The Best Director

“Cut! That’s a wrap!” Watching Michael Pitt and Natalie standing at the house’s doorway, Wang Yang clapped and gave a thumbs up, praising them, “You both did great!” Nancy whispered to him, “It’s lunchtime.” Wang Yang nodded his head, glanced around at Valery Feste and the dozen or so other crew members, and jovially called out, “Great work, everyone! It’s time for lunch!” Everyone on the lawn cheered, starting to pack up their work. Natalie, with the assistance of the stylist, transformed her pregnancy belly back to a svelte waist; Michael Pitt sipped on mineral water handed to him by the set staff, Joshua; and the hefty Harry George was tidying up the camera equipment while muttering, “I’m starving, I want four hamburgers…” A flash of excitement crossed his bearded, plump face.

The time had come to mid-July. Nearly a month had passed since the start of “Juno,” and the shooting progress was quite good, having finished filming the larger scenes such as the exteriors of the small town, Juno’s home, and the spacious house of the affluent adoptive parents; as well as smaller scenes like the grocery store, abortion clinic, and Paulie’s home, the script had only a few larger scenes left, including the school and a few minor ones such as the hospital and supermarket. The progress was faster than expected—if not for Wang Yang shooting with a variety of effects, over and over, “Juno” might have already wrapped.

Although there were different “Good-Takes” for the same scene, showcasing various acting interpretations, camera angles, and techniques, this didn’t mean going over the budget for film stock, thanks to the low number of NG takes. The main supporting cast, including Anne Hathaway, all delivered standout performances. This was due to Wang Yang valuing their “natural acting” during auditions; as long as they didn’t forget their lines, laugh on set, or misplace their movements, it was almost good to go. Surprisingly yet expectedly, the two with the fewest NG takes were the leads, Natalie and Michael Pitt,

Natalie had prepared for nearly a year, and so had Michael Pitt. His portrayal and interpretation of Paulie might not have been as intense as Natalie’s dedication to Juno, but he was definitely immersed in the role. Plus, his noticeably improved acting skills helped him truly embody Paulie on camera. His excellent performance also stimulated Natalie’s acting nerves, creating a “chemical reaction” that made her portrayal of Juno progressively more “divine,” to the point where Wang Yang even considered reshooting some earlier scenes.

As for Michael’s performance, Natalie praised it several times, whether for the normal or the infuriating parts. She once curiously asked Wang Yang, “Where did you find him? This guy is amazing!” Wang Yang simply shrugged and replied, “Just on the streets of New York.”

“What?” Wang Yang looked at Natalie and Hathaway in confusion, asking, “These aren’t vegetarian burgers?” Natalie nodded expressionlessly, sounding quite annoyed, “Yes, mine had a huge piece of steak.” Hathaway’s big eyes also showed a hint of frustration, as she frowned slightly and said, “Mine was a chicken leg burger.” Wang Yang took a bite of the burger in his hand, stood up from his chair while chewing, and said, albeit unclearly, “What’s going on! But ladies, you should talk to the set supervisor; I’m the director, not the burger producer.”

Even though he said that, he still raised his voice and shouted toward the distant crowd on the lawn, “Gil! Gil! Come over here!” After a month, who in the crew didn’t know that Natalie and Hathaway were staunch vegetarians, that whatever it was—burgers, pizza—there had to be two vegetarian options. Yet, this mistake happened: not a single burger in this lunch was vegetarian.

Hearing Wang Yang’s shout, the set supervisor, Gill Sedis, quickly walked over, followed by Joshua, who came to see what the commotion was about. After learning about the situation, Gill Sedis looked at the displeased Natalie and Hathaway and then at Wang Yang and said helplessly, “I don’t know what happened. The daily menu is set; it must be the fast-food place’s mistake.” Wang Yang understood it wasn’t his responsibility and said, “Then let the fast-food place deliver two vegetarian burgers again; they have to take responsibility.” Gill Sedis nodded and went off to make the arrangements. “Can’t we just make do with one meal?” Joshua, who enjoyed watching the commotion, made his suggestion with a bit of schadenfreude, saying, “I mean, if you take away the steaks and drumsticks, isn’t it vegetarian?” Natalie didn’t speak, silently moving a folding stool over to sit down; Hathaway pursed her lips and shook her head, saying, “Then I’d rather go hungry.”

“Joshua, go to the convenience store up ahead and buy some vegetarian cookies first,” Wang Yang instructed, then turned to the two girls asking, “are cookies okay?” Both girls replied OK, and Natalie added, “They have to be completely vegan, no eggs, no milk, and don’t even think about honey.”

