Chapter 388: Doing Two Jobs with One Salary
Zhangjiakou, the filming location of the Chinese-owned factory.
Zhaochuan Iron Works covers an area of more than 400 acres. It was prepared in 1984, completed and put into production in 1986, mainly engaged in steel smelting.
In 2012, in response to the country's call for capacity reduction and energy conservation and emission reduction, the ironworks stopped production and closed, preparing for transformation or reconstruction.
Earlier this year, the crew of Wolf Warrior 2 found the Zhaochuan Iron Factory. The producers believed that the conditions in all aspects of the iron factory were in line with the shooting requirements of some shots of Wolf Warrior 2 and hoped that the iron factory could provide a shooting location for the crew.
This idea was strongly supported by Kunyuan Group, to which the ironworks belongs.
In February 2016, the crew of "Wolf Warrior 2" went to Kunyuan Group's Zhaochuan Iron Factory for an on-site inspection and then signed a lease contract.
In March, the crew entered the scene to arrange the relevant scenes. Now the Zhaochuan Iron Factory has been completely transformed into the appearance of the Chinese-owned factory opened in Africa in the script.
Wu Jing's Group A went to Bincheng to shoot the "Leng Feng" scenes at the beginning of the movie, including playing football on the beach and fighting pirates underwater.
Bincheng is a famous coastal city in Liaoning Province, known as the "Northern Harbor Island", with beautiful golden beaches.
Some scenes in the drama that took place on the African beach were moved here to be filmed. As for the underwater fighting, Wu Jing chose a local university's swimming pool for the filming.
Gu Wei brought Zhang Tianai from the capital to Zhangjiakou, and his main role is divided into two parts.
Part of it was in a Chinese-owned factory. In the early days, he was taught by Wu Jing and gradually grew from a military enthusiast to an amateur soldier.
Later, he independently defeated the villain boss "Dad", and finally the decisive battle took place after Wu Jing arrived.
The steel plant is a very important filming location, as most of Gu Wei's scenes took place here.
There is also a part where they go to the hospital and accidentally rescue Zhang Tianai and "Dr. Chen". This part has a slightly smaller role. The filming location is at the Huairou Film and Television Base near Beijing. The scene will not be moved there until it is finished at the steel plant.
Although the real director Wu Jing is not here, the executive director of Group B, Dong Yi, can take charge of the overall situation, and producer Lu Jianmin is also here.
After Gu Wei joined the crew, according to the pre-arranged shooting tasks, he began to shoot his first battle with Zhang Tianai and the workers of the Chinese-funded factory to repel the villain "Dad".
Zhang Mingfeng is from Zhaochuan, Zhangjiakou. He is 32 years old and makes a living by farming. The Zhaochuan Iron and Steel Plant is not far from their village.
At noon that day, he came back from the fields and saw a group of people gathered at the village entrance.
"Liangzi, what are they doing around there?"
He didn't go forward, but looked at a young man from the same village from a distance and asked.
"I heard there's a film crew filming at the Zhaochuan Iron and Steel Plant next door, and they're here to recruit extras."
"What kind of film crew would come to our remote village to film? Are they scammers?"
Zhang Mingfeng looked skeptical.
“No, Brother Feng.
Do you know Wu Jing, the actor in "Tai Chi Master"? He directed the movie, and the lead actor was the famous star Gu Wei who sang on the Spring Festival Gala.
The people who came with the crew were originally from the Zhaochuan Steel Plant. I know them all, so it's definitely them.
I heard that they were going to recruit more than 200 extras, and people from several neighboring villages came.
Brother Feng, I’m going first.”
Liangzi looked very excited. For young people in their village, being able to act in a movie was a very novel thing.
Not to mention that the crew pays and provides meals, even if they don't pay anything, I guess there will be many people willing to participate on a voluntary basis.
Zhang Mingfeng stood there and watched Liangzi hurriedly run to sign up. He was also a little hesitant. He had always watched movies on TV before, and this was the first time he had seen a movie being made in real life. It would be a lie to say that he was not excited.
But after all, he is not a young man in his early 20s who would rush forward when encountering problems. He still has some concerns and will not easily participate without finding out the details.
After a while, Liangzi walked back happily.
"Brother Feng, why haven't you gone yet?
I have already signed up, and they have already recruited more than 100 people."
"What did you say?"
"From 7am to 5pm, the salary is over 100 yuan a day, and meals are provided.
If I can play a role with dialogue or a corpse, I can get extra money, which is great."
Liangzi was laughing and was very excited to be able to make a movie soon.
"By the way, the recruiter just now asked if anyone can drive a truck. Brother Feng, didn't you learn it before?
I think I can even give you some extra money if I go this way."
Zhang Mingfeng thought about it and made a decision.
"Okay, I'll sign up too, and then we can go film together!"
After saying that, he patted Liangzi's shoulder and walked towards the registration office.
In the crew.
When the film first started, the scenes shot were relatively simple.
For example, he held meetings with the workers in the factory, discussed with Zhang Tianai in the office about the situation of the villain rebels, and how to deal with the upcoming attack of the rebel mercenary "Daddy", and directed everyone to make some arrangements in the factory.
Anyway, the literary scenes are relatively simple and are filmed first, while the actual gunfights and fighting scenes are put at the back.
The role of the veteran played by Wu Gang is not included in this version of "Wolf Warrior 2" because Wu Jing actually replaced Wu Gang.
At the beginning of the story, he acts as Gu Wei's master, training Gu Wei from a rich second-generation playboy.
Only after experiencing real battles did the character of Gu Wei become more mature.
