Chapter 85: Details

"MacKen, I need you to create some intense music for the soundtrack, similar to Black hip-hop or hardcore rock songs," Gilbert requested from the composer.

MacKen suggested, "Gilbert, I think we could look for a hip-hop artist or a rock band to write a few songs for the film."

Gilbert's eyes lit up at the idea and asked, "Who do you think would be a good fit?"

"How about Dr. Dre? AC/DC would also work," MacKen replied.

"Dr. Dre?" Gilbert wasn't familiar with him, as he didn't know much about hip-hop artists from the early '90s, only Eminem and Jay-Z, and no one else.

He had heard of AC/DC and remembered some of their songs from Iron Man, which sounded pretty explosive.

"You handle the communication with them, MacKen. Once the songs are ready, bring them to me. You can choose old songs or write new ones, but the content needs to be positive, and the lyrics shouldn't be too violent," Gilbert stated.

MacKen agreed, "Don't worry, Gilbert. I'll take care of it."

With the music and soundtrack in MacKen's hands, Gilbert turned to the art director, Selina Hayfield. "Selina, can you design a cool entrance for the young male lead, Max?"

"What kind of entrance?" she asked.

"How about street dancing or breakdancing? I remember Ryan can dance, and he does it quite well," Gilbert suggested.

Selina Hayfield responded affirmatively, "Okay, I'll find someone to design it."

"Wait," Gilbert thought of another idea. "Based on Adam's characteristics, I think he could dance out with Max.

Just imagine a robot mimicking human movements to perform breakdancing—wouldn't that be eye-catching?"

Selina's eyes brightened, "Great idea, Gilbert! I'll design a plan right away."

After discussing these details, Gilbert headed over to Industrial Light & Magic to check on the robot designs and their progress.

Industrial Light & Magic collaborated with the props team to design various types of robots for the film, creating twenty-six life-sized models.

At that moment, these models were undergoing technical adjustments at Industrial Light & Magic, with each model equipped with hydraulic lifting devices and remote-controlled hands.

Of course, it was impossible for these robot models to move as flexibly as in the movie, so Industrial Light & Magic had to use other techniques.

In fact, aside from the traditional method of shooting empty scenes and adding CGI effects in post-production, Industrial Light & Magic also employed the latest optical motion capture technology.

Hollywood had noticed the contribution of motion capture technology to the development of the film industry as early as the introduction of the technology.

In 1991, James Cameron's film Terminator 2 was the first to use motion capture technology in Hollywood films.

Industrial Light & Magic had foresight, establishing an optical motion capture stage in 1992 for motion capture work.

While the technical prowess was far inferior to that of decades later, in this era, motion capture was one of the cutting-edge technologies in filmmaking.

Thus, James Cameron truly was remarkable; regardless of the art of cinema, he and George Lucas together advanced the technological development of Hollywood.

They are undoubtedly milestone figures who will be remembered in film history.

To capture motion data, the engineers at Industrial Light & Magic accurately recorded the movements and strikes of boxers during a boxing match.

These data were transformed into real images using the Simul-Cam B program developed by Industrial Light & Magic.

To achieve more realistic motion capture effects, Industrial Light & Magic even invited two well-known current boxing champions to participate in the motion capture filming.

Additionally, Bruce Willis, playing the male lead, was set as a former professional boxer and would need some boxing training.

Currently, the technical challenge of motion capture was to capture subtle facial expressions.

However, since the characters being motion captured were robots without facial expressions, the difficulty of motion capture was significantly reduced.

That said, to achieve the level of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, it would likely take several more years of development for motion capture technology to reach that standard.

Right now, the technology simply couldn't meet those demands.

Just for the motion capture and special effects, the production team had already spent forty-five million dollars.

The highest-paid individuals in the crew were Gilbert and Bruce Willis.

Fortunately, one-third of their salaries would be settled during the first box office split, easing the financial burden on the crew.

Aside from the special effects and robot battles, there weren't many grand scenes in this film, and the eighty million dollar budget was more than sufficient.

In fact, when Real Steel was released in the past, its box office was not good.

Media and audience reviews generally found the film somewhat clichéd, merely a father-son story cloaked in robot battles.

This statement wasn't entirely wrong; it was indeed a typical family film in the Spielberg style, and this film was produced by DreamWorks, with Spielberg as the producer.

But that was in the past. In the early '90s, this clichéd formula had not yet worn out its welcome with audiences.

Moreover, with the gimmick of robot boxing, this was one of the reasons Gilbert opted to adapt this film.

Real Steel possessed the attributes necessary for a commercial film to succeed: intense scenes, touching father-son relationships, and a family-friendly ending, all of which were sure to leave a lasting impact on audiences in this era.

Everything seemed to be on track at Industrial Light & Magic, so Gilbert checked in on the actors.

"Director Landrini, thank you for choosing Ryan; our whole family is very grateful," a middle-aged woman said, leading Ryan Gosling and repeatedly expressing her thanks.

Gilbert gently held the bowing woman and replied, "You're welcome; Ryan performed excellently during the audition. I believe in his future."

After all, this was Ryan Gosling's first film role, and he was starting out with an important character.

This was undoubtedly a very good starting point for Ryan Gosling's future acting career.

For Gilbert, a name was only the initial foundation of trust; if the audition hadn't gone well, he wouldn't consider an actor's past fame.

Under the guidance of Bruce Willis, other actors, including Naomi Watts and Charlize Theron, were present as they began a table read of the script.

There were also a few Korean and Japanese actors with minor roles in the film.

Gilbert didn't avoid searching for Chinese actors, but there weren't many Chinese actors making it big in Hollywood.

Most of the actors from Hong Kong hadn't developed much in Hollywood either, so he decided to find other Asian actors.

However, he did design a character in the film who was indeed Chinese, so they needed to find a Chinese actor.

Listening to the actors reading the script, Gilbert sat at the head of the table, but his mind wandered elsewhere.

Just the day before, Universal Pictures, in conjunction with CAA, announced a new project titled Interview with the Vampire and revealed the cast.

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were headlining, along with a young actress named Kirsten Dunst.

That young actress, like Ryan Gosling, was one of the lucky few chosen after extensive selection.

It was uncertain who would come out on top: Ryan Gosling or Kirsten Dunst.