bdsm-fiction Phase 1 of Chapter 70 filming completed.
Phase 1 of Chapter 70 filming completed.
"The Devil Wears Prada, Scene 17, Act 1 – Action!"
With a crisp "snap" of the clapperboard, the air in the entire temporary studio instantly froze.
The cool, incandescent light poured down like mercury, outlining Meryl Streep's aloof, cold, and utterly emotionless face like a marble statue.
She kept her head slightly lowered, flipping through the haute couture plan for the next season in her hand, without even glancing at Anne Hathaway, who stood somewhat awkwardly in front of the desk.
Anne tightened her slightly loose sky-blue sweater, trying to mask her ignorance with an outsider's aloofness.
However, Meryl stopped moving when Anne let out a soft snicker at the sight of the two identical belts.
She slowly raised her head, took off her cold sunglasses, and her blue eyes, which seemed to see through everything, pierced Annie's face like knives across the desk.
This was followed by a two-minute monologue that was like a textbook.
From Oscar de la Renta's gown designs to Saint Laurent's tassel collection, and then to how this discounted sky-blue sweater, found in a clearance department store, went through countless layers of selection by fashion giants before finally ending up on the body of this self-proclaimed aloof intellectual.
Meryl Streep's voice wasn't loud, but every word she uttered was like a knife, stripping away the capitalist logic and power dynamics behind the fashion empire completely.
Behind the main monitor, Lin Ruiyang watched the subtle mockery on Meryl's lips in the close-up shot at 50mm focal length, and the intense sense of pressure brought to the image as the camera zoomed in—it was simply perfect.
Anne Hathaway's micro-expressions were also perfectly captured, from initial disdain to astonishment in the middle, and finally to shame and utter embarrassment.
She was completely overshadowed by Meryl Streep's terrifying acting skills, yet within that suppression, a highly dynamic chemical reaction erupted.
"Cut! Perfect!"
Lin Ruiyang took off his headphones and led the way by standing up and applauding.
Amidst the applause that erupted on set, Meryl instantly toned down her suffocating queenly aura and smiled, winking at Anne.
Anne, on the other hand, felt a great sense of relief and leaned against the back of the chair, her back soaked with sweat.
Perhaps intimidated by the previous thunderous counterattack, both the arrogant American union representatives and the Chubb Insurance executives who were reassigned became as docile as a flock of sheep when facing Lin Ruiyang on set.
David Miller would personally deliver the latest on-site safety assessment report to Lin Ruiyang every day without fail, half an hour before the end of the workday.
Without any external interference or noise, Lin Ruiyang brought the efficient industrial processes of Hollywood blockbusters to their fullest potential.
For a full twenty-five days, in the temporary studio on the fourteenth floor of the McGraw-Hill building, two Panavision intensive film cameras hummed almost non-stop.
Lin Ruiyang is like a cold and precise mechanical master who has compressed Hollywood's eight-hour workday into double the productivity.
The film captures the morning scenery of Fifth Avenue, a stroll through Central Park, a dramatic street scene near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and intense workplace clashes within a film studio...
With an extremely demanding schedule that was precise to the minute, the filming of the New York portion progressed at an astonishing pace.
Late one night in late July, as the final night scene of Anne Hathaway running in the rain wrapped up in Lower Manhattan, Mike glanced at his watch and even rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
"Director! All the shots in New York are finished." Mike swallowed hard, his voice heavy with exhaustion, but even more so with the excitement of completing the work ahead of schedule.
"This is four days ahead of the most optimistic timeline initially approved by Fox headquarters!"
Moreover, there were no cost overruns; in fact, because we were ahead of schedule, we even had a surplus of nearly $300,000 in venue rentals and extras subsidies!
Lin Ruiyang twisted his aching neck, a satisfied smile appearing on his face:
"Notify everyone that filming in New York has officially wrapped up, and the entire crew will be on vacation for the time being."
In early October, the core creative team and actors gathered at Kennedy Airport, and we flew to Paris to secure the last few of the most demanding fashion week shows.
The set erupted in cheers that had been building up for so long.
Just as Lin Ruiyang and his crew were making steady progress in Manhattan, back in China, across the ocean, a few international entertainment news reports that had been sent back from the West Coast and New York two weeks earlier had caused quite a stir.
For Chinese netizens accustomed to sitting in smoky internet cafes and refreshing web pages on large monitors, a bold and red entertainment news item was like a bombshell, crashing directly into a calm inland lake.
Sina Entertainment Homepage Headline:
"A sensation in Hollywood! Young Chinese director Lin Ruiyang helms a $3500 million A-list Fox blockbuster, employing swift and decisive tactics to overshadow American superstars!"
The news article was extremely long, not only providing a detailed translation of the New York Post's full-page apology letter for three consecutive days on its online edition, but also including screenshots from a Fox News feature video.
What shocked Chinese netizens even more was the detailed account in the report of how Lin Ruiyang, on set in New York, used the combined power of multinational financial giants and media to drag Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan, who was at the peak of her popularity, into an investigation of corporate espionage and fraud.
In an instant, the "Entertainment Gossip" section of Tianya Community was completely flooded with related discussion posts.
A post titled "In-depth analysis! Who exactly is Lin Ruiyang, the Chinese director who mobilizes American capital and manipulates Hollywood's top stars?" was upvoted tens of thousands of times in just 24 hours.
"Holy crap, is this news real or fake? In the past, when our directors went to Hollywood, which one of them didn't grovel and beg for investment, or make some marginal films and do odd jobs?"
How come Lin Ruiyang can produce a blockbuster worth 35 million US dollars right off the bat, and even manage to blacklist Hollywood A-listers?
"It's absolutely true! I specifically checked on foreign websites, and MySpace, a social networking site in the US, is full of people criticizing Lindsay Lohan. Meanwhile, the anticipation for this movie called 'The Devil Wears Prada' has already soared to the top of the charts!"
A commentator for Fox News praised Lin Ruiyang on television as "the most business-savvy eagle of the East!"
"That was so damn satisfying! This is true cultural export, a complete cultural demolition!"
I used to think Hollywood was unattainable when I watched those American blockbusters, but when they met some ruthless guys from our own country, they still got completely humiliated!
"I heard that all the major film companies in China are now completely bewildered, and they are all asking who this Director Lin is and whether he will return to China in the second half of the year."
It's said that Mr. Wang, the boss of Huayi Brothers, has already declared at a private gathering that as long as Director Lin is willing to return to China for collaboration, there's no upper limit to the investment amount, and he'll provide whatever actors Lin wants!
This fervent sense of national pride spread along the internet, not only triggering a tsunami among the general public, but also shaking up an unprecedented ideological earthquake within China's ancient and somewhat closed film industry.
In 2005, the Chinese film industry was in a phase of extreme anxiety and blind worship of the Western film industry.
Although Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic "Hero" was a box office success, it still faces various scrutiny from both a commercial and artistic perspective internationally. Chen Kaige had previously returned to China in disgrace after failing to achieve his goal.
Most domestic directors are still racking their brains trying to secure a nomination at the Big Three or obtain overseas distribution rights in Hollywood.
But now, a young director has suddenly emerged and single-handedly stormed into the heart of the world of fame and fortune, using the most sophisticated rules of American business and capital to subdue the arrogant Hollywood.