Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 121: Filming in Progress

The filming locations of "Interstellar" are divided into two places. The Earth scenes in the film were shot in Canada, and the space scenes were planned to be shot in Iceland.

The end of the world, space travel, wormholes, time travel and five-dimensional space, the plot of this brain-opening movie is full of imagination.

When Zhang Yimou was filming "Red Sorghum", he planted a large field of sorghum for the filming of the movie.

Now, Gu Wei has also asked Reid to come to Alberta, Canada in advance and rent a pasture to facilitate filming and shooting after corn planting next year.

As the second largest investor in the film, Warner Bros. was not only responsible for most of the post-production special effects, but also provided more than half of the filming crew.

Including filming equipment and staff, plus staff provided by Tomorrow's Star Film and Television Company, as well as the main creative staff and accompanying assistants, the total number of people exceeds three hundred.

The two types of cameras needed for the film had been shipped to Alberta in advance, along with a large amount of other equipment.

December 9th, Los Angeles time.

Gu Wei asked someone to contact the airline in advance and chartered a special plane to rush to Calgary Airport in Alberta, Canada with the main creative crew. The two places are more than 2,500 kilometers apart, and the flight took nearly five hours to reach the destination.

"Everyone, rest in the hotel for one night and set off for the shooting location tomorrow morning."

In the hotel lobby, Gu Wei told everyone that the hotel's conditions were average, and the only advantage was that it was close to the shooting location, less than half an hour's drive away.

"Okay, director."

"no problem."

After everyone finished talking, they went to their rooms and put down their luggage.

Afterwards, everyone gathered in the restaurant and the main creative staff of the crew had a meal together.

The next morning, after breakfast, everyone got in the car and headed to the filming location, Spruce Ranch.

In the car, Gu Wei looked at the messages sent by company employees, and the corners of his mouth rose unconsciously.

The competition between Yahoo and Google has become fierce, and the offers are getting higher and higher. It can be said that Gu Wei's wealth is skyrocketing every day.

After Google launches the acquisition, Gu Wei will definitely sell part of his shares, and Google will not allow him to hold too many shares.

Gu Wei had just replied to his employee when he heard the driver say that they had arrived.

"Senior, come and see, it's so beautiful."

Liu Yifei's voice sounded, speaking to Gu Wei in the car.

After getting off the car, Gu Wei was shocked by the scenery in front of him.

The golden grasslands, foothills and towering mountain peaks as far as the eye can see bring people into a vast and magnificent real world.

On the other side, the main road of Fort Macleod has been transformed into a street that is exposed to the scorching sun and sandstorms.

There is also a road leading to the ranch next to it, which was also built in advance by Gu Wei.

Movies such as "Dances with Wolves", "Shanghai Noon" and "Brokeback Mountain" were filmed here.

The same went for the rest of the crew. From the moment they got off the car, they stared intently at the beautiful scenery in front of them. Many of them took out their cameras and started taking pictures.

"Mom, come and take the picture for us."

Liu Yifei spoke to Liu Xiaoli, and then took a few photos with Gu Wei.

"Haha, boss."

At this time, Reid's voice sounded and Gu Wei turned to look over.

"Hi, Crystal, long time no see."

Reid and Liu Yifei had met during the filming of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow". When he saw her coming over, he walked over and said hello.

"Long time no see, Ryder."

Liu Yifei said with a smile.

Afterwards, they exchanged a few pleasantries and followed Reid to the built studio.

"Boss, all the necessary equipment is in place, and we can start filming at any time."

Gu Wei glanced around and showed a satisfied expression. Reid's efficiency has always made him satisfied.

...

The movie "The Banquet" was shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival. In early September, Feng Xiaogang and the main creative team went to Venice for the premiere. The domestic media gave the following headline:
“The main creative team of The Banquet met in Venice, and Zhang Ziyi and Zhou Xun shined in Venice.”

Excessive reporting has always been the style of domestic media, but as to whether it can shine, that is hard to say.

Jia Zhangke also entered the main competition unit of this year's Venice Film Festival with his film "Still Life".

When interviewed by reporters, other domestic directors sent their blessings and looked forward to the two directors winning the award.

The president of the Venice Film Festival announced that there is a film at this year's festival that has great potential to compete for the "Golden Lion" award.

However, it was not directly stated which one it was, leaving everyone in suspense.

In China, Feng Xiaogang’s “Night Banquet” has been released. The investment cost of this film is as high as 1.2 million yuan.

