America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 266 A Bastard's Terrible Trick

In the studio, Chad pressed the remote control, and the television screen played clips from classic Bruce Lee action movies, specifically for Martin to watch and study.

In the film, the protagonist Eddie's fighting skills are self-taught, mainly learned from imitating action movies.

Martin is always serious about his work and observes things very carefully.

Chad said, "His fighting style is characterized by speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness; he takes down his opponent directly and is absolutely powerful and aggressive."

Martin had studied Jeet Kune Do in his previous life when he worked as a stuntman. After looking at it carefully, he said, "Let's try it out."

The two had already changed into their training clothes and arrived at the training area, which was covered with thick mats. Chad emphasized, "Let's go slow first, get familiar with the routine, and then go fast."

Martin nodded: "No problem."

The two rehearsed their moves as if in slow motion.

Making movies is not real combat. Even if it's a fight scene with punches landing, the first priority is still to make it cool and visually appealing.

If the action scenes really turned into a chaotic brawl, the audience would definitely spit saliva all over the screen.

Chad's action design style is also close to real combat.

The two spent the entire morning practicing their routines.

Before noon, after showering and changing clothes, Martin and Chad went to the Smoke House across from Warner Bros. Studios for lunch.

After Martin ordered, he realized he knew the people at the next table.

The girl with two dimples when she smiled kept looking in his direction.

Martin nodded and said, "Good afternoon, Mia."

Mia, a waitress at the studio's refreshment stand and also an actress, quickly responded, "Hello, Martin."

Then, she introduced her male companion across from her: "This is Sebastian, a pianist."

Martin said, "I know you."

Sebastian stood up and bowed slightly: "Mr. Davis, you've sent me flowers a few times."

The other party was the restaurant's pianist. On several occasions, Martin would accompany his female companions to dine there, and when he was in a good mood, he would spend money to buy a bouquet of flowers and have them delivered to them.

It's a worldwide service, and pianists who deliver flowers can earn a commission.

"You two continue." Martin stopped interrupting them and turned back to Chad to continue their work-related conversation.

In addition to close combat, the film also involves gunfights.

The food arrived, and the two ate and talked.

Chad reiterated his previous point: "The smart drug enhanced the protagonist's learning ability, and his gun skills were also learned from movies. I will select some realistic gunfight scenes later, and then you can imitate them."

Martin cautioned, "The gunfight scenes shouldn't be too intense; they're just supporting acts, not stealing the spotlight from the main plot."

Chad knew all this: "I understand."

After lunch and a short rest, Martin switched film crews.

"The Departed" has begun post-production at Warner Bros. Studios, and Scorsese has asked several of the lead actors to re-dub some of their scenes.

Upon arriving at the studio, Martin saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicholson, those two bastards, but ignored them and greeted the director first.

Scorsese cut to the chase and got straight to the point: "The three of you I've brought in here are mostly for dubbing scenes filled with profanity, especially Martin and Leo, your profanity isn't strong enough."

Martin asked, "About Fuck's voice acting?"

Scorsese nodded: "Whether it's you rapping Cleo or Leo rapping you, they both lack that extreme, visceral power of hatred!" He led the way toward the recording studio: "Come with me."

They went into the recording studio together. Leonardo, holding the script, went first into the studio. The screen embedded in the wall played a long shot of the rooftop showdown.

Leonardo tried dubbing, speaking into the recording microphone a string of lines that started with the letter F.

Scorsese put down his headset and called Leonardo over: "The power I'm talking about isn't the pitch of your voice, but the tone and emotion. These can't be achieved by glaring, frowning, or yelling."

This was precisely Leonardo's three-hit combo when he unleashed his full power.

He scratched his head: "I'll try again."

The recording started again, but Scorsese was still not satisfied and called Leonardo back in.

Although he is one of Hollywood's top stars, Leonardo DiCaprio is not an actor with explosive talent. After going through two rounds of auditions, he still couldn't find his footing.

Scorsese pointed at Martin: "Imagine him as your mortal enemy!"

Leonardo looked at Martin, still frowning.

Martin suddenly had an idea, but he didn't act rashly. He waited until Leonardo had moved to a distance in the room and whispered, "Director, I have a plan."

Scorsese knew the trio of bastards had a knack for using dirty tricks, but sometimes they did work, so he nodded and said, "Give it a try."

When Leonardo turned back, Martin suddenly said, "Are you sure you can handle this, Leonardo? Your voice acting isn't like that—you're a 11-second wonder, is it?"

Scorsese asked at just the right moment, "What, the 11-second man?"

Martin gestured knowingly and said, "You know, in that area between men and women!"

Scorsese's face became particularly interesting.

Leonardo immediately flew into a rage, raising his middle finger at Martin: "Fuck you! Fuck you..."

