Made in Hollywood

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In general, the Hollywood film production process is basically divided into five stages: review and development, preliminary preparation, lens shooting, post-production, and sales and distribution. After entering September, "Brave to the Dead Island" is still in the initial preliminary stage of preparation. .

During this phase, Rock Studios had to do a lot of prep work for the actual shoot, hiring actors and crew, setting up the set, picking locations, etc. Duke needed to be involved.

It is absolutely impossible for a director to completely break away from the preparatory work. The work produced by a director who has handed over all the preparation work to others, and who has been enjoying himself in the world, has only one way to go, and there are absolutely no exceptions.

Fortunately, Duke now has assistants with similar ideas. Some work can be handed over to assistant director Zack Snyder and assistant director Sofia Coppola to do, and then aggregated to him for final review, even if this is the case, The three people also have frictions caused by different concepts and thinking in their work, but they are all well limited to the scope of their work.

Reviewing Sophia's schedule and schedule, and reviewing Zack Snyder's scene construction and storyboard illustrations were all things Duke had to do when he was busy. Filming locations, communicating with art director Hannah Serena about the set-up and more.

He also has to audition for several main actors. After confirming that Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage and Christopher Lee will star in three major roles, Duke has to work with the character director to communicate with them about the requirements of the role...

All in all, with the help of the $300 million and continuing worldwide box-office "Speed ​​of Life", Duke has more support from Warner Bros., has more power than he first directed, and also has more Busy.

"Lieutenant Colonel..."

Standing on top of a building near the San Francisco Bay, Duke pointed to the Golden Gate Bridge, surrounded by clouds in the distance. "Can our F-18 Hornet fly under the bridge?"

"Duke, I advise you to give up on that idea."

Lieutenant Colonel Renho, the liaison officer assigned by the Pentagon to the crew, shook his head directly, "This is impossible!"

"It seems that we can only rely on special effects." Duke motioned Sophia beside him to take note of this, and then said to Zack Snyder and art director Hannah, "I want the scenery to be more intense than now, Zach, it is you who said The kind of feeling that is similar to oil painting.”

"It's artificial lighting." Zach Snyder was also remembering Duke's idea, and Hannah on the other side said, "When setting up the scene, I pay attention to thickening and accentuating the color."

"John..."

After snapping his fingers at the director of photography, Duke waited for John Schwartzman to come over and said, "It's autumn now, and it's the most beautiful season of the San Francisco Bay. Starting next week, let your The camera assistants come here every week, and I want a lot of sunrise and sunset views.”

This is Duke's first official visit to San Francisco. Before entering the building, he has taken the deputy director, director of photography, art director, and military advisors and many other key departments to go around the streets of San Francisco a few times. The street to be destroyed in the movie also has a preliminary composition.

The Lieutenant Colonel Renho was both the Pentagon's liaison officer stationed to the crew and the head of several military advisers.

There is no accident. After Warner Bros. submitted the application and the Pentagon reviewed the script, the Department of Defense agreed to sponsor this major commercial film, just like "Life and Death" to the Los Angeles police, "Brave to the Dead Island" to promote the military spirit and the spirit of the military. Patriotism is simply too much to the Pentagon's appetite.

The Pentagon has generously sponsored the film, not only providing the crew with a variety of advanced equipment such as F-18 Hornet and M-16 improved assault rifles to participate in the filming, but also sending a SEAL team to directly star in the film. detachment.

Except for a small amount of labor costs, these are almost all free sponsorships.

In other words, "Brave the Dead Island" is also a typical American theme movie.

Of course, for Duke, the type of film doesn't matter, what matters is whether the film can bring him money.

After leaving the building, everyone came to the pier in San Francisco Bay and took the ferry to the famous Alcatraz Island.

Alcatraz Island, commonly known as 'The.rock', is surrounded by cliffs and deep water, and it is not easy to communicate with foreigners. Therefore, it was selected by the federal government as a prison site. There used to be an Alcatraz Federal Prison, where many well-known felons were held. It was abolished in 1963. , is now a famous tourist attraction in the San Francisco Bay along with the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is also the main place where the story of the film takes place.

"Duke..."

While standing on the bow, Lieutenant Colonel Renho came over and brought up the old topic again, "Can you consider the Pentagon's opinion again?"

"Lieutenant Colonel, the Pentagon has passed the review, indicating that the script is generally satisfactory."

