Since August, set designer Mike Devins has been working at an abandoned resort in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
His task was to build a snow mountain castle from scratch for filming.
At the beginning, producer Charles Roven suggested: "Little Gilbert, can we shoot with green screen and miniature models? This will be more convenient."
But Gilbert Jr. said no: "Charles, we should stick to our own characteristics and shoot on location.
What’s more, we have a sufficient budget, and the live-action method is not more expensive than using a green screen.”
Charles Rowan shrugged. "Well, as you wish, little Gilbert."
In this way, Mike Devins received the task to build a snow mountain castle here in three months before November.
In advance, art director Selina Heffey brought several architectural designers to this place with him to investigate and designed the blueprints of the snow mountain castle based on the terrain.
The designers drew inspiration from European castles and combined it with the minimalist style of modern architecture to design a building that is both classical and modern.
The entire building is made of gray-white lightweight bricks. If it is snowing, it seems to be integrated with the surrounding snow-capped mountains from a distance, which is spectacular.
However, Mike Devins had already received a task, which was to leave holes for burying explosives during the construction process so that the castle could be blown up at the end of the filming.
Because there was only one chance to explode, Mike Devins and visual effects supervisor Chris Cobbold simulated the entire explosion process in advance using computer 3D.
Then we used miniature models to conduct field drills, and finally determined the location of the holes for the explosives and the amount of explosives needed to ensure that the explosion would achieve the desired effect.
Hard work pays off, and finally before November, the snow mountain castle was built.
Gilbert Jr. was very satisfied with the layout. He praised Mike Devins' work: "Mike, you did a great job. It was exactly what I wanted."
Mike Devins did not take all the credit for himself: "This is all due to the cooperation of various departments and the hard-working workers. They are the hardest-working ones."
When the crew arrived in Cagalil, a heavy snow was falling, covering the entire earth and also covering the snow mountain castle with a layer of silver.
"This snow comes at the right time." Little Gilbert instructed the crew: "Be prepared, we are facing a great test."
On the first day of filming, the weather was exceptionally cold, and the actors wore heavy costumes and skied through the snow and woods.
The gunfight and fighting scenes were particularly difficult because they were shot on the snow. After each shot, the actors had to spend a lot of time recovering their strength.
Little Gilbert handed Tony Leung a cup of ginger cola. The crew's logistics department took into consideration the cold weather and the possibility of problems during filming, so they specially prepared ginger cola to ward off the cold.
"How does it feel to be filming here?" asked Gilbert Jr.
Tony Leung took the ginger cola and took a sip, and immediately felt that all the coldness in his body was gone.
He laughed and said, "It's breathtaking, that's my evaluation. I have been making movies for 20 to 30 years, and to be honest, this is the first time I have had such a magical experience.
The combination of technology and filmmaking, coupled with the artistic genius, is so perfect.”
Upon hearing this, Gilbert Jr. said: “In fact, there are Chinese-language films of this scale, but most of them rely on manpower to achieve.
The making of a movie is not only determined by the director, screenwriter and actors, it involves many aspects, such as engineering, architecture, cutting-edge computer informatics, etc.
I think the decline of Hong Kong films has a lot to do with the excessive focus on self-centeredness.”
The biggest reason is that the Hong Kong film market is not as basic as the North American film market. It has been proven countless times that a strong local market is the key to Hollywood's dominance in the world. This is also one of the reasons why Gilbert Jr. still believes that Chinese films will eventually make it, even though many Chinese filmmakers are so bad.
When this group of old and young people have almost climbed down, and when Chinese-language film directors and creators headed by Guo Fan have grown up, Chinese-language films will usher in a new chapter.
Of course, this is accompanied by the continuous rise of China's strength. You know, as a cultural business card, movies are never just movies themselves.
This trip to Hollywood also gave Tony Leung a lot of inspiration, and he also communicated with the young mainland director Guo Fan.
To be honest, he had never seen anyone who had the clear logic, sober self-awareness, practical spirit, and vigorous energy of Guo Fan's age.
Perhaps the director in front of us, Little Gilbert, is one of them, but Little Gilbert’s experience cannot be replicated.
Liang Jiahui agrees very much with what Wang Jing said. Wang Jing once said in an interview:
"A director like Gilbert Jr. would not be able to grow up no matter he is placed in Hong Kong Island or in the mainland. Only in the environment of Hollywood can he be given the opportunity to maximize his talents.
