Walking into the dance rehearsal room specially built in the studio, Duke stood at the door and watched the actresses performing preparations. Lily Fred and her assistants were scattered near several major actors such as Naomi Watts and Catherine Zeta Jones, explaining the most basic movements and precautions.

Although he is not a completely amateur, Duke does not have professional qualities in singing and dancing. He only watches most of the time and rarely expresses his opinions.

Lily Fred is not only a veteran of Broadway, but also won several Tony Award nominations, and the few clips he compiled were also recognized by Duke.

"Duke, I have something to talk to you."

Seeing Duke, Lily Fred walked over and said directly, "I have some disagreements on the arrangement of the singing and dancing scene."

"Although I agreed."

The other party is a professional, and Duke is not a dictator on the set who can't listen to anything.

"Then let's go to the studio?"

After Duke nodded in agreement, Lily Fred and Duke left the dance rehearsal room, walked into the studio next to him, and came directly to a scene building area about the prison. The setting work here is relatively simple, and a row of sliding props prison doors have been installed.

During these times, Lily Fred knew Duke's attitude towards work, and did not go around in circles. He stood directly in front of the iron gate of the prison and said, "I think six chairs are enough for this song and dance scene."

Duke looked at her and made a gesture of continuing.

Lily Fred explained in detail, "This is the blackest and most depressing song and dance in the whole play. According to my idea, props only require six chairs. Each woman takes turns to the stage to defend her husband alone, and then let out the deepest roar in her heart together. Simple and powerful."

She pointed to the iron gate, "I have seen your idea. In addition to these, there are dungeons, group dances and choruses. The actors also need to add a red silk cloth to their hands. Such a complex and gorgeous stage background will weaken the charm of the actors' performance. It may even be suspected of being overwhelming."

"The simplest prop, solo dance and solo, and use the actor's performance to create the atmosphere." Duke walked over there, touched the iron gate made of plastic, and asked, "Lily, is that true?"

"Yes!" Lily Fred immediately replied, "I think this is the most suitable artistic expression."

"Your idea is not wrong, and the advice is very pertinent." Duke pointed around. "But one thing is missing. We are making movies, not stage plays, which are two forms of expression that are hugely different."

"The movie is not just an actor's performance!" Duke walked past the iron gate. "I need more props, dances and choruses to support it to make the scene more visually impactful. Using the activity iron gate, red ribbons symbolize blood and death, and there are multiple dances and choruses. They do weaken the actor's performance, but they can make the scene fuller and more attractive."

When viewers watch stage plays, they can focus their attention on the actors, but the movies are different. If only dry actors perform one-man show, even if they are Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks combined, they will not attract the attention of most audiences.

From the day I chose this film, Duke has set his character for "Chicago", which is a musical and dance film, but also a commercial film!

Perhaps the way Lily Fred said is more in line with the requirements of art, and filming will be more popular with some professionals. Even if the actor performs well, it will be easier to win awards, but Duke will not adopt it. He is an investor in this film. These ways that do not comply with the rules of commercial films can only be left aside.

After solving this little trouble, Duke and Lily Fred went to other scenes that were being built and exchanged views on many of the props and sets. One of them was the director and the other was the singing and dancing director. Communication between them was extremely important.

All kinds of preliminary preparations were finally summarized into Duke and Robin Grand. After a whole morning, Duke didn't feel relaxed until lunch time.

“Croissants, beef stewed with potatoes, a glass of juice, thank you.”

In the Warner Studios restaurant, Duke was about to finish lunch and walked towards the dining table area with a plate. Since crews often started working in the studio, many big stars and directors were frequent visitors to this restaurant that looked the most ordinary.

Sitting at a white dining table, Duke just lowered his head and sucked the juice when he heard someone on the other side questioning.

"Can I sit here?"

He raised his head and glanced at him, saying to Catherine Zeta Jones holding the plate, "Sit as you like."

"Thanks!"

Catherine Zeta Jones sat opposite, put down the plate, and first tied her long wet hair behind her head. Duke looked at the loose shirt she was wearing, guessing that the other party had just taken a shower after practicing.

"I haven't had a chance to say thank you."

Seeing that Duke was just lowering his head to eat and had no intention of speaking, Catherine Zeta Jones had to take the initiative to break the silence, "Thank you for giving me the role of Velma."

