Chapter 509: Selecting a Filming Location
Canada.

After the plane landed, Gu Wei felt dazed for a moment as he arrived in this country again.

The scenes from the filming of "Interstellar" came back to my mind.

Leonardo next to him did the same, then turned to look at Gu Wei, and the two smiled at each other.

"Boss, Leon, the car is ready, let's go."

Ryder's voice rang out, interrupting their thoughts.

"Well, let's go."

Rocky Mountains.

Banff National Park and the surrounding Calgary area.

It is the main filming location for the movie "The Revenant".

The five cars drove for more than an hour, facing the severe cold and snow, and finally arrived at the destination around noon.

The temperature in the Calgary area has been gradually rising in February. As soon as he arrived at the scene, Gu Wei discovered the problem of temperature.

"Ryder..."

"Here I am, Boss. What's up?"

Reid, wearing a thick down jacket and with his big body, looked like a bear.

After hearing Gu Wei's call, he strode up to him, and Leonardo, a dozen staff members, and bodyguards beside him also looked at him.

"What's the temperature now?"

"It's about minus 6 degrees Celsius. What's wrong? Gu." Leonardo said first.

"What about at night?" Gu Wei did not answer the other party, but continued to ask.

"It's around -15 degrees Celsius. This season in Calgary is at the end of winter and the climate is relatively dry."

"Okay, got it, let's go back to the hotel."

Just like that, Gu Wei said something out of the blue. Everyone was a little confused, but no one, including Leonardo, asked any more questions.

Over the next two days, as logistics teams and related staff arrived one after another, the number of people gathered in the Calgary area exceeded two hundred.

Banff National Park, next to the star hotel.

In the afternoon, the sun shines on your body, and within a quarter of an hour, you will feel a very pleasant and comfortable feeling.

Standing at the door of the hotel, Derant is currently enjoying this "happiness"!
In fact, it’s not that Drent didn’t want to enter the hotel, but there were too many people inside and there was no way to squeeze in. Not to mention the more than 140 logistics personnel and some extras, you have to know that the entire "The Revenant" crew has 40 security personnel alone, not including nearly ten survival and rescue experts.

After all, when filming in a foreign country, safety is the first issue to consider.

At this time, Gu Wei's voice came from the hotel lobby...

"Everyone, I don't like to talk too much, so I will just say three things." Gu Wei looked down at everyone and stretched out three fingers of his right hand.

"First, The Revenant has officially started preparations for the project from today. Although there is still more than a month before the filming, from this moment on, the time spent waiting for the crew to start work will be counted as working time, and everyone will receive the corresponding pay and salary..."

Before he could finish his words, everyone in the hotel lobby applauded.

"Clap clap clap..."

"Thank you, director!"

"Gu, I love you!"

……

Also standing in the hall, looking at the happy crowd, Leonardo suddenly sighed.

"Eh…"

"what happened?"

Reid, who was standing next to him, was a little surprised. This was the movie you were going to win an Oscar for, so why were you unhappy about it?
Leonardo turned and looked at him.

“Ryder, ever since Gu decided to direct this movie, I always felt that he was deliberately targeting me and asking me to gain weight.

But now, I realize that he treated this location scouting trip as a tourist trip, and did not mention auditions for other roles. "

"puff…"

Reid was happy. When he thought about it carefully, it was true. In the past, the boss was very rigorous when making movies, but this time, not only was he not impatient, he also didn't say a word about the casting of the movie!

At this time, the atmosphere in the lobby gradually calmed down. Gu Wei touched his nose and smiled:
"Please don't waste time, just listen to what I have to say."

"OK!"

"Second, because The Revenant has action scenes, although the risk factor is not too high, bumps and bruises are still inevitable, so the crew has bought a commercial insurance policy for each of you. You just need to work with peace of mind."

"Third, there are many roles in this movie. When the filming starts, I will choose one of the extras and give him a supporting role with lines. The prerequisite is that the performance of this extra must be recognized by everyone."

Although Gu Wei asked everyone to be quiet and wait for him to finish speaking, the atmosphere at the scene still reached its peak instantly after hearing the remaining two things.

The reason why everyone is so excited is because of the industry rules in the film and television industry. Many staff members only count their working hours when the film starts shooting. Therefore, it is normal to waste time and it is normal to wait for the filming to start. No one will pay you extra compensation.