The lack of attention paid to talent is also the reason why we cannot produce geniuses.”
Of course, Wang Jing was later scolded by netizens, but what he said did make sense.
Like Guo Fan, if he had no experience in Hollywood, would he have stood out so quickly?
After a short period of adaptation, the scenes of the snow mountain castle entered the fast lane. Although the weather was cold, the crew did not complain at all.
The first is that the salary is high, and the other is that everyone is used to shooting in various harsh environments.
This director, unlike other Hollywood directors, is keen on real shooting and likes big scenes, including blowing up a built snow mountain castle.
Ellen Page knew that the Snow Mountain Castle was going to be blown up, but she thought it was a miniature model that was going to be blown up. She didn't imagine that it was the completed castle that was going to be blown up.
Seeing Ellen Page's surprised expression, Leo couldn't help but laugh and said, "That's nothing, the hospital that the Joker blew up in The Dark Knight is a real hospital.
This guy has always been so crazy and so incredible."
Before filming began, Gilbert Jr. requested eight more high-speed cameras.
"I want to see the flight trajectory of every brick." He poked at the storyboard and discussed with director of photography John Schwartzman.
"The collapse will begin from the northeast corner. The shock wave will overturn the castle dome on the west wing, and finally the main tower will be crushed and disintegrated as if it were crushed by a giant."
John Schwartzman said he understood and asked someone to set up the camera.
Little Gilbert called the safety officer and the meteorological expert again: "Is it possible that our blasting could cause an avalanche?"
Meteorological experts said: "Don't worry, Calgary is not a high-risk area for avalanches, and the explosion scene should not cause an avalanche."
Little Gilbert stroked his chin and thought: "Suppose I want to cause an avalanche, but it can't be too dangerous!"
The meteorologist was stunned: "What do you mean?"
"Let's do this," Gilbert Jr. clapped his hands and said to the safety officer, "Let's see which area is safe and suitable for filming. We'll artificially create an avalanche."
"It's crazy, really crazy." The meteorological expert muttered to himself.
Thanks to the film industry, little Gilbert's desire for destruction was directed to the film industry, otherwise he would have been a destructive maniac who endangered society. (End of this chapter)
His task was to build a snow mountain castle from scratch for filming.
At the beginning, producer Charles Roven suggested: "Little Gilbert, can we shoot with green screen and miniature models? This will be more convenient."
But Gilbert Jr. said no: "Charles, we should stick to our own characteristics and shoot on location.
What’s more, we have a sufficient budget, and the live-action method is not more expensive than using a green screen.”
Charles Rowan shrugged. "Well, as you wish, little Gilbert."
In this way, Mike Devins received the task to build a snow mountain castle here in three months before November.
In advance, art director Selina Heffey brought several architectural designers to this place with him to investigate and designed the blueprints of the snow mountain castle based on the terrain.
The designers drew inspiration from European castles and combined it with the minimalist style of modern architecture to design a building that is both classical and modern.
The entire building is made of gray-white lightweight bricks. If it is snowing, it seems to be integrated with the surrounding snow-capped mountains from a distance, which is spectacular.
However, Mike Devins had already received a task, which was to leave holes for burying explosives during the construction process so that the castle could be blown up at the end of the filming.
Because there was only one chance to explode, Mike Devins and visual effects supervisor Chris Cobbold simulated the entire explosion process in advance using computer 3D.
Then we used miniature models to conduct field drills, and finally determined the location of the holes for the explosives and the amount of explosives needed to ensure that the explosion would achieve the desired effect.
Hard work pays off, and finally before November, the snow mountain castle was built.
Gilbert Jr. was very satisfied with the layout. He praised Mike Devins' work: "Mike, you did a great job. It was exactly what I wanted."
Mike Devins did not take all the credit for himself: "This is all due to the cooperation of various departments and the hard-working workers. They are the hardest-working ones."
When the crew arrived in Cagalil, a heavy snow was falling, covering the entire earth and also covering the snow mountain castle with a layer of silver.
"This snow comes at the right time." Little Gilbert instructed the crew: "Be prepared, we are facing a great test."
On the first day of filming, the weather was exceptionally cold, and the actors wore heavy costumes and skied through the snow and woods.
The gunfight and fighting scenes were particularly difficult because they were shot on the snow. After each shot, the actors had to spend a lot of time recovering their strength.
