America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Los Angeles, Santa Monica Commercial Plaza.

In the spacious lounge, Bale sat alone, his mind somewhat hazy.

There was a knock on the door, and the agent outside reminded him, "Fifteen minutes, and the event will start."

Coming back to his senses, Bale responded, "I know."

The upcoming event was an important roadshow promotion for "Terminator 2018."

The Santa Monica Commercial Plaza had seen classic scenes from the Terminator series, where John Connor first encountered T1000 and T800.

Therefore, the first roadshow in North America after the film's release was arranged here.

But Bale couldn't muster up any enthusiasm because the opening weekend in North America grossed only $42.25 million!

Compared to his arch-rival Martin Davis's new film after "The Dark Knight," the opening weekend's box office hadn't seemed to fall by much.

But a $200 million investment compared to a $40 million investment, a PG-13 rating compared to an R-rated one, and the disparity in the scale of promotion and distribution...

An utter disaster!

Bale, who had been overshadowed by Martin in "The Dark Knight," had hoped to turn things around with his new work and put Martin in his place.

But while the idea was beautiful, the reality was cruel.

Checking the time, Bale suppressed the discomfort in his heart and walked out of the lounge, heading down the corridor toward the event site.

As soon as he stepped onto the stage, before the host could speak, there was a chorus of boos and shouts from below.

"Is this what you call a Terminator movie?"

"This trash film has desecrated the name of Terminator!"

"Christian Bale, you're not fit to be the savior!"

"Get off the stage; nobody likes your crap movie!"

"You don't deserve to stand here!"

Many of the people who had come over were die-hard fans of the Terminator series, with extreme love for the franchise.

They loved the first two installments of Terminator as much as they loathed this one.

In the 1990s, Arnold Schwarzenegger stood on this stage to start the promotion for "Terminator 2."

The reputation of "Terminator 2018" was so poor that die-hard fans denied it as a legitimate Terminator film.

"Get lost! All of you, get lost!"

Fans, crazy with rage, were beyond reason; some threw their cans of Coca-Cola onto the stage, making a chaotic noise upon impact.

Bale's expression turned exceedingly ugly; the film's failure had already soured his mood, and this current scene only added fuel to the fire.

He had never been a man with a good temper.

During the shooting of "Terminator 2018," a mistake by the cinematographer, combined with a casual mention of Martin, had sent Bale into a rage, blasting the cinematographer for over forty minutes on set, which not even the director and producer could restrain.

With a bang, a bottle of Coca-Cola hit the edge of the stage, the bursting bottle spraying liquid near Bale.

Bale turned around without a moment's hesitation and walked straight off the stage.

Bryce Howard was stunned at his side, unsure of whether to follow Bale.

There was an uproar below; paparazzi and journalists went mad, scrambling to the stage exit, eager to interview Bale.

The crowd was too frantic; the security barriers were on the verge of collapse.

Bale strode down from the stage.

The reporter from TMZ, adhering to the principle of making news when there's none and creating spectacle when there's no highlight, blurted out loudly, "Bale, does the failure of 'Terminator 2018' prove one thing? 'The Dark Knight' was a success largely due to Martin Davis, not you!"

The scene was chaotic, but every word reached Bale's ears; he suddenly stopped in his tracks and glared coldly at the reporter.

The reporter continued shouting, "Martin's new low-budget film made a huge profit, but what about you? Your new film with you as the lead actor is a severe financial flop!"

Other journalists chimed in, "The Dark Knight gave you a star effect, but didn't you just ride on Martin's coattails?"

Another reporter's microphone boldly pushed through the barrier, "Bale, don't you feel you are overrated?"

Bale forcibly turned back and walked away step by step. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

Questions from the reporters continued to follow, "Not answering means you agree, right?"

Bale remained silent and quickly left the roadshow site.

The leading actor left prematurely, and the roadshow ended abruptly.

The next day, all entertainment media in Los Angeles unanimously attacked Bale, stating that calling him 'overrated' was putting it mildly; some even cursed him as box office poison.

To praise one and step on others was a trick the media was best at; the American media had a natural bias toward Martin and seized on Bale's mistakes to relentlessly attack.

An infuriated Bale later announced through social media that he was withdrawing from the post-screening promotion of "Terminator 2018."

This move had not been communicated with Warner Bros., and the company was extremely irritated with Bale.

Many top executives at Warner directly put Bale on their blacklist of collaborative actors.

......

Entering June, the filming of "Inception" officially began at Astra Film Studio.

Nolan started with shooting all the indoor scenes first.

In view of Martin's own characteristics, the crew slightly intensified the action scenes, of course, without turning Martin's character into a killer like Jonathan.

