Faced with these actors who are eager for fame but lack much capital themselves, the production team certainly wouldn’t offer high salaries.

　　After protracted negotiations, Keanu Reeves’ agent secured a fee of $400,000 for him, while the other main male actor, Dennis Hopper, received $200,000.

　　As for the female lead, in Hollywood where there is a huge pay gap between male and female actors, Uma Thurman received only $80,000.

　　The production team successfully compressed all the actors’ salaries to under $1.5 million.

Chapter 9: Running-In

　　A film, especially one with a relatively high investment, is a large-scale battle that requires careful planning. Among all the pre-production work, the most exhausting roles are undoubtedly three positions—producer, director, and screenwriter.

　　The script had long been finalized and wouldn’t be changed without special circumstances. In the previous two months, Duke had also done plenty of planning as a director, but even before filming began, he couldn’t relax, as there were many matters that required the director’s involvement.

　　Although there were dedicated people in charge of renting equipment and props, Duke still had to review everything. Anything that didn’t meet his requirements had to be replaced. Taking the producer, cinematographer, and art director along for location scouting was also one of the director’s basic pre-production tasks.

　　The cinematographer needed to consider how the camera would operate and shoot in real locations; if the director felt the site differed from the scene in his mind, he had to communicate with the set designer and art director to see how to modify it to better match the desired atmosphere. Once the location was chosen, the producer would negotiate with the site owner about rental details, usage time, costs, and other considerations.

　　Once the personnel and locations were set, Duke would revise the script again based on the actual situation, turning the storyboard drafts into different shooting scripts according to the plan—how many takes each scene needed, which camera angles to try, how far the actors’ emotions should develop or be controlled at that point…

　　In addition to the storyboard scripts, Duke also prepared a schedule, coordinating time based on locations and actors. Scenes set in the same location had to be shot together. As the director, he had to keep a clear mind; making the rookie mistake of having actors wear conflicting costumes in different scenes at the same location would be a laughingstock.

　　Besides all this, Duke also had to work with several assistant directors to create the continuity log. The first assistant director, Conner, would occasionally make veiled remarks targeting him, making the whole process bumpy and difficult. Duke was under tremendous pressure and almost lost his temper several times.

　　Fortunately, Duke was well aware that he was here to make a film, not to engage in office politics. If he let these trivial matters distract him, he would be the one to suffer in the end.

　　It took even more effort than expected to finalize the continuity log, which made Duke realize something else: he desperately needed a smart, capable assistant who also understood the film business. With such an assistant, he could basically free himself from these tedious affairs and devote more energy to filming.

　　Unfortunately, he didn’t even have enough money to pay off his credit card, let alone hire an assistant.

　　In short, compared to the crews he’d worked with in his previous life, the pre-production work for a Hollywood film was even more complex and detailed, taking up more time as well. Plus, actors needed time for costume fittings and character study. The mid-September start date that Robin Grant had anticipated naturally became impossible. The preparation period for “Speed” was delayed by a full two weeks, and it wasn’t until October that pre-production finally wrapped up.

　　On October 3, 1991, after being tormented by heavy work and stress to the point of insomnia, Duke was reborn from the ashes and regained his energy, because “Speed” finally began filming on the soundstage at Universal Studios!

　　There was no press conference, no flashing cameras, and no elaborate ceremony—the crew quietly began shooting.

　　“Cut!”

　　Just a dozen seconds into the first test shoot, Duke called a halt. He stood up from behind the director’s camera and paced back and forth among the props and set pieces arranged to look like the ground floor elevator lobby, finally stopping in the middle of the set.

　　Dennis Hopper, who played the villain, and another extra both stepped aside.

　　Some scenes look fine to the naked eye, but when filmed, even the smallest problems are magnified. Although they had been communicating for over two months, this was still the first time Duke was working with all the departments together, so some adjustment was inevitable.

　　“Dim the lights a bit more. I need a stronger gray metallic texture.”

　　After thinking for a few minutes while reviewing the footage, Duke realized there were issues with both the scene and the camera angles he’d envisioned, so he tried making adjustments. “Camera two, move thirty degrees to the left. You just need to catch Dennis’s back. As for the costume…”

　　The costume designer immediately raised a hand.

　　Walking over to Dennis Hopper, Duke pointed to the somewhat worn work uniform and said, “Change to the grayer one.”

　　Then, Duke turned to the extra playing the security guard and said, “Come with me.”

　　Duke walked to the elevator lobby entrance, turned to the extra who had followed him, and pointed back to where they’d come from. “Your surprised expression was too exaggerated just now. Tone it down a bit. You need to walk past along the outside of Dennis.”