At present, it is no problem for the box office to exceed 100 million yuan, but it is still a bit short of the 200 million yuan target set by Huayi Company before the release, and recovering the investment is also a big problem.

"Fuck, what the hell is this film about?"

"During the filming, they said they were imitating Hamlet. It was really weird."

"What's wrong with a few big directors? The movies they make are worse than the last."

"Don't bring Director Gu with you upstairs."

"After watching The Banquet, I'm looking forward to Curse of the Golden Flower, which will be released at the end of the year."

"Agree with what the upstairs said."

...

Online, a movie’s reputation is inversely proportional to its box office, and is getting worse day by day.

But then everyone's attention was attracted by Zhang Ziyi's beautiful back in the movie.

"That back is mine."

The crew's stuntman said this when interviewed by reporters.

Later, the stand-in revealed that he was attacked on the chest by the leading actor Ge You during the filming. Whether it was true or false, the news sparked discussion among netizens after it was released.

The failure of "Night Banquet" made Huayi's Wang Zhonglei very angry, and he smashed a lot of things in the company's office.

According to internal employees of the company, the next day, some male artists in the company had incorrect walking postures.

"Go tell Director Xiaogang to start preparing for his next film and shoot the genre he is best at."

In the office, Wang Zhongjun said to Wang Zhonglei.

“The Baby Project will be released at the end of the month, so the public relations should be better.

In addition, let the media publicize more Hollywood blockbusters invested by the company to reduce the impact of The Banquet. "

"Brother, I understand."

In addition to movies, news of the remake of the TV series "Dream of Red Mansions" spread in the circle.

As one of the four traditional great classics, every remake attracts the attention of many people in the circle.

Capital Television, China Film Group and Hualu Baina reorganized the crew and invited director Hu Mei to create a new version of "Dream of Red Mansions" with all their efforts.

At the same time, the launching ceremony of the large-scale talent show "People in the Dream of Red Mansions" was held in the Great Hall of the People, recruiting actors from Chinese people around the world.

.........

On the other side, the crew of "Interstellar" has already started filming.

"Attention all departments, prepare to start filming."

Gu Wei started shouting with the loudspeaker, and the first shot of the movie was about to be shot today.

After the on-site staff finished their preparations, they made a gesture to Gu Wei.

Leonardo and Liu Yifei have put on their makeup and are ready.

The background of the story is: the earth is getting worse, and one day it will no longer be suitable for plant growth and human reproduction. Eventually, the remaining crops will disappear one by one, and the remaining creatures will suffocate or starve to death due to oxygen depletion. "Leon, pay attention to your expression, Sissi, you have to follow Leon's rhythm and believe that you can do it."

Gu Wei came to Liu Yifei and said to her.

On the set, the filming was not going smoothly. Liu Yifei's acting skills were still a bit lacking and some scenes were shot slowly.

"Okay, director."

Leonardo rubbed his face and relaxed his expression.

Liu Yifei next to him also nodded, closed her eyes and pondered for a moment.

"start."

Five minutes later, Gu Wei shouted directly to the people on the scene, and the camera slowly turned on.

In this scene, the male protagonist Cooper returns home and is preparing to have dinner with his family. His adopted daughter Murphy talks about the "ghost" in her room, but Cooper, who has received professional knowledge, obviously does not believe this statement about the "ghost".

"Okay, this one's passed."

Gu Wei made a gesture to indicate, and Liu Yifei also breathed a sigh of relief.

After many NGs, the shot was finally passed, and everyone present started to get busy again, preparing to shoot the next shot.

Gu Wei uses two types of cameras on the set, ordinary cameras and IMAX cameras.

The latter has the highest resolution in the world, with its 15/65mm film having a resolution almost 35 times that of ordinary 10mm film.

The IMAX frame rate has exceeded the horizontal resolution of 18000 pixels, which can be compared to the 1920-pixel value of later home HDTVs.

The movie will also be released in 2D and IMAX modes, allowing the audience to have a better viewing experience.

In the next few days, the crew continued filming and the main creative staff gradually got into the state.

...

After finishing a day's shooting, everyone returned to the hotel one after another.

In the hotel restaurant, Gu Wei and Liu Yifei sat face to face, tasting the local specialties.

"Senior, is my acting really bad?"

Liu Yifei was in a bad mood and had no appetite for the food on the table.

"Sissi, don't compare yourself with Leonardo and the others. At your age, your acting skills are pretty good.

