Chapter 599

The day after *The Lord of the Rings 2* wrapped up, Director Ford announced the news that he had started preparing for the production of *The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King*.

He claimed that this would be the film with the largest investment, the most magnificent scenes, and the most moving plot in his directing career, and it would also go down in film history!

This is a common bragging segment for Director Ford before filming, but the impressive thing about Director Ford is that everything he bragged about was eventually realized.

Seeing Director Ford's momentum so strong this time, the fans were also quite excited.

Last year, *Green Book* emphasized the Oscar for Best Picture; to be honest, many people were unconvinced, but there was no way. In this environment in the United States, if you dare to come out and pick a flaw, it will be very difficult to continue mixing in the circle; political correctness is just that terrifying in the United States.

However, Director Ford has never been a person who would lose confidence because of one or two setbacks. After receiving the script for *The Lord of the Rings*, he knew that he would definitely be able to get the most Oscars; the difference was just whether he got one more or one less.

The filming of *The Lord of the Rings 3* this time will not be carried out in New Zealand, but will be changed to Scotland and Iceland; the demand for horses and armor has reached the tens of thousands!

This kind of demand is unprecedented in any medieval war film.

This scale is estimated to be comparable to only two films in the entire Western film history.

One is *Ben-Hur*, and the other is *War and Peace*.

The former invited almost half of the real nobles in Europe to play the nobles in the film, while the latter was an epic masterpiece filmed by the former Soviet Union mobilizing millions of people; the volume is ridiculously large.

Everyone knows that Director Ford is going to be serious this time; no one will doubt whether he can handle such a large scene, everyone is just looking forward to how much shock the film *The Return of the King* can bring.

Director Ford is busy, and Director Luo Quan is not idle either.

After following the crew for more than twenty days, Gao Liang finally wrapped up.

Originally, his screen time didn't need to be this long, but all his performances had to be carried out under a green screen, which was relatively cumbersome, so Luo Quan was left to film last.

Gao Liang's wrapping up means that the entire crew is also about to wrap up.

Originally, Luo Quan didn't intend to end the filming so hurriedly; it was mainly because the United States recently had a wave of layoffs because the stock market was on the verge of collapse.

Although the stock market has recovered slightly now, the laid-off workers and employees cannot go back to work as if nothing happened, and the bosses who suffered heavy losses probably don't have the ability to increase so many positions.

And losing their jobs is equivalent to losing almost all sources of income; mortgage loans and university loans immediately made these office workers unable to breathe; unemployed on the same day, they had to go to collect relief food the next day.

Don't question why these people don't even have savings to support them for a few days; in the United States, most of the lower-middle class are "moonlight" clans (living paycheck to paycheck), earning ten and spending nine is the norm, and savings will not exceed 3,000 US dollars at most.

Compared with the older generation of Chinese who believe in diligence and thrift, the young people in the United States are another extreme, and even the young Chinese who have been brainwashed by consumerism cannot compare to them.

Once the unemployed population is large, it will cause social instability.

And people without jobs want to maintain their previous standard of living, which must be playing around, that is, going to the streets to demonstrate.

With demonstrations, the government can see their demands, and at the same time, it will also exert public opinion pressure on officials.

Officials in the United States are not afraid of anything, they are only afraid that they will not be able to achieve political achievements when they are in power locally, which will affect their future, so they will think of ways as soon as they encounter such things.

Of course, thinking of ways is one thing, and whether it can be solved is another.

After all, if employees are to be re-employed, it requires real positions and remuneration; now the economy is sluggish, many companies and factories are laying off employees, and positions cannot be created out of thin air.

However, it's not that there are no other ways; according to convention, if you can't solve the problem, you solve the person who raised the problem.

It hasn't developed to this point yet, and the momentum of the demonstrations is not yet huge.

However, as more and more laid-off workers reach the end of their rope, the situation will immediately deteriorate, and by then, it is estimated that there will be no shortage of conflicts, and even the situation of "zero-dollar shopping" will appear again.

Although Hollywood has not been affected by these situations for the time being, and the film industry is still okay, who can say for sure about things in the United States? Maybe Los Angeles will have a wave of "zero-dollar shopping" tomorrow, and Hollywood will be affected by the way.

