America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 136 Playing True to My Nature (Please Subscribe)

A tall, muscular actor wielded a prop axe, which fell to the ground. Martin rolled to dodge, while a German Shepherd charged from the side and entangled the exceptionally strong, deformed man.

Martin reacted swiftly, thrusting the prop knife backwards and stabbing it into the blood bag strapped to the stuntman's leg.

When it was pulled out, red liquid hissed out.

Martin rolled again, dodging the falling prop axe once more.

A-Jia called "cut," and the shot was completed smoothly.

After a short break, the set was set up, and filming continued, soon leading up to the final scene.

With the help of the German Shepherd beauty, Martin took the old-fashioned shotgun thrown by the deformed girl and blew the giant deformed man's head off.

Hollywood mainstream must appropriately highlight the role of women.

It wasn't just deformed people; on the two German Shepherds, the stupid, dead male dogs were also wild beasts.

The beauty, on the contrary, stayed with Martin until the very end.

Martin, covered in blood mist, walked up to the dummy and fired a barrage of shots.

The blood bags on the dummy burst open.

Director A-Jia shouted, "Cut! That's a wrap!" He picked up a megaphone and yelled, "I hereby declare that filming for 'The Hills Have Eyes' is complete!"

Cheers erupted on set.

The end of the work not only means a vacation, but also the imminent arrival of the installment payments.

Buck, Lewis, and others turned on their hand cannons, sending ribbons and streamers flying everywhere.

The crew completed filming all the scenes in just 24 days.

Post-production was carried out in Los Angeles.

Champagne was also prepared on set, and all the cast and crew members raised their glasses in a toast.

After Martin removed his makeup and changed his clothes, producer Craven was presenting small gifts on behalf of the crew, mostly inexpensive props.

The truly valuable items on the ledger must be disposed of as trash.

Of course, there are also production crews and companies that are so stingy it's outrageous.

Craven came over with a red-stained wooden baseball bat and a prop knife, and asked Martin, "Which one do you want?"

Martin asked, "Can't I have it all? I want to take it all."

Craven said seriously, "Only one item per person, it's an unwritten rule."

Martin hadn't heard of it, but Craven was a rather old-school filmmaker, so he respected the other's opinion and chose the wooden bat.

Aja brought over two glasses of champagne, gave one to each of them, and they raised their glasses to drink together: "I felt great during this shoot. Martin, Wes, you are the best partners I have ever had in the industry."

Craven said, "I watched most of the shots carefully. Aja, you did a great job directing, and Martin did a great job acting, especially the revenge scenes in the second half."

He is a screenwriter, director and producer with many years of experience. Unlike those who work in the arts and culture scene, he is truly geared towards the front-line market and has a unique understanding of the market: "This kind of model, where one person, one dog and one gun, seems to be fighting against the whole world, feels particularly good from the audience's perspective and should have a certain degree of market acceptance."

Martin said, "I think this will become a genre."

He wouldn't elaborate on his lack of status, position, or funds.

A production manager came over and said, "The Screen Actors Guild is here."

Craven asked, "Are we alright here? What are they doing here?"

The production manager said, "They approached Martin to inquire about the snake bite incident involving the actor next door."

Craven, who already knew the details, told Martin, "Tell the truth about what happened that day. It has nothing to do with you. Don't worry, you paid your dues, so you're one of their employers."

"Understood." Martin walked out.

He was the investor's representative, so Craven and Aja simply followed him.

Martin wasn't worried. Dalot had already withdrawn his men. This was Mexico, not Los Angeles, and the Screen Actors Guild couldn't find them.

Upon arriving at the adjacent conference room, a man and a woman were waiting.

The production manager introduced the two parties, with Wilson, the middle-aged man, clearly in charge.

Martin shook hands with them and said, "Let's hurry, the crew has other events to attend to."

Wilson was quite polite: "Mr. Davis, we apologize for bothering you, but we mainly want to know about your conversation with Mike Vogel on the day he was injured."

"He drank, and I drank too. What did we talk about? We were just bragging to each other. He insisted on dragging me to the wild to find a venomous snake to fight..." Martin gave a rough account of what happened at the banquet hall, making it easy for him to cover it up without lying: "When I found a rattlesnake, I got scared, so I turned around and ran away. Many people saw it. On my way out, I heard that he had been bitten by a snake. That's what happened."

This was exactly what Wilson knew. He asked a few more questions and then excused himself, saying, "Excuse me, Mr. Davis."

Martin politely replied, "It's alright."

After everyone left, Martin asked Craven, "Wes, how did things go over there?"

Craven, who often interacts with producer Brad next door, knows the situation: "They've started the withdrawal process. Vogel left the crew and wants compensation from the crew and insurance company. The crew says it's his personal matter, and there will be further complications."

Martin looked relieved: "Luckily, a gust of wind cleared my head a bit. I'd rather be a coward than get bitten by a snake."

