In downtown Los Angeles, where there are many high-rise buildings, a street about 500 meters long near the Santa Monica Expressway has been blocked, and no external vehicles are allowed to enter. From 8:00 in the morning, a large number of shooting equipment began to be unloaded from trucks remove.
The nearby residents have become accustomed to the stationing of film crews. This is Los Angeles, and countless film crews start up every day. Because this road is not too prosperous, but it is located among high-rise buildings, many film crews will be here. framing.
But this time there are obviously more people watching, not only because this movie includes two well-known superstars Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, but also because of the director Eric, many people have seen the living director However, there are only a few young directors who have made great achievements before the age of nineteen, so it is not surprising that people have aroused strong curiosity.
There are many paparazzi with cameras hanging on their chests among the crowd around the street. I hope to take some valuable photos. Even if you can’t take some breaking news like an accident in the crew, but if you can take a few close-ups of the leading actors , is also worth a day of waiting.
"Are the extras in place?" Eric asked next to the three yellow taxis as he watched the camera crew install cameras on the front of the cars and asked towards his assistant.
"Fifty people have all come here. Royce asked me to ask you, do you want to start preparing?"
"According to the plan, let the group performers familiarize themselves with their positions first, and let's take a few street scenes first."
"Well," Allen responded, and then said: "By the way, people from the community agency said that we must open this street for an hour at noon. The reason they gave was that the flow of people would be relatively high during that time. Big, need to pass this street."
Eric rubbed his forehead in distress. This is purely looking for trouble. Noon is not the off-duty time. How much can the flow of people increase. But he doesn't want to deal too much with these difficult organizations, anyway, the crew also needs to eat at noon: "Reply to them, no problem, we will stop shooting during the hour from 12:00 noon to 1:00 noon to make way for the streets."
After Alan left, Eric turned his attention to several taxis. All three taxis had the same license plate number. This was just so that these details would not appear in the shot. Once the filming was completed, all three cars would be replaced. Return to the original license plate.
Of the three cars, one does not need any treatment, and the photographer will shoot on the co-pilot, while the other two have cameras installed on the front hood and outside the windows on both sides of the rear seat.
Today we will shoot the scene where Sean drives Andy for the first time and wants to send Andy to the police station. The scene in the script takes less than two minutes, but according to Eric’s calculations, if it is completely shot, the accumulated footage will be nearly One hour, so in one day today, if the filming of this scene can be completed, it will be considered smooth.
After all the camera brackets on the taxi were prepared, Eric picked up the walkie-talkie and began to give orders to everyone in the crew. Cruise and Hanks, who had been staying in the trailer, got out of the car at this moment and waited nearby. The long-awaited paparazzi began to press the shutter crazily. There was nothing special about their outfits. Cruise was dressed in black casual clothes, while Hanks was dressed like a courier, wearing a peaked cap and wearing A plain white work suit.
After Eric's brief re-admonition, the two got into the first taxi without any modification, and the first scene was to shoot the exterior scenes of the taxi driving on the street.
Eric walked behind the wireless monitor, took a look at the less than seven-inch screen, and after confirming that the lens light was correct, Eric reconfirmed to the camera: "Alan, the crowd of onlookers have left the shooting area ?"
"All of them have left, and now our actors are in front of the camera in several positions." Alan's voice sounded from the intercom, mixed with the sound of chichi electricity.
Eric had to confirm this. If a face that does not belong to an actor appears on the screen after the production is completed in the future, it will be very lively.
American ensemble actors are also actors, and the price is very expensive, but it is still impossible for Eric to capture the real crowd, not to mention whether the real passers-by will cooperate with the camera lens, even if they do cooperate, the film production will be completed in the future , once someone finds out that they have actually appeared on the movie screen, with American character, they will definitely not have a sense of vanity like "I'm in the movie", they will only contact their lawyers, because their portrait rights have been violated Sue the film crew for such reasons, and if it is pursued, the compensation of 1.8 million US dollars is considered light.
Therefore, although Eric has confirmed it here, after the post-editing is completed, he will organize manpower to conduct a detailed screening of the identities of the characters appearing in the shot to ensure that there are no 'outsiders' who are not actors in the movie. .
So, when you see a Hollywood movie in which the main character walks through a crowded street, don't doubt that even if there are hundreds or thousands of pedestrians in the shot, they must be actors, and they will not appear. Any real passerby.
After Hanks drove a taxi to familiarize himself with the road conditions several times, following Eric's order, the day's tedious shooting officially began.
Eric's eyes were fixed on the monitor, watching the performance of the two people in the car. The dialogue between the two people sounded in the earphones. Although it was not very clear, it was clear enough. This part must be re-dubbed later. But the soundtrack of the movie also needs to be preserved and used as a reference for dubbing.
It was already afternoon, and Eric couldn't remember how many times he had repeated shooting, anyway, there were a lot of ng times. At this time Eric was standing, and the staff deliberately raised the monitor to the position in front of Eric. Although he felt a little tired, Eric had to continue.
