Chapter 767: A Marvelous Collaboration

Over the following days, Duke made a point of showing Christopher Nolan the Light Box and other equipment, engaging him in thorough discussions. After all, Nolan was about to direct a film backed by a massive investment from Warner Brothers, and its success or failure was directly tied to his own interests.

Following Duke behind the director's monitors, Nolan watched the animated clips playing on the screens. "I heard Jamie Jensen mention that you've done a lot of pre-visualization for the shoot?"

"A lot of pre-viz, yes, but there's still plenty of flexibility on set." Duke tapped his head. "If a new idea pops up in here and we need the visual effects team to do something outside the planned shots, they have to be able to react in time."

Looking toward the visual effects crew, Duke continued. "If I want to change the speed or timing of a certain sequence, they have to get it done as quickly as possible. So, besides doing a solid job with the pre-viz, we also need room to maneuver. But of course, there are some areas where you just don't have that luxury..."

"Like what?" Nolan asked.

"With the actors, for example. That's when I have to go negotiate with Scarlett Johansson and George Clooney. It happens quite a bit, especially during interior scenes." Duke made a few gestures. "Usually, we'll say something like, 'At the end of this shot, we need you to put your hand here. Exactly here, with zero deviation.' They both know exactly what to do, and they'll put their hands right there at the precise moment. They coordinate perfectly every time."

It wasn't just that. After every shot, everyone from Duke as the director to John Schwartzman, Tim Webber, Scarlett Johansson, and George Clooney would sit down together to discuss the take, striving for perfection.

Over the next three days, Christopher Nolan continuously visited the set. Duke didn't say much else to him. Though Nolan wasn't very famous in mainstream film circles, he was no rookie either. He was already brimming with talent; the only thing he lacked was experience producing commercial blockbusters.

From mid-August to early September, Duke led the crew through a grueling shoot. Time was indeed incredibly tight. Aside from a two-day break after finishing a long take, the crew didn't get a single day off for the better part of a month.

Fortunately, the crew didn't have to travel around. All the filming was done on the soundstages at Warner Studios. Furthermore, with George Clooney's scenes wrapped and his departure from the set, Scarlett Johansson was the only actor left.

"Houston, Houston... This is the mission specialist, do you copy?"

Inside the constructed space capsule set, Scarlett Johansson called into the communicator repeatedly as the camera panned past her surroundings. Buttons with Chinese labels, a ping-pong paddle, and small trinkets like a panda figurine were successively captured in the frame.

As Scarlett sent out her continuous stream of calls, a response suddenly echoed inside the capsule. The voice sounded somewhat stiff—this Chinese response actually came from Duke himself, having undergone special processing during the audio recording.

"Cut!"

Duke called a stop, then stood up and addressed Scarlett. "Your emotion isn't right!"

They had already gone through multiple bad takes for this shot. This was where Scarlett needed to flex her acting chops the most. Duke had already said everything that needed saying during their pre-production discussions, so he simply gave the crew a fifteen-minute break and left Scarlett to find the right feeling on her own.

If she still couldn't find it, Duke planned to lock her in the soundstage alone so she could grasp the absolute solitude of being isolated in space.

From what had been filmed so far, Duke could see that Scarlett Johansson's performance was in no way inferior to Sandra Bullock's original portrayal.

Sandra Bullock wasn't exactly renowned for her acting in Hollywood, but her performance in Gravity was definitely the pinnacle of her career, far surpassing Leigh Anne Tuohy, the lead role in The Blind Side that had won her the Best Actress Oscar.

In fact, the Best Actress Oscar Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side was widely considered one of the top five weakest Best Actress wins in Academy Awards history. Much like Julia Roberts back in the day, Sandra Bullock's acquisition of that Golden Statuette was less an affirmation of her acting and character, and more the School's recognition of her years of hard work and industry seniority.

As everyone knew, winning an acting award at the Oscars relied on more than just the role and the performance.

The School had only just rewarded Sandra Bullock with Best Actress, so even though she subsequently delivered a role vastly superior to her award-winning one, there was no way the School was going to throw another Oscar at her so soon.

Sandra Bullock was thus destined to remain one of the weakest Best Actresses in Oscar history.

For over a decade, the Oscar winners for Best Actor and Best Actress had been the result of a combination of factors. If an actor wanted to win an Oscar, they absolutely needed exposure. Many voters in the School were typical "vote with their feet" types like Duke; if they weren't even familiar with an actor, the effectiveness of any PR campaign would be negligible.

