Chapter 148: A Mother's Way

Feeling a gaze bore into him like a pair of arrows, Leonardo DiCaprio realized he was in trouble, no matter how oblivious he usually was. He shot a fierce glare at the guy next to him. His snicker had nothing to do with the scene being filmed; his companion had been whispering about picking up girls at a bar a few nights ago, and Leonardo had remembered the guy's clumsy performance.

"Is it funny, Mr. DiCaprio?"

Hearing the emotionless tone of those words, the people nearby instinctively backed away from Leonardo DiCaprio. Duke stared coldly at the handsome face and slowly walked over. His voice sharpened into an interrogation. "Is the Normandy landing that funny? Is the slaughter of the Allied Forces by the Nazi German Army that funny?"

Duke's eyes swept past Leonardo to study the other actors. Everyone smartly kept silent. They had no leverage to challenge the director. The only actor in the entire crew who could truly speak to him as an equal was Tom Hanks.

"Sorry, Duke..." Leonardo might be young and arrogant, but he was no fool. He quickly stepped forward. "I'm very sorry, Director Rosenberg."

Duke nodded. "If there's a next time, Leo..."

"I promise!" Leonardo swore.

When Duke finally turned away and walked back to his mark, Leonardo and the people around him breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Leonardo felt it most of all. The young director was barely older than him, yet he exuded a crushing pressure. Leonardo had never felt anything like it on a film set before.

Then again, it made sense. Even Lasse Hallström, the most famous director he had ever worked with, held nowhere near Duke Rosenberg's status in Hollywood.

After resolving Leonardo's little disruption, filming got back on track. Once they finished the current take, Duke consulted with the amphibious warfare experts from the Pentagon. He then gathered the crew to prepare for some of the biggest scenes. While he managed the grand scale of the shoot and John Schwartzman kept the lens tight on Tom Hanks, Duke scattered all the assistant directors and camera assistants. He had them hunker down in pre-arranged, concealed camera positions to capture the gritty details of the battlefield.

Soldiers carrying their own severed arms as they searched for a medic, wailing casualties with their intestines spilling onto the ground, troops taking a fatal bullet just as they celebrated dodging death...

Gunshots, agonizing screams, and explosions formed a symphony of death across the beach.

With so many extras sprinting across such a wide area, the pyrotechnics crew obviously couldn't use military-grade explosives. After multiple test runs and factoring in Duke's suggestions, Joss William filled the paper shells of soft explosives with dust. When detonated, the actual blast force was minimal, but the visual impact was astonishing.

The sun slowly sank toward the horizon, and the day's shoot finally drew to a close. The heavily trampled beach gradually returned to peace. Since they were relatively far from the city, most of the cast and crew stayed in a nearby small town or in the production trailers, except for those who left after finishing their scenes.

This small town, Setien, had a population of only a few thousand. Ever since set construction began on Omaha Beach, the town's two hotels and handful of restaurants had officially "closed their doors" to the public, exclusively serving the cast and crew of Saving Private Ryan.

Once John Schwartzman made two copies of the day's footage in the work trailer and handed them to the two security directors for safekeeping, Duke and the core crew members returned to town and stepped into its quietest restaurant.

Like every Hollywood production, the Saving Private Ryan crew maintained an illusion of equality, but invisible hierarchies existed everywhere. For instance, only the core crew and a few lead actors dined at this particular restaurant. Aside from Duke's group, who regularly discussed work over their meals, everyone else mostly kept to themselves.

Take Tom Hanks, for example. Despite his reputation as Hollywood's resident nice guy, he still wouldn't lower his status to mingle with lower-tier actors or staff members. Becoming buddy-buddy with the general crew was out of the question. Aside from maintaining the necessary aura of a superstar, even if he wanted to socialize, there was always the risk that someone might turn around and sell his private secrets to the media.

For instance, back on Spielberg's set, who would ever believe that Tom Hanks and Vin Diesel actually hung out together?

It was a joke to even suggest it. In such a fiercely competitive industry, making friends required extreme caution. In reality, genuine friendship rarely existed between actors. A-listers would much rather trust their entourage companions—the hangers-on who lived and drank on their dime—than trust another actor in the business.

Hollywood fostered a unique social caste: the entourage companion. They hovered around massive stars, earning their absolute trust. They partied recklessly with the celebrities and even shared sexual partners with them. These companions reaped substantial benefits from their patrons, often relying on the stars for their very survival, and they always kept their mouths completely shut.

