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Chapter 272: A Modern Version of Granny Liu Visiting the Grand View Garden
🕑 Added 2025-03-27 17:49:20 +0000 UTCIn the West Coast New District of Qingdao, Shandong Province, the Oriental Film Metropolis, covering an area of 3.76 million square meters, was under construction.
Thanks to the keen eye of Hollywood director Gilbert Landrini, who saw the potential of this location, two large-scale soundstages were being built here.
Local authorities and businessmen, seizing this opportunity, expanded the Oriental Film Metropolis around these two state-of-the-art soundstages, the most advanced in China.
Although only these two large soundstages had been completed so far, their scale was on par with Hollywood's largest soundstages, and production teams had already begun moving in.
Sure enough, as soon as these two soundstages were completed, they welcomed their first Hollywood production—The Lord of the Rings.
Since it was Gilbert who had proposed the construction of these soundstages, and The Lord of the Rings production team had provided partial funding, the Lord of the Rings studio held a stake in the facility.
Soundstages could be used repeatedly, ensuring a continuous stream of revenue in the future.
The Lord of the Rings studio operated as a third-party production entity, based on third-party insurance systems. If The Lord of the Rings was successful, this studio could potentially run for over a decade.
Gilbert's arrival in China with his massive Lord of the Rings crew created quite a stir.
A foreign production of this scale coming to China was unprecedented and highly unusual.
The local reaction was one of excitement and delight. If they handled this opportunity well and properly accommodated these international guests, it would be a prestigious achievement for the region.
Hearing that The Lord of the Rings project had landed in China, even high-level officials took great interest. The top figures in the cultural sector had issued multiple directives, emphasizing the importance of providing excellent service to the production.
To ensure that Hollywood's crew was well taken care of, relevant departments assembled a team of professionals from China's film industry to liaise with The Lord of the Rings team.
Of course, there was an unspoken motive behind this—learning from the Hollywood crew.
A senior official privately instructed these selected professionals that this was a rare learning opportunity, and they should absorb as much as possible.
This showed that not all Chinese professionals were simply being subservient; while providing top-tier service, they were also looking to gain valuable insights from Gilbert's Hollywood team.
Gilbert, for his part, was happy to see them learning. At the very least, if it could inspire and elevate Chinese cinema, it would be beneficial.
However, the reality was that some aspects of Hollywood's filmmaking process were still too advanced, and Chinese cinema was not yet in a position to fully replicate them.
Beyond the film professionals, local officials also went to great lengths to accommodate the Hollywood crew.
They even traveled across China—and to Hong Kong and Macau—to recruit top Western chefs, ensuring that the foreign crew members would have familiar food and not struggle with Chinese cuisine.
In fact, before Gilbert arrived with the main Lord of the Rings crew, over a thousand people had already come to China in advance to prepare for the film.
And that wasn't the full extent of it. If the Chinese staff working on The Lord of the Rings were included, along with Gilbert's team, the entire production crew exceeded a staggering 5,000 personnel.
Of course, the crew wouldn't maintain that number at all times, as people would come and go. However, for the duration of filming, it was expected that the production would consistently employ over 4,000 people.
Such an enormous crew was almost unheard of—not only in Chinese cinema but even in Hollywood.
Among those deeply impressed by this was Ning Hao, a newly enrolled student in the Cinematography Department at the Beijing Film Academy.
Since Gilbert was an honorary alumnus of BFA, the school was granted a rare opportunity. They handpicked over twenty students from the Directing, Cinematography, and Acting departments to join The Lord of the Rings crew as trainees. Ning Hao was one of them.
From the Acting Department, rising actors like Huang Xiaoming and Chen Kun were also selected.
Though both had already landed roles in outside projects, they were still puzzled by the decision—especially since they didn't speak English and weren't sure how they could contribute. But since it was an official assignment, they had no choice but to comply.
Huang Xiaoming and Chen Kun were close friends and also had a good relationship with Zhao Wei.
However, Zhao Wei was too busy to join them. She was focused on her music career, recording an album, and had also started acting in films.
The school had initially planned to send Zhao Wei as well, but she declined due to her packed schedule.
Unlike Zhao Wei, Huang Xiaoming and Chen Kun weren't famous enough to make such decisions. Besides, they were curious about Hollywood filmmaking, so they accepted the assignment.
When they arrived in Qingdao, Huang Xiaoming—who was a native of the city—was taken aback by how much his hometown had changed.
The most shocking part, however, was the sheer number of foreign faces everywhere.
Aside from the German concession period, Qingdao had never seen so many foreigners at once.
Upon reporting to the production team with their instructors, Huang Xiaoming immediately noticed a tall, buzz-cut foreigner—none other than the legendary director, Gilbert.
Gilbert's photo was displayed on BFA's alumni wall, and there were stories about how he had visited the campus back in 1994 and 1995.
But the most surprising thing was that Gilbert spoke fluent Mandarin while conversing with the local staff.
One of the local officials, speaking in an overly respectful tone, said, "Director Gilbert, we have a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned. Do you have time to attend?"
"A ribbon-cutting ceremony?" Gilbert pondered for a moment before agreeing. "Alright, I can spare some time to attend."
The official, pleased that he had successfully completed his task, quickly added, "After the ceremony, we've prepared a banquet. We'd love for you to join us and discuss some matters."
