Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 504 The Set Visit Arrives

According to the original plan, there were rumors that the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films were filmed together.

This is not the case.

The reason why it was rumored that the second and third films were filmed together, using a "back-to-back" shooting method, is probably because the third film includes reshoots of scenes from the second film, such as the David Jones post-credits scene.

《加勒比海盗2》的拍摄时间是2005年2月开始，2005年9月结束，《加勒比海盗3》的拍摄时间，则是2006年8月开始，2006年12月结束。

There's an 11-month gap between them.

However, since the second and third parts are indeed closely related, Cao Yang adopted the method of filming them together.

According to Cao Yang's speculation, another reason why Disney didn't film the second and third movies together was that the third movie had too many special effects, accounting for more than 60% of the entire film.

If this had been filmed in 05 alongside the second installment, the cost of special effects alone would have been an astronomical sum.

It's worth noting that the production cost of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" reached $2.6 million, while the production cost of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" reached an astonishing $3.42 million!
If the two films were shot together, even if it saved some costs, it would still be difficult to produce them without a budget of at least $5.5 million.

That's $5.5 million!

If these two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels flop, Disney will suffer a severe blow, if not bankruptcy.

The stock market could very well crash due to the chain reaction.

Just like when 20th Century Fox asked Cameron to produce "Titanic," Cameron initially said that it could be produced for only 80 million, and the executives of 20th Century Fox believed him.

As a result, the executives at 20th Century Fox were almost driven to their deaths by Cameron. Due to repeated additional investments and delays, it took five years and $250 million to finally complete the production.

If Paramount hadn't stepped in and invested more, 20th Century Fox would most likely have gone out of business.

It's worth noting that at the time, it was said that several high-ranking executives at 20th Century Fox took turns going to Cameron with razor blades, which shows how desperate they were.

If Disney's $5.5 million investment fails to generate any significant impact, regardless of Disney's own fate, at the very least, all of its top executives, including CEO Robert Iger, will be fired.

This is likely why filming for "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" didn't begin until August 2006.

It's very likely that they are waiting for the box office results of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", which was released on July 7, 2006.

Only after Pirates of the Caribbean 2 became a hit, giving Disney enough confidence, did they dare to spend $3.42 million to produce Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

However, when it came to Cao Yang, these concerns were completely eliminated.

This is one of the reasons why Disney was willing to spend $5.5 million on Cao Yang.

Another reason is that if the second and third installments of "Pirates of the Caribbean" were filmed back-to-back, Cao Yang wouldn't have needed the $5.5 million production budget at all.

The biggest reason is time.

In the original timeline, when making "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" in 06, the special effects accounted for such a large proportion that the cost of the special effects alone was $2 million.

But it's 09 now.

Don't underestimate the fact that it's only a three-year difference.

Over the past three years, thanks to advancements in hardware and software, special effects technology has improved significantly and become more mature, leading to a substantial increase in the number of special effects companies.

This resulted in a significant reduction in the cost of special effects production.

What used to cost 2 million for special effects can now be done for 1 million.

In addition, none of the main actors, including Depp, demanded a significant pay rise for the sequel, unlike in the original timeline.

Therefore, if these two sequels were to be filmed together, the production budget would be around $4.5 million.

This reduces the risk considerably.

At Disney's board meeting, not a single director voiced any objection.

It is evident that the brand effect of the name "Cao Yang" has exceeded $4.5 million.

Before filming, Cao Yang made many changes to the scripts for the two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.

The third part, in particular, involves a Chinese pirate named "Xiaofeng".

Cao Yang's biggest dissatisfaction with the third installment was with the character "Xiaofeng" and the stereotypical Western view of the East in the film.

In Western films, whenever the East is involved, it is often filled with Orientalist themes.

For example, in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", the "mysterious and sinister" image of Whirlwind is portrayed through his appearance in the smoke, his feng shui compass, and so on.

It not only perpetuates Hollywood's stereotypical treatment of Asian characters, but also simplifies and symbolizes them, lacking the necessary depth and character development.

This is also a characteristic of the vast majority of Hollywood movies.

In Hollywood movies, whenever there is any content related to the East, neither the screenwriter nor the director bother to understand it. They simply treat it in a stereotypical and symbolic way, including the characters and scenes.

As the director, Cao Yang certainly wouldn't have handled it that way.

