Bang, bang, bang… clap, clap… "Haa! Haa! Haa!"
"Roar!"
"Kamehameha!"
Eric arrived at the training camp, where the scene could only be described as a chaotic dance of demons.
Some people were seriously working out their muscles, following the Martial Arts Instructor's movements.
Others were striking exaggerated poses and hand gestures, with the Dragon Ball anime playing in front of them.
"Director!"
"Eric!"
"Hello, Director!"
When he appeared, the scene immediately quieted down, as it was his first appearance on set.
The old guard at MGM certainly knew that their boss had always had this work style.
Although his name was listed as the director of the play, the content he actually filmed would be a blessing if it accounted for half of the runtime.
But could you say he wasn't the director because of that?
Of course not.
After all, everyone was a puppet in his hands, and even if he wasn't there, they had to follow the rules and regulations he left behind, meticulously carrying out every step.
To what extent was it strict? Not even a single angle of a shot was allowed to change.
If it was supposed to be a 45-degree angle, and it was shot at 60 degrees, it had to be re-shot from scratch.
If the female lead was supposed to shed two lines of tears, and she cried a river, it also had to be redone.
In short, being his Assistant Director and Director's Assistant was widely recognized as the most exhausting job on set.
Of course, the results obtained were also the best. Look at Neill Blomkamp; he is now a legitimate director.
He is using tens of millions of dollars invested by MGM to build his own film kingdom.
All of this happened in just two years. Can an average Director's Assistant climb to this position in two years?
That's a joke!
This led to everyone understanding that while the job was challenging, they also understood that it was very likely a stepping stone to great success.
Eric Cooper hadn't filmed for over half a year, and Neill Blomkamp couldn't come back, so his side was empty.
Thus, not only were actors being hired, but the Assistant Director position was also a highly contested role.
The eventual winner was Barry Jenkins, a young Black guy.
You might not be familiar with his name, but his future masterpiece is very famous: moonlight, which won an Oscar for Best Picture.
Of course, a large part of why this movie is so famous is due to hype.
Political correctness was too severe. That year, it competed against many amazing films like Manchester by the Sea, la la land, and Hacksaw Ridge.
moonlight was too niche; no one thought this movie could win an award, but it did.
This led to the film, like Gwyneth Paltrow's controversial Best Actress win, being repeatedly brought up for criticism.
Eric also admitted that it did benefit from political correctness, but that doesn't mean it should be completely dismissed as worthless.
The ability to compete alongside Einstein and Tesla is already better than most people, so it still has its merits.
Comparatively, the Director's Assistant Eric found for himself will have an even more brilliant future resume.
His name is Damien Chazelle. That's right, la la land came from his hand. Isn't that a coincidence?
Besides the most famous la la land, Whiplash, which received rave reviews in China, is also his work.
In terms of future achievements, the latter undoubtedly surpasses the former.
The reason for making Damien the Director's Assistant is also very simple: he's too young.
He is only 19 this year, studying at Harvard, and hasn't even graduated from college. He has only participated in small theater and small troupe productions, with not much work experience.
Making him a Director's Assistant is purely for nurturing him. If he's quick to learn, he could be promoted to Assistant Director for the next film.
"Don't stop, you all can continue. I'm just here to get to know everyone, as some actors are still a bit unfamiliar."
Eric said, walking up to a mixed-race young man who looked about twenty years old. Upon seeing him, the young man immediately stood at attention respectfully.
James Lin is the Goku who was selected through this audition.
The young man is exactly 18 years old this year, just at the prime age of adulthood.
He is a four-country mix of Chinese, American, Japanese, and Russian. Heaven knows how these four countries ended up mixing together.
However, he grew up in the United States, has some Jeet Kune Do foundation, and good looks.
During the audition, his muscular physique, while not comparable to a Saiyan in the manga, was already very strong for a normal person, which was one of the reasons he stood out.
"Mr. Cooper, it's good to see you again."
Eric shook his hand: "Lin, don't be so nervous. We'll be working together for a long time."
"I see you as an idol, so nervousness is inevitable, but I will overcome it."