Being a foreigner in appearance but a Chinese person at heart, Gilbert was well aware of the so-called "banquet culture" in China.
However, he was far too busy to indulge in formal dinners and politely declined. "That won't be necessary. The production is underway, and every day costs us a fortune. We can't afford to waste time."
The official looked slightly disappointed, feeling that this foreigner lacked proper etiquette by refusing his offer.
But since Gilbert was an international guest, they had no choice but to accommodate him. In the end, it didn't matter much—after all, the project was being closely watched by higher authorities.
Anyone who dared to make things difficult or play tricks on this project would definitely face consequences!
Huang Xiaoming managed to grasp the general idea and was surprised, saying, "Wait, this foreigner actually speaks Chinese?"
"Shh!" Chen Kun gestured for him to lower his voice. "Keep quiet, or do you want to get into trouble?"
Huang Xiaoming immediately made a gesture of zipping his lips and obediently followed the group into the studio.
Once inside, Huang Xiaoming was utterly stunned. These two studios were incredibly vast, covering a huge area and boasting great height, making the space feel enormous.
Chen Kun was equally shocked. Both of them had filmed in studios before, but they had never seen anything of this scale.
The key thing was the presence of many unfamiliar-looking devices operating, all seemingly high-tech.
Currently, in Chinese studios, most equipment still required manual operation.
Not only was it exhausting, but it was also highly inefficient.
With manual operations, setting up and resetting a scene typically took at least half a day—even for a small studio. If it were in a place of this scale, a single scene setup could take two to three days.
However, Huang Xiaoming and Chen Kun noticed that in this studio, the only part requiring manual operation was probably the central control system. The rest seemed almost entirely automated.
Ning Hao was also amazed, feeling like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden—everything was fascinating.
It was said that this place had been built following Hollywood studio standards, with all cutting-edge equipment imported directly from Hollywood, representing the most advanced film technology of the time.
Ning Hao couldn't help but imagine: If I were directing a film here, commanding such a massive crew, what kind of experience would that be?
Meanwhile, some of the directing students accompanying them were making sarcastic remarks.
"What kind of film crew needs three to four thousand people? Are they secretly on some kind of espionage mission?" one student joked.
Another student tapped his head. "Do you think this is like our small productions? Even with Zhang Guoshi directing, his crew rarely exceeds a thousand people.
This is Hollywood. They're professionals."
"But professionalism doesn't mean having more people. You can't say that just because they have more people, they're more professional, right?" The student remained unconvinced.
He thought there was no need for them to come and learn from this. Isn't filmmaking just about writing a script, finding actors, and picking up a camera to shoot? Why make it so complicated?
He believed the school was making a big deal out of nothing and that their participation was completely unnecessary.
However, Ning Hao had a different perspective. He said, "My friend, I think you need to set aside your biases and look at things objectively.
I've heard that this is a trilogy with a total investment of $350 million. That amount could fund dozens of our films and still have money left over.
You're only looking at the three to four thousand people and thinking it's excessive, but have you considered the level of management required to coordinate this many people without making mistakes? Doesn't that demonstrate Hollywood's professionalism?
Be honest with yourself—if you were put in charge of managing three thousand people, not for a year but just for a week, could you guarantee everything would run smoothly?"
The student was at a loss for words. "Uh…"
Another student agreed with Ning Hao. "Exactly. And let's not forget, our own staff members are involved in this production.
I even heard that the military is assisting with filming. If you count the Chinese staff working on this project, there are already over a thousand people. With two teams working together under different systems, coordinating everything is a huge challenge."
Ning Hao sighed. "I wonder how our honorary alumnus managed to solve this problem. And why did he choose China as the filming location? It's puzzling."
This was indeed a peculiar point. While it wasn't unheard of for foreign directors to shoot films in China—The Last Emperor being a prime example—this was a Western story with a massive Hollywood production, and it was strange that they were filming it in China.
Rumor had it that aside from the Qingdao studio, The Lord of the Rings crew had also built a full-scale city in a place called Gazi Mountain in Inner Mongolia, reminiscent of Chen Gezi's directorial style.
Apparently, the scale of that city was massive, astonishing everyone who saw it.
Not only that, but the crew had also been scouting locations all over China, even constructing an entire town in Yunnan Province.
A friend who had visited the site claimed it was breathtaking—one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen.
All of this left Ning Hao feeling both curious and amazed.
The Lord of the Rings crew was truly extraordinary.
Once all the Beijing Film Academy students had arrived, Gilbert, in consideration of his past connection with his alma mater, came over to address them.
"Hello, everyone. I am Gilbert Landrini. As you can see, I am a director," he introduced himself in fluent Chinese.
This surprising scene left the students in awe.
There were very few foreigners who could speak such fluent Chinese.
Gilbert continued, "I believe that for many of you, this is your first time here. You may feel a range of emotions—shock, confusion, or even skepticism.
But I urge you to settle your hearts, cast aside any restless thoughts, and truly observe and learn.
In the near future, you may become bridges of cultural exchange between our two film industries.
That's all I have to say. I wish you an enjoyable and fruitful learning experience with The Lord of the Rings crew."
The students responded with enthusiastic applause. Regardless of anything else, this honorary alumnus certainly knew how to give a compelling speech. Everyone appreciated his words.
