Villain (4)

 

Director Bill Lautner shouted to start applying the ‘Beast’ makeup. Kang Woo-jin, who was wearing a banquet dress and looked like a nobleman from head to toe, left the filming area. Soon, the hundred or so staff members moved in unison again. Kang Woo-jin scanned the surroundings without letting anyone know.

‘Crazy. It was like that before, but it’s still spectacular when I see it again.’

I’m talking about the huge castle set that was responsible for the life of the ‘Beast’ in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. They even built a castle wall. It was amazing just looking at it, but when you look at the entire ‘spt studio’ that is over 50,000 pyeong, it was a very small space. Even so, it was amazing.

‘Isn’t this set just one country?’

Not only was the scale so large that it was jaw-dropping, but what made Woojin continuously exclaim in amazement was the atmosphere built up in the entire set. The town, the castle, and so on, this ‘spt studio’ was literally a fantasy world. Well, Woojin was the only one among the staff who had lived in the real world of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ several times.

Still, it was amazing how similarly that vast worldview was implemented in reality.

‘Of course, the quality of the space is overwhelmingly better.’

There was also a surge of excitement. The live-action version of a memorable work. And the ‘beast’ on the live-action version site was himself. Although he looked normal on the outside, Kang Woo-jin, who was the core of the inner world, had his shoulders soaring to the sky. Even as Woo-jin moved around with the foreign staff, his gaze was directed toward the top of the castle wall.

What can I say, there’s a lot of green.

Green was spread all over the ends of the castle walls, on the roofs of the castle, and throughout the set. It felt as if all the tops were finished with green cloth. Kang Woo-jin muttered to himself as he looked at the green.

‘Is that a green screen?’

Green screens are mainly used when adding special effects in the production of a film. Since ‘Beauty and the Beast’ used a lot of CG, there were twice as many green screens than in a normal film. Of course, Woojin had seen it in many films, but this was the first time he had seen this much. Combining reality and CG would make it seem more realistic.

As Woojin turned his head after making his own judgment, he heard a familiar female voice from the side.

“Doesn’t the noble appearance suit you well?”

It was Miley Cara. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, perhaps because it wasn’t her turn yet, and she was wearing a simple white short-sleeved outfit. Woojin answered with a darker concept because there were many eyes around her.

“it’s hot.”

“After all that, it doesn’t feel hot at all?”

“You’ll know once you experience it yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m the third. And I just took a picture of myself. Do you feel good about it?”

“Not really.”

Miley Kara took a step closer, perhaps mindful of the surrounding staff’s gaze. A pleasant scent wafted over Woojin. Kara then whispered softly.

“I took the picture without knowing.”

“······”

Kang Woojin chose an indifferent silence. Then Kara smiled faintly and raised the tone of her voice.

“Shall we start the ‘Beast’ makeup?”

“yes.”

“I don’t think you’ve ever done full-on makeup like that before. You’d better be prepared.”

Kara, who was showing a small thumbs up, moved away. Woojin, who was looking at her back, tilted his head inwardly. Determination? Is determination even necessary for makeup? He was curious. The most intense makeup for Woojin was the recent ‘Joker’. It took an hour every time.

The level of the ‘Beast’ is high, so it takes a little longer?

‘I heard from the director that it’ll take quite a while. It’s more complicated than ‘Joker’, so maybe two hours?’

Kang Woo-jin, whose mind was lighter than expected, started moving again. His destination was the many trailers installed at the entrance of the set.

The biggest one was the makeup team’s headquarters. Soon, Kang Woo-jin met another actress at the entrance of the set. It was Maria Armas who had finished her makeup. Her hair color had completely changed to brown and she had perm. She was wearing a beige dress with a white apron. She looked like an employee working in the ‘prince’s’ castle. What’s funny is…

‘I heard the kettle.’

Maria was holding a white teapot with various patterns on it. The poster hints that she will transform into this teapot.

Maybe it’s her turn to shoot next.

Maria locked eyes with Woojin but didn’t say anything.

“······”

He just passed by with a blank expression. Woojin didn’t seem to care much either, but for some reason he felt like picking on him.

‘When I go filming later, I’ll have to roar at him a little louder, but he’s my employee anyway, so I guess it won’t matter.’

Kang Woo-jin, who had a fun goal of his own, entered the makeup team trailer. He had already been here once to look like a ‘prince’, but for some reason, Kang Woo-jin was much more surprised this time than the first time. Of course, only on the inside.

