Made in Hollywood

In a manor house in the Malibu beach area, the garden is newly decorated, with ribbons and balloons fluttering in it, and countless guests walk up and down, giving gifts and blessings to a girl with long blond brown hair. The girl smiles especially sweetly. He looked very happy, as if he was really celebrating his birthday.

It's just a few peripheral cameras, proving that it's just a play.

"Hurricane Rescue" officially started in Malibu in mid-November. The crew rented a villa of Nancy Josephson. After some arrangements, the filming of the first scene began - Kimmy's birthday party.

Although this is the first scene, and it has been NG a few times before, Duke's team is basically an old man who has worked together for more than ten years. Whether it is the camera position or the props and scenery, they all know his style very well. Some problems can be easily solved in a few sentences.

Duke sat in the director's chair under a palm tree, looked at the girl on the monitor, nodded slightly, and shouted, "Cut!"

He then gave the actress who played Kimmy a thumbs up, "Amanda, great, keep it up!"

When it's time to praise, Duke will not be stingy with his words of praise. For these young actors, encouragement is sometimes more effective than reprimand.

"Thank you, Director."

Amanda Seyfried, with long blond hair, came over to thank her, and then went to touch up her makeup.

She can become the heroine of the film, it was Duke personally finalized.

Duke didn't take it to heart when the partner recommended it, but when he participated in the second audition for several roles, he saw Amanda Seyfried's performance and makeup. He is excellent, but his appearance is quite pleasing, so this young actor who is only eighteen years old. became the lucky one.

The performance of the other party did not disappoint Duke. In the two shots of the start-up shooting, they did a relatively good job. There were several problems with NG, and it had nothing to do with her.

"John, Unit 1 is adjusted to the entrance to the garden!" Duke stood up. Shouted to the camera crew, "David, your No. 2 camera moves to shoot, pay attention to capture Miss Ryan's facial expressions."

The crew quickly adjusted their positions for the next scene, and Duke walked over to the makeup crew to see how Meg Ryan and Liam Neeson looked after their makeup. Several makeup artists are old people who have followed him for many years, and they know what kind of makeup is needed for the current scene.

Duke nodded with satisfaction, returned to his director position, waited for a while, and received the report that all departments had prepared. Notification to start shooting.

""Hurricane Rescue", the first scene, the third act." The field recorder stood in front of the main camera with the field record card, "start now!"

This play is not difficult. Retired Agent Brian arrives at his daughter's birthday party and gets into an argument with his resentful ex-wife.

Actually the whole movie. They are all old Hollywood routines. For example, behind every Hollywood hero, there must be a problem or even a broken family.

These are very vulgar, but enduring. It is also a favorite of mainstream audiences.

Liam Neeson was the first actor to be confirmed. In the past few months, he has often exchanged roles with Duke, and it is easy to grasp it, but Meg Ryan, who is used to playing Sweet Sister, is a bit unsatisfactory.

"Cut!"

When the camera showed a close-up of Meg Ryan's face, Duke immediately called to stop, "Meg, you are playing an ex-wife who still has resentment in her heart. Put away your smile, this role is not a sweetheart!"

"Sorry, Duke." Meg Ryan rubbed her face lightly. "I'll be able to adjust it soon."

The role is not difficult. After the makeup artist has done the makeup, the shooting starts again. Because of the position, Duke called to stop again. The crew made some adjustments. In the third shooting, he called to pass.

This is a very pure action commercial film. Duke's requirements for actors' performances are not strict. This is also his consistent style. After entering Hollywood until now, except for "Chicago", most of the actors who have appeared in his films are under pressure to perform. Not too big actually.

This was followed by a scene with Amanda Seyfried riding a horse. The young actress had not used a double, and had spent the past two weeks learning to ride for a circus that lasted only a few minutes, and had only been riding in the garden. , Without the footage of the galloping horse, the difficulty is not much.

It took two days to build the garden, and it took only half a day to dismantle it as garbage.

In the middle of the afternoon, Duke announced the end of filming, but today's work will continue.

