King of Hollywood-Chapter 157 - Visit to the Set in Poland
Chapter 157: Chapter 157 Visit to the Set in Poland
Creating a song is both easy and difficult. For instance, a creative singer might suddenly be struck by inspiration while traveling or engaging in some other activity, and a decent new song might be born just like that. However, most of the time, new songs are written up against a deadline, and they are often revised over and over.
What Adrian wants, though, is something different, to write a piece of melody or lyrics and have someone else complete it!
Although he did not listen to many European and American songs in his past life, he would certainly remember them whenever he did listen to one; it was just a matter of time. Add to that his past and present life’s exposure to musical instruments—a necessary skill for wooing women—his guitar skills from the past life and piano skills from the current life were quite decent, so he had a reasonable understanding of musical notation.
But understanding is one thing, and using it smoothly is another. Creating a complete copy would take a lot of time. Besides, he wasn’t planning to do that; it wasn’t because he felt any guilt over plagiarizing too much, but because his primary focus was on film and media. His achievements in film were already very eye-catching, and garnering attention in music too would be overdoing it. This wasn’t in line with the rule he had set for himself: to keep a smaller presence on stage and a larger one behind the scenes, which was the initial reason for publishing novels under a pseudonym.
So, Adrian decided to use this method, where he would compose a melody or lyrics and then hand them over to professionals to be completed, as a way to replicate the classic songs from his memory. But he forgot one thing, the reason those classic songs were classics was not only because the lyrics and composition were good, but also because of another important aspect: brilliant arrangement!
Do not underestimate the role of music arrangement; sometimes a minor change can produce two completely different effects. For example, a piece of sad funeral music could become very lively and celebratory just by speeding up the tempo by four beats. Thus, often the finished product handed in by the professionals would be far from what Adrian remembered.
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He definitely would not accept such a result. Having them redo it was inevitable, but he couldn’t directly point out what was wrong. He could only suggest modifications here and there, and if the other party did not grasp his intent, repeated revisions were inevitable. In doing so, it actually wasted a lot of time and caused some dissatisfaction among the songwriters and composers: an amateur was bossing them around.
Of course, even if they complained, they could only do so privately; Adrian was, after all, the boss. Any dissatisfaction had to be endured because if one refused to do the work, someone else would. Adrian was somewhat aware of this but couldn’t be bothered to explain—not that he knew how to explain it. Thus, he simply continued this way. As long as the producer had enough insight, and the few chosen big boys were as talented as they claimed, there wouldn’t be a need to explain once the single was released.
And so, it wasn’t until early January ’93 that “I Want It That Way” and “As Long As You Love Me” were finally hammered out, followed by production and release, which would take at least until the end of that month.
Hopefully, they would be an instant hit. While reviewing the records company’s information, Adrian took a good look at the profiles of those four young men. Young, handsome, and each with his own distinctive features, they had plenty of performance experience. He had only given the art director a rough idea, but they had done so very well, making all the effort he put into replicating Backstreet or Westlife’s songs worthwhile.
Besides this, there was the matter of the gaming studio. Claude had already had someone investigate Silicon & Synapse; he was not very interested in this newly established gaming studio.
“It’s just been established, we should observe for at least a year or half. Of course, if you want to buy it in your name, I don’t object,” he had said over the phone.
Adrian understood, for at the moment Silicon & Synapse Studios didn’t have anything remarkable to show; they mostly produced game ports for other companies, with two of their independently developed games still in progress. It made sense that Claude was not interested. However, Adrian didn’t act as previously stated, to buy it personally if the company wasn’t interested. While dealing with the gaming studio-related matters, he took the time to gather information for analysis and then, after reviewing some intelligence about EA, he came up with a new plan.
According to this information, he vaguely remembered something useful; EA grew by continuously acquiring outstanding gaming studios. Although they also developed games, it didn’t compare to the volume of games they distributed.
AC Media could apply this method, too. Adrian might not remember much, but he was aware of titles like “Fallout,” “Call of Duty,” or “SimCity.” However, such acquisitions needed careful selection. The company’s main focus being media, the studios they bought must serve this purpose. The widely-recognized games were the primary targets, which was why Adrian intended to acquire Silicon & Synapse Studios, especially their online game.
Well, it was still too soon to talk about these things. It was better to keep laying a solid foundation.
These tasks seemed plentiful but were actually easy to manage. With Kate helping him sort information and handle miscellaneous tasks by his side, Adrian saved a lot of time. He even managed to type up a few sections of “The Matrix” on his typewriter—thus had to admit, the update speed of notebooks was painfully slow.
