Millennium director

After resting for two days at the Beverly mansion, dealing with some company chores, and arranging the next phase of work, Wu Yuan finally had time to deal with his own personal matters.

He brought the original film of "Painted Skin" to Weta Digital's headquarters and handed it over to them.

In the next few months, Wu Yuan will come to Weta Digital from time to time to check on the special effects production, and hold meetings with the team to discuss specific special effects arrangements to ensure that the special effects produced in the post-production meet his expectations.

The workload is not large, but it is very tedious.

Fortunately, Weta Digital's headquarters is in Los Angeles. When Wu Yuan starts filming "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" later, he can also find time to focus on the post-production without any delay.

In this way, Wu Yuan also started a life on the line every day in Los Angeles, running back and forth between home and Weta Digital.

Although China on the other side of the ocean is enjoying the joyful Spring Festival holiday, Wu Yuan is still busy with work.

Soon, the time came to the end of February.

Wu Yuan's crew flew to Los Angeles from China.

The preparatory work for "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" has basically been completed, and the official actual shooting is about to begin.

Speaking of which, the preparation for this movie was really difficult.

First of all, Disney. Due to the success of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1", Disney's confidence has greatly increased, and they directly want to film the second and third parts together.

This put a lot of pressure on the two screenwriters, who had to write the scripts for the last two movies in one go.

The writers knew that with no changes to the cast and crew, they wouldn't be able to allow the various plots and characters to develop as freely as many Hollywood series.

It has to be like "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings", so that the story is coherent and reasonable.

After a lot of effort, they used the "Fountain of Youth" to write the story of the second part.

When it came to the script for the third part, they only thought of the concept of "the end of the world", and wanted to introduce elements of the Far East and the East India Company, and let Captain Jack take the Black Pearl on a global journey.

However, the script for the third part was stopped by Wu Yuan.

He really couldn't accept the "Sao Feng" in the third part. The Chinese pirates written by foreigners were even stranger than the other two.

Not only that, when writing the script, Wu Yuan also made some modifications and guidance to the script based on his impression of the story of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2".

No way, on the original track, the script of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was polished by the two screenwriters and director Gore Verbinski.

For example, in the minds of the two screenwriters, the sailors on the Flying Dutchman in the second part should be designed to be ghost-like creatures, which is a reference to the legend of the "Ghost Ship".

But Gore Verbinski felt that the "ghost ship" setting was too cliché, so he added a crew that looked like incompletely evolved sea creatures, as well as Davy Jones' octopus face.

Now that the director has been replaced by Wu Yuan, for changes like this, Wu Yuan has to step in and correct them.

Fortunately, with the success of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1", Wu Yuan's voice in the crew has also increased. Now the screenwriter and Disney are willing to give priority to his ideas.

With his intervention, the script of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" gradually became the same as in his memory.

And just because the script is done, it doesn’t mean the movie can be shot.

The next step is casting auditions.

Before Wu Yuan returned to North America, during the filming of "Painted Skin", he connected with the producer and screenwriter online and interviewed the actors together.

After spending a lot of effort, Wu Yuan gathered the actors of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and basically used the dream team.

His production concept for this series of movies is to try to restore the version he saw in his dream without making any drastic changes.

Well, except for the third one.

After settling on the actors, the crew began the long process of making props.

The sequel was a much larger production this time around, requiring a fully functional vessel to be filmed on.

The Black Pearl was built in Bayou La Battle, Alabama, known for its shipyards and shipbuilding experts.

Also built at the same time was the 170-foot-long, 420-ton Flying Dutchman.

These two ships not only have the appearance required by the film, but also have sufficient navigation capabilities and sufficient practical value.

Shipbuilding, landscaping, everything is being prepared in an orderly manner.

The crew also found four tall ships to fill in the background.

The scenes that have been built in the previous game have been severely damaged by three typhoons in the past two years and need to be rebuilt.

In addition, Jerry, the producer, visited the Caribbean coastal countries and chose the small island country of the Dominican Republic as the main filming location for the second part.

The entire preparation work started last summer and took more than half a year to be completed.

