Simon drove to the restaurant near the Brentwood Country Club again.
After waiting for a moment, Kathryn and Janette arrived together.
Sitting down in the restaurant, Simon looked at Kathryn, who was clearly a bit down today, and tentatively asked, "Has there been another change in the filming of 'Near Dark'?"
Before Kathryn could speak, Janette said, "I'm afraid it will be delayed until after the New Year".
Simon had recently seen some news about De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, the production company for 'Near Dark', and asked with concern, "How could this happen?"
The restaurant waiter came over at this moment, and the three paused their conversation.
After ordering dinner, Kathryn finally said, "Producer Edward Feldman called me this afternoon. De Laurentiis Entertainment has completely run out of money and has to wait until the end of the year to collect the profits from several films released this year before my movie can start filming".
Hearing Kathryn say this, Simon was also a little silent.
Examples of films being delayed for months or even years due to funding, creative teams, and other reasons, and ultimately falling through, are common in Hollywood. Kathryn's experience was not surprising.
After a moment, Simon said, "So, Kathryn, are you unemployed again during this time?"
Kathryn nodded distractedly and said, "Yes".
Simon said, "Since that's the case, why don't you come and help me?"
Kathryn looked up, a little uncertain, "Hmm?"
Simon said, "'Run Lola Run', my movie starts filming next month".
"But, I probably still have to..."
Kathryn gestured with her hand, but couldn't find a good excuse for a moment, so she turned to Janette beside her.
Janette's eyes started blinking, fluttering, as soon as she heard Simon's words.
Simon also looked over. Janette had very long eyelashes, no need for false lashes, and they were very beautiful when she blinked. "Jenny, would you like to order another foie gras? People who blink frequently might be lacking in vitamin D, and animal liver is rich in it".
Hearing Simon's teasing, Janette immediately stopped blinking and angrily picked up her fork, making a mock jab at Simon.
Kathryn smiled as she watched the two interact, and said, "I think, let's forget it".
"Why forget it?" Janette suddenly spoke again, reaching out and taking Kathryn's arm, saying, "Kate, let's both go. I'm the major investor, you know. If necessary, maybe I can even fire the director and let you take over".
Simon listened to Janette's put up domineering tone, and with a 'frightened' expression, put his hands together and bowed his head, pleading, "Jenny, I was wrong, how about I order two foie gras for you?"
Janette casually threw a stack of napkins at him, hitting Simon on the head, and said, "You little rascal, take that".
After some playful banter, and with Janette's constant urging, Kathryn finally agreed to be Simon's assistant director. The agreed-upon 'payment' was that Simon would also help out on the 'Near Dark' set for a period of time.
Janette originally had no interest in the production of 'Run Lola Run'. Simon had previously suggested that the women jointly serve as producers, not just in name, but the laid-back Janette only took on the task of painting a butterfly-themed mural for Simon in the casino scene, which was one of the three 'butterfly effect' thematic hints in the film.
With Kathryn's addition, Janette also perked up and got involved.
Early the next morning, Janette excitedly came to 'work'.
The time was 8:00 AM.
Although Simon was used to getting up early, he had only just finished breakfast at this time.
Hearing the doorbell, Simon ran to open the door and saw Janette dressed in an office lady's attire.
Seeing Simon's gaze about to sweep elsewhere, a pair of cool small hands reached out directly, cupping Simon's face to prevent him from turning away, followed by Janette's aggressive voice: "If you keep acting like this, I'm really going to get angry, and the consequences will be severe".
Simon nodded stiffly under the woman's 'claws', and only then did Janette release his head.
Following Simon into the villa, Janette impatiently asked, "Little boy, what are we doing today?"
Simon went to the kitchen, picked up the recent dishes, and went to the sink, saying concisely, "Rest."
Janette leaned over, dissatisfied, "How can this be? As an ambitious person, you're really not progressive enough".
Simon, however, did not explain.
Although there was still more than a week until filming began, starting next Monday, and until the post-production of the film was completed, Simon would not have any free time. This weekend was also his last chance to rest for the next few months.
After washing the dishes, Simon left the kitchen and went to the bedroom.
Blocking Janette, who was trying to follow him in, at the door, Simon changed his clothes, came out again, and then said to the woman, "Let's go".
"Go where?"
"Shopping".
Janette immediately became interested, no longer mentioning Simon's lack of progress, and reached out to take his arm, saying, "Are you buying clothes? I can help you, you know. Speaking of which, your taste in clothes is really terrible. But, hehe, little boys like you look good in anything".
"Jenny, can you use a different nickname?"
"Little rascal?"
"Never mind, pretend I didn't say anything".
"Hehe".
