"Happy Birthday!"
"...Me?"
"Hey, Anson, happy birthday."
"Thanks, but today isn't..."
"Happy birthday, wow, nineteen years old. God, I'm so jealous of your youth."
"Come on, how old are you, twenty? Are you already feeling old? Does Steven know you're like this?"
The whole crowd burst into laughter, with whistles and applause, making the filming set lively and vibrant in an instant.
"Catch Me If You Can" had begun shooting.
On February 9, 2002, the original start date was set for January 8, but casting delays forced the schedule to be pushed back. However, Steven realized they couldn't afford any more delays. Each day of delay was a burden on the entire crew.
So, with a command, the crew worked overtime to speed up preparations, finally beginning shooting before winter left New York.
The key scenes in New York all took place in winter, and Steven needed the real East Coast weather—rainy, icy, and snowy—to cooperate.
To be exact, the film had been shooting for ten days now, and the experience was unlike anything Anson had ever encountered. Steven Spielberg was a director who meticulously planned every detail before shooting—from the camera angles to the lighting and even the performances. But the real purpose wasn't just to ensure that nothing went wrong.
"This is a film, not a play," Steven had said.
All the discussions and planning were meant to ensure that everyone knew exactly what they were doing when they stepped onto the set—what the tasks were, what the goals were, and what the procedures were. Then, they could use their professional expertise to adapt to the on-site conditions and complete the shooting, all within the planned framework.
Detailed, meticulous, thorough, and comprehensive.
This approach made the entire crew work like a well-oiled machine, a completely new experience for Anson.
From the very first day of shooting, the crew hit the ground running, working in harmony and moving quickly, showcasing Steven's expertise as a veteran director.
Based on his past experiences in "The Princess Diaries" and "Spider-Man," Anson thought it might take three to five days to complete certain scenes. But Steven managed to finish them in just one afternoon, without cutting corners and maintaining high quality. This also set high expectations for the actors—especially Anson.
Not only did he have a lot of scenes, but they were also crucial. Anson's performance often determined whether the crew could maintain its efficiency.
The pressure was immense.
So far, Anson had managed to handle the pressure, and the shooting had gone smoothly. Before he even had time to get used to the atmosphere on set, they were already on the last day of shooting in New York. Next, they would head to Los Angeles, then to Quebec and Montreal, covering all of North America.
However, the last day of shooting didn't mean it would be easy. On the contrary, the first ten days had all been light scenes, saving the most challenging scenes for the end. Steven needed to ensure that the crew had fully gelled so they could tackle the most difficult shots in their best condition.
Everyone could feel the pressure.
Early in the morning, Anson arrived at the set, groggy, at a residential building in Queens.
Dilapidated. Withered. Desolate.
Though not quite a slum, it wasn't far off. After Old Frank's final attempt to secure a loan from the bank was rejected, they were officially bankrupt, forced to leave their house and move into a small 40-square-meter apartment in Queens, barely scraping by.
For the past two days, the crew had been filming in this apartment.
People thought Anson might not adjust well because he looked like a kid who had never known the taste of sorrow. But to their surprise, he adapted very well.
If Anson were to tell them that in his past life, he and his mother had once curled up at the apartment door, under a bridge, or on a McDonald's bench to get through long, cold nights, they might not believe him. Compared to those places, this run-down apartment—with at least a roof and four walls—was already a luxury to him.
But just as he arrived at the apartment, Anson noticed something odd with the crew. Birthday?
Anson's birthday was in November, long past. Lucas had even gone out of his way to throw him a birthday party in Los Angeles, gathering friends to celebrate him being one step closer to the legal drinking age of twenty-one. The party's unique theme was... a ban on all alcohol.
Anson still vividly remembers James Franco's look of despair, forcibly subdued by Lucas. How could he forget his own birthday?
So, what was going on here?
Ahead, Anson spotted Steven Spielberg. "Steven?"
Before Anson could ask, Steven had already caught on. "Don't ask me, it was Tom's idea. He said it would help you get into character."
With a playful shrug, Steven raised his hands. "I don't know about acting, but I need today's shoot to go smoothly, so... happy birthday."
Then, Steven patted Anson on the shoulder. "Congratulations on being an adult."
Adult?
Seeing Steven's mischievous smile, Anson couldn't help but sigh, "Nineteen. Even if it's a fake birthday, at least get the age right..."
Steven shook his head lightly. "No, sixteen." He nodded again. "Sixteen."
With that, Steven turned and went back to his preparations for the shoot.
Anson couldn't help but laugh—
This morning's scene was indeed about young Frank's sixteenth birthday, involving a conversation between him and his father, which explained the birthday surprise.
In the U.S., compared to birthdays like eighteen or twenty, sixteen represents the age at which one can get a driver's license, and twenty-one the legal drinking age. These milestones are often seen as more significant.
On reflection, Anson guessed that Tom Hanks must have picked up on something. Although they hadn't yet had any direct scenes together, Tom had probably been observing him and noticed Anson's efforts at method acting. So, Tom had set the stage to help him get into character.
And it worked... remarkably well.
Even though Anson knew it wasn't his birthday, the illusion became reality—at least to some extent—when three people, ten people, or even a hundred people repeated the same lie over and over.
Before he knew it, Anson slipped into the mindset of young Frank, recalling his own twenty-fifth birthday in his previous life.
"Anson, happy birthday."
A passing voice called out, and Anson no longer resisted. He instinctively smiled and looked over, "Thanks."
Then, he saw Old Frank.
More accurately, it was Christopher Walken, fully dressed in costume.
Having made his Broadway debut in 1964, Christopher was a seasoned actor with solid fundamentals, commanding the Hollywood stage for over forty years. While he had never been the absolute star, his unique personality consistently shone on the big screen.
His outstanding performance in "The Deer Hunter" earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and he appeared in films like "A View to a Kill," "Pulp Fiction," and "Sleepy Hollow."
At this moment, Christopher paused for a moment, glancing at the bustling crew and then at Anson, who still bore traces of early-morning drowsiness. His smile froze slightly.
"Hey, Junior, happy birthday."