"You seem to be under a lot of pressure?" Naomi Watts asked tentatively after touching Duke's wine glass.

Drinking the wine in the glass, Duke shrugged and did not answer her question. Instead, he asked casually, "What about you? Why don't you develop in Australia first? Instead, come Hollywood, which is more competitive?"

"At the end of last year, I came here to attend a friend's pre-marital bachelor party," she took two glasses of whiskey from the bartender and placed them in front of herself and Duke. "Then she stayed in Los Angeles for the time being, and wanted to see if there was a chance. My friend also helped me a little. This is my third movie role, but the first one with lines."

"Maybe you've heard of her." Naomi Watts raised his glass to Duke again, "My classmate at the performance school, Nicole Kidman..."

"It turned out to be Mrs. Cruise."

Taking a sip of the golden wine, Duke nodded, but stopped talking. Using his friends to raise his identity is a common method in this circle.

After drinking all the wine in the glass, Naomi Watts returned to the crowd, Duke's thoughtful eyes kept chasing her back.

"Did you fall in love with her?"

On the other side, there was a monotonous nasal voice. Sofia Coppola pulled over the high chair and sat down, "Then take the initiative."

"Love is a child's trick." Duke turned around and looked at her in anger, "Do you think I'll be distracted by this kind of thing?"

It took him two lifetimes of accumulation to exchange for a rare opportunity today. As long as "The Speed ​​of Life and Death" has not been completed, he will never distract himself from his energy.

If you use more appropriate words to describe Duke today, it is a workaholic!

After a short day of rest, the busy and busy filming started again. Fortunately, the main location is in Santa Monica and Greater Los Angeles, and the crew also avoided the long-distance travel.

The Speed ​​Studio rented a Santa Monica unfinished highway to Long Beach as the main shooting location, and rented hundreds of used cars from three car rental stores, and brought rare advertising sponsorship. A car manufacturer provided four buses for the crew for free.

The value is not very high, but it can always save some money.

In addition, Lucasfilm also showed its profound background. They had already contacted the Los Angeles County Police Department. The police were very interested in this distinctive Los Angeles police promotional video and would participate in the outdoor shooting throughout the whole process.

This can be considered the norm in North America. Congress, the Pentagon, the FBI, the CIA, the Washington authorities and even the public sectors of some big cities have offices or liaison offices that deal with Hollywood, and often participate in the shooting of Hollywood films to promote their positive image.

"Speed ​​of Life and Death" is very in line with the needs of the Los Angeles police. With the title of Lucasfilm, they not only send a SWAT team as the background image, but also provide a variety of equipment including police helicopters. In addition to fuel costs, there are basically no other fees.

This can save the crew a lot of money.

In the next ten days, the crew basically spent the whole process of collision and noise. Several main actors completely retreated to the second line, and most of the time they spent selling faces in front of the camera. The stunt actors and the vehicles they drove were the protagonists in front of the camera.

When shooting such a scene, it is inevitable that someone will be injured. I will not talk about a few minor injuries. Even director Duke, a director, was scratched by car fragments that splashed in a shooting.

Fortunately, it was just a skin trauma, and it would not affect the work at all.

The bright sunlight shone on the earth. Dozens of various cars were parked on the empty road. The prop group was busy changing road signs, and the special stunt group installed three cars on the ejection racks and debugged the appropriate ejection angle according to Duke's requirements.

Duke stood on the side of the road and was discussing the next shooting with Cruz. Deputy Director Conne rushed over.

"Duke, are you going to install the wireless camera in the car again?" He questioned directly, "In the last week's shooting, you have damaged three expensive wireless cameras in a crash and an explosion!"

Turning his head, Duke looked at him, "My decision will not change!"

After saying that, he stopped taking care of the director's camera and walked directly to the director.

"Arrogant, paranoid..." Cone looked at Duke's distant back and said to photography director Cruz, "This movie will be ruined in his hands!"

"Whether the movie will ruin it is a question that producers should consider." Cruz obviously doesn't want to participate in the personnel struggle, "It's OK for me to do my job well!"

The crew is composed of one individual, and everyone's thoughts and interests will collide, leading to many disputes. The contract they signed is the best constraint. Don't expect to convince people with personal charm in this fame and fortune. That is the most innocent and stupid idea. Power and a contract with legal effect are far more direct and effective than unreliable things like conquering people's hearts.

