"Morning, Gilbert!" Sofia Coppola arrived on set and greeted Gilbert. After they got more familiar, Sofia Coppola started calling Gilbert by his first name directly.
Gilbert immediately noticed a little girl following Sofia Coppola and couldn't help but smile, asking, "Sofia, who's this little sweetheart?" Before Sofia Coppola could introduce her, the little girl proactively extended her hand and said, "I'm not 'little sweetheart,' I'm Scarlett Johansson! You can call me Scar."
"Wow, Scar, it's nice to meet you!" Gilbert gently shook Scarlett Johansson's small hand. To his surprise, the little girl seemed displeased: "I'm a princess, you need to bow like a knight." If it had been just anyone, Gilbert probably wouldn't have bothered, but he couldn't bring himself to refuse such an adorable little girl. So, he performed a knight's bow, fulfilling the little girl's princess fantasy.
Sofia Coppola apologized, "I'm so sorry, Gilbert. This is Aunt Sloan's daughter. Her family just moved to Los Angeles, and Aunt Sloan asked me to look after her."
"It's fine," Gilbert said. He looked at Scarlett Johansson, who was curiously surveying the set, and smiled, "Scar, you need to listen to big sister Sofia and don't run around. The set is very dangerous."
"How dangerous?" The little girl clearly didn't believe him. "Will it explode?"
Gilbert smiled mysteriously, "Of course..."
Boom! A huge explosion rocked the entire set, and Scarlett Johansson, witnessing Hollywood's production methods for the first time, was completely stunned. The crew members' heads were ringing; they had grown used to such sounds ever since Gilbert decided to film explosion scenes practically. Sofia secretly grumbled, just another rookie who only knows how to blow things up.
Indeed, in Sofia Coppola's eyes, Gilbert was just a rookie compared to her father. However, this "rookie" was incredibly popular now, while she was being slammed by critics, which baffled Sofia. She couldn't understand what the selling point of Speed was, with all its constant explosions. Her father had told her to follow Gilbert and learn; was she supposed to learn how to blow up props?
Despite her confusion, Sofia diligently completed all her work, handling everything in an orderly manner. Seeing Scarlett Johansson's stunned expression, Sofia thought the little girl was scared. So, she quickly comforted her, "Scar, were you scared? Maybe I should have someone take you home first."
To her surprise, Scarlett Johansson, upon recovering, excitedly clapped her hands: "That was amazing! So exciting! Big sister Sofia, can they blow it up again?"
"Uh," Sofia was speechless. She didn't expect the little girl to love explosions, just like Gilbert.
Gilbert didn't have time to bother with the little girl. He held a megaphone and a walkie-talkie, directing the crew members around. "Dul, move camera three up there; I need an overhead shot." Gilbert then yelled at the lighting technician: "Sam, your lighting is off; it's too cold in tone, the colors are too vivid."
He tossed the megaphone to Annie Burton, the assistant director, and then boarded the bus in the center of the set. He told Sandra Bullock, who was playing the female lead, "Don't stare. Your facial features are too stiff; soften them." Sandra Bullock quickly nodded, indicating she understood. Gilbert then spoke to the other temporary extras on the bus: "You're not mannequins. Don't look expressionless; make appropriate expressions." The extras didn't dare to breathe too loudly, quickly expressing that they would perform well; they certainly didn't want to be replaced.
Gilbert then told Naomi Watts, "Naomi, good job, but dial it back a bit. You're stealing the scene too much." Naomi Watts couldn't hide the smile in her eyes; she was the only one who received praise. As for Sandra Bullock's less-than-friendly gaze, she didn't care. As long as Gilbert thought it was good, that's all that mattered.
After giving directions, Gilbert got off the bus and waved Dul Randolph over: "I need a camera to follow the perspective of the tires." Dul Randolph understood immediately: "I'll have someone modify it right away..."
"Mm-hmm," Gilbert nodded and walked over to Keanu Reeves, who was resting by the side of the set. He squatted down to speak with him: "Keanu, I need you to maintain a serious expression. You're a police officer, not a Chicago thug or a rock star, got it?" Keanu Reeves simply hummed, and it was unclear if he had truly listened. However, Keanu Reeves had been in this state ever since he arrived on set. Fortunately, he hadn't violated any rules by drinking or doing drugs before coming to the set. If that were the case, it would truly be difficult to handle! In this type of film, the focus was on thrilling action and explosion scenes; the actors' performances were secondary. As long as their acting met the passing standard, Gilbert wouldn't ask for more.
The morning's filming wrapped up, and in the afternoon, the crew moved to a different location to shoot an even bigger explosion scene. "Scar, we're blowing up a house this afternoon. Do you want to come see?" Gilbert asked during lunch. The little girl, who had been itching with excitement, immediately nodded enthusiastically: "Yes, yes, yes!" "Alright, I'll take you with me this afternoon then!" Gilbert patted the little girl's head, only for Scar to swat his hand away.
In the afternoon, they arrived at a small town on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The crew had just found a detached house that was slated for demolition. Gilbert walked around the house and said with satisfaction, "This location is great. Even if a Tomahawk missile landed here, it wouldn't affect the surrounding houses. It's far enough."
Seeing the pyrotechnics team busily setting up wires, Sofia Coppola curiously asked, "Gilbert, why aren't you using a remote control to detonate it? Why use wires?" Sofia Coppola had been misled by other Hollywood movies. Not just Hollywood movies, even Hong Kong films had a classic scene like this: the male lead presses a remote control, and behind him, there's a fiery explosion, but the male lead never looks back at the explosion, leaving a cool silhouette. As the saying goes, "real men don't look back at explosions," but in reality, that's not the case.
Gilbert explained, "Sofia, wireless remote controls aren't safe. Modern society has a lot of communication interference. A wireless remote detonation mode carries the constant risk of accidental explosion under signal interference. Wire-controlled explosions are much safer; there's no risk of accidental detonation, and this time we're using military-grade explosives, so it definitely needs to be more secure."
"What?" Sofia raised her voice, disbelievingly: "Military-grade explosives?"
"That's right, military-grade explosives," Gilbert nodded definitively. Generally, the explosives used for film shoots generate pressure through combustion and explode, with much less power than military-grade explosives. So, in some explosion shots, to create a larger explosive effect, they would fill them with dust. This would create a dust-filled sky effect upon detonation, which looked good visually. But if you're blowing up an actual house, you absolutely need high-performance military-grade explosives, otherwise, you can't blow up the house.
After Gilbert finished explaining the principle, Sofia was stunned: "Charles and Cain aren't stopping you?"
"This is a selling point for the film, so they..." Gilbert didn't finish his sentence, merely spreading his hands, but Sofia understood what Gilbert meant. She murmured, "Crazy. They're all crazy."
However, even crazier scenes were yet to come.