Chapter 471 Pirates of the Caribbean begins filming
In its second week of release, "Tomorrow Never Dies" earned $53.74 million in North America, with a two-week cumulative box office of $112 million, becoming the first film in North America to break the $100 million box office mark in 1998.
However, this week "007" encountered a strong opponent, the disaster movie "Collision Impact" produced by Paramount Pictures, which earned 60.7 million US dollars in 3,156 theaters in the first week and is expected to be a movie with a box office of over 100 million yuan.
Other movies released this week include the romantic comedy "The Wedding Singer", a co-production between Guess What and New Line Cinema.
The film tells the story of a wedding singer named Robin who was abandoned by his bride at his own wedding, and his plight was sympathized by the waitress Julia.
The two gradually became friends after they got to know each other. Later, Julia got married and invited Robin to help arrange the wedding. During this period, Robin discovered that the groom was a playboy and had other women outside. In order to prevent Julia from marrying the wrong person, he decided to stand up and expose the groom.
The film stars Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler.
The production cost was $18 million.
It grossed $23.91 million in 2,812 theaters in its first weekend.
The box office recovered in the first week.
It also shows that the quality of this movie is very good and it has the potential to become a blockbuster.
"Link, I heard an interesting piece of news, would you like to listen to it?"
In the morning, Link came to MGM Studios to check the progress of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" props team. Chris Bauer came over and asked with a smile.
"What news?"
Link picked up a few gun props on the table and looked at them. He heard Chris Bauer laugh and said, "Have you been back to the youth apartment? I went back to see it last week. They converted the apartment you lived in into a hotel. Now it costs $1,000 to stay in your apartment for a day, which is more expensive than staying in the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel."
"Using my name for publicity? Maybe I should ask them for compensation."
"Haha, you are worth tens of billions now, do you still care about that little money?"
"Of course! No matter how rich I am, I won't worry about having too much money."
Link put down the cannon and picked up the captain's tricorn hat to take a look. "I heard you're going to be a father soon?"
"Haha, that's right, Maria is almost three months pregnant, and I will be a father in seven months. Every time I think about this, I get very excited."
Chris Bauer chuckled.
Chris Bauer's wife Maria is a Mexican immigrant who is three years younger than him. The two got married early last year.
Link attended both of their weddings.
Now Chris Bauer is considered a successful person with a family and a career.
"It's not easy for a woman to be pregnant. You should spend more time at home taking care of her."
"Got it. I'll pay attention to it."
Chris Bauer grinned and led him to visit the prop studio, introducing the production methods and uses of each prop.
"Hey, Link!"
Johnny Depp, the handsome Australian boy Orlando Bloom who played the young blacksmith Will Turner, and Geoffrey Rush who played the 'first mate' of the Black Pearl walked in and greeted Link politely.
They came to try on the character costumes and get familiar with the character's props.
Link responded, holding up a knight's sword and said, "Try the weapon to see if it fits your hand. If you have any comments, you can raise them on the spot. The props team will improve it according to your requirements."
"All right!"
Under the guidance of the staff, Depp and his companions put on their respective costumes and took up their respective props to perform.
Link took a look at it and found it pretty good. It would be even better after applying makeup.
While taking the final photos of Depp and his companions, Link received a call from the security company, telling him that there were preliminary results in the investigation of the "stranger stalking" incident.
Last Wednesday, they arranged for the logistics team to intercept four unidentified persons and questioned them about their identities and purposes. The four insisted that they were paparazzi and that their purpose in following Link was to collect news materials.
The logistics team continued to inquire about the media companies they worked for.
The four claimed to be wild paparazzi. After filming news materials related to Link, they submitted them to major media outlets. They would lend the materials to whoever offered the highest price. They did not establish long-term cooperative relationships with any particular media outlet.
However, when the logistics team checked their cameras, they found that their shooting skills were poor and the quality of the materials they submitted was also poor. So far, no media has adopted their manuscripts.
Since they found no evidence, they had no choice but to release the person.
The security company's consultant reminded him to be careful and pay attention to safety when going out to shoot.
Link replied clearly that he didn't mind being followed or targeted, but he thought it was a bit troublesome and would affect his daily life and work. Sometimes when he dated his girlfriends who came to visit him on the set in the wild, he had to make careful arrangements to avoid any accidents.
Not as free as before.
But Link also knows that this is one of the disadvantages of being a billionaire and a public figure. The scope of privacy rights of public figures is narrower than that of ordinary people.
Because public figures, as a special group in society, have more power and status and are involved in some public interests, the exercise of their rights will be subject to certain restrictions accordingly.
The media has the right to report the words and deeds of public figures to satisfy the public's right to know.
If Link wants to change this situation, he has to give up his identity as a director and concentrate on being a reclusive billionaire.
But this was impossible for him.
He could only accept this situation temporarily and be careful when filming on the set or dating his girlfriends.
"Boss, several film sets in the Caribbean have been set up. When will you come over to shoot?"
asked "Pirates of the Caribbean" executive producer Mike Statham, calling from Cuba.
"Got it. The props team is also ready. We will come over for filming next week."
