Made in Hollywood

In an interview with "Vanity Fair", Duke once said that he can play arbitrarily for films under the investment level of tens of millions of dollars, because he has such commercial value, but large investments and large productions cannot be willful and must comply with The current market rules and mainstream audiences’ viewing needs.

And Duke also had to admit that Japanese-style culture has more market value than Chinese-style culture in today’s North America. The Budokan is designed to be Japanese and it is easier to be accepted by the audience. In fact, there is only this place in the film from beginning to end. Obviously foreign-style architecture.

The reason is obvious. If too many non-Western elements are added to the film in this era, it will inevitably become a niche movie!

Perhaps someone will mention the only big box office in North America, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" with a distinctive Chinese style, not to mention the core of the film, the long screening period and only more than 10 million US dollars of investment. It is impossible to deny the fact that this is a niche movie, and a large number of theaters that have been shown in North America are close to the Chinese and Asian communities.

If several large-scale Chinese-style scenes appear in the screens of The Matrix, you can imagine how serious the damage to the overall cyberpunk style of the film is.

To put it not exaggerated, "The Matrix" is here, and it is not impossible to become a niche movie.

Duke didn't want to be Quentin Tastino, making a niche film that only pleases Hong Kong-style film lovers.

"The Matrix" is a commercial movie with big investment and production. It must meet the tastes of mainstream audiences and add some inexplicable things that are not recognized by the North American market today. That is not innovation, but self-digging.

Let alone Duke, think of James Cameron.

Why is the king of the world in the movie where the ship and the man are such a big investment? Adopting those two vulgar and unremarkable stories? He really can't write a more suitable script? People who have watched "Terminator 2" would not think so.

James Cameron chose two old scumbag stories because this is the safest way. The prince and Cinderella, the poor boy and the rich girl are the themes most talked about by the audience, and the two films are high in value. The investment determines that they are the safest and most suitable for the taste of the public without arousing the disgust of the vast majority of viewers.

No one can guarantee that a film will be sold completely, Duke cannot. Spielberg can't, and James Cameron can't, but the first-line directors are all aware of the fact that if they want to make a commercial film, the possibility of failure is unlimited.

Commercial films are not experimental films after all.

After the first two days of shooting, the crew was divided into two. Zach Schneider took Keanu Reeves and others to Sydney to shoot on location. Duke left behind John Schwarzman who was at odds with Schneider. The increasingly mature Ben Watts was sent to him. And he himself continued to stay at Warner Studios, not only supervising Yuan Heping’s remaining action scenes, but also like his action team, trying to learn what is useful to him.

In the next few days, Trinity's fighting scenes were shot in the studio.

Charlize Theron wears a tight-fitting bright black leather jacket. According to a specially designed movement routine, the advantages of long legs and thin waist are fully demonstrated in the lens. And compared to Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne, because they have practiced ballet. Charlize's balance ability is even better, and the wire hanging is much better than the previous two.

Moreover, this set of movements is dominated by leg attacks. It can be said that Charlize's vase function has been exerted to the limit at this stage, especially when Charlize Theron's gun is combined, when using the inverted cross, it is simply beautiful.

"I didn't disappoint you, did I?"

Take advantage of the time to rest. Charlize Theron found Duke behind the monitor. "Am I doing pretty well?"

"well!"

Although the shots were taken without any processing, Duke felt that Charlize Theron could completely kill another Trinity.

Just the talent cost, she completely overwhelmed the heroine who Duke had forgotten her name.

"tired?"

Seeing Charlize knocking gently on the heel of his high-heeled leather boots. Duke pointed to the chair next to him, "Sit down."

After Charlize Theron sat down, his feet were completely off the ground.

Sexy beauties wore high-heeled leather boots to fight and run on the screen. They are often seen in commercial movies. They look beautiful and eye-catching, but these shoes are not suitable for actual combat at all, let alone real hands-on, even if they are. When shooting a movie, the heroine wearing shoes is often miserable.

But Duke just glanced, but didn't say anything, this kind of suffering is just normal for Hollywood stars.

Seeing Duke flipping through the picture taken just now, Charlize wisely chose to be silent. One hand gently brushed the short black hair, but he did not dare to use force to avoid messing up the hairstyle. I have gradually adapted to how many blood blisters I have worn. As long as I think about the possible big sales of future films after the release, this bit of suffering is nothing at all.