Aja said, "Vogel brought this on himself. If you get injured, how much trouble will our crew get?"

Martin aptly remarked, "Perhaps because I'm with the same agency as him, I have higher priority than him and am blocking his path."

Since filming began, Craven and Martin have maintained a good relationship. Craven specifically warned, "That guy's got ulterior motives, kid. There are plenty of those kinds of people in this industry. You'd better watch out."

After filming wrapped, most of the crew would return to Los Angeles, but Martin and Bruce would stay and move directly to the studio next door.

That evening, Martin hosted a dinner for his three stunt doubles: Buck, Lewis, and Frank.

Bruce presented Martin with the gift he had prepared.

Lewis said, "You're too kind."

Martin laughed: "You guys took on all the hardest and most injury-prone parts, while I had the easiest time with the action scenes."

Buck, shaking his bald head, said, "The production crew paid us."

Martin picked up a small tote bag and placed one in front of each person: "They're not valuables, just souvenirs of this special experience."

Frank opened it, a hint of surprise in his eyes: "A handheld game console?"

Martin said, "You guys often play games during your breaks, so I specially had someone buy it for me: a Nintendo GBA-SP."

This thing isn't expensive, only $150 per unit.

Lewis said, "I've had my eye on Nintendo's new console for a while, but I haven't bought it yet. Martin, I won't hold back."

Buck also put away his bag; he had more on his mind, hence his balding head: "Martin, if you need a stunt double in the future, remember to call us."

Martin nodded: "If we need to film another action scene, I'll definitely recommend you to the crew."

In this collaboration, the three of them were quite reliable in terms of carrying the load.

The crew of "The Hills Have Eyes" left Mexico, and Martin went to report to the crew next door. He didn't even need to change rooms; he just changed the crew that was paying the bill.

His role also changed from an avenger who killed all the perverted and deformed people to a sunny and handsome football coach.

On his first day on set, Martin found Kapis on the training field and said, "Director, I'm here."

Kapis glanced at him briefly; he was the same confident, sunny, handsome guy he always saw. He asked, "Do you need a few days to rest and recuperate?"

Martin said, "No need, I'm ready."

Kapis nodded: "You don't need to exert yourself, just play yourself."

Martin thought to himself, "If I were to play myself, I'd definitely mess up this role."

Kapis glanced at the shooting schedule: "You don't have any scenes today, make yourself at home."

"Director, you're busy." Martin said, leaving as he saw that Kapis was working normally.

However, he stayed on set and tried to integrate into the film crew as soon as possible.

The crew quickly began filming.

Martin went to the rest area, sat under the parasol, and looked at the character scripts to identify the characters he would interact with.

The character with the most screen time is naturally Blake Lively, followed by the women's soccer players he leads.

Martin's character script is accompanied by a lot of professional training terminology.

Although he remembered some of the star players' names, Martin wasn't even a casual fan; he could only memorize these technical terms by rote.

Suddenly, someone sat down on the chair next to Martin. A woman with long, dark brown hair greeted Martin, "Hello, I'm Aibo."

Martin nodded. "Hello." He looked at the other person and realized she looked familiar; he'd seen her in a movie a while ago. "Are you the girl at the beginning of 'The Ring'?"

Aibo laughed and said, "Yes, I'm the girl who courted death, playing one of the four sisters here."

Blake, wearing athletic shorts, came over from the other side, staring intently at April, and said with an air of authority, "You took my seat."

Reality doesn't always reflect sisterly affection. April wanted to say something, but ultimately held back. As she stood up, she said, "Martin, good luck."

Martin waved his hand: "Goodbye."

Blackl pulled out a chair and sat down, his imposing aura vanishing instantly. His previously tense face broke into a smile brighter than the sun: "You've finally arrived."

She crossed one arm over her chest and rested her chin on the other, staring at Martin's handsome profile: "Why do I find you more and more handsome the more I look at you?"

Martin tapped the table: "Seriously, we'll be filming a scene soon, so let's find time to rehearse."

Blake said, "It's actually very simple. I fell in love with you at first sight."

Martin flipped through the script: "Training camp ends, then we go our separate ways?"

"Haven't you read the original?" Blake asked when Martin nodded. "The first draft of the script was supposed to be separate. Brad disagreed with Uncle Capis's adaptation and recently revised the script. So when I got home, I met you again, and it was a perfect love story."

Both were quite dedicated. Blake finished filming his scenes in the morning, while Martin didn't have any filming today, so they discussed their respective roles.

Communication with your co-stars is very important.

After the crew finished work that day, Martin and Blake went to the beach to go over their lines and rehearse.

Blake is a beauty enthusiast, but she is very serious about her work and works as hard as other actors. Although she comes from an acting family, her family background is not particularly outstanding among Hollywood's second-generation stars.

In Martin's view, for children of top-tier families, being in the acting industry is simply a matter of having fun.

(End of this chapter)