Chapter 70 Preparations for Pirates of the Caribbean

Wu Yuan came to the United States this time, mainly for two things to do.

Attend the 74th Academy Awards ceremony.

Conduct location scouting for the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" and understand the crew's preparations.

The first thing is easy to do. This year's Oscars ceremony will start on March 25th. Wu Yuan only needs to check in at the designated hotel on the 24th and then leave for the venue on the 25th.

The second thing is more time-consuming.

Although Wu Yuan is only a tool director in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" project for the time being, the director's job still needs to be done well.

Moreover, since the news that Wu Yuan won the Berlin Best Director Award came back to Hollywood, Jerry and Disney were also very happy.

It was originally a very cost-effective thing to spend 8 million US dollars to hire a director with a box office of 200 million US dollars. Now you have to add a title of "Berlin Best Director" in front of this director's name, which is really a big profit!

Jerry's frequency of contacting Wu Yuan is obviously much more active than before!

The day after Wu Yuan arrived in Los Angeles, Jerry came to meet him and took him to Florida, which is the closest place to the Caribbean Sea in the United States.

"Daniel, the pirate ship Black Pearl, we finally decided to buy a ketch built in Finland in 1948.

"This ship has been transporting goods in the Caribbean since the 1970s, and it also appeared in the 1977 Golden Globe-winning TV series "Roots", where it was used as a prop ship for transporting slaves.

"In addition to the Black Pearl, the Dreadnought is being built at the Long Island Pier. This flagship of the Royal Navy is built completely according to the "Victory", a victorious warship in the British fleet at that time.

"The estimated construction period should be three and a half months.

"Coincidentally, the cave setting where Barbosa hides the treasure also takes five months, and the two should be completed at the same time. "

On the way, Jerry kept introducing Wu Yuan to the preparatory work of "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Wu Yuan nodded frequently.

Perhaps the preparation work of this movie can only be regarded as average in Hollywood, far less time-consuming and labor-intensive than some top science fiction movies, but for the current Chinese movies, the preparation of this movie can be regarded as a huge project.

Just to build the Dreadnought, 150 craftsmen were needed, and the caves hiding the treasures also required more than 100 craftsmen.

In addition, the renovation of the Black Pearl, the Royal Port and the Royal The construction of the port town, the design, finalization, and production of a large number of 17th-century male and female dresses, casual clothes, pirate clothes, and military uniforms...

Only with a complete and mature film industry system can these preparatory work be done so easily.

In China, only "Hero" can achieve such a level, and the preparation process is extremely difficult, with many setbacks.

Seeing Jerry finish these preparatory work so easily, it is impossible for Wu Yuan not to envy him.

He smacked his lips and asked curiously: "So now all we need is to scout the location?"

"After the shooting location is determined, the film can be started?"

"Almost." Jerry said with a smile: "For you, you only need to determine the shooting location, and then wait for October to shoot. ”

The filming process of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" is unconventional. Strictly speaking, the film has already started.

Because the production, design and construction of special effects have all started in full swing.

But director Wu Yuan does not need to join the crew early. He can wait until all the arrangements and preparations are completed and then join the crew at the actual shooting stage.

The same is true for the actors.

However, Wu Yuan's opinion should be given priority in the final location of the filming.

After Jerry took him to Florida, he took him on a yacht rented in advance and began to wander around the Caribbean Sea.

"Holy shit!"

"Ugh, vomit~"

On the yacht, Wu Yuan held the handrails tightly with both hands and was vomiting, even vomiting stomach acid.

Beside him, Jerry stood steadily on the deck, holding a plate of antiemetics and mineral water in his hands, and smiled bitterly: "Daniel, you didn't tell me that you were so seasick?"

"Damn, before today, I didn't know that I was so seasick! "Wu Yuan complained weakly.

Jerry didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "This yacht is very stable, it doesn't shake at all. Compared with a real 17th century ship, it's like heaven."

"Go to this damn heaven!" Wu Yuan walked back trembling, got off the cabin without looking back, and fell into the bedroom, "I need to rest for a while, take it easy. ”

Perhaps because it was the first time he left the ground, or perhaps because of psychological factors, Wu Yuan’s first yacht trip was not a good experience at all.

But after all, he was not really here for fun, but for work.

As for seasickness, you will get used to it after vomiting.

After drifting on the sea with a dizzy head for a few days, Wu Yuan was able to adapt to it. At least he no longer had vomiting and diarrhea, and he could have time to appreciate the beautiful Caribbean Sea.

There are many unnamed islands in the Caribbean Sea, and many of them now have no traces of human activities, highlighting a primitive beauty.

It just so happened that in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean", several relatively primitive islands were needed to shoot some scenery, night scenes and chase scenes.

After no longer suffering from seasickness, Wu Yuan and Jerry quickly selected several small islands with nice scenery as alternatives for filming.

Wu Yuan could finally say goodbye to the yacht that made him vomit and have diarrhea, and returned to Los Angeles.

Although "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a story about the Caribbean, in fact, 50% of the content of this movie needs to be shot in the studio, including the most intense naval battle in the whole film.

Because these plots require a lot of special effects, such as the cursed Barbosa and his crew, who became undead creatures in the naval battle, all of which must be shot in the green screen studio.

So for this movie, Disney not only used the largest Studio 2 to build the treasure cave, but also rented several large studios as the filming location of the movie.

One of the most important places is the Port of San Pedro in Los Angeles. Most of the intense naval battle scenes need to be shot in the studio in the South Bay of the port, and only a small part of the plot will be shot in the Caribbean.

Since he is the director, Wu Yuan must also visit these studios to see how the scenes are set up in the studios, and discuss the details with the screenwriter by the way.

After Wu Yuan won the Best Director Award in Berlin, the two screenwriters of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" paid more attention to his opinions and views, and the communication became more harmonious.

In this way, Wu Yuan kept an eye on the preparations for "Pirates of the Caribbean" while waiting for the start of the Oscars.

Time soon came to March 24, and the "Juno" crew, which had been separated for more than half a year, gathered again in Los Angeles!

They are about to go to this year's Oscars ceremony!