In order to reduce variables, Luo Quan accelerated the filming speed and finally finished filming the movie before November arrived.

"Ah woo... finally finished filming." Leaving the set and boarding the plane back to New York, Luo Quan stretched a comfortable stretch.

Next is to hand over the special effects to Universal's studio to complete; after the special effects are done, she will edit and dub, and then she can prepare for release.

"There shouldn't be any more plays to film next, right?" Angela, who was next to her, also had an expression of her nerves finally being relaxed.

This month-long filming trip felt even more tiring than staying up late to study for the Columbia University entrance exam before.

Mentally highly concentrated, and the physical consumption was also very large; it was really not easy.

"If nothing unexpected happens, there won't be any, but I probably have to do some dubbing in more than a month; what was recorded on the spot might not all be usable." Luo Quan put the chair down and lay directly on it.

I used to think that sitting on a plane, there was no difference between economy class and first class, and it wouldn't be faster or slower than others.

But after sitting in first class, I realized that the experience on both sides is really different; at least you can lie down and rest in first class, and the food is also better.

Of course, no matter how good the airplane food is, it can't be that good; it's mainly because it's quieter here.

"By the way, sister, after you finish filming this one, do you have to wait until next year to start working?" Gao Liang put down the newspaper in his hand and turned his head to ask.

"Yeah." Luo Quan put two pillows under her, feeling carefree, "Next year there is a quite important movie to film in China, and preparations started a few months ago.

And *Resident Evil 2* cannot be delayed either. It must be filmed; besides, there is also a movie to film at Karan Roosevelt's place, and the requirements are not low.

Counting *The Lord of the Rings 3*, that's four movies."

"With that little screen time of yours, won't your conscience hurt if you count it as half a movie?" This sentence from the sister made Gao Liang laugh directly; the screen time of the first two movies combined didn't exceed ten minutes.

I heard the third one is even more extreme; the first half has only one coma shot, and then at the end there is a long shot of getting married and kissing, but the kissing scene also needs a stunt double and borrowed angles; whether there are five minutes in total is a question mark.

Serving as the heroine in such an epic masterpiece, but ending up in this situation, really makes people feel a bit funny.

"No one will treat you as a mute if you don't talk!"

Luo Quan glared at her brother, then raised her foot to kick his butt, but was dodged by Gao Liang twisting his body, quite like the enchanting way Buffalo Bill dodged Agent Starling's bullets in *The Silence of the Lambs*.

"By the way, sister, do you have any inspiration for Karan's movie? How do you plan to film it?" After dodging, Gao Liang returned to ask.

Luo Quan chuckled: "I originally planned to let you play the male lead, but I suddenly changed my mind."

"Don't do that, I apologize, okay?" Gao Liang has always liked to be cheeky, and he is really fast at admitting mistakes, but he always dares to do it again next time.

"Heh, it's always like this, you never learn." Luo Quan rolled her eyes at her brother, too lazy to be bothered with him, and said:

"The general direction is there; it's a modern movie about a character biography, and you play a male character with intellectual disabilities."

"Another challenging role like this." Hearing the male lead's persona, Gao Liang fell into thought.

Roles like this with intellectual and mental illnesses are recognized as difficult to act.

Because it is difficult for normal people to act out the morbid feeling of this group of people, but since the director has requested it, then one must not be afraid of difficulties and develop a fearful psychology.

The most important point is that my sister said before that this is a work that can impact the Oscars, so he has even less reason to refuse.

"I'll send you the script in a while, you should ponder it carefully; in addition, collect some video materials of patients with intellectual disabilities, you must act well." Luo Quan instructed Gao Liang.

In her view, Gao Liang's image is very suitable for playing the embodiment of the American Dream; I don't know about men, but he should be the ultimate dream of a female partner.

If there were more muscles, it would be perfect.

"By the way, you have to practice muscles starting today; the male lead has been a soldier, with a tall and strong figure, you can't be this skinny."

