Chapter 763: Everyone Has Their Own Purpose

As a director, Duke's understanding of space would directly affect the film's final presentation. He and his science advisors maintained close contact with NASA, frequently consulting their experts on cosmic scenes throughout early pre-production. But as their discussions deepened, Duke ended up feeling like a fool. His knowledge of space was fundamentally inadequate. If they truly shot the film entirely true to the reality of space, they might not even be able to start filming by this time next year.

After enduring various agonizing revisions, Duke made a decision: they would achieve as much scientific accuracy as they could, but he wasn't going to blow on hairs to find flaws.

Duke shifted his main focus back to designing the visual effects and perfecting the "Light Box", the crucial prop for shooting the zero-gravity scenes.

The crew's simulation of space lighting needed to reach unprecedented efficiency and precision. The film's massive amount of CG production inevitably brought another challenge: how to seamlessly composite the live-action footage with the CG environments.

The lighting used during an actor's performance usually differs from the CG environment. If the lighting was wrong, the composited result would look unnatural. This meant they had to find a way to match the practical lighting with the CG ambient light.

Duke's director of photography, John Schwartzman, and visual effects supervisor, Tim Webber, ultimately came up with a bold solution—utilizing the LED screens of the Light Box.

The four walls of the Light Box were made entirely of LED screens. During filming, they would display videos or images simulating the surrounding environment. The camera, controlled by a robotic arm, would flexibly rotate within this space, while the visual effects team projected the virtual scene's patterns onto the LED screens to match the actor's subjective perspective...

This way, the images displayed on the LED screens would illuminate the actors, immersing them in the environment. It was as if space itself were revolving around them.

Duke originally planned to shoot only half the scenes inside the Light Box, relying on mechanical moving lights for the rest. But practical tests showed this rig was highly effective and efficient, producing excellent image quality and completely solving the issue of space lighting during the shoot.

These LED screens created unprecedentedly realistic lighting effects. When Scarlett did test shoots in this space, she received direct reflections on her body, solving all the issues with diffuse reflection and lighting on her clothes.

Getting a shot of an astronaut spinning in space was incredibly troublesome to light under green screen conditions. But inside the Light Box, they simply had to adjust the content on the LED screens. Every single pixel on the screens acted as a light source—about 1.8 million of them. And the crew could control each one individually.

However, everything had two sides. For post-production, keying out all those LED screens was much more troublesome than keying a green screen.

In today's Hollywood, it was extremely rare to shoot scenes with such massive CG environments without using a green screen. Yet Duke still decided to use the "Light Box" for many shots. Its advantage over a green screen was the environment it created: it provided the actors with visual aids, letting them see what their surroundings were supposed to be so they could act accordingly.

Gravity was undoubtedly a complex project. It required integrating virtual and practical imagery in highly creative ways, and the tight schedule only compounded its complexity.

Aside from monitoring his professional team's contact with Lucasfilm, Duke dumped all his other work on Tina Fey, pouring his remaining energy into prepping this film.

All sorts of tasks were waiting for him.

Duke worked with the Industrial Light & Magic team to map out the orbital trajectories above Earth, which would determine how Earth looked in the film. He teamed up with John Schwartzman and a group of animators to create a low-resolution animatic to establish the virtual camera paths. He also collaborated with a group of technical directors to design the lighting effects for each virtual scene, optimizing existing CG assets so completed shots could be quickly rendered and reviewed during filming.

Beyond that, Duke had to communicate with his two actors. This was his only saving grace: unlike Inception, this film didn't require a massive cast. Only three actors physically appeared on screen, and he would cameo as one of them. Scarlett Johansson, who had the most screen time, had actually been preparing for the film since the Cannes Film Festival and frequently discussed it with him.

To play his astronaut role, George Clooney was practicing yoga just like Scarlett Johansson to make his body more flexible.

"It's all worth it."

In the training gym at Warner Studios, George Clooney said to Duke, "Even though my character dies early on..."

Duke didn't follow up on that. Instead, watching Scarlett head toward the locker room, he asked, "I heard from Scar that you're planning to invite her to an event?"

"Yeah, she and I share similar ideals." George Clooney also looked in that direction.

