Johnnie To is one of the few Hong Kong film directors Eric prefers. If Bai Gewu formed his own set of violent aesthetics through the great success of "Hero itself" that year, because of the great success of "Hero itself", then Johnnie To formed a mature and distinctive personal style after the exploration and training of dozens of movies. His film has a set of black philosophy that combines elements such as coldness, violence, fate and tragedy.

"Dark War" is one of the few movies in Johnnie To's works that are free and easy and comfortable. If you evaluate this movie from the perspective of an ordinary audience, the most common word must be one word: cool! This is the main reason why Eric chose this movie.

At the same time, this was also an Arik bold attempt. He wanted to see if such a movie that did not exist in Hollywood history would be successful.

In my memory, many Hollywood movies have become famous in the next ten years. It is very difficult for Eric to seize food from those giants, especially after others know that he is watching a movie. There are actually not many big movies that have no copyright ownership, if you try to shoot according to the current progress, you may have finished filming in two or three years.

Of course, this is also a very safe attempt. First of all, the story of "Dark War" is very exciting, and it has been recognized by two big names, Cruise and Hanks, which shows that this story does not have the problem of the tastes of the East and West audiences.

Secondly, the two male protagonists launched by Eric are now very box office guaranteed. Tom Cruise has just experienced the success of "Rain Man" and his popularity once again reached a small peak. Tom Hanks was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor with the "Flying Over the Future" last year. In addition, Eric's box office appeal accumulated by his previous films and this cool script, according to the analysis of the Columbia Data Department, it is very easy for this movie to win a box office of 100 million US dollars in the summer.

On April 5, in a large studio of Columbia Pictures, "Dark War" officially started filming. The first thing to shoot is a series of indoor scenes. This time Eric did not intend to shoot in chronological order as last time "Wind and Moon".

The images of the two protagonists in "Dark War" are very distinct, without any changes before and after. One is smart and capable, the other is evil and wise. As long as you can get into the role smoothly, there will be no big problems no matter which scene you start shooting. Therefore, Eric determined the shooting process from simple to traditional and from the inside out.

In the ward, Andy, played by Cruise, still got off the bed without changing his face and started dressing slowly after learning that his condition had worsened.

“How long will it take?”

"In four weeks, if you bleeding internally, you will die at any time." The energetic doctor sat behind the desk and replied in a hoarse voice.

Andy's dressing movements did not stop at all because of hearing the bad news. After tying up his belt, he handed a dozen bills to the doctor: "It doesn't matter, just give me four weeks of painkillers."

After taking the painkiller, Andy finally put on her coat and was about to leave. The doctor who seemed to be feeling a little moved said, "I don't think we will meet again."

"It's only this life," Andy replied calmly.

"Card!"

This scene was completely completed. Eric shouted a pause, neither saying 'Good' nor 'No-Good'. He sat behind the monitor, frowned slightly as if thinking about something. Although he had been discharged from the hospital, Eric still had bandages on his head and occasionally had headaches. However, after several repeated examinations, no problems were found, and Eric was no longer nervous.

There is nothing strange about Cruise's performance, and it can be easily completed with his acting skills. Later, this scene will be combined with Andy's shot on the rooftop, using montage techniques for mixed cutting, and also using fast and slow motion processing techniques. There will be two quick and slow motion switching in just two shots.

The reason why he did this, and the nervous dubbing was mixed with the clatter of the second hand, was to subtly embody the audience a hint of the passing of time. Andy had only four weeks of life. After a few short expressions of the words of the lens, it would arouse the audience's nervousness and curiosity. What would he do in the remaining four weeks?

The staff present were all old teams who Eric had worked with several times, so they saw Eric getting into this kind of thinking more than once during the shooting process, so everyone tacitly did not disturb him, tidily sorted out the instruments, and patiently waited for Eric to come back to his senses.

But after waiting for a minute, Cruise finally felt a little impatient. He felt that there was nothing wrong with his performance just now. If possible, then pass. If not, Cruise felt that he didn't mind doing it a few more times. What's going on now?

"Hey, Eric, how was the camera just now? Do you need to start over?" Cruise finally couldn't help but walk to Eric and gently pushed the other person.

Eric felt a figure suddenly appear beside him. Because in the studio, all the lights were artificial. When Cruise appeared next to Eric, he just blocked a headlight behind him, forming a faint shadow in front of Eric.

shadow!

Eric suddenly raised his head with some awareness, saw Cruise's expression, and explained: "Sorry, Tom, I was distracted from thinking about some problems."

"It's okay," Cruise smiled generously: "How was that camera just now? Do you need to start over?"

"I'm afraid we have to do it again," Eric replied, "Will you wait a moment?"

