America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 297 Heaven and Hell

Park, located near the Mexican border, has a permanent population of less than a thousand and retains many buildings from the frontier era. Some Hollywood Western-style scenes are often filmed here.

The Coca-Cola-assembled GG crew arrived here two weeks ago to prepare for the pre-production work.

As soon as Martin and Sam Mendes, the two main figures, arrived, GG immediately began filming.

On the gravel road, Sam Mendes arrived on set and said to Martin, "Forget about your identity as a cult leader. You're just a cowboy who just founded the Coca-Cola Cult and came to the West to spread its gospel. Show some cowboy spirit!"

Martin nodded to indicate that he understood: "No problem."

When filming never ends, he carefully studied the old cowboy in "Unforgiven".

Martin took the two old-fashioned revolvers from Bruce, put them in the holsters on his waist, and then had the stylist wrap him in a red scarf and a tattered red cape.

The Coca-Cola logo is missing from the image, which shows the hardships the protagonist has gone through, yet it is still easy to recognize and understand what the protagonist represents.

The jockey led over a horse.

Martin had already familiarized himself with the ropes after arriving yesterday and immediately took them over.

Elizabeth Olsen, dressed in a cowgirl outfit, rode a smaller horse slowly into the set.

She waved to Martin: "Hi, Martin."

Seeing her skillful control of the horse, Martin praised her, saying, "Good riding skills."

Elizabeth smiled sweetly: "I've been practicing horseback riding for over five years."

Once Martin was mounted, she whispered, "Let me tell you a secret: my excellent riding skills were also a key reason I got this role."

Martin gave her a thumbs up: "Excellent people shine wherever they go."

In today's society, unless you own a ranch, most people in cities, including many actors, who can practice horseback riding for extended periods of time, come from wealthy families.

Elizabeth's denim outfit and tattered cape, with red as the base color, really accentuate her figure.

Wearing red will boost your combat power!

Director Sam Mendes shouted, "Ready to shoot!"

Two jockeys came over and led Martin and Elizabeth's horses to the starting point.

The script supervisor claps the clapperboard, and filming begins.

Martin spurred his horse forward at a trot, with Elizabeth following behind.

The dust kicked up by the horses' hooves was swept away to the rear by the blower.

Arriving at the entrance of the old-fashioned Western bar, Martin pulled his horse down.

"Great!" Mendes, striving for perfection, said, "Let's film it again."

GG comes in two versions: online and TV.

The former will be played in the form of short videos on major portal websites and emerging video websites.

The latter mainly involves editing out the best parts and using them as regular TV clips.

Sam Mendes had it easy, and Martin's performance was also effortless.

At 5 p.m., the crew finished filming on time, and all outdoor scenes were successfully completed.

The interior scenes will need to be filmed for at least another day.

Martin could only stay in the small town for the time being.

"Let's go grab a drink," Sam Mendes invited Martin.

The Western-style bar used for filming had been booked by the production crew and wouldn't accept customers outside the crew. Martin replied, "Let's have a drink."

He followed Sam Mendes into the bar: "When I met Kate, you had just gotten married."

The two sat at the wooden bar and each ordered a whiskey. Mendes said, "Kate talked to me about you. You met in Atlanta, and you even gave her a crystal peach."

Martin had almost forgotten about it; back then, he had given his all to seize even the slightest chance.

Later, they did indeed get a lot of help from Kate.

Martin candidly stated, "Kate even invited me to visit London at the time."

"Call us when you get to London," Mendes said with a smile. "Kate is on a road trip and will be coming from San Diego tomorrow."

Martin toasted him: "That's cool!"

Mendes laughed: "She said a while ago that she wanted to talk to you, and only came over after finding out you were here. She just happened to come see me."

Martin had nothing to hide from Winslet, so he frankly said, "At the Oscars, she mentioned to me that I've been busy with two projects lately, and Kate is traveling, so we haven't seen each other."

He deliberately lowered his voice: "Sam, can you give me a heads-up? I won't tell Kate you've already said anything."

Mendes thought for a moment and said in a low voice, "It seems to be about movies and roles." He went on to say, "You know, Kate is obsessed with the Oscars and wants to win Best Actress. She bought the film and television rights to a novel."

Martin nodded, remembering Kate telling him about the novel, the one about the Nazis.

Mendes said, "You two can talk about it when she gets here."

He shrugged: "You absolutely must keep this a secret. Don't tell her I leaked the information. Kate is super fierce; I wouldn't dare mess with her."

Martin said, "How can you talk about men's topics with women?"

The film crew checked into the town's only hotel, and the group quickly returned to have dinner.

Elizabeth Olsen, carrying a tray, sat down opposite Martin: "Are you alone?"

