Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 410 Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci's Pregnancy

After Link arrived in France, he was interrupted by a personal matter before he could even start filming – Sophie Marceau was pregnant.

When they were traveling in Italy, Sophie Marceau and Monica were the most enthusiastic about having children.

Whenever dandelion seeds take flight, they try to collect as many as possible, often using pillows to cushion their bottoms while sleeping to increase their chances of catching one.

By early October, Monica's period hadn't come, and she found out she was pregnant using a pregnancy test. Link called Sophie to ask if there was any sign of pregnancy.

Sophie smiled and said no, only urging him to come to France to film as soon as possible.

After Link arrived, Sophie picked him up at the Paris airport. As soon as they met, she rushed into his arms and excitedly told him that she was pregnant, adding that it would be more meaningful to tell him in person.

Link had never been a father before, but he was very happy to hear the news. He hugged and kissed Sophie until she pushed him away, worried that she would hold back the baby.

To show how much he valued the child, he personally oversaw Sophie's food, clothing, accommodation, and security, spending three days arranging everything before bidding farewell to Sophie and returning to the film crew to shoot the movie.

Saving Private Ryan tells the story of the later stages of World War II. On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces began a full-scale landing in Normandy, France, attempting to advance directly from the west to Berlin, the German headquarters. Before the ground troops landed, some troops were airdropped into the French interior, far from Normandy, in an attempt to disrupt the German deployment there before joining the landing forces.

Private James Ryan was in this unit, which was also on the front line of the attack on German positions, where the casualty rate was extremely high.

James Ryan was an SGT sergeant in H Company, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army, and the youngest of four brothers.

Not long ago, his three older brothers died in battle in various places.

Upon receiving the news, the general at the U.S. Operations Command decided to dispatch a special task force to rescue Ryan safely from the war zone, so as not to cause Ryan's mother the pain of losing her son again.

Captain John Miller received orders from his superiors to lead a team on this arduous mission.

Captain Miller and his troops had just experienced a fierce and brutal battle during the Omaha Beach landings, suffering heavy casualties.

To complete the mission, Captain Miller selected seven outstanding soldiers from his unit. While other units rested in place, Captain Miller led his team into enemy-occupied territory to search for James Ryan.

After entering the front lines, Miller's squad faced many difficulties and problems, including a shortage of manpower and equipment, unfamiliarity with the language and terrain, and sometimes even encounters with enemy troops.

On their journey, team members fell one by one, and they began to question the rationality of the mission, wondering if it was reasonable to exchange eight lives for one.

Despite their doubts, the members resolutely carried out their superiors' orders and continued searching for Ryan's whereabouts on the battlefield amidst the raging gunfire.

After overcoming numerous difficulties, the squad finally found soldier Ryan on a battlefield where fighting was taking place.

Ryan, driven by a strong will and sense of responsibility, was unwilling to leave the battlefield.

At this moment, a large number of enemies were approaching, and war broke out.

Ryan and Miller's team also threw themselves into the battle without hesitation.

Ryan was lucky enough to survive the battle.

Six soldiers in Miller's squad were killed in action during the mission, including Captain Miller.

This is a synopsis of the plot of Saving Private Ryan.

This is a war movie, and the subject matter isn't particularly novel. There have been hundreds of similar films since the end of World War II. For "Saving Private Ryan" to stand out among war movies, it must offer something unique and something that others don't.

The way to achieve this level of realism is through 'authenticity'—using real soldiers to film, creating the most realistic battlefield, real artillery fire, and so on, and doing everything possible to make the battle scenes as realistic as possible while ensuring the safety of the crew.

To enhance the film's realism, the main actors underwent over two months of military training before filming, learning skills from the Marine Corps.

For the actors' costumes and props, costume designer Jonah Johnston redesigned and made 3000 sets of incredibly realistic military uniforms. To this end, the production team also found a company that made military boots for the US military during World War II and had them reproduce 2000 pairs of military boots in the style of World War II and give them an aged look.

Regarding firearms, prop master Simon Atherton spent more than two months collecting and customizing over 2000 weapons for the filming. Each weapon underwent careful maintenance and special design before use, and its appearance was indistinguishable from weapons from World War II.

In terms of the cast, apart from the main actors, most of the extras on set were active-duty soldiers, mainly from the U.S. and British Marine Corps and the Irish Defence Division, numbering more than 2500.

In terms of filming methods, Link and the cameramen did not follow the script. After the crew started filming, he and the cameramen used handheld cameras to follow the landing soldiers on the battlefield and film them at close range, similar to the way documentaries are filmed.

Because of his exceptionally strict requirements for the camera, the filming progressed extremely slowly, with an average of three days needed for each scene. The first 25 minutes of the Normandy landings scene took the crew more than a month to film.

This is also the slowest-progressing film in all of Link's directorial works.

Although the filming progress was relatively slow, the quality of the footage was superb. Film art director Thomas E. Sanders and Marine Corps Major Evans Carlson stated that these scenes were indistinguishable from actual battlefield scenes, equally bloody and brutal.

