hollywood melon man

Chapter 493 Dark Cuisine
"The Tale of Immortal" is not the only hot movie in July. At the end of July, "National Treasure", produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz, was released.

Although Cameron Diaz has gradually transitioned to behind the scenes, he now serves as the second producer of "Batman Begins".

But occasionally he still takes on one or two films to satisfy his cravings. The heroine of this "National Treasure", which is also a role of repaying a favor, was played by Cameron Diaz.

Since working with Gilbert Jr. in "The Rock", Nicolas Cage has become an alternative representative of action movies.

He doesn't have the explosive muscles of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, but his tough face still brings a lot of toughness to an action movie protagonist.

Together with Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise, he completely changed the Hollywood action movie model of focusing on muscular men.

Only then did the audience realize that an action movie actor can act well even without explosive muscles.

Later, Keanu Reeves gave a wonderful performance in The Matrix series, performing Chinese Kung Fu, while Tom Cruise started to perform action stunts in Mission Impossible and never looked back.

On the contrary, Nicolas Cage, although he has starred in several good action movies, has not established his own clear style.

The failure of "Windtalkers" and recent financial problems have led Nicolas Cage to start taking on random roles in order to pay off his debts.

Sofia also complained about Nicolas Cage to little Gilbert, saying that she had lent him a lot of money and had never paid it back.

But this "National Treasure" is a good project, after all, Gilbert's woman also starred in it.

The film grossed $5336.8 million in its first week, which was a very good result and also allowed Nicolas Cage to get rid of the gloom of the failure of "Windtalkers".

"Nicolas asked me to thank you." Cameron Diaz followed behind Gilbert Jr. and said to Gilbert Jr.

"Thank me for what?" Little Gilbert asked curiously.

"He thanks you for recommending this movie on social media, otherwise it wouldn't have such a good box office."

Little Gilbert shook his head and said, "I recommend this movie entirely because of you. If you hadn't participated in it, I wouldn't even mention it."

"Hehe, then I want to thank you." Cameron Diaz was very happy to hear this.

After the film's promotional period ended, Cameron Diaz flew directly to Iceland to find Gilbert Jr. to fulfill his duties as the second producer.

The location chosen was Vagna Glacier in Iceland. Although it was August, we still had to wear down jackets to keep warm in the high latitudes.

Walking on a hillside, Gilbert pointed to the ice field below the mountain and said to the director of photography John Schwartzman: "We may need some large equipment to come in. I want to get a panoramic view of this ice field.

On the other side of the mountain, build a village and a monastery."

Cameron Diaz got into the swing of things quickly: "The local government promised that as long as the crew moved in, they would cooperate in building a simple road.

However, local environmental protection organizations protested, believing that our coming here to film would damage the local glacier environment. "

"Donate some money to them and tell them that we will protect the local environment." Little Gilbert was too lazy to argue with environmental organizations and just gave the money.

Generally speaking, if money is given, environmental protection organizations will not make things difficult for the crew. This is also one of the unspoken rules.

On the way back to the hotel, the jeep that Gilbert and his group were riding in encountered strong winds, which might have affected the filming conditions.

However, the local guide said there was no problem, the real windy season was later, and as long as the crew finished filming before mid-November, there would be no problem.

The hotel where Gilbert Jr. and his friends stayed also had a hot spring. During their break, Gilbert Jr. took Cameron Diaz to experience it, and the effect was quite good.

The local food is also very distinctive, such as a hot spring lamb dish that utilizes geothermal resources, which Cameron Diaz loves very much.

The mutton is just the right amount of fat and lean, has little mutton smell, and is very juicy. Put the mutton in the geothermal cave and let it cure for several hours to create a delicious dish.

Paired with sauce, baked potatoes, vegetables, etc., it can be said to be a feast.

In addition to lamb, Iceland's local lobster is also good. Use a small fork to dig and dig, and see the milky white and tender shrimp meat, which makes your mouth water.

Put it in your mouth and take a bite, the chewy and delicious taste of the shrimp meat is released in your mouth, it is so delicious!

There is also lobster bisque, which is the key word, condensing all the essence of lobster. Locals like to eat lobster with butter bread, a mouthful of soup and a mouthful of bread, perfect.

Little Gilbert himself likes this dish very much, and plans to invite Xingzi, Lily and the others to come and learn from him.

The dishes that impressed little Gilbert the most were those dark dishes.

I remember when we checked into the hotel, little Gilbert asked the guide what local delicacies we must try, and the guide recommended fermented shark meat.

