Chapter 9: Adjustment

Movies, especially those with relatively high investments, are a large-scale battle that requires careful planning. Among all the pre-production work, the most troublesome positions are undoubtedly the producer, director, and screenwriter.

The script has long been finalized and will not change casually unless there are special circumstances. Over the past two months, Duke has been making thorough plans for directing. However, he still won't relax before the film starts shooting; there are many matters that require the director's involvement.

Although there are dedicated people responsible for renting equipment and props, Duke still needs to take a look at everything to ensure it meets his requirements. Anything that doesn't align must be replaced. Coordinating with the producer, cinematographer, and art director for location scouting is also a fundamental part of the director's pre-production duties.

The cinematographer needs to understand how the camera operates in real-world environments; if Duke feels there is a discrepancy between the location and his envisioned scene, he must communicate with the set designer and art director to see how to transform it to better match his desired feel. Once the location is finalized, the producer will negotiate the rental terms with the location owner, discussing the time, costs, precautions, and so on.

With the personnel and location determined, Duke will adjust the script according to the actual situation, organizing the storyboard into different scripts—determining how many takes are needed for each scene, which angles to try, and how to develop or control the actors' emotions.

In addition to the storyboard, Duke also prepared a schedule to coordinate times based on the locations and actors. Scenes taking place in the same location must be shot within the same time frame. As a director, he must have a clear mind; making a basic mistake like having different costumes for actors in the same location is something an amateur would be mocked for.

On top of this, Duke also needs to work with several assistant directors to create a shooting log. The first assistant director, Kone, occasionally made comments that seemed to target him, making the whole process clumsy and full of pressure. Duke has been under immense stress and almost lost his temper several times.

Fortunately, Duke is well aware that he is making a film and not here for office politics. Getting distracted by these minor issues will only harm him in the end.

After spending more energy than anticipated to finalize the shooting log, Duke thought of another matter: he desperately needed a sharp, capable assistant who understood the film business. With such an assistant, he could free himself from these tedious tasks and focus more on shooting the film.

Unfortunately, he currently doesn't even have enough money for a credit card, let alone to hire an assistant.

In any case, compared to the film crews he worked with in his previous life, the pre-production work in Hollywood is far more complicated and detailed, taking up much more time. Additionally, the actors need time for costume fittings and character study, so Robin Grand's plan to start shooting in mid-September naturally fell through. The preparation for "Speed" was delayed by a full two weeks, and it wasn't until October that pre-production was completely wrapped up.

On October 3, 1991, after being tormented by heavy work and pressure and starting to suffer from insomnia, Duke was reborn in the flames, revitalized because "Speed" finally began shooting in the Universal Studios soundstage!

There were no press conferences, no flashing lights, and no elaborate ceremonies; the crew quietly began filming.

"Cut!"

The first trial shot had just begun for a dozen seconds when Duke called for a stop. He stood up from behind the director's camera and walked back and forth a few times among the props and set designed as an elevator lobby, finally standing in the middle of the shooting area.

Dennis Hopper, who played the villain, and another temporary actor stepped aside.

Some scenes might appear flawless to the naked eye, but on camera, even the smallest issues can be infinitely magnified. Although they had been communicating continuously for over two months, it was still the first time Duke was collaborating with the various departments of the crew, and it definitely needed some adjustment.

"Make the lighting a bit darker; I need a stronger gray metallic texture."

After thinking for a few minutes about the footage just shot, Duke realized that there were problems with both the scene and the camera angles. He tried to adjust, saying, "Move camera two to the left by thirty degrees; you only need to capture Dennis's back, and the costume…"

The costume designer immediately raised a hand.

Walking over to Dennis Hopper, Duke pointed to his somewhat worn work uniform and said, "Change to the gray one."

Then he turned to the temporary actor playing the security guard and said, "You come with me."

Duke walked to the elevator door, turned around to look at the following temporary actor, and pointed to where he had come from, saying, "Your surprised expression was too exaggerated; you need to tone it down a bit. You should walk past Dennis from the outside."

Seeing the actor nod seriously, Duke observed the camera angle again before returning to behind the director's camera.

"You still look like a director, just a bit younger."

Hearing this monotonous nasal voice, Duke turned to look at Sofia Coppola, who was standing next to him holding the shooting log, but said nothing.

The adjustments were quickly completed. At Duke's signal, one of the assistant directors shouted, "Action!"