‘Wow- what the heck is that? You’re sticking those on me??!’

Inside the makeup team trailer, there were large horns and a lot of brown fur. Was that all? There were also a lot of strange leather and various props that I didn’t know what they were. Kang Woo-jin stopped without realizing it. He just wanted to say, ‘Oh, I came in the wrong place, haha.’ and leave. However, he, who was acting tough, had to be calm.

‘I don’t know, Mr. Mora, do you think I should go behind?’

Foreign staff members who exude the scent of professionals discover Kang Woo-jin, who has made up his mind.

“Please sit here, Woojin.”

He greeted me with a smile. Woojin sat down on the chair the staff guided him to, pretending to be indifferent. Although he had never experienced it before, it felt like sitting on a torture chair, and the main makeup team member standing behind him tapped Kang Woojin on the shoulder.

“Get some rest, it will take 3~4 hours to finish the ‘Beast’ makeup.”

“······4 hours.”

“Yes, it’s a bit long. It’s not a full setup, so it’s about 4 hours. It’s not bad, I guess? If you have any trouble in the middle, please let me know.”

“No, that won’t happen.”

Woojin instinctively added bravado and shouted fiercely inwardly.

‘4 hours??!!! Did you do it? Does that make sense?!’

It makes sense. In Hollywood, there are makeups that take twice as long. However, it was natural for Kang Woo-jin, who was experiencing it for the first time, to be shocked. Soon, several staff members were clinging to Woo-jin.

Suddenly, Kang Woo-jin made a request to the staff.

“Please give me the scenario.”

It was a trick.

after.

Kang Woo-jin, holding the script that was the string of hope in his hand. Various things began to happen on his face. At the same time, the main staff of the makeup team smiled again and explained.

“But I don’t think there will be that many ‘Beast’ makeup sessions during filming, just a few during the poster shoot and the actual filming······”

Her briefing was not audible to Woojin’s ears. It was becoming heavier due to the things that were sticking to his face. However, the staff’s explanation did not stop.

“For almost 80% of the filming, we’ll be wearing special effects costumes—oh, you’ve seen those costumes, right? Those tight-fitting ones.”

I haven’t seen it yet, but Woojin answered roughly.

“Yes, I know.”

Four hours passed like that.

Whenever Kang Woo-jin had a hard time, he would go to and from the subspace without anyone knowing, and somehow he would endure it. The time that had been morning was already approaching 2 PM, and within 4 hours, everyone, including Miley Cara, had finished filming. However, none of the actors had left work.

Isn’t the reason simple?

To see ‘The Beast’.

soon.

“The ‘Beast’ is coming in!!”

The Beast entered the filming area, which was filled with numerous filming devices, a hundred-person staff, and dozens of Hollywood actors. Perhaps because the makeup was heavy, the Beast was supported by staff on both sides, and director Bill Lautner, who had been waiting, responded immediately.

“Ooooh! It’s killing me!”

When he suddenly started clapping, most of the staff also clapped their hands. Woojin, whose whole body felt like a thousand pounds, internally protested fiercely.

‘Don’t hit me! Don’t clap your hands! Oh, man, that’s heavy!!’

But there is no change in expression. The concept is the same, but the makeup on the face is so solid that it feels forced. The newly attached rough and grotesque skin, the brown hair from the forehead to the back of the head, the curved and pointed horns on the forehead, the eyes, nose, and mouth all grew bigger and turned into a beast. Of course, the teeth were also attached.

Right now, Kang Woo-jin is a monster in and of himself.

But the road to becoming a ‘beast’ was difficult.

At this point, the surrounding staff are impressed.

“It suits you well!”

“Right? But Woojin is more calm than I thought. Isn’t it hard?”

“Yeah, it must be really heavy. It feels light, right?”

No. He was confused by the situation he had never experienced before. Inwardly.

‘Eww!! I’m going to throw up, seriously!!’

It felt like I had about 10 pumpkin cans stuck in my head.

Anyway, Woojin or ‘the Beast’ stood in front of the camera with great difficulty while being welcomed by the staff and actors. He could see in front of him, but it wasn’t 100%. A blonde woman standing next to the vaguely visible director. Miley Cara. She was taking pictures of Kang Woojin, no, ‘the Beast’, with her cell phone, and then suddenly burst out laughing.

