America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 421 The Sky Collapses and the Earth Shatters

Brooklyn Bridge Park is a famous photo spot in New York City.

The film crew rented several rooms at the park management office to serve as temporary dressing rooms so that Martin and the female lead could change clothes.

Because of traffic congestion on the Brooklyn Bridge, Martin arrived on the Manhattan side more than ten minutes later than expected.

"No wonder it's a suicide hotspot." After getting out of the car, Bruce was still looking at the bridge: "I actually saw three people lining up to commit suicide."

Martin speculated, "They might be involved in leveraged financial securities trading."

Chad called out from the management office, "Come this way."

Martin and Bruce entered the management office together and saw Chad and his team, as well as a girl with long dark brown hair.

The girl heard the sound and turned to look in their direction.

Martin was immediately struck by two striking impressions: his bright blue eyes, sparkling like glass, and the astonishing size of the mountain.

She strode towards Martin, her bouncing motion making one strongly suspect that an earthquake had struck Manhattan.

Martin recognized her; the experts in the group had recommended "True Detective" more than once, even down to the minute and second.

The girl approached Martin, looking very excited. She pulled out a pen and a poster of the male lead from "Limitless," and said in a trembling voice, "Martin, can I get your autograph? I'm a fan."

Martin took it and signed it for her.

"Look, I have certification from the Cult of Coca-Cola." The girl lowered her head slightly and took out a pendant from her collar, on which hung a red Coca-Cola bottle the size of a little finger.

Martin glanced at it subconsciously, as if he could see the snow-white summit of Mount Everest.

It wasn't intentional; the other person pulled down their collar when they took out the pendant, and the breasts were too large.

The girl showed one of the certifications of the Cola Cult and tentatively asked, "Martin, could you write a line for Alexandra Daddario?"

"Alexandra?" Martin quickly typed this sentence, then said, "I have a friend in New York named Alexandra."

He was referring to AA.

Alexandra deliberately misinterpreted the situation: "So, I'm a lucky one."

Martin also gave her a pen and a poster, asking, "Are you from New York?"

Alexandra nodded: "Yes, I grew up in New York and once wanted to go to Los Angeles to pursue my dreams, but unfortunately I didn't have a good opportunity."

Chad then came over and reminded her, "Handsome guy and beautiful lady, we're about to start working. Let's take some casual photos first." He took a few steps back and glanced at Alexandra, who was wearing ordinary jeans and a T-shirt: "This outfit is fine. Let's begin."

The photography team had already set up cameras and sunshades on the beach, and Chad himself took the camera and acted as the photographer.

Because the photos of the two of them were to be used to decorate the male protagonist's home, a lot of photos needed to be taken.

"Relax, relax a little," Chad loudly reminded Alexandra. "You need to get closer to Martin. You're husband and wife now, not strangers."

Alexandra has been acting since 01 and is considered an experienced actress, finally getting into character.

She grabbed Martin's arm and nestled close to him.

Despite his arms feeling like they were buried in cotton, Martin's professionalism was unquestionable. He fully immersed himself in the role of husband, engaging in various intimate gestures with Alexandra.

Chad kept snapping photos, especially those with the sunset as a backdrop.

Soon, Martin and his companion went into a temporary changing room to change clothes and then moved to a new location to continue taking photos.

Chad was very meticulous about details like the backdrop, after all, this was his first film as a director.

Given Martin's current status, failure is no big deal.

But he is unlikely to have the opportunity to direct a film independently again.

After changing into several outfits, Martin changed into a black suit, while Alexandra wore a low-cut wedding dress, and the two took wedding photos together.

They also need to shoot a selfie video from Martin's perspective.

Martin took a handheld DV camera and stood in an open space. Alexandra needed to run towards him in her wedding dress with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop.

Once the lights were adjusted, Chad said, "Begin."

Martin pressed the DV switch.

Alexandra lifted her wedding dress and ran wildly toward Martin, her frantic leaps and bounds resembling the collapse of the heavens and the splitting of the earth.

Martin was completely absorbed in watching the DV until Alexandra ran up to him and stopped.

Chad walked over and watched the video replay with Martin, saying, "This was well-shot."

He praised, "Martin, you could work part-time as a photographer."

Martin casually replied, "Actually, I've always wanted to be the best photographer in the world."

Chad told the people to put the DV camera away and said, "Let's take a few minutes' break, then we'll continue filming."

When Martin noticed that the wedding dress train was too long, he offered to help Alexandra lift the hem so she could sit on a bench and rest for a while.

Alexandra was panting heavily, rubbing her shoulders repeatedly. Running this stretch at full speed had clearly increased her workload.

Out of concern, Martin asked, "Are you alright? Do you want to rest a bit more?"

