In an exclusive interview with "Vanity Fair", Duke once said that he can play any films with an investment level of less than 10 million US dollars, because he has such commercial value, but he cannot act willfully with large investments and productions, and must meet the current market rules and the viewing needs of mainstream audiences.

And Duke also has to admit that Japanese culture is more marketable than Chinese culture in today's North America, and the Budokan is designed in Japanese style, which is more acceptable to the audience, and from beginning to end of the film, there is actually only this obvious foreign-style building.

The reason is obvious, if too many non-Western elements are added to the film in this era, it will inevitably become a niche movie!

Some people may mention the only box office hit in North America with a distinctly Chinese-style picture style "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", not to mention the core of the film, the long screening period and the investment of only more than 10 million US dollars, no one can deny the fact that this is a niche movie, and a considerable number of theaters that have been screened in North America are close to Chinese and Asian communities.

If there are several large scenes in the picture of "The Matrix", you can imagine how strict the destruction of the overall cyberpunk style of the film is.

To put it mildly, it's not impossible for "The Matrix" to become a niche film.

Duke didn't want to be Quentin Stino and make a niche film that only pleases Hong Kong-style film lovers.

"The Matrix" is a big-budget commercial film that has to appeal to the tastes of mainstream audiences, and adding something inexplicable to it that is not recognized in the North American market today is not innovation, but self-digging.

Don't say Duke, think of the former James Cameron.

Why is the king of the world in the big ship and the man. In a movie with such a big investment, two stories that are so vulgar and prosaic are used? He really couldn't write a more appropriate script? Presumably, no one who has watched "Terminator 2" will think so.

James Cameron chose two old scumbag stories, precisely because this is the safest way, the prince and Cinderella, the poor boy and the rich girl are the most talked about themes by the audience, and the high investment of the two films determines that they are the safest, most suitable for the public's taste and will not cause the vast majority of the audience to resent the story content.

No one can guarantee that a film will be a complete hit, Duke can't, Spielberg can't, and James Cameron can't, but the first-line directors are well aware of the fact that if they act recklessly when making commercial films, the possibility of failure is infinite.

After all, commercial films are not real films.

After the filming of the first two days, the crew was divided into two, Zack Schneider took Keanu Reeves and others to Sydney for location shooting, Duke left John Schwartzman, who was at odds with Schneider, and sent Ben Watts, who was getting more and more mature, to him, while he himself continued to stay at Warner Studios, not only to supervise Yuan Heping to take charge of the remaining action scenes, but also to try to learn from it useful to himself like his action team.

In the next few days, the studio was filmed with Trinity's fight scenes.

Charlize Theron is wearing a tight glossy black leather suit, according to a specially designed action routine, the advantages of long legs and thin waist are vividly shown in the camera, and compared with Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne, due to the relationship between practicing ballet, Charlize's balance is better, and the tightrope is much better than the first two.

And this set of actions is mainly based on leg attacks, which can be said to have brought Charlize's vase to the limit at this stage, especially when Charlize Theron combines the gun and uses the inverted hanging cross, it is simply beautiful.

"I didn't disappoint you, did I?"

Taking advantage of the break, Charlize Theron found Duke behind the monitor, "I'm doing well, right?" ”

"Good!"

Although the finished footage was not processed in any way, Duke felt that Charlize Theron could completely kill another Trinity in seconds.

Just the talent capital, she completely overwhelmed the heroine who Duke forgot her name.

"Tired?"

Seeing Charlize gently knocking the heel of his high-heeled leather boots, Duke pointed to the chair next to him, "Sit down." ”

Charlize Theron sat down with her feet completely off the ground.

Sexy beauties fighting and running on the screen in high-heeled leather boots are a common picture in commercial movies, which looks beautiful and eye-catching, but this kind of shoes is not suitable for actual combat at all, let alone really working with people, even if it is a movie, the heroine in shoes is often miserable.

But Duke just looked at it, but didn't say anything, this kind of suffering is just the norm for Hollywood stars.

Seeing Duke looking at the picture just shot, Charlize wisely chose to be silent, one hand gently brushed the short hair dyed black, but he didn't dare to use force to avoid messing up the hairstyle, I don't know how many blood blisters have been grinding out on his feet in the past few months, and he gradually got used to it, as long as he thinks of the possible big sales after the release of the film in the future, this bit of suffering is nothing at all.

