Chapter 039

[Shadows of War] was a war movie set in World War I, and it tells the journey of one of the recruits of the English army, Ethan George.

Although there are movies made about World War I, [Shadows of War] doesn’t take its story from a memoir or a biography or try to show a significant event during the World War.

It takes the viewers on a ride as they follow the main character, who is actually a fictional character written by the director, Lincoln himself. There wasn’t any such recruit in the World War, so Lincoln made a character that would go through several major events and survive through each one of them.

The movie focused less on the thrill and brotherhood of the army and war and instead on the mental toll it takes on a soldier.

Ethan didn’t make any friends who stayed with him until the end. He was mostly alone in the movie, and before anyone could become his friend, they would die.

There was even one scene where Ethan would just continuously punch a wall after seeing the deaths of so many people so close together.

These types of scenes really bring out the true repercussions of war on the mental well-being of a person, especially in a war like World War I, where millions lost their lives.

Not only that, there was a whole character arc that transformed the fun-loving young man into a shell of his former figure. He went on to survive a lot of events that changed who he was as a person.

Though, as the movie focused on Ethan completely, other characters didn’t have too much time in their roles. There were some supporting characters, but Lincoln never felt like they were enough.

He wanted a character that could give something Ethan to think about for the whole movie.

Because of that, the character in which Aiden got the role was written even after most of the shooting was done.

When Aiden had first read the script, he thought it was a very solid one. In various places, the screenplay would get the viewers to relax and then suddenly throw them into the chaos of war.

In Aiden’s eyes, this was one of the beauties of a war drama.

One would never know what would come next. A friend that was laughing could be on the ground in the next minute, with a bullet in his head.

It would happen in a split second that no one would know how exactly to react to it.

This was the chaos of war.

[Shadows of War] portrayed this chaos very well, and Aiden loved every aspect of the script when he first read it. As the movie was written in a way that didn’t let the viewers relax, he was sure that if edited the right way, it would surely be a huge hit.

“Your first scene is next. Nervous?”

Leo Shaw, the assistant director of [Shadows of War], asked Aiden as he sat down next to him.

“A bit. I think it’s normal for a newbie to be nervous. I have never acted in a movie before. I am just hoping Lincoln isn’t hard on newbies.”

Currently, Aiden was on the set of [Shadows of War]. He had reached Australia last week and had been coming to the set for the last couple of days, but it seemed like his wait for his first scene was finally going to be over.

“He’s not. At least compared to other directors.” Leo chuckled. “Lincoln is fine with a bad take If it’s only a few times. He even tries to make an actor comfortable if he likes them enough. The same can’t be said about the lead though.”

Leo said, looking over at Aaron Hart, the main lead playing the role of Ethan. Aiden followed his gaze and saw that Aaron was currently talking to one of the makeup artists.

Aaron Hart was an actor who had been in the industry for close to I5 years and had become an A-lister through a string of good movies. But there was a rumour on the set that he was now after an Oscar, and because of that, he had signed on for a war movie.

Even Aiden was aware of it.

“I have not seen him lash out at anyone yet,” Aiden replied, wanting to know more.

“Because you have not seen him work with a newbie before. He won’t lash out at a B or C Lister. But a newbie without any support or a talent agency. Boy, he will be harsh.”

Saying that, Leo began to narrate the event of how in some other movie that Aaron had acted in, he had straight out punched a newbie that was constantly messing up.

It had become a big issue, and the studio had to compensate the newbie to keep his mouth shut. But the rumors had already spread.

“You know a lot of stuff.”

Aiden remarked after hearing the narration. Leo was one of the few that would talk to him on the set.

Most of the time, he would just sit alone and think about his character.

“It happens if you are in the industry for a long time. You make friends. Some will tell you about these kinds of rumors. It’s up to you to decide if they are true or not.”

Leo just shook his head saying that and stood up. It looked like his break was over.

“Anyways, good luck with your scene.”

“Thanks.”

Leo left after that, and now alone, Aiden again lowered his head to go through the script in his hands. If one looked closely, there were several notes on some parts of the script that involved his character.

He had studied the script a lot. Even though there was not much written about his character.

It was the same as playing a character who appears in a few scenes and has a few lines, but you don’t know anything about his background.

‘There is not even a mention of the name.’

He thought, flipping a page in the script. There was a very basic reason as to why Lincoln was looking for an Indian guy to play a character.

It was because his character was Indian, and it was written as a silent nod to the thousands of Indian soldiers that fought in World War I on the side of the British army who ruled over them at that point.

This was the reason why his character didn’t even have a name. It was because no one remembers that there were Indian soldiers in World War I.

As there was no background for the character, Aiden had made one up in his mind. Through the scenes that his character appeared in, he had formed a general understanding of his personality.

‘A smart guy. Brave. And someone who made a lot of impact on the main character’s journey.’

***

“It’s pretty much a simple scene. So, try to get it done in a few takes.”

Lincoln said in a commanding tone as he stared at Aiden. Unlike when he had seen him during the audition, the director looked very unkempt with his untrimmed beard and serious look.

He was currently explaining the scene to him and how they would shoot it.

It was the scene in which the main character will see Aiden’s character for the first time as they will be travelling to the location of a desolate town where there are sightings of German troops.

“I will do my best.” Aiden tried to answer as confidently as he could. He knew that Lincoln didn’t like people who didn’t show confidence.

“I expect you to be. You may not realise it, but you are very lucky to get this role.” Lincoln suddenly said. “I liked your performance, but the producer Frank wanted a more famous actor, and in the end, we decided to go for him.”

Aiden widened his eyes hearing that. This was not something known to him.

“But he wasn’t free. He couldn’t come to the shooting so suddenly as he was in the middle of another movie. So, you got the part.”

Aiden didn’t say anything about that. He knew these things were common in any industry. Many good actors had gotten roles because popular ones couldn’t do them for some reason.

The reason could be a clash of dates or the actor wanting to change the character a bit. But in the end, Aiden had benefited from it.

“Anyway, do you know about the camera’s position and how to take that in mind during the filming?”

Lincoln changed the topic and asked a fundamental question. So many newbies mess up because they would suddenly look at the camera or block the camera from capturing their co-actors, unintentionally.

But Aiden was well versed in stuff like that.

“I know about it and have read a lot of books on it. Even saw some MeTube videos.”

“Theory is very different from actually acting in front of the camera. Though, we will know when you do the next scene.”

After that, he explained some more things and left to talk to Aaron, who was talking with the sound engineer.

Aiden took a look around the set and saw that it was bustling with people running here and there. Assistant directors checked everything before the scene, and the cameraman inspected the camera’s position and found the right angle.

It was the storm before the set would go completely silent.

…

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