Hollywood Hunter

Chapter 52: Christmas Eve

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The film was finished, and Simon began to focus on the later stages of the film.

Next year's Sundance Film Festival starts on January 16th, and counting from November 14th, there is exactly two months left for the post-production period of "Lola Run".

During the filming of the film, Simon got along very happily with most of the crew members and agreed to work together again if there is an opportunity in the future. However, in order to save money, Simon immediately disbanded the crew after filming was over.

In the days that followed, only Catherine and Janet remained with Simon to assist him in the later stages. For other necessary behind-the-scenes work, Simon was only a temporary hire.

Despite such careful calculations, in fact, because Simon was responsible for a large number of tasks such as photographers, editors, and soundtrack engineers in the original budget, the production funds for "Lola Run" were actually very abundant.

Janet made special calculations, and the result was that the budget of US$650,000 would probably not even be used for US$600,000 in the end.

However, Simon did not spend so much money.

For a movie to be successful, excellent production is one thing, and post-production publicity is equally important.

Simon has never thought of abandoning other film companies to promote "Run Lola Run" alone. This is simply unrealistic for him now. However, the extra tens of thousands of dollars will definitely be put to many uses in the future publicity and distribution process.

Since editing had already begun during the production process, it only took Simon two weeks to complete the rough cut of the film's footage after filming was completed. Entering December, while continuing to fine-tune, Simon also started working on the soundtrack for "Run Lola Run".

The soundtrack style of "Run Lola Run" is mainly fast-paced electronic music. Although Simon can complete the composition, the specific music recording still requires a professional band to complete. WMA also represents a very large group of musicians, and Simon has not encountered much obstacles in this regard.

Being so busy, time came to the end of the year before I knew it.

Montana area, outside the villa where Simon lives.

Today is already December 23rd.

Catherine parked the car on the side of the road and came to the door of the villa. Just as she was about to ring the doorbell, the door happened to open. Simon and another slightly fat man in his early thirties appeared at the door chatting in a low voice.

Nodding towards Simon, Catherine greeted the man again: "Good afternoon, John, I didn't expect you to come here today?"

The man named John was carrying a briefcase, smiled and nodded: "Yes, Ms. Bigelow, I'm just about to say goodbye. Also, tomorrow is Christmas Eve, happy holidays."

Catherine also said: "You too, happy holidays."

With that said, Catherine and Simon sent the man to the side of the road together and watched him drive away before entering the villa together.

Last month, several inserted animations in "Lola Run" were completed, and there were no other problems. Simon was not satisfied with the 2D animation effect of the crowd gathering at the beginning to form the title of "Lola Run", and planned to use 3D technology to redo it. Do.

In this era, there are not many companies producing 3D animation.

After some inquiries, Simon finally contacted a 3D animation studio in San Francisco, which is also famous, called Pixar. The man who just left was Pixar Vice President John Lasseter.

Pixar was originally the animation division of Lucasfilm. George Lucas was involved in a divorce case and had to sell his assets. Coincidentally, Steve Jobs, who founded NeXT Computer Company after leaving Apple, was very interested in Pixar and bought the company at the beginning of this year.

Jobs originally hoped that Pixar's animation production technology could promote the sales of NeXT's graphics computers, but the reality was not satisfactory. In order to maintain Pixar's operations, the studio has to accept orders from external parties such as animated advertisements.

Simon and Pixar agreed on a 10-second 3D title production plan at the beginning of the month, and John Lasseter just delivered the finished product in person.

Walking into the living room, Catherine saw a bunch of materials and drawings scattered on the coffee table. She naturally stepped forward to clean them up and said, "I'm going back to San Francisco later, what about you?"

Simon sat casually on the armrest of the sofa and watched the woman busy. He enjoyed this feeling and said with a smile: "How about you take me home and introduce me in any way you want."

Catherine rolled her eyes at Simon and said, "Jenny wanted to take you back to Australia a few days ago. Why don't you go?"

"I'm afraid of flying."

"I'm also taking a flight this time. I just didn't get a ticket last time."

"Oh, it seems, suddenly I don't feel so scared anymore."

Catherine listened to Simon's rogue tone, raised the documents in her hand and patted him on his knee before continuing to organize them. However, after hesitating for a moment, the woman still whispered: "You, do you really want to go back with me?"

Simon felt Catherine's tone becoming serious, and his face turned slightly red. He quickly shook his head and said, "No, I'm not ready."

Christmas is a day for family reunions in the West. Simon knew that he was far from going home with Catherine. It would be too abrupt to do so.

Thinking that Simon might be alone tomorrow night, Catherine had already softened her heart. Hearing his rejection, the woman breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little disappointed.

Avoiding looking at the little man next to her, Catherine put the organized documents on the coffee table and said, "Then, I may not come back until after the New Year."

"Understood," Simon nodded, and warned solemnly: "Also, please don't pay attention to your neighbor's chatting on the plane."

Catherine glared at Simon, but with a smile on her lips: "You think everyone else is as scoundrel as you."

Janet returned to Australia a few days ago to see Catherine off, and Los Angeles seemed to be suddenly empty.

I was doing audio editing recently and didn't have any work the next day.

Most of the people had taken a rest, and it seemed a bit too desolate for me to still be in the studio.

After a busy morning, I decorated the villa inside and out just like other houses. Even the roof was decorated with colored lights and I bought a Christmas tree.

He did receive a few calls, inviting him to spend Christmas together, but he declined all of them.

In the afternoon, I drove to the street market again to do shopping. I also took the time to visit the motel where I stayed when I first arrived in Los Angeles and brought a box of pumpkin pie to the Spanish old man.