Cruise and Hanks have plenty of rest time. Every hour of shooting, the two of them will have a period of rest. The two people in the camera are still in high spirits and do not feel tired at all.
But when they were resting, Eric had to arrange other shots. The shooting time he agreed with the community organization was only today, so many shots must accumulate enough material to prevent problems in the later stage and make up for it.
In the camera, Andy slowly unzipped his jacket, took out his pistol, and asked casually, "Where are you going?"
"The nearest police station." Sean glanced at the rearview mirror, watching Andy calmly slowly screw on the muffler.
Andy looked out the window and smiled: "Are you alone?"
Sean shrugged indifferently: "Enough."
"You don't have a gun, are you afraid that I will kill you?"
"You shoot me." Sean turned his head and glanced, and said, "The car will overturn."
"Yeah, it's dangerous." Andy's relaxed smile didn't change in any way, and he slowly rolled down the window: "If you can send me to the police station, you win."
A pistol with a suppressor stuck out the car window, and Andy pulled the trigger without hesitation.
When the camera progressed to this point, Eric yelled to stop, the taxi stopped, Cruise and Hanks got out of the car at the same time, and Nicole, who was nestled in the co-pilot position, also got out with a camera on his shoulders.
After the three left the taxi, the staff of the film crew quickly stepped forward and drove the taxi back to its original location. Many props and vehicles on the road also turned around and returned to the starting point in an orderly manner, waiting for the start of filming again.
Eric told the three of the flaws in the lens just now, and instructed the precautions when shooting again. After everything was restored to its original position, Cruise and Hanks returned to the taxi, and Nicole carried the camera. Then drilled in again.
Soon, another shoot began.
"Dark War" is a movie without much depth. It is a seventy-two-hour contest between a policeman and a robber. When promoting it, it will definitely use words such as plot ups and downs. In the eyes of ordinary audiences, it is indeed true. That's right.
But for Eric, compared to those brain-burning blockbusters in memory, this movie doesn't have any plots that require brainstorming. It's just a cool commercial movie. So when shooting, the acting skills of the two leading actors are not too high, especially the location scenes of this movie, which basically don't require much acting skills, which can be easily controlled by the strength of Cruise and Hanks.
During the month from mid-April to mid-May, the crew spent most of their time in the streets and alleys of downtown Los Angeles, sometimes staying on one street for two or three days, and sometimes finishing all the shots in half a day. All in all, the process can only be described as boring.
After Jeffrey went to England for a few days with the crew of "Small Island", he returned to Los Angeles, and soon flew to the crew of "Scent of a Woman" in New York. As for Firefly's employees, except for the security guards who stayed at the company's headquarters and a few clerks who were responsible for sending and receiving emails and handling daily affairs, everyone else basically worked with Eric's crew. If you ignore the horrific profits of the Firefly movie, this studio is no different from many small independent film companies in Los Angeles.
Although the shooting of the location scene of "Dark War" is very cumbersome, it has not encountered any major problems so far. The shooting progress is basically consistent with the previously set shooting schedule. It is expected that the shooting will be officially closed around May 15th, Colombia The small-scale publicity in the early stage has already started, and scattered news about "Dark War" will appear in the media from time to time.
The market value of Colombia has soared to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars due to the negotiations with the wealthy Sony consortium during this period. The Japanese see Colombia’s stock price rising day by day, and there is nothing they can do. This huge merger involving billions of dollars It is absolutely impossible to complete the case without a year and a half. The media estimated that if everything is settled, the contract will not be signed until September at the earliest. Moreover, even if the acquisition agreement is successfully signed in the end, the subsequent series of handovers will also take time. several years.
Therefore, the box office performance of the summer file became the last opportunity for Columbia to push up the stock price.
Warner originally had two major productions to be released, namely "Batman" and "Lethal Weapon 2", but because "Dark War" was scheduled for July 7th, Warner had to release the film that was originally planned to be released in July. "Lethal Weapon 2" delayed until the end of the year.
In 1987, the box office of the first part of "Lethal Weapon" was more than 60 million U.S. dollars, which was regarded as a big hit. Therefore, the cost of the second part this year has doubled. To recover the cost, the box office must reach at least 100 million U.S. dollars. Now, Warner's executives have no intention of competing with "Dark War", which has Eric, Cruise and Hanks, and took the initiative to postpone the schedule until the end of the year.
As a result, Columbia became the only film giant with plans to release two blockbuster films in the summer. One was released in 1984, and it has been five years since now. As for why Colombia suddenly launched this plan at the beginning of this year, the shooting progress is almost the same as that of "Dark War". The purpose is self-evident. After all, Colombia only has Such a decent series.
"Eric, do you need to recruit some more people?"
In late April, Jeffrey completed the tour of the two crews and returned to Los Angeles. The two met for the first time in half a month. The place was in the meeting room of Firefly at 8 pm. Time to come to the company.
At this time, Eric was looking at the files of "Scent of Scent" and "Small Island" brought back by Jeffrey, without raising his head, he said: "No, wait until "Scent of a Woman" and "Small Island" are completed Afterwards, I will ask Jonathan and Martin to recommend some cast members for Firefly."
