Chapter 658: Explosions Again

Duke personally directed all the intense combat sequences. For dialogue scenes and simple shots like fighter jets taking off, he handed the reins to Anna Printz. According to the schedule, the shoot would only last eighty days; they couldn't afford to waste a single minute.

Fortunately, Anna Printz was no rookie. While Duke brought the main crew to New Mexico to shoot at the White Sands Missile Range, her unit had already flown to the Pentagon to film several dialogue scenes.

A dilapidated Middle Eastern-style village had already been built on their designated filming site at the White Sands Missile Range. After a period of training, Channing Tatum and the other actors playing Special Forces soldiers had developed a tougher edge—at the very least, they looked like real military men.

Dozens of trailers were parked at a safe distance on the perimeter, and the military had set up a cordon around the village. Duke's explosion scenes couldn't be pulled off with just standard squibs and soft explosives; this shoot required a massive amount of military-grade ordnance.

Since they were at the White Sands Missile Range, he could let loose and blow things up to his heart's content.

"Joss! Joss!" Duke shouted through a megaphone from a raised platform in the village.

Once Joss William jogged up to the platform, Duke said, "Make sure you coordinate with the actors. We can't have any accidents."

"I have specialists on it," Joss William said, giving Duke a reassuring look.

Duke watched Channing Tatum and the others sorting out their gear nearby and nodded.

"Let's hope they don't get scared out of their wits," he said.

The explosions this time were going to be massive. While his crew was well accustomed to working in such environments, it was hard to say whether the actors would panic, even with their recent military training.

However, Duke wasn't worried about the actors playing the Special Forces breaking down. When facing a formidable unknown creature—especially something like Scorponok—it was completely natural to be terrified. The Special Forces were tough, but they were still human. Just as Saving Private Ryan demonstrated, soldiers on a battlefield were always diverse; they weren't all fearless heroes shouting slogans in the face of death.

There would be a degree of uncertainty in the actors' performances here, but they were also spread out. Aside from the wide shots, each actor's close-ups would be filmed individually by the camera assistants. Editing, that magical cinematic art, could easily cut out any footage Duke didn't want to see.

"Joss, do you see the tallest earthen building in the distance?"

Duke pointed to the southeast corner of the village. It was the furthest point from where Scorponok and the US Military would engage.

"Blow it up," Duke said. "I want the dust and smoke to shoot two hundred feet into the sky."

Joss William stared at it for a moment. "No problem. Leave it to me."

After Joss William left, Duke called John Schwartzman over, instructing him to arrange a camera helicopter to capture the explosion.

Duke hadn't blown things up on this scale since Independence Day.

Stepping down from the platform and bypassing two camera crane trucks, Duke found Channing Tatum and the rest of the actors.

"Channing..." he called out, waving in their direction.

Channing Tatum and the others immediately jogged over. "Director?"

"The explosions might be a bit massive," Duke warned them. "Make sure you move exactly along your planned routes. Also, try to keep your emotions in check. If you really can't handle it, I give you permission to play deserter."

Channing Tatum and the others exchanged glances, looking somewhat embarrassed. Even in a movie, no one wanted to be a deserter.

"Director, we..."

Duke patted Channing Tatum on the shoulder. "Just do your jobs. Don't worry about anything else."

Having briefed the actors, Duke walked to the very front of the village. The Scorponok model had already been transported over and would soon be blown up by the crew.

This would be the first Decepticon destroyed by the US Military.

In the original film, the power imbalance between the Decepticons and humanity had been a glaring issue. Even though Onslaught's opening attack on the US Military base involved an element of surprise—and the US Military was notoriously poor at handling surprise attacks—the gap in combat strength displayed between the Decepticons and the US Military later on was far too exaggerated compared to the opening scene.

Just as Duke had said, the Transformers were powerful, but they weren't invincible. Because of this, he had changed the film's opening. The forces attacking the US Military base in Qatar wouldn't just be Onslaught; Thundercracker and Skywarp would join the assault as well.

Furthermore, Scorponok would no longer be a mere subordinate to Onslaught. Just as in the original cartoon, he would act as an independent combat unit. His strength would be further enhanced, and he would launch his ambush from underground.

These four Decepticons would launch an omnidirectional, multi-layered assault from the air, the ground, and beneath the earth to wipe out a US Military base.