"You're welcome." Duke smiled at her, "this is what you earned with your outstanding performance."

If the other party's audition results are not ideal, Duke will definitely not choose her. Even if she is Catherine Zeta Jones, she may have paid for something, and he will not use his own investment to take unnecessary risks.

Career is more important than these actresses, and for him, there is no need to choose.

Like most actresses, Catherine Zeta Jones just ate a little bit and then focused on Duke.

"I originally wanted to invite you to dinner last weekend to express my gratitude, but my mom came from Wales."

Not far from Duke, Zeta Jones blinked his charming eyes, "Do you have time this weekend?"

"Feel sorry……"

After thinking about his schedule, Duke could only shake his head slowly, "I'm going to visit my mother in New York and made an appointment very early."

The disappointment that was deliberately revealed flashed in a flash, and Zeta Jones immediately changed the topic, "You can hear that you have a good relationship with your mother."

"I only have my mother and one relative."

Duke put down his knife and fork, Zeta Jones immediately handed over a white and fragrant napkin. Duke took it and wiped off the oil stains on his mouth, "Mom taught me a lot. Without her, there would be no me today."

My mother is proud of him, and he is also proud of having such a mother.

From the conversation just now, Zeta Jones quickly found a topic suitable for breakthrough, "A great mother can bring us a lot of help."

Duke fully agrees with this, “It is true.”

"I will never forget my mother." Zeta Jones seemed to be trapped in memories, his eyes still a little red. "My original dream was to become a singer, but at the age of sixteen, I fell seriously ill, my vocal cords were damaged a little, and I could not bear the burden of singing frequently. At that time, I felt that the whole world had collapsed..."

Her voice was filled with a hint of sadness and full of infectiousness. "It was my mother who had been encouraging me to stand up again. With her encouragement, I went to London to receive professional dance training, and then I achieved this little bit of the results now."

"Of course, I also want to thank you for your help." Zeta Jones said sincerely, "Duke, it was you who gave me the opportunity to return to Hollywood to prove myself."

"So the video must succeed." Duke shrugged his shoulders.

Zeta Jones asked in confusion, "Will it fail? I have never thought so."

“No one can guarantee a video will succeed.”

Hearing Duke's words, Zeta Jones retorted without hesitation, "I think you are the guarantee of the success of the film. How many directors in the world can sell four consecutive videos?"

Duke had no choice but to laugh, "You have more confidence than me."

“I’m just stating the most basic facts.”

Zeta Jones felt very satisfied with the topic that led the two people unconsciously, and the smile on his face looked even more attractive. "I have been paying attention to "Save Private Ryan". In fact, your style has changed, and the transformation has been so successful."

She took her juice, took a sip, and continued, "I watched the box office statistics yesterday. The box office in North America was $298.75 million, and the global box office was $612.14 million, and the most popular R-rated film in history!"

"There will be more popular R-rated movies soon."

After looking at the watch, Duke stood up and prepared to leave, "It's almost time, it's time to go back to work."

While preparing for "Chicago", Duke also paid attention to the situation of "Save Private Ryan" that was recently thrown aside. Due to grading and other reasons, the stamina of this war film is obviously not as strong as "Sun". By the end of November, the film had been offline from chain commercial theaters such as Amg, Imperial Entertainment and American artists. The theaters that are still being screened are basically theaters located in New York and Los Angeles.

The publisher 20th Century Fox's strategy is very clear, which is to target the Oscars of the awards season.

Time slowly entered December, and the traditional awards season in the North American film industry officially kicked off. Actors, directors and film companies that hope to hit academic awards, as well as their public relations and agents, have all fallen into the busiest season of the year. Even people like Duke who don’t care much about Oscars have to participate in several public relations activities in succession according to the director’s contract.

The Oscars of this era have significantly improved the commercial benefits of the film. Although I understand that I have almost no chance of winning the best director, Xiao Jinren, who cooperates with the producer and distributor to compete for the best film, still has some hope.

Oscars actually have traditions. If the director and producer of the film don’t care about the Oscars at all, the film will generally not win heavyweight awards.

In order to share the profits closely related to him, Duke held a party at home at the request of Warner and Fox before Christmas. (To be continued...)

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Chapter completed!