It's true, little Gilbert loves to eat. He has tried all kinds of delicacies from land and sea, street snacks, and even eaten insects, but he has never eaten shark meat.

So out of curiosity, he ordered this thing, and it was not cheap.

But after serving it, little Gilbert immediately regretted it because it was too smelly. Canned herrings were nothing compared to it. How to describe the smell? It was like the stench of a toilet that hadn't been cleaned for several years. It could be called a smell biological weapon!

In addition, there is another dish that Cameron Diaz likes to order for little Gilbert.

When ordering, Cameron Diaz even joked that this was a gas station for men, and asked Gilbert to eat more and replenish himself. Gilbert was so angry that he taught Cameron Diaz a lesson in bed that night, making her unable to get out of bed.

This dish is lamb eggs, commonly known as lamb kidneys in China.

The Chinese way of cooking is grilling, using lots of seasoning to get rid of the fishy smell of goat eggs. However, the local Icelandic way of cooking is darker, focusing on the original flavor.

When little Gilbert tried to put this horror into his mouth, the smell of mutton rushed straight into his nose. When he ate it with gritted teeth, he felt that it was more stimulating than eating it raw.

After eating it once, little Gilbert said he refused to accept this dark cuisine.

Fortunately, except for a few kinds of dark dishes, little Gilbert can accept other foods, including ice cream of various flavors.

Icelanders have a special liking for ice cream, and this is the kingdom of ice cream.

If Scarlett came over, she would definitely love to eat it.

Gilbert Jr. had a good time in Iceland. After inspecting the location, he negotiated a contract with the locals, stayed with the set crew to build the scene, and then returned to North America.

After returning to Los Angeles, there was still a lot of work for Gilbert Jr. to do.

The first thing is the training status of the actors. Christian Bale is in good training condition and his weight is slowly decreasing.

If I lose a few more pounds, I can put on the bat suit.

Christian Bale chatted with Gilbert Jr. in his spare time. He realized the transition between Bruce Wayne and Batman very early on.

So when I speak, I deliberately cultivate a way of speaking with two voices.

At work, he speaks in a rougher voice, imitating Batman, and in life, he speaks in his natural voice, imitating Bruce Wayne.

There are many benefits to working with excellent actors, and this is an advantage. The actors will naturally understand the role without the director's guidance.

Of course, this requires maintaining communication with the director to prevent your understanding of the role from deviating from that of the director.

After reading the script, Christian Bale had a very good understanding of the role, but he still had many questions to discuss with Gilbert Jr.

"I've read the script over and over again these past few days, and I found that the protagonist is much more complicated than I thought."

"What kind of superhero movie did you think this was, Chris?" asked Gilbert Jr.

Christian Bale replied: "I thought it was something like the Spider-Man series, and the story might not be too complicated."

Although Spider-Man 2 achieved quite good box office, its reputation among audiences was actually just so-so, not as good as its predecessor.

This is normal. Sequels usually show an arithmetic progression of decline. It is rare for sequels to get better and better, except for a few movies such as the "Lord of the Rings" series.

But one thing you have to know is that the "Lord of the Rings" series was filmed in one go, and the second part was not filmed only after the first part sold well.

It's normal for Christian Bale to feel this way, but after reading the script, he found that Gilbert Jr. had put more thought into it.

Gilbert Jr. said, “Chris, you can think of this movie as a police film, not a superhero film.

Think about it, does everything Batman does resemble that of a vigilante? "

"It is," Christian Bale agreed.

“There’s a saying that in the eyes of Americans, they are Superman, but in the eyes of others, Americans are actually Batman.

In the comics, Batman often acts as a vigilante, catching bad guys everywhere."

There is one more thing that little Gilbert didn't say. What is the definition of good people and bad people? Nowadays, it is all defined by Americans.

After a conversation with Gilbert Jr., Christian Bale had a better understanding of the script and the theme of the whole story, which was helpful in his performance.

The other actors joined the crew very smoothly. After all the actors joined the crew, Gilbert Jr. held a script reading meeting and allowed the actors to express their thoughts on the script.

Script reading sessions are a common practice in Hollywood, with the goal of making actors more familiar with the script and allowing directors and actors to have early contact and communication so that both parties can get to know each other.

"Batman Begins" is not a simple superhero movie. If this movie is shot in the conventional way, there is a high possibility of failure.

This was the focus of the actors' discussion. Everyone thought the film's overly realistic style was great, but they were worried that the audience would not accept it.

(End of this chapter)