The old man's son and daughter are already married, and they just spent the holidays with their wives. They were very happy to see him coming over, claiming that they were looking forward to his movie. They even opened the box of pumpkin pie on the spot and tasted it, praising them repeatedly.

So I joked that the pumpkin pie was left over from Halloween.

Seeing the old man's suspicious look on his face, he quickly changed his mind.

Speaking of which, the two extra-large pumpkins from Halloween were not wasted. They were sent to be processed into pumpkin pies and distributed to everyone on the crew.

This box is naturally bought from the store.

Very fresh.

I stayed in the motel for more than an hour, chatting with the old man, playing guitar, and then went home.

Until dark.

But I just prepared a very simple dinner. I am alone and don't like to waste.

After filling my stomach and watching TV for a while, I simply hid in the piano room again, sat next to the Steinway piano that Janet sent me, and pondered over the last score of "Run Lola Run".

In fact, the soundtrack has been completely completed and I am very satisfied with it and have no plans to modify it.

Just passing the time.

Ding ding dong dong, ding ding dong dong.

At a certain moment, the thought at Brian's house party that night suddenly came to mind.

That movie.

An old gangster carefully maintains his 'career' and carefully guards his few brothers. He occasionally fantasizes about retiring, growing old, and moving to an inconspicuous Pacific island country to see the seaweed that only glows once a year. .

Suddenly I met a woman I was attracted to.

But he held on.

insist.

I am alone, but not lonely.

How can you not be lonely

Ding ding dong dong, ding ding dong dong.

At ten o'clock, I finally decided to take a rest, but the doorbell suddenly rang.

Ding dong, ding dong.

It must be an illusion.

The ringing sound continued.

Um.

The hallucination shouldn't last this long.

So he left the piano room.

open the door.

Janet Johnston stood gracefully outside the door, wearing a navel-baring T-shirt, hot pants, fluffy blond hair, a red face, two long, straight and white legs, and pink flat shoes.

Like a Barbie doll.

Seeing that he was in a daze, she habitually flicked her long eyelashes a few times, stared at him with bright eyes, and said in a hoarse voice: "Little boy, were you just thinking about who would knock on your door at this time? Is she your girlfriend?"

He shook his head, with a smile on his lips, and said, "No, it's too risky to think so. It would be bad if it was a man."

She laughed too.

Subsequently.

She raised her arms: "Come, give me a hug."

Without any further hesitation, Simon stepped forward and picked up the woman's light body.

Get it cold.

So he felt a little pity and pretended to reprimand: "It's winter now. Are you dressed like this and doing performance art?"

Janet pressed against the man's body, feeling warm, but not to be outdone: "How stupid, it's summer in Australia."

Just as he said this, a wallet fell to the ground from the pocket of Janet's hot pants. Simon looked down and saw his passport and air tickets scattered in the wallet, but ignored these things and went straight to the woman in his arms. Her bedroom.

Wrapped Janet in a quilt, picked out a few clothes from her closet and handed them over, and ran to boil water.

After a lot of work, Janet changed her clothes, holding hot cocoa, and still sat on the bed, looking very satisfied.

Simon sat down by the bed, looked at the woman, and asked, "Why are you here at this time?"

"Are you worried that you will be too miserable alone? Look at how good I am."

Simon smiled and said: "I've always been alone, it doesn't matter. But if you suddenly run away on Christmas, your parents will definitely be sad."

Janet's heart tightened inexplicably when she heard Simon's understatement that she had been alone all the time. She reached out and touched his cheek and said, "I've already seen my mother. As for the old man, he won't be sad. What's more, There are a bunch of people accompanying them, so it doesn’t matter if I’m missing.”

Simon tilted his face and pricked Janet's palm with his stubble, and said, "Your family is quite big."

Janet retracted her hand and said, "Yes, I have two older brothers and two younger brothers. I am the only girl in the family. So, if you bully me in the future, you will be beaten badly."

Simon smiled and said: "Well, it doesn't matter who beats whom."

Janet rolled her eyes at him, finished the hot cocoa, handed the empty cup to Simon, and said, "I heard the piano playing when I was at the door. Are you playing the piano?"

Simon put the cup aside and nodded.

Janet suddenly became interested again and raised her hand towards Simon: "Hold me over, I suddenly want to hear you play the piano."

Seeing that the woman had thrown herself into his arms, Simon reached out to catch her, but said, "Have you changed your clothes? You can leave by yourself, right?"

Janet pestered Simon: "It's very troublesome to put on shoes, hurry up."

Simon had no choice but to pick up Janet again, go to the piano room, put her on the bench, and sit down himself.

Sitting next to the piano, Janet made a few ding-dong-dong skillfully, then stopped moving and said, "Come on."

"What do you want to hear?"

"I don't know, just play whatever you want."

Simon looked at Janet, who always had a girlish air leaning against him, thought for a while, and said, "Sing, I'll play, and you sing."

"Yeah."

Simon pressed the keys and tapped the beginning of a paragraph.

Janet recognized it for a moment, then smiled and stretched out a finger to 'make trouble', ding, ding, dong, dong, occasionally, but it completely matched the notes of the song.

Then, a slightly hoarse female voice began to sing softly with a special charm.

*When I was a little girl, I asked my mother.

*What does the future hold

*Will I become beautiful? Will I get rich

*Mom said.

*let it go.

*Everything in the world is unpredictable, whatever happens is up to him.

*When I have grown up and have a lover.

*So I asked him.

*What does the future hold

*Will there be a rainbow every day

*said the lover.

*let it go.

*Everything in the world is unpredictable, whatever happens is up to him.

*…

The light singing accompanied by the music of the piano floated in the villa, driving away the loneliness hiding in every corner on Christmas Eve.