director of the millennium

In fact, Rachel McAdams has nothing to do in the scenes in Kathmandu, as her main scenes are all in New York.

However, she was very happy to join the crew early and travel with the crew to multiple locations for filming.

Apart from anything else, the exotic scenery of Kathmandu alone is worth her special trip.

However, when the official shooting started, she had nothing to do. The scenes in Kathmandu mainly revolved around Stephen Strange who was injured in a car accident and came here to seek treatment. Then he met Baron Mordo, and under his guidance he met the Ancient One, and then stepped into the mysterious realm.

Several actors who had roles to play got up early in the morning to do their makeup, and then started today's filming on the streets of Kathmandu.

The first scene was mainly shot with Stephen Strange, dishevelled and looking for Kamar-Taj aimlessly on the streets of Kathmandu.

This scene is not complicated, and it is just right to use it as a warm-up for the first scene.

Even during the filming, Wu Yuan still had time to chat with Wang Xueqi and tease him about his makeup.

At this time, Wang Xueqi had already done a set of makeup that matched his identity as "Ancient Mage", mainly white beard and hair, and a retro white robe with some mysterious and incomprehensible runes painted on it.

This is the image of the Ancient One in the comics.

It’s no wonder that, with the help of the makeup artist, Wang Xueqi has managed to restore the comic image quite well.

In addition, to Europeans and Americans, Asians all look similar, and Wang Xueqi can definitely fit the image of the Ancient One in the minds of most Marvel comic fans, making them exclaim that the degree of restoration is very high!
"Teacher Wang, this outfit suits you very well."

"Sage-like."

Sitting in front of the monitor, Wu Yuan was checking the material that Benedict Cumberbatch had just shot while chatting with Wang Xueqi who was sitting next to him waiting for his turn.

It was also the first time that Wu Yuan saw Wang Xueqi in his costume.

Generally speaking, before filming a movie, when selecting actors, they will first let the actors wear the prepared costumes and take some makeup photos to see if they are suitable. Then, based on the makeup photos, they will consider whether to adjust the makeup, or simply replace the actors if they are not satisfied.

For example, the final makeup photo of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange was taken several months ago, and it was only after Wu Yuan personally reviewed it that it was finally confirmed that he would play the role.

But Wang Xueqi didn't experience this. After Wu Yuan called and invited him to star in the film, he was immediately cast. Even Marvel and Disney on the other side of the ocean did not hesitate and fully trusted him.

Now it seems that there is no problem with this trust. After putting on makeup, Wang Xueqi is fully capable of doing the job and even looks like she has walked out of a comic book. There is no need to worry at all.

Wang Xueqi himself was worried that he would not act well. Even when he was waiting for the performance, he was holding Marvel's "Doctor Strange" comic in his hand and reading it. He was even reading the original English version because there was no Chinese version of this thing. There were Chinese translation groups on the Internet, but you can't expect an old man who is almost 70 years old to read comics on a smartphone. It is a torture for both the operation and the eyes.

The reason why I read the comics instead of the script is because the script does not provide much description and background of Master Ancient One.

In the movie "Doctor Strange", the role of the Ancient One is basically a guide NPC for newcomers. He guides Stephen Strange into the magic world, teaches him a lot of things, then says a lot of confusing and mysterious words, and then dies, forcing Stephen Strange, who has just left the novice village, to fight against the world-class boss Dormammu.
No matter how many people later analyzed whether the Ancient One's death was fake, analyzed the difference between the Ancient One in the movie universe and the comic universe, and discredited this character in various ways.

Anyway, in the movie, the Ancient One pretended to be cool in front of Stephen Strange when he first met him, but then he was basically invisible throughout the whole movie, and there was no plot of his mental journey or character transformation. So in order to play this role well, Wang Xueqi could only read the original comics and try to get a deeper understanding of the Ancient One from the comics, so that he could perform the connotation of the "shallow" character in the script.

Compared to the pale movie, the Ancient One in the comics is not only more impressive, but the character's background image is also very complete, with a lot to explore.

But even director Wu Yuan didn't care too much.

After all, in the movie, Ancient One is really just a novice guide, and he can finish filming after completing his own guiding work.
Later in the movie universe, his only appearance again was in the final battle. When the Hulk took a time machine back to the New York battle node, he was stopped by the Ancient One for a heart-to-heart talk.

This character is not important in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and there is no subsequent story to continue.

Perhaps this is also the reason why Marvel and Disney so readily agreed to Wu Yuan's invitation to Wang Xueqi to play the role.

As an actor who has worked with Wu Yuan many times and is somewhat famous in Hollywood, Wang Xueqi's participation can not only bring more Asian box office to the film, but also will not affect the subsequent development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So what is there to refuse?

"Teacher Wang, don't put too much pressure on yourself." Wu Yuan shrugged and said in a relaxed tone: "With your acting skills, it will be easy for you to play this role. It doesn't matter whether you read the comics or not."

"It's okay, this comic is pretty good." Wang Xueqi shook the comic book in his hand and said with some emotion: "I didn't have much chance to read comics when I was young, so now I can make up for the regret."

"Okay." Having said this, Wu Yuan naturally had nothing more to say and devoted himself to the filming.

In the afternoon, Wang Xueqi came on stage and began filming the scene where the Ancient One and Stephen Strange met.

Just as Wu Yuan said, Wang Xueqi, who has been working in the acting industry for decades, really managed to play such an easy role with ease. Just by showing off his skills slightly, the effect was even better than that of the original female Ancient One.

After all, as a Chinese, Wang Xueqi actually knows better how to play such unfathomable roles as "Bodhi Patriarch" and "Sweeping Monk".

Professional counterpart belongs to yes.

Over the next few days, filming went very smoothly. The crew even went to the Himalayas to shoot some snow scenes, as well as a scene where the Ancient One took Stephen Strange to the snowy mountains to eat snow.

Wu Yuan didn't know whether this part of the original version used special effects or real shooting, but he chose real shooting. Benedict Cumberbatch was really thrown on the snowy mountain, wearing thin clothes and blowing in the cold wind for several hours, until his nose turned red.

In this way, the crew successfully completed this part of the play after ten days of filming in Nepal. Originally in the movie, the Nepal scene was just an introduction.

Soon, the crew packed their bags and moved to London to shoot the scenes in the London Sanctuary.

This time the filming was faster, and it was completed in just one week in London. The crew moved to New York again and began filming the story of Stephen Strange before the car accident and after he returned from Kamar-Taj.

The heroine Rachel finally appeared and began filming her scenes. (End of this chapter)