Since the production had accepted tens of millions of dollars in military sponsorship from the Pentagon, Duke naturally had to consider the military's image. Out in the open desert, with over a dozen fighter jets and several gunships deployed simultaneously, wielding the most advanced weaponry in their arsenal—especially armor-piercing rounds—even a Decepticon wouldn't be able to withstand the barrage.

Scorponok would be torn to shreds by the furious aerial bombardment.

This setup wasn't just to balance their combat capabilities; Duke was also thinking of the franchise as a whole. While Optimus Prime was undoubtedly the main protagonist, humanity couldn't just stand by as useless bystanders. After all, it was humans who would be watching the movies, not Transformers.

Returning to his director's chair, Duke waited patiently. Setting up such a massive set wasn't easy, and they only had one chance to get the shot right. All of these structures would be reduced to rubble under Scorponok's fierce bombardment.

"Camera crew ready..."

"Props department ready..."

"Actors ready..."

"Pyrotechnics team ready..."

The assistant director relayed each message back to Duke. Once he received confirmation that every department was prepared, he raised his megaphone.

"Action!"

At Duke's command, the previously quiet set instantly transformed into a deafening battlefield, echoing with endless gunfire and explosions.

Duke stood behind the director's monitors. He was primarily watching the explosion shots alongside the footage of Channing Tatum and another Black actor. It didn't matter how much screen time the others got; if their performances were terrible, he would simply cut them out.

Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted to his left. The tallest earthen building in the village was struck as if by a cruise missile. Plumes of thick smoke rocketed hundreds of feet into the sky before the structure collapsed with a deafening crash.

The meticulously calculated blast wouldn't reach the crew, but some dust still drifted over.

Duke called for a cut at the perfect moment. Once the dust settled and the set was cleared again, they resumed filming.

The military's coordination was flawless. More than ten minutes later, several squadrons of fighter jets swooped low over the battlefield. While they obviously couldn't fire live missiles, their passes were more than enough for the cameras. All the remaining effects could easily be added in post-production.

Perhaps thanks to their extensive military training, the actors' performances—while not exactly award-winning—were perfectly adequate for a film like Transformers. Even though Channing Tatum couldn't hide the genuine panic on his face when Scorponok was blown to pieces, it didn't hurt the overall scene.

He could just cut that shot during post-production.

The shoot concluded there. Aside from a few houses used to mount cameras, nearly half the village had been reduced to ruins, and several members of Channing Tatum's squad had been "killed in action"...

"We don't need a reshoot, do we?"

Tina Fey, wearing a large face mask, stepped onto Duke's platform and watched the playback on the monitors.

"The military just called me," she said. "If we need a retake, they can launch a second wave of jets."

Duke didn't answer immediately. He stared at the screens, watching the footage from every camera angle before finally turning to Tina Fey.

"No need," he said. "In a little bit, make a personal call to the Pentagon and tell them that the crew and I are incredibly grateful for their support."

The military's backing saved the production tens of millions of dollars, funds that could now be redirected into post-production to deliver even more spectacular visual effects.

Tina Fey glanced toward the stairs and reminded Duke, "Channing Tatum is coming over."

Duke shut off the monitors and turned around just as Channing Tatum approached. The actor raised a hand in greeting.

"Director Rosenberg, all my scenes here are finished," Tatum said. "If there are no plans for additional shoots, I intend to leave the White Sands Missile Range this afternoon."

Duke thought about it for a moment and said, "That works."

Channing Tatum exchanged a few more polite words before turning and taking his leave.

"He's probably heading over to report to the Sony Columbia crew," said Tina Fey. As a production manager, she seemed well-versed in the situation. "Hasbro is making a movie for another one of their toy lines."

"G.I. Joe?" Duke asked, turning his head.

"Yeah, G.I. Joe."

When it came to toy popularity in North America, G.I. Joe was even bigger than the Transformers franchise.

"If my sources are right, Channing Tatum is going to be the male lead," Tina Fey added. "He's playing the character Duke."

"Duke?"

In truth, the franchise was perfectly suited for a film adaptation, especially in an era where terrorism hadn't disappeared but continued to spread. It was just that Duke had been a little too late to snatch up the adaptation rights. The main reason the franchise's sequel had struggled so much in his past life wasn't due to a lack of popularity for G.I. Joe, but rather a director issue.

Stephen Sommers's first film had been well-crafted and gave the series a solid start, but the sequel helmed by the director who took over was frankly unwatchable.

"Duke, one more thing," Tina Fey reminded him. "You need to head back to Los Angeles to attend the premiere of Robot WALL-E."