Duke knew very well that this was a circle full of lies and snobbishness. He was on the road to success. If he stopped because of some inexplicable small problems, it would be more than worth the loss.

"Props?"

Standing on the slide station behind the director's camera, Duke asked the megaphone routinely, "Camera?"

“OK!”

"trick?"

“OK…”

"Each department is ready..." He put a Los Angeles Raiders hat on his head, "Game 133, Act 25, begin!"

As he sat behind the camera, the sound of the motors of the car rang out one after another, and because he did not slow down, he encountered several moving cars one after another. These cars hit other cars, and then the catapult was activated, and several cars rolled into the air...

The doors, bumpers, and broken car glass were poured on the nearby road surface like heavy rain.

“CUT!”

Standing up from behind the camera, Duke waved his fist hard, "Very great!"

Medical and rescue personnel who had been waiting on the roadside had swarmed to the scene of the "car accident" and dragged several stunt drivers out of the car. They were not injured because safety measures were in place.

"Stay for half an hour!"

After such a stimulating scene, Duke temporarily relaxed the crew.

"Duke..." Sofia Coppola walked over quickly, "Someone came to visit the set."

Leaving the camera, Duke pointed at himself, "Me?"

Then, he saw the two people following Sophia, with a sincere smile on his tired face, strode over, opened his hands and hugged him gently, "Mom, I'm so happy that you can come!"

"I heard you did a pretty good job." Mrs. Leah took a step back, "so come and have a look."

Duke turned to the other side again and held Lucas's hand tightly, "Uncle George... OK, George, I didn't expect you to come too."

"I've seen all the film you've taken," George Lucas said seriously. "You're doing much better than I thought!"

This is not a place to talk. Duke led the way and returned to his director's trailer with his mother and Lucas. But after he said a few words, Sophia came over to inform the stunt team that there was something to look for him, so Duke had to leave in a hurry.

"Sophia..." George Lucas called out to the director's assistant who was also ready to leave, "Come Robin."

A few minutes later, Robin Grande walked into the trailer. He probably had learned about Lucas's coming a long time ago, and was not surprised when he saw the two.

"Duke still doesn't know that you have invested $10 million in the video!" Leah Rosenberg said as he asked.

"Don't let him know before the video is finished." Leah explained briefly, "Nothing can be seen from Duke's face. In fact, he is under very high pressure and has not had a good sleep recently. This will only increase his pressure. I don't want the heavy burden to crush his young shoulders, even if he has a very strong ability to bear pressure."

"Robin, tell me." George Lucas spoke, "How is Duke doing?"

"It was very immature and lacked experience at first. In the week when the filming was started, the filming of the entire crew was completely in disorder. If it weren't for the veterans who often worked with Lucasfilm, Duke replaced all the originally planned scenes with temporary actors, the conflicts in the crew would most likely break out."

Robin Grande is completely honest, "But Duke's ability to adjust is very strong. It took only more than ten days to lead the crew through the most difficult running-in stage. He has obviously studied Hollywood's production model in depth and entered the director's role. Moreover, his concentration on work is surprising. After finding his state, he no longer looks like a novice. He can not only convey his ideas to the crew, but also drive other people's status through his work. After a month of filming, the crew gradually showed the rhythm of some mature Hollywood crews."

"The most important thing is that Duke is very clear about what he wants or should do. There are many people in the crew who are skeptical of him, but Duke can ignore these prejudices and use his work to temporarily put the crew with complex ingredients into a group. This is a very rare quality for a young man!"

"There is professional ability. No matter how strong a director has in other aspects, he still has to prove himself through the camera and his works. "The Speed ​​of Life and Death" has not been completed yet, and I have no way to talk about the work. I only talk about the shots that have been shot. Duke has a keen capture of large scenes such as crashes and explosions, and can use the camera to record these most exciting parts."

Speaking of this, the corners of his mouth trembled, "By my calculations, even if Duke can't tell the story of "The Speed ​​of Life and Death", the thrilling stimulation of the film is definitely not a problem. Even if the films have not been processed after the post-processing, I can imagine that when they are presented on the big screen, they will definitely be full of shocking visual impact!"
Chapter completed!