Full-time actor

Chapter 510 [75] "Foreigners, die!"

"Hi, Cruise!"

After Chen Yu got off the plane and arrived at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, he took a taxi directly to the filming location.

"Chan, long time no see!"

Tom Cruise hugged Chen Yu tightly and introduced his fiancée to him. Chen Yu greeted her briefly. As for Katie, of course he knew her.

Another woman who was harmed by this guy Tom Cruise’s sect.

Tom Cruise should have already persuaded Katie to join the Scientology he worships, right?
In fact, Chen Yu has been thinking in his mind how to get Tom Cruise to agree to let him authorize "Narcos" to title it "Mission: Impossible - Rise of the Jedi"; this thing, maybe money won't be enough, he has to think of a way.

If that doesn't work, Chen Yu can only rely on his own box office appeal.

"'Initial D' is pretty good. I heard it's a big hit in Asia?"

Tom Cruise stood with Chen Yu and asked him about his new film. Chen Yu didn't expect that this guy paid so much attention to him. He nodded and said, "Well, the Asian market is okay, but I feel that the European and American markets are still a little bit lacking!"

"Take your time. If it's well made, there will definitely be a market for it, just like your House of Flying Daggers!"

Tom Cruise patted Chen Yu on the shoulder with a very gentlemanly smile; if Chen Yu didn't know that this guy had some scandals, from an actor's perspective, he is more self-disciplined and hardworking than many Hollywood male stars.

I guess only Cheng Long in the circle dares to challenge him.

But Tom Cruise is more ruthless than Jackie Chan, with all kinds of life-threatening stunts, such as 30-foot balanced deceleration, which are child's play. He also climbed the Dubai Tower, clung to an airplane with bare hands, and performed cliff parachuting, etc. Most actors would pee their pants just by hearing about it, let alone trying it.

But Tom Cruise dares to play. The disciples of the doctrine really dare to do anything because they have no psychological burden and they don’t believe in these things.

Scientology gave him endless power.

Thanks to his desperate marketing, the Mission: Impossible series has become more and more popular. In fact, he had not tasted the sweetness of this at the beginning.

At least, it wasn't until Mission: Impossible 3 that there were all kinds of publicity about him playing a tough role. Sometimes the audiences started looking forward to it before the movie was even released.

Most people don’t dare to use this kind of marketing, but it is very successful.

Currently, marketing costs account for the absolute majority of Hollywood blockbusters; China does not dare to do so now because the channels are too single; but in Hollywood, a film with an investment of 5000 million US dollars has a marketing cost of 2000 or even 3000 million.

Because Hollywood does this kind of thing in a rough and simple way, he just wants to make a movie a household name in a short period of time.

And it’s actually very simple to do this - money!

As long as you have the money, you can see information even when you go to the toilet. This is not an exaggeration in the United States.

After the emergence of TikTok, Chinese films also began to adopt this model; the effect is of course obvious. As long as your movie is not so bad that everyone complains about it, and the screening and release dates are in place, the box office will basically not be bad.

This is all learned from the Hollywood model.

The two of them were chatting there, and soon the main actors of "Mission Impossible 3" arrived.

The main thing is Agent Ethan, played by Tom Cruise, and his team.

In addition to Benji and Luther, who were already in the team, this time there are two more Asian faces, Long played by Chen Yu, and Jane played by Maggie Q!
Of course, there is also the leading actress Michelle Monaghan, the heroine in "Source Code".

Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the villain Owen, will win the Oscar for Best Actor next year for his role in "Capote".

A group of people stood there, waiting to be photographed by countless reporters.

The opening ceremony in Hollywood is very simple, completely different from that in China. It mainly involves photo taking and publicity, followed by interviews with reporters; after that, notice sheets are distributed, which is also different from that in China.

Like Hua Xia, a crew has stage managers, production managers, script supervisors, and so on.

But in Hollywood, these people are all part of an industrial system.

