The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth has been nicknamed by the crew “The Continuing and Continuing and Continuing and Continuing and Continuing and Continuing and Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth.” Everyone’s very upset by the amount of takes that Mr. Fincher, David Fincher, the director, has been doing. “The dolly was uneven five paces past mark six in the last take. Let’s go again.” Most of the key crew are used to this, having worked with the director since before he switched to digital cameras in 2007. They’re used to him not just disregarding but deleting takes on the spot. “We don’t need takes 27 through 48. Wipe the drive.” Mark Ruffalo cried about this. “But 43 was my baby!” Sorry, buddy—it’s gone. Forever.
Ruffalo also said that Mr. Fincher invented the delete button, which I don’t think is true, but sounds cool, and kind of scary if you’re an actor. I always have a favorite take in a given scene, and because I’ve never worked with a high-powered perfectionist like this before, I’ve never had to worry that “one of my bad ones” might make it into the movie. I guess as long as Mr. Fincher likes it; but again, I’m just a background actor. Like they remind me every day. What am I supposed to do when I have no lines and no motivation? I must squawk, if not speak. “Bennington, please stop making so much noise, it’s disturbing the extras.” Fuck the extras. I’m here to make money and throw paint on the canvas. Let’s make it rain purple honey.
So I almost got fired after that outburst, but I was able to maintain composure for another 78 takes. Mr. Fincher is wearing Mr. Brad Pitt down—the movie star has even started talking to me. “Got a smoke?” I gave him a Lucky Strike and he threw it in the gutter. “Sorry. I’m not poor anymore.” A silence; and then, a smile, a laugh. “I’m just fucking with you, I have my own.” He pulled out a pack of Marlboro Reds and gave me one. We lit up together and started talking about Communist China. “It scares me how much the kids like China. Xi Jinping is a bad dude.”
I asked Brad Pitt how he knew this to be true. “I don’t, it’s just a feeling. When you’re a movie star, you have to go with your intuition. When you’re famous, you go with your intuition. When you’re famous, they let you do it.” I didn’t ask him about what happened on the plane, or what it was like working with Mr. Quentin on the first movie, but I did ask him why he smoked Marlboros. “I always thought ‘Cowboy Killers’ sounded cool and I’ve stuck by that my whole adult life. Shit, earlier than that—I think I was 12 when I started smoking. You know, I’m sort of living the same life that I was always living, the same life I had when I was 18, 22, whatever. It’s just sort of all part of the same thing. I just kind of vibe it out and go along.” I asked about his kids and he got up and left.
We were waiting and waiting and waiting and then Leonardo DiCaprio walked in… working for one day and making $3 million… Legend.
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