"Okay, so, what about the TV series, the one you mentioned... that, "Friends", the time is getting tighter and tighter, and Fox executives have contacted me, hoping that you can provide the script, and they are willing to help with the early preparations. "
Eric smiled. He had already made it clear to Barry Diller that "Friends" would be independently produced by Firefly, and Fox still didn't give up the idea of getting involved. This is also understandable. After all, this is a sitcom with a very low production cost. If it can jointly own the copyright with Firefly, if the TV series is successful, Fox can also prevent Eric from using it as a bargaining chip. It failed, and it was only a few million dollars of investment, which was not painful for Fox.
"Reject them. You see, they came to you instead of contacting me, which means that Fox also knows my character."
Jeffrey hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Eric, you... it's not good for you to do this."
Eric finally raised his head: "Huh?"
"You... are too independent in everything you do. Movies don't allow others to intervene, and TV dramas don't allow it. This doesn't work in Hollywood. Nowadays, even many small-budget movies will bring in many investors to share risks. Sharing profits, this is the orthodox Hollywood survival rule, even though the six major film companies, although the competition is fierce, there is also a phenomenon of cross-shareholding among each other."
"I understand what you want to say," Eric scratched his head: "It's just... maybe it's not the time yet, I will definitely share it with others in the future, but while I can still eat alone now, of course I have to eat more , When other people can't stand it anymore, I'm giving them some."
Jeffrey showed a helpless expression: "Okay, when will we start preparing for "Friends"?"
"Starting tomorrow," Eric said, "I called you here today to discuss this matter. We must start this project as soon as possible. I plan to insert a few scenes from "Friends" into "Dark Wars."
"The scene of "Friends" inserted in "Dark Wars", Eric, are you talking about a pre-roll advertisement? Even if Columbia agrees, it's not worth it, and it may even arouse the audience's disgust."
"It's not a pre-roll advertisement," Eric denied, and explained the purpose of several shots to Jeffrey in detail.
"That's a good idea," Jeffrey nodded, and then questioned: "But it's been less than two months, and you promised Fox to direct the first two episodes yourself, do you think you can complete these? "
Eric shook his head: "No, I don't need to finish shooting any episode, all the ideas are in my head, we just need to determine the characters as soon as possible, complete the set, and then shoot a few interesting clips. "
Jeffrey thinks this plan is very feasible, and he can also see that if the plan is successful, it will have an unexpected publicity effect on "Friends".
"But, Eric, I don't have any experience in TV series production. Maybe you need an experienced TV series producer."
"As I said, I won't let Fox get involved in this matter," Eric spread his hands, "So, Jeffrey, you can only work harder."
Jeffrey showed a somewhat ambiguous smile, with some teasing and ambiguity: "Actually, among the people you know, there is one who has been a TV producer."
Eric turned his thoughts, and soon the pretty face of the little stubborn girl and John Aniston who had met a few times appeared in his mind.
"He... John should be from NBC, and his main energy is still on actors." Eric's first reaction was to resist, father-in-law and son-in-law, these two creatures are naturally repulsive.
Jeffrey said: "But he is more experienced than me. I don't know anything about the production of TV dramas. If I have enough time, I can slowly explore, but you still have such a tight schedule. ,so… "
Eric squeezed the paper in front of him and rubbed it a few times, then nodded slightly: "Then I'll contact him as soon as possible, and if it doesn't work, I still need you."
Jeffrey nodded: "So, actors?"
"Jane's role has been determined," Eric said, "Five more roles are needed. I'll go back tonight and write down the requirements for the role. I will hand it over to you tomorrow. Start casting as soon as possible. This time, the scope should not be too large. , otherwise the interview would be too troublesome, at least there must be an actor with acting experience, I think that if this is the case, the number of people who are willing to sign up will not be as many as the previous films."
"There wouldn't be many," Jeffrey said with a smile: "TV dramas don't have the allure that people flock to like movies."
After discussing things until nine o'clock in the evening, Eric did not leave Firefly's office building. If he wanted to invite John Aniston as a producer, it would be best to go through Aniston, so Eric drove to Aniston's residence .
Arriving at the door of Aniston's apartment, Eric didn't knock on the door. As usual, he took out the spare key from the flowerpot next to the door, but turned the keyhole a few times, only to find that it was locked inside.
It can't be aimed at himself, Eric thought with a wry smile, stuffed the key into the flowerpot, and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" The girl answered faintly, and a moment later, the door opened a crack, and Eric was about to push the door, but found that there was an anti-theft chain strung between the crack. This thing is definitely newly installed. Look at that chain, shiny!
This is definitely for me.
Eric thought so in his heart, but he put his body on the door frame in a posture that he thought he was cool, stared at Aniston, and asked in a very hippie tone: "Niuer, I have been sleepless for a long night, I need a Why is a strong man comforting your lonely little heart?"
"Get out!" Aniston glared at Eric, and slammed the door shut.