Alexandra smiled, straightened her back, and said, "I'm fine. I've gotten used to it over the years. As long as I'm not running fast, it's not a big problem."

Martin nodded, said nothing more, and sat down on the chair next to him.

Alexandra glanced at Martin with curiosity in her eyes. Based on her observation of his work today, the Hollywood star seemed very professional.

The film crew finished their work and wrapped up before it got dark.

Martin came out of the locker room, ready to return to the hotel.

The door to the next room opened, and Alexandra came out, saying, "Are you leaving?"

Martin nodded: "There are still a lot of action scenes to shoot tomorrow, go home and get some rest."

Alexandra said, "I'll be joining the cast in a few days. My acting skills are average, so if I have any questions, can I ask you?"

Martin has always adhered to the principle: "You can come to me anytime I have time."

"Thank you, Martin." Alexandra laughed so hard her chest bounced.

The two left the management office together, exchanged contact information, and went to the parking lot to get into their respective cars.

Back at the hotel, Martin had dinner and then went back to his room.

After a quick shower and a phone call with Elizabeth, he went to bed early.

Even if Martin has good stamina, he still gets a little tired after personally filming a lot of action scenes every day.

Throughout the filming process, there were limited dialogue scenes; at least two-thirds of the shots showed Martin either killing someone or on his way to kill someone.

The animal actors arrived the following morning.

Martin recognized the dog; it was the puppy Chad adopted when he was the action director for "Wanted" in Atlanta.

To commemorate Marcus's beloved dog, which was killed by those black men, Chad named the dog Daisy as well.

Of course, for the sake of filming convenience, the male protagonist's dog in the film is also named Daisy.

Ivanov, the son of a Russian mafia boss, killed the protagonist's wife's dog and stole the protagonist's Cadillac; he will inevitably pay the price with his life.

HK Company completed all the necessary procedures and delivered its firearms to the film crew for use in filming.

On set, the camera, guided by a curved slider, moved to Martin's side.

Martin removed the wooden floorboards, opened a metal door, and took out a huge black leather trunk.

Upon opening the box, a freshly printed wedding photo was placed on top, showing Martin and Alexandra standing intimately together, like a real engaged couple.

He placed the photo where it would be easily visible to the camera, then took out a stack of US dollar bills and put them in his pocket.

At the very bottom are two guns.

A black USP and three magazines.

The other weapon is a UMP45 submachine gun with a folding stock.

Martin skillfully loaded the USP's magazine, inserted it into his armpit pouch, then loaded the submachine gun bullets into the magazine and put them into the black bag next to him.

The entire process was fluid and skillful, like that of a true super assassin.

Besides filming the main character, Martin, and the wedding photos, the camera gave many shots of the two weapons.

Hollywood took money from the producers of GG, so they won't skimp on product placement.

Moreover, there's absolutely no trace of implantation here, since the protagonist is going to take revenge with a gun.

Even the snipers in the film use the HK G22 sniper rifle.

If the first film in this series is successful, there will definitely be more sequels. The male protagonist will use a lot of firearms and other weapons. The first film is also sending a message to the arms manufacturers of NATO countries - come and sponsor us! Your weapons will be shown in countless close-up shots.

Hollywood has been making similar military-themed projects, most notably the various blockbusters sponsored by the Pentagon.

Movies like Top Gun and Transformers are practically blatant American equipment exhibitions.

The latter even directly interfered with the film's content, depicting American soldiers using American weapons to defeat the aliens.

Hollywood film crews that want to use U.S. military equipment for filming at low cost or even for free have to accept guidance from the Pentagon on some aspects of the content, even if the content is outrageous, they have to grit their teeth and accept it.

Gunshots rang out every day at the film studio where the crew was located, and fireballs occasionally exploded on set.

As filming progressed, Menez joined in.

For political correctness reasons, this Black Continental Hotel owner hired a white assistant.

In several dialogue scenes between Martin and Menez, the concept of the high table is specifically mentioned, highlighting the setting of the Presbyterian Council.

These are all left open to sequels. The most important thing for the first film is to be successful. If the film fails commercially, there will be no sequel.

The first film in Martin Scorsese's previous life was released when Keanu Reeves was at the end of his career, his star power had almost reached rock bottom, and the box office was not particularly successful. However, thanks to the hype surrounding the film, it earned a good income in the offline market, which led to the release of the sequel, which successfully revived Keanu Reeves' popularity and gave him a second spring in his career.

Unlike Reeves, Martin is currently at the peak of his career, in peak physical condition, with outstanding skills and marksmanship. He has both appeal and generates a lot of buzz, so naturally he wants to achieve better results in the business world.

With a production budget of $40 million, the film was aiming for a box office of over $100 million in North America.

(End of this chapter)