My Hollywood System

Chapter 69:

[Sherlock Holmes] set was mostly bustling with life, with everyone busy with their own duties. Many of their scenes were shot in the studio, while some of them were scheduled to be shot in real-life locations.

Although those scenes would also be sent to a studio to give it the feel of the 1890s.

Today’s scene was the same as they had come to an open location to shoot the scene where the police would capture Holmes and Watson after wreaking havoc at the docks.

It was a short scene that happened just before Holmes was taken to the Temple of the four orders.

Filming devices had been placed far away from the prison gates, on the pavement leading to it. The camera crew was adjusting the devices for the last time.

Jeffery was communicating with the lighting engineer, Tyler George, to ensure the lighting and exposure. Anthony was listening to their conversation attentively. He had finished doing all the tasks that Will had given him, so at the moment, he was free enough to stay with Jeffrey to study from the latter’s shooting techniques and experiences.

Everyone in the crew was busy with their own things. Those who had finished their tasks for the moment were taking a break, standing far away from the camera.

There were many extra actors gathered today because the scene featured a lot of prisoners and guards. The costume and makeup team was doing their work with them to make them look like menacing criminals.

Dream Vision had contacted a local British talent agency for them and gotten every extra for a low price.

Robert, Levi Richards, and other leading actors were also chit-chatting together. Ewan was sitting alone, reading the script alone.

Seeing this type of atmosphere, Will felt like it was a great day for shooting.

“Jeffery.”

After smiling at the sky, he walked towards Jeffery, who had finished speaking with Tyler.

“Will, I think we can start it in ten minutes,” Jeffery said, coming close to him.

“Have you decided on the camera angle? I want you to take a long shot before doing a medium one and then a close-up to both Holmes and Watson’s faces. And one to show the prisoners too.”

“I was thinking the same. Although I reckon we should do an alternate take from that angle.” Jeffery pointed his finger to the place where the actors were talking. “We can choose one of these later.”

“Yeah, that’s good.”

“Don’t worry, Will. I know what to do.”

“I trust you.”

After saying that, Will glanced at the place where the actors were talking. It looked like a peaceful exchange of words.

‘It’s fortunate that there’s no power struggle.’

Usually, it was common between actors and actresses to have a power struggle, but that was not the case here. It was mainly due to the nature of the actors involved with [Sherlock Holmes].

Levi Richards was having a comeback and was not interested in useless power struggles. It seemed like he had mellowed out a lot after getting a family.

He was happy with his role as Watson and tried his best to make it look cooler.

As for Ewan, his whole focus was on his character, and he was the most proactive with new ideas to make Lord Blackwood more menacing.

‘If there was a power struggle, Robert would have surely lost out.’

Will thought in his mind.

As Robert was now involved with Dream Vision, Will tried his best to look out for him. But he seriously lacked in popularity, and that was something that could only be developed over time.

As he was thinking about that, Ewan suddenly walked up to him.

“Will, I have some ideas about the ending. Do you mind hearing them out?”

“Yeah, what ideas?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought maybe we should add one more fight scene in the end. Although the climax is pretty good, I feel like it leaves a lot of gaps that we could fill. After all, a great ending will satisfy the viewers more.”

Ewan said and waited for Will’s answers. Now that he was involved with a project, he wanted to increase its quality or at least the quality of the character he was playing.

Luckily, Will nodded his head.

“I was thinking about it anyway.” He replied, “But the fighting scene you talked about, I am not quite sure about that. You see, the script was already almost 130 pages long, and because this is more of a detective story than an action flick, I am not quite sure about adding an extra action scene.”

“But wouldn’t it add some flavour to the story?” Ewan insisted a bit more.

Will stared at him for a moment and asked, “Well, Ewan, Describe Henry Blackwood to me. He is the character you’re playing; tell me what your understanding of this character is.”

“Um…” Ewan answered after thinking for a few seconds, “Arrogant. Egotistical. And… Callous?”

Will nodded, “What else can you tell?”

“He likes to brag?” Ewan replied.

Will nodded, “Yes, your understanding of the character is pretty close. Not only does he likes to brag, but he’s also insidiously reclusive and considers himself more intelligent than Sherlock. Also, he is very intelligent and has a talent for science and illusionment, specializing in physics and biology, which you should know after reading the script.”

Ewan nodded, “So we can’t add action?”

“We can,” Will nodded, “But it won’t be what you were thinking. We can add a bit more of swordsmanship, which Blackwood is an expert in; in fact, he can even hold his ground against Sherlock.”

Ewan thought for a moment and asked, “So, a sword fight at the end?”

Will stared at Ewan without saying anything.

“Hm…?” The stare confused Ewan. ‘Did I say something wrong…?’

He knew he was already pushing the limits by making suggestions, but he couldn’t miss any opportunity in front of him.

“I think there will be some changes in the script.” Will suddenly said.

“Hm? So you will be adding the sword fight?”

Will shrugged, “I will have to revise the script for that. In fact, Blackwood is also a good marksman. Maybe we can have some cowboy-type of stand-off. But that’s not what I am talking about.”

“Then?”

Will smiled at him, “I will let you know if I revise the script.”

“Oh..”

Will nodded and stood up, “Alright, let’s prepare for the next shot.”

Ewan nodded and headed for the makeup room.

Will took a mic in his hand.

“Everyone! Get ready for the next shot.”

As he put the mic back, his mind was somewhere else.

An idea had clicked in his mind while he was chatting with Ewan, and now he wanted to consider it because it might give the story an extra edge.

‘Ewan’s acting is pretty good. The edge he’s giving to Blackwood’s character is much more menacing and threatening than Mark Strong, the actor who played Blackwood on Earth.’

‘What if… Blackwood survives?’

He was playing with this idea since he had seen Ewan’s portrayal of Lord Blackwood, and he felt like it was quite good. Maybe he could even make a return in the sequel?

After all, there were not many Sherlock villains like him.

Playing around with that idea in his mind, he began directing the next scene.

***

Will worked all day on the shooting of [Sherlock Holmes], and in the evening, he went back to his hotel room. But his work has not ended yet.

Although he was shooting for [Sherlock Holmes], he was still keeping an eye out on [17 again]. The shooting of it had already been completed, and it was entering the post-production and promotion phase.

The media team of [17 again] even wanted Will to promote it as his current fame was quite good, but as he was busy with the shoot, they could only give up on it.

After talking with Edward Friedman for a bit about the expected numbers on the opening day, Will called June.

It was hard to handle both work and love life but talking with June was something he liked a lot, and they would make sure to call each other in between breaks.

But these days, June was acting quite odd.

“June, you look off. Is there something in your mind these days?”

He asked as he stared at her face. They were doing a video call, and he could clearly see that June looked tired for some reason.

It even felt like she was losing weight.

“No, everything is fine.”

She shook her head and replied.

“Your face looks weak. Are you not eating properly?”

“It’s not that. I’m currently aiming for a lead role, and the director said that I would be perfect if I can lose a bit of weight.”

June said, and before Will could ask anything more, she changed the subject.

“How’s your shooting going? Can you get me an autograph from Ewan Rees? I’m a big fan of his.”

“Uh, yeah, I can get it.”

Will had a lot of things to say, but June kept talking about something or the other and didn’t give him an opportunity to talk at all.

In the end, when the call ended, Will couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong with June.

‘What’s happening? I feel like I should meet her…’

If he could, he wanted to take a flight to see her, but he was on a tight schedule, and as a young director, he couldn’t leave. Otherwise, he would be called irresponsible if it got out.

He just decided to meet June the first thing after the shooting ended.

…

//DreamNote//

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