a third-party perspective, was allowed during the filmmaking process?"
Eric laughed. "In general, this is not allowed because the movie content needs to be absolutely confidential, but the person who photographed these videos is quite special. I believe she will not disclose the content whatever other people say to her. It is because of this original tolerance that I now have the opportunity to prove my innocence."
Eric said that as audience under the stage stretched their necks and widened their eyes. Several fans also whispered to urge Eric and Sophia to play the video's content.
"Well, as everyone can't wait, let's take a look." Sophia did not tease the audience too much, then seemingly randomly picking out a videotape and stuffing it into the already prepared projector.
Later, two people began to appear with some swaying of the picture on the big screen. It seemed that the person who operated the camera was still very unskilled. After a while, the picture slowly stabilised, and a girl’s slightly sloppy voice resounded from the picture: "Allen, give me a camera with good sound, or I will recon with you when I get there."
The person responded with a touch of helplessness: "Okay, your Royal Highness."
The audience smiled and laughed. Many people thought that the girl’s voice should be Drew Barrymore's, who is closely related to Eric. Thinking of what Eric had just said, it was true that only this girl could be so unscrupulous in the studio, if other people dared to play in the movie studio, they would definitely be chased out .
On the big screen, the picture began to move. Many people recognized that this should be a large studio. Looking at the full-scale street and house model in the picture, the audience gave a faint exclaim. Now, there's still more than ten years until the development of networks, where many things can be found as pictures or videos on the Internet. Although Americans often watch movies, they don't know much about the specific process of film production. A large-scale studio with this kind of full-scale model has never seen it before, so it is not surprising.
Accompanied by some noise, the person who was holding the camera quickly entered a room. Eric, wearing a military green director's vest, appeared in front of the camera. In the picture, Eric waved a hand to Hanks to explain errors in the just recorded cut. After that, Eric stopped his conversation with Hanks, smiled and reached over to the camera, seemingly knocked on someone's head, while a girl screamed in pain the laughter of some people around him rang out.
"Hey, Drew, that Sony professional camera is worth $128,000. If you accidentally broke it, I can only sell you to Colombia to pay off the debt with labour." Eric knocked on Drew's head and said.
The camera swayed for a short time, and Drew’s madness sounded: “Wow, your annoying, how many times have I said, don’t knock my head.”
Eric waved towards the camera as if it were a cat or a puppy. Saying: "Go on, run along now, we must start shooting."
As the camera receded, Eric directed the crew to start shooting, and many of the staff behind the camera began to move. Hanks and some other actors began to leave their seats, and one of the stagehands went forward and was about to sound the clapperboard.
At this point, Sophia pressed the stop button in a timely manner and explained to the audience: "Sorry, the next scene will involve the content of the movie, so we have to stop."
Although it was only a minute or two, the audience had been watching with great interest and when Sofia stopped playing, and many people sighed with regret.
"Eric, I've started to be more curious about a different issue. I believe that the audience with us in the studio is also very curious about this problem." Sophia did not immediately start playing other videotapes, but instead complied with public opinion and asked about many people's doubts: "Although it just a few minutes of screen time, we all saw your love for Miss Barrymore. The camera was worth more than 100,000 US dollars and you let her play with it like a toy. What is your relationship with Drew?"
Eric hesitated for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and said: "How do I say it... I met Drew when I was filming «17 Again», and soon I fell in love with that little girl..."
When he saw that some people were preparing to create a disturbance, Eric beckoned with the hand to prevent it and said hastily:
"Don't misunderstand, it's definitely not the kind of thing you imagine. I just think of Drew as my sister. Drew was infected with some bad ... habits, although she had been to a few treatment clinics, but their effects were not very good, her mother was useless, I couldn't bear the fact that a girl with the potential of Drew was gradually sinking down, so I talked to her mother under on impulse, and asked her to let Drew move to live with me, so I could supervise her to help her get rid of these bad habits, Ms. Barrymore agreed after considering, so there is now this situation everyone can see. Maybe I hit it off well with Drew. In short, she listened to me. Therefore, she has completely changed her bad habits. She is currently attending a girls’ school. I hope she I can successfully graduate from high school, and when she is an adult, she can freely choose her own path."
Eric felt no psychological pressure from this nonsense. As an insider, he has long understood that these so-called interviews are a kind of show, and they too had to achieve their goals. After the stars in his previous life had been interviewed, some had even divorced after realising all kinds of broken things. It's good to take a serious attitude to such programs, some stars talk about their inspirational stories or a silly love experience or a blood boiling story fully of tears.
Of course, although he doesn't think so in his heart, Eric is still creating lots of drama. He was embarrassed as he said these worse sincerely, as if he was the angel sent by God to save the lost girl.
Sophia also showed a moved look, as for whether it was real or not Eric did not know.
"So, let's hope that Miss Barrymore will once again be on the big screen and bring us excellent works. Now, let's see what else is shown on some of the other videotapes." Sophia said, and chose a predetermined one. A video tape was placed in the player.
The camera was still a little shaky. This scene was no longer the studio, but a blocked off street. There were many police cars parked around it. There were also many cameras and boom mics, as well as staff in groups of three or four chatting in the picture. Some had raised their heads and were drinking water, and others were leaning on the door of the car and letting the wind run through their hands. It could be guessed that the crew was temporarily resting.
The voice-over sounded again: "Hello everyone, I am a reporter for ABC television, Drew Barrymore, and I heard that there was a bank robbery here, let us interview the commander-in-chief, Mr. Eric Williams."
The camera slowly closed in on Eric, who wore sunglasses and a baseball cap, the girl seemed to say something, and then a furry extra-large radio microphone slowly appeared in front of the camera and moved towards Eric. It accidentally poked Eric's nose. It looked funny. A wronged female voice rang: "Director, I was forced, don't blame me."
Eric and Sophia saw this picture and laughed. The audience in the studio was even more caught up in it.
In the picture, Eric took off his sunglasses and looked helplessly at the camera, with a look of helplessness.
"Mr. Williams, I heard that there was a bank robbery here. How is the situation now, can you explain it to everyone?" Drew asked seriously.
"Well," Eric pushed the radio microphone away from his face, and said lazily: "We have already controlled the situation. Miss reporter, you see, there were two robbers there and a special team, and they played poker. The atmosphere was peaceful and harmonious, but the negotiator Hanks was not really just chatting with the plainclothes policeman. He was actually testing the other side. We have already learned that the plainclothes are like ghosts and are ready and waiting. In preparation to carry out the arrests such that they work, the police chief, Mr. Joe Pesci, left the emergency in an emergency and will not come back in an hour. I am sure that the hostages will still be alive...”
Eric’s funny words once again got a sneer from the audience. After the playback of this dialogue, Sophia smiled and selected a few boxes of video tapes to play quickly, between which there was a conversation between two and interaction with the audience, unknowingly, because some scenes required multiple recordings, only 40-minutes of talk show took more than two hours to be recorded.