In such leisure, Adrian ventured to Poland with George Lucas by mid-month to visit Spielberg, who was still filming “Schindler’s List” there. Just as he had suggested initially, Spielberg had built a 1:1 scale model of a concentration camp on the outskirts of Krakow. Luckily it was in Poland; if this had been attempted in a Los Angeles studio, the cost of building just the model would have been astronomical.
Upon seeing Spielberg again, Adrian couldn’t help but be startled by the man’s sunken eyes, unkempt beard, and his overall haggard appearance. Moreover, Spielberg would occasionally zone out, a stark contrast from his former self, not even perking up upon hearing that “Jurassic Park” was nearing 300 million in North American box office revenue for more than a few minutes.
“These are the most painful days of my life, George, Ed,” Spielberg said with a mix of sorrow, loathing, and helplessness on his face, looking as though he might collapse at any moment. “Every time I ask them to sort themselves, I feel like a Nazi.” However, as soon as he stood behind the camera, he would immediately become engrossed once again.
He probably poured all his energy into filming the movie. Adrian thought to himself and, despite his own composure, couldn’t help but be moved by Spielberg. In contrast to some people from his previous life, he really felt like scoffing; presumably, those individuals did not even have half of Spielberg’s commitment which was, no wonder, the results were…
Forget it, no need to ponder so much over these matters, at least not for now. Even if there was something to be done, it wasn’t the right time.
Adrian stayed in Poland for nearly four days. Apart from offering comfort to Spielberg, he also had several good discussions with the three leading actors. Whether it was Liam Neeson, dressed in 30s or 40s Western suits, or Ralph Fiennes in Nazi German uniforms, both looked tall and handsome. Ben Kingsley, though somewhat short considering the Jewish attire, still possessed a gentle yet strong demeanor.
“It’s all for the role. I used to joke a lot in private,” Kingsley explained his current situation, “I have to maintain this state constantly so I can immerse myself in my role at any moment, but I am pleased to be involved in this movie’s production, and I believe it will be a great work.”
“It surely will, Liam,” Neeson agreed. “And I should thank you, Ed. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gotten this role.”
“I only gave a small help, Liam. You were great on your own, but…” Adrian said, glancing amusedly at Fiennes beside him, “at least you’re better than some people.”
Neeson and Kingsley couldn’t help but chuckle. The story of Fiennes nearly beating up a film company staff member who approached him for a photo in his Nazi uniform was known by everyone on set.
“Don’t think I enjoy this, Ed,” Fiennes said, furrowing his brow on purpose, “To tell you the truth, I’ve drunk nearly five thousand kilograms of alcohol for this film. Sometimes I even think that making a movie is synonymous with drinking.”
This remark once again made the three men laugh. Overall, the three lead actors were quite amusing characters, and if not for the grim nature of the film they were shooting, they probably would have been even more so.
After that, Adrian bid farewell to Lucas and Spielberg and returned to Los Angeles ahead of them. Before leaving, he had a serious talk with the local Bossworth Film Company representative, especially emphasizing safety. As he had originally anticipated, the filming had run into a lot of trouble from local residents halfway through.
For instance, an elderly woman clung to Fiennes, rambling about the situation decades ago, mistaking him for an actual Nazi officer. And whenever Kingsley was portraying Steen, he would often be cursed at from a distance by locals, and once it even incited Neeson to nearly throw punches at the offender. Thankfully, so far there had been no significant conflicts.
What somewhat surprised Adrian was that when he arrived at the airport to wait for his flight, two eager Jewish representatives from the set came over just to have a brief chat with him. They were not ordinary people; they were representatives of the Association of Jews. Spielberg had followed Adrian’s advice and reached out to the Association of Jews through friends, hoping they would provide assistance by involving children of some of the survivors’ families in the acting.
The proposal was well received by the association, and everything Adrian had done for the film consequently came to their attention. Thus, when these two Jewish representatives, who had just driven to the set, learned he had gone to the airport, they immediately followed.
They didn’t say much, only expressing their gratitude for Adrian’s contribution. Though the words were few, Adrian understood their significance and was duly touched.
“It’s nothing,” Adrian humbly replied, hiding a slight pride in his heart, “I just did what I felt I should.” These events were all within his expectations! (To be continued. If you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com for more chapters. Support the author, support genuine reading!)
