Made in Hollywood

"We've never seen you act, not even a cameo."

In the large conference room on the set, just after the brief preparation meeting for the next stage, Elijah Wood, the representative, came over and said, "All of us want to cooperate with you, not between actors and directors, but between actors and actors. Cooperation."

Duke tilted his head to look at these guys sitting at the conference table, "Why cave trolls?"

Viggo Mortensen took over immediately, "That...we are mainly worried about your acting skills."

Seeing that Duke was still thinking about it, Ivanka Trump reached out and nudged Tina Fey lightly. When it came to understanding Duke, no one in the conference room could compare to her.

Tina Fey didn't speak immediately, and glanced at Charles Rowan, seeing him nodding, then said, "Duke, I discussed it with Charles and Panney in Los Angeles, and they all thought it was a good idea. ."

Turning his head, Duke motioned to Tina Fey to continue.

"The beginning of a franchise is the hardest and the most important."

Tina Fey and Charles Rowan mixed with these people, not for fun, "There are many people who look down on us from the outside world, and some book fans have been protesting. We think you play a significant role, It will make the film more interesting, and it can also increase the publicity point..."

Charles Rowan answered tacitly, "Your first role as a Hollywood director will definitely attract a lot of people."

Raising his chin with one hand, Duke thought for a moment, and had to admit that what they said made a lot of sense.

Since he officially filmed and made a movie, let alone playing a role, he has never done soy sauce in the film like other directors, with his current reputation. If you play a character with some characteristics, you will definitely be able to win a lot of eyeballs.

Duke knows that he is not at the top level in terms of training actors, but it is still okay, but when it comes to acting, it can only be described as bad...

Cave trolls use motion capture. Duke remembered that Ang Lee had personally engaged in the motion capture of the Hulk. Maybe he could try it out. When combined with the publicity, he might be shocked.

The scenes of the Moria mine will be filmed in the studio in the future. Duke also considered this opinion very carefully, and asked Charles Rowan to communicate with Warner Bros. to come up with a more feasible publicity plan.

Enter July. New Zealand is still in winter, so it is most suitable for shooting all kinds of snowy scenes. Duke just let the crew rest in Wellington for two days, and then took the relevant personnel to an alpine ski resort near Wellington by helicopter.

An assistant of Charles Rowan was the first to arrive here yesterday. After preparing for the outpost, Duke and others got off the helicopter, and the crew immediately started running at high speed.

A snow-covered ridge not far from the tarmac would be a close-up location for Calahoras. The panoramic shots will be in charge of Zack Snyder's camera crew, who are still running around in New Zealand's north and south islands.

Because it was shot on a snowy mountain. Relying on a Steadicam-backed handheld camera became a must.

Fortunately, most of the scenes here are original, and there is basically no need to arrange them. After the members of the Fellowship of the Ring team have put on makeup, they can start shooting.

Time to wait for the actor to make up. Duke also armed himself, with thick winter clothes plus goggles and gloves, and armed himself tightly. Perhaps because he grew up in Southern California, where the climate is dry and hot, Duke is not very comfortable with the cold and wet climate. .

The makeup of the other actors is relatively easy. Sean Davis, who plays Gimli, is the most troublesome one, but he will not be given a frontal shot here, and it will also save the most time-consuming wearing of the silicone headgear and the headgear. make up.

“The ski slopes here are great.”

While standing on the ridge waiting to shoot, Ivanka Trump looked into the distance and whispered, "The scenery is very good, much better than the ski resorts in Europe and Canada. You can come here for vacation in the summer."

"Can you ski?" she turned to Duke.

After waiting for nearly two hours, Duke was bored watching the props team play with the 'pony' of the expedition team, and withdrew his gaze and said, "I'll be a little bit, I haven't practiced much."

"If I have time, I can teach you."

Seemingly finding a place to surpass Duke, Ivanka raised her chin slightly and said, "It's very simple."

Duke turned his eyes to the distance again, the sky was blue and cloudy, and it was very beautiful. He quickly followed the passage on the ridge specially reserved for the crew, and walked towards John Schwartzman. Since Tina Fey did not go up the mountain, as a Assistant Ivanka Trump followed immediately.

"John..."

Before he got close, Duke said loudly to him, "Grab some shots of the sky."

"Okay!" John Schwartzman took the camera from the tarp and put it on his shoulder, "I'm looking for a suitable location in black."

After speaking, he walked towards the heights with a camera assistant.

"Does filming often have unexpected situations?" I thought of Ivanka's voice later.

