Chapter 343: Differing Intentions

The main filming location for *Assembly* is in Kuandian, Liaoning Province.

Before China Film Group and Youth Film Studio participated in the investment, this place had already been selected as a location, and the facilities for filming had been built, including that magnificent "castle" 300 meters long and 15 meters wide.

When Cao Yang arrived in Kuandian, the crew was filming war scenes.

"Da-da-da," "Boom," "Charge!"...

On the set, gunfire was everywhere, bombs were flying, and shouts were deafening.

One could see billowing smoke, ruined tanks standing across the field, and the marks left by simulated bullets everywhere on the walls.

Cao Yang stood outside the filming warning line and watched for a while; looking at these things alone, it still had a very cruel war atmosphere.

It was still very cold in Kuandian at this time; "Little Steel Cannon" was wearing a thick cotton coat and a cotton hat with earflaps, also known as a Lei Feng hat, standing behind a camera with a somewhat serious expression.

Unlike when other directors film, usually if a director is sitting behind the monitor, no one dares to move behind them for fear of affecting the director's train of thought or the lighting, and they are easily scolded.

Yet, three people were constantly following behind Little Steel Cannon; even when filming was paused and Little Steel Cannon was running back and forth to give orders, these three always followed.

Cao Yang had stood there for less than five minutes when seven or eight people gathered behind him; they didn't speak, just stood quietly behind Cao Yang.

"Rest for half an hour."

Little Steel Cannon also saw Cao Yang, and after finishing a shot, he instructed the crew.

Then, he rubbed his face with both hands and walked toward Cao Yang.

"Director Cao."

"Director Cao is here."

"Hello, Director Cao."

Only then did the few people who had gathered behind Cao Yang speak up to greet him.

The person closest to Cao Yang was Bai Yunqing, the producer sent by Youth Film Studio, who served as the production manager for the *Assembly* crew.

Cao Yang's position at Youth Film Studio was General Producer; although he basically didn't manage much, he was definitely Bai Yunqing's direct superior.

Through Bai Yunqing's introduction, the seven people who had gathered behind were either executive producers or production managers of the crew, assistant directors, or art directors.

In any case, they were all high-level crew members; ordinary staff and some actors waiting for their scenes, even those with some fame, could not have come over abruptly without being invited.

At this time, Little Steel Cannon had already come over; his face was full of smiles, baring his large teeth, and perhaps to show closeness to Cao Yang, he didn't shake hands but directly put his arm around Cao Yang's shoulder.

"Haha, Old Cao, welcome, welcome. It's been cloudy these past two days and the temperature is a bit low, probably around minus ten degrees or so, can you handle it? This is still good; when we were filming before the New Year, that was what you call cold."

Afterwards, he pointed to the people behind him and said:

"By the way, let me introduce you. This is the South Korean action director Park Joo-cheon, he is the action director for this film, and this is Jung Do-an, the head of the team specifically invited from South Korea to be in charge of pyrotechnics."

"Hello, Director Cao, I am Park Joo-cheon. It is a great honor to meet you. I really like your films."

Cao Yang saw one of the three people following Little Steel Cannon extend both hands, bowing slightly at the waist, looking somewhat excited, and saying something in a flurry of words.

Another of the three turned out to be a Korean translator, who translated for Cao Yang on the side.

Cao Yang shook hands with Park Joo-cheon and said, "Hello."

At this time, the other South Korean, Jung Do-an, said something similar to Park Joo-cheon, and his attitude was also very humble; this is a gene carved into the bones of South Koreans, which can be vividly summarized in two words: admiration for the strong.

"Hello, Director Cao, I am Jung Do-an, responsible for the film's pyrotechnic design. It is a great honor to meet you, and I also really like your films."

Cao Yang shook hands with Jung Do-an again and said hello.

In recent years, South Korean cinema has developed rapidly, and both of these men participated in *Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War*, a film with huge influence in South Korea, which is why they were invited by Little Steel Cannon.

It wasn't that there were no good action designers or pyrotechnic experts in the country, but Little Steel Cannon clearly wanted to build *Assembly* into a film like *Saving Private Ryan*.

Moreover, one could see many shadows of *Saving Private Ryan* in *Assembly*.

