American fame and fortune

Los Angeles, Santa Monica Mall.

In the huge lounge, Bell sat alone, feeling a little dazed.

There was a knock on the door, and the manager reminded outside: "In fifteen minutes, the event will start."

Bell came back to his senses and responded: "I know."

Upcoming is a very important road show promotion for "Terminator 2018".

The Santa Monica Commerce Plaza was the scene of the classic scene in the Terminator series, where John Connor first encountered the T1000 and T800.

Therefore, the first road show after the film was released in North America was arranged here.

But Bell couldn't get excited, because the North American box office in the first week was only 42.25 million U.S. dollars!

Compared with the new film of arch-enemy Martin Davis after "The Dark Knight", it seems that the opening box office is not much less.

But the investment of US$200 million compared to the investment of US$40 million, the PG-13 rating compared with the R rating, and the gap in the scale of publicity and distribution...

What a complete failure!

Bale was overpowered by Martin in The Dark Knight, and he originally thought he could turn around with the new work and overtake Martin.

But the idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

Bell looked at the time, held back the discomfort in his heart, walked out of the lounge, and walked along the passage to the event site.

As soon as he stepped onto the stage, before the host could speak, the fans booed and shouted from below.

"Are you filming the Terminator?"

"This piece of crap tarnishes the name of the Terminator!"

"Christian Bale, you don't deserve to be the savior!"

"Get off the stage, no one likes your bad movies!"

"You don't deserve to be here!"

Many of the people who came here today are die-hard fans of the Terminator series and love the series to the extreme.

As much as these people loved the first two Terminator movies, they hate this one.

In the 1990s, Arnold Schwarzenegger stood on this stage and started the promotion of "Terminator 2".

The reputation of "Terminator 2018" was so bad that fans of the series denied that it was a Terminator movie.

"Get off! Get off everyone!"

The fans went crazy and were unreasonable. Some people threw their Cokes on the stage, making a crackling noise.

Bell's face was extremely ugly. The failure of the film had already made him in a bad mood, and this scene made people even more angry.

He has never been a good-tempered person.

During the filming of "Terminator 2018", the photographer made a mistake at work and chatted a few words about Martin, causing Bale to lose control of his mood and angrily yelled at the photographer on the set for more than 40 minutes. The director and producer could not stop him.

With a bang, a bottle of Coca-Cola hit the edge of the stage. Liquid spewed out of the exploded bottle and landed near Bell.

Bell turned around and walked directly to the audience without a moment's hesitation.

Bryce Howard next to him was confused and didn't know whether to follow Bell.

The audience was in an uproar. The paparazzi and reporters went crazy and rushed to the exit of the stage to interview Bell.

There were too many people and it was so crazy that the barrier pulled up by the security personnel was crumbling.

Bell strode off the stage.

The reporter from TMZ adhered to the principle of making news without news and making news without highlights. He reacted very quickly and raised his voice: "Bell, did the failure of "Terminator 2018" prove one thing?" The success of The Dark Knight was made possible by Martin Davis as an actor, not you!"

The scene was chaotic, but all the words fell into Bell's ears. He suddenly stopped and stared at the reporter coldly.

The reporter continued to shout: "Martin's new film has made a lot of money at a small cost, but what about you? Your new film as the leading actor has suffered serious losses!"

The reporter behind followed up: "The Dark Knight has brought you star power, but are you taking advantage of Martin?"

Another reporter's microphone was forced through the isolation barrier: "Bell, don't you feel that you are not worthy of your reputation?"

Bell turned back forcibly and walked forward step by step.

A reporter's question came from behind: "You are acquiescing if you don't answer, right?"

Bell still didn't say anything and quickly left the road show.

The leading actor left early and the road show ended hastily.

By the next day, the entertainment media in Los Angeles were all attacking Bale, saying that he was not worthy of his reputation, and some even directly called him a box office poison.

Praising one and criticizing the other is the trick that the media is best at. The American media is naturally biased towards Martin. At this time, they caught Bell's mistakes and beat them up.

An angry Bale later announced via social media that he would withdraw from the post-screening promotion of "Terminator 2018".

This behavior was not communicated to Warner, and Warner Bros. was extremely angry with Bell.

Many Warner executives directly blacklisted Bell as a co-star.

…………

Entering June, the filming of "Inception" officially started at Astra Studios.

Nolan first shot all the indoor scenes.

In view of Martin's own characteristics, the crew has slightly strengthened the action scenes, which of course will not turn Martin's character into a killer like Jonathan.

In the set that was built like a Japanese-style palace, Martin held a pistol and went on a killing spree. Amidst the banging gunfire, he easily killed several gunmen in black and knocked another one away with his shoulder.

