Chapter 84: After the Kickoff

The sky was just beginning to lighten when the staff of Eternal Rise Pictures were already bustling before the giant cruise ship set. This 1:1 replica of the Titanic's bow deck, costing nearly ten million Hong Kong dollars to build, had its wooden deck grain, brass railing luster, and even the arrangement of rivets fully restored according to historical data.

Xiang Fei stood at the bow, his fingers gently brushing the frost effects on the railing. He turned to the art director, Chen Guoqiang, and said, "The frost on the deck needs to be thicker; the North Atlantic in April 1912 should have temperatures below zero."

Chen Guoqiang nodded: "The special effects team has been asked to readjust; it will be finished in half an hour."

Xiang Fei raised his wrist to check his watch: "Notify all actors; the filming kickoff ceremony will be held promptly at 7 o'clock. I do not want anyone to be late."

His voice was not loud, but every word carried an unquestionable authority.

At exactly 7 a. m., all cast and crew lined up in front of the cruise ship set.

Qian Xiaohao and Cai Shaofen, as the lead actors, stood in the first row. Cai Shaofen was wrapped in a thick down jacket, her lips slightly pale from the cold—Xiang Fei insisted on filming in the low morning temperatures to pursue authenticity.

"Everyone," Xiang Fei stood on a temporarily built podium, his gaze sweeping over every person, "'Titanic' is not an ordinary movie. What we are recreating is the most famous maritime disaster in human history, and also the most beautiful love story."

He paused, his voice becoming more serious:

"I will not tolerate any perfunctory acting. Qian Xiaohao, your Jack must make the audience believe he is a poor painter; Cai Shaofen, your Rose must make people feel the suppression and rebellion of a noble young lady."

"Every single person in the extras group, you are not background props, but real passengers. When the ship begins to sink, I want to see real fear and despair."

Silence fell over the crowd, broken only by the flapping sound of the flag in the sea breeze.

The filming of the sinking scene was scheduled for the third day after the kickoff.

To present the most authentic effect, Xiang Fei built a giant pool that could tilt fifty degrees. When the "iceberg" struck the hull, the entire set began to slowly tilt, and icy water surged in from all directions.

Ceng Jiang, who played the old engineer, delivered a textbook-level performance in this scene.

"Go quickly! Everyone to the lifeboats!" he shouted hoarsely, his graying hair wet with seawater and plastered to his forehead. When the hull tilted to its limit, he chose to stay in the engine room, his trembling hand brushing those steel-beast-like machines one last time.

The camera pushed in; tears welled in Ceng Jiang's eyes, yet he wore a smile: "Old friend, I will accompany you on your final journey."

This shot was done in one take; many staff members on site had red-rimmed eyes.

Zhao Yazhi, who played Molly Brown, was equally moving. On the lifeboat, she insisted on going back to save people: "There are still so many empty seats on the ship! We cannot just leave like this!" Her intense emotional outburst made the fellow actors completely immersed in the scene.

Although they were all minor roles, the cameos by the superstars added many highlights to the film: Cheng Long, playing a variety artist, persisted in juggling on the deck as the hull tilted, trying to soothe the panicked passengers. When the last ball fell into the sea, his expression of a bitter smile and shrug was unforgettable. Hong Jinbao, playing the old chef, stubbornly tried to rescue a pot of freshly cooked soup as the kitchen was flooded by seawater; this detail instantly brought the character to life. Lin Zhengying, playing the fortune teller, maintained a detached calm amidst the chaos, pointing a compass toward the north and telling those around him: "Go that way; life is in the north." Anita Mui, playing a noble lady, silently draped her fur coat over the shoulders of a shivering little girl before boarding the lifeboat. Zhang Guorong, playing the orchestra's violinist, continued to play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the hull was about to sink; this shot later became one of the most tear-jerking moments in the film. A shoot on a rainy night let everyone witness Xiang Fei's harshness.

This scene required shooting a shot of Rose looking up at the starry sky from the lifeboat. Because the cloud cover was too thick to see the stars, Xiang Fei directly called a halt to the filming.

"Wait," he said only one word, "wait until the stars can be seen."

The entire crew waited in the rain for four hours until two in the morning, when the clouds finally dispersed. Cai Shaofen was already frozen with purple lips, but when the camera focused on her, the shocking expression of gazing at the starry sky after surviving a disaster made all the waiting worthwhile.

The props team also learned Xiang Fei's strictness. A scene required the "Heart of the Ocean" necklace worn by Rose; Xiang Fei rejected the first five design versions and only reluctantly nodded at the sixth: "Barely usable, but the facets of the diamond are not perfect enough."

Night fell, yet the lights on the set remained as bright as day. Xiang Fei stood before the monitor, repeatedly reviewing the footage shot today.

"Tomorrow we must reshoot close-ups of Teacher Ceng Jiang," he said to the assistant director, "I want to see a more subtle tremor in his fingers as they touch the machines."

Zhou Huimin brought a cup of hot coffee: "You have been working continuously for eighteen hours."

Xiang Fei took the coffee, his gaze still not leaving the screen: "It is not perfect enough yet."

On the distant sea surface, a bright moon slowly rose, illuminating this ship of dreams that would never sink.