Disney even threatened to cancel the project due to rising costs and the unfinished script.

However, in the end, Disney did not do this and compromised. They no longer thought about the second or third consecutive filming and filmed the second one first.

Otherwise, if we really have to wait for the script of the third part and then make the scenery and props for the third part, we probably won’t be able to start filming this year.

Only then did "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" officially launch on February 28.

Compared with the first film in which Wu Yuan was solely the hands-off shopkeeper, in the second film he was more involved. From script creation to casting to the production of various props, he was the one who gave the nod and personally designed it.

Wu Yuan is also more concerned about this movie than the first one.

If in the first part he was just a tool man, then in the second part, he can say that he is really the father of "Pirates of the Caribbean".

This project has truly become his signature work.

February 28th.

California, Los Angeles, Disneyland.

The crew's first day of filming took place at Disney Studios in Los Angeles, and included interiors of the Black Pearl and another ship featured in the film.

The first day of filming was relatively simple and boring, but everyone on the crew was very interested and enthusiastic.

And there were many fans watching the shooting.

It is impossible for Disneyland to close the park directly for the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean". It would be a waste of money. They only temporarily closed the Pirates of the Caribbean park and lent it to the crew for filming.

This will also allow visitors to Disneyland in the next few days to add a novel experience and watch the movie filming live.

"Kayla, smile happily, you are going to marry Will!" Wu Yuan was sweating profusely, holding a walkie-talkie and roaring behind the monitor.

The crew of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is much larger than that of the previous film.

There are more than 400 crew members alone, and with some temporarily recruited staff, at least 600 people work for the crew.

Even though each of these people has a supervisor responsible for their management, Wu Yuan, who is the central coordinator, still has to deal with a lot of things and catch up on filming.

For him, the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was also a big challenge!

Seeing how he was sweating profusely even in the heat of Los Angeles at the end of February, you can see how tired he is and how many difficulties he has encountered.

"Depp, shit! You can't stop being dedicated just because you're famous!"

With another curse, Wu Yuan stood up from the director's chair, pointed at Depp's nose and cursed: "If you continue to be so careless, I will ask Disney to replace you!"

"Don't think that Captain Jack is really in love. At worst, I won't make this movie!"

Depp, who was wearing a Captain Jack Sparrow costume, felt a little aggrieved. He really wasn't acting big, he was just a little distracted.

But seeing Wu Yuan's face full of anger and his attitude that if you dare to talk back, then you won't be filming today, Depp had no choice but to swallow his aggrieved words.

"Director, my fault." He forced a smile.

Staring at him angrily, Wu Yuan picked up the walkie-talkie: "Every department is ready, let's do it again!"

There were more than 400 people in the crew, but no one dared to offend the director, so they quickly silenced and moved quickly.

"Act 2, shot 3, shot 2, start!"

Compared to filming the first part, the second part was obviously much more difficult.

Wu Yuan also understood why many well-known directors said it was very difficult to film sequels.

Not just because sequels are often larger in scale than their predecessors, with more investment, more staff, and bigger scenes, making coordination exponentially more difficult.

It's also because the actors are often a little distracted after the first part became famous.

Speaking in human terms, it is not as obedient and easy to use as before.

Even Keira, a young and sensible girl, was obviously not as dedicated as she was in the first film when it came to filming.

During the filming of the first film, she said that when she got into the water, she would get into the water and she could stay in the water for a whole day. Even if her contact lenses were washed away, she would not complain.

During the filming of the second part, when entering the water in the studio, Keira would complain that the water was a bit cold, and she needed an assistant to bring hot water and a blanket immediately.

Although this was a normal situation, Wu Yuan looked a little uncomfortable.

Keira is pretty good, at least she will do it honestly no matter what Wu Yuan asks her to do, and at most she will just complain a few times.

Depp is different, this guy is really floating.

When I was filming the first film, in order to perform well in the role, I pulled out my teeth and took the initiative to have my teeth filled with gold.

When it came time to film the second part, he no longer had to extract teeth, but instead made gold patches to fool around with.

