Chapter 72 - Mission Changes Destiny
In Jonathan Mostow's office, Lin Mingyang finished his entire concept in one breath, while Jonathan Mostow was still recalling the theme of the movie. Compared to the original script, which said, "Destiny has long been predetermined, don't stop fighting," the "mission to change destiny" mentioned by Lin in his revised plot was more like a reminder of the first two movies. Compared to the original script's "Destiny is predetermined, don't stop fighting", Lin Mingyang's "Mission Changes Destiny" in his revised plot is more like a kind of inheritance and development of the previous two plots.
It is obvious that Lin Mingyang's revision was not a moment of excitement, but rather he came up with such a revision after careful conceptualization, ingenious layout, and thorough deliberation. The entire plot basically retains the original vein, only to reset the beginning and the end, that is, it gives a better reason to shoot "Terminator 3", and also gives a better start to shoot "Terminator 4" from a different angle in the future.
Without replacing the actors or redesigning the action scenes, Lin Ming Yang fully utilized the material in the original script to come up with such a revised proposal that Jonathan Mostow could not find any reason to reject. In addition to being impressed by Lin Ming Yang's genius screenwriting ability, he also felt grateful for his decision just now, if Jonathan Mostow hadn't been patient enough to listen to Lin Ming Yang's explanations just now, then he would have wiped the floor with this wonderful idea.
"I admit that following your revision ideas will not only bring the overall thematic conception of this movie up a notch, but the plot will be more reasonable, and the audience will definitely enjoy the arrangement. Unfortunately the decision to revise the script is not in my hands, the key is the attitude of the producer, and to convince Warner, the two of us alone are not enough." In such a big investment-led production movie, director Jonathan Mostow's position is also a bit awkward, a lot of things he said does not count, have to get to the senior management of Warner's meeting to discuss before making a decision.
"Then what should we do?" Being reminded by him, Lin Ming Yang then realized that he had ventured to Jonathan Mostow was not a very wise decision.
"I'll take you to see someone, convince him and we're already halfway there!"
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The person Jonathan Mostow brought Lin Ming Yang to meet was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was busy running for governor of California. The status of Arnold Schwarzenegger in this movie could be seen from the fact that Warner offered a sky-high fee of 30 million dollars. As long as Lin Mingyang's script revisions could be recognized by him, then the Warner executives would have to weigh in a bit more when making their decision.
The crew originally chose to shoot in Canada, but in order to match Arnold Schwarzenegger's political needs, the location ended up back in Uncle Arnold's box office - Los Angeles, California. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has faded out of Hollywood acting over the years to focus on politics, has high hopes for this gubernatorial race. Despite Jonathan Mostow flashing his identity as a director, he was stopped by the staff. Arnold and his campaign team were in the middle of a meeting, and Lin Mingyang and Jonathan Mostow came at a somewhat inopportune time, and in order to meet with each other, they had to wait outside the door for an extra half hour.
Although he had appeared in many movies, the most classic screen image portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger was still the T-Series robot with sunglasses and a cold expression from the Terminator series. From a bodybuilder, to a top Hollywood movie star, in to now a strong candidate for governor of California. As the only halfway decent actor among mainstream Hollywood movie stars, Arnold Schwarzenegger's indomitable and resilient will has permeated his struggles at all times.
Arnold didn't have the advantage of being born again like Lin Ming Yang, and what he has achieved today is entirely due to his own efforts, step by step. For such an actor, Lin Ming Yang admired him from the bottom of his heart. So much so that when he met Arnold himself, he forgot to take the initiative to shake hands with the other party because of excitement, and in the end it was Arnold "Governor" in order to show his own temperament, took the initiative to shake hands with Lin Mingyang, which resolved the awkwardness of the two sides at the first meeting.
Lin Mingyang secretly complained in his heart, in front of the big man still can not maintain enough calm, but Arnold Schwarzenegger did not take this matter to heart, he thought that this is just a young man is very easy to make a mistake. Besides, whether it was Lin Mingyang's current reputation or the potential he showed, it was all worth Arnold looking at him differently.
