America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 130 Ah, Fengyoujing

In July, Baja California was stuffy and humid, mosquitoes were flying everywhere in the wild, and filming with makeup on was very torturous.

Martin was well prepared and bought multiple three-piece sets before coming.

Next to the makeup trailer, Bruce slapped the big mosquito in the face, and it shattered into pieces.

Martin moved closer to him again, and almost no mosquitoes flew over to bite him: "Old Bu, look at the stench on your body, mosquitoes only bite you."

Bruce fired back: "You pervert, your blood and flesh are so stinky that even mosquitoes won't bite you."

Martin went back to get his bag, took out a set of Fengyoujing, Floral Water and Qingliang Oil, and handed them to Lao Bu: "Apply the first one on your eyelids, drink half a bottle of the second one, and apply the third one on your brother. Not only will mosquitoes avoid you, but you will also be able to fly to the sky."

"Are you sure?" Bruce unscrewed the medicated oil, smelled it, and felt something was wrong.

Martin wanted to see how effective it was: "Also, you can use Fengyoujing and Qingliangyou instead of Vaseline. Next time you go to see Kardashian, give it a try."

Bruce poured out a little and rubbed it on the back of his hand. It felt cool and nice. He said, "Vanessa Shaw is interested in you. Why don't you try it first?"

"I've tried this countless times." Martin went to the gas station in front and prepared to shoot.

Bruce muttered a few words, applied some wind oil, sprayed some floral water, and put the cooling oil into his pocket. He would find out when he got back to Los Angeles and tried it with Jin.

Martin came to the set and familiarized himself with the movements with Vanessa.

The two rehearsed several times and their cooperation was pretty good.

This is a dilapidated old-fashioned gas station, a must-have scene in American road horror movies.

Martin was wearing simple jeans, sneakers and a T-shirt, and with his neat short hair, he looked very stylish.

It doesn't fit in with the broken gas station.

Ajia came over and said, "The look is great. You don't belong here, so you are very reluctant to go on this trip. But you have to force yourself to smile for the sake of your wife's face."

Martin nodded: "Most of the time, I will tolerate my father-in-law and let him nag like a good old man."

"Actually you're not, you're a pervert!" It was the first time Ajia directed a Hollywood movie, and he did a lot of things himself. He shouted loudly: "All departments get ready, shooting will start in two minutes."

As the scene notes were recorded, filming officially began.

Martin went to refuel the RV as planned. His father-in-law Bob came over to talk to him, and the two had a small verbal conflict, with the stubborn Southern old man accusing his son-in-law of not cooperating.

At the same time, children were crying, dogs were barking, and there was a lot of chaos.

Ajia pursued perfection and shot the first scene three times before he approved it.

Originally, the next scene was to be filming Martin going to see the baby, but the baby actor suddenly had smelly poop and started crying loudly, so they had to temporarily change the scene to filming the dog.

Beauty and the Beast had not yet adjusted to their proper state, and Ajia kept shouting "Cut" again and again. All the actors involved in this scene, including Martin, could only play along.

The conflicts between child and animal actors are more troublesome than the conflicts between actresses in the crew.

It is an uncontrollable factor.

After finally calming the dog down, we started filming when the beast discovered something and suddenly rushed out of the RV door, barking at a pile of rocks.

Daniel hurried over to comfort it, but the beast still whimpered in warning.

Martin followed the crowd and went over to take a look.

Bruce jumped out at this time and blocked Martin: "Be careful, there is a rattlesnake."

Sure enough, among the pile of rocks, there was a more than one-meter-long khaki rattlesnake coiled up, its tongue sticking out and its tail constantly hitting the ground.

Faced with this extremely venomous snake, Daniel pulled the beast back slowly.

Dalot, the security chief hired by Craven, was well prepared. He came over with a long pair of pliers, grabbed the rattlesnake's head and neck, and dragged it away.

Ajia remembered and asked, "Where is the crew doctor?"

"Here." Someone raised his hand.

Ajia asked, "Have you prepared the snake serum?"

The doctor has worked with many crews and is well prepared: "For crews coming to Mexico to shoot movies, serums of various common venomous snakes are a must."

Filming soon resumed as normal.

I don’t know if it was because the rattlesnake was cleared away, but in the subsequent filming, the baby actor stopped making noises, Beauty and the Beast gradually got into the mood, and the crew began to operate efficiently.

Most shots can be passed in three or four takes.

The gas station scenes were filmed for three consecutive days, and the crew then moved to a nearby scenic spot for filming.

This is a valley with exposed bedrock, retaining relatively primitive wind-eroded landform features. The rugged roads and jagged rocks and sand dunes make it look particularly desolate.

There is also a natural rock pit nearby that serves as a cemetery for deformed people to abandon cars and other items.

Local officials from Mexico moved in to supervise the crew and ensure that they did not damage the environment and that all garbage was taken away after filming was completed.

As for the passing gang members who randomly set fire to abandoned cars, he turned a blind eye.