Forget it, the most troublesome thing for Wu Yuan is that Depp's presence on the set was huge, with seven or eight assistants surrounding him without saying anything. During the actual filming, he would also put forward some so-called "opinions" from time to time. .

What's your opinion? Actually, I just want to change to a more relaxed shooting method, or just be lazy.

At first, Wu Yuan could still discuss things with him, but after a few times, Wu Yuan's temper got worse.

As a director, you don’t have a good temper.

When he cursed angrily and even threatened not to film, Jerry, the producer, came forward and convinced Depp to be honest.

After the next filming in the Los Angeles studio, everything went smoothly, and Wu Yuan regained the feeling that the crew had the same control as when filming the first part.

However, he did not enjoy this success for long.

In mid-April, the crew completed the studio shooting in Los Angeles. After finishing most of the interior shooting of the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman, it was time to move to the Caribbean.

When we went to St. Vincent to shoot the scenes of Port Royal and Tortuga in the film, everything went smoothly. We had filmed these two places in the first film and everyone had experience with them.

But when the crew moved to the neighboring Dominican Republic, the difficulties began.

There are 600 crew members, and more than 400 people were hired locally in Dominica for filming needs.

For this small Caribbean island, more than a thousand people gathering together is quite a scene.

The country's government was unprepared for the arrival of a Hollywood production.

On the first day on the island, the huge production team of 600 people occupied 90% of the roads on the island, causing traffic jams on the island.

Moreover, the roads on the island are in disrepair and are full of potholes, making it very inconvenient for vehicles to move around.

What's even more unfortunate is that the local weather is still very bad, with torrential rains and hot temperatures alternating.

The main filming on the island was some of the battles on the island and the chase scenes in the forest in the second half of the film.

This adds insult to injury for the actors.

"This damn weather." Wu Yuan, who was wearing a raincoat and hiding under a shed made of banana leaves, cursed and complained to Jerry.

But Jerry had already expected this. While adjusting his raincoat, he said calmly: "Daniel, this is the Caribbean, a place where the weather is unpredictable."

"You have to adapt, we have to stay here for another two months."

"I'm more worried about the fact that we might be over budget than I am about the weather."

Frowning, Jerry said helplessly: "It's such a waste of money to film here. Do you know how many bills I've received these days?"

"On important shooting days, the catering department has to prepare three meals a day for 780 to 840 people."

"Breakfast alone requires 1,100 to 1,500 eggs, 100 to 160 pounds of bacon, 80 loaves of bread, 50 pounds of sausages, and more than 10 boxes of fruit."

"Except for some fruits and some eggs that can be purchased directly locally, most things have to be flown directly from the United States."

"Damn it, if the local cassava hadn't been so delicious, I don't think I would have accepted spending this money!"

"And this is just the beginning."

The more he talked, the more distressed Jerry felt.

"Do you know how distressed I was when I saw that list of project data?"

"We were filming in the Dominican Republic and needed 475 cell phones, 200 walkie-talkies, 550 boxes of clothing, and 178 barrels of smoke-generating materials!"

"The sound effects team also prepared more than 6,000 batteries, and the props department prepared 460,000 feet of rope!"

"Even you requested 400 miles of film!"

"Just to prepare and transport these things here, the crew used more than 10,000 one-way tickets for transportation!"

“This doesn’t even include meals that we directly charter planes to transport!”

"Oh my god, we will spend at least $90 million more on this sequel than the previous one!"

Jerry didn't care at all about the local heavy rain. What he cared about was that every extra day the crew stayed in the Dominican Republic would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!

"Daniel, even if it rains heavily, the crew cannot stop work!"

Jerry wiped the rain off his face and said fiercely: "Let's change the script!"

"Change some of the forest chase and fight scenes into rain scenes!"

"Depp took my $20 million plus 5% of the global box office!"

"This money is not that easy to get!"

"Isn't it just a little heavy rain? It won't kill anyone!"

Good guy, you are ruthless as a producer, you will do anything to save money.

Wu Yuan actually has no objection to this, and he is also a little unhappy when he sees Depp now.

"I think this is a good suggestion."

The two looked at each other and smiled.