Duke turned around, looked at the figure of John Schwartzman stepping on the snow with one foot and one foot, and said, "Some ideas suddenly pop up, and they must be caught. find out."

Having said that, he changed the subject, "Evie, let someone take a look below, is the actor's makeup almost finished?"

After John Schwartzman returned from capturing the sky, it took another half an hour. The Fellowship of the Ring team, who had finally finished their makeup, finally walked up to the ridge. After a simple adjustment, Duke started the first test shot.

On the icy Mount Karahoras, the Fellowship of the Ring was struggling to move forward in the snow. Legolas, who was light-footed, acted as a guide at the forefront, and Aragorn dragged Frodo at the back of the team to take care of Frodo.

Suddenly, Frodo fell on the snow and rolled to Aragorn's side. After being pulled up by him, he found that the Lord of the Rings hanging around his neck was missing...

John Schwartzman immediately turns to Gerard Butler as Boromir picks up the Ring...

"Cut!"

Seeing this, Duke stopped and walked directly to Gerard Butler, "Jerry, your expression isn't right."

Gerard Butler's acting talent is relatively average, Duke thought about it for a while, took the chain with the Lord of the Rings from his hand, and said, "Now Boromir has a doubt when facing the Lord of the Rings. It was a fluke, and a sense of temptation, that he always believed that the Lord of the Rings could save Gondor..."

Duke patted Gerard Butler's shoulder armor, "Boromir is not only a tough guy defending Gondor, but also a complex psychology."

"I'll try," Gerald Butler assured Duke.

This character in the original book, in Tolkien's pen, is not a hero, and even thinks that he is worthless, but Duke does not intend to deal with it. At the end of every film, there must be a climax scene. If the climax scene can be ignored. Being remembered and constantly being mentioned and discussed can easily elevate the entire film.

In the film, Boromir will redeem himself with actual actions, and it will become an important turning point for Aragorn to return from the ranger to the king.

The filming resumed, and the main highlight here is Boromir. Because of Gerard Butler's relationship, Duke repeatedly called to stop, and the entire crew accompany the whole crew to freeze in the snow. The filming lasted for nearly an hour. Duke just shouted through.

Gerard Butler is quite a man. When the crew returned to the cafe at the ski resort for a short break, they not only took the initiative to pay for the guests, but also personally delivered coffee to each table.

Not to mention the staff of the crew, among all the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, except for the two actors who were dressed as horses, Gerald Butler had the least seniority.

If an actor wants to become famous, it is not just a matter of good acting skills.

Let's take the two actors dressed as horses. One of them is no worse than Viggo Mortensen, but he can only be an extra.

That's right, the horse of the Fellowship of the Ring team on the snowy mountain was played by two actors wearing props. It was too laborious to transport a horse to the snowy mountain. Duke used this method. Anyway, the camera is also No close-up of the horse, just a background painting.

Going down the mountain every night and taking a helicopter back in the morning, Duke spent nearly a week to complete the play on the snowy mountain.

At this point, nearly a month and a half had passed since the start of the crew, Duke returned to Wellington, joined Zach Snyder and Anna Prinz, and reviewed the work they were responsible for one by one. He collaborated with him during "Life Island", and the two have similar movie concepts, and they shoot what he is good at, so there is basically no problem.

The part that Anna Prinz was in charge of was relatively simple, and together with long-term sound engineer David Farmer, the sound of various animal versions recorded was enough to meet the needs of the crew.

After experiencing the physical and mental exhaustion of "The Matrix" and "Hundred Thousand Fires", Duke's workaholic side has calmed down, and he deliberately put a four-day holiday including weekends for the reunited crew in Wellington, and some Actors with other contracts, such as Ian McLean, also need to leave Wellington temporarily.

In addition, the business jet ordered by Duke was also in place, and the aircraft flew to Wellington with the hired crew.

It's a Gulfstream V business jet that, while not comparable to those larger airliners, is nearly 100 feet long and has more than 6,000 miles of range enough to satisfy Duke's needs.

After the plane was in place, Duke temporarily handed over the holiday crew to Charles Rowan, and returned to North America with two assistants. After meeting Jamie Johnson, the head of the publicity department of Warner Bros. in Los Angeles, Duke flew directly to New York to meet with Victoria. The secret high-level meeting was planned to have a huge publicity hype, in order to achieve the pre-publicity purpose of letting most people in the Western world know that the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy movies are being filmed. (To be continued ~^~)

PS:  The last few days have been busy around the world. There are a lot of things before marriage. There are still people in the hospital in my hometown. The time to code at night can’t be guaranteed. !