For example, the director has the chief director, the first assistant director, the second assistant director, and individual directors and assistants.

Then for photography, there is also a chief photographer, a first photographer, a second photographer...

Each department is independent but completes its work in an orderly manner; the logistics staff is responsible for coordination.

For example, the photography department submits photography reports every day, the production department has production reports, and the editing department starts preparing various materials before the filming begins. The most exaggerated thing is the screenwriter, who will most likely modify the script even after filming begins.

The editorial department also has the main screenwriter and the second screenwriter...

And Chen Yu is of course in the actor department.

This department doesn't have any leader, but it's just like an employee.

Depending on the shooting schedule, the first assistant director and the second assistant director will work with the coordinator to prepare a notice for each shooting day.

The call sheet can be thought of as an actor's assignment and is an integral part of any shoot.

This is actually the same process that is learned in China.

However, the domestic version is obviously much simpler, consisting only of filmed content and a comparison script.

Like the notice Chen Yu is holding in his hand now, it is not just a document, it also outlines the actors and crew, and when and where they need to arrive.

It also outlines other important information such as the filming schedule for the day, weather conditions, parking locations, the nearest hospital and contact details for key personnel.

Moreover, the notice sheets are sent to the actors themselves one day before the shooting day.

Because the assistant may be negligent, the actor must confirm it personally; if not confirmed, it will be treated as absenteeism.

If it happens too many times, you will be fired directly and will have to pay a high penalty.

Filming in Hollywood seems easy, with a strict work schedule to follow every day, but in fact it is very strict.

Chen Yu had obviously done his homework before coming.

"Chan, this is your first time filming in Hollywood. Let Harun explain it to you..."

The director of "Mission Impossible 3" is still the same as in the previous life, J.J. Abrams, a new film director who previously shot American TV series and won the Emmy Award for Best Director.

So after much deliberation, Tom Cruise chose him. It turns out that many well-known directors just can't get along with this guy.

He is too picky and has very high demands. He is a local tyrant in the crew. Any director with a little fame would tolerate an actor pointing fingers at him like this.
So the new director wanted to prove himself and chose to work with him; this was also good for Chen Yu, at least there was no discrimination. Abrams was very easy to talk to and took into account that this was his first time shooting a Hollywood blockbuster and arranged a temporary assistant for him.

After the press conference, many actors left, but Harun, the young man, completed the work assigned by the director very professionally.

Although Chen Yu had consulted Jiang Wen about some of the key points of filming in Hollywood, it would be better if someone introduced it again. Holding the notice in his hand, Chen Yu looked at the content he was going to shoot tomorrow while listening to Harun's narration.

At this time, China also received the news that Chen Yu would be starring in "Mission Impossible 3" for the first time. Although this matter has been reported by the media many times, the start of filming is no different from others. This is almost certain.

Therefore, several portal websites in China are reporting this news.

After all, there are almost no actors who can participate in Hollywood blockbusters these days.

What’s more, it’s a blockbuster series like “Mission Impossible”.

The photos of Chen Yu, Tom Cruise and other main actors taking photos together in Rome were widely circulated on the Chinese Internet... The comment section was also very lively.

The recent hit of "Initial D" has once again increased Chen Yu's popularity.

The fact that he is currently participating in filming in Hollywood is enough to show how popular Chen Yu is in Hollywood; the audience obviously will not think about anything else, they will only think that since Chen Yu is filming Hollywood movies, he must be very famous.

As for Chen Yu himself, he was actually having a hard time living alone outside.

But he also adapted to this lonely life. He held the script and notice and checked the details of tomorrow's shooting.

Since it’s your first time filming a Hollywood movie, you have to take it seriously. Not only the acting, but at least the lines and so on have to be practiced well.

Although there is dubbing in later stage, it is indeed necessary to pay attention to it considering the other actors.

"The first scene is actually a quarrel scene with Tom Cruise..."

