Made in Hollywood

In a manor in the beach area of ​​Malibu, the garden was newly decorated with ribbons and balloons flying in it. Countless guests walked around, sending gifts and blessings to a girl with long golden brown hair. The girl laughed very sweetly. He looked very happy, as if he was actually celebrating his birthday.

It's just a few cameras on the periphery, proving that this is just a scene.

"Hurricane Rescue" was officially launched in Malibu in mid-November. The crew rented a villa from Nancy Josephson. After some decoration, the filming of the first scene began-Kim Mi's birthday party.

Although this is the first scene and I have been ng it a few times before, Duke’s team is basically old people who have worked together for more than ten years. Whether it is the orientation of the camera or the props and settings, they know his style very well. Some problems can be easily solved in a few sentences.

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

Then, he gave the actress who played Jin Mi a thumbs up, "Amanda, very good, keep in shape!"

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 blonde hair, ran over to thank her and went to touch up her makeup.

She can become the heroine of the film, which was decided by Duke himself.

When the partner recommended it, Duke didn’t care at all, but when he participated in the second audition for several roles, he saw Amanda Seyfried’s performance and makeup effects, although the acting skills were not discussed. How good it is, but the appearance is quite pleasing, so this little actor is only eighteen years old. Become the lucky one.

The performance of the other party did not disappoint Duke. In the two shots taken at the start, she did a good job. There were problems with her a few times and it had nothing to do with her.

"John, the first machine is adjusted to the garden entrance!" Duke stood up. He shouted at the camera crew, "David, your No. 2 camera is moving and shooting. Pay attention to capturing Miss Ryan's facial expression."

The crew quickly adjusted their positions and prepared to shoot the next scene. Duke went to the makeup crew and looked at the makeup effects of Meg Ryan and Liam Neeson. Several makeup artists followed. His old man for many years knows what makeup is needed in the current scene.

Duke nodded in satisfaction. Going back to my director's position, I waited for a while, and when I got a report from each department that I was ready, I was told to start shooting.

""Hurricane Rescue", scene one, scene three." Chang Ji stood in front of the main camera holding the Chang Ji card, "Now!"

The scene is not difficult. The retired agent Bryan comes to attend her daughter's birthday party. There was a dispute with his resentful ex-wife.

In fact, the whole film is an old Hollywood routine. For example, behind every Hollywood hero, there is bound to be a family that is in trouble and even broken.

These are very vulgar, yet prosperous, and they are also the favorite sections of mainstream audiences.

Liam Neeson is the first actor to be identified. Over the past few months, he has often exchanged roles with Duke. It's easy to grasp, but Meg Ryan, who is used to playing Sweet Sister, is a bit unsatisfactory.

"Cut!"

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

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

The role is not difficult. After the makeup artist touched up the makeup, the filming started again. Because of the position, Duke called a stop and the crew adjusted a little. During the third filming, he called pass.

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

Then came a scene of Amanda Seyfried riding a horse. This young actress did not use a stand-in. For the previous two weeks, she had been learning horse riding for a circus that lasted only a few minutes, and she was just riding in the garden. , Without the lens of a galloping horse, the difficulty is hard to say.

The garden that took two days to build can be dismantled as garbage after only half a day.

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

Although there was no large-scale publicity campaign before the filming started, Warner’s public relations department, like the Duke’s Studio and Penny Kellys, is keeping an eye on the upcoming awards season, but this is after all Duke’s new work. It is impossible not to attract media attention, and Warner Bros. also prepared a press conference.

This was a small press conference, but the influx of journalists was as many as a hundred people, enough to witness Duke's appeal to the media today.

After more than ten years of hard work, with the great success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Duke has stood at the highest level in Hollywood and even the world's directors. Directors who can stand at this level are all in Hollywood. You can count by hand.

The emergence of the Internet, a new media medium, also determines that the director can no longer hide behind the scenes like before.

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

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

As soon as the questioning session of the press conference began, a reporter immediately asked, "Or is it the type of crime?"

"It's true." Duke thought for a while and said, "Last year, I had traveled around the world. I heard people mention such an incident in Paris. There was a person in that city who hid his true identity. A criminal gang that forcibly takes away young women, and then these girls will be taken to a luxury villa near Paris, where they will be auctioned off."

Another reporter asked, "Your new film is adapted from the case."

"No, what I heard just gave me some inspiration." Duke said as simple as possible. "After I heard other people’s descriptions of these events, I realized that this very attractive real case Through the transformation of dramatic techniques, a compelling crime story is produced, which not only includes some conventional techniques that action movies have always followed, but also combines real hot scenes and close combat duels..."

The action element is undoubtedly a major aspect of the film. On the second day of the press conference, Duke began shooting an action scene.

The action scenes of "Hurricane Rescue" were designed by his action director Jimmy Carter. This old-fashioned Hollywood action director, starting from "The Matrix", has been stealing from Yuan Heping, borrowing from the filming methods of Hong Kong-style kung fu movies and using Hollywood Combining a variety of well-known fighting elements from around the world with advanced technology and a set of action routines that are easier to accept by North American audiences.

These action routines eliminate the traditional cumbersomeness of Hollywood, get rid of the cumbersome and fancy of Kung Fu, and knead into Muay Thai and free fighting. The effect is fast and simple, sharp and direct.

In the studio of Warner Studios, Duke was standing in a shooting location that was arranged as a dilapidated factory building, giving Jimmy Carter and Liam Neeson his final instructions 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 promised, "We have practiced many times. Don't worry, Duke."

For the action scenes in the film, Duke will hand over to Jimmy Carter to take the shot. If the final result is satisfactory to him, the other party will definitely become the action director of the Batman trilogy.

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

Batman uses close combat combined with ninjutsu. Duke will certainly not be a light and elegant type. The action routine is still based on realism, but it will be improved appropriately.

All Hollywood-style action scenes are extremely incoherent. They are basically divided into countless pieces. Duke spends most of the time sitting in the director’s chair looking at the monitor and rarely expressing opinions. Jimmy Carter passes by Years of painstaking research, although a little far from Dacheng, it has also formed its own characteristics.

The filming here is the last time the agent Brian went on a mission before he retired, and it was Duke's opening scene for the film.

The movie that used to be, unlike the typical action movie, the opening rhythm was very slow.

Whether it’s in Hollywood or in Hong Kong in the East, the opening of an action movie will inevitably have a scene that can attract the attention of the audience. This movie, perhaps once a French director, has a slow rhythm after the opening, although This is indeed different, but it is by no means a good start.

After so many years, it is not unreasonable that action movies have maintained the opening and will have a wonderful play.

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

In previous films, the slow pace at the beginning has actually had a great impact on word-of-mouth and box office. It can only be said that even commercial directors, French commercial directors have a different thinking.

-(To be continued...)

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