The promotional campaign for Gravity intentionally highlighted Scarlett Johansson. Following Duke's requests, Warner Brothers and Penny Kalis had formulated an extremely comprehensive publicity plan.

It was already September, and Duke's filming was gradually drawing to a close. A new awards season in North America was about to kick off, and the Hollywood Reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Scarlett.

Due to the incredibly tight shooting schedule, the interview was squeezed into the gaps between filming. Although Duke was busy with the crew's work, he still went over to observe. After all, if the film was going to achieve his goals, Scarlett Johansson's performance in Gravity was only the foundation; self-promotion was an indispensable tool.

However, Duke only stood on the periphery and listened, with no intention of interfering.

The entire process for this film—from the script to the green light to Scarlett signing her acting contract—had been incredibly simple. But they couldn't say that to the media. Much like a movie plot, the more twists and turns a story had, the more attention it captured.

In Hollywood, exclusive interviews for people of Duke and Scarlett Johansson's status were meticulously engineered. From the questions down to the answers, their PR managers had to draft the scripts countless times and communicate extensively with the media.

To put it another way, very little of what was said in these interviews could actually be trusted.

For example, the reporter from the Hollywood Reporter asked, "Some people have said that the script for Gravity is very unique, particularly in that it's hard to imagine how a director could film it. Did you have a similarly strong impression of it?"

"Actually, it wasn't the script that attracted me, but the concept of the story itself. To me, this script was like a good book—the intense visuals and emotions just rushed right at me. I couldn't imagine how Duke was going to film it at all..."

The answer Scarlett gave was half a Pacific Ocean away from the truth. "And I didn't want to take this script at the time, so I didn't care about that at all. Later, when I was chatting with Duke, I outright rejected it. But he told me, in a subtle way, why he wanted to write this story so badly. He said this story is based on a very real personal experience. It's about a person's rebirth, and how someone can be tightly drawn back to life when they are in despair, ready to give up, and no longer want to just drag out an existence."

"When he was describing it to me, I marveled inwardly—wow!" Scar made a highly exaggerated expression, acting as if it were all completely true. "All the imagery just surfaced in my mind..."

She shrugged again. "On a technical level, I didn't know how he was going to pull it off, but his words were so beautiful, so magical. I know Duke very well. On one hand, he's very calm, but on the other, he's incredibly devoted. I realized that this was one of the most important opportunities of my life, and I couldn't say 'no' to it."

The reporter pressed further. "So when you agreed to take the role, it was equivalent to unconditionally handing yourself over to Director Duke Rosenberg, and you tried whatever strange filming techniques he threw at you?"

"Because Duke's filming methods are so unique, he couldn't explain too many of the technical details to me."

Having spoken a single sentence of truth, Scarlett went right back to spouting wild nonsense according to the answers drafted by Penny Kalis. "The original plan was for us to film in a NASA space shuttle. This aircraft would simulate a few seconds of weightlessness through high-speed ascents followed by rapid descents. Most films of this type were shot like this in the past. When I thought about being tossed up into the air, I felt it was completely crazy, and I was quite scared, but I still accepted the method."

She smiled at the reporter. "As the start of filming drew closer, I was told the crew had invented a rig that could simulate me 'flying.' I realized I needed to start physical training, because it seemed the device required a person's body to stretch out like a gymnast's. The physical training was brutal but absolutely necessary. I met with a female trainer who used to be a dancer and knew how to control her limbs."

"Did you and Director Duke Rosenberg frequently discuss this character?" the reporter asked.

"What Duke and I talked about the most was who this woman I'm playing is, how to introduce her to the audience, what dialogue is necessary, what isn't, and details like that. This is a story told visually; the actors don't need a lot of dialogue. Whenever I struggled to understand something, I'd ask him to just tell me how we should get into the core of the story, what he hoped the audience would see, and how he intended to use visual language to tell it."

Having rattled off that long speech in a single breath, Scarlett Johansson took a sip of water and continued. "Many actors don't understand the meaning of dialogue. They always feel that the more articulate they are, the better the performance. But this film takes a completely different approach. The actor is a tiny existence within a grand, extraordinary theme."

Finally, Scarlett made a point to emphasize, "My trust in Duke is built upon his complete trust in my instincts and interests as an actor. This has been a truly marvelous collaboration."