"Stop!" Nolan shouted to stop filming.

Martin stepped forward and pulled up the stuntman who was wearing protective gear under his suit, and asked, "Are you okay?"

"It's okay, it's okay." The stuntman worked with Martin for the first time. He didn't expect such a big star to have such a good attitude.

Martin patted him on the shoulder and looked at Nolan who was walking over.

Nolan said: "There was something wrong with the action scenes."

Martin put away the prop pistol and asked, "Is there something wrong with my positioning, or am I not moving neatly enough?"

Nolan gestured and said: "Your movements are too clean and neat, and your skills in front of the camera are too good."

Martin asked: "Is there a problem with good skills?"

When Nolan said this, his understanding of this aspect became clearer, and he simply asked Martin to come to the director's monitor to watch the footage he had just shot.

In the footage played, Martin is like a tiger descending the mountain, swift and powerful.

Nolan reminded: "Do you see the problem?"

Martin gradually understood and nodded slightly: "There are no problems with my makeup and movement, and there are no problems with the writing and acting. But when there are problems with the acting, my movements are like another Jonathan."

"That's right." Nolan said emphatically: "Martin, you are Cobb now, not Jonathan. You are a dream thief with a certain force value, not a super killer."

Martin listened to all these words.

Nolan said: "You restrain your action scenes and make the character weaker than yourself."

Martin nodded: "I understand."

"This is not just your problem, the action director and I made the wrong prediction." Nolan also did not expect that Martin's skills were more powerful than expected. It should be because he had just played the role of Jonathan, and he still retained some of his previous habits, showing It will look particularly sharp in the lens.

Other crews had difficulties filming action scenes, and the actors' level was far from the requirements of the role.

When it comes to Martin, the actor needs to be slower and weaker.

Nolan called the action director again, paused the shooting, and Martin and the three of them discussed adjustments to the action scenes together.

The most important aspect is that Martin's force value cannot be much higher than that of the supporting actor Mene, or even similar to him.

Mene followed Martin to play with guns and exercise, and when he took it out, Martin had a clear measure.

When filming resumed, Martin's speed slowed down, and his movements were no longer clean and tidy, but began to drag.

Nolan still insists on real-life shooting, and does not use CGI if possible. Including this Japanese-style palace building, the crew built almost all scenes in real-life scenes.

At the end of the afternoon, Martin took off his makeup and followed Nolan to another studio.

Mene is training for a crucial action scene here.

There is a fight scene in the dream corridor in the script, which will be presented in a rotating manner.

In order to achieve the ideal shooting effect, Nolan found a physics professor from Morocco and spent a huge amount of money to build a huge centrifuge.

This is an equipment often used in Hollywood to shoot space scenes and weightless scenes, but no one has used it for many years. After the cost of CGI special effects decreased, this thing became expensive and time-consuming.

Nolan, a real-shooting maniac, has just created the brilliant results of "The Dark Knight", otherwise the insurance company's completion guarantee will be a problem.

When Martin came over, a huge centrifuge made of steel was spinning.

This thing is more than ten meters high and nearly forty meters long. It looks quite amazing.

The rotating corridor used for filming was fixed in the center of the centrifuge, and Mene and multiple stuntmen were training inside.

An old man and his assistant were monitoring the operation of the centrifuge through instruments.

Nolan made a gesture over there. The assistant director informed the actors inside, and the centrifuge slowly stopped.

Martin followed Nolan.

Nolan introduced to Martin: "This is Professor Mordecai from the University of Casablanca, an outstanding physicist."

Martin was a scumbag, but he respected knowledgeable people and took the initiative to shake hands: "Hello, professor."

Professor Mordechai is completely bald on his forehead and has a very big nose. He is very enthusiastic: "My daughter is a fan of your movies. Can you give me a signed photo of you when you have time?"

He smiled and said: "Help an old father fulfill his daughter's wish."

Martin responded immediately: "No problem, I'll get it done later and have it delivered."

"Thank you." Mordechai thanked him, turned to look at the large centrifuge he was responsible for building, and said: "Such equipment should not be dismantled and thrown away as garbage after filming. Director Nolan, after the filming is completed, can you Let me dismantle this device and bring it back to Casablanca."

Nolan thought for a moment and said, "You need to pay a garbage collection fee."

Mordechai said quickly: "I will call the college right away. The college will definitely be willing to pay the money."

When he got to the phone, Martin said, "This professor is dedicated to his job."

Nolan said: "The conditions here are limited, and many professors even have problems with research funding. If the remuneration given by the crew was not generous enough, and Professor Mordecai lacks research funding, we would not be able to hire him."