Time had finally crossed into 2009. On the gypsum desert of New Mexico, an unusually large film crew still occupied the barren land. Far from the tourist areas, in the desolate desert, Duke was busy shooting with over a thousand people.
Here, there were solitary desert smokes, car chases and gunfights, long-range sniping, close combat, heavy metal rock, colors with saturation spilling off the screen, and compositions with perfect golden ratios.
But Duke knew very well that Fury Road was a traditional hero film.
He kept this firmly in mind throughout the shoot.
For more than half a month afterward, Duke continued filming without interruption, using IMAX cameras and various digital cameras to capture from every angle the breathtaking stunts and car chases performed by the stunt actors.
By this point, the footage filmed by the crew had already reached close to 160 hours in total enough that even without sleep, it would take a full week to watch it all.
Yet only two-thirds of the film had been completed.
In the desolate desert, the war machines sat quietly. Charlize Theron, wrapped in a dirty, tattered blanket, walked to the edge of the sand dune with her back to the others. She looked into the distance. Though there was a trace of disappointment in her eyes at having lost the oasis, her gaze was still filled with unwavering determination, just like when she had resolutely led the five breeders onto this fury road.
Where was the future in this post-apocalyptic world? No one could say for sure.
Duke sat behind an IMAX camera, personally operating the shoot. His lens focused on Tom Cruise.
There was no doubt that Tom Cruise's character, Tom, was an unusually quiet and reserved man. He looked at the tall and strong back of Charlize Theron, then stood up and walked over.
This was also the scene in the script where the male and female leads had the most dialogue.
The IMAX camera slowly slid along the track to the front of Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise. Through the lens, Duke captured every expression on their faces.
The large microphone used for live recording was also slowly lowered by a boom arm to just above Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise's heads.
"I've already talked to the others," Charlize Theron said without turning to look at Tom Cruise. "Now's the best chance to cross the desert. If we leave the truck here and head out on motorcycles fully loaded, we can keep going for at least 160 days…"
She turned around and looked at Tom Cruise, who stood with his hands on his hips and a blank expression. "We saved one for you. It's fully fueled."
Charlize turned her gaze back to the ground, her voice still low. "You're very welcome to join us."
Tom Cruise still had that same deadpan expression and shook his head directly. "No. No… I'll go alone."
Charlize Theron looked up, disappointment flickering on her face. But she didn't insist. She turned and walked back toward where the women were waiting without hesitation.
"You know what?" Tom Cruise spoke again. "Holding on to hope itself is a mistake."
Hearing this, Charlize paused and turned back. Tom Cruise also looked back. The two locked eyes for a moment before Tom Cruise turned his head away and said, "If you can't change your circumstances, you can only be defeated by reality."
Duke operated the camera, giving a close-up of their faces, then stood up. "Cut! That take's good!"
Before the crew could even catch their breath, Duke shouted again, "Change the set. Next shot in fifteen minutes."
The next scene was where the male lead changed his mind and chased after the female lead and her group.
The previous shot was at night, and the next would be during the day. This was a common practice in Hollywood productions. Unless absolutely necessary, Duke typically shot nighttime scenes during the day and adjusted the background later in post-production.
The entire crew was well-coordinated. At exactly fifteen minutes, Duke called for action.
This was a close-up shot. Tom Cruise stood between the motorcycle and the war rig, gazing at the dust trails stirred up by the departing bikes, before finally changing his mind.
Similarly, there would be no illusionary little girl here. In Duke's hands, Fury Road was a completely standalone film. Tom Cruise's character was a silent, survival-driven man whose conscience had not yet been entirely worn away.
After filming the scene where he catches up to Charlize Theron and the others, the crew finally left the hellish desert and returned near Ghost Ranch. Although it was still a wasteland, compared to the desert, it felt like paradise.
Almost every scene here was an action scene. Except for a few that required visual effects, the majority needed to be filmed practically. Stunt actors performed circus-like feats daily—crashes, rollovers, and explosions were endless. Injuries were not uncommon in between.
However, the crew had implemented excellent safety precautions. Most injuries were minor bumps and scrapes.
