Extracting skills from movies

After reading for a while, Du Sheng closed the script and said:

"It's all OK. I'll go back and study it more carefully. Can we start shooting next week?"

Christopher nodded:
"Okay, we'll move to Canada University of Mathematics after the press conference is over."

Du Sheng calculated the time and nodded in confirmation:
"no problem."

Christopher patted his shoulder and said seriously:
"I must return to the form I showed in The Departed this time and make another shot at the Oscars!"

He also has dreams. After all, winning a Golden Man Award can greatly enhance his status.

"definitely."

Du Sheng smiled and just as he finished speaking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a luxury car slowly passing by.

There was a familiar fat man sitting in the car.

Miramax founder, Harvey Weinstein.

Previously, he intended to help Monda Matt get the role in "The Departed" by inviting Du Sheng to film, but unfortunately he failed.

In addition, they met each other at the last Oscar Awards, so naturally they knew each other.

When Harvey saw Du Sheng and Christopher sitting together, he immediately asked the driver to stop the car, jumped out and greeted them warmly:

"Hey, Du!"

Then he looked at Christopher:

"Is this Director Christopher?"

Christopher politely extended his hand and shook hands with him, exchanging a few simple pleasantries.

Du Sheng asked as he shook hands:
"Why are you here, my busy boss?"

Everyone in Hollywood knows that Harvey is currently at odds with Warner Bros. over the scandal.

Harvey grinned:
"Warner wants to reboot The Hobbit. I have the copyright, so they have to discuss it with me."

Du Sheng casually boasted:
"You have a unique vision. You have a gold mine in your hands."

Harvey was even happier when he heard this, and said:

"How about working together? I can introduce you to some great directors."

Du Sheng understood very well:

The "benefits" brought by this fat man often have to be repaid ten times the price.

"Sorry, I'm totally focused on Christopher's new project right now."

Christopher was originally a little unhappy that Harvey was poaching people in front of him, but when he heard Du Sheng's flat out refusal, he immediately felt proud.

Harvey did not give up and turned to Christopher to continue lobbying:
“Christopher, we can definitely work together.

You have accumulated enough box office results, isn't it time to strive for awards next?"

Christopher was not very interested in his operation now, so he declined:

"I'm sorry, but my project is too expensive to invest in, and I'm afraid the independent studios can't afford it."

Harvey's face was harder than the wall, and he said with a smile:
"As long as you want to win a prize, come to me anytime."

Christopher just smiled and said nothing more.

As we all know, this fat guy is very good at making efforts to win Oscar awards.

Harvey turned his gaze to Du Sheng again, ready to say a few more words.

Du Sheng smiled and waved his hand:

"My schedule is booked until next year, and I have a lot of arrangements at the company. I'm afraid I won't have time in the next few years."

Harvey shrugged, said nothing more, waved goodbye, got in the car and left.

The car slowly drove away. He looked back at Du Sheng and Christopher and sneered:

"Since you are so popular now, you will definitely have no shortage of resources. When you are no longer popular, come and beg me..."

Du Sheng put away the script, said goodbye to Christopher, and then called Taylor.

This girl is singing at the carnival here.

In order to hone her singing skills, it is necessary to have her come by and warm up her voice.

.........

After the press conference, Du Sheng and his team said goodbye to Theresa and Hades, boarded a flight to Toronto, and officially reunited with the crew.

Next, we will enter the actual practical stage of "Inception".

Toronto, Custer Studios.

The crew rented five studios at once and prepared to set up various key scenes.

But for a "real-life shooting fanatic" like director Christopher, how could this be enough?
In order to restore the dream world in the movie, the crew also arranged four location teams.
The sets were built simultaneously in Hong Kong, London, Paris and other places, just to realistically present those fantastic settings.

Not long after Du Sheng arrived with his team, the leading actors also arrived one after another.

Jessica Alba plays the late wife Mel, who is a soft boss with whom she has a love-hate relationship.

Blake Lively plays the protagonist's assistant.

That is Adrian, the "dream builder" who is responsible for constructing the dream world.

The other main roles were recommended and selected by Warner.

Two important roles, such as "Sentinel" Arthur and "Pretender" Eames, are played by Joseph Gordon and Tom Hardy respectively.

Christopher saw Du Sheng coming and greeted him with a smile.

He took out a small box from his desk drawer and handed it over:
"Your core item is here, hurry up and cultivate some feelings."