Cruise shrugged and stepped back, watching Eric calling the light maker for instructions, and then the lights at the scene began to be slowly dimmed, no longer the scene that had just simulated the sunlight. Eric stared at the monitor and waited until the light was adjusted to the point where he felt satisfied before the light maker stopped.

"OK, all the staff are ready, let's do it again in the camera just now," Eric said loudly.

After a while, the recorder walked up to the front and hit the recorder board, and the shooting began again.

Eric stared at the scene of Andy and the doctor on the monitor, secretly comparing this shot with the rooftop shot of the reason in his mind.

This shot is used to illustrate Andy's current situation in the movie, and it is very similar to Andy's memories on the rooftop. After watching this, the audience will even have a misunderstanding that Andy wants to jump off the building, and may even think that this may be a flashback movie. Andy spent four weeks to fulfill all his wishes, and then he was unlucky, climbed onto the rooftop of the building and jumped down.

Since it is used for illustration and memories, Eric felt that the light in the original lens was too bright, exactly the same as Andy's light on the sunny rooftop. It cannot give the audience any sense of difference, so the expression effect is much worse.

It’s not Eric’s complaint that the use of lighting in Johnnie To’s movies is like the three axes of Bai Ge Wu. Apart from the common high contrast and stage-based approach, there are not many tricks. This aspect is strong with the same personal style, but the use of lighting and color is of master level Wong Kar-wai is completely incomparable. Of course, Wong Kar-wai is taking the art film route, and the movies of the two must not be compared.

After solving the light problem, Eric began to focus on Cruise's performance. There was no place to play in this small scene, and Eric had no intention of picking. If Cruise's performance could bring unexpected surprises, then he was of course very happy. If he couldn't, he wouldn't be disappointed. As long as he met his personal standards, it would be fine.

Anyway, the opportunity has been given to Cruise. Whether he can get nominations on this movie or even win some performance awards still requires Cruise’s own efforts. What Eric values ​​more is the box office of this movie.

As for the Oscar prospects depicted in order to convince Cruise to agree to dress up as a man and dress up, haha... didn't all directors and producers say so when they fooled the actors into joining the group? Eric didn't feel guilty at all. He was more concerned about the box office of the movie. After all, he is so young now, and his desire for Oscars is not very strong, and burying himself into making money is the bottom line.

The theme of the movie "Dark War" is certain, but only God knows whether it can win the favor of the Oscar judges. If you think about it carefully, maybe there may be more PR. In addition, Hong Kong movies have declined in 1999 and not many outstanding films, Andy Lau was able to realize his long-cherished wish to be the emperor of the Academy Awards for many years.

After just NG two or three times, the shot passed, and the crew began to move to another room in the studio. This process took more than half an hour. The time spent on a movie was not really used for shooting lenses, and most of the time was spent on long-term scene arrangements.

Most of the scenes in the past two days are Cruise's one-man show. He will examine Hanks's role as Sean in his room, make women's clothing, vomit blood while drinking, and disguise himself as Andy's father Peter confronts the villain.

Although there is an original movie in my mind, Eric still designed some additional shot scenes so that there is enough material for post-production. After all, this is already a brand new Hollywood movie, and Eric could not have produced exactly the same as the one in his memory.

According to the shooting plan, this process will last for three days. The fourth day will be a group scene with Hanks and others, and then an indoor rivalry between Cruise and Hanks will appear. Eric is looking forward to that moment. The two superstars in their previous life have no intersection on the screen at all, which has to be said to be a pity.

Because the filming time of this movie was abundant, the crew finished work in eight hours and ordered the deputy director to send the shot materials to the editing room. Eric left in a hurry. In addition to the movie, he had more things to do than others. The later stage of "Dark War" also needs to wait until the movie is completely closed before it will be carried out.

The initial casting work for "Far Crying the Island" and "Smelling the Scent of the Scent" has been completed, and he still needs to finalize the casting of the cast. Moreover, he also needs to pay attention to "Steel Magnolia" filmed far away in Louisiana from time to time.

"Steel Magnolia" has been filming for a month, but with Mo Jijin, the old Hollywood film director of Herbert Ross, the filming progress of the film has only been less than halfway through. It will take at least one month to close the mirror next, and post-production will take at least one month.

Moreover, this movie may even have the risk of overspending. Eric is happy about this incident. "Steel Magnolia" is not an independent investment in Fireflies. There was a three million yuan in funds brought by Herbert Ross alone.

Therefore, Eric didn't mind investing another one or two million in the movie to expand the Firefly share. Eric is waiting for Herbert Rose to ask for money now.

"Hey, Eric, your head injury is okay?"

