Chapter 239 — Filming of Peter Pan
Hill and the young cast of “Peter Pan” sit on the front steps of the estate, with projection stones in front of them filming at every angle.
Now “Peter Pan” has been filming for a week, and the basic bonding has been completed. The young actors who play Wendy and her younger brothers are all small aristocrats, and the actor who plays Peter Pan is a pirate’s son. The rest of the children of Neverland are played by commoner children.
Among the commoner children, most of them were orphans found by the Birds of Dawn Charity Organization. Hill thought about sending them to a school in the Demon Realm after the movie was finished so that they could receive education with the demon children, and they could stay in the Demon Realm directly after graduating from school. After hearing about their future arrangements, those human civilian children were very happy about it, and they worked harder to memorize their lines. The noble children were compared for a while, and they also worked harder, and a good cycle was formed for a while.
As a result, these commoner children seduced the noble children to go to the Demon School, which Hill naturally welcomed with both hands, but the choice was still up to their parents. At this stage, this involves a lot of interests.
Children are playful by nature, and Hill uses a more introductory way to guide them to show their characters. They all act very well, and Hill feels they crushed most adults. After spending a week with these children, Hill felt that his mood had changed.
Today is the rest day of the crew. Hill arranged a magazine interview, and the young actors excitedly talked about their thoughts to the reporter.
“It’s really fun to make a movie! But the lines are hard to remember. Fortunately, His Majesty the Demon King said that we can play reasonably freely, and he also encouraged us to think of our own lines. I think this is simply great!
“The food during the filming was really delicious. What I look forward to most every day is to eat delicious food! I feel that I have gained a lot of weight. Soon after, Lord Demon King ordered me to keep the weight. He said that if I continue to eat, he will have to change the actor because I look different before and after… It’s so sad. But Lord Demon King said that he can give me a voucher for a restaurant in the Demon Realm, and after the filming, I can eat there for a month for free! Yay!”
“Lord Demon King is really cool, I hope to have such a father.”
“I feel like I’m dreaming, it’s amazing! I’m going to be an actor! Will I be liked by a lot of people? Will they like me as much as they like Captain Jack and Tony?”
“I have more plays than yours, and they will like me more!”
“Hateful!”
Seeing that the two young actors were about to fight, Hill pulled them away not knowing whether to cry or laugh. This is how he has been this week, the majesty of the demon king is not useful for children ah. But this is also a good feeling, Hill has not experienced it for a long time.
——Of course, this is also the result of what he did deliberately. If he really showed his majesty to these children, it would scare them all.
Next up are some behind-the-scenes photos, which Hill posed for use in magazines. This movie has a lot of tidbits, the children are too rowdy. The result of this release of nature is that the collective acting skills of the whole movie have reached a very high level.
The little heroine, Wendy, said excitedly in front of her aunt: “My dream is to write a trilogy novel to describe my adventures!”
Aunt: “What adventures do you have?”
Wendy said with a more excited expression: “Not yet, but it will be very exciting in the future!”
The aunt frowned and said, “Child, writing novels is not a very glorious thing, bards are all fallen nobles. I’m especially worried that it will be difficult for you to find a marriage partner.”
Wendy took a step back, “Marriage?” Her expression at this time was confused and sad.
Wendy is the eldest daughter of a small noble. She has two younger brothers. She likes all kinds of adventure stories, like pirates and fencing, and she has a good upbringing. In the beginning, Hill shot a lot of films that expressed her character and background, and planned to edit it carefully later to control the rhythm.
Then of course, noble girls who naively yearn for the outside world will of course be suppressed by traditional concepts.
“Stop for a moment.” Hill snapped his fingers to stop the projection stone spinning around them, “Jane, what’s with your expression?”
Jane is the name of the little actor who plays Wendy, and she comes from a middle-class aristocratic family in Mülheim.
“Sorry, sir.” Jane raised her skirt and curtseyed, “I just thought that I would also need to get married in the future, and I would just live a dull life, so I feel a little sad.”
“So that’s the case.” Hill nodded, and at the same time there was a hint of enlightenment in his heart. The background of “Peter Pan” was naturally changed to this period by Hill. The girls in this period must know more about marriage and union than the girls in the original Victorian story background, so in theory, it is normal for Wendy to show that kind of expression. “You did a good job, this part is over, everyone take a break, and then continue to shoot the next part,” Hill clapped his hands and said.
The field service skeleton over there brought some drinks at the right time, and the young actors immediately went over to grab it happily. The adult actors breathed a sigh of relief, they actually envied these children. They were under a lot of pressure during filming, for fear of saying something wrong and doing something wrong, while the children were relaxed and playful. ‘It’s better to be children,’ they thought. Then they subconsciously thought that they should spend more time with their own children.