Little Gilbert handed Tony Leung a cup of ginger cola. The crew's logistics department took into consideration the cold weather and the possibility of problems during filming, so they specially prepared ginger cola to ward off the cold.
"How does it feel to be filming here?" asked Gilbert Jr.
Tony Leung took the ginger cola and took a sip, and immediately felt that all the coldness in his body was gone.
He laughed and said, "It's breathtaking, that's my evaluation. I have been making movies for 20 to 30 years, and to be honest, this is the first time I have had such a magical experience.
The combination of technology and filmmaking, coupled with the artistic genius, is so perfect.”
Upon hearing this, Gilbert Jr. said: “In fact, there are Chinese-language films of this scale, but most of them rely on manpower to achieve.
The making of a movie is not only determined by the director, screenwriter and actors, it involves many aspects, such as engineering, architecture, cutting-edge computer informatics, etc.
I think the decline of Hong Kong films has a lot to do with the excessive focus on self-centeredness.”
The biggest reason is that the Hong Kong film market is not as basic as the North American film market. It has been proven countless times that a strong local market is the key to Hollywood's dominance in the world. This is also one of the reasons why Gilbert Jr. still believes that Chinese films will eventually make it, even though many Chinese filmmakers are so bad.
When this group of old and young people have almost climbed down, and when Chinese-language film directors and creators headed by Guo Fan have grown up, Chinese-language films will usher in a new chapter.
Of course, this is accompanied by the continuous rise of China's strength. You know, as a cultural business card, movies are never just movies themselves.
This trip to Hollywood also gave Tony Leung a lot of inspiration, and he also communicated with the young mainland director Guo Fan.
To be honest, he had never seen anyone who had the clear logic, sober self-awareness, practical spirit, and vigorous energy of Guo Fan's age.
Perhaps the director in front of us, Little Gilbert, is one of them, but Little Gilbert’s experience cannot be replicated.
Liang Jiahui agrees very much with what Wang Jing said. Wang Jing once said in an interview:
"A director like Gilbert Jr. would not be able to grow up no matter he is placed in Hong Kong Island or in the mainland. Only in the environment of Hollywood can he be given the opportunity to maximize his talents.
The lack of attention paid to talent is also the reason why we cannot produce geniuses.”
Of course, Wang Jing was later scolded by netizens, but what he said did make sense.
Like Guo Fan, if he had no experience in Hollywood, would he have stood out so quickly?
After a short period of adaptation, the scenes of the snow mountain castle entered the fast lane. Although the weather was cold, the crew did not complain at all.
The first is that the salary is high, and the other is that everyone is used to shooting in various harsh environments.
This director, unlike other Hollywood directors, is keen on real shooting and likes big scenes, including blowing up a built snow mountain castle.
Ellen Page knew that the Snow Mountain Castle was going to be blown up, but she thought it was a miniature model that was going to be blown up. She didn't imagine that it was the completed castle that was going to be blown up.
Seeing Ellen Page's surprised expression, Leo couldn't help but laugh and said, "That's nothing, the hospital that the Joker blew up in The Dark Knight is a real hospital.
This guy has always been so crazy and so incredible."
Before filming began, Gilbert Jr. requested eight more high-speed cameras.
"I want to see the flight trajectory of every brick." He poked at the storyboard and discussed with director of photography John Schwartzman.
"The collapse will begin from the northeast corner. The shock wave will overturn the castle dome on the west wing, and finally the main tower will be crushed and disintegrated as if it were crushed by a giant."
John Schwartzman said he understood and asked someone to set up the camera.
Little Gilbert called the safety officer and the meteorological expert again: "Is it possible that our blasting could cause an avalanche?"
Meteorological experts said: "Don't worry, Calgary is not a high-risk area for avalanches, and the explosion scene should not cause an avalanche."
Little Gilbert stroked his chin and thought: "Suppose I want to cause an avalanche, but it can't be too dangerous!"
The meteorologist was stunned: "What do you mean?"
"Let's do this," Gilbert Jr. clapped his hands and said to the safety officer, "Let's see which area is safe and suitable for filming. We'll artificially create an avalanche."
"It's crazy, really crazy." The meteorological expert muttered to himself.
Thanks to the film industry, little Gilbert's desire for destruction was directed to the film industry, otherwise he would have been a destructive maniac who endangered society. (End of this chapter)