Joshua took two steps back in astonishment and exclaimed, “Why me?” Wang Yang stepped forward, reassuringly patted his shoulder, and laughed, “Who told you to stand right in front of me?” With that, he pointed at his own eyes with his right index and middle fingers and then gestured at Joshua with a “I’m watching you” motion. Joshua gritted his teeth and said, “Fine, fine, I’m the crew, I’ll go buy!” He took a deep breath, turned around and headed toward the convenience store, singing to settle his mood, “We are the champions, we are the champions—”

Wang Yang chuckled, cursed the Lakers for winning the season’s championship again, and shouted loudly, “Buddy, move it! Show some speed!” When he saw Joshua start running in the distance, he sat back in his chair and continued munching on his beef burger, smiling at the two girls, “Fifteen minutes, and you’ll be able to eat.”

Watching Wang Yang gobble the beef across from her, Natalie frowned, held back her words, but after a while, she still expressed, “Yang, don’t you think eating meat this way is very cruel?” Hathaway seemed to have been holding back for a long time as she said, “Extremely cruel!” Wang Yang paused, looking at them. Natalie continued, “That piece of beef, it comes from a cow, which was a living creature. It had emotions, it had its own family and friends, but then humans killed it, turning it into the beef in your mouth.”

“Uh, um… How should I respond?” Wang Yang looked down at the burger in his hand. Natalie earnestly looked at him, advising, “When you start being vegetarian, you’ll discover the beauty of this world, you’ll feel a great peace in your heart…” She saw Wang Yang take another bite of the burger and abruptly asked loud, “Think about it, vegetarianism can provide us with all the nutrients and energy we need, so why kill a life? Just to satisfy our appetite?”

Wang Yang shrugged and chewed on his burger, saying, “I’m not inclined to be a vegetarian, but I also don’t like to kill. You know ‘a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen,’ so I didn’t become a chef, I became a director.” Hearing his Chinese, Hathaway looked confused, and Natalie also asked puzzled, “What does that mean? ‘A gentleman keeps away from the kitchen’?” Wang Yang said in surprise, “Oh, I thought you’d learned all the Chinese in half a year.” He explained to Hathaway with a smile, “This bookworm understands Chinese.” “The literal meaning of that phrase is ‘a good person should not personally kill any living thing,’ which is just another way of saying that one should be kind- hearted.” Wang Yang smiled and finished the last bite of his burger, adding, “Actually, I don’t quite agree with that statement; my grandfather and my father were very good people.”

At that moment, Joshua ran back panting with several boxes of cookies. He handed the food to Natalie and Hathaway, leaned on his knees, and said, “Pure vegan, all plant-based cookies…” He amusingly looked at Wang Yang and the two girls and shared, “Guess what the convenience store owner said? ‘Oh, my goodness, someone finally bought them, they were almost expired!’ Ha ha!” Natalie lifted the cookie package and glanced at it, saying indifferently, “It’s not expired.” As she was opening the package, she looked at Wang Yang and said, “Not killing them ourselves, so we can eat them? Is that merciful? What’s the difference? To lessen the guilt, the sense of sin in our hearts?” Hathaway also looked at Wang Yang, while Joshua was quite puzzled, unable to understand what they were discussing.

Has this topic not ended yet? Wang Yang frowned and thought for a moment. Why not be a vegetarian? Looking at the serious Natalie, he became earnest and said, “Do you know about Daoism? Maybe you should read some books on Daoism.” Natalie incredulously uttered, “You read books? I’m curious, how does someone who spends all night watching sports read books? ‘Playboy’?” Wang Yang rolled his eyes with a smile and retorted, “The books I’ve read could pile up taller and heavier than you.”

This statement seemed to imply she was short, but Natalie wasn’t offended at all. She laughed, snapped her fingers, and imitated Juno’s intonation, “Wow! Nowweknowwho the ‘bookworm’ is.” Seeing Wang Yang smile without a response, she laughed again, “Combo of fifteen!” She took out a cookie and started eating, then returned to the previous topic and said, “I know about Daoism, but not well. What are you trying to say?”

“Simply put, you should be aware of the concept that all things possess spirits, which is also a Daoist belief,” Wang Yang explained his point of view, “Everything in the world has life, feelings, and a soul. I won’t mention rocks, but what about plants? Do you think trees, flowers, and grass have life? How do you know they don’t have souls? You are eating them.” Natalie crunched on the cookie in her mouth and replied disdainfully, “Hey, that’s sophistry! It’s childish!” Wang Yang laughed and said, “Wait a moment, that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about nature.”

