This year, Los Angeles was particularly scorching. The blazing sun seemed to scorch every inch of land, and due to a heatwave attack, a sudden forest fire broke out in the San Gabriel Mountains behind Los Angeles. Thick smoke billowed into the sky, making the surrounding dozens of miles even hotter, as if they were in a giant oven. The abnormal weather and the raging forest fire brought a lot of disruption to work and life in the Los Angeles area. Some companies near the San Gabriel Mountains simply gave time off. But none of this affected Duke’s preparation work. After Warner Bros. credited the initial $60 million investment, the entire preparation process smoothly unfolded. Duke first led Hannah and John Schwartzman to several countries including Paris, France and Tokyo, Japan for more than ten days to scout locations. After finalizing suitable exterior shooting spots, they hurried back to Los Angeles to inspect the completed soundstages. Just like Duke had thought during the press conference, the film would feature a large number of exterior scenes spanning multiple countries and regions, but the proportion wasn’t particularly high. The main scenes would still be shot on green screen stages inside soundstages, relying on CGI to generate visuals. Of course, Duke would not use film to shoot, but rather focus on digital production. Besides using IMAX cameras for shooting, the film was bound to be a 3D movie. Duke would never overlook the high ticket prices of 3D films. Avatar was about to premiere, and for the whole of next year, even two to three years afterward, the market would be filled with enthusiasm for 3D movies. Especially in the period after Avatar triggers a craze, the audience’s passion for 3D films could only be described as unbelievable. This directly contributed to the massive success of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, a converted 3D film. Although Duke, after acquiring Relativity Media’s investments in certain movies, also owned a portion of Alice in Wonderland, he wouldn’t let that film alone enjoy the 3D feast brought by Avatar. He had already discussed with Warner Bros. and would timely release several 3D-converted films like Alice in Wonderland Duke’s plan was to convert The Lord of the Rings trilogy into 3D films and ride the wave brought by Avatar to cash in once more. Even though the series had already seen three different DVD versions, capital never opposes profit. The 3D conversion plan for The Lord of the Rings trilogy would officially begin next month. It would be re-released in January this year, launching another round of profit-making. Inside Warner Bros.’ huge soundstage, Duke walked past numerous erected green screens, evaluating whether they met his needs. From time to time, he would call a responsible person over to give some reminders and make suitable modifications. Passing through the green screen-covered soundstage, he came to the practical set construction area. In today’s Hollywood, even CGI-heavy films like Transformers and Avatar still used some real-life scenes. Duke first arrived at a set of stairs, walked up, circled around, and gave the special effects team a thumbs-up. The team had built a Penrose staircase, inspired by illusion master Escher’s drawings—an infinite loop staircase that looked seamless from a certain angle. To film the hotel’s zero-gravity scenes, Duke also had the special effects team construct the entire corridor set on a massive ’Rotating Rig’ device. After walking around the whole set area, Duke came to a model of a train. This was a real prop powered by a truck and several trailers. Its exterior was covered with fiberglass to create the illusion of a real train. Nearby, many other models were either completed or in the process of being built—like a miniature model of a snow bunker for filming in snowy environments... Leaving the soundstage, Duke entered the adjacent actors’ rehearsal hall. There, led by Leonardo DiCaprio, actors including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Ken Watanabe, James Franco, and Mark Ruffalo were rehearsing scenes that required coordinated interaction. Before filming any movie, actors would undergo a certain degree of rehearsal, especially for ensemble casts . Their dream-heist team needed perfect synergy. Not only during rehearsal even during breaks, led by Leonardo DiCaprio, all six referred to each other by their character names to quickly get into character. In Duke’s eyes, the interactions among these six actors and their mission resembled the process of making a movie. From another perspective, Saito was like a movie production company, insisting on overseeing the production; Arthur, who ensured everything ran smoothly, was the producer; Cobb, who led operations and brought others into his dreams and plans, was the director; Ariadne, who built dreamscapes, was the screenwriter; Eames, who could shape-shift, was the actor; Yusuf, who provided sedatives, was the tech team; and Fischer was the audience... Many, many screenwriters have a half-finished epic lying in their drawers. They hope to "pick it up and finish it someday," but in reality, few ever do. Especially with something like Inception. If it weren’t proposed by a director of certain status and position, given the Hollywood studio culture, they probably wouldn’t even bother with it. From this perspective, Christopher Nolan was a very smart man who truly understood the Hollywood system. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽 This director insisted on "originality," but wasn’t rigid about it. He clearly knew that original projects from average directors, writers, or producers weren’t welcomed in Hollywood. He first entered the mainstream film industry by focusing on adaptations. Through the massive success of those adaptations, he gained the opportunity to make his high-budget, large-scale "originals." "A theater is a place that feels very dreamlike to me." During a break, the actors all gathered around Duke, discussing the film and their roles. When Joseph Gordon-Levitt asked about the origin of the film’s idea, Duke casually made something up. "I’ve always been fascinated by dreams and wanted to make a movie about them. I feel there’s a connection between how imagination affects dreams and how you create a story. Watching a movie is like experiencing a dream. Accepting this in a theater should be an unknown, exciting experience." "Dreams visually influence a lot of directors’ creations too." James Franco, known as an eccentric in Hollywood, chimed in, saying, "In dreams, I often get strange visuals or little elements. After waking up, I immediately write them down." "Oh, oh, oh..." Joseph Gordon-Levitt teased him on purpose, "So James also dreams of becoming a director." James Franco shrugged, but didn’t deny it, "I really want to be a comedy director, Joseph. We could collaborate then." Everyone laughed. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s current style leans more toward the artsy side, and it seemed unlikely he would appear in a crude slapstick comedy. "I admit, my dreams rarely inspire story elements," James Franco added, "but I believe the human brain can solve problems in its sleep." Duke deeply related to this and nodded lightly, "I always think about things before going to bed. In that state of consciousness, I often get a flash of inspiration right before truly falling asleep. If you’re banging your head against the wall over a script, then tell yourself before bed: ’Alright, stop thinking. Time to sleep.’ And then you really stop thinking about it—but that often frees up another part of your brain, which just happens to give you the answer." "Dreams really are a magical thing." Scarlett Johansson handed a glass of water to Duke, "I’ve been having the same dream regularly since ten years ago..." Leonardo DiCaprio winked at Scarlett, "Darling, did your dream come true?" "Of course!" Scarlett looked at Duke, a beautiful curve appearing at the corner of her lips, "When a dream comes true, it’s especially beautiful and sweet." Led by James Franco, a wave of playful teasing rippled through the group. Perhaps because the main actors in the crew were mostly male, and the most important female member happened to be the director Duke’s girlfriend, the internal atmosphere of the crew was much more harmonious than during the filming of Fury Road. Even if the actors had their own thoughts and plans, it wasn’t like Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron, where ’I don’t like you’ was almost written on their faces. The topic gradually returned to movies and scripts. Duke and Scarlett left early due to other matters. Watching his departing figure, Leonardo DiCaprio said, "When I first read the script, I thought Duke was going to make a heist film a corporate espionage team led by Cobb that invades an unguarded person’s dreams to steal their ideas. Just this alone is enough to make a good movie." He shrugged and said in a slightly playful tone, "But Duke obviously had a higher pursuit. What he’s always been interested in is penetrating layer after layer of someone’s psyche. If it’s just about taking something from there, it’s really not compelling enough." "I’ve had enough conversations with Duke. He set himself a bigger goal. The mission he gave this team of expert thieves was..." Leonardo’s face showed a trace of admiration. "To plant an idea in someone else’s mind an idea that under normal circumstances should be rejected. But after their plan, the idea would take root and grow, eventually causing the target to act according to their client’s intent. It’s a stroke of genius!" James Franco nodded solemnly and continued where Leonardo left off, "If you want to implant something in someone’s consciousness and have it grow in a specific way, you must first anticipate how it could grow chaotically that seems to be the greatest conclusion we can draw from the script." Hi For access to additional Chapters of Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters) Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters) Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters) Douluo Dalu: Reincarnated as Yan(40 Chapters) Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters) The Great Ruler (30 Chapters) Join pateron.com/Translaterappu