When Luke and Annie arrived by car at the mountaintop filming location, they found Depp sitting in front of Bob, his face dark with frustration.
"Aren't we like brothers? Why would you screw me over like this?" Depp grumbled.
"I'm doing this for your own good! If you want to leave a legendary mark on the screen, you can't shy away from hard work. Why not take a page out of Luke's book?" Bob replied.
His words were classic, the kind of "it's for your own good" line that justifies all sorts of unreasonable demands.
"What's going on?" Luke asked, curious.
"This guy tampered with the planks on the suspension bridge and won't tell me which ones or how many!" Depp said, clearly wronged.
"That's how you capture Captain Jack's nervous, shaky vibe! If you step on a hollow plank, it might even add an unexpected comedic twist!" Bob said with a straight face.
Hearing their exchange, Luke immediately got the picture.
The next scene was Captain Jack sneaking away from the natives, making a mad dash across a rickety suspension bridge only to hit a dead end and get captured to be roasted.
The bridge hung between two peaks, with a hundred-meter drop into the canyon below.
Forget running across it—just standing on that swaying bridge when the wind kicked up would make most people crouch down and scream.
But Bob thought that wasn't thrilling enough to get the effect he wanted.
So, he replaced some of the bridge's planks with hollow ones.
If Depp stepped on one, he'd fall through, risking a tumble off the bridge.
Sure, there was a safety net below to prevent accidents, but Depp had no interest in dangling mid-air, so he was fiercely against Bob's action scene setup.
For most people, the scariest thing is uncertainty.
You don't know how many planks are hollow or where they are.
Every step could be a misstep.
Even if you hit a few hollow planks, you still wouldn't know how many more were waiting.
That feeling of a sword hanging over your head was downright awful.
But only this setup could make Depp deliver that cautious, on-edge performance.
After all, except for Luke, nothing beats the real thing for authenticity.
"This is Bob's call. I'm staying out of it," Luke said after getting the full story, choosing not to get involved.
"Depp, if you don't follow through with the shoot as per the contract, you'll be held accountable," Bob said with a sly grin.
"Fine, fine! You jerk, I'll remember this!" Faced with the contract threat, Depp reluctantly agreed.
Seeing this, Luke marveled at how much Bob had changed lately.
It wasn't just his personality—he was throwing himself into learning the craft of filmmaking like a maniac. Maybe burying himself in work was his way of dealing with inner pain.
But this also brought an unexpected perk: Bob was now practically running many of the action scenes.
He was growing fast, and maybe soon he'd step up from action coordinator to a rookie director.
At the very least, directing action films seemed within his reach.
"Director, we're ready to shoot," Bob said into his earpiece, seeing Depp give in.
"All departments, get ready. Filming starts soon," came director Verbinski's reply through the earpiece.
Luke and Annie grabbed some chairs and sat off to the side, ready to watch the scene unfold.
Usually, others watched Luke film; today, he got to kick back and see someone else in action.
"Action!"
With the director's call, Captain Jack seized the moment when the cannibal tribe's attention was elsewhere and bolted.
He quickly reached the suspension bridge.
Staring at the shaky, unreliable-looking bridge, he cautiously extended one foot, lightly tapping the surface.
Creak~
The plank groaned but held firm.
Captain Jack stood steady on the bridge.
If he didn't know about the hollow planks, Depp would've been sprinting across by now.
But instead, he moved with extreme care, each step like he was walking on eggshells, looking hilariously timid.
"Ha, his moves are so funny—he's like a sneaky little thief," Annie said, laughing.
"Read the latest chapter first at [site name]!"
"That's exactly why Bob insisted on this. The audience is gonna lose it watching this," Luke replied.
Just then, the natives noticed the fleeing Captain Jack and started chasing after him, yelling.
Realizing he was being pursued, Jack knew he had to speed up or get caught.
So, he picked up the pace but couldn't help hobbling along nervously.
His movements were like an exaggerated bow-legged waddle.
"Hahaha, I'm dying," Annie said, clutching her stomach with laughter.
"Faster! Move it! If you get caught, we reshoot!" Bob shouted from the sidelines.
Hearing the cue, Depp forced himself to speed up, wobbling like a lame goose.
When he finally reached the end of the bridge, his foot suddenly twisted!
Did I hit a hollow plank? The thought flashed through Depp's mind.
Luckily, he was already at the bridge's edge, so he rolled forward, tumbling across.
Reaching the other side, Captain Jack looked back, realizing he hadn't stepped on a hollow plank—he'd just tripped in his panic.
But how had he not hit a single hollow plank the whole way?
Am I just that lucky today?
Depp was puzzled, but the director hadn't called cut, so he kept running.
Ahead was a dead end, and soon Captain Jack was cornered.
Depp turned around, shocked to see a crowd of actors playing natives charging across the bridge, surrounding him.
Wait a second.
How did none of them hit a hollow plank either?
It couldn't be that everyone was just that lucky!
Then Bob sly grin popped into Depp's mind, and it hit him:
I got played! There were no hollow planks—Bob was messing with me!
Realizing this, Depp laughed in frustration, but the smile fit Captain Jack's helpless mood perfectly.
Surrounded by the natives, Captain Jack pulled out a bottle of seasoning and started sprinkling it on himself.
First a dash under each armpit, then a couple shakes over his head.
"Gotta season it to taste, right?"
"Cut!"F