“Firstly, I have never considered humans to be the masters of Earth, we are just a part of it, a part of nature. And a part of nature involves eating.” Pausing for a moment, Wang Yang continued, looking at Natalie, “You’ve watched animal documentaries on Discovery Channel, right? Wolves eat sheep, lions eat buffalo, giraffes eat leaves… Some humans eat meat, some eat plants. Perhaps this is the essence of our world. But! It shouldn’t be a conquering mindset. When we eat them, it’s a continuation and integration of life. We give thanks to them. What we consume is only their flesh, their souls remain free. They return to God, the Creator… and find peace.”

“So, the focus isn’t on whether we eat plants or animals, it’s about our attitude,” Wang Yang closed his eyes and continued, “Like the beef earlier, I received it, and I merged with that cow, letting me hear its voice from heaven. Oh, it answered me, ‘Buddy, cherish my flesh, I’m happy with God.\'” Natalie frowned and muttered, “That’s just your imagination.”

Wang Yang spread his hands in exasperation. Of course, he wished this wasn’t just imagination but like the ideal world of Pandora in ‘Avatar’, where touching another’s hair could create a spiritual connection. Regrettably, he was on Earth. ‘Avatar’ contains a lot of Daoist philosophy because James Cameron had read many Daoist books when he was in college, which later influenced his creation of Pandora with concepts like the idea that all things have spirits and ‘Heaven produces water.’

Thinking of ‘Avatar’ and Daoism, Wang Yang concluded, “We kill and consume not by our choice, but by the choice of nature. To follow the natural order, to become part of nature, and to communicate and integrate with nature, the animals and plants we consume, and everything in the world is to achieve unity with the Dao.”

Natalie silently nibbled on her cookie, pondering for a while before suddenly speaking up again, “Interesting, humans integrating with nature? But I have a question.” She didn’t mean to argue, and earnestly asked, “We’re so different from other animals. We learn, we think, and we’ve shed our bestiality. Do you think that’s natural?” Wang Yang furrowed his browand replied, “I think humans being this unique must be part of the natural plan…”

Sitting on a chair nearby, Joshua felt extremely bored and wanted to leave, but he had to “keep an eye on” Wang Yang, so he propped up his chin and forced himself to listen to the conversation between the two; meanwhile, Hathaway couldn’t get a word in edgewise either. But they were used to it, this wasn’t the first time—those two often engaged in long-winded discussions on some topic, and this time it was about vegetarianism, but now it seemed the talk had shifted to nature? That was also characteristic of their conversations, which might veer off into the universe next, occasionally featuring a “combo.” “Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Michael Pitt came over with a bottle of mineral water. Joshua glanced at him and said listlessly, “They’re hosting the Juno talk show, and the topic seems to be ‘whether to eat a meat burger or a veggie burger’, but like all the others before, it sucks.” Wang Yang and Natalie had greeted him, and just as they were about to introduce the topic at hand, Michael Pitt cut in, “Oh, you guys continue.” With that, he turned and hurried away.

After a day of filming, the crew also returned to the hotel to rest.

Looking at the entertainment news on the computer screen, Wang Yang couldn’t help but shake his head and mutter softly, “What the hell!” Paparazzi nowadays were getting more and more skillful; he hadn’t even noticed that he had been photographed.

There it was, a news item titled “Yang and Natalie stroll intimately through town streets,” accompanied by several photos of the two walking down a small town street, chatting and laughing. But Wang Yang knew that just to their left, not far away, was the entire film crew—they were just walking together, not “dating” as the report claimed; and as for “intimacy,” he and Natalie were not enemies, there was no need to be cold and distant, and besides, this was a movie set, the director and actors certainly needed to communicate. Did that mean if there were a few photos of him and Michael Pitt laughing together, they could say he was gay?

Especially since he and Natalie needed to discuss the script for Juno, to create funny and novel dialogue that could become trendy, and Juno had a personality trait that was sharp-tongued, they had already agreed to allow each other to tease and mock without limits, for this would yield more inspiration. So sometimes they would mock each other, sounding as though they were arguing. At first, Michael Pitt had even tried to break up the “fight.”

Clicking the mouse, Wang Yang closed the annoying piece of news and continued to browse other film industry events, ” ‘Frozen Planet’ box office flop, set for widespread withdrawal.” This animated feature, which Fox Company had invested $75 million and taken three years to make, had only grossed $22 million in North America after a month, and the number of theaters showing it had dropped to 283. Fox Company expressed “great disappointment.”

Seeing this news, Wang Yang naturally thought of Blue Sky Studios and “Ice Age,” whose production was progressing well, meeting expectations. It would definitely be released before his daughter was born. Suddenly, he missed Jessica terribly, so he smiled, took out his phone, and dialed her number—he hadn’t called her that day yet. Fortunately, in a few days, the promotional event for “High School Musical 2” would be coming to Toronto, Canada.