As Duke finished picking up his coffee cup, Charlize Theron asked, "I heard the film will be released in May next year?" ”

"That's right."

Although the news has not been officially announced to the public, it is no longer a secret in the crew, Duke put down the coffee cup, turned his head and asked with a smile, "What, can't wait?" Sally, as long as you stay the same as you are today during the shoot, I guarantee that even if the film fails, you will become popular. ”

"How can your film fail?" Charlize returned a big smile and continued, "I'm a little worried, I learned from my agent that there are strong blockbuster productions in the week before and after our release date, like DreamWorks' $85 million 'Heaven and Earth Crash' and Sony Columbia Pictures' $150 million 'Godzilla'. ”

"It's okay." Duke shook his head, "Honey, it's the summer file, every weekend is a hot schedule, where are there the summer weekends that are completely empty before and after?" Staggered release with these two films, it is better to pass the Memorial Day when commercial films are released together. ”

How many weekends are there in the summer season from May to July? How many summer-friendly films does Hollywood produce in a year? Competition is practically inevitable.

And the summer file is nominally until the end of July, but in fact, everyone knows that after the Independence Day schedule, the effect of the summer holiday weekend will slip down on a certain course, and the audience who has been bombarded by large-scale commercial films for two months will not only have their pockets deflated, but also produce aesthetic fatigue.

According to the tradition of North American files, unless it is a special film like "Independence Day", the higher the investment and the hotter the effect, the larger the production, it will often appear earlier in the summer file, especially at the beginning of the summer file.

The market is hungry and saturated, since the concept of summer files was formed, the Oscars are generally held in March and April after the awards season officially ends, which are the most dull schedules of the year, and now there is no hot spring file, big investment films will not choose to be released in these two months, and the lack of heavier films for two consecutive months will produce hunger, and then the films that are scheduled in the first few weekends of May, as long as they are not too bad, will be the direct beneficiaries of this hunger.

In fact, throughout the entire North American film history, it is not difficult to find that in mid to early May, which represents the beginning of the summer season, there are always many blockbusters released.

This is arguably one of the most competitive schedules of the year.

Of course, all summer films will face fierce competition if they want to be a big hit.

Although there was DreamWorks' "Heaven and Earth Collision" and Sony Entertainment's "Godzilla" in the past, Duke has never been afraid of competition, just like he said to Charlize that even if it is a different weekend, it is also a situation where there are wolves and tigers in front of them, and since the film is released in the summer, competition is inevitable.

And there was a bonus to this weekend, according to information provided by Warner Bros. Doug Walter, at least in the films released on the same weekend, Duke did not find his impressive name, nor did he invest more than $50 million in a big production.

Although it has not yet entered the new century, the proportion of commercial films in the box office in the first week is increasing, and avoiding collisions with competitive films in the same weekend is a priority for distribution companies.

After chatting a few more words, Charlize took the initiative to leave to touch up her makeup, Duke walked behind the camera and discussed the shooting schedule with Yuan Heping, and it didn't take long for the action scenes about Trinity to start filming again.

Perhaps because of her origins in Africa, Charlize Theron's sexy figure hidden under a tight leather coat still has a natural wildness, like a female leopard from the African savannah, and her body, which has done a lot of modeling and ballet training, is flexible and soft enough to perform a few high-leg kicks herself, and her hard work is also commendable.

There may be shortcuts to Hollywood-style success, but there are absolutely no shortcuts to hard work, and Hollywood-style success lacks the support of hard work, which often means sliding towards failure faster than success.

At the end of the day's shooting, Duke was not prepared to work overtime, and the Star Wars crew at Fox Studios prepared a media party, and due to the good relationship between Duke and Lucas, the other party also invited the main cast and crew of "The Matrix" to attend.

Of course, there will be more celebrities and celebrities in this way, and it will be more eye-catching, and it will be a completely mutually beneficial activity.

After packing up his things and picking up the briefcase that he put aside, Duke habitually wanted to call Tina Fey, and then he remembered to send her back to North America, so he shook his head and walked out of the studio.

After not taking a few steps, there was a slightly heavy footstep behind him, and Charlize Theron seemed to be really tired, and his heavy footsteps caught up.

"Can I take your ride back to the hotel?" She asked.

The two crews stayed in the same hotel, and the hotel where the party was held was also in the hotel, so Duke naturally wouldn't refuse, and nodded, "Let's go, go back to take a shower and change clothes early." ”R1152