Charlize Theron also had a mishap. While filming the scene where she climbed onto the "Giga-Horse" to kill Immortan Joe, she accidentally fell off the vehicle.
Of course, for such scenes, the vehicle was stationary, and the ground had been properly padded. But the "Giga-Horse" was quite high, and as Charlize fell, her knee unfortunately hit the mat first.
For most people, this wouldn't have been a big deal, but Charlize Theron had injured her knee in the past that was why she had left ballet school. She was in so much pain that cold sweat rolled down her forehead.
Duke quickly had her taken to a hospital in Santa Fe for a thorough check-up before he could relax. Fortunately, it wasn't serious.
Time was tight. He left staff behind to care for Charlize Theron and returned to Ghost Ranch to continue his work. He also planned to adjust the remaining shooting schedule. What he didn't expect was that just two days later, Charlize Theron returned to the set.
"I told you to rest," he said.
Looking at Charlize sitting across from him, Duke's expression darkened. "Don't forget, your leg was seriously injured years ago."
"The film is going to Cannes…" Charlize Theron didn't even look at Duke. Her gaze turned toward the filming area where Anna Prinz was directing. "I don't want your schedule to be delayed because of me. Besides, all my action scenes are already done, and the remaining dramatic scenes don't require any leg movement."
Duke thought for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. "Take care of yourself."
After speaking, he stood up, gave Charlize Theron one last look, and strode toward the filming set, never looking back again.
Charlize Theron sat in the chair and didn't look back either. She just let out a soft sigh.
She knew very well that with both her and Duke's personalities, what's gone is gone—it could never come back.
When she was young, she thought fame and career were more important than anything and could disregard everything else for them. But as she aged, she gradually realized that while career was indeed important, the things she had once brushed past were just as important.
Since she made the choice back then, Charlize Theron had no regrets and she knew regretting was useless anyway.
After all, that was a man with unshakable will and a heart of stone.
Charlize Theron had observed Ivanka Trump coldly from the sidelines. From the very beginning, she didn't think Duke and Ivanka Trump would last.
Although she hadn't met her many times, she had heard about Donald Trump's character and saw how he repeatedly crossed Duke's bottom line. With Duke's personality and principles, how could he possibly tolerate it indefinitely? Not to mention Instant Share there were simply too many interest conflicts involved.
Having struggled in the fame- and profit-obsessed Hollywood for so many years, Charlize could see clearly. Reaching his current position, Duke had to consider interests in many of his decisions not just his own, but the interests of an entire team.
Smart as she was, Charlize could naturally see that the problems between Duke and Ivanka Trump were essentially a conflict of interest between two different capital groups. And such a conflict was fundamentally irreconcilable unless one side was willing to give up.
But can capital ever give up the pursuit of profit?
Just look at Duke's subsequent actions, which fully displayed the nature of capital. He traded his shares of Instant Share for shares in Google an almost universally recognized successful deal. And after Google obtained the majority voting rights in Instant Share, at the latest shareholders' meeting, they didn't hesitate to remove Ivanka Trump from her position as chairwoman and completed their control of Instant Share.
If someone claimed Duke didn't foresee this when he sold his shares to Google, Charlize would never believe it.
She had been keeping an eye on this matter. Due to the economic downturn, the Trump family's real estate business was in deep crisis. Donald Trump was being hounded by many creditors, and the entire group was facing bankruptcy. It was said that Ivanka Trump was preparing to sell her shares in Instant Share to save the Trump Group.
Charlize Theron turned her head back and looked at Duke, sitting behind the director's monitor. Whether or not he had a hand in all this—who could say for sure?
From what she knew about Duke, he definitely wouldn't just be a spectator.
Cold and ruthless toward his enemies, seizing every opportunity to launch the most fatal attack this had always been his way of doing things.
"Boom…"
A huge explosion rang out as a modified vehicle was blasted into the air on set. Charlize didn't even flinch. She had long gotten used to working in such environments. Back when filming The Matrix and during later visits to sets, she had seen countless explosion scenes like this.
She withdrew her gaze from the set. For some reason, her thoughts suddenly turned to David Ellison. She had heard from Tina Fey that he was collaborating with Spielberg on a new film that seemed poised to go head-to-head with Fury Road…
...
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