At Warner Bros. Studios, Davis Studios rented a small soundstage specifically to serve as a training ground for Chad Starsky's projects.
Martin, Bruce and Bradt stood on the sidelines of the training field, watching attentively as several people on the field practiced their action routines.
Chad holds a prop gun and, as the male protagonist, is besieged by a group of killers.
The leader, Chen Hu, with his mid-length hair loose, rushed towards Chad from the front.
Behind him were stuntmen such as Lewis and Buck, who had served as Martin's stand-ins several times.
Marcus, who has become Chad's assistant, is approaching.
Chad was changing the magazine when Chen Hu rushed forward. The two fought in close combat and strangled each other.
Buck and Lewis also rushed forward.
The actions of several people were naturally designed routines. Chad broke Chen Hu's neck, elbowed Lewis in the heart, kicked Buck down, and completed changing the magazine at the same time.
He turned around and made a shooting motion. Marcus, who was about to show his head and shoot, seemed to be hit by a bullet and fell to the ground with a thud.
The gun in Chad's hand was pointed at the heads of the four people again, and he shot again one by one.
Unlike previous Hollywood action movies, the action design of this project will never give the enemy a chance to fight back.
Those brain-dead plots that resulted from talking too much, having a holy mother's heart, or carelessly relaxing, allowing the downed enemy to take the opportunity to counterattack, were all abandoned at the action design stage.
Brandt came to Martin and said: "Head, we conducted a sample survey on the website and asked movie fans to vote for the most annoying plot of the movie. It is similar to the design of the two protagonists in the Horror Wax Museum giving up the last hit. In a very forward position.”
Martin nodded: "I almost vomited at that design."
Chad, Chen Hu and Marcus came over at this time.
Marcus said: "On the battlefield, you must not show mercy to the enemy, otherwise you will definitely die."
Chad continued: "The protagonist is set up to be a killer. If that kind of plot occurs, the character will collapse directly."
Martin took the prop gun handed over by Chad, made several shooting gestures, and said, "What this movie wants is that hearty and refreshing feeling."
Chen Hu had been following Yuan Heping for a long time and asked: "Like "The Big Brother" and "The Dirty Detective"?"
Martin said: "I have seen these two movies, they are similar."
Chad has watched a lot of action movies recently and knows a lot about it. He took over the words: "In terms of action design, we must be close to actual combat, but we must not overly pursue actual combat for the sake of actual combat style."
Martin completely agrees: "This is a movie after all. Based on the actual combat style, we must take care of the audience's viewing experience. It must be fierce and fierce, and the action must be relatively good-looking."
Chen Hu is responsible for designing melee combat routines: "I agree. In this regard, we can refer to some gunfight action movies in Hong Kong."
Martin joked: "Don't design it like Jack Chen. After all, the protagonist is a killer."
Chen Hu added: "Not the Furniture City God of War."
No one else understood what this meant. Only Martin and Chad, who had watched too many Hong Kong movies, understood it.
Afterwards, the group went to the pull-out room to watch the video.
People like Chad have designed a lot of gun battles and action routines in recent months, and most of them were recorded through exercises.
Halfway through, Chen Hu and Martin went to the training ground to practice.
The action director also needs to know what the actor can do.
Chen Hu asked Martin to practice several difficult moves according to his routine, and gained a certain understanding of Martin.
After he stopped, he said to Martin: "Your basic skills are much better than Keanu's. When I was filming The Matrix, I took Keanu and the others to practice, and the teaching was even more difficult than what they practiced."
Martin worked as a martial arts substitute for many years in his previous life and has been doing physical training since Atlanta. He said directly: "I have practiced a lot of action fighting routines. I have been exercising all year round and have a certain foundation."
Chen Hu said, "You have a very good foundation."
Martin is only 26 years old now, and he often spars with Bruce. Not to mention difficult movements, even the completion of ordinary movements is not comparable to that of ordinary action actors.
"Let's continue." Chen Hu returned to the training ground: "I want to know more about your body and design a fighting routine that is more suitable for you based on its characteristics."
Martin followed Chen Hu's demonstration and continued to practice the action routines.
Chen Hu would stop from time to time and come over to have a chat with Martin, talking about some ideas for action routines.
Martin also used to play action, and sometimes he would put forward some constructive suggestions.
Of course, the action scenes at that time did not develop over time, but became more and more stretched, and those few could really hold up the scene.
Later, actors were too expensive, not to mention the agency, and even the crew did not dare to let the actors take risks easily.
After all, even scratching the skin with your fingers can cause outrageous public opinion.
After noon, Martin closed the door with Chad and Bradt to discuss the script.
Bradt has completed the first draft of the script. The main plot line is very simple, using a small amount of drama to connect the action scenes designed by Chad's team.
Among them, there is also a blank space for the sequel, which involves the world of killers controlled by the high table.