When Duke finished his coffee cup, Charlize Theron asked, "I heard that the film will be released in May next year?"

"Yes."

Although the news has not been officially announced, it is no longer a secret in the crew. Duke put down the coffee cup, turned his head and smiled and asked, "Why, can't wait? Sally, as long as you can stay where you are today during shooting, I It is guaranteed that even if the film fails, you can become popular."

"How could your film fail?" Charlize first gave a big smile, and then said, "I'm a little worried. I learned from the agent that we have strength a week before and a week after the release date. Strong big productions are released, like DreamWorks’ US$85 million cost of "Crash of Heaven and Earth" and Sony Columbia Pictures’ US$150 million investment of "Godzilla."

"It's okay." Duke shook his head. "My dear, that's a summer file. Every weekend is a hot schedule. There are summer weekends that are completely spare before and after the weekend? It's better to stagger the release of these two films. In the past, commercial films were released together on Memorial Day."

How many weekends are there in the summer vacation from May to July? How many movies does Hollywood produce in a year suitable for summer vacation? Competition is actually inevitable.

And the summer file is nominally until the end of July, but in fact everyone knows that after the Independence Day period, the effect of the summer file weekend will decline to a certain extent, and the audience who have been bombarded by large-scale commercial films for two months, not only The waist bag will deflate a little and cause aesthetic fatigue.

According to the tradition of North American files, unless it is a special film like "Independence Day", large productions with higher investment and hotter effects will often appear earlier in the summer file, especially at the beginning of the summer file.

The market is hungry and saturated. Since the concept of summer files was formed, March when the Oscars ceremony is held and April after the awards season is officially over are the dullest schedules of the year, and there is no hot spot now. In the spring file, it is said that big investment films will not be released in these two months. The lack of heavier films for two consecutive months will cause hunger in the market, and then the films will be blocked in the first few weekends of May. If it is not too bad, it will be a direct beneficiary of this hunger.

In fact, looking at the entire North American film history, it is not difficult to find that in mid-to-early May, which represents the beginning of the summer vacation, there are always many blockbuster films released together.

This can be said to be one of the most intensely contested periods of the year.

Of course, all summer films wanting to sell well will face fierce competition.

Although there was DreamWorks’ "Clash of Heaven and Earth" before, and Sony Entertainment’s "Godzilla" later, Duke has never been afraid of competition, as he said to Charlize, even if it’s another weekend. There are wolves in the past and tigers in the back. Since the film chooses to be released in the summer, competition is inevitable.

And this weekend has an advantage. According to the information provided by Warner Bros. Doug Walter, at least in the movies released on the same weekend, Duke did not find his impressive name, nor did he invest more than $50 million in a major production.

Although it has not yet entered the new century, commercial films accounted for more and more of the box office in the first week. Avoiding collisions with competitive films on the same weekend is a priority for various distribution companies.

After chatting for a few more words, Charlize took the initiative to leave to touch up makeup. Duke walked behind the camera and discussed with Yuan Heping about the progress of the shooting. It didn't take long for Trinity's action scenes to start shooting again.

Perhaps it’s from Africa. Charlize Theron’s **** figure hidden under tight leather jackets and natural wildness, like a female leopard from the African savannah, and she has done a lot of modeling and ballet training. He is flexible and soft enough to complete a few high-leg kicks himself, and his effort is also commendable.

There may be shortcuts to Hollywood-style success, but there are absolutely no shortcuts to hard work, and Hollywood-style success lacks the support of hard work, which often means slipping to failure at a faster rate than success.

At the end of the day of filming, Duke did not plan to work overtime, and the Star Wars crew at Fox Studios prepared a media party. Due to the good relationship between Duke and Lucas, the other party also invited "The Matrix" as a main performer. Officials attended.

Of course, this way there will be more celebrities and more eye-catching. It is a mutually beneficial activity.

Packed his own things, picked up the briefcase set aside, Duke habitually wanted to call Tina Fei, only then remembered sending her back to North America, so he shook his head and walked outside the studio.

After not taking a few steps, there were slightly heavy footsteps behind, Charlize Theron seemed to be really tired, and heavy footsteps followed.

"Can you take your ride back to the hotel?" she asked.

The two crews lived in the same hotel, and the hotel where the party was held was also in the hotel. Naturally, Duke would not refuse and nodded, "Let’s go, go back to take a shower and change clothes soon." (To be continued...)