Chen Yu flipped through the script and felt a little amused; in order to capture the villain Owen, Ethan, played by Tom Cruise, had to sneak into the Vatican because this guy was attending a dinner party; but the Vatican was heavily guarded, armed and had as many as 2000 cameras.

So he and Long, played by Chen Yu, had an argument on the street because their car broke down, blocking the one-way street outside the Vatican to make it easier for Ethan to commit the crime.

The script didn't specify what the quarrel was about, but it did say that it had to be spoken in Italian and that gestures had to be used.

I will definitely have to ask the corresponding Italian teacher about this tomorrow.

“Just three takes… that’s so easy!”

Chen Yu looked at his shooting notice and found that he only needed to shoot three scenes a day. In China, a supporting actor like him would probably take half a month to shoot, and even a big movie would take a month at most.

But the shooting schedule for Chen Yu's drama is a total of 3 months, which happens to be the period after "Fast and Furious 3"... During this period, the filming had to be moved to several locations.

This period of time is actually quite ample for Chen Yu. He can even do other things, such as writing scripts.

After thinking about the three scenes, Chen Yu began his routine training.

The next morning, after having breakfast at the hotel where the crew had signed a contract, Chen Yu came to the location stated in the notice; the crew members had also arrived here long ago.

They arrived earlier than the actors to prepare the venue and equipment for the first scene of the day.

The lighting department sets up all the necessary lamps and mechanical parts... everything seems to be in order, and the photography department is also setting up various camera positions and lenses.

Chen Yu came to the actor base.

This is what Hollywood calls it. The base can be seen as the rear area of ​​the film set, which contains dressing rooms, prop rooms, clothing rooms, etc.

Chen Yu began to put on makeup and change into costumes.

Harun had already told him the relevant procedures yesterday.

This is the same as in China, but after putting on makeup, it’s different. The actors must rehearse the scene before filming begins, and the sound and photography departments start rehearsing with them.

If necessary, the stunt team may also need time to rehearse the stunt to confirm that it can be performed safely and realistically in front of the camera.

In China, it is a simple audition, with only the actors matching each other.

But the rehearsals at this base are basically the same as the real shoot, with many staff members cooperating and the director pointing out problems. Only after the second assistant director feels that the rehearsal is satisfactory can the actors enter and start the real shoot.

If there is a mistake in this link, the director will find trouble with the second director.

This time, because we had to shoot a quarrel scene, we did find an Italian teacher.

Chen Yu had never learned it, but he could only learn the pronunciation.

After a while, Tom Cruise also came over. He didn't look like a big shot at all, just like he was punching in for work. The first scene was an argument between two people, so he had to rehearse with Chen Yu.

An hour later, the second assistant director made an OK gesture, and everyone on the set apparently got the news.

The entire crew started working immediately.

Since it was the crew’s first scene, filming the first shot wasn’t as simple as pressing the red button on the camera.

In China, the opening ceremony is very important, while in Hollywood, it is called the start of filming.

It is a very sacred thing for them to open the camera.

On most sets, there are certain rules and etiquette that are followed, although these guidelines can vary.

And in Mission: Impossible 3, it’s all about singing and praying.

Chen Yu had no choice but to do as he was told, but no one told him what the prayer was, so he could only imitate it and recite a passage from the Tao Te Ching.

“The Tao can be spoken of, but it is not the eternal Tao. The name can be named, but it is not the eternal name.”

"Foreigners, die!"

Chen Yu complained and prayed, and the camera department began to adjust the lens and lighting to obtain the correct composition.

Everything was ready, and the first assistant director said, "The picture is ready, everyone be quiet!"

Chen Yu and Tom Cruise then came to the shooting location that had been prepared long ago. The two of them were moving their bodies and relaxing their performance state. At this time, the second photography assistant, who was also the board player, took a picture of his board.

"action!"

Abrams shouted there, and Tom Cruise's emotions instantly entered the plot.

At this time, Chen Yu was of course ready.

(End of this chapter)