Although this meeting was arranged, Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't have much time left for them, Jonathan Mostow gave him a general overview of Lin Ming Yang's ideas for the script revision, novel ideas coupled with clever plotting, all of which managed to draw Arnold Schwarzenegger's attention.
"This will be the last time I play the Terminator!" After the news of Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to Terminator 3 was confirmed, the news about him continuing to star in Terminator 4 had been hotly debated by the media, and for publicity purposes, Warner didn't come out to explain it, so this was the clearest answer Lin Ming Yang had heard on the subject.
Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed to his chest and said frankly, "The symptoms of aortic valve closure insufficiency are becoming more and more obvious on me, and this performance has been a considerable challenge to my physical ability, so this movie will be my final farewell to the audience. I keep saying in the movie that I'll be back, but this time I'm definitely not coming back!"
He smiled to himself, "Now more than ever I need everyone's support, so I also hope that this movie will reinvent a classic." The expression on Arnold Schwarzenegger's face when he said this was sincere, and there was even a hint of pleading in his tone. "For the plot revisions, I will stand firmly on your side and be willing to provide any possible help!"
"Your attitude is already enough!" Jonathan Mostow nodded with satisfaction, with this heavyweight star's promise, it would be much easier to go and convince Warner's executives next.
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The revision of the script from Lin Ming Yang's proposal, to star Arnold Schwarzenegger taking a stand, and finally director Jonathan Mostow's application, the whole process took less than a short day, which left Warner unprepared, and could only bring the matter to the senior management meeting for discussion. The company's internal attitude towards the matter formed two distinct factions.
The reason for the opponents was that the film was about to start shooting, and all the preparations of the crew were centered around the previous script, and a lot of the budget had already been invested in it, so now that the script was changed, the producers had already lost a lot of money before the shooting even started.
The supporters believe that Lin Ming Yang's revisions have not completely wasted the money that the crew has already invested in, and that many places only need some adjustments to fully adapt to the shooting requirements of the new script. Moreover, in terms of plot, Lin Mingyang's revised version is more groundbreaking and subsequent extension, much better than the previous one.
What really impressed the Warner executives in the revised program was the subsequent extensibility of Lin Mingyang's script. With Terminator 3 in the pipeline, the possibility of filming Terminator 4 is becoming more and more likely. Although the outside world has remained in the stage of speculation on this matter, within the company, it is clear to everyone that as long as the box office results of Terminator 3 can satisfy the investors, then of course Warner will gleefully hold onto this money tree and make a few more bucks.
Reboot of the "Terminator" series of filming, Warner has set its sights on the future, "Terminator 3" is not the end, but only a beginning, so in the plot of this film, they have gone to great lengths to make the already destroyed Skynet program "resurrected", so that the fate of mankind that has been changed to once again receive the "Doomsday Judgment", the war between humans and robots is not over, there is still a lot of room to create a follow-up storyline, so that the emergence of "Terminator 4" is also logical.
All of Lin Mingyang's revisions were based on an accurate grasp of the intentions of Warner's executives, and with the rebirth advantage, he knew that the plot of Terminator 4 did indeed take place in the future, but the reasons that Warner had found in Terminator 3 were far-fetched, and the audience didn't buy it, which indirectly led to the failure of Terminator 4 at the box office.
The executives at Warner wanted to make the movie exciting in terms of plot and attract more box office; they also wanted to leave the movie in suspense to prepare for the next sequel to follow. The script that Warner came up with at the beginning was clearly a combination of those two goals, except that the quality of the plot was greatly diminished for the latter.
Lin Mingyang's revisions took into account Warner's need for a sequel to be filmed while improving the content content of the plot. John Connor going back to the future from the crater would have been another exciting story. Such an ending would be more able to arouse the interest of the audience than the original script where the judgment of doom comes and John Connor is forced to shoulder the burden of saving mankind.
Voices of agreement quickly dominated within Warner, and eventually the board of directors voted to approve the change.