"Am I skinny?" Hearing her sister's questioning, Gao Liang was unconvinced, stretched out his arm to bulge his biceps, but it didn't make much change to his sleeves.

"Okay, it is indeed a bit skinny." Under her sister's gaze, Gao Liang deflated and said with some grievance: "I usually eat a lot of meat, I just don't know why I can't grow fat."

"That's because you didn't eat right; get the protein powder and stuff, and quit the salt and fried food for now." Luo Quan doesn't know much about fitness either, and casually mentioned a few points that might be useful, "Anyway, sign up for a fitness class, your coach should teach you."

"Understood, I'll get one when I go back." Gao Liang nodded in response.

Although he likes fried chicken and burgers, in order to act well in the movie, he must quit what he should quit; he still has this awareness.

"Sister, do you have nothing to do for the next while?" Angela, who had been silent, suddenly asked.

Luo Quan nodded: "Yeah, I don't know whether to play at home or go out for a turn."

"How about Xia Weiyi? Go there to swim and sunbathe for a vacation; I go there every year." Angela said with excitement.

It's the end of October now, just the tail end of summer in Xia Weiyi, the climate is pleasant, and it couldn't be more suitable for a leisure vacation.

"Swimming, then I love it too much, count me in." Gao Liang was the first to raise his hand to sign up; he has been busy with studies and work during this time, and he really should change to a place with good scenery to adjust his mood.

"Xia Weiyi?" Luo Quan frowned slightly.

I don't know why, but whenever this place name is mentioned, she will associate it with bikinis.

Although she has had one experience, if she comes again...

It's not that she absolutely can't go; she is not that conservative and pretentious, and this is also the first time Angela has invited her to travel, so it wouldn't be good to refuse.

So without thinking for long, she nodded and said: "Okay, anyway, there's nothing to do, it's quite good to go for a vacation, but if it's just the three of us, won't there be too few people?"

Gao Liang laughed: "I was just waiting for you to say this; I'll call people as soon as I get off the plane, and call Seifert, Anna, Mia, and the others."

"Is it okay to call these people?" Luo Quan cast a questioning look at her sister.

"It's lively when there are many people; it's indeed a bit deserted with just the three of us." Angela expressed that she had no opinion at all.

After getting off the plane, Gao Liang called Mia for the first time.

Looking at him, it is estimated that the relationship between the two has progressed quite fast, and it should have exceeded the scope of ordinary friends.

And Mia, after hearing that they were going to Xia Weiyi for a vacation, was also quite excited and expressed her willingness to go with everyone.

However, Seifert and Fred both had things to do and couldn't get away, so they couldn't come, so the three of them only managed to pull Mia alone in the end.

Come to think of it, among so many friends, there are not many people who can be as free as their siblings.

The plan to travel to Xia Weiyi was set, but they didn't set off immediately.

There are still many points to explain about the special effects production of *Frozen*, and Luo Quan still has to spend some time making a memo and sending it over.

In addition, Nikolai's R&D work seems to have made progress; although she doesn't intend to go to Seattle to see it directly, giving some speeches via video is still necessary; after all, she is the only major shareholder.

Besides that, the preparations for the domestic movie also need to be taken care of; it cannot be completely left to those guys who like to take kickbacks to handle it themselves; after all, if that's the case, the cost will be hard to control.

By the time Luo Quan finished explaining everything, three days had passed, and it was only then that Angela started booking tickets to Xia Weiyi.

When the old man heard that they were going to Xia Weiyi to sunbathe, he also showed a thought of wanting to go play together for a moment at first.

However, his wife has a big belly and cannot go together, so the old man immediately dismissed this idea.

In fact, when he was young, he quite liked swimming and playing at the seaside; sailing was also a sport he fell in love with when he was playing at the seaside, and later he even set a record because of this, although it didn't last too long.

Thinking of his youth, Eric was also a bit emotional, but if life could be repeated, he would definitely not repeat his life again.

As for the reason, it is also very simple; looking at his wife beside him, all the answers are self-evident.

"Have fun at the seaside; in addition, prepare some sea snake serum that has appeared locally; it might come in handy."

Eric, who often goes to the sea, reminded his children based on experience.