Although there was no massive publicity campaign before the film started, and Warners' PR department, like Duke Studios and Panney Kelly, was keeping an eye on the upcoming awards season, it was Duke's new work after all. It is impossible not to attract media attention, and Warner Bros. has also prepared a press conference.

This was a small press conference, but hundreds of reporters came in, enough to testify to Duke's appeal to the media today.

After more than ten years of hard work, Duke, with the great success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has stood at the highest level in Hollywood and even in the world of directors. The director who can stand on this level is one in Hollywood. You can count by hand.

The rise of the Internet, an emerging media medium, also determines that the director can no longer hide most of his body behind the scenes as before.

The press conference was arranged in the small square in front of the manor villa. Everything was very simple, and Duke answered some reporters' questions as simply as possible.

"Duke, it is said that your new film is a story about father and daughter?"

At the beginning of the question-and-answer session of the press conference, a reporter immediately asked, "Or is it the type of crime?"

"It's true." Duke thought for a while and said, "Last year, I traveled around the world, and I heard someone mention such a thing in Paris. Gangs who take young women forcibly and then take them to some luxurious villa in the suburbs of Paris, where they are auctioned off."

Another reporter asked, "Your new film is based on the case."

"No, what I heard just gave me some inspiration." Duke said as simply as possible, "After hearing other people's descriptions of these events, I realized that this very attractive real case can be completely Transforming through theatrics to produce a compelling crime story that incorporates some of the usual routines that action movies have always followed, combined with real sizzle and hand-to-hand combat..."

The action element is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the film. On the second day of the press conference, Duke started an action scene shooting.

The action scenes of "Hurricane Rescue" were designed by his action director Jimmy Carter. This old-fashioned Hollywood action director has been stealing from Yuan Heping since "The Matrix". The advanced technical means, combined with a variety of well-known fighting elements around the world, have developed a set of action routines that are more easily accepted by North American audiences.

These action routines eliminate the cumbersomeness of Hollywood tradition, remove the tedious and garishness of kung fu, and incorporate the fierceness of Muay Thai and free kickboxing, showing the effect is fast and simple, fierce and direct.

In the soundstage of Warners Studios, Duke stood in the set of the filming set into a dilapidated factory building, giving Jimmy Carter and Liam Neeson his last words before shooting.

"This is the opening action scene, and the final edited plot will not be very long. Therefore, you must use all the essence of your action routine in the shortest possible time."

Jimmy Carter nodded heavily and assured, "We've practiced many times, don't worry, Duke."

The action scenes in the film, Duke will be handed over to Jimmy Carter to take the shot. If the final effect can satisfy him, the other party will definitely become the action director of the Batman trilogy.

In the previous trilogy, although the fighting style used by Bruce Wayne was a bit too clumsy, it was also out of the need for realism in the film, but Christopher Nolan was really not good at action scenes.

Batman uses close combat combined with ninjutsu. Duke will definitely not make it into a light and elegant type. The action routine is still mainly realistic, but it will be improved appropriately.

All Hollywood-style action scenes are extremely incoherent, and are basically divided into countless pieces. Duke spends most of the time sitting in the director's chair watching the monitor and rarely expresses his opinion. Jimmy Carter passed by After several years of concentrated research, although it is still a little far from Dacheng, it has also formed its own characteristics.

The filming here is Agent Brian's last mission before his retirement, and it's the opening scene that Duke finalized for the film.

That movie, unlike typical action movies, had a very slow opening.

Whether in Hollywood or in Hong Kong in the East, an action movie must have a scene that can catch the audience's attention at the beginning, and this movie, perhaps once a French director, has a slow rhythm after the opening, although It's a little different, but it's by no means a good start.

After so many years, it's not unreasonable that action movies have been, are, and will continue to have a wonderful opening scene.

Although the most moving thing in the film is the strong fatherly love, what really attracts people to watch is the action element. This is an action film for action fans. I want the audience to sit there and watch after the opening, not because of the slowness. The rhythm of the exit, and the spread of negative word of mouth after the exit, the opening action scene is essential.

In the past films, the slow rhythm at the beginning had a great impact on word-of-mouth and box office. It can only be said that even for commercial directors, the thinking of French commercial directors is different.

-(To be continued ~^~)

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