At the Warner Bros. studio in Los Angeles, Jackie Chan met the young director, Gilbert. He was indeed very young, but even by Eastern aesthetics, Gilbert could easily be called handsome. Jackie Chan was surprised that such a handsome man, instead of becoming a star, chose to be a director and, even more miraculously, achieved such success.
Facing the familiar kung fu superstar from his past life, Gilbert didn't show excessive excitement, merely exchanging customary greetings: "Hello, Jackie. I've been looking forward to your arrival, like waiting for the stars and moon."
He spoke this sentence in Mandarin . Although Jackie Chan was more familiar with Cantonese, his Mandarin was quite good, and he was even more surprised by Gilbert's fluent . Shaking Gilbert's hand, he praised, "I didn't expect your to be so good, and you even use idioms!"
"Just so-so. Compared to real people, my Mandarin is average," Gilbert said modestly. He led Jackie Chan on a tour of the set, explaining the plot as they went: "This is a robot fighting movie. You play a robot controller from China, leading Master Bao in boxing matches."
Although he had a general understanding of the "Real Steel" story, Jackie Chan still had questions.
"Director Landrini..."
"Just call me Gilbert."
"Oh, Gilbert, why aren't you making a movie about real boxers? I thought I was playing a boxer!" Jackie Chan asked.
Gilbert smiled mysteriously: "For stories about boxers, just watch 'Rocky.'" Unless it was "Million Dollar Baby," Gilbert wasn't interested in real-life boxing themes.
As "Speed" concluded its global run with a box office of $405 million, after extensive preparations, "Real Steel" officially began filming in a small town in Kansas. Scarlett Johansson made a cameo as a little girl at the beginning of the film, and this time, she had a few lines, unlike her previous appearance. The other two little girls filming with her were Mary, the daughter of Director of Photography Durrell Randolph, and Alice, the youngest daughter of Doug Walter, head of Warner Bros. Distribution.
While not the very first shot of the entire film, this was the crew's first shot filmed on set. As the camera moved, Mary spoke her line first: "Hey, mister, is that Atom?"
The camera shifted from inside the car to outside. Scarlett Johansson stood on the right side of the frame, wearing a cowboy hat, looking cool. Mary stood in the middle, and Alice on the left. The three little beauties, like exquisitely carved jade figures, were a sight to behold.
Bruce Willis, playing Charlie, was hungover, his head still pounding.
"Uh, yeah."
"Can we see it?"
"Wanna see it?"
"Yeah..."
"Oh, wait, wait." Charlie took a sip of beer, got up, walked over to Atom, turned it around, unplugged the charging cable, and picked up the controller. This part didn't require imagination because the robot was actually able to move, which also helped the children's performances. Indeed, seeing Atom stand up, its tall and mighty but dilapidated body excited the three little girls.
The shots were filmed one by one. Jackie Chan, eager to learn from Hollywood's advanced experience, stayed with the crew and helped out on set, even when he wasn't in a scene. Gilbert tacitly approved of Jackie Chan's "stealing" of techniques, and no one else tried to hide anything either. The true secrets of the film lay with Industrial Light & Magic's special effects studio; that was the core. And that core was impenetrable to Jackie Chan.
But then again, even if he saw the special effects production process, Jackie Chan could only marvel at Hollywood's amazing film technology, and then things would go back to how they were. Hong Kong lacked similar talent, and its market size was too small to support such a massive film industrial system. The North might have potential, but the North hadn't even started its commercialization process for the film market yet, so it couldn't be relied upon for another decade or so.
Jackie Chan was curious how this big guy moved, so he asked Sophia Coppola: "Has your technology developed to this extent now? Robots can move?"
Sophia looked at Gilbert, and seeing his slight nod, she explained, "No, Jackie. We achieve standing up and taking two steps through hydraulic control." Saying this, Sophia even showed Jackie Chan the hydraulic devices designed at the back of the robot. During filming, the robot's movements were controlled manually. Jackie Chan then understood, but he still had a question: "Then how will the robot fighting scenes be filmed?"
"Don't worry, Jackie. For that, you'll have to use your imagination. Industrial Light & Magic will be responsible for the robot fighting parts," Sophia said. Jackie Chan, of course, knew Industrial Light & Magic—a very famous company that used computers to create special effects. He had to shake his head. Although Hong Kong was known as the "Hollywood of the East," the gap between the two Hollywoods was immense.
In the next scenes, Scarlett Johansson had more lines.
"Who's its opponent?"
"Cut!" Gilbert called a stop and walked over to Scarlett Johansson, squatting down. "Scar, you're not cool enough. Try putting your left hand on your hip." Scarlett posed as requested. Gilbert adjusted her slightly, then nodded: "That's much better. Okay, let's start over."
"Who's its opponent?"
"Its opponent should be..." Charlie was about to speak when Alice on the left pulled out a camera to take a picture. He stopped her: "Whoa, whoa, little girl, what are you trying to do?"
"Can I take a picture with it?"
"Sure," Charlie revealed a money-grubbing smile, "But it'll be five dollars first."
Scarlett Johansson retorted, "Five dollars for this too? Are you kidding?"
"No," Charlie tilted his head, serious. "I'm charging five dollars. Pay up!"
The three little girls immediately backed off: "Forget it, let's go!"
"Hey!" Seeing the three little girls walking away, Charlie coaxed, "Alright, alright, three dollars."
"Forget it!"
"How about two and a half?"
"Go to hell!"
Watching the three little girls walk away, Charlie muttered, "Another poor place..."
After this scene was filmed, the three little girls weren't done yet; they still had close-up shots in the audience later. After these close-ups were finished, Sophia Coppola took them for ice cream, while the crew had other scenes to shoot.
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The next scene was Atom vs. a bull. A robot could only go as far as standing and taking two steps; it couldn't actually film a real fight scene. Besides, if he could truly build a robot to the extent shown in the film, why would he even make movies? Starting a robot company would be much better. Of course, that's just a joke. Filmmaking is a dream, a passion; no matter how rich he became, he would never give up chasing that dream.
So, this scene was a typical empty shot, with special effects created by Industrial Light & Magic added during post-production. However, a few shots were real, like the robot's appearance, where they actually brought in a real bull. This bull was a local bullfighting champion, a pure black-furred bull named Black Lightning. The few real shots involved Black Lightning using its horns to dismantle the immobile Atom.
Watching Black Lightning tear Atom apart with its horns, the crashing noise created an oddly satisfying feeling. Perhaps everyone has a destructive maniac living inside them. Of course, if the entire film's shots came out, Gilbert guaranteed it would be even more satisfying.