"Every unit is ready... Alpha 1, Alpha 2... Attention all the team, the helicopter will arrive at the scheduled location in two minutes, the whole team rehearsal begins..."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." The noise caused by the propeller of the Huey helicopter is getting louder and louder. Among the palm trees planted by the props team, behind several cameras, photographers are there, and the large crane is slowly adjusting, looking for the best

Suitable shooting angle.

Two helicopters slowly stopped on the shore. There is a large pond on the golf course, which is now used as an environment for Vietnam. There are palm trees by the water and weeds all over the ground (it needs to be demolished, so it has not been taken care of for a long time.

), and blue sky and white clouds.

A group of actors dressed as soldiers were scattered on the shore, plus one of the symbols of the Vietnam War, an armed helicopter. As long as the camera was not turned to take pictures of the green, no one could tell that this was an abandoned golf course.

"Monty!"

"Hey Ronald, you guys are finally going to make another helicopter movie?"

The first person to get off the helicopter was Monty Jordan, the stunt pilot that Ronald hired from the army when he was filming "Firebird". After he participated in the Gulf War, he retired from the army because Ronald

That Firebird, got a job flying a helicopter in Hollywood.

In addition to war-themed movies, he also served as a pilot to shoot aerial footage and did on-site reporting for television stations.

This time when filming the helicopter cruise scene on the Vietnam battlefield, Ronald thought of him again and asked him to be the stunt pilot.

"That's it, from left to right, flying over the 'beach', while ensuring safety, try to allow the camera to see you passing over the treetops..."

Ronald took Monty Jordan with him, holding two helicopter models, and showed him the flying footage he needed.

"It's a piece of cake. But, Ronald, before I came here, I heard that you were going to have a big helicopter attack scene like Apocalypse Now. Why are there only two of them now?"

"Monty, Francis (Coppola) has a Philippine government helicopter, which he uses for almost free, and I still have to pay the US military tens of thousands of dollars a day in leasing fees..."

Ronald also gritted his teeth and complained. The theme of this movie is not in line with the values ​​of the US military and the government like Firebird or Top Gun. His attitude towards the Vietnam War is neither in favor nor against. After watching this

After writing part of the script, the military made a much more expensive offer than before.

"So, you only borrowed two? That's not okay. When we were in Vietnam, many families were dispatched at the same time..." Monty Jordan was a little dissatisfied with this. The American army had to let them go when they came out.

Others were shocked. Two? Twenty is not much...

"Ha, Monty, come on, let me show you some high technology. This is my special effects supervisor, Van Fleet..."

Ronald called to the head of a large group of computer special effects engineers next to him. Van Fleet, Daydream's special effects supervisor. Next to him was a senior engineer from Industrial Light and Magic. Many of the special effects shots this time were produced by Daydream.

Dream and Industrial Light & Magic jointly completed it.

"It's very simple. We will take some photos of helicopters here. After the shooting is completed, we will copy the flight shots of the two helicopters and paste them to other locations. When you are in the sky, you can

I saw Huey all over the sky..."

"Hey? You can do this?" Monty Jordan also thought it was amazing. Now this kind of shot does not need to be rented out an expensive fleet like Coppola did? Then not everyone can shoot a helicopter battle.

?

"It's just like copying and pasting on the computer, except that our resolution requirements are higher and it takes more man-hours to produce..." Van Fleet explained clearly, then found two special effects engineers, holding cameras,

I hid behind the camera crew and set up a tripod facing the path of the helicopter.

"Okay, our units are ready..."

Ronald picked up the loudspeaker and looked at the scene to confirm again and again that all departments were ready for filming.

"Gary (Sinnis), what are you doing?"

Ronald saw Gary Sinise, who played Lieutenant Dan, shirtless, picked up a metal chain and put it around his neck. This was his identity tag, but it had been modified and a small thing was added.

Ronald took a closer look and saw that it was a ring, followed by a string of beads, and finally a cross with a special shape.

"Ha, I hope you don't mind, director, this is one of my relatives... my brother-in-law wore it when he was in Vietnam. He is of Irish descent..."

"It doesn't matter. My uncle also died in Vietnam. I asked Tom to bring his identity tag. This shows that our backgrounds are similar. I completely understand this feeling. I hope that some of our relatives' items will continue to be passed down in the movie...

…”

"Thank you, this is very important to me..." Gary Sinise straightened the ID tag and beads, then smiled and got ready.

"Those are the rose beads and the Penal cross, which is their patron..."

A voice of explanation came from behind Ronald. It was Ronald's aunt Karen. Aunt Karen came to the scene to watch because she was filming a scene about the Vietnam War today. Her memory of her late husband was condensed in Tom Hanks.

The identity tag worn by Forrest Gump, played by Max.