Hollywood's bizarre ecosystem forced actors into highly abnormal lifestyles and social positions. Since they couldn't make friends like normal people, a strange dynamic formed between the star and the entourage companion—a bond that outsiders found almost impossible to understand.

Take Charlize Theron, for example. She had plenty of entourage companions, and her lavish, wildly expensive wardrobe was always open to them. She had even nicknamed her closet "Narnia" because it was the wardrobe that kept on giving, which made her the "ultimate bestie" in the eyes of many.

In short, Hollywood stars simply could not be judged by normal human standards.

"Time is limited. Our shoot cannot drag on too long."

A few of them sat around the same dinner table, the conversation never straying from work. Duke wasn't entirely satisfied with their progress. "We're in the break-in period right now, so we can keep this pace for a bit. But starting next week, I have to speed things up."

"It's almost Christmas," Robin Grande reminded him. "We have to give them at least three days off for the holiday."

Working overtime on a regular week was fine, but Christmas was one of the most important holidays in the West. Not even Duke could force the crew to work through it.

But that wasn't the only headache. Charles Roven put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said, "I got a call from Tom Hanks's agent. The awards season has already started. He's asking us to coordinate Tom's schedule. Tom is going to need to fly back to Los Angeles frequently for awards season PR."

"Hmm..."

Duke nodded, signaling that he understood. It was unavoidable. Compared to the future, School Awards PR in this era was still somewhat restrained, meaning Tom Hanks wouldn't need to stay in Los Angeles for extended periods. A few years down the line, even armed with a role like Forrest Gump, an actor would have an incredibly hard time winning Best Actor without launching a PR campaign months in advance and remaining anchored in Los Angeles to build momentum.

Many actors and directors, for the sake of that Golden Statuette, would often sacrifice upwards of six months to a full year of their time and energy, completely separate from the film itself.

That was one of the reasons Duke had relatively little interest in the school faction awards. He simply didn't have that much time to waste.

After dinner, the group left the restaurant and strolled toward the nearby hotel. It served as a rare moment of relaxation after a busy day.

Duke walked at the back of the group, and Sofia Coppola slowed her pace to join him, seemingly wanting to talk.

"Several PR firms have contacted me," she said as they walked shoulder to shoulder. "They're willing to assign their top PR managers to represent you. A few independent publicists are also very interested in taking you on."

"There's no rush for that." Duke walked with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the checkered paving stones on the sidewalk. "What about a personal assistant? Any suitable candidates?"

"Not yet," Sofia complained. "I've been stuck here in Ireland with the crew since last October. Where would I find the time to hire an assistant for you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you have Nancy do this?"

"Because I trust you more," Duke said calmly.

Sofia opened her mouth but said nothing. She knew how heavily guarded Duke could be, especially against industry insiders. She was one of his few real friends.

Coming from a film dynasty herself, she understood the true face of the industry. She knew that staying guarded was never a bad thing; otherwise, you might end up helping someone count the cash they made selling you out.

The assistant and PR issues would just have to wait until filming wrapped and they returned to Los Angeles. For Duke, flawlessly capturing the landing sequence was his absolute priority.

"Tom, you're the highest-ranking commander of the Allied Forces on this beach right now."

Standing in front of the barbed wire, Duke walked Tom Hanks through the scene. "I want you to show your absolute, unwavering resolve. You're leading your brothers forward not just out of military duty or the need to complete the mission, but because pushing forward is the only way to secure a chance at survival."

After briefing Tom Hanks, Duke turned to the other actors and instructed, "Follow Tom's command. Even if he tells you to jump into the sea, you have to do it."

With an explosion scene about to go off at close range, the actors were inevitably a bit tense. Duke's rare joke arrived right on time to ease their nerves, and quite a few people laughed.

Looking over at Joss William and his crew setting up explosives behind a sandbank, Duke gave a final warning. "Stay safe! I don't want to see anyone get hurt!"

Even though they were using soft explosives, a face full of blasted sand would definitely not feel good.

After personally inspecting the setup of the cameras and light blockers, and testing the on-site audio recording gear, Duke returned to his director's chair. He waited quietly for the pyrotechnics crew to finish their work before beginning the explosion shoot.

After about half an hour, Joss William came over personally to notify him that everything was ready.