Throwing away all distractions, Duke focused on the footage captured by the camera. The security guard in the footage quickly walked to Dennis's side to check his maintenance order, and then the camera focused on his right hand, hidden behind the maintenance order…

"What is this?"

Duke immediately frowned and shouted, "Stop!"

He strode over to Dennis Hopper, took the maintenance order, and saw that the white paper was filled with a jumble of letters that even God might not be able to understand.

"Props!" Duke's voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear. "What I wanted was a forged maintenance order, not this!"

He gestured to the person in charge of props, who hurried over. Before Duke could explain, he said, "You have ten minutes to fix this!"

Duke's words carried no emotional tone; he maintained a purely business-like attitude.

This team is not his team now, and it will never be his team in the future. There is only a work relationship among them. If anyone makes a mistake in their work, they must be held accountable.

Sitting back in his seat, Duke rubbed his forehead. Calling for a stop for the first time could be attributed to his inexperience, while this time it was due to carelessness from the props team…

"Do you need something to drink?"

The temporary assistant provided by the crew suddenly asked, "Coffee or tea?"

"Not needed for now." Duke shook his head, looking curiously at the side, "Sofia, why did you join the crew?"

"I need money, enough for me to live in Europe for a while."

Sofia Coppola didn't hide it and said directly, "After finishing the filming of 'Alien 3,' I called Uncle Lucas, and that's why I came here. Don't forget that I worked as a temporary assistant for David Fincher; that counts as some experience."

"You're going to Europe?" Duke thought for a moment but drew a blank; he only knew some experiences of Sofia Coppola after 2000.

"My mom helped me contact Karl Lagerfeld."

The young girl showed an expression of longing. "Chanel will have several internship positions next year, and Karl Lagerfeld has already promised to reserve one for me."

From Sofia Coppola, one can see the allure of Chanel for women. Perhaps her going to Europe is also related to her performance in "The Godfather Part III," which was scolded by critics.

Duke certainly wouldn't bring up this topic; he wouldn't expose her scars in front of a woman.

Filming quickly resumed. In less than ten minutes, the props team produced another maintenance order. Regardless of whether these people questioned Duke, their professional ethics were still present. Getting paid for work is the most basic principle in Hollywood. If they couldn't even do this, they wouldn't have their current qualifications and status.

However, filming was still not smooth. From set decoration to camera angles, many aspects were constantly being adjusted. While the crew needed to adapt to each other, Duke also lacked enough experience. It took two and a half hours for him to complete the first shot since the filming began.

Even though Duke had worked very hard in this life and had some experience from his previous life, he was not an all-powerful genius. He could make mistakes, needed to adjust himself, and had to align with the rhythm of the entire crew.

All this takes time.

Duke needed to adapt to the various roles in the crew and also needed to adjust with the actors. The long filming in the morning left the aging Dennis Hopper quite exhausted, and he made some minor complaints through his assistant.

"Dennis Hopper's assistant mentioned a few things to me."

During a break, Sofia Coppola timely conveyed to Duke, "He expressed that Mr. Hopper has been too busy lately and is not in good health. He hopes that the following adjustment scenes meant to help the crew will be done with other actors."

"I made a mistake due to inexperience."

Muttering softly, Duke waved his hand to the curious Sofia Coppola, indicating that he understood.

This is a very simple question, but Duke ignored it. He is a new director, and the crew will definitely be dissatisfied if he uses actors with some fame to run in the crew.

Hollywood is full of actors with all kinds of quirks. If it's a super director, all the problems during filming are not a problem. If it's a director like him, many aspects must be cautious. Veteran actors like Dennis Hopper are still relatively reserved, but if you meet someone with a bad temper and a little fame, it's not impossible for him to give you a cold shoulder.

The crew under the shadow of Vanity Fair will never be harmonious, unless the person in control of the set can suppress everyone in the crew so that they can't raise their heads.

Duke is very clear about his goal. In order to achieve this goal, he can confront others forcefully, make necessary compromises, and even ignore some discordant voices. Now he does not have the ability and qualifications to fully control the crew.

Afterwards, Duke changed the shooting plan and moved more scenes of temporary actors to the front. For a whole week after the start of filming, the scenes of several main actors were no longer filmed. After more than a week of running-in accompanied by conflicts and contradictions, the operation of the crew began to go smoothly.