And to create such a film, domestic war action design and pyrotechnics were a bit too realistic and clearly not "fiery" enough, while Hollywood's were too expensive; all things considered, these people who emerged from South Korea were cheap and plentiful.

"Filming is important, you go ahead and get busy, I'll just look around."

Cao Yang said to Little Steel Cannon.

Little Steel Cannon coughed lightly and asked in a low voice: "I saw the news last time, you got so many nominations again this time, is there any hope of winning a big award?"

Cao Yang was stunned for a moment, then realized that Little Steel Cannon must be talking about the Oscars.

"I don't know, I'm afraid it's very difficult."

The smile on Little Steel Cannon's face flashed by, and he comforted him: "It doesn't matter, with your ability, just work hard next time."

Cao Yang smiled and shook his head, "It might be hard to win big awards in the future; after all, my box office is too high. Take *Inception*, for example, converted into RMB, it's already seven or eight billion."

Little Steel Cannon let go of the hand he had around Cao Yang, coughed again, smiled extremely reluctantly, and nodded, saying: "That's fine, you go ahead and look around, I'll host a welcome dinner for you tonight."

Son of a bitch, can't you just talk properly? Can't you just talk properly?

Thinking that his own films breaking 100 million was considered a super blockbuster, while this son of a bitch Cao Yang could have a film sell seven or eight billion globally, it really is infuriating, I really want to strangle him.

The two South Koreans following Little Steel Cannon said a lot of things, and the translator concisely said: "They are very sorry they cannot accompany Director Cao, they express their deep apologies for this, and hope to have the opportunity to receive guidance from Director Cao."

After Little Steel Cannon left, Cao Yang beckoned for Bai Yunqing to walk with him.

Walking around the 300-meter-long "castle," Cao Yang asked as they walked: "These were built before, right? The scale is quite large."

"Yes, this was built before we and China Film Group arrived. Our accountants and China Film Group's accountants audited and calculated this project; it cost a total of 5.18 million and took over four months."

Bai Yunqing answered hurriedly.

Cao Yang sighed; the labor costs in the country are truly low.

For such a large-scale set, a construction period of over four months, it only cost 5.18 million.

If this were in Hollywood, for this project and this construction period, even if you converted the RMB into dollars, it certainly wouldn't be enough.

"Is the recent filming going smoothly?"

Cao Yang asked with a smile, appearing to be just asking casually.

"Overall, it's going smoothly, and the daily progress is being met."

Bai Yunqing lagged half a step behind Cao Yang and also answered with a smile: "It might be because Zhang Hanyu is playing the lead for the first time, so sometimes the number of NGs here is a bit higher, but they always work overtime to catch up on the progress."

Cao Yang nodded and then asked: "I heard Deng Chao is filming *Sweet Honey*, is there a conflict in the schedule?"

"Speaking of this, Director Feng was very angry and even wanted to replace him at one point. In the end, Deng Chao promised Director Feng that he wouldn't delay filming. I don't know how he coordinated with Director Gao Xixi of *Sweet Honey*, but in any case, this side is the priority."

Bai Yunqing explained.

"Are there no similar situations with other roles?"

Cao Yang continued to ask.

Bai Yunqing answered without the slightest hesitation:

"The lead actress has a similar situation. Producer Xu said that Chen Shu felt the character didn't quite fit her own positioning and she couldn't act out that feeling. It just so happened that Director Feng also felt Chen Shu was too 'Westernized,' so they hit it off and thought about terminating the contract and re-selecting a lead actress."

Glancing at Cao Yang, Bai Yunqing continued to explain: "Chen Shu had only been in the crew for three days, her salary is not low, and the new actor recommended by Huayi is joining with zero salary."

Cao Yang nodded and said nothing.

Changing a role in a film, especially the lead actress, is a very big deal. The production manager sent by Youth Film Studio didn't stop it, nor did he report it to Youth Film Studio...

After Little Steel Cannon told him about this, Cao Yang vaguely felt something was wrong.

This matter shouldn't have been told to him by Little Steel Cannon; it would have been the normal process for Bai Yunqing to tell him first.

As the production manager sent by Youth Film Studio, representing Youth Film Studio, Bai Yunqing absolutely could not be inactive in such a matter of wanting to change a role.