Eric laughed heartily and said to Donnie Yen next to him: "See, Johnny? He's very good at social graces. Did you teach him?"
Donnie Yen shrugged and chuckled a few times: "I still need to learn myself; he's much more uninhibited than I am."
"Come on! You're the Martial Arts Instructor. Hollywood films don't usually have this position, but I think it's essential to find a reliable one. I like your style."
"Thank you, everyone is working very hard."
That's right, Master Ip Man is the Martial Arts Instructor Eric brought in for Dragon Ball. In recent years, Hong Kong's Martial Arts Instructors have been doing very well in Hollywood.
The Matrix and Blade both had their involvement.
Compared to the "number one Martial Arts Instructor" Yuen Woo-ping, Eric still preferred Donnie Yen. It wasn't about who was better at kung fu, but about matching styles.
Yuen Woo-ping was known for his boundless imagination, capable of designing all sorts of incredible moves.
Donnie Yen, on the other hand, was synonymous with hard-hitting, fast, and fierce combat. Clearly, Dragon Ball couldn't go the choreographed-moves route, so "Cosmic Donnie" was a better fit.
He came before Samuel L. Jackson. As King Piccolo, he also had many action scenes.
But the age of the Motherfucker-man was a hard limit; he's over 50 this year, so he definitely can't fight and must use a stunt double.
However, he must be able to strike poses well enough to look convincing.
"Eric, I must have been crazy to take this role. Why? Why does an old man like me have to suffer like this?"
"Heh heh heh, do you feel very comfortable filming Iron Man?"
"Of course, I just need to wear a trench coat and act cool, at most run a few laps on the street. I don't need to be cooped up in this damned place working out like crazy."
"But looking at it another way, it's very good for your health, isn't it?"
"But I'd rather not have this benefit. If there's a sequel, I suggest you replace me. These old bones can't take it."
"Heh heh. How can that be! You are the character I personally selected. Carol, remember to renew Samuel's contract."
"Boss, how many films should I sign him for?"
"Just casually, sign him for ten films first."
Upon hearing this, Samuel L. Jackson almost threw out his old back and asked in surprise, "Ten films? How many do you plan to make?"
"Don't worry, most of them are for Marvel. You'll still mostly be looking cool."
"Phew! Then I'm relieved. This money is easy to earn, and it also makes up for the pain Dragon Ball brought."
Next to him, Jay Chou, the King of Mandopop, was suspended in mid-air.
With a pull and release from the staff, there was an angry shout with a distinct Taiwan accent: "Wolf Fang Fist!"
He was seen rhythmically waving his hands; it looked chaotic but didn't give the impression of a wild, unskilled fight, clearly meticulously designed.
Eric crossed his arms and nodded: "Not bad, cool!"
Jay Chou was not at all reserved: "Doesn't it feel awesome? Brother Donnie studied it for several days before perfecting the beautiful movements."
"It really has an anime style, and with your face, just a little makeup, you're practically Yamcha come to life."
"It's just that Yamcha's luck was too bad. I always feel that Akira Toriyama portrayed this character as a clown. The first Dragon Ball was also Yamcha's peak."
Eric smiled faintly. He wasn't called "Tea God" for nothing.
If you say Old Bird wasn't good to him, he freeloaded off Bulma for over ten years, that's over ten years, before they officially broke up.
If you say he was important, his death was so unexpected that it became a world-famous painting, referenced and meme-ified in countless anime.
"By the way, Eric, does MGM plan to make Detective Conan?" Jay Chou asked the question again.
"Not yet. Everything depends on the performance of Dragon Ball."
"Oh, actually, the character I most want to play is Shinichi Kudo, the scheming frog always touching your belly!"
Eric certainly couldn't agree to Jay Chou's wish.
Shinichi Kudo is a handsome guy, big brother! Look in the mirror, which part of you can even compare to him? The looks aren't even on the same dimension, okay? This wasn't the era of brainless fans running rampant. Even fans generally praised talent, not looks.
After walking around and greeting everyone, he finally came to Liu Yifei and Daddario.