What's more, Gu Wei also promised everyone a role. Although it was a supporting role with only a few lines, being able to work closely with a world-famous director and Hollywood superstar was a golden opportunity for the extras on the scene.

Standing on the temporary platform in the lobby and looking at the excited crowd below, Gu Wei was very happy.

As a well-known commercial film director in the industry, Gu Wei is very experienced in how to stimulate the enterprising spirit of his subordinates. Describing the prospects, promising huge profits, and keeping one's word... no matter what industry it is in, this is the only way to make the team united and efficient.

Now it is easy to use it to deal with a group of extras from the Americans.

The purpose of Gu Wei doing this is naturally to complete the filming of this movie faster and more efficiently.

In the original time and space, the filming of "The Revenant" took nine months. Due to weather problems in the middle, the crew was forced to stop working for a month and a half. Of course, there was also the problem of constantly replacing actors and supporting roles.

Now Gu Wei has set the time for March, choosing a temperature that is suitable but not too low for filming. In order to get the team to work together, he called in extras in advance, using the power of money and roles to get everyone together for some time.

According to his plan, the filming of this movie will not take more than five months, and it would be best if it could be completed in about four months.

As for whether such an operation would cause "The Revenant" to fail to reach the height of the original time and space, Gu Wei is not worried about it.

First of all, many scenes can be solved through special effects.

Secondly, since the film has been chosen to compete for an Oscar, as long as the quality of the film is not too bad, the rest will depend on public relations.

.........

In the evening, everyone naturally had some fun together.

As soon as he returned to the room, Leonardo followed closely behind.

"Gu, I have to say that your method is good, but I have a question, when do we start auditioning other roles?"

It’s no wonder that Leonardo is so anxious. After all, he can’t complete the filming of a movie by himself and a group of extras.

"Audition? I'm not considering auditioning!"

After taking a sip of strong coffee, the bitter taste made Gu Wei frown slightly, but he also perked up a little. After a busy day, he was very tired at the moment, but he continued: "This is the list of remaining characters. Next, you and Reid will be needed to invite them over."

"Tom Hardy, Quaid, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter..."

Leonardo saw Gu Wei take out the list, took it and read it out in a low voice.

Most of the names on the list are actors Gu Wei has worked with before, including Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter, one of whom was the leading actor in "Time Travelers" in the original time and space, and the other has acted in "Maze Runner".

"Gu, how can you be sure that they have the schedule or can play the roles in the movie well?" Leonardo asked directly. Since it was an Oscar issue, he had no choice but to be cautious.

"Leon, do you know why you have never won an Oscar for Best Actor, while I have won the Best Director award several years ago?" Gu Wei glanced at the other person and prepared to start bragging.

"Why?" As expected, Leonardo asked very cooperatively.

"Because a good actor will never question any decision made by the director, just follow it."

Leonardo: “…”

The next ten minutes.

Gu Wei talked while drinking coffee.

From the current world situation to which NBA team will win the championship this year...

Leonardo and Reid were both stunned.

Are all the great directors and famous screenwriters so out of touch?

If you talk to him about movies, he will tell you that a big earthquake is coming, and the situation will be terrible, and there will be no one left on the island...

Although the wish is good, it’s not even close, okay?

.........

There was news from the outside world that the crew of "The Revenant" rushed to Canada in advance.

Naturally, it was widely reported by the Hollywood media.

But just as the media reports came out, Gu Wei received a call from Spielberg.

This surprised Gu Wei a little. After all, Spielberg called at this time. Could it be that the director of "Jurassic" had been found? This was too fast.

"Gu, I heard that your country's director Zhang Yimou is currently filming an art film..."

Before Gu Wei could speak, Spielberg's voice continued, "Come to Cannes."

"What?" Gu Wei, who had just woken up in a hotel in Canada, was groggy and didn't hear clearly.

"I mean, how about sending the film to Cannes for exhibition."

Spielberg said directly on the phone.

"What are you doing?"

"The Cannes Film Festival officials have been inviting me to serve as the chairman of this year's jury. Anyway, the matter of "Jurassic" could not be confirmed in a short time, so I agreed. In fact, my fate with Cannes has been nearly 40 years."

When talking about this, Spielberg sighed.

Spielberg's relationship with the Cannes Film Festival can be traced back to 1974's "Rampage," which won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

But more often than not, Spielberg's films are screened at film festivals as non-competitive items.

"How is it? I know you wrote the script for this movie, and I think it should do well."

"No problem, see you then!"

.........

(End of this chapter)