Chapter 105: Coppola's Diary

The pitch-black veil of night slowly withdrew from the east, yielding to the first pale light of dawn. Edwards Air Force Base was already bustling with noise, but the US Military gathering today was not for the impending landing of a space shuttle or routine training. They were preparing to organize the largest counterattack in human history—uniting the Allied Forces to wipe out the aliens invading Earth!

It was a monumental battle, yet the supreme commander of the campaign was nowhere to be seen.

Atop the highest control tower at Edwards Air Force Base, Duke stood behind a camera, using a wide-angle lens to capture the eastern sky. Darkness faded as the light broke, illuminating drifting clouds to form a scene as beautiful as an oil painting.

Just as he had on his previous two films, Duke had captured extensive wide-angle footage of sunrises and sunsets in the dim light of dawn and dusk ever since they started shooting on location.

"I heard Saintphia Company borrowed a massive amount of landscape footage from you?"

Hearing Sofia Coppola's voice, Duke turned off the camera and handed the rest of the work to an assistant. He walked over and tugged at her shawl, wrapping it a bit tighter around her shoulders. "Yeah, my mother thought a lot of it could be used directly in landscape commercials."

"Maybe you should go shoot a high-end commercial."

Taking a seamless step back, Sofia slightly widened the distance between herself and Duke. "I'm sure certain luxury brands would be very interested in you."

"Maybe."

Duke noticed the movement but paid it no mind. He motioned for her to head down the tower with him, speaking as they walked. "If a company is willing to pay me over three million dollars for a single commercial, I wouldn't mind taking the director's chair."

Film directors moonlighting in commercials was perfectly normal. The famous Chanel No. 5, for instance, almost exclusively hired Oscar-level directors every time they updated their flagship campaigns.

Actually, ever since the premiere of The Rock, several luxury brands had reached out to Nancy, but Duke had turned them all down. There was only one reason: the compensation they offered was far too low to hold any appeal.

Coming down from the control tower, Duke and Sofia, accompanied by two military officers, returned to the front of the largest and most crowded hangar.

By this time, set dressing inside the hangar was entering its final stages. Not only had several F-16 and F-18 fighter jets been towed onto the runway out front, but hundreds of American soldiers were also busily changing into appropriate uniforms to prepare for the upcoming shoot.

This was, after all, a US Military base. Aside from the main cast and crew, ordinary extras simply could not gain entry. Fortunately, the base was not short on manpower, and the soldiers were extremely interested in acting in a movie. With coordination from the Pentagon, off-duty soldiers and logistics personnel from the US Military had been filling in as background extras.

While this saved money on hiring extras, it also brought a few headaches. The soldiers wanted frontal close-ups a little too badly and constantly drifted toward the cameras. Certain angles that offered easy screen time were fiercely contested.

A few days ago, men from the Air Force and the Army had nearly come to blows over a roof that offered a prime spot on camera.

"I want my kid to see his father in a movie, bravely fighting aliens on the big screen!"

The words of one Air Force lieutenant perfectly summed up the soldiers' mindset.

After instructing several assistant directors to manage the troops, Duke walked over to an F-18 and found one of his leads, Bill Pullman. He was whispering with Scarlett Johansson, who played his daughter, and they seemed to be having a very happy conversation.

"Bill."

Ignoring Scarlett as she walked over and tugged at the corner of his shirt, Duke gave his instructions. "This is our most important emotional scene. It's all on you."

"Don't worry, Duke," Bill Pullman said, brimming with confidence. "I've been rehearsing this scene for a month. I definitely won't let you down. If the Oscar goes to Best Speech next year, I think I could definitely win a Golden Statuette."

"Just don't forget your lines!"

With that, Duke headed the other way, Scarlett trailing behind him. "Duke..."

"Darling..." Duke didn't have the time to humor her, simply pointing toward the production crew. "Go find your mom or Sofia."

"Hmph." The little girl wrinkled her nose, curled her lip, and turned to walk away. "You're no fun at all."

Duke simply pretended not to hear the complaint. He scanned the crowd and found Lieutenant Colonel Lenho, the liaison officer from the Pentagon. The man was extremely interested in making a cameo and was preparing to step in front of the cameras shortly.

"Colonel..." Duke walked over and eyed the liaison officer, who was decked out in standard pilot gear. "You'll be getting a frontal close-up."