Afterwards, Cao Yang called Han Zong again to ask if he knew about the *Assembly* crew wanting to change the lead actress.

Han Zong is a smart man; as the head of China Film Group, he has seen many similar things, and from Cao Yang's few words, he realized what had happened.

The key is that in this matter, China Film Group, like Youth Film Studio, also didn't know what had happened.

It can be seen that Huayi's public relations are still very impressive.

In the afternoon, after Little Steel Cannon finished the day's plan, he wanted to invite Cao Yang to dinner to get together, but Cao Yang refused.

Little Steel Cannon's heart stirred, knowing the "good show" was coming.

After everyone had a working meal, Cao Yang convened a meeting of the crew's management.

He put forward a few points of opinion.

"The crew needs stability. During filming, producers or executive producers should not easily interfere with the crew's affairs. If there are unreasonable points, you can offer opinions and can stop the director's actions, but it must be reasonable."

After this point was made, the expressions of several producers became unnatural for a moment, including those from Youth Film Studio, China Film Group, and Huayi.

No one is a fool; they could certainly understand what Cao Yang's statement was because of.

Cao Yang glanced at everyone and said bluntly: "Since I am the executive producer of this film and also one of the producers, then I will not allow anyone to interfere with the film's shooting work indiscriminately, no matter who it is.

The most important thing in film shooting is stability; the biggest taboo is inserting actors indiscriminately. Whoever feels that the current actors are not suitable should bring it up to me. Only if I think they are indeed not suitable can we change actors; otherwise, no one should have any crooked ideas."

Those few producers lowered their heads, not daring to look at Cao Yang, especially Bai Yunqing from Youth Film Studio, whose face turned somewhat pale.

Little Steel Cannon drooped his eyelids, looking as if he wanted to laugh, but it was forcibly suppressed, which made him look a bit comical.

"I took a simple look at Director Feng's filming today and consulted with relevant people, and I have some questions I'd like to ask Director Feng."

Cao Yang said, looking at Little Steel Cannon.

Little Steel Cannon didn't think that much and said with a grin: "Executive Producer Cao, tell me whatever questions you have."

"I won't even mention your all-American equipment; it can be understood that in order to complete the blocking mission, the main force gave all the captured American equipment to their company.

However, there is one point: the Ninth Company used special forces hand signals during the War of Liberation, which is a very big loophole; there were no tactical hand signals back then.

The South Korean special effects team is quite good in terms of fireworks, pyrotechnics, and sound, and this can be adopted, but you can't listen to them on everything."

Little Steel Cannon had already improved a lot in the script, but he was determined to film a Chinese version of *Saving Private Ryan*, so he made the war scenes and props as "gorgeous" as possible.

However, Little Steel Cannon, who had always focused on comedies, had never filmed a war movie, so when filming, he "borrowed" a little from *Saving Private Ryan* and *Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War*.

In *Saving Private Ryan*, there is a sergeant similar to a platoon leader who counts the casualties, and *Assembly* also had Platoon Leader Jiao Dapeng do this job.

In that film, there is a cowardly and fearful clerk, and there is one in *Assembly* too.

In that film, the US military kills prisoners, and in *Assembly*, they also kill prisoners; the problem is, this is a strictly prohibited act in our army.

In *Saving Private Ryan*, the small squad almost had an internal conflict to the point of drawing guns on each other over whether to continue the mission, and *Assembly* also had a scene where the soldiers of the Ninth Company argued to the point of drawing guns on each other over whether to continue executing the mission.

There is certainly nothing wrong with *Assembly* imitating *Saving Private Ryan* and *Tae Guk Gi: Brotherhood of War* in its combat scenes, but the details of learning from them to kill prisoners, engage in infighting, and smear the political instructor go a bit too far.

Therefore, Cao Yang specifically pointed out some issues to prevent "Little Steel Cannon" from getting carried away while filming and picking up that South Korean style.

Since I have been credited as a screenwriter, then don't get completely "carried away"; artistic license is fine, but places with obvious loopholes must be changed.

For example, the tank destroyed by Gu Zidi with a mountain gun in *Assembly* never appeared in the War of Liberation; using a curved-fire mountain gun to hit a tank is bizarre in itself, and the power of its explosive shell is not enough to destroy an opposing tank.