Back at Firefly's office, Eric met Jonathan Demi who had been waiting here. Jonathan's face could be seen with obvious fatigue, but his tone was still full of energy.

"Thank you for your relationship, Jonathan, it's much better, has the information been brought?"

"Here, I have screened out dozens of alternative actors according to your requirements, but I am exhausted." Jonathan said with a smile.

He is indeed the most tiring person these days. Everything is because of "Far Crying the Island". Because there are two young actors in the script, and being stimulated by Stewart Langkel, Fireflies have successively received more than 5,000 young actor files.

Many children who sent files had no performance experience at all, but many parents sent their children's files to the fantasy of getting rich overnight like the Langkell's family.

There are also fake archives. Some unscrupulous parents deliberately fabricated lies that their children made guest appearances in certain movies or TV series. The staff had to spend a lot of time confirming the authenticity of these archives. In this case, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to identify potential young actors.

Eric had thought of relying on the memories in his mind to directly find those children with potential.

However, the difficulty of operating such a thing is probably greater than screening out potential small actors among 5,000 people.

Although Eric's mind completely copied the memories of his previous life, he still didn't know a lot of information he didn't know. If he casually said the name of a famous Hollywood star in his later generations, perhaps the staff could find hundreds of children with the same name and surname in this country. Westerners are notorious for naming them without creativity.

He took a dozen thick file bags handed over by Jonathan Demi, which not only included the alternative list of the two children in Far Cry, but also three servants, the real Victor family, Grace's husband and other actors.

Although Eric had already made Jonathan decide on several not-so-important supporting roles, he still had to take a look at them himself.

The first thing I opened was the information about two more important little actors. Eric took a look at the list of ten little boys and was surprised to see the name of Macaulay Culkin, but the other nine boys didn't recognize them.

I went straight to Carlkin's information. Although I didn't have "Home Imposses", the boy still has experience in participating in two movies, which also explains why the other party appeared on this list. I directly pulled out Carlkin's information, and Jonathan glanced curiously: "Eric, do you like this boy?"

Eric shook his head directly: "No, this one has been eliminated."

"Well, I think this boy named Macaulay Culkin is the most striking of the ten children..."

Eric couldn't tell Jonathan that he didn't want Macaulay Calkin to be too famous as he had in his previous life. Although "Far Cry" could not bring fame as "Home Imperial", the impact would definitely not be too low.

The best choice is to keep Macaulay Calkin in a state of not being very good at participating in one or two movies from time to time. When the boy becomes an adult, he can also choose his future path independently.

Now I will pick up the boy, and his weird parents will definitely make a series of tricks to destroy the poor boy just like they did in their previous lives.

"Jonathan, you forgot that Nicholas, the boy in Far Cry, has a dull personality. Looking at the boy's big eyes in the photo, I feel that he is too clever, so it won't work."

Jonathan followed Eric's thoughts and found that it was indeed like this: "Okay, I really overlooked this."

Eric continued to look through the information about the remaining nine boys, suddenly raised his head and stared at Jonathan Demi sitting opposite him and asked, "Jonathan, do you know these children?"

Jonathan Demi's eyes dodged a few times, his face turned slightly red, and finally nodded, and got up and pulled out the information of a boy: "This... this Brian Baker is the youngest son of an actor friend I have worked with before. Sorry, Eric, I shouldn't have done this, but I swear, I will be serious about the interview for this kid before I added it."

Jonathan said, and was about to roll the boy's information into a ball and throw it into the garbage can, but Eric stopped him. After taking the information and carefully looked at it, Eric nodded with satisfaction: "Jonathan, just let him."

"Well, I'm really sorry... Well, Eric, what did you say?" Jonathan came to his senses and looked up at Eric incredibly.

Eric smiled and said, "I mean, just him, you know, I don't have time for an interview now. And, I'm sure you won't be kidding about this movie, right?"

"When...of course," Jonathan nodded affirmatively. This movie is related to his future in Hollywood. Whether he can jump into the dragon gate depends on it.

"So, are there anyone else?" Eric asked again.

This time Jonathan shook his head firmly: "Absolutely nothing, Eric, all the remaining candidates have nothing to do with me."

Eric also made a temporary decision and sold Jonathan a favor. Although he had given him a great opportunity to the other party because of "Far Cry of the Island", Eric didn't mind giving him more without paying anything. Jonathan Demi is a very good potential stock, and Eric has decided to win it over to his own leadership. In addition to the future "Silence of the Lambs", Hanks' first Oscar-winning film "Philadelphia Story" was directed by him.

Since the boy has confirmed it, there is no need to read the following one again. He directly took the file bag containing the little girl's alternative actor to open it.

It seems that Hollywood is really small. This time, two actresses they know appeared.
Chapter completed!