America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 402 Performance Art
Pulling out a chair, Saoirse Ronan sat opposite Martin. Martin stretched out his hand and pointed at the camera: "Let me see it."

"I didn't take a picture of you, really not." Saoirse said, but took off the camera and placed it in front of Martin.

Martin remembered very clearly that this girl was very good at stirring up trouble and she even caused the "diaper scandal" at Pinewood Studios.

He looked through the photos taken with the digital camera and indeed found that there were no photos taken here. He pushed them back to her and asked, "Which crew are you from?"

Saoirse pointed to the studio next to her and said, "This is it."

Martin understood: "You play Daisy as a teenager?"

Saoirse nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I have several scenes with you."

Martin also understood why she was here, and reminded her casually: "Don't shoot randomly in the crew. This is not Britain. American directors are very fierce."

Saoirse quickly explained: "I didn't take the camera to take pictures of the crew, but to take pictures of the Michoud Assembly Plant."

Martin knew this was Michoud, but had never heard of an assembly plant, so he asked, "Why are you filming that?"

Saoirse looked around and found that Martin's trailer was big and tall enough, and there was a ladder to climb to the top of the trailer. She pointed and said, "Shall we go up?"

Martin was also curious: "Okay."

Bruce was the first to climb onto the top of the trailer and look around, and Saoirse followed with a camera hanging on her head.

Martin had to take his appearance into consideration, so he came up slowly.

The studio is located on a small hill. Standing on the trailer here, you can see over the low wall and have a panoramic view of the river valley below the hill.

Saoirse pointed to a factory building in the river valley and said, "This is where I want to shoot."

Martin pointed at the camera dangling from her chest and said, "Take the photos quickly, then leave. Don't cause any trouble here."

Saoirse rolled her eyes: "I'm not a troublemaker." She didn't take the camera: "I don't want to take pictures of the outside, I want to go inside and take pictures."

Martin asked Bruce, "What's that place over there?"

Unexpectedly, Bruce had done some preparation in advance: "It seems to be called Michoud Assembly Plant."

"Before I came to the United States, I studied New Orleans carefully. There are two most widespread rumors here." Saoirse has a strong desire for knowledge and exploration. When she was at Pinewood Studios, she took a camera and took pictures everywhere. At one point, she had a big fight with Emma Watson.

She held up a finger. "The first is all kinds of witch legends. I've been to the tomb of Marie Laveau, the queen of voodoo."

Saoirse raised her second finger. "I found out online that the Michoud Equipment Plant is a secret base of NASA, which is used to make props and scenes for the moon landing. Many whistleblowers have revealed that Americans have never landed on the moon, and all the videos were shot here."

Martin's face turned very interesting and he asked, "You want to sneak in and take pictures?"

Saoirse's face was full of curiosity and prying: "Yes, take a picture, even if it's just one."

Martin said, "Have you ever thought about one thing? If what you said is true, why has there never been any concrete evidence? Because everyone who broke in was turned into an experimental subject, maybe made into a voodoo doll."

Saoirse was stunned. She focused all her energy on taking the photos secretly and ignored everything else. She said, "It seems to be true."

Martin reminded her: "This is not the British Isles. It's dangerous for a girl to run around everywhere. Not every American is as kind as me."

Saoirse raised her camera, opened the lens bag she carried with her, installed the telephoto lens, quickly adjusted the teaching aids, and took some photos towards the assembly plant.

When she finished filming, she found that there was only one person left on the roof.

Martin sat back under the parasol, enjoying the breeze leisurely.

Bruce went to make a phone call.

Saoirse got out of the car, said hello to Martin, and left alone.

Soon, Bruce came back from the phone call with a very interesting look on his face.

Martin asked, "What happened?"

"Kim called me just now." Bruce had nothing to hide from Martin: "The DVD sales are amazing, and Kim wants to give me a share. She said it's hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Martin's focus was not on these things, and he asked, "Are they selling a lot?"

Bruce nodded. "The North American sales have exceeded 2000 million US dollars. Many TV stations are inviting Kim to appear on their shows. It seems that Oprah has also invited her. She seems to be more popular than you now."

Martin waved his hand: "It's different. The appeal and influence of celebrity privacy are naturally great."

Bruce said, "That's right. If you make a video, I think your female fans will go crazy. Maybe your male fans will go crazy too."

Martin raised his middle finger in front of him and said, "If it's legal income, you can decide whether to take the share or not."

Bruce thought for a few seconds and said, "I don't need money. I don't want this kind of money."

In the afternoon, shooting continued.

The leading actress Blanchett has not yet arrived from Los Angeles, and the crew is calm.