“But why is only the upper body ‘beast’?”

Because only the upper body was ‘Beast’. The lower body was Kang Woo-jin’s. In other words, only half of the makeup was done. Soon, the director answered.

“The lower body isn’t included in the poster anyway.”

“Ah- is that so?”

Kara, who was smiling brightly, took a picture of Kang Woojin, who was half a ‘beast’. Then she quietly muttered.

“The title is Half-Human, Half-Beast. Yeah, that’s perfect.”

The next morning, ‘Columbia Studios’.

Many people, including executives, gathered in a large conference room. Judging from the heavy atmosphere, it seemed like they were talking about something very important. What could it be? It was about ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. To be exact, it was about the ‘Academy Award’ proposed by Director Ahn Ga-bok.

“That’s ridiculous. It’s not about money, but it could ruin the future progress of ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain’.”

“That’s right. Expectations are already high enough, so if we try and fail, there could be a lot of cancellations in countries where the film has been confirmed to be released. I disagree.”

“Everyone knows this, right? If you push too hard, there will be 100% a hole somewhere. I’m against it too.”

As expected, the voices of opposition were louder. It was only natural to take on a risky challenge when things were going well. Among the dozens of people, there was a man who had been tapping his index finger on the desk and was lost in thought. He was a bald executive. Perhaps because he had been involved with Kang Woo-jin from the beginning, his face looked the most thoughtful.

He was now recalling the past.

Meeting with Director Ahn Ga-bok. Producer Nora Foster’s intentions, she surprisingly supported Director Ahn Ga-bok’s words. And a conversation with Kang Woo-jin who recently contacted her.

He let out a small sigh as he decided something.

‘Whew- I guess I need to change the flow.’

Suddenly, I raised my hand in a noisy conference room.

“I wonder if we’re too scared.”

The sudden intrusion of the bald executive. Soon, everyone in the conference room was focused on him. They frowned or had question marks in their eyes. On the other hand, the bald executive slowly crossed his legs and remained calm.

“What if the filming schedule is this or that, what if the Academy Awards fail, what if the money invested goes down the drain, what if the number of theaters decreases? If you keep coming up with excuses like this, it’s endless, but if you’re going to keep worrying like that, you shouldn’t have started the ‘cinematic universe’ in the first place.”

“Are you in favor?”

“It’s not a matter of being for or against. It just tells us that we’re too afraid of failure right now. The die for the ‘cinematic universe’ has already been cast. Didn’t we all start it with the determination?”

“······”

“Failure is everywhere. Even with Director Ahn Ga-bok’s suggestions and our initial blueprints. Whether it’s dangerous or safe, there’s no place where there’s no failure. Isn’t there?”

The atmosphere changes. The bald executive did not miss this timing.

“Isn’t our ‘cinematic universe’ important to us? But if we are cowardly after creating a vast worldview, it’s obvious that the ‘cinematic universe’ will end up being a narrow-minded result. Besides, isn’t ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ just the beginning of all stories? We are now being scared and taking steps back from the beginning.”

“···But on the other hand, since it is the beginning, you know very well that it has to succeed without failure.”

“I know, so I’ll ask everyone.”

The bald executive paused for a moment, then looked over the entire staff and asked a question.

“Does Kang Woo-jin think that the ‘Joker’ he created is not enough to turn Hollywood upside down?”

“······”

“We’ve seen his creepy acting. It’s not an imitation, it’s the real deal. Have you forgotten? Kang Woo-jin made Chris Hartnett give up. It’s just that we believe what we see. I suggest that we give them what they want and we just watch silently.”

Everyone in the conference room spat or their expressions became serious. Someone had a change of heart. At this point, the bald executive brought up Kang Woo-jin’s name again.

“Kang Woo-jin said, ‘Winning the Academy Awards next year is not in my plans.’”

“Not in the plan??”

“From the beginning, he was only aiming for this ‘Academy Award’. Yes, to be exact, from Cannes. Or before that.”

The bald executive leisurely changed the direction of his crossed legs.

“The first ‘villain’ of the vast worldview is so blatantly showing off his confidence, and if we just run away with our tails tied up, our contracts for follow-up works with him will also go down the drain. Because we didn’t give him any confidence.”

Spit out the gist.

“Are you going to give up on Kang Woo-jin’s ‘Joker’?”

The conference room was as quiet as a mouse.