Du Sheng opened it and saw that it was a metal gyroscope.

He twisted it casually and the top started spinning rapidly on the table.

Christopher nodded:
"You are quite good at playing. It seems that you don't need to be 'trained' anymore."

Du Sheng looked at the spinning top and suddenly thought of the Hollywood-style "happy ending" at the end of the script. He couldn't help but say:
"I have an idea about this spinning top. Maybe I can do something to promote it."

Christopher became interested as soon as he heard it:

"Tell me."

"How about letting the top keep spinning at the end without giving a clear result?"

Christopher's eyes lit up and he immediately understood the marketing value of it:
"If we do this, we can create suspense in the publicity and spark heated discussions among the media and audiences.

It would be more interesting to let everyone interpret the ending themselves! "

As he spoke, he gently pressed the spinning top with his hand, and his tone gradually became serious:

"It can also increase the brain-burning and influence of the entire movie."

Du Sheng smiled:
"It's up to you to decide how to shoot it."

Christopher grabbed his arm and smiled like a man who had found a treasure:
"Sure enough, I really chose the right person to work with you!"

After saying that, the two sat down together.

Du Sheng sat in the first seat on the right side of the conference table. Jessica sat opposite him and winked at him. Du Sheng also responded with a smile.

Blake Lively came over and smiled sweetly:
"Brother Sheng, you are finally here!"

She gave Du Sheng a hug directly, and Du Sheng responded naturally:

"This is our second time working together. Bring out the same 'aura' you had in The Departed."

Blake leaned over playfully:
"Of course, I am your assistant, Dream Builder."

Du Sheng laughed:
"I believe you will be a reliable partner."

On the other side, Tom Hardy curled his lips, obviously not appreciating Blake's "enthusiasm".

However, it is normal to form cliques on the set, not to mention that the other party is an investor, so there is no solution.

This is the British trio.

Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy sit together.

On the other side, Du Sheng, Joseph Gordon and Blake Lively became the "capitalist faction".

Christopher sat in the main seat, knocked on the table, and announced that the script meeting had officially begun:
“We will be working together for the next three months, and I hope everyone will cooperate.

If you have no other questions, let’s start reading now.”

But the reading did not go smoothly.

After all, the story of "Inception" is too brain-burning, and the text description alone is enough to make people feel overwhelmed.
Coupled with the uneven literary understanding of the actors, the whole process was bumpy.

Except for Du Sheng and Jessica Alba and Blake Lively who had done their homework in advance, almost everyone else was confused. The script meeting that was originally scheduled to end in the morning was dragged until the evening.

Christopher was very patient and answered everyone's questions one by one, trying to minimize obstacles during filming.

In addition to script learning, everyone also has to do physical training and firearms practice.

After all, there are many intense fighting scenes in dreams.

These are no big deal for Du Sheng. It is much easier than when he was filming "SPL" and "The Man from Lone Star".

After the training that day, Du Sheng took a shower, changed his clothes, and just walked out of the locker room when he ran into Kevin Tsujihara, CEO of Warner Bros.

The two of them greeted each other, and Du Sheng pointed to the rest area:

"Do you have time to chat?"

Kevin nodded:

“I just arrived today and rushed over directly.

This project is our most important work next year.”

Du Sheng made a joke:
"Afraid we'll mess it up?"

Kevin laughed:

"With you and Christopher here, what should I worry about?"

In addition to his routine inspection, he also had official business to attend to.

During the chat, Kevin talked about "The Departed" which was just released not long ago.

The film's global box office has exceeded 4.52 million US dollars, which is higher than "Jason Bourne" released in the same period.

Du Sheng waved his hand:
"That can't be compared. 'The Bourne Supremacy' is a series, and it has a lot of peripheral products, so it has an inherent advantage."

Kevin is very confident that Du Sheng will play the leading role, and mentioned "The Man from Nowhere":
"The production cost was only 4000 million U.S. dollars, but the North American box office has already reached 8000 million."

Du Sheng said matter-of-factly:

"The North American market has basically peaked, and it's estimated to be just over $1 million."

He paused and added:

"But there is still potential in the overseas market. If the global box office can exceed 2.5 million, I will definitely thank Jesus!"

The two chatted as they walked, the atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant.

Everyone is full of expectations for "Inception".

