Made in Hollywood

After returning to Wellington, Duke first, together with Charles Rowan and Zach Snyder, reviewed the preparations for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy during this period. the latter part of the above.

Duke's dedicated editor Mike Dawson also came to Wellington, and the two continued to collaborate on the post-editing of the film.

There are very few places where post-production special effects need to be used in this film. The most important thing is the soundtrack, dubbing and editing, especially how to reasonably match the two main lines and one sub-line, so that the scene transitions are natural and smooth. Extremely important.

As a realistic film, the sharp editing must be appropriate, just like in the shooting, there will be a lot of long shots.

According to Duke's plan, the two gangsters, the police officer Michael and his daughter played by Liam Neeson, and the mother and daughter Katherine played by Kate Beckinsale will advance the plot in three lines, and the early plot and actual cases There are huge differences, arguably a typical Hollywood-style adaptation.

In the real incident, two gangsters started robbery in the early 1990s, mainly robbing cash trucks, and shot and killed several escorts in one robbery, and then disappeared until they reappeared later.

In the film, Duke moved the incident to a time period near the North Hollywood robbery, and Katherine's husband was the person in charge of the cash truck, and police officer Michael was one of the police officers involved in the case. After the first meeting, the emotions of their families or characters collided, driving the three lines to move forward, and finally the three lines converged, and everyone concentrated on the Bank of America branch on Laurier Valley Avenue.

Why do you want to do this?

Quite simply, Duke was originally practicing for the multi-line narrative of "The Lord of the Rings", from the beginning of the intersection to the separation and finally to the final collection. It fits the narrative structure of The Lord of the Rings.

How much of this film is true? How much is from fiction? In fact, it doesn't matter. What matters is that Duke uses it to hone himself.

Maybe there are real super geniuses in this world, but there is no omnipotent genius. Duke knows that he has some talent in movies, but he is not arrogant enough to think that what kind of themes and narrative structure of the film, as long as his hands. will be successful.

Although Duke's film is obviously experimental, Warner Bros., as an investor, will not miss the opportunity to vigorously market it. Duke's success has brought them too much confidence.

Doug Walter of Warner Bros. Distribution came to Wellington specifically to communicate with him about the release after Duke determined that all post-production work on the film could be completed by the end of February.

"Duke, we've been discussing your new work for a while now."

In the offices on the Wellington set. Doug Walter looked at the posters of two humanoid monsters with AKs hanging on the wall and said, "In general, two announcements have been made."

"Let's be specific."

Duke has never been the kind of director who makes a film and talks to himself. Even if it is an experimental film, he still adds a lot of elements suitable for the mainstream market - such as family affection with obvious sensationalism and the final popularity. realistic shootout.

It's just that realistic gunfights have had a general response in recent years. Duke also dare not say whether the audience will buy it.

"One is to go the route of normal release."

Doug Walter didn't ask Duke to wait, and said directly, "Limited to the genre and investment, the number of theaters for the film's premiere will not be very high. It may be screened in about a hundred theaters before it can be expanded. But these are all To see the final film, and how we work."

After a short pause, Doug Walter continued, seeing that Duke did not say anything. "The other is to take the film festival route. Warner Bros. can fight for a place for the film to participate in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, and at worst it will be a place for the screening, and then..."

"Doug..." Duke interrupted, raising his hand. "It's too time-consuming to go to the festival. I can't be away from New Zealand for a long time."

"I understand."

This is just the opinion of Warner Bros. After all, Doug Walter has frequent contact with Duke, knows his possible options, and is mentally prepared, "I will contact the theater chain and hold an audition as soon as the film is completed. screening."

The publicity and distribution aspects were naturally handled by Warner Bros. After Doug Walter left New Zealand, Duke returned to post-production on the film.

From stepping into Hollywood to now, Duke has completed a total of six films and accumulated a lot of experience. He was no longer a rookie when he made the first two films. Although the editing of the three-line narrative is more complicated than in the past, it is actually not what he imagined. So difficult.

He is not a rookie director after all.

News from Warner Bros. came back soon. The film is scheduled for March, which is the traditional off-season. Although Warner Bros. has confidence in Duke, it is not blind. The disadvantage of the film, he took the initiative to avoid the big productions released in the peak season, and chose a schedule that commercial blockbusters dismissed.