Link hung up the phone and called assistant director Yu Feihong to ask her to notify the crew and fly to the Caribbean next Monday.
Before flying to the Caribbean set, Link flew to Paris to visit Sophie Marceau, Emmanuelle Béart, Julie Delpy, his new girlfriend Marion Cotillard, and two infant children.
After returning from Paris, he flew to Seattle to visit more than a dozen girlfriends who were staying in the villa to recuperate, including Diana, Jennifer Connelly, Brooke Shields, Nicole Kidman, Cindy Crawford, Gong Li, Brigitte Lin and others.
After a busy period and comforting his girlfriend at home, Link took the crew to southern Florida, USA, near the Caribbean Sea to shoot "Pirates of the Caribbean".
This movie has many shots and scenes, and the shooting period is expected to be more than three months.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is based on folk legends around the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Sea is located in the western Atlantic Ocean, between North and South America. In the 17th century, it was the only way for European merchant fleets to reach America, which led to rampant local pirate activities. They not only attacked passing merchants, but also the British Royal Fleet, robbing a large amount of wealth and leaving behind countless legends, including dark pirates, Caribbean underwater treasures, mysterious beaches, and the sea monster Kraken.
The film tells the story of how Captain Jack Sparrow became a lone commander after the famous pirate ship "Black Pearl" was stolen by First Mate Barbossa and was imprisoned in a prison in a small port town by the military.
After stealing the pirate ship "Black Pearl", the first mate Barbossa burned, killed and looted everywhere in the Caribbean Sea and became the overlord of the Caribbean Sea. Later, Barbossa's ambition expanded and he hoped to gain immortality. However, when trying to crack the cursed gold coin, Barbossa and his crew were cursed. Every full moon night, they would turn into skeletons and abstain from sex for the rest of their lives.
After turning into a skeleton, Barbossa became more unscrupulous in his looting. Once they sailed into Port Royal and attacked the town, kidnapping the Governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann because they heard that Elizabeth had a mysterious gold coin that could lift their curse.
Will Turner, a blacksmith in the small town, was in love with Elizabeth. When he heard that his sweetheart was kidnapped by pirates, he rescued Captain Jack from prison, and the two of them drove the warship Interceptor to chase the Black Pearl.
After several fights, Jack defeated Barbossa with the help of Will Turner and Elizabeth and successfully recaptured the Black Pearl.
The more complicated part of this movie lies in making all kinds of strange props, finding a suitable shooting location, and post-production special effects processing.
The other parts are no more difficult to shoot than movies like "Batman Forever" and "Saving Private Ryan".
“Cut!”
After filming a scene, Link called Depp over for a chat.
Captain Jack is the core character of the movie. If Depp plays it well, the quality of the whole movie will rise several levels. If he plays it poorly, the film will become mediocre.
Perhaps because he didn't research the role deeply enough, Depp was rather awkward in shaping the character, which was a bit short of what he wanted.
He could only slowly guide Depp through words and actions, trying to make him transform into the charming, crazy, and somewhat abstract Jack Sparrow as soon as possible.
"Link, is it okay to perform like this? Will it make the character seem too feminine?"
After hearing what he said, Johnny Depp couldn't help but frown, with a look of concern on his face.
Link said, "Johnny, you are also a veteran actor. In your opinion, what does a good role look like? Is it the leading actor in a hit movie, or a role that wins the Oscar for Best Actor, or a role that is remembered by countless audiences? Tell me your opinion."
Depp stroked his fake beard and thought for a few seconds. "A successful movie character should have a distinct personality and be memorable, and be remembered by countless audiences, just like Forrest Gump played by Tom Hanks."
"Yes, that's right. In the history of world cinema, many actors have played the role of pirates. Some have portrayed the cruelty, ferocity, and evilness of pirates, some have portrayed the might, bravery, fearlessness, and justice of pirates, and some have portrayed other characteristics.
But few people can interpret pirates as crazy and weird, both good and evil, serious and humorous. If you can interpret Jack Sparrow in the way I said, this character will become the most charming and impressive screen character of the same genre.
In addition, you have played similar roles in several Gothic films directed by Tim Burton in the past few years and have a certain degree of success, which is why I asked you to play Jack Sparrow. I also believe that you can turn this role into a timeless classic screen role. "
Depp listened to him, nodded, and didn't argue any further, but he still had concerns in his heart.
In the past, the characters he played were handsome, simple and infatuated, or gentle and kind.
Now he is asked to play a sissy and a humorous role, which makes him feel quite pressured.
Although he has good acting skills and is very famous, compared with real talented actors, he is more of an idol actor.
If this role fails, or the audience does not buy it after it is released, like "Waterworld" and "Cutthroat Island", this situation will have a huge impact on his career.
"Johnny, you should have faith in me and yourself, and believe that we can make an epic pirate movie."
Link saw Depp's concerns and tried to persuade him.
Depp nodded. Link had shot 16 films in the past six years. So far, there had been no failures. Instead, he had made many classic films, which achieved great success in both box office and reputation.
Thinking of this, he gained more confidence in the movie.
(End of this chapter)
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