In the third installment, "Xiaofeng" is a major supporting character with a fairly decent amount of screen time. Although Cao Yang doesn't let him steal the spotlight, he still puts some effort into certain details.

For example, in the original script, the feud between Whistling Wind and Jack Sparrow was only mentioned with the line "You stole my map," which lacked supporting details and seemed somewhat abrupt.

Cao Yang simply added a flashback to a sea chase scene between the two when they were young to illustrate the conflict over the map, which also explains Xiaofeng's obsession.

The chase scene is very simple: one person is frantically chasing after the other, while the other is running away triumphantly on a boat with a map in hand. It lasts for a few dozen seconds.

In addition, there are some logical flaws.

For example, Xiaofeng, as one of the nine pirate kings, easily handed over the "voting rights" to Elizabeth, which is inconsistent with his shrewd and cunning character. How could someone who is one of the nine pirate kings do such a thing?

To resolve this, there's no need to add another storyline, since he's just a supporting character.

All you need to do is increase Xiaofeng's interactions with Elizabeth. You can have Xiaofeng initially doubt her identity, then test her by asking her to prove her abilities, and finally transfer the voting rights to her, thus enhancing the logic.

As for his "villainous" role, Cao Yang portrayed him as a "realist."

Due to the threat from the East India Company, coupled with the impact of the Qing Dynasty's maritime ban on pirates, the pirates in the South Seas were forced to maneuver in order to survive. They were simply different in terms of political stance, rather than being purely villains.

In the end, Cao Yang also gave him a "dignified" death.

The character arc is elevated by having Xiaofeng sacrifice himself in the Battle of Shipwreck Bay to detonate the gunpowder magazine to stop the enemy, rather than passively dying from artillery fire.

In this way, the character "Xiaofeng" is more profound in terms of both screen time and character portrayal.

As for the casting of Xiaofeng, Cao Yang didn't release any information about the casting process and directly decided on Wu Qihua.

It's not that Cao Yang doesn't want to promote more Chinese superstars, but even if he were to promote another one now, it would be difficult for them to succeed in Hollywood.

If you're Chinese or have an East Asian appearance, only character actors have a good chance of success; for ordinary actors, it's incredibly difficult to develop a career.

Duan Yihong and Wu Qihua are not action actors or character actors. If it weren't for Cao Yang pulling them along, they wouldn't have been able to establish themselves in Hollywood.

Therefore, instead of promoting another male star, it would be better to increase the screen time of Wu Qihua and Duan Yihong and increase their fame, so that they can get some roles within the limited resources.

It's better than just making a cameo appearance in Hollywood, right?

The filming locations for the second and third installments of "Pirates of the Caribbean" were primarily Dominica, Ikzumas Island in the Bahamas, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Filming mainly took place in the Caribbean Sea region.

Another reason for the high cost of this film is that some of the filming locations are remote and the local transportation is underdeveloped. The transportation of a lot of supplies relies entirely on helicopters.

In fact, some of the main food items were even shipped directly from the United States by chartered plane.

Filming on location around the Caribbean Sea requires a crew of over three hundred people, which incurs a considerable expense.

In this shoot, Cao Yang retained the use of film while also introducing the latest digital cameras from Sony and Arri.

This greatly excited both Sony and ARRI.

They not only had company executives send over several of the latest models in a grand manner, but also left more than a dozen staff members to follow up on the process, saying that they would do so in order to understand the needs and areas for improvement in a timely manner.

Furthermore, they thoughtfully paid for the food and lodging expenses of these crew members.

Large companies like Sony and Arri would never openly allow a commercial film crew to use their cameras for free, not even Cao Yang's crew.

This would disrupt industry rules.

Unless it's an experimental film or a personal, non-profit film, like Cao Yang's graduation project.

Although Cao Yang's graduation project was sold to a TV station, it was ostensibly a non-profit project.

Sony and Arri both charge equipment rental fees based on market prices. However, according to their calculations, the food and accommodation expenses for the accompanying personnel they send are even higher than the equipment rental fees.

In other words, the food and accommodation fees they paid to the film crew were more than enough to cover the equipment rental costs.

Although Cao Yang didn't care too much about the money, it was at least an attitude.

Dominica is an island nation with a population of less than 100,000, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Caribbean Sea to the west, and Martinique and Guadeloupe to the north and south respectively.