Mainly, Little Liu was practicing, while Daddario was doing simple fitness.
Seeing Eric approach, joy flashed in both their eyes, feeling their hormones stir.
Unfortunately, being in a public place, they couldn't show their emotions.
"How's it going? I see you're sweating."
Little Liu drew her leg back: "It's fine; I'm used to it anyway. It's been almost two years. Now, if I don't move my body every day, I actually feel uncomfortable."
"You've worked hard during this time, running promotions and participating in training. It must be tiring."
Eric comforted her with a few words, and Little Liu immediately felt her fatigue vanish.
"Eric, Crystal is so amazing! I initially thought the action scenes in the hunger games were fake, using stunt doubles."
"But when I saw her, wow!"
"And James, and Johnny, it feels like every Chinese person can do some kung fu, it's really impressive!"
Hahahahaha
"If you have that impression, you have Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li to thank," Little Liu said.
"Alexandra, everyone else is training, what are you doing?"
"My main job is reading books, reading manga, catching up on anime, and then collecting Bulma's information to study. In short, compared to Crystal, I feel very ashamed."
Little Liu put her arm around Daddario: "Nonsense! It's just that the roles are different; both require careful preparation."
As she spoke, her arm naturally brushed against Daddario's ample chest, and Liu Yifei suddenly felt a bit self-conscious.
She, of course, also had to study anime and knew her chest was still too small compared to Chi-Chi. If Daddario could share half with her, that would be great.
However, since growing up with Eric, things had actually improved a bit, as the stimulating effect was certainly there.
Suddenly, she seemed to discern an unusual expression in Daddario's eyes; her eyes were too unique.
So unique that they drew attention, and also caused her to be unable to hide many things.
The way she looked at Eric was a bit off; why did it feel somewhat similar to her own gaze?
But upon closer thought, there was nothing wrong with it. What kind of person was Eric? It was perfectly normal for all the women on set to be attracted to him and want to sleep with him.
"Hmm, I was overthinking it."
Standing between the two, Eric rubbed their butts with one hand each, and all three of them smiled from the bottom of their hearts.
The global box office for the hunger games has surpassed $440 million, and prisoner of azkaban is similar, at $430 million.
Compared to the massive production and marketing costs, this film certainly won't make a huge profit, but hope can be placed on sequels.
Relatively speaking, prisoner of azkaban fared worse, because the first film, Philosopher's Stone, made $976 million, and the second, Chamber of Secrets, made $876 million.
The performance was almost cut in half, and harry potter had higher costs, leaving almost no profit margin.
Previously, Warner Bros. even resorted to cooking the books to deceive actors, turning huge box office hits into losses to reduce profit sharing with authors and lead actors.
No matter how anxious the actors were, they couldn't fight Warner Bros.
This time, they finally didn't have to cook the books, which could be considered their just desserts.
machete Kills, though lively and wild, wasn't optimistic in terms of box office, only taking in $41 million in North America after half a month of release.
This was still due to a host of big-name celebrity cameos; otherwise, at least $20 million would have been cut.
However, the DVDs have already been produced, and they will be released for sale immediately after the film leaves theaters, making a large sum of money without issue.
Similar to Jackie Chan and Jet Li's films, DVDs are the main channel for such B-movies, even in this era of declining disc sales.
sharknado 3's box office also fell far short of expectations, raking in $45 million in half a month. Don't expect it to break $100 million; it will probably top out at around $60 million.
If you look online, you'll find that more and more viewers are opting to watch sharknado 3 through Lionheart Network.
Although it means delayed gratification, there are simply too many movies available right now, and even fans don't have much energy to spare for this shark.
Overall, barbershop 2 actually had the best box office, taking in $55 million.
Because the film still featured an all-Black cast and followed the same comedy route as the previous one.
Black audiences were very supportive of their own, and it was common to see groups chartering entire cinemas in Black communities.
Overall, after this round of fierce competition, MGM will lose at least $300 million in box office revenue.
The Christmas season is fast approaching, and even Inception, which is being given its full effort, has an uncertain future.