During this time on the set, I can watch other people’s performances and learn from them.”

Gu Wei looked at Liu Yifei and encouraged her.

Although she knew that Gu Wei was comforting her, Liu Yifei still had a smile on her face and secretly made up her mind to work hard to improve herself.

The crew's filming is proceeding one after another.

...

During the filming, Gu Wei paid great attention to the protection of the ecological environment. After all, those who planted trees will enjoy the shade, and he did not want the beautiful scenery to be destroyed because of his filming.

This will leave a bad reputation.

The Venice Cinema has closed, and Jia Zhangke's "Still Life" won the final victory, winning the film festival's "Golden Lion Award".

When the news returned to China, it provided reporters with a lot more material for their reports.

"The Banquet" had a good start in terms of publicity, but the final box office performance was not very good.

No wonder many film producers left the film during its premiere in Venice.

This result is far behind "Hero", not to mention "The Promise".

Later, news came that the box office in North America was ripped off by Miramax Films, and the original copyright fee of 500 million US dollars was only 100 million in the end.

It's a huge loss.

After the movie "Night Banquet" was taken off the screen, Feng Xiaogang announced that his next movie had been confirmed and he would start again to shoot a war blockbuster.

Huayi Company also announced that it would strongly support Director Xiaogang.

Although "Night Banquet" suffered a loss, Huayi still has confidence in it.

The new movie "Assembly" is currently in preparation.

.........

At Spruce Ranch, the crew is currently shooting exterior scenes.

Because Murphy's school is holding a parent-teacher meeting this time, the male protagonist Cooper is going to school with them.

A car had a flat tire on the road, and Murphy's brother mentioned Murphy's Law, implicitly implying that Murphy brought misfortune.

But Cooper told Murphy that Murphy's Law does not refer to bad things, but to everything that can happen.

Liu Yifei's acting skills have improved a lot recently. After finishing the shooting every day, she would go to ask Leonardo and Charlize for advice when they have time.

The two of them also gave enthusiastic guidance to this Chinese beauty who might be the girlfriend of the crew director.

"pass."

Gu Wei looked at Liu Yifei in the camera and thought he had to repeat the previous shooting times.

I didn't expect that after three takes, it would be basically the same.

"Xixi, save one more."

Gu Wei shouted.

I didn't dare to delay the other crew members and took quick action.

At the end of September, Liu Yifei, who was filming on the set, received an invitation from the 6th Golden Eagle TV Art Festival, inviting her to participate in the selection of this year's "Golden Eagle Goddess".

"Senior, Mango TV is holding a Golden Eagle Festival. They sent me an invitation before I came to the crew, and now the voting is going on online."

In the studio, Liu Yifei came to Gu Wei and spoke to him in a low voice.

"Golden Eagle Festival." Gu Wei suddenly remembered this. In the original time and space, Liu Yifei directly won the title of "Golden Eagle Goddess" and was hailed by netizens as the domestic Goddess Athena.

"Okay, you and Auntie can take time to go back then. We have almost finished filming the early scenes in the past two days, so it won't delay the subsequent filming."

"Uh-huh."

Liu Yifei nodded obediently with a smile in her eyes.

Gu Wei is not very interested in some domestic awards, but for Liu Yifei, "Golden Eagle Goddess" is a good title.

At the same time, the movie "Ocean's 8" adapted by CJ Company was about to be released, and the other party called Gu Wei several times and invited him to attend the premiere.

Gu Wei used the excuse of filming a movie and did not go in person, but asked Reid to go on his behalf.

On October 10, "Ocean's 1" was officially released in South Korea.

The number of viewers reached 20 per day, and the box office exceeded 1500 million in three days of release.

Major South Korean media outlets reported on this, and Gu Wei's name became known to the South Korean people again.

“Ocean’s 8 sets a new box office record.”

"Another movie by one of Hollywood's best directors will be released in November, so stay tuned."

NEW Pictures took the opportunity to promote "The Thieves", and the South Korean people are also full of expectations for this movie.

...

Despicable Me has reached the end of its global box office, with little growth other than video revenue.

The North American box office finally stopped at 2.9 million US dollars and failed to break the 3 million mark.

The Star of Tomorrow Films Company is currently negotiating with major cinema chains for box office revenue sharing. As funds continue to arrive, the company's deposits are becoming sufficient.

Gu Wei transferred the funds for post-production special effects to Warner Bros. in advance and started partial special effects production.

.........

(End of this chapter)