This is not the first time the other party has said it. Maybe the Pentagon also has differences of opinion on the Hollywood Liaison Office. Some people want to make the images of General Hammer and the FBI more positive, but Duke will not give in easily, "The country should treat it favorably. sacrificed individuals."

"The Pentagon has no objection to this subject," said Lieutenant Colonel Renho.

"That's good." Duke nodded, leaning on the railing of the bow and said, "Let's talk about the role."

"General Hammer risked his subordinates being ignored, and Mason, who was used against him, was also a spy who made great sacrifices for the interests of the country. All the main and supporting characters are loyal to their duties, even as the dark side. The FBI Director Womack who appeared, also put Mason in jail to keep state secrets."

"All the characters did not betray their country and responsibilities in the end. Hammer turned the missile at the last moment; Mason just chose to return peacefully after decades of wronging the country; Lieutenant Colonel Anderson knew he would be shot. In the case of killing, he did not lay down his weapon, and he was still trying his best to persuade his opponent to keep the "Naval Oath"."

"As for the two little trash fish who betrayed at the end, is that kind of small role important?"

Looking at Lieutenant Colonel Renho seriously, Duke said seriously, "In my conception, this is a movie without a real villain."

Having said so much, Duke also tried to eliminate the differences with the Pentagon. After all, the free sponsorship provided by the other party allowed him to have more budget to invest in special effects shooting, and as a director who would not stay away from the mainstream film circle, There are many places where he will need Pentagon sponsorship in the future.

The differences are not easy to eliminate. Lieutenant Colonel Renho was temporarily persuaded by Duke and agreed to continue to communicate with the Pentagon's superiors. After landing on Alcatraz, he did not bring up related topics. Instead, he focused on the architectural terrain of Alcatraz, and Duke, a layman, explained in detail how to reasonably deploy troops and how to carry out special operations. These are very rigorous and specialized knowledge, which is why Duke hired military advisors.

It's an entertaining movie, but he doesn't want to make laughably basic mistakes.

Today's Alcatraz is not the original prison, but has become a tourist attraction. After walking around the ground and underground, Duke also discussed the possibility of shooting on the spot with others.

"It's not a big problem on the ground."

According to DP John Schwartzman, “Underground doesn’t have the conditions to shoot on the ground.”

"Yeah." Duke nodded and said to the art director on the other side, "Hannah, I'll leave you to copy and build the Alcatraz underground scene."

The female art director over there gave him a reassuring gesture.

Finally, the group walked into the entertainment plaza of Alcatraz Island, which is quite a wide and flat place. Standing here, you can clearly see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and most of the beautiful scenery of San Francisco Bay.

"Robin..."

Pausing, Duke walked up to the habitually invisible production manager, "The main scene in the film is in Alcatraz, if we put the premiere here in the future, will it be a good publicity boo. ."

"It's really good for promoting the film." Robin Grande nodded in approval, looked around, seemed to be considering the feasibility and cost of setting up a big screen, and said after a while, "There is a certain amount of operability. Sex, I'll talk to Warner Bros about it."

When the sun was in the west, Duke wrapped up his two-day field trip and traveled back to Los Angeles in multiple cars with the crew.

"Are you starting to lose sleep again?"

Seeing Duke resting on the back seat of the car, Sofia Coppola handed over a bottle of energy drink, "Is it too stressful?"

"No..." Duke shook his head, unscrewed the bottle cap and took a few sips, "It's much less stressful than when filming "Speed ​​of Life", but I'm a little tired recently and I haven't been sleeping very well."

"It would be much better to find a woman." Sophia said with a bit of teasing, and took out her mobile phone, "Do you need me to call you?"

"What?" Duke was stunned.

"Naomi Watts..." Sophia pointed to her eyes, "I have no problem here, that woman is your makeshift bed companion, right?"

Duke waved his hand casually, too lazy to pay any attention to her.

"Do you know how Nikolai relieves stress?" Sophia leaned closer, lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "Find a dozen long-legged models and hold carnival parties at home. There are companies in Hollywood that provide this kind of service."

"Have you ever participated?" Duke deliberately ran on her.

"No..." Sophia shrugged and said generously, "But I saw my brothers drive."

"Okay, Sophia. Don't tell these jokes." Duke felt a little better. "Let's turn the topic back to work. Tomorrow, I'm going to interview the pyrotechnician recommended by Uncle Lucas, and I have to play the female role. Held an audition..." (The novel "Hollywood Production" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lucky draw gift for everyone! Open WeChat now, click the "+" sign on the upper right to "Add friends" ", search the public account "qdread" and follow it, hurry up!)