Martin asked Chad: "When can we start shooting?"
"I plan to officially start preparations in October and start shooting in March or April next year." Chad has made a more detailed plan: "The cost of the first film will not be less than 30 million US dollars, and there will be too many big action scenes."
Martin nodded to express his understanding that the effects of scenes in action movies are always directly proportional to the amount of money burned.
Chad added: "There is another premise. Your salary is composed of basic salary and post-production sharing, otherwise it will be increased by US$10 million."
Martin said directly: "I will handle the financing, and you will be responsible for the production of the film."
Chad felt inexplicable pressure: "Martin, this is my first time directing a movie. Don't invest hundreds of millions of dollars. I can't handle it."
"No." With Martin's appeal, it would not be difficult to attract investments worth tens of millions of dollars from Kelly, Louise and Sophia.
He comforted Chad: "Don't worry, we will use US$30 million as the investment baseline."
Chad breathed a sigh of relief. If he really wanted to invest more than $100 million, he would definitely suffer from insomnia for a long time.
With Martin's current status and appeal, he can afford to mess up a movie.
But as a new director, if his debut film is over, his future is over as well.
Martin asked Bradt again: "Do you have a problem here?"
"Time, I still need some time to polish the script," Bradt said.
"Okay." Martin looked at the electronic calendar on the wall: "The script will be finalized in December."
How to make the script more reasonable, at least consistent with normal logic, will test the level of action film screenwriters.
That is to say, the characters should fight in line with the logic of the plot.
In the middle of the afternoon, Martin left the studio and went to the Warner Building to find Louise, preparing to spend the weekend together at her house.
Entering the front hall of the Warner Building, he unexpectedly met an acquaintance.
Wu Maoting, an investor from Myanmar, took the initiative to shake hands with Martin and say hello: "Long time no see."
Martin shook his hand and asked, "When did you come to Los Angeles?"
Wu Maoting said with a smile: "I came here last month. First I helped Danni, my daughter, with some school matters, and then I came to Warner."
Although he no longer invests in Martin, he has not thought about completely cutting off contact. He specifically said: "The investment in The Departed has benefited a lot. I am very grateful. It was you and Ms. Meier who gave me the opportunity to invest in Hollywood and establish cooperation with Warner." channel."
Martin smiled: "You're welcome, this is a win-win investment. Mr. Wu's financial support also helped me gain a foothold in the crew."
The two no longer cooperate, but they are not enemies either.
Wu Maoting added: "The people from Warner Pictures went to Hong Kong City to find me and strongly invited me to participate in the investment of the fourth part of Terminator. It was hard to refuse the warm invitation."
"Warner Pictures asked me," Martin said.
"The leading actor?" Because of his last success, Wu Maoting still trusted Martin and asked, "Are you going to be the leading actor in this film?"
Martin shook his head: "The schedule was not suitable and I rejected Warner Pictures."
Wu Maoting sighed softly: "It's such a pity that we can't continue to cooperate."
"Maybe there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future." Martin couldn't say much, and asked instead: "When will the project enter the filming stage."
Wu Maoting said: "It may take a while. It is said that the male protagonist Bell suffered a huge emotional impact when filming the last film because he was under too much pressure..."
At this point, he suddenly thought: "Bell and you are starring in the same project?"
"The role gives people too much pressure and energy." Martin's face suddenly became heavy: "I have seen a psychiatrist several times, but I still often wake up from nightmares in the middle of the night."
He didn't have to exert any force at all, and suddenly raised his lips and smiled: "It's like a brand new personality was born inside the body."
Even for a warlord like Wu Maoting, when he saw Martin's smile, his heart skipped a beat and he said, "If there is a situation, you must treat it in time."
Seeing the smile on Martin's face becoming more and more weird and evil, Wu Maoting quickly ended: "It's almost time. It's time for me to go upstairs and talk to people from Warner about cooperation."
"As you please." Martin's voice did not change, but the tone was quite strange.
Wu Maoting turned around and left, secretly beckoning, and several subordinates came quickly and blocked his back.
Martin's cell phone rang, but it was Louise's call. He answered the call and said, "Am I here in the front hall? Let's meet in the underground parking lot."
The two took the elevator to the underground parking lot.
Halfway through, Bruce asked: "Are you staying at Louise's house tonight?"
"She wouldn't let me back," Martin said.
Bruce said: "I will be free tonight. I am going to Venice to find gold."
"Good luck to you, buddy." Martin kindly reminded: "Don't get broken."
Bruce asked, "I thought you bought a body-worn camera that you could wear on your head?"
Martin said: "It's in the vault, you can find it yourself."
Arriving at the underground garage, Bruce drove the Escalade away alone.
Martin joined Louise and together they went to Sherman Oaks.
(End of chapter)