In the set built to resemble a Japanese palace, Martin, wielding a handgun, went on a killing spree, easily taking down several gunmen clad in black, and then shouldering another one off.

"Cut!" Nolan called a halt to the shooting.

Martin approached the stuntman, who had been padded under his suit, helped him up, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." The stuntman was working with Martin for the first time and hadn't expected such a big star to have such a good attitude.

Martin patted him on the shoulder and looked towards Nolan, who was walking over.

Nolan said, "There's something not quite right with the action scene."

Martin put away the prop gun and asked, "Is there a problem with my positioning, or are the movements not crisp enough?"

Nolan gestured and said, "Your movements are too clean and crisp, and you come off as too skilled in front of the camera."

Martin asked, "Is it a problem to be too skilled?"

With that, Nolan's understanding became clearer, and he simply called Martin over to the director's monitor to watch the footage they had just shot.

In the playback, Martin moved like a tiger descending a mountain, swift and powerful.

Nolan reminded him, "Do you see the problem now?"

Martin gradually understood and nodded slightly, "My makeup and positioning are fine, and so are the dramatic scenes, but the problem is the action scenes; I'm acting like a different Jonathan."

"Exactly," Nolan emphasized, "Martin, you are Cobb, not Jonathan. You're a dream thief with some martial prowess, not a super assassin."

Martin took all these words to heart.

Nolan said, "Tone down your action scenes, let the character's skills be weaker than your own."

Martin nodded, "I understand."

"This is not only your issue, the action choreographer and I have misjudged as well." Nolan had not expected Martin to be more formidable than anticipated. It must have been due to his recent role as Jonathan, and some previous habits that remained, which appeared particularly fierce on camera.

Other crews find it challenging to shoot action scenes because actors' abilities are far from what's required of their characters.

With Martin, however, they needed the actor to perform more sluggishly, to be weaker.

Nolan called over the action choreographer, paused the shoot, and together with Martin, the three of them discussed adjustments to the action scenes.

The most important aspect was that Martin's level of combat proficiency couldn't be too much higher than Mene, the male supporting character, and had to be about the same.

Mene had been training with guns and exercising with Martin, providing a clear benchmark for comparison.

When the shooting restarted, Martin slowed down, and his actions were no longer clean and crisp; they started to drag.

Nolan still insisted on shooting on location, avoiding CGI whenever possible, including the construction of the Japanese palace and nearly all other scenes, which were built as physical sets.

When they wrapped for the afternoon, Martin, after removing his makeup, followed Nolan to another sound stage.

Mene was there, training for a critical action scene.

The script included a fight in a dream corridor, which would be presented in a rotating manner.

To achieve the desired filming effect, Nolan brought in a physicist from Morocco and spent a considerable amount of money to specially build a massive centrifuge.

This device is commonly used in Hollywood for filming space and zero-gravity sequences but hadn't been used much in recent years. After the cost of CGI effects decreased, this equipment became both expensive and time-consuming.

Only Nolan, the film purist who had just created the box-office hit "The Dark Knight," could take on such a challenge. Otherwise, the completion guarantee from the insurance company would have been a problem.

When Martin arrived, the huge centrifuge built of steel was rotating.

This contraption was over ten meters tall and nearly forty meters long, looking quite impressive.

The rotating corridor used for filming was fixed in the center of the centrifuge, where Mene and several stunt actors were training inside.

An elderly man with an assistant was monitoring the operation of the centrifuge through equipment.

Nolan gestured towards them, and the assistant director notified the actors inside, so the centrifuge gradually came to a stop.

Martin followed Nolan over.

Nolan introduced him, "This is Professor Mordecai from the University of Casablanca, an excellent physicist."

Martin, not much of a scholar, still held respect for learned individuals and stepped forward to shake hands, "Hello, Professor."

Professor Mordecai, bald in front, with a particularly large nose, was very enthusiastic, "My daughter is a fan of your films, could you possibly give me an autographed photo for her when you have time?"

He said with a smile, "Help an old father fulfill his daughter's wish."

Martin agreed immediately, "No problem, I'll sort it out and have it sent to you."

"Thank you," Mordecai said his thanks, then turned his gaze to the large centrifuge he oversaw, "Equipment like this shouldn't be scrapped as garbage after the shoot. Director Nolan, after we're done filming, could you let me dismantle this device and take it back to Casablanca?"

After some thought, Nolan said, "You'll need to pay a disposal fee."

Mordecai quickly said, "I'll call the university right away, they'll be happy to cover the cost."

As he went to make the call, Martin commented, "The professor is very dedicated."

Nolan said, "Conditions are limited here, many professors even struggle with research funding. If it weren't for the substantial payment by the production and Professor Mordecai's lack of research funds, we couldn't have brought him on board."