While he was busy with the later stages of "One Hundred Thousand Fires" and the early preparations for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Duke took advantage of his little rest time to have the head of his investment team come to Wellington to negotiate the next investment.

Rather than negotiation, it was Duke's mandate.

It is now the end of January 1999, and the IT stocks have plummeted. Duke only remembers that it happened at the turn of the century, but he doesn't know the exact year and month. In his vague memory, it seems to be related to the Microsoft monopoly case.

In the news in January, he saw that the federal court was conducting an antitrust investigation of Microsoft, and he estimated that the stock market crash should not be too far away.

What, to sell stocks for profit a few months before the stock market crash?

Even if Duke is not proficient in finance at all, he knows that this is an impossible fantasy, not to mention the unpredictable changes in the stock market. Will the stocks he has been buying over the years just smashing out will trigger a chain reaction? No one can tell.

Long-term, small, stable and planned shipments are relatively safe choices.

Not to mention Apple and Microsoft, it is only the Yahoo stock that has been bought since 1996. After several years of soaring, there is a huge amount of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Apple's stock and shares, Duke intends to hold for a long time, originally purchased for the purpose of preservation and appreciation, and the most important thing to deal with is Yahoo, Microsoft, and several other IT stocks that David recommended.

According to Duke's request, the investment team headed by David must dispose of all these stocks before the dawn of the new millennium.

"As the stock market goes, as long as there isn't a crash, Duke, you're going to get big returns."

In the office, apart from Tina Fei, who acts as a waiter, there are only Duke and David. David said directly, "But holding cash is the most unwise way to manage money. I suggest looking for suitable investment objects."

A suitable investment object?

Google? The problem is that Google has no plans to raise money again anytime soon, and the two founders will certainly limit the stake he can get, which is inevitable.

Who else is there? I vaguely remember there was a Facebook or something, but that should have been a long time ago, right?

It must be stupid to hold a lot of cash, the dollar that is depreciating rapidly, and the holdings of Warner Bros. and Victoria's Secret?

He is now the largest individual shareholder of the two companies. As long as the management of these two companies is not a fool and does not pay enough price, they will definitely restrict him from continuing to invest.

There is also the salary and dividends from "The Matrix" that he received last year. Although it is about to pay the tax season, in addition to ordering a business jet, and according to the ratio of 1:1, and Warner Bros. in the "Lord of the Rings" three In addition to continuing to invest in Qu Zhong, there are tens of millions of dollars remaining in the account.

Now, Duke has discovered one more thing. Compared with those young rich people who spend money like water, his ability to spend money is a little weak.

After dispelling the thoughts in this regard, he told David a few more words. Duke ended the negotiation. David did not stay for too long before returning to North America. The request becomes the final practical action.

After entering February, the crew once again started a large-scale audition, looking for suitable actors for some important roles without fighting scenes. Among them, just looking at the makeup photos of Cate Blanchett, Duke was sure that she would still be Kay. The first choice for Queen Ranchell.

Christopher Lee also came to Wellington. On the basis of being willing to appropriately reduce the salary, the two parties soon reached an agreement that he would play the white-robed wizard Saruman, the speaker of the Holy White Council.

In addition, Duke took a long vacation for the expedition who had been training and their stunt doubles, some of whom had other character contracts to fulfill and the crew had to let go.

Like Gandalf - Sir Ian McLean.

"I'm leaving this afternoon, and I came here to say goodbye to you."

The old man is quite a man. He went to the editing room on the set to say goodbye to Duke. "If you need anything, just call me directly, and I will ask the agent to coordinate the schedule of my two roles."

"Two characters?" Duke felt as though he had overlooked something.

"You've been busy and seem to have forgotten."

Looking at the several editing assistants who were still busy behind Duke, Ian McLean lowered his voice slightly, "In addition to Gandalf, I also took over Magneto from "X-Men".

"X-Men"? Magneto?

After Ian McLean left, Duke immediately cleared his mind and sighed that his vision in investment was really scum!

When investing in the IT industry, I only think about Microsoft, Apple and Google with a little memory; when investing in the film industry, all eyes are on Warner Bros.

He never set his sights further, far back in the era of superheroes sweeping the big screen. (To be continued ~^~)

PS:   I have to go to the hospital today, the manuscript is almost gone, please ask for a monthly ticket and a recommendation ticket for comfort~