Vol 2 Chapter 339: Wizards are not a profession

In late May, Duke returned to New Zealand. After a long two-year preparation, the preliminary work of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was completely finished, and filming was about to begin.
Taking advantage of the time before the filming started, Duke also had a detailed discussion with several important cast members. In terms of the soundtrack, he still found Howard Shaw, who had just finished the soundtrack of Peter Jackson’s "King Kong" and wanted to rest. For a while, but in the face of sufficient salary, the trilogy's soundtrack work is not a problem at all.
Later, Duke met Andy Serkis, who came to New Zealand on a special trip. He also finished his work on "King Kong" soon, but he seemed to be particularly interested in motion capture. It didn’t take much effort. He signed Gollum's actor contract.
However, both of them needed a vacation, and after getting the relevant scripts, they left New Zealand.
This will be a trilogy with an estimated total production cost of 350 million U.S. dollars. With huge investment, there must be corresponding publicity.
Before the filming of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was about to begin, Duke canceled the news silence of the crew. Warner Bros. and Time Warner Group also invited a large number of media to New Zealand, preparing to use overwhelming reports to witness the opening ceremony of the trilogy.
What is not so harmonious is that on the day of the press conference for the opening ceremony, ≥∞, outside the Wellington studio, a large number of "Lord of the Rings" book fans gathered from the United Kingdom and the United States, and they strongly protested the adaptation of this series into a movie.
Although it has some negative effects, it also adds topicality to the film.
In fact, movies are just like celebrities. What's worse than being talked about is that no one talks about it.
Fortunately, these protesters said that it was enough to ignore them, and to deal with the brigade of reporters, it took a lot of effort, after a whole morning press conference. Duke feels that his head is about to become two big ones. If a considerable part of the questions are not prepared in advance, the craziness of the reporter is really hard to fight.
The situation on the scene is not difficult to understand. Nowadays, no film project will invest such horrible funds, and it is recognized as the most difficult to adapt the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
According to Hollywood's usual practice, even if the plan is a series of movies. I will only shoot one film first to test the waters. Otherwise, in a situation like "Cut Throat", the first film will bankrupt the second-line film company, and the three films will be filmed at the same time. If something goes wrong, even Warner Bros. Can not afford.
Regardless of the protests of the book fans or the inevitable criticism from the media, the preparation of the trilogy is now inevitable.
The press conference is over. After only a symbolic filming of a pure prop scene, today's work came to an end. The subsequent reception and public relations, the crew will have a special person responsible, and there is no need for the director Duke to go out in person, he went directly to the studio office.
"There is a list of temporary assistants on set."
Seeing Duke walk into the office, Tina Fei handed a list to him, "You'd better see it yourself."
These things. It was Tina Fey who could make the decision, and Duke couldn't help being a little strange. "Is there something special?"
Taking a look at the list, Duke frowned slightly, "Isn't it the same name?"
"I have seen the temporary work contract." Tina Fei said with certainty, "It is Irene's sister Jane Lauder and Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump."
"What do they want to do?" Duke put down the list and asked again, "The two are in Wellington now?"
"Need me to call them?"
Tina Fei looked over here. After Duke nodded, he picked up the phone on his desk and dialed.
About ten minutes later, two girls in blue crew uniforms knocked on the door and walked into Duke's director's office. Ivanka Trump was a little bit cautious. Jane Lauder greeted her generously.
"Hi, Duke."
"Sit, Jane. Evie, sit down."
The two girls were sitting on the opposite benches. Tina Fei helped them each pour a glass of water. Duke thought about it and asked, "Why are you here in New Zealand?"
"We are on holiday." Jane Lauder thanked Tina Fey, and smiled brightly, "I want to find a place to work to increase work experience..."
She looked at Duke and saw that Duke’s expression remained unchanged. She gently stabbed Ivanka Trump with her arm. Seeing that she didn’t mean to speak, she had to continue,
One can exercise oneself and take it. It’s not easy to find a temporary job with a good salary. We know that your crew is recruiting temporary workers, so we plan to come and try our luck."
Duke nodded. These two girls are not ordinary people after all, and exhorted, "If you encounter problems, you can call Tina. And..."
"Don't worry." Jane Lauder said first, "We will definitely work hard and we will never become a trouble for the crew."
"Tina, leave your phone to them."
When Tina Fei gave the business cards to the two girls, Duke waved to them, "You guys keep going to work."
"Uh..." Jane Lauder was stunned.