A string of profanities came out of his mouth.

Scorsese clapped his hands and shouted, "Yes, that's the feeling!" He went over and pushed Leonardo into the recording studio: "While the feeling is still there, let's get started!"

Even a scoundrel's dirty tricks, if used well, can be helpful to the production team.

Leonardo DiCaprio's voice acting has been successfully completed.

When it was Martin's turn to go in, he said with a sneer, "Theresa, Melissa, KK, Angela, Duchen, these people are still hung up on you. They all want to know where you live so they can visit you. Should I tell them? And at the same time, take a video and send it to Blake. Brilliant!"

That old bastard Nicholson didn't forget to add insult to injury: "How about sending Julie another one?"

"My other film studio is right next door. You're welcome to visit later and practice the action sequences together." Martin went into the recording booth and took two tries to get into the groove before completing a bunch of Fuck's voice acting.

In contrast, Nicholson had the easiest time because his character had relatively few lines.

The entire film contains over 500 instances of the word "fuck" coming out of the mouths of those three bastards alone.

The final edited video will likely contain no fewer than 200 clips.

By mid-afternoon, the work was completed.

Martin called Leonardo and Nicholson to the nearby studio and suggested that the former change into his training clothes and work out together.

Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't fooled, saying, "I don't do any action scenes except for water gun scenes; I don't need to train for them."

Martin, who always exposes people's weaknesses, said: "That's right, the moment you turn into a greasy, fat old man like Jack, you'll get an Oscar."

These words were an insult to both of them. Before Leonardo could say anything, Nicholson retorted, "You little bastard, with the way you play now, you'll never be able to get hard again until you're thirty. Then we'll play with you while you cry your eyes out."

Martin snorted and said, "You have no idea how strong I am. Someone like Leo has been playing for so many years and he's fine. I'm much stronger than him."

"Who said he's okay?" Nicholson went on a rampage: "He's 11 seconds now!"

Leonardo approached from behind and made a gesture as if to strangle Nicholson: "I'm going to kill you!"

"Don't kill him. He's still useful to me. Kill him as you please after I'm done." Martin patted Nicholson on the shoulder. "You old bastard, there's a big villain in this movie, a Wall Street financial tycoon. Interested?"

Nicholson jokingly said, "I won't do it for less than $1000 million!"

Martin gave him the middle finger: "You can go die now."

Nicholson broke free from Leonardo's embrace and asked, "Want to go somewhere fun tonight?"

Leonardo shook his head: "No, I need to conserve my energy."

Nicholson's eyes widened: "You wouldn't betray the trio like that bastard Martin, would you?"

Martin protested, "How did I become a traitor?"

"You fucking got a girlfriend!" Leonardo DiCaprio retorted first, then explained, "I finally got back to being single, why would I need a steady girlfriend? Do you know how great it is to have a different young and beautiful woman every night?"

Nicholson replied solemnly, "I know!"

When he was young, he had a much more extravagant lifestyle than Leonardo DiCaprio.

Martin was so ashamed he wanted to disappear, because he didn't realize he had dragged the trio of bastards down.

So, keep working hard!

That night, Martin invited two jerks out for drinks, and the three of them ended up at the Avalon nightclub.

Before entering the store, he specifically asked Lao Bu for the things that had been prepared.

Martin ordered a bottle of whiskey, and seeing Leonardo and Nicholson casually choose a spot in the lobby on the first floor, he went over and sat down.

After a few drinks, Martin, seemingly a little tipsy, said, "Leo, Jack, we're three bastards, birds of a feather, we've crawled through holes together, sharpened guns together, our relationship is unbreakable!"

"Since Warren Beatty got married and settled down, and Marlon Brando went to meet his maker, I haven't met a bunch of like-minded bastards like you two in a long time." Nicholson raised his glass and clinked it with each of the two men: "To our trio of bastards!"

Leonardo and Martin raised their glasses in a toast.

Martin added, "Since we're the trio of bastards, I'll tell you a secret: do you know why I'm so strong?"

When this was mentioned, Leonardo scoffed, "He's just young and strong."

"No." Martin pulled two small green boxes from his pocket and placed them on the table. "The real secret is these!"

Nicholson asked, "What kind of medicine is this?"

"A drug with no side effects, perfect for that kind of thing." Since they're called the Trio of Scoundrels, how could they not do scoundrel things? Martin still remembered these two scoundrels getting paparazzi to photograph him, and solemnly recommended: "The effect is extremely good, I'm the best example."

Leonardo asked skeptically, "Are you serious?"

Martin retorted, "My reputation has always been excellent!"

Having witnessed Martin's strength firsthand, the two of them put everything away.

Nicholson tapped Martin's arm and gestured with his eyes: "Pete's here."

Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck walked in together from the bar entrance.

(End of this chapter)