This was a fight scene without any flashy elements. Victory depended solely on strength and willpower.
Beside the war ring, Charlize Theron's half arm was tightly wrapped in green screen material as she engaged in close combat with the muzzled Tom Cruise.
However, like all action scenes, this kind of shot relied heavily on post-production editing. The filming was broken into countless fragments. For each shot, Duke would gather the action director Jimmy Carter, Charlize Theron, Tom Cruise, James Franco, and Alexandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima, and others together to go over the precautions for the upcoming shoot.
This scene, filmed with Duke's tricky angles, could be described as star-studded. The fame and status of Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise in the industry needed no elaboration. James Franco was also a very influential actor among the B-tier stars, and the five supporting "vases" were world-renowned Victoria's Secret Angels.
This scene would definitely be a visual feast for many viewers.
As each gritty, close-combat fight scene was filmed, Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise ended up covered in blood. This was a direct confrontation between Furiosa and the male lead Tom. Because she was a woman and had a broken arm, she inevitably lost but still looked impressive.
Aside from Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise, Duke cleverly arranged scenes for Alexandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima along with the five distinctive supporting characters.
The story began with them beautiful, fragile women who longed for freedom and refused to become mere reproductive tools for men. They bravely fled, even though they were pregnant.
Ambrosio's character, who shared her name, was the core of the "Breeders" and the one with the most rebellious spirit. She was Immortan Joe's favorite and was pregnant with his child but didn't want her child to become a cruel dictator.
It was easy to imagine that this escape was initiated by her. During the escape, she played a unique role.
In the initial fight between Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise, she did her best to assist the female lead, even though she was pregnant. Despite blood streaming down her leg, she bravely ran forward.
These five Breeders were indeed decorative in nature, but each had a unique personality. Aside from Ambrosio's role, the other four stayed in a combative state throughout the journey. While there were screams, each of them contributed their strength in one way or another. Even though they were afraid, they still took brave steps toward ultimate victory.
They did not possess Furiosa's abilities, courage, and decisiveness, but on the journey, they slowly grew and transformed. Combined with their endless yearning for freedom, they strove to become intelligent, brave, strong, yet kind women.
What made the five Victoria's Secret Angels willingly participate in the film wasn't just Duke's influence, but also something to do with the roles themselves.
When Alexandra Ambrosio, who had a past relationship with Duke, arrived on set, she said to him, "This is the most distinctive and deep character I've ever played among all the 'vase' roles."
Of course, any role played by a Victoria's Secret Angel was bound to be decorative.
"Cut!"
Duke shouted loudly to halt the scene, then added, "Scene change. Get ready for the next shot!"
The camera slid forward along the track. Tom Cruise sat in the driver's seat of the Vehicle. Duke stayed behind the director's monitor and shouted to John Schwartzman, "Camera 2, follow the Vehicle. Camera 1, shoot from behind. You've got ten minutes for adjustments."
Exactly ten minutes later, Duke yelled, "Action!" and filming resumed. Tom Cruise drove the Vehicle out about two hundred feet before stopping.
Charlize Theron, along with the five Victoria's Secret Angels, chased after him. Bar Refaeli even gave a hard kick to a chastity belt lying on the ground.
"This woman's not bad."
Just as the shoot ended, a familiar voice sounded in Duke's ear. "Do you have her contact info?"
"Leo, are you planning to change girlfriends again?"
Hearing that familiar, slightly mocking female voice, Duke immediately turned around. Scarlett, wearing a baseball cap, and Leonardo DiCaprio, in sunglasses, were already standing behind him.
Temporarily putting down his work, Duke nodded at Leonardo, then turned and kissed Scarlett lightly. "What brings you two here?"
Scarlett returned the kiss with a smile and said, "Iron Man 2 has wrapped filming. My work's done."
"I got dragged along by her," Leonardo said with some helplessness. "I was returning your yacht in Malibu when she caught me and pulled me here."
As he spoke, his eyes drifted toward the set and landed on Bar Refaeli.
Duke shook his head, while Scarlett teased, "Blonde, long legs you two have really similar taste."
"Me and him?" Duke pointed at himself, then at Leonardo. "Darling, Leo only dates models."
Scarlett knew all about Duke's past—he never hid any of it.