Duke looked at her and asked, "Any questions?"
"Nothing." Ivanka Trump pulled up Jane Lauder and said, "We won't disturb you, Duke, I will invite you to dinner another day."
Not long after Jane Lauder and Ivanka Trump left, Duke hung up two calls to New York, and then said to Tina Fey, "Adjust them to your assistant team."
Needless to say, Jane Lauder is Irene’s sister, and Donald Trump is working with his mother’s Santa Fe, and Duke also knows how to do it.
The "Lord of the Rings" crew is extremely large. Duke controls the entire crew through his team members. The Hollywood crew is very complicated. If these two girls encounter inexplicable harassment, he will not be surprised.
It's just that Duke didn't expect that, in only half an hour, Irene Lauder called back, and then Jane Lauder came to him to say goodbye, took the evening flight, and returned to Los Angeles obediently.
In contrast, Donald Trump seems to be very relieved that his daughter is here. He called in the evening and asked Duke to take care of Ivanka Trump for a while.
There are always inextricable connections among the rich in New York, even for the sake of Santa Fea's partners, Duke will not refuse.
As soon as the morning sun fell, a large number of reporters gathered at the door of Wellington's studio, but they were treated completely differently from yesterday, and they were completely stopped at the door.
These guys who chased the news, as soon as they saw Duke's car approaching, they rushed up directly. If it weren't for the driver to slow down in time, maybe tomorrow's entertainment headlines would be there.
Regardless of the reporters outside the car or the book fans who were holding banners in protest, Duke sat in the back seat and whispered discussions with Tina Fei about work matters. He didn't get out of the car until the car squeezed into the studio from the reporters. Walking to the studio.
Shooting of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy officially starts today!
The first scene Duke prepared was Gandalf vs. Saruman.
Walked into a small studio, which was mainly arranged as the interior view of Isengard and the Prancing Horse Hotel. Duke summoned the deputy director, director of photography, art knowing, lighting director and other department heads to open a brief After the meeting, according to the plan made in advance, everyone led the staff to start a tense layout in the venue.
"Your coffee."
An assistant came over to deliver coffee. Duke turned his head and looked at it. It was Ivanka Trump, who was adjusted by Tina Fei to the assistant team, nodded to her and said, "Thank you."
He took a sip of the coffee, frowned slightly, put it on the director's desk without saying anything, and walked towards the place where the four actors gathered.
Although there are only two characters in this scene, Gandalf and Saruman, the crew prepared four actors.
Ian McLean and Christopher Lee are one hundred and fifty years old together. The action scenes let them play in person, which is simply the life of two people.
Needless to say, a substitute is a must.
In fact, the doubles of the two are not difficult to use. Saruman and Gandalf both have long hair, and the long hair that flicks will naturally cover their faces. As long as the stunt double pays a little attention, the shooting is not difficult.
This scene is the place that has been criticized the most by fans of the other side. It is simply too ridiculous to think that the wizard should fight like a soldier.
But they all overlooked an important point. This is not an original movie. The wizard must follow the original setting.
In Tolkien's original work, wizards are not professions, but races. They have powerful melee capabilities. Gandalf, Saruman, and even Sauron are all Maia, who are not the so-called wizards in those online games.
Therefore, every time an enemy comes, Gandalf's preferred method of combat is to draw his sword. Melee combat is one of the wizard's most powerful combat abilities.
Moreover, the wizards in the Lord of the Rings need spells. Facing an enemy with the same strong melee ability, would two powerful wizards be stupid to recite spells?
This is a movie, not an online game! Shooting a movie in the way of a game is a dead end.
Why did Peter Jackson make such a scene? Really poor enough to have no money for magic special effects? Is that possible? He just follows the basic setting of the original book and the movie.
Those who always add gorgeous magic effects to the battle between Gandalf and Saruman can only be said that wishful thinking is very beautiful...
This film is primarily aimed at the entire Western audience. Duke is very clear about the composition of the audience that will pay for the film. Therefore, "The Lord of the Rings" must first conform to the Western point of view. As for the point of view that wizards don’t use magic and why they don’t hire kung fu for guidance, None of them are within his consideration.
The crew has been preparing for this for two years. Gandalf and Saruman’s styles have been discussed and implemented countless times. What Ian McLean and Christopher Lee need to do is to show off their vicissitudes of life in front of the camera. Face and fighting are all done by stunt doubles.
The sudden battle between wizards did not have time to chant spells, and it was still dominated by strong melee combat. (To be continued...)
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