The two came outside the villa. Simon pointed to the Chevrolet SUV parked in the open space, and Janette went to the passenger side, even affectionately touching the SUV's hood and greeting it, "H there, big guy".
Simon opened the car door and, hearing Janette's words, helplessly glared at the woman on the other side.
She was truly too provocative.
Leaving their residence, Simon drove Janette around for a whole morning, but basically did not leave Santa Monica, just constantly switching from one bookstore to another.
After lunch in the city, they returned to the Montana neighbourhood.
By the long table under the garden trellis in the backyard, Janette looked at dozens of film-related books piled on the table, such as "Directing Basics," "Film Cinematography Design," and "Editing Techniques." She eyed Simon and the books back and forth several times with a suspicious expression before asking hesitantly, "Little boy, you, you're not going to tell me that the movie is about to start filming, and you just remembered to learn some of these things, are you?"
Simon casually picked up a book, leaned comfortably on a nearby lounge chair, enjoying the afternoon sun filtering through the vine leaves overhead, and nodded, "Yes, otherwise how would I make a movie?"
This was actually a small problem Simon had recently realized.
Simon planned to do a lot of the work on 'Run Lola Run' himself. In that case, he couldn't just tell people that his film production skills had fallen from the sky.
Now, with this pile of books, he could give curious people a somewhat presentable excuse.
Self-taught. So very inspiring.
Janette was the kind of woman who was very pampered and indulged; to put it bluntly, she was very lazy. Normally, her little brain would only turn halfway if it could, never a full circle, but in reality, she was extremely intelligent, which could be seen from the few words Kathryn had shared with Simon previously.
Therefore, after looking between Simon and the books a few more times, she vaguely realized something.
Then she found herself too lazy to think any further on it.
Watching Simon comfortably lean on the lounge chair, she then approached him like a cat, squeezing and rubbing against him. When she realized Simon had no intention of sharing the lounge chair with her, she stormed off angrily.
In less than half an hour, another set of lounge chairs was delivered by the furniture store.
After a wonderful weekend of chaos, the filming date for 'Run Lola Run' was drawing nearer.
At this time, the film's crew had also been fully assembled.
Simon Westeros: Director, Producer; Brian De Palma: Executive Producer; Ron McMillan: Producer; Janette Johnston: Producer; Kathryn Bigelow: Assistant Director; Linda Vargas, Casting Director.
Sandra Bullock: Female lead; Keanu Reeves: Male lead.
Beyond the main creative team, after more than a month of busy work, the film's supporting cast and behind-the-scenes crew were also largely finalized.
So, on September 30th, a new Monday.
Although filming hadn't officially begun yet, Simon's work schedule suddenly became intense.
In one week, Simon needed to confirm too many things.
Costume fittings for the main actors.
Communicating with the confirmed animation studio about the production of the film's animated inserts.
Coordinating the actors' script readings.
Formally submitting a series of street filming applications to the Santa Monica city government.
Renting filming props.
Familiarizing himself with the behind-the-scenes staff.
And so on, and so forth.
With such a busy schedule, Simon's daily rest time was compressed to within six hours.
By the weekend, when other staff began to rest, Simon was still personally arranging the set for Lola's room.
Feeling Simon's professionalism and dedication more and more, the film's main creative team gradually developed a sense of identification with 'Run Lola Run'.
So, when Simon was busy setting up Lola's room in an apartment building in the northwest corner of the Montana neighbourhood over the weekend, Kathryn, Janette, and Sandra, the three women, all came over. Producer Ron McMillan also came over, claiming he was too idle on the weekend and was just purely helping, not needing overtime pay.
To Simon's surprise, the male lead, Keanu Reeves, also came. In their interactions these past few days, Simon realized that Keanu Reeves was interested in his film largely because of the five leg bones Simon had shattered back then.
Although two months had passed, the leg bones of those five young men had still not recovered.
Apparently to avoid too much attention, the five quickly transferred hospitals while Simon was still hospitalized at the UCLA Medical Center, reportedly moving to San Diego, a city in Southern California.
However, this deliberate concealment only made more people interested in what happened that day. At the press conference for Fox's movie "Project X," starring Matthew Broderick, a reporter even boldly asked Matthew Broderick for his opinion on the incident, and the scene was once very awkward.
Simon, however, had completely stopped paying attention to this matter.
After another weekend.
On October 7th, Monday, 'The Butterfly Effect' officially announced the start of filming at Fox Studios.
Simon even specially attended the film's launch ceremony that day.
Immediately after, on October 8th, Tuesday, 'Run Lola Run' also began filming quietly in an apartment building in the northwest coastal area of Santa Monica's Montana neighbourhood.