After all, this time, it’s not just about making a movie, but about creating a phenomenal cultural symbol.

At the end of July, "Inception" officially started filming.

Director Christopher started with indoor scenes.

Let's shoot some core scenes first so that the whole crew can get into the mood.

Although Cobb, played by Du Sheng, also has fighting scenes, his character is not positioned as a skilled agent.

However, considering his previous performances in "The Departed" and "The Man from Nowhere", his action skills were so solid that the action rhythm originally designed by the crew seemed a bit "over the top".

In the studio that was built to look like a Chinese palace, Du Sheng fired a prop gun and knocked down several men in black with a few bangs. In the end, he knocked them out with one shoulder, which was quick and neat.

"Crack!"

Christopher shouted and the scene came to a halt.

Du Sheng helped the stuntman in protective gear up and asked:

"You're not hurt, are you?"

The other party was stunned. He didn't expect the big star to be so approachable. He waved his hand quickly:
"No no."

Du Sheng smiled at him, turned and walked towards Christopher who was walking over.

Christopher was slightly distressed:
"The action scenes are a bit exaggerated."

Du Sheng put away the prop gun and asked:

"Is it the angle, or is the movement not smooth enough?"

Christopher gestured and said:

"It's not a question of whether it's smooth or not, it's that your movements are too powerful and they look too fierce in the camera!"

Du Sheng was a little confused:

“Is this a flaw?”

Christopher nodded and pulled him directly to the monitor to replay the previous clip.

In the picture, Du Sheng's first move was like a hidden dragon emerging from the sea, his moves hit the target and his killing was decisive.

Christopher pointed to the screen and reminded:

"Did you see that?"

Du Sheng looked at it carefully and nodded slowly:

“The makeup is fine, the camera sense is fine, the drama is normal, but the fighting scenes are over the top.

My skills are just like Colin in The Departed."

"Correct."

Christopher explained carefully:

“You’re Cobb now, not Colin.

Cobb is a dream thief who knows some Kung Fu, not a murderer who kills without blinking an eye! "

Du Sheng listened and nodded seriously:
"Understood. I need to be more restrained in my actions. Not so harsh or so fast."

Christopher added:

“It’s not just your problem, there’s a deviation between our estimates and the action director’s.

I didn't expect that you'd still be in such a strong state after not having a fight in such a long time, which resulted in your movements being too expressive."

Generally, when filming an action scene, the crew is worried that the actors' movements will not be perfect.

When it comes to Du Sheng, he has to deliberately "become weaker". His movements cannot be too cool or too fierce. They have to be in line with the character setting.

Christopher called the action director, and the three of them discussed how to make adjustments.

The key point is that Du Sheng’s fighting power cannot be much stronger than Joseph Gordon’s, they must be evenly matched.

Joseph has also been practicing shooting and fighting during this period, and the two have trained together, so he can be considered a reference standard.

After reshooting, Du Sheng obviously "let go".

The actions are no longer so decisive and start to feel a bit dragging, which is closer to the state that the character of Cobb should be in.

Christopher insisted on the real-life shooting style and would not use special effects if possible.

Most of the scenes, including this Chinese-style palace, are real scenes.

After finishing work that afternoon, Du Sheng took off her makeup and followed Christopher to another studio.

Over there, Joseph Gordon is preparing for a major action scene.

There is a fight scene in the script in a rotating corridor, which is very brain-burning and visually impactful.

In order to present the effect realistically, Christopher specially invited a local physics professor and spent a lot of money to build a huge centrifuge.

This type of equipment was previously commonly used to shoot space science fiction scenes, but now that special effects are popular, almost no one uses it.

The cost is high and the cycle is long, so only a real-life photography fanatic like Christopher dares to use it.

When Du Sheng walked into the studio, the 13-meter-high and 38-meter-long steel behemoth was slowly turning.

There is a fixed rotating corridor in the middle, where Joseph and several stuntmen have been training.

Looking at the huge device, Du Sheng couldn't help but sigh:

"It's a crazy amount of money, but that's what makes the movie different."

A female professor in a professional suit and gold-rimmed glasses was staring at a row of monitoring instruments with her assistant, her eyes fixed on the operating status of the centrifuge.

Christopher waved to her, and the assistant director immediately notified the actors on the set.

The huge centrifuge slowly stopped, making a low humming sound.

The scene was quite shocking.

………(End of chapter)