Therefore, Gu Wei has the final say on everything in the Chinese-funded factory. After rescuing Zhang Tianai, the main scenes in the factory revolve around the two of them.
Gu Wei was wearing camouflage clothes, and the makeup on his face made him look darker and more rugged. Otherwise, his skin color was too white, and he didn't look like someone who ran a factory in Africa and received military training.
Zhang Tianai's makeup was also messy at this time, and she sat on the sofa in the office in a panic.
This shot was when Gu Wei had just rescued her and "Dr. Chen" from the hospital. "Dr. Chen" was recuperating from a gunshot wound, and Gu Wei was asking Zhang Tianai about the situation.
"Dr. Chen has been working in Africa for many years, searching for a cure for the Ramanla virus, and now he has found a breakthrough.
The reason these rebels want to kidnap Dr. Chen is because there are so many people infected with the Ramanla virus in this country. If they can find a cure, they can control the entire country to a certain extent.
"Ka~ This is nice!
Mr. Gu, please come over and take a look at this shot."
After a shot was taken, executive director Dong Yi shouted "cut" and said something else into the loudspeaker.
Gu Wei walked behind the monitor and the staff replayed the footage that had just been filmed.
Director Dong smiled and said:
"Director Wu told me before he left that it would be best for you to review your shots yourself after filming, and only proceed if there are no problems."
“There’s really no problem this time.
Director Wu paid me an actor's salary and still wants me to do the director's job. I'm really taking a loss. When he comes back later, I'll have to talk to him and ask him to give me the director's salary."
Gu Wei said jokingly after reading it.
"Mr. Gu, you should do more work if you are capable. You are the one who pays for our filming anyway, so you can just transfer money from one hand to the other."
Producer Lu Jianmin chimed in.
"That's different. Mr. Lu, you've also contributed money. I can offer you an extra salary and earn some money from you and Brother Jing."
"Hahaha~ That's no problem for me, but when Wu Jing comes back, he'll probably tell me that I can have a drink with Gu Wei later, and we can save the money."
Gu Wei just joined the crew and shot the literary scenes for two days to hone his shots. After the filming went more smoothly, the battle scenes between the good and evil factions began to be arranged.
The villain boss "Big Dad" is played by American movie star Frank Grillo. He is best known to domestic audiences for his role as the villain "Crossbones" in "Captain America 2" released in 2014.
Frank is a professional villain in Hollywood. He often plays the bad guy in various films and is beaten by various protagonists.
He is very familiar with the role of the villain in "Wolf Warrior 2". All he does is show how powerful he is, first torturing the protagonist, and then being torturing himself by the protagonist in the end.
Because there are many foreign actors in the movie, the crew specially equipped translators to ensure smooth communication among everyone.
When filming the scenes with Gu Wei and Frank, Gu Wei simply acted as an interpreter and told him what the director said directly to his face.
If I had any problems, I would communicate directly with Frank, so the filming of the fight scenes went quite smoothly.
The person who was happiest during the filming of "Wolf Warrior 2" was undoubtedly Zhang Tianai. This was the first time she and Gu Wei filmed a scene alone.
Although the two were in the same crew when they were filming "Assassin 2", Yang Mi was the female lead in that drama. During the filming, the two protagonists had the most scenes, which made it inconvenient for Zhang Tianai to do anything.
In "Wolf Warrior 2", apart from some African black aunties and a female mercenary villain, she is the only important female character in the entire movie.
The filming has just started and her role is not heavy. She can chat and laugh with Gu Wei every day after filming. She is so happy.
She seemed to have returned to the time four years ago when she was filming the first part of "The Blade of the Assassin" and she and Gu Weigang became boyfriend and girlfriend. The feeling was the same as it was then.
After a scene was over, Gu Wei came down from the set in a somewhat disheveled state. His body and face were covered in blood and dust. He had just filmed a fight scene with Frank.
It was his first time fighting against a big boss, and he was at a disadvantage most of the time. He barely fought off the opponent with the help of factory security.
"Wipe it?"
When Gu Wei approached, Zhang Tianai stood up and handed him a white towel.
"No, I have to take a break and then continue filming. If I wipe it now, I will have to touch up my makeup again."
"Then drink some water."
Putting down the towel, Zhang Tianai picked up a bottle of mineral water.
Gu Wei took it, unscrewed the lid and took a sip.
Then they sat down and started chatting.
Yang Chaoyue, who was standing behind Gu Wei, curled her lips, feeling that all her work as an assistant had been taken away and she only had to act as a light bulb.
"Let's go see a movie together tonight. I saw on the news that Captain America: Civil War was released a few days ago, and it did very well at the box office."
After chatting for a while, Zhang Tianai made a suggestion.
"That's fine. There's no night show tonight, so we still have plenty of time."
As he spoke, Gu Wei turned and looked at Yang Chaoyue behind him.
"Chao Yue, is there a movie theater in this small town of Zhaochuan?"
"Yes, boss, there is a Huachen Cinema in the shopping mall near the hotel where our crew is staying."
Whenever he arrives at a new place, Yang Chaoyue will check the nearby cinemas, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. on his mobile phone. It is not troublesome and he can tell the details right away if the boss asks.
This was the experience passed down to her by the previous Sister Dan.
Gu Wei nodded.
The place where they filmed was Zhaochuan, which was a very remote small county town. Wearing a mask and a hat, he had no worries about being recognized, nor was there any danger of being secretly photographed by paparazzi.
[Wolf Warrior 2] did not announce the filming location to the public, and his own schedule was not disclosed to the public, so no media came to the steel plant during the days of filming.
(End of this chapter)
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