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When he learned of this news, Lin Ming Yang was on the set asking Stan Yunston, the film's special effects director, some questions about the production of special effects in the movie. He had just recently gotten hooked on this area, and it just so happened that Stan Yunston from Industrial Light and Magic was an expert in this area, so the two of them got together and had endless things to talk about.
Stan Yunston aimed the special effects of Terminator 3 at the next Academy Awards, and while there was the digitally styled Matrix to compete with it, Stan Yunston felt that the sense of intensity given to the film by that heavy machinery could not be matched by the black cape-wearing Savior from The Matrix.
"The making of Terminator 3 was a breakthrough in terms of the animation technology and machine theory that we have at the moment, and Terminator 2 has become a watershed moment in the synthesis of character effects, robot effects, live action and computer graphics. So Terminator 3 had to surpass it in every way. At the very least, we had to produce something new that people had never seen before."
"I bet it has to do with the new version of the villainous robot T-X. The liquid metal construction of the T-1000 in the last episode was just cool!" Talking about the last Terminator movie, what Lin Ming Yang remembers most is the use of computerized special effects.
"At the end of this movie, you'll see a whole new Arnold that you've never seen before. It's the same for T-X, she's not a replica of the T-1000 by any means, we've portrayed a character with a sexy appearance but one that's too much for Arnold to handle. I'm sure you're going to love T-X when we shoot it."
Lin Mingyang had just seen the set photo of Christina Logan, who played T-X in the movie, and the model-born beauty was wearing a red leather outfit that emphasized her devilish figure, a pair of thin high-heeled shoes that didn't go well with machinery, and a head of blonde hair sharply coiled at the back of her head, with cold and unfeeling eyes.
"I don't think the real-life Kristina Logan looks in the least bit like she has the kind of power that would allow her to physically fight Mr. Arnold, a world-class, big-name action star."
"So it's really interesting that we're making virtual doubles for T-X and Arnold. The main reason for making the virtual doubles is for safety reasons and also for the filming techniques of the movie. We're also making a lot of computer models of liquid metal, turning T-X's skin into liquid metal, and you'll find a lot of unexpected details when you dive into it. We also shot some of the robot dolls in conjunction with the digital models. This will be an innovation!"
After saying this, Stan Yunston led Lin Mingyang into their studio, and then showed Lin Mingyang a set of shots they were compositing. The original footage showed T-X's character, Christina Logan, wielding a blue mannequin with a handle.
"Your work has begun?" Seeing Kristina Logan appear in the picture, Lin Ming Yang was surprised because the movie hadn't officially started yet.
"Luckily you kept this part when you revised the script, so our efforts weren't in vain after all!" Stan Yunston smiled and hit the enter key on the computer keyboard, then the screen converted to a shot that had already been produced.
Lin Mingyang remembered the episode, in which T-X, played by Christina Logan, was preparing to smash Arnold's head through the walls of a semi-enclosed lavatory. Stan Winston and his partners replaced the blue model in the original footage with a computer-generated digital model of Arnold, and then produced an extremely powerful robot fight scene.
"This is amazing!" He exclaimed heartily.
"There will be a lot of shots like this in the movie, so be prepared!" Stan Winston kindly warned.
"Why?" His words Lin Ming Yang felt strange, it wasn't like he was acting as a robot, and there was no reason why they would help him make an electronic double in the computer.
"In order to match the computer synthesis, the filming process is a lot more complicated than you think, let's say that someone is flying through the house and you have to avoid him, but in fact, there is no one flying in the house at all! You have to pretend to walk around the house and make movements until the virtual computer model lands in a corner, which takes longer than you think, so it also requires a lot of patience on your part."
Arnold still acts as Lin Ming Yang's bodyguard in the show, and although Lin Ming Yang doesn't have to fight T-X himself, many of the scenes where T-X and T-850 fight to the death will still involve his performance, which is why Stan Yunston said that.
"Actually, your performance is not the hardest, our two robots will be even harder. It's hard to imagine two robots, one weighing 2,000 pounds and the other 1,000 pounds. Every move they make, every object they touch, breaks in an instant. So every move would have to be pre-designed, and watching a fight scene between two robots like that would be a very special experience."