David Fincher was extremely satisfied with Martin's performance. The role of Benjamin as a teenager was the most difficult to act, but for Martin, there was no difficulty at all.

He felt that Martin's on-site experience in the nursing home was very rewarding. An outstanding and professional leading actor can save the director a lot of worry.

David Fincher suddenly understood why Scorsese and Nolan chose to work with Martin. Which director wouldn't like such an actor?

And they are not troublemakers and don't need to force the male actors to do those bad things.

The most important point is that Martin really has commercial appeal.

The next morning, two large red trucks painted with "Coca-Cola" drove into Michoud Studios. The period Coke specially ordered for the crew by the Atlanta headquarters arrived.

If it were another crew, it might be very troublesome, after all, proofing and plate making would have to be done again.

But in the crew where Martin plays the leading role, it is a matter of adding an inconspicuous clause to the advertising sponsorship contract.

The truck driver insisted on taking a photo with Martin after getting out of the truck.

They were all wearing Coca Cola Church T-shirts and were obviously followers of the Church.

Coca-Cola sponsored millions of dollars. When David Fincher learned the news, he extended the crew's break time so that Martin could go out and take photos with others.

The two drivers hung a banner at the door that read "Coke Cult Forever".

The crew specially sent a photographer to take the group photo, and after that, it was done.

Martin looked at the photographer, the screenwriter, and then at David Fincher. If this were on the set of "The Dark Knight", he would have to produce some real behind-the-scenes footage.

No wonder David Fincher is not as good as Nolan in business. The commercial attributes are not even a little bit worse.

David Fincher might not like the real behind-the-scenes footage, so Martin didn't say much. Instead, he found the producer in charge of publicity and public relations and reminded him, "Can my look be released now?"

The producer had already thought about it: "They are promoting you in Los Angeles. You just won the Best Actor Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. With your popularity and the influence of the Coca-Cola Cult, releasing some crew photos will also attract more attention to this film."

Martin praised: "You are very thoughtful."

The crew developed the photos as quickly as possible, and by the time Coca-Cola had unloaded the cargo, two drivers had already brought the photos over to ask Martin for his autograph.

After signing, Martin adjusted his state and devoted all his energy to the filming.

The male lead has not changed, but the female lead has changed. Elle Fanning finished filming her few scenes and left smoothly.

Saoirse Ronan became Daisy on the set.

The crew is very good at selecting actors, especially child actors. The two chosen are both very spiritual types.

Saoirse's acting is even better than Ellie's.

During this period, Martin was the only one in charge of the crew. As long as he didn't take the initiative to cause trouble, no one would provoke him.

Although Shia LaBeouf joined the crew early, he spent most of his time doing some inexplicable performance art.

One afternoon, he suddenly disguised himself as a hanged man and hung himself on a crooked tree behind the studio. The female costume designer who first discovered him was so scared that she screamed and wet her pants.

When all the crew members gathered around, the old man untied the special rope, kicked off the camouflage stool made of plexiglass, and came down slowly, saying, "It's a bit hot today. I want to hang on the tree for a while to get some breeze and cool down."

The entire crew was speechless, and David Fincher was so angry that his hair almost stood up.

But as the other party was the godson of DreamWorks, one of the three major investors, he could only give him a severe reprimand.

Originally, David Fincher thought that the biggest difficulty in the filming came from the personal conflicts between Martin and Blanchett, but he didn't expect that Shia LaBeouf would steal the show.

After a reprimand and a stern warning, David Fincher asked the crew to disperse and return to their posts.

If David Fincher hadn't stopped him, many people on the crew would have wanted to beat the shit out of Shia LaBeouf.

The female costume designer glared at Shia LaBeouf, as if she wanted to rush up and bite him a few times.

Martin and Saoirse came out at the same time and returned to the set together.

Shia LaBeouf chased after him from behind and asked, "Martin, do you think my artistic expression is okay?"

Martin was speechless and said casually: "Very imaginative."

Shia LaBeouf began to push back: "You can get Nicholson's recognition and become his younger brother. Now that I have your recognition, I will surely be able to get Nicholson's recognition in the future..."

Martin got a headache after hearing this and quickly moved away from this guy.

Saoirse looked back and said, "When I watched Transformers, I felt that this guy was not normal." She pointed to her forehead and asked, "Is there something wrong here?"

Martin would not discuss Spielberg's illegitimate child with her, saying, "Perhaps the thoughts of artists are difficult for ordinary people to understand."

Saoirse asked, "You're not an artist?"

Martin told the truth: "I am a star, a multimillionaire, and maybe I can become an artist in the future."

Saoirse thought of the ugly look of the hanged man and said, "It's better not to be an artist like that."

(End of this chapter)