After eating, the little actors surrounded the Lich Aligeli and asked him to tell them stories. In fact, it was Hill who encouraged them to go there in the beginning. Lich Aligeli was forced by “this is the order of the king”, so he suppressed his irritability and searched his stomach to tell stories to the children. As a result, after a period of time, he actually started to actively look for interesting stories in memory.
One must admit that children are really infectious.
Before being stifled by nature and imagination, children have the vigor of life from birth.
“In the end, the prince and the princess lived happily ever after. Well, the story is over, you should recite the lines, children.” Lich Aligeli wiggled his fingers to cut off the light linked to his fingers.
He previously used some illusion spells when telling the story, using light and shadow to build the background, and then used magic silk thread to compose the characters connected to his five fingers, like a puppet show to manipulate the characters to make movements. The children really love this.
“Okay, Mr. Aligeli,” said the children.
Then they began to pair lines and explore the psychological activities of the characters under the supervision of Aligeli.
“From tomorrow, you will accept your aunt’s discipline. You have grown up.”
Jane, who played the heroine Wendy, saw the line of ‘father’ in the script and couldn’t help complaining: “This is really bad, I don’t want to grow up at all.”
“Neither do I,” said another child.
“It’s troublesome to grow up, I don’t want to grow up either.”
“It’s still the best as a kid.”
Only a commoner child said weakly: “I want to grow up…”
Everyone immediately looked at him, the “traitor”.
“Why do you want to grow up?” asked Lich Aligeli.
The commoner child was a little scared in the face of everyone’s gaze, but finally said bravely: “Because when I grow up, I will have the strength to help my father with some work, and I will not let him work so hard.”
After he finished speaking, many children showed hesitant expressions.
“I know I should grow up, but…”
“Growing up means doing things you don’t want to do.”
“But my mother raised me so hard, so I should do something for her too…”
“It seems that I should do it, but why are there so many things I should do but don’t want to do, and why are the things I want to do not the things I should do?”
“If I was born to do things I don’t want to do, then why am I born?”
The children’s ideas are direct and innocent. They sit together and discuss their ideas with each other in childish words and phrases, but the content of their discussions is not childish at all, and it can even be said to have a certain depth.
Hill flipped through the magazine while his ears were listening to their conversation.
The issue they discussed can actually be said to be a core issue of “Peter Pan”.
As they argued, Hill put the books together and said with a smile, “Come and line up and talk about your dreams one by one.”
The children immediately began to say happily:
“I want to be a great pirate! Like Captain Rod!” But he didn’t know what Captain Rod went through.
“I want to join the army to gain military exploits and titles, and become a noble from a commoner.” But he didn’t know that nobles who were promoted from commoners also belonged to the bottom of the nobility.
“My wish is to be able to fly! To be a Great Mage!” But he didn’t know that mage qualifications are one in a hundred, and that even fewer can actually climb to a position that commands respect.
“I want to become a person like the Evil Monarch!” Uh… no comment.
“I want to be a demon dragon!”
“I want to be a death knight!”
“I want to have a lot of money!”
…
The children gushed about their dreams.
Hill listened with a smile, then opened the script and read: “Dad is a very courageous man.”
Jane immediately said Wendy’s next line after hearing this one: “Daddy? Courageous?”
Hill continued to read Wendy’s mother’s lines: “Children, there are many kinds of courage in this world, and thinking of your family is one. Dad never held a sword or used a gun, but he sacrificed and dedicated himself to this family, putting many dreams aside.”
Another young actor read out his line, “Mom, where did he put it all?”
“It’s all in the drawer, and he only takes it out when it’s late at night. It’s not so easy to give up dreams, but he did it, so he’s very brave.” Hill closed the script and looked at them with a smile: “So, reading these lines again, do you understand anything?”
Everyone bowed their heads and thought hard for a while, and after a while, Jane said with red eyes: “Dad and Mom are both great, but, but, but do I have to give up my wish… Is it wrong to want to be a great person…”
In the movie Peter Pan tells Wendy to forget them, forget everything, and go with him to Neverland, where one will never grow up. That temptation to never grow up and be happy forever prompted Wendy and her younger brothers to learn to fly with Peter Pan and go to Neverland together. But after a series of adventures, Wendy chose to leave Peter Pan. She chose to leave Neverland, she chose to return to the real world, she chose her own parents, and she chose to marry and have children according to the traditional trajectory of life.
It’s a fairy tale, but it’s also a realistic story.
The young actors have read the entire script, and their favorite is the adventure in Neverland, the dreamy scenery, the interesting magical creatures, and the battle of wits with the pirates… and their least favorite of all is, of course, the ending where Wendy left Peter Pan and took all the boys around Peter Pan away. In the end, Peter Pan returned to Neverland alone, but according to the setting “as long as you can feel true happiness, you can learn to fly”, he can still fly, indicating that he is still happy.
And now after tonight’s discussion, they certainly have a deeper understanding of this ending.