Duke knew perfectly well that George Clooney meant political ideals. After considering it for a moment, he said, "The White House wanted to invite me to an official dinner next year, but I don't have the time. I recommended you to them."

"Recommended me?" George Clooney was taken aback at first, but then a smile broke out on his face. This kind of opportunity was exactly what he dreamed of. "Thanks, Duke. I really don't know what to say."

"Don't mention it." Duke simply smiled.

George Clooney had always wanted to replicate Ronald Reagan's life trajectory. He was sharp enough to understand the implication, and he quickly added, "If there's ever anything you need help with, just say the word."

Duke reached out and patted his arm lightly. "I'll give you a call if I need anything."

The sound of heels clicking against the floor rang out as Scarlett Johansson strode over. Seeing the knowing smiles on Duke and George Clooney's faces, she couldn't help asking, "What are you two talking about? You seem to be hitting it off."

Before George Clooney could answer, Duke said, "I was just telling George that if he runs for president, I'll definitely vote for him."

George Clooney chuckled. If that day ever came, he would indeed need the support of people like Duke.

The three shared a few more laughs before leaving Warner Studios one after another. Duke and Scarlett returned to the home in Malibu. As soon as they stepped into the Eye-Shaped Villa's hall, Scarlett turned on the stereo, and tranquil classical music drifted through the entire living room.

Ever since Gravity was greenlit, Scarlett had forced herself to cultivate this habit. Her character needed to erupt from within the silence, and her performance had to complement the extraordinarily quiet atmosphere of outer space.

Duke knew full well that although Scarlett's personality had changed significantly after her family's massive upheaval, she fundamentally wasn't a quiet person. Like all young women, she was brimming with passion.

Listening to classical music was Scarlett's way of mentally adjusting herself.

In addition, she practiced some slow dancing in her free time to relax. Scarlett had always been impulsive, doing whatever came to mind. In her own words, this helped her unwind and get closer to an astronaut's state of mind.

In reality, even though Duke had never said it out loud, Scarlett knew she was about to endure an extremely grueling shoot. She knew Duke's demands on her would be incredibly strict, even harsh.

But she had confidence in herself. She was certain she wouldn't lose to anyone—even if that person was Natalie Portman, widely recognized inside and outside the industry as the best actress born in the 1980s!

The other woman's Black Swan was preparing to debut at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, aiming straight for the Oscars. Influenced by Duke, Scarlett didn't care too much about the Oscars, nor would she ever become an oscar campaign fanatic like Leonardo DiCaprio, but being the first Best Actress born in the 1980s sounded pretty good.

Furthermore, she had heard from Tina Fey about what this fellow New York actress had done to target Duke at the Cannes Film Festival. Duke's enemy was Scarlett Johansson's enemy.

Scarlett had asked Tina Fey to look into it, and Natalie Portman had already gone to Venice.

August in Venice wasn't quite time for the film festival to open, but many filmmakers from all over the world had already arrived. Natalie Portman and her mother, Shelley, had come to Venice early. The film Black Swan represented countless hours of her blood, sweat, and tears; it was her hope for achieving one of the biggest goals in her life.

The film had previously held a very small test screening in Los Angeles, and her performance had received high praise from many heavyweights within the School. According to her mother and the consensus within the Hollywood Jewish Club, as long as the timing and the project were right, what belonged to her would naturally fall into her lap.

But sitting on the hotel balcony, watching the watery streets of Venice, Natalie Portman's thick eyebrows remained slightly furrowed. She didn't seem happy about any of this; in fact, she was in a rather poor mood.

"Darling..."

Her mother, Shelley, walked out onto the balcony and placed a glass of juice in front of her. "You haven't eaten anything since we left the airport. Drink this."

Picking up the glass, Natalie took only a sip before setting it back down on the table in front of her. She leaned back in her wicker chair, looking completely distracted.

Before rushing over from New York, she had been informed by her agent, Martin Miller, that Duke Rosenberg's new film was almost fully prepped and about to start shooting. Furthermore, rumors in the industry suggested that this rapidly preparing film was very likely meant to help Scarlett Johansson compete for Oscar Best Actress.

Hearing this news, Natalie Portman's heart sank. Given her intelligence, she could naturally connect the dots.

Natalie knew very well that if she wanted to win the Oscar for Best Actress, she had to do more.