For example, "sniper" and "sniper rifle" were terms that only appeared in our military's nomenclature in the late 1970s; they did not exist during the War of Liberation and could be changed to "sharpshooter."

There are many similar things, but I won't bring these up at the meeting; I'll tell Little Steel Cannon in private. This is one of the reasons why Cao Yang came here after carefully reading the new script and consulting relevant experts.

Little Steel Cannon's expression was a bit ugly; he didn't expect Cao Yang to turn the "fire" onto himself.

Given his temper, he should have slammed the table and stood up to refute on the spot.

However, when he saw Cao Yang staring straight at him, the anger in his heart burned even more, and he wished he could challenge Cao Yang to a duel right there.

This grandson Cao Yang, I shouldn't have let him become a screenwriter and producer; now it's fine, he's managing things over my head. Who do you think you are?

With a "slap," Little Steel Cannon could no longer hold back and stood up, slamming the table.

"Director Cao is absolutely right. I didn't notice these small details. He is worthy of being a world-renowned director; I am convinced on this point."

Little Steel Cannon was cursing this grandson Cao Yang wildly in his heart, but on the surface, he felt that since it was Cao Yang's first day on set, he should give him some face. Everyone is a big director, and he couldn't let Cao Yang lose face.

Yeah, that's it.

Never again, absolutely never again!

The next afternoon, people from the Qingying Studio and China Film Group arrived; they were there to replace the two people from Bai Yunqing.

Although Little Steel Cannon was resentful in his heart and scoffed at Cao Yang's suggestions, thinking this grandson Cao Yang was a bit pedantic, he still blocked these obvious loopholes in his actions without any discount.

If someone else had told him these things, he would definitely have treated that person as if they were farting and would absolutely have insisted on his own opinion.

But when Cao Yang told him these things, besides being annoyed, he would still calm down to think, and he actually had a kind of blind trust in Cao Yang, subconsciously believing that everything Cao Yang did was right.

This is probably because when a person is always successful, people will unconsciously think that all of this person's words and deeds are reasonable.

It wasn't until after Cao Yang left that Little Steel Cannon's temper on set suddenly became bigger and more irritable; if a shot didn't meet his wishes, he would curse and fly into a rage.

And the ones scolded the most were Zhang Hanyu, who was playing a lead role for the first time, and Deng Chao, whom Little Steel Cannon had long been unhappy with because of overlapping filming schedules.

Zhang Hanyu was playing a lead role for the first time, and he had even joined for a lower salary for the sake of the lead role, so even if Little Steel Cannon scolded him harshly, he felt it was because Little Steel Cannon was being strict with him in order to produce a better film.

Deng Chao was different.

He now had a pretty good reputation and should have been in high spirits; being scolded by Little Steel Cannon all the time, he inevitably felt that Little Steel Cannon was targeting him, and he also had a lot of opinions about Little Steel Cannon.

Of course, Deng Chao definitely didn't dare to argue with Little Steel Cannon now, nor did he dare to resist; he could only keep this matter in his heart.

After returning to Jingcheng from Kuandian, Cao Yang didn't stay long and bought a plane ticket directly to Los Angeles.

The 79th Academy Awards would be held on February 26th; when Cao Yang arrived in Los Angeles, it was already the early morning of the 25th.

His *Inception* received nine nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.

It wasn't that Cao Yang didn't want to come to the US earlier to lobby for the Oscars.

It was that the executive director of Columbia, who was about to be promoted to global vice president of Sony Pictures, Tom Rothman, had already given Cao Yang a heads-up.

Don't look at the fact that *Inception* received nine nominations, but precisely because the box office was too high, and not high enough to make the Academy compromise, it was almost impossible to win the major awards this time; it could only win some technical awards.

Since it could only win technical awards, Cao Yang didn't care.

If it weren't for the fact that Oscar president Sid Ganis, who had a pretty good relationship with Cao Yang, asked him to attend, he might not have come.

The Oscars' technical awards had almost no added value to Cao Yang's status.

Depp, however, was very happy; after all, being nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor again was a recognition of his acting skills.

But regardless of him or his agency, they didn't really lobby for the award; for a film with such a huge global box office, even if the performance was very good, it was very difficult to win Best Actor.

(End of this chapter)