After filming the war scenes, Link and the crew moved to Tham Park in England for further shooting.

"Link, you've been busy on set for over a month. Why don't you take a few days off before rejoining the filming?"

In London, at the hotel where the film crew was staying, Jennifer Connelly, having just showered, sat on the sofa next to him with her long, wet, curly hair flowing freely. Her calves were fair and shapely, and her toes had a moist, pinkish tinge.

"We can't stop! We've been filming for over a month, and the actors are getting into character and in great form. If we keep filming now, we can save a lot of time and money."

Link flipped through the director's script, answering questions while scribbling and drawing. "Workaholic!"

Jennifer kissed him, rested her forehead on his shoulder, placed her hand on his chest, and said gently, "Monica, Lina, and Michelle are all pregnant now, and I want to be pregnant too."

Link put down his pen and gently combed her fluffy, fragrant hair. "Monica and the others are in a hurry to have children because they are older and less career-driven, while you are still young and have a lot of work. Why would you want to have children so early?"

Jennifer Connelly was born in 1970 and is 26 years old this year, making her one of the younger members of the group of girlfriends.

In recent years, she has been taken care of by Link and her agency, starring in at least two films as the female lead every year. She is considered a near-A-list actress in Hollywood, earning more than $500 million per film.

Jennifer Connelly rested her chin on his shoulder, puffing out her delicate cheeks as she said, "Monica and Lina were so excited after they got pregnant. They would touch their still-flat bellies and show them off to us every day. They were so proud of themselves. I want to have children too, a lot of them, so they can envy me."

Link chuckled softly and pulled her into his arms. "Okay, if you want to have children, we'll have them. We can have as many as you want."

"Okay!"

Jennifer Connelly hugged him happily, tilted her head back and kissed him, not caring that her bathrobe was about to slip to the ground.

"We're back!"

Before they could even start messing around on the sofa, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Yu Feihong, Kate Beckinsale, and Julie Delpy returned from shopping, carrying everyone's dinner.

After the film crew moved to the UK, Catherine and Jennifer came to visit the set.

Yu Feihong served as the assistant director in the film crew.

Kate Beckinsale, on the other hand, was a newcomer who came to Hollywood in 94. She was selected by Link during an audition to play the female lead in the film "Zheng Chenggong".

Later, through frequent contact, she fell into his arms.

Kate Middleton, 23, is a Londoner and a beautiful British woman. She later starred in the movie "Pearl Harbor" and became famous worldwide for her beautiful looks and temperament.

However, her appearance and performance in "Zheng Chenggong" were quite good, and her fame will rise even higher after the movie is released.

Julie Delpy is an old acquaintance, having starred in "Before Sunrise" and being good friends with Sophie Marceau and Emmanuelle Béart.

When Link was filming in France, Sophie was unable to accompany him due to her pregnancy. Worried that Emmanuelle Béart alone could not satisfy him, she introduced him to her friend Julie Delpy.

I don't know what Julie Delpy was thinking, but she actually agreed to help. Later, she got hooked and followed him from France to England.

"How was your outing?"

Link and Jennifer got up to greet them and check on the food they had bought.

The reason they went out to buy food themselves was because Julie Delpy complained that British food was terrible, far worse than French food, and there wasn't a single dish that could be called gourmet.

Catherine and Kate Beckinsale were very unhappy with her words and immediately named more than ten kinds of food, such as Cornish pie, fish and chips, haggis soup, and beef wellington.

Julie Delpy countered that those dishes were variations of French and Italian cuisine, and definitely not native British food.

Catherine and Kate continued to refute the claim, and to prove they weren't exaggerating, they dragged Julie and Yu Feihong out to buy food.

“Excellent! We bought eight kinds of delicious food. We guarantee you will be satisfied with your meal later.”

Catherine Zeta-Jones laughed.

Julie Delpy put the food on the table, turned around and smiled, "Link, there's a dish we specially ordered for you. Remember to finish it and don't waste it."

While she was speaking, Yu Feihong, Catherine, and Kate Beckinsale covered their mouths and chuckled.

"Disastrous cuisine?"

"No! This dish has a very beautiful name, called Stargazing. It tells the story of a fish and the sky. It's very beautiful and touching. After hearing Kate's introduction, we all decided to bring it back for you to try."

Julie Delpy said in a lively voice.

"Okay, thank you for your kindness, I'd love to try it."

Lin Ke led Jennifer to the restaurant, kissed Yu Feihong and the other three on the cheek, and sat down to enjoy the British cuisine.

He and Jennifer also saw the beautifully named dish, "Stargazing," a flatbread with six fish heads lying face up, some with open mouths and empty eyes, their deaths gruesome—it was indeed a culinary disaster.

Jennifer screamed in fright when she first saw it and quickly turned her head away, telling Link to take the dish away immediately.

The prank was a success! Catherine, Julie, and the other three laughed happily.

(End of this chapter)