America: Child stars start with The Shining

"Cut! This is terrible! What are you guys even doing?"

"Cut, Sherry, watch your body language and expressions. I can see it clearly on the monitor. You need to get into character, understand? Get into character!"

"Stop it, you idiots! Sherry, did you even understand what I just said? And you, Jack, you're playing the fool, not a kid! Can't you both wake up?!"

Kubrick sat in his chair, staring at the two men on the stairs, pointing at them with his script, and launched into a tirade of insults, showing no mercy whatsoever.

Standing to the side, Charles felt the atmosphere on set suddenly become heavy. This take had been filmed about fifty or sixty times, but Kubrick was still not satisfied.

This scene is also a very classic moment. The male protagonist, played by Jack, goes completely mad. After seeing his wife flipping through his manuscript, he keeps interrogating her and eventually forces her up the stairs.

Jack walked up to Ciel, panting heavily. The focus of the shot was almost entirely on him; he had to maintain that tense state at all times, and the physical and mental exertion was immense.

Charles cleverly handed Jack a bottle of water. Jack hesitated for a moment, then took it and said:

"Thanks, Ciel. Ugh... my back feels like it's about to break. Let me think, how many times did we film this? Fuck, this is the first time I've ever been put through this much trouble since I started acting."

The two people, one big and one small, leaned against the wall, looked at each other, and both gave a wry smile.

Jack gulped down a mouthful of water and pointed towards Sherry, who didn't seem to be in good spirits; she was sitting there with her head down, not moving at all.

Such intense, repetitive filming would be difficult for anyone, even award-winning actors and actresses would find it hard to withstand the pressure and would need some time to adjust.

"Hey, Charles, you'd better go check on her. Sherry might need someone to keep her company for a while, and it's not appropriate for a grown man like me to go over there at a time like this."

"Uh, I think you're just too lazy to move, that's why you called me over, right?"

Charles gave Jack a disapproving look. During his time on set, he had already figured out Jack's personality. He was very approachable and always liked to tease him, the kid.

However, despite saying that, Charles still got up and walked towards Sherry. After all, this scene had been dragging on for far too long, and the entire crew had been spending several days there.

"Shirley, how are you doing?"

Charles sat down beside her and handed her a bottle of water. Sherry looked up, her face pale, and managed a weak smile. She said:

"Thank you, little Charles..."

She had been holding a cigarette in her hand, but when she saw Charles coming over, she threw it on the ground and stomped it out. However, her hand was still trembling slightly, clearly indicating that she hadn't recovered from the intense scene she had just witnessed.

Charles's gaze unconsciously drifted to the baseball bat placed to the side, an important prop in the play, which was now covered with a faint glow.

【Name: Mother's Baseball Bat (Rare)】

[Original owner: Shelley Duval]

[Source: The Shining]

[Attribute: Willpower +30%]

[Entry: Endurance in Desperate Circumstances (Passive)]

[Effect Description: When you are affected by "oppression," "fear," "psychological intimidation," or similar abnormal mental states, fear will be transformed into the power to act, allowing you to remain clear-headed under psychological pressure and enhancing your reaction speed.]

Upon seeing this equipment, a thought suddenly popped into Charles's mind. He picked up the baseball bat and said:

"Shirley, can you tell me how you felt when you were facing Jack just now?"

After hearing this, Sherry remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking:

"Actually, at first I was able to keep up with his rhythm during the scene, but the problem was that the more we acted, the less I could control myself, and I couldn't get into the emotions. I even lost track of the rhythm of the lines just now, it was like..."

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Charles slowly raise the baseball bat and stand in front of her.

Sheryl was taken aback.

Charles slowly took a step back, holding the baseball bat horizontally in front of him. His movements were not standard, and even looked somewhat stiff, as if it was a subconscious reaction made in a hurry.

His shoulders tensed slightly, his fingers gripped the handle of the stick tightly, and his breathing became shallow.

A clear look of fear and panic flashed in his eyes, as if he had been forced into a situation with no way out.

Charles took another half step back, and then suddenly stopped.

In that instant, the panic in his eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a clear-headedness and resolute determination, as if he had nothing to lose.

call!

The baseball bat sliced ​​through the air, and then Ciel slowly lowered it.

Charles looked at Sherry again. He had just used the effects of the equipment to slightly immerse himself in the emotions of that scene and gave a simple demonstration, but he didn't know if it would inspire her.

His imitations were relatively clumsy.

Sheryl took a deep breath and fell into thought.

She suddenly realized that she had been misunderstanding the emotions of that scene. The key was not to express despair, but to try to fight back after despair.

What she wanted to portray was not the fear of a woman being targeted by a madman, but the instinctive resistance a mother makes after being driven to the brink by her husband, and her selfless act of protecting her child.

Sherry looked up, a glimmer of light returning to her eyes. She reached out and pulled Charles into her arms, her movements gentle yet much more steady than before.

......

"Cut! Great! That was excellent! Sherry, your reaction was so much more realistic than before, it was definitely your best performance yet, I guarantee it!"

To everyone's surprise, Kubrick gave such high praise to the first take after the short break and restart of filming, announcing on the spot that the scene was a direct success and that there was no need to reshoot it.

Sherry and Charles exchanged a glance, both letting out a sigh of relief and smiling simultaneously. Jack then walked over, patted Sherry on the shoulder, and said:

"You've worked so hard; this scene was really difficult to film."

Sherry smiled and patted Charles's head, saying, "That's all thanks to the little guy next to me."

Jack was somewhat confused, but before he could ask, Kubrick interrupted him:

"Jack, Sherry, come here quickly, let me introduce you..."

Charles looked over there and saw a strange young man standing next to Kubrick, with long, dark brown hair and a calm expression.

The other party nodded to the group and said:

"Hello, my name is John. I'm here on behalf of my father to visit the set. Thank you all for your hard work these past few days."

Charles glanced at it briefly before looking away. It was probably the son of one of the investors who came to supervise the filming progress. This kind of thing was very common; he had encountered it many times when he was still on Hollywood film sets.

Without thinking much, he walked to the window and looked out. This place was most famous for its snow scenery. Fine snowflakes had begun to fall from the sky, and the number of tourists on the mountain was gradually decreasing.

The snow was falling heavier and heavier.