After filming in Dominica for only ten days or so, someone Cao Yang never expected came to visit the set on a ship that was transporting supplies.

Dominica is very poor and lacks resources. It has no international airport, so planes transporting supplies from the United States first go to neighboring countries and then ship the supplies over.

"Annie, what brings you here?"

After finishing filming today's task, Cao Yang met Anne Hathaway at the hotel, along with a somewhat familiar actress.

However, Cao Yang couldn't recall the actress's name for a moment.

"Haha, dear director, you must be surprised to see me, right?"

Anne Hathaway hugged Cao Yang, then immediately complained:

"I saw this place in the movies and it looked so beautiful, but it's really a nightmare. Not only is there no airport, but we also have to take a cargo ship to get here. This is definitely not a suitable vacation trip."

"If you're going on vacation, you've really chosen the wrong place."

Cao Yang added a sentence.

"Although this place looks a bit awful, it's very exciting to see you here."

Anne Hathaway, speaking casually, put her arm around the slender waist of the actress next to her and introduced her:
"This is my best friend Emily, Emily Blunt, who is also an actress."

We acted together in "The Devil Wears Prada," and her film "Young Victoria" was just released this year and is likely to win an Oscar next year.

Then, she turned to Emily Blunt and said, "Honey, I don't need to introduce this person, do I? The most influential director in the world, your idol, Director Cao Yang."

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m a fan of yours. I’m Emily Blunt, you can call me Emily.”

Emily Blunt looked genuinely excited, and it didn't seem like she was acting.

Hello Emily.

Upon hearing this name, Cao Yang finally recognized the actress in front of him.

However, I will remember her from later on.

Currently, he mainly works in the art-house film field. Among the many productions, Cao Yang is currently the most dazzling one in the art-house film field and is a "god" to many art-house film actors.

This may also explain why Emily Blunt appeared unusually agitated.

Emily Blunt's most well-known film among general audiences is not "The Young Victoria" or "Oppenheimer," but rather "Edge of Tomorrow," which she co-starred in with Tom Cruise.

Her performance in "Edge of Tomorrow" was still outstanding.

Mecha suits, long legs, and a dashing figure—everything about them is eye-catching.

Cao Yang glanced at Emily Blunt. She wasn't a particularly beautiful actress, but she was very tall, especially with her long legs.

Perhaps it is because of her figure that she stands out in action scenes and always comes across as "cool and dashing".

Besides "Edge of Tomorrow", Cao Yang also remembered her for her later works such as "Sicario", "The Huntsman: Winter's War" and "A Quiet Place".

This actress is just so strange. In typical traditional dramas, she seems inconspicuous, but in action movies, she performs quite well.

Cao Yang even glanced at Anne Hathaway. Could it be that Anne brought her best friend Emily Blunt along because she knew that "Black Widow" was casting?

Before meeting Emily Blunt, Cao Yang actually had three candidates for the role of "Black Widow".

One of them is Scarlett Johansson, who originally played "Black Widow".

The other one is Charlize Theron.

The last one is Anne Hathaway.

Charlize Theron has a strong presence and is very sexy. She has also starred in action movies like "Aeon Flux". The only downside is that she is 34 years old this year, which is a bit too old.

Black Widow will appear in many Marvel movies in the future, for more than ten years. Will Charlize Theron still be able to play Black Widow by then?

Anne Hathaway is also a good choice; her "Catwoman" is quite good.

However, Anne Hathaway may not be willing to sign a long-term contract to play Black Widow.

She's currently one of Hollywood's hottest young actresses, and it's the perfect time for her to reach even greater heights. It's highly unlikely that she'll sign a long-term contract to play Black Widow.

After all, when Black Widow appeared in Iron Man 2, she was just a minor, decorative character with little screen time.

It's unlikely that Anne Hathaway will play the role.

Theron didn't actually have this concern.

After failing to become a superstar, it's unlikely she'll be able to do so again, and her current situation is indeed not good.

It will be difficult for her to land leading roles in A-list productions in the short term, or rather, her status has declined. If she wants to stay in Hollywood, she can only take on villainous or important supporting roles.

So if they offered her the role of Black Widow and a long-term contract, she probably wouldn't refuse.

Of course, after meeting Emily Blunt today, Cao Yang has another option.

She's currently not very famous, but if you offer her the role of Black Widow and a long-term contract, she'd be thrilled and wouldn't refuse.

(End of this chapter)