Duke pointed to Camera Two nearby. "When this camera turns toward you, the assistant will give you a signal. I want your sharpest salute!"

"That'll be a piece of cake." Lieutenant Colonel Lenho was equally confident.

Afterward, Duke double-checked the camera positions, extra placements, and background props. Once he confirmed there were no issues, he returned to the director's monitors.

Confirming once more that all departments were good to go, Duke raised his megaphone.

"Everyone, this is a special moment! You are about to step onto the battlefield to fight the aliens, and I need you to bring out your utmost passion to protect Earth!"

The hundreds of people scattered among the fighter jets erupted into warm applause and laughter. Duke's words had clearly served to relax the crowd, and the soldiers, who lacked actual acting experience, visibly eased up.

When the applause and laughter died down, Duke signaled Zack Snyder and John Schwartzman. Receiving their OK gestures in return, he shouted, "Independence Day, Scene 134, Take 112, action!"

The production crew immediately sprang into action. Duke sat behind the monitors, earnestly watching the footage feeding back from each camera.

A group of pilots were making their final tactical arrangements, standing up to salute as the President and the Secretary of Defense walked past...

Logistics personnel hustled back and forth, refueling and arming the fighter jets, preparing for the final battle of life and death...

The President hopped onto an equipment crate and took the megaphone from an officer's hands...

"Good morning."

The crowd in front of the hangar was still busy with their own tasks, seemingly deaf to his words. The President spoke again, "Good morning!"

Everyone looked up, dropped their work, and spontaneously gathered around where the President stood.

Sitting behind the monitors, Duke gave a slight nod. The soldiers serving as extras had gained some experience over the past few days of filming. They didn't swarm toward the cameras like a hive of bees as they had before, but instead moved to their respective marks according to the prior rehearsals.

The boom mic slowly lowered into place above Bill Pullman. Boasting the strongest acting chops in the cast, he truly brought out his finest form, launching into the speech with rich emotion and perfect delivery.

"Within an hour, the fighter jets here will unite with those from the rest of the world to engage in the largest aerial battle in human history! Mankind—that word has taken on a whole new meaning for us today. We can no longer waste ourselves on our petty differences. We must unite for our common interest!"

"Perhaps it is fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but for the continued survival of humanity! Today, if we win this war, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday alone, but will become a shared holiday for the entire world!"

"The whole world will declare with one voice that we will not go quietly into the dark! We will not give up the fight and perish! We will pull through, and we shall survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"

As the President's voice faded, applause and cheers rang out in succession, much like when news of victory in World War II first reached the continent. Men were shouting, some raised their rifles in salute, others clapped enthusiastically, and one pilot delivered an American military salute in the sharpest, most powerful manner possible...

That was right. From the speech to the salute, it was all naked, unashamed emotional manipulation, designed to fully mobilize the audience's feelings right before the final decisive battle.

Much like the bathroom scene in The Rock, the emotional appeal here was simple and direct, yet it touched upon themes and values that the American public cared about most. The Great Americanism that vainly sought to make Independence Day a worldwide holiday went without saying, but the President's speech also touched on concepts like freedom and tyranny, which were the most politically correct cinematic values.

Combined with this speech and his subsequent personal piloting of a fighter jet to attack the alien spacecraft, the image of Bill Pullman's President instantly grew impossibly larger than life...

"Cut!"

Raising his megaphone, Duke called the halt. "Perfect! Take five."

Bringing so many fighter jets and soldiers together was no easy task, so Duke intended to take advantage of the setup to shoot a few more takes. The subsequent shots wouldn't require nearly as many extras, making things relatively easier. He even squeezed in an impromptu scene of the President's daughter, played by Scarlett, bidding her father farewell in front of his plane. It wasn't until noon that he finally called a wrap.

With that, the handful of scenes located at Edwards Air Force Base were finished. The crew relocated to the White Sands Missile Range, where they would film several of their largest explosion scenes in the deserts of New Mexico. The nearly two-hundred-foot-long alien spacecraft model, which Industrial Light and Magic had spent almost half a year building, had been transported to the White Sands Missile Range in advance. The model makers were there completing the final assembly, waiting quietly for Duke to arrive and blow their blood, sweat, and tears to pieces.

Explosions had become something the crew members were gradually getting used to. Even Sofia Coppola, who had been frightened sick by the blasts early on, had grown accustomed to working in a noise-filled environment.