Hollywood crews follow rules, but gang members don't. If officials offend traffickers, they will soon be found dead on the streets.

The American logo is hung on every car of the crew. As long as a local security company is hired and the security fee is paid, traffickers rarely harass the Hollywood crew.

During the break, a few people chatted and Craven mentioned something: "I heard that a politician in Mexico who is very tough on traffickers is preparing to run for election. Their policy may change."

Martin said: "It's useless. As long as Mexico and the United States are adjacent, the problem cannot be solved."

Bruce knew more: "The American market is too big and the profits are too lucrative. Everyone is jealous. It involves not only gang forces, but also more forces, such as the American government." Ajia asked: "Can't the Mexican authorities deal with the traffickers?"

Craven threw a can of beer at each person, "Just wait, once that person takes the stage and sits firmly, he might declare war on the traffickers."

Martin had a vague impression that the Mexican authorities had lost the war on the traffickers.

Bruce continued: "Individual traffickers are not to be feared. They are backed by the CIA, DEA, or some other forces in Washington. The Mexican authorities cannot handle them."

Martin asked, "I heard that the CIA is the biggest trafficker in Latin America?"

Craven laughed and said, "You are too behind the times. This is a well-known fact. Many of the bigwigs in Washington are definitely involved in it."

Bruce said: "I have heard from several retired friends that Washington will soon become the biggest trafficker in Central Asia."

Ajia suddenly had an idea: "Is it okay to make a horror movie with the CIA as the background, telling how they torture and kill opponents?"

Craven said: "As long as you don't hack the IRS, it doesn't matter what else you do. The CIA doesn't care."

The prop master walked by, holding a few pink kettles.

Ajia was very curious: "I heard that you were the one who came up with this thing, Martin, what were you thinking at the time?"

Martin pointed to the words on the kettle and said seriously, "I think that no matter who you are, you can decide your own life!"

Others nodded in agreement.

Ajia looked at his watch: "It's about time, get ready to shoot."

Martin got up and went to find the makeup artist.

When Ajia returned to the set, the three actresses were already sitting at the small table in front of the RV, with a kettle in front of each of them.

The filming started and they picked up the pink water bottles to drink water.

In the next scene, perverted freaks invade the RV. Vanessa uses a pink kettle to beat up the perverted men, smashing one of them into a pig's head.

Eventually she was shot to death by the perverted man.

The filming soon shifted to a car graveyard.

In front of the slide track where the camera was laid, Martin, wearing a sun hat, looked at dozens of rusted and scrapped cars in surprise, opened the nearest door, and took out a teddy bear toy covered in mud.

On the other side, the actor who plays the perverted killer is preparing to go on stage, and then has a fight scene with Martin.

Bruce came to the prop group and carefully checked the prop knives and guns.

The prop master asked, "Are you worried about me?"

Bruce is not Martin, so he doesn't care about these words. He said, "The crew uses real guns. I have to ensure the safety of my employer."

The prop master knew that Martin was one of the three most powerful people in the crew, so he took the gun and let Bruce check it one by one.

Bruce opened the revolver's cylinder, made sure there were no bullets in it, and asked, "Why not use a prop gun?"

The prop master said: "In the United States and Mexico, real guns are easier to get than props, and the cost is lower."

Bruce couldn't help but say, "Fake guns are harder to get than real ones. We live in shit."

The prop master shrugged: "You'll get used to it."

The character actor then came over to get his weapons, a revolver and a prop knife.

Bruce watched with his own eyes as the prop master handed the weapons he had inspected to the special actor, and then followed the special actor to the car cemetery.

The action scenes started to be filmed, with each shot being separated into parts, making the filming very fragmented.

Often one action is one shot.

In this scene, the male protagonist was attacked by a deformed man in a car cemetery and was knocked into a pit. After being injured, he killed the deformed man.

Those dangerous scenes of falling to the bottom of the pit were naturally filmed by a stunt double.

There are also shots where the male protagonist smashes the glass of an abandoned car, all of which were done using a body double.

Even for some difficult action scenes, Martin required the use of a stunt double unless he showed his face.

Throw all the heavy load to others.

However, Martin was a very good person. When he returned to the hotel he was staying in that night, he took the initiative to treat several stunt doubles to a drink.

He also asked Bruce to buy some small gifts and give them to the stuntmen when they finished their work and left the crew.

The pay is high, like Reeves getting a motorcycle, but Martin's pay is limited.

After more than half a month of shooting in the wild, the crew finished all the exterior scenes and moved back to the studio area near the hotel to shoot.

The studio was also converted from a factory. The set designer built a maze-like cave and valley town for the final battle between the male protagonist and the deformed man.

The other actors in the crew finished their scenes and returned to the United States, leaving only Martin and a group of stuntmen shooting the action scenes.

At the same time, the crew of "Summer of Jeans" next door also came to Cabo San Lucas.

The two crews are in stark contrast, one consists almost entirely of men, while the other is filled with young and beautiful actresses.

Two updates today, still accumulating manuscripts.

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(End of this chapter)