Chapter 159 New Film Starts Shooting

At the end of August, the crew of "Inception" set off from Beijing and flew to Los Angeles.

The accompanying staff included action directors Yuan De and Yuan Hua, as well as executives and financial staff from iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video.

As for the actors, there are Wu Yizu who plays Dom Cobb, Chiba Shinichi who plays Saito, and Yang Mi who plays a purely supporting role.

The latter went there accompanied by his mother. He didn't have any important role at all, he just went there to gain experience.

Yang Mi was very excited when she went to the United States for the first time, and she found everything new and interesting.

But after riding for a long time, I felt a little tired.

Fortunately, Jiang Heng had someone book first-class seats for everyone, so the service and riding experience were relatively good and not that unbearable.

After nearly a day's journey, everyone arrived in Los Angeles in the evening.

People from my own company came to pick up the crew at the airport and took them to the hotel.

Jiang Heng also followed the crowd instead of returning to his mansion here.

The next day, the group went to the company and the entire crew met successfully.

Including Monica Bellucci who plays Mel, Megan Fox who plays Aliridan, and actor Tom Hardy.

Jiang Heng now has sufficient funds, and can save more than 70% of the cost of special effects compared to ordinary Hollywood blockbusters. There is no pressure to invite Hollywood's top stars, not to mention Tom Hardy who is not yet famous.

Therefore, for other actors in the whole play, Jiang Heng tried his best to choose original ones, or those with bigger names, so the cast looks pretty good.

As for the filming of the film, Jiang Heng decided to adopt a method that combines real shooting with special effects this time, focusing on an approach that is not afraid of trouble or money.

As in the original film, Leo explains his dream to Peggy, and a warm and romantic Parisian street bistro suddenly explodes, with debris filling the screen, but the two are able to sit and watch the show calmly.

This scene was shot on location, and the crew used a pneumatic cannon to launch simulated props to simulate explosives flying all over the sky without producing any smoke or flames, which was in line with the setting of the dream explosion in the film.

And the scene where Joseph fights in the zero-gravity hotel was done with wire suspension.

The crew built the hotel corridor scene on a giant "Universal Ring" device.

When the "Universal Ring" rotates, it creates a feeling of weightlessness.

The big train that appeared on the streets of Los Angeles was actually filmed on site.

It's just that it's not a real train, but a truck put on the shell of a train.

These scenes are very stunning and shocking after the final film, but they were shot on real scenes. I have to say that Director Nolan is really good at it.

As for the castle in the snow, the curled Paris and the buildings of various styles on the seaside in the deepest dream, they were very simple for Jiang Heng.

After a few days of simple preparations, the "Inception" crew officially held a start-up ceremony on Saturday, August 8.

There were many media reporters at the scene, and Columbia, a company with which we have always had a good relationship, also sent representatives.

At the press conference, reporters asked very sharp questions, because the global box office of "The Matrix 2" was as high as 8.1 million US dollars, and the North American market was also among the top three of the year.

"The Matrix 3" only grossed 2.1 million in North America, a significant drop from its predecessor, and its global box office is expected to be just over 5 million US dollars.

From a story perspective, The Matrix trilogy is complete and successful.

But from a commercial box office perspective, "The Matrix 3" is somewhat of a failure.

"Director Jiang Heng, there is an old saying in China, 'Jiang Lang has run out of ideas.' Before watching the movie, I was very much looking forward to The Matrix 3, but after watching it, I felt it was just average. Do you think the new movie you are shooting this time will be better than The Matrix 3?"

The female reporter who asked the question was of Chinese descent, with a very Westernized look, and always gave people the feeling of a fake smile. Jiang Heng said: "I think The Matrix 3 is a very good movie, and it is the work I am most satisfied with so far...!"

This is definitely not the one that Jiang Heng is most satisfied with, but on this occasion, he naturally has to praise its good points.

When talking about the new film, one must show strong confidence.

If you don't even praise your own work, how can the audience believe that you have made a good work?

“The inspiration of Inception comes from The Matrix to a certain extent, but it is a brand new and very interesting story. I would rate it as very cool, and I believe the final film will be great and will be liked by everyone.

In addition, this film will compete for the Oscars, and I believe it will be a good success.”

The reporters were shocked for a moment; they had not expected Jiang Heng to have such strong confidence.

It is not easy to win an Oscar. In addition to the high quality of the film itself, "public relations" is also required.

With Jiang Heng's current financial resources, the cost is not a big problem, but I don't know if he understands the rules. Another thing is the final film effect.

"Director Jiang Heng, may I ask why you chose Miss Megan as the female lead? She doesn't look like she has any acting skills!"

After he said this, the reporters burst into laughter.

Jiang Heng said: "The reason why I chose her is because I think Miss Megan Fox fits the image of the heroine that I originally envisioned. As for her acting skills, I don't think it's a problem at all, because I believe that there are no bad actors, only bad directors. I'm a good director, what else do you have to worry about?"

After these words were spoken, the reporters were stunned for a few seconds, and then cheered in unison.

The main reason was that these people were either holding cameras or carrying video cameras, making it inconvenient to applaud.

Megan Fox, standing on the stage, looked at Jiang Heng with gratitude. She didn't expect that Director Jiang not only had high hopes for her, but also supported her so much. She was really moved.

After the press conference, everyone went to the set to shoot. The first scene was the male lead's indoor scene, where the weathered Cobb talked with the elderly Saito.

Because we needed to put on makeup, the official shooting started almost at noon.

However, Wu Yizu and Chiba Shinichi's acting skills were both very good, and they passed it in just one take, which was a good start for the crew.

After filming another scene, the crew had lunch.

The Hollywood crew also eats in the form of boxed lunches, but the meals are filled with meat and bread.

Jiang Heng followed the local customs and ordered Coke, hamburgers and chicken wings.

There were girls all around, including Monica Bellucci, Megan Fox and Yang Mi.

"Director Jiang, I'm on a diet. Can I give you these chicken wings?" Megan Fox asked while holding a lunch box.

Jiang Heng smiled and said, "Thank you, this is enough for me to eat!"

Yang Mi poked her head out and said with a wry smile, "I'm not full, he shouldn't give me any!"

Megan Fox frowned slightly, feeling unhappy, but still agreed.

She knew that Yang Mi knew Jiang Heng, and although she was unhappy about it, she didn't dare to offend her.

After all, this guy came all the way here just to play a small supporting role with few lines. No matter how you look at it, he seems to be here just to have fun.

She was very suspicious, wondering if this person was Jiang Heng’s girlfriend!

(End of this chapter)