When the shoot ended and the actors went back to their trailers to remove makeup, Leonardo finally retracted his gaze and turned to Duke. "I think she's a Victoria's Secret model, right?"
Duke sat back down behind the monitor and waved at him. "Go ask her yourself. Don't worry, I won't kick you off the set."
Leonardo's aesthetic taste was world-renowned. Though Bar Refaeli was from Israel and of Jewish descent, she was a standard blonde bombshell—exactly Leo's type.
Watching Leonardo ditch his reason for visiting and head toward the makeup trailers, Duke could only shake his head helplessly. He motioned for Scarlett to sit wherever she liked and continued reviewing the footage they'd just shot.
It wasn't until Duke finished working that Scarlett, who had been idly playing with her phone, finally spoke again. "Before we came, I was in New York. The godmother said we're spending Christmas in New York this year."
"No problem." Duke stood up and let out a long breath. "I'll call her tonight."
He glanced at his watch and said to an assistant nearby, "Send out the word, that's a wrap for today."
Having shot for so many days, and with many of the action scenes being genuinely difficult, the crew's progress hadn't been fast. Still, everything was proceeding according to Duke's planned schedule. At the current pace, filming should wrap up by early February at the latest.
Apart from a small portion filmed at Warner Bros. Studios, the rest of the scenes were being shot in the wilderness and deserts of New Mexico. The time saved on location transfers could be used instead for filming.
The only slightly troublesome factor was Tom Cruise. Mission: Impossible 4 was in preparation, and he had to leave the set from time to time.
As in the past, Mission: Impossible 4 also had investment from Duke. Naturally, he wouldn't oppose Tom Cruise who was practically the actual boss of that crew leaving the set. But as a result, many scenes couldn't be shot in the sequence Duke had originally envisioned.
Still, that wasn't a major problem. Having worked in the industry for so many years, making appropriate adjustments was nothing difficult for Duke.
Throughout the filming process, Duke treated this movie with extreme caution—after all, Fury Road wasn't a genre he was entirely comfortable with.
The film had a simple plot, and many parts needed to be filled with shots of small details in order to overwhelm the viewer.
First was color adjustment. A dry desert yellow would be the film's main tone, complemented by the desert sky's blue, the iron gray unique to damaged motorcycles, the crazed red costume of the guitarist and the peacock blue of his flame-throwing electric guitar, the cold, tranquil moonlight blue of the desert night...
Since Fury Road was a visual movie, these colors had to be used in perfect harmony.
Second, the fight scenes had to be clear. The film had way too many action sequences, and the fast pace couldn't be allowed to confuse or disorient the audience.
There were also various post-apocalyptic-style accessories like Tom Cruise's muzzle, metallic skull logos on the war machines, Charlize Theron's mechanical arm, guns with heavy retro styling and intricate engravings, and a wide range of weapons used during the chase scenes...
Most important of all was that the entire background score had to elevate the film and give viewers a strong sense of immersion. Combined with the rhythmic strumming of the guitarist suspended by wires, the thrill could burst out of the screen at any moment!
On that point, Duke gave up on Hans Zimmer his style just wasn't right and instead chose a composer skilled in wildly intense heavy metal and electronic music.
Another issue was that Duke had to correct a bad habit from his previous films during shooting that is, the protagonists of Fury Road weren't superheroes.
They had to be properly humanized.Their power had to be scaled down. Like after surviving the desert storm, the three of them engaged in a scuffle where Tom Cruise barely managed to win. Later, Charlize Theron was stabbed deeply by her own gear-shift blade—she could still move, but only with great difficulty, as if she could collapse at any moment. It gave them the feel of being more like ordinary humans.
Superhero movies were all the rage these days, with protagonists acting wildly cool and unstoppable. Though the genre wasn't on the decline yet, with such severe homogeneity, releasing a science fiction action film with a totally different style would definitely bring the audience the fresh shock Duke always emphasized.
Once shooting ended, Duke gave Anna Prinz a few instructions, then pulled Scarlett into his trailer. The two hadn't seen each other in a long time.
About an hour later, when Duke and Scarlett emerged from the trailer and walked to the resting area in the gypsum desert, over a dozen bonfires were already lit there.
.....
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