Bruce, who was coming from the opposite direction, randomly picked an empty table.

"Yes," Martin asked, "Your sisters didn't come?"

Elizabeth said, "My agent came with me, and my sisters are all very reassured knowing that I'm working with you this time."

Martin thought to himself, "Wow, I'm actually this reliable?"

Elizabeth was actually lying, because her sisters had a partnership with Coca-Cola, and she was reassured that Coca-Cola was managing the crew of the film.

She specifically reminded her, "You forgot, Burbank High School, you saved me!"

Martin looked unconcerned: "It was nothing, it's all in the past."

"You saved my life!" Elizabeth puffed out her chest and said, "If you ever need anything from me in the future, no matter what it is, I'll do it for you."

Martin glanced at it briefly before looking away and changing the subject: "You're almost graduating from high school, right?"

Elizabeth took a sip of her soda and said, "Next summer."

Martin understood.

Seeing that Martin wasn't in much interest, Elizabeth suddenly leaned closer and said, "Later, when it's completely dark, you can go up to the rooftop, and I'll show you the view."

Martin asked in surprise, "What scenery?"

Elizabeth looked around mysteriously and said, "You'll find out then."

After dinner, it got dark quickly. Martin changed into shorts and a T-shirt and called Bruce to go to the rooftop together.

The hotel in the town has only four floors, but it is the tallest building in the entire town.

As soon as Martin went up, he saw Elizabeth wearing denim shorts and a tank top.

White women are already fully developed by the age of seventeen or eighteen.

Elizabeth waved to Martin: "Come over here quickly, it's starting!"

Martin was puzzled and quickly went over.

Elizabeth opened her sling bag, took out a pair of binoculars, and handed them over: "Look at Tijuana across the street."

Before Martin could even pick up his binoculars, a dozen or so people came up one after another, including the film's director Mendes, Milner, the Coca-Cola representative on set, Paul, the security chief, and others.

They each brought binoculars.

Milner told Martin, "The crew had their pre-shoot meeting last night and missed a lot of good scenes." He pointed south: "Look over there, it's quite lively."

Martin knew he was talking about the other side of the border, the outskirts of Tijuana.

He raised his binoculars and could vaguely see flames, and there seemed to be an explosion. One of the burning points started as a jumping red dot, but quickly turned into a fiery cloud.

Elizabeth said, "There have been explosions and fires every day since I arrived."

Martin saw more fires starting up.

On the south side of the border, it appears as if a small-scale war has taken place.

To the north, the entire town of Park was quiet.

The contrast between the two is like heaven and hell.

Paul, the security supervisor, works for a PMC and knows a bit about the situation there: "Tijuana has been quite turbulent lately. Several gangs have been fighting over supply channels and markets for almost a week, and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon."

A flash of light appeared, followed by the faint sound of a loud explosion.

Martin couldn't help but say, "They're not like gangsters, they're more like warlords."

Paul said, "You could think of it as a warlord who was a merchant."

Despite being far away and only able to see the fire and explosions, Elizabeth, a girl from a wealthy family, was not afraid at all; on the contrary, she watched with great interest.

Half an hour later, Elizabeth's agent called her away.

After watching for a while, Martin also came downstairs.

Back in the room, he asked Bruce, "That Mexican gang that was causing you trouble, is it gone?"

"The small and medium-sized gangs over there are formed and swallowed up at an astonishing speed; they're supposedly gone," Bruce said roughly. "Gangs also pursue profits; they won't easily do things that are risky and unprofitable."

Martin returned to his room and slept soundly through the night.

Bruce sat in the living room, a gun beside him, and stood guard all night.

After Martin got up, he saw Bruce stretching his body, but didn't say anything.

The two had faced a black robber together, trembled in fear under Sofia's terror, framed others and were framed themselves, and even experienced the Burbank High School incident.

Some things simply cannot be expressed in words.

After breakfast, the crew started work on time, and Martin went into the trailer outside the bar to get his makeup and hair done.

Milner called the makeup artist who was doing the supporting actors' makeup out separately and asked, "Have you seen the video of Avalon Bar?"

The stylist wasn't stupid; he said, "The scene with Martin and Pitt?"

"Now that they've seen it, things are easier," Milner said, pointing to the western bar. "Don't you think this 'GG' clip looks somewhat similar to that video?"

"The male lead is Martin..." The stylist realized, "Now I understand how to style the supporting characters."

Milner nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, well done. You'll get an extra bonus."

This "GG" incident originated from the fight between Martin and Pete at the Avalon bar.

Martin represents Coca-Cola, so the villain naturally has to be someone like Pete.

(End of this chapter)