Chapter 183: Different Demands

Cao Yang summoned the actors, saying he wanted to lecture them on the play.

This time, not only the male protagonist but even the supporting actors with heavier parts were summoned.

For a film with a slightly more complex plot, it's not enough for just the protagonist to perform well; the supporting actors' acting skills must also keep up so that the film's expressiveness can be more wonderful.

Cao Yang thought Hollywood people would have slight resistance, or the agency would at least ask why.

Who knew that when calling, the other party's agency guaranteed repeatedly that they would urge the actors to report on time.

As a result, not only Depp, who won the Oscar for Best Actor, came happily in advance, but even Ian McKellen and Samuel L. Jackson came in advance.

No one raised objections, and no one asked why.

Well, this is definitely related to the fact that after Cao Yang groomed three international Best Actresses, he also helped Depp win Best Actor and Mark Ruffalo win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.

A big director who is good at training actors says he wants to lecture actors on the play. I believe that as long as they are not stupid, no one will stupidly ask why or refuse.

This is Cao Yang's influence now.

Cao Yang lecturing them on the play is mainly to let them understand what the connotation of the film is besides the surface of the script, and what the film is hinting at.

Essentially, understanding the film's hints and connotations might help them understand the plot, but for performance, the effect is not too great.

But it doesn't matter, at least when someone accepts an interview in the future, saying the connotation of the film can improve the prestige of the film.

In addition, maybe understanding the connotation of the film, plus the immersion experience, can make a commercialized art-house film act better and more art-house.

Cao Yang lectured them on the play while following the progress of props and modeling, just waiting for the completion of that side to be almost done, and then he could officially start filming.

In terms of visual effects, out of caution, Columbia chose Industrial Light & Magic founded by George Lucas.

If all the alien Prawns in this film were made with CG, the cost would be estimated at 100 million USD. This is also the reason for choosing Industrial Light & Magic.

Industrial Light & Magic is better at combining with real scenes rather than full CG.

After discussing with Columbia, Cao Yang limited the special effects in the film mostly to the Prawns, without full-scene special effects rendering, and it was combined with real objects and real scenes.

This saved a lot of costs and could shorten the time for making visual effects.

In addition, after the field inspection by the external liaison and assistant director and the pictures sent back, Johannesburg, South Africa, is definitely the best place to film this movie.

The large area of buildings used for racial segregation back then is still there, and now it is a slum. Going there to take scenes is more realistic than spending a lot of money to set up corresponding studios, and it is also cheaper.

At the same time, former South African President Mandela called Cao Yang through Charlize Theron. On the phone, he very enthusiastically invited Cao Yang to take scenes in South Africa.

And he repeatedly guaranteed that the current South Africa is a newborn South Africa, and one should not look at it with the old eyes of the past.

South Africa is definitely one of the happiest countries in the world, and also the safest. He guaranteed in his personal name that going to South Africa to film would definitely not encounter any safety problems...

Even his personal name was guaranteed.

Why was Mandela so enthusiastic?

Cao Yang feels that just an international big director is not enough to make a former head of state of a country so enthusiastic.

Theron told Cao Yang that Mandela had asked her what kind of film this was.

When Mandela learned that this was a film reflecting racial discrimination and racial segregation, he was very excited and repeatedly expressed that he would fully support Cao Yang in taking scenes in South Africa and must make Director Cao satisfied.

Then Theron said that South Africa's racial segregation system was abolished after Mandela was elected president.

Oh, oh, understood. So that's it.

No wonder Mandela was so enthusiastic. As the abolitionist of the racial segregation system, Cao Yang, this international big director, is filming a film on this subject. Can he not be active and enthusiastic?

It seems that the safety and convenience of going to South Africa to film are definitely guaranteed.

On June 1, 2004, after such a long preparation, the props needed for the film were finally completed, everything was ready, and *District 9* chose such a day to announce the start of filming in Jingcheng.

Cao Yang originally didn't want to hold an opening press conference. Holding it before was to promote the film and attract attention. Now he no longer needs this form of promotion.

Helplessly, Han Zong felt that such a large-investment co-production had never happened before, so he had to show off... no, it was to let people know about it after it started, so he held a press conference with an unusually grand momentum and scale.

As one of the producers, Han Zong naturally sat next to Cao Yang.

The reporters were also very interesting. Those who could be named by the host to ask questions, besides Cao Yang, a large part were asking questions to Han Zong.

To say there is no trickery in this, how is it possible?

Look at the questions asked to Han Zong.

"Han Zong, doing a co-production with an investment of 500 million for the first time, do you feel any pressure?"

!

"Han Zong, as the vice chairman of China Film Group, cooperating with Columbia on such a large-scale co-production, how do you view this cooperation?"

"Han Zong, as one of the producers, what expectations do you have for this epoch-making investment co-production?"

Fine, just like the questions asked by the reporters, Han Zong, as the deputy general manager and vice chairman of China Film Group, although he presides over the work of China Film Group, as long as he hasn't removed that "deputy" word for a day, there is a possibility of change.

So, Han Zong also needs political achievements. In this era, cooperating with Hollywood superstars at the level of Oscar Best Actor is also something that can be met but not sought.

Han Zong naturally wants to seize the opportunity.

For a co-production like this that shouts an investment of 70 million USD to the outside world, as long as it succeeds, Han Zong's status will be more stable.

After the press conference, the film officially started filming.

The scenes filmed at the Youth Film Studio were mostly indoor scenes, such as offices, laboratories, homes, basements, inside spaceships, inside gangs, etc.

This requires using quite a few foreigners as extras. After all, the North American box office is the big head.

However, this is actually not difficult. There are so many universities in Jingcheng. If you want to find some foreigners to be extras and make a cameo, as long as the money is in place, they are still very willing.

Speaking of which, the wages of these foreign extras are much higher than ordinary extras, but compared to Hollywood, it is really too cheap.

In Hollywood, even if you find extras, you have to go through the union.

Wages have a minimum standard. The wages of extras are given by the hour, 8 USD per hour, and generally, 8 hours of wages are given fixedly per day. Even if sometimes they only film for 1 hour and finish work, they still give 8 hours of wages.

Once it exceeds 8 hours, it is calculated as overtime, and the wage is 12 USD per hour.

This is an extra, the kind without lines. As long as there are lines, even if it is just one sentence, the charge is high.

Once there is a shot of opening the mouth to speak, encountering some low-cost films, the starting price of opening the mouth to speak might be 500 USD, but most of the starting prices are 850 USD per day.

These were the problems Cao Yang encountered when filming *Milk*.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 184 =====