"One, two, three—move, all of you, move! Give me some reaction—run!"
A massive brawl scene was being filmed, involving over twelve hundred extras working together.
Of course, that wasn't a difficult task for Gilbert's team. The Lord of the Rings crew once handled scenes with more than five or six thousand people and four thousand horses, managing everything perfectly.
However, Gilbert seemed to be in a bad mood today. At the slightest mistake, he exploded like a hairdryer, leaving the entire crew trembling in silence, not daring to breathe too loudly.
"The searchlight over there—those Arasaka soldiers! Daydreaming? The riot's already started and you're not moving that light?!"
Gilbert barked through the megaphone at two young extras playing Arasaka soldiers. The two didn't dare talk back. Assistant director James immediately ran over to whisper some guidance.
Filming continued. Large-scale scenes with so many extras always took time, but for the sake of authenticity, Gilbert insisted on building a believable, realistic world.
How could he make the audience feel that this was something that could truly happen in the future? A convincingly constructed worldview was the key.
So whether in Toronto, Nevada, or New Mexico, many scenes for EdgeRunners were built on real sets.
With Hollywood's industrial capabilities, achieving that wasn't difficult—it just cost money. But money was never a problem for Gilbert; even Warner and Disney could afford to burn cash at that level.
Although there were rumors that powerful people were preparing to move against Gilbert, that didn't stop Warner or Disney from continuing their regular commercial cooperation with him.
"Cut! Cut! Cut! Stop."
Gilbert stared at the monitor, watching the extras' performances, then glanced at the directing team. Feeling the murderous aura in his eyes, the entire team ducked their heads like frightened turtles.
"Look at these extras you picked—can any of them act? No expressions, no reactions! What are they doing, pretending to be wooden dummies?"
No one in the directing team dared to make a sound. They all lowered their heads, enduring Gilbert's scolding.
Gilbert's tone was harsh: "If they can't act, replace them. They're not wooden planks; they're human beings!
There are explosions behind them—fires everywhere and they don't even flinch!"
The directors stayed silent. Gilbert pointed at the monitor with a laser pointer, continuing to berate them.
"Did you give them unified direction? Did you tell them what emotions to show, how to react? You didn't, did you?
Look here—what is this one doing? And that one? Anyone who sees this would think they're wandering through another dimension, not even part of this world!
How do you expect my audience to believe this world is real? How can they immerse themselves in this show? When this goes on the platform, will this kind of performance live up to your own hard work?"
"Y-yes, we understand…" First assistant director Annie Burton spoke up. "We were wrong. We'll fix it right away."
"It'd better be that way," Gilbert said seriously. "There's no room for carelessness in this show. Even the extras in the background must give it their all."
The directing team scattered like birds, hurrying to rearrange things.
Only producer Charles Roven dared to speak: "Gilbert, you seem unusually strict today."
Gilbert sighed. "Maybe our string of successes has made the team arrogant. They're starting to lose focus and passion for the work."
"Even so, we're still one of Hollywood's top teams. There aren't many crews that can compare to ours," Charles said confidently.
Gilbert nodded in agreement but added, "That's not enough for me. I don't just want the best—I want perfection.
Charles, I feel the directing team has been too casual when handling crowd scenes. They've fallen into a routine.
If I don't point it out, the habit will just be: enter frame, exit frame, walk around, that's it.
But what I want is for every extra to be a character. They need to know why they're here—why they're shouting, crying, laughing, or running."
Charles sighed, patting Gilbert's shoulder. "Alright, that's your standard. We'll do as you say."
If any of the extras had heard Gilbert's speech, they probably would've complained.
"I'm getting paid a daily rate, and now you want me to 'act' realistically too? Are you kidding me?"
Still, that kind of perfectionism was what defined Gilbert's team. His recent bad mood only made his standards even stricter.
Lead actor Andrew Garfield felt it most. At first, he'd thought Gilbert's set was no different from Michael Bay's.
But later, he realized he was completely wrong—very wrong.
Why was Michael Bay never quite at Gilbert's level? The difference was obvious from their teams.
Since joining EdgeRunners, Andrew had been astonished by the production's scale. Massive props, vehicles, costumes—everything was physically built from the ground up.
Of course, that didn't mean Michael Bay couldn't build things. But if Michael Bay were directing EdgeRunners, he would never choose Gilbert's approach. He would most likely rely heavily on CGI.
Andrew Garfield felt that Gilbert's method was far better, because it allowed him to perform without having to imagine everything. Real sets provided a much stronger sense of immersion.
For an actor like Andrew Garfield, who didn't have much acting experience, this saved him a great deal of trouble.
But according to Scarlett Johansson, this wasn't even Gilbert's most outrageous moment. While filming The Lord of the Rings, Gilbert had actually built an entire Minas Tirith.
Though Andrew Garfield had never seen it himself, he had heard about it more than once. Every time he heard the story, he thought Gilbert was insane—unbelievable, even.
It wasn't until he personally experienced all this that he understood—every bit of that work was necessary.
Filming in Nevada and New Mexico lasted for more than a month and a half. Aside from leaving behind a small unit to shoot a few additional scenes, the main crew moved in full force to the Night City in Toronto.
The first phase Night City's construction had gone fairly well. Though not completely finished, it was sufficient for filming Edge Runners.
And the very first scene to be shot in Toronto was the one where Rebecca was smashed into paste by Adam Smasher—a particularly graphic scene.
Emma Roberts, who played Rebecca, pretended to look wronged. "Adam, go easy on me later."
Dwayne Johnson flashed a vicious grin. "Don't worry, Rebecca. You won't feel a thing. Besides, we've already done this once."
He was referring to the earlier shoot at Orange Special Effects Studio, where they had completed a motion-capture version of the scene before relocating to Toronto.
This time it would be a practical shoot, which would later be combined with the motion-capture footage to complete the sequence.
Since Adam Smasher retained only four percent of his original flesh and body, he was essentially a full cybernetic modification. The crew built him a physical cyber-mod exterior, but the most important work was still done through motion capture.
They were using the optical motion-capture technology James Cameron planned to employ for Avatar. Because Gilbert had funded the development, he was also allowed to use the technology early.
However, Avatar's greatest selling point was its 3D visuals—something Cyberpunk: Edge Runners couldn't utilize.
Future films in the Cyberpunk universe would not use 3D either, because the style simply didn't suit it. Cyberpunk settings contained heavy light pollution, and many scenes took place at night.
If they used 3D, audiences who were prone to motion sickness would probably end up vomiting everywhere. More importantly, the visual effect wouldn't be ideal.
James Cameron adopted 3D because it delivered a breathtaking viewing experience. Gilbert refused to use it for the exact same reason—he wanted to give the audience the best experience possible.
Besides, Edge Runners was a series, after all.
...
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