Ronald was not very clear about religion and ethnicity, so his aunt explained it to him. This is a belief among Catholics. Every ethnic group, every profession, and even different genders have different saints in history.

Be their sponsor.

Rose beads and crosses are all sacred objects recognized by the Holy See and even personally blessed, and can bless the wearer with good luck.

When the Irish were ruled by the British Empire, they passed many penal laws, prohibiting Catholics from carrying icons and weapons, and eventually developed this unique cross.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! If you know the history of this religion clearly, you can actually tell whether they are Italian or Irish by looking at the crosses they wear and the style of rose beads.

Or believers of other ethnic groups.

"Action!"

"Action! Action!..."

Today was a big event, so Ronald's shooting order was repeated by many team leaders in different places.

Two helicopters carrying Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, and Barb, played by Mykelti Williamson, slowly stopped on the shore.

Van Fleet, who was responsible for the special effects, also kept taking pictures of helicopters. He stored as many images as possible in various positions and angles for easy copying on the computer later.

Before the helicopter's blades completely stopped, Tom Hanks and Mykelti Williamson got off the helicopter, and the extras on board dropped their luggage, a bucket bag like Uncle Ronald's.

.

The two actors each picked up one, covered their military caps with one hand, put the bucket bag on their backs with the other, and walked towards the camera.

At the same time, the second helicopter roared, and right behind the helicopter they were riding on, it quickly rose up against the blades of the first helicopter, then made a sharp turn and rose into the sky.

Those are the powerful flying special effects specially made by Monty Jordan for Ronald. For the sake of old friends, they are discounted!

"Cut!"

"Cut! Cut! Cut!"

Each team called a stop, and then a recorder ran in front of the camera lens and slapped the opponent.

His clapper board was turned upside down, because the various shooting teams were not necessarily synchronized for such a big scene, and the helicopter was very noisy, so he finally relied on knocking down the clapper board to locate the sound.

"Are your lips okay?"

"No problem, you can retract and retract freely..."

Mykelti Williamson, who plays Barb, specially made the lower lip that the makeup artist made very prominent, and pulled it in, and it turned out to be almost like an ordinary person.

"I know this is uncomfortable, but this is an important plot..." Ronald patted him on the shoulder to encourage him.

Babu is a stereotypical black man. He likes to talk about how he will catch shrimps and open a restaurant in the future. Apart from their different skin colors, Babu and Forrest Gump seem to be natural brothers.

"No problem, except that this dental tray is more uncomfortable... Director, I have no problem..."

Mykelti Williamson didn't want to make Ronald feel unreliable at the critical moment, so he immediately made a few gestures to show that he was very OK.

"Okay! Keep up the momentum..."

…

The filming continued, and the two soldiers, Forrest Gump and Babu, started talking while walking towards Lieutenant Dan's place.

"I bet the water here is full of shrimps. They say the shrimps in Vietnam are the best. When we win the war and we take over here, I will bring the American shrimp boats over. We are here every day."

You can catch a lot of shrimps…”

The camera panned slowly, and Forrest Gump and Babu walked past the camera, just as Lieutenant Dan came out of a tent with a roll of paper in his hand.

"You must be my recruits"

Tom Hanks and Mykelti Williamson neatly dropped their luggage together and saluted at the same time, "Good morning, sir!"

"Put your fucking hands down, don't salute, there are a lot of fucking snipers in this area, they like to hit officers the most. Welcome to our platoon..."

Gary Sinise, who plays Lieutenant Dan, looked at the two recruits and said to Barb, played by Mykelti Williamson, "What's wrong with your lips?"

"I was born with thick lips..." Mykelti Williamson looked at Lieutenant Dan and said helplessly. Such big lips were much thicker than the stereotype of black people.

"You'd better take him in, otherwise you'll hit a landmine when you're crawling..."

Mykelti Williamson immediately stopped talking and tried to pull his lips back.

…

"Come, come, come and try the biscuits baked by my aunt herself..."

There were a lot of barbecue stoves and beer set up on site, but they were all props and not convenient to eat. During their break, Ronald took the lead in distributing his aunt's biscuits to them, and then provided them with coffee and tea.

"Oh, you really look like a Vietnam War veteran. In the veterans club where I am, they will definitely recognize you as a real veteran when they see you..."

Aunt Karen was most interested when she saw Gary Sinise, who played Lieutenant Dan. She was especially impressed by his characteristic of remaining relaxed in a difficult environment that only veterans have.

Some of those veterans couldn't stand the cruelty of the battlefield and suffered from PTSD. But there were also some who had gone through cruel things and became calm. In her opinion, Gary Sinise's performance was the essence.

"Ha, I followed my brother-in-law and studied for a month. I went to the Veterans Club and Veterans Hospital with him to observe the veterans for a long time. I heard the director say that you often take care of the veterans. I admire such people. Going to Vietnam is not theirs.
To be continued...