章 117: Chapter 117 - Sin City
At the beginning of June, Lin Ming Yang received his acceptance letter from Harvard as expected. He didn't go back to celebrate with his family because the Acceptance Notice was still being filmed. The filming of the movie continued until mid-July, and then after more than two weeks of post-production editing, the dailies were finally completed in time for Lin Mingyang's trip to South Africa.
Lin Mingyang left the distribution and release of the movie to Eckles. After disbanding the crew and leaving the director's job behind, he flew to Johannesburg without stopping. As the producer of the movie King of War, he was already half a month late.
The cast of Kings of War officially opened in New York City back on June 2, 2004, and shot many scenes in Manhattan and Brighton Beach, Coney Island in the first few days. But the crew shot the stateside locations in just nine days, then rushed to Johannesburg, South Africa to begin a high volume of work.
South Africa's varied locales were very conducive to intensive filming, and with a little tinkering, many scenes from Africa, Asia and North America could be recreated here, even Ukraine and the Caribbean. The only problem is that although South Africa is politically stable, the security situation has not been very good.
At first Lin Mingyang suggested that the film be shot in Cape Town, which is after all the legislative capital of South Africa, but director Andrew Niccol took a better look at densely populated Johannesburg and decided to build the street scenes of Liberia's capital, Monrovia, there.
South Africa has been labeled "one of the world's worst countries in terms of law and order" for many years, and Johannesburg has been dubbed the "crime capital". South Africa's evil **** events have long been high, the murder rate is seven or eight times the world average. In Johannesburg, hijacking money trucks, bombing ATMs, home invasions and killings are commonplace, and even the mansions of such heads of state as Mandela and Mbeki have been visited by robbers. Problems have arisen as a result of local security headaches.
Director Andrew Niccol was busy building a location on the set, and the person who came to the airport to pick up Lin Mingyang was a local security company hired by the crew, and they came with a total of five people, and the one who stood at the front actually had an Asian face. In contrast, the four black bodyguards standing behind this person in charge were tall and big. These people weren't like the kind of western bodyguards Lin Ming Yang commonly saw, dressed in suits and wearing cool sunglasses. They were dressed casually, and they were all short-sleeved, revealing the toned muscles on their arms. Luckily there weren't any tattoos on them, otherwise they wouldn't look like security guards when they walked out, they would directly look exactly like the robbers in the movie.
"Mr. Felix, hello, I am the head of Tyrannosaurus Security." The owner of that Asian face shook Lin Ming Yang's hand, "Your safety in South Africa is under our full responsibility!"
Although the official language of South Africa was English, the English used by the locals was very different from American English and British English, in addition to pronunciation, their words were mixed with French or words from some local languages, which sounded awkward. The other party was using this kind of English with South African characteristics, if the orthodox Americans, hear his pronunciation will certainly be a little uncomfortable, but Lin Ming Yang from the other side of the language tone heard some familiar flavor.
"You are Chinese?" Lin Mingyang didn't even have English, he directly used Chinese.
"How did you see that?" The surprise on the other party's face was one step greater than Lin Mingyang's, "And you can speak Chinese!"
"Because I'm of mixed Chinese descent, with half Chinese blood in my body!"
Surprised as he was, this South African Chinese named Xie Qiang didn't forget his accusation, and with a wave of his hand, the four black bodyguards behind him expertly surrounded Lin Ming Yang in the center, then escorted him all the way to the car.
Sitting in the vehicle that looked like it was more of an armored car, Lin Ming Yang knocked on the glass on the window, it was very thick, and it should be that kind of bulletproof special glass. It seemed that the security in Johannesburg was indeed very poor, which made Lin Ming Yang couldn't help but aggravate his inner worries.
After the car started, the black bodyguard sitting in the front row had been constantly looking back, seeing that Lin Mingyang was thinking about the problem, Xie Qiang glared at him, the other party snapped and turned his head back, this scene just happened to be looked at in the eyes of Lin Mingyang who came back to his senses.
Lin Ming Yang opened his mouth and asked, "Is there something wrong with him?"
As he spoke the guy in the front row turned his head again, Xie Qiang smiled apologetically at Lin Ming Yang, "This guy is a fan of yours!"
"My son also adores you, his room is plastered with your posters, and he imitates your moves from those movies all day long." Seeing the opportunity, that black man hurriedly explained, "He knew that you were coming to Johannesburg, so he begged me to never ask for one of your autographs!"
"Just an autograph?" A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Lin Ming Yang's mouth, the poorer and more backward the place, the more simple that emotion that people exuded. "I don't have the habit of carrying an autograph pen with me, and I don't know where I should sign it right now, I'll be staying in Johannesburg for a while, so you can find a gap to bring your son, I'd love to take a picture with him and sign it for him on the photo of the group!"
The black bodyguard was so excited that he thanked him repeatedly, although Lin Ming Yang was a big Hollywood star, he didn't put on an air of superiority, which made him win the favor of everyone in the car. On the way, Xie Qiang also chatted with him in Chinese.
Xie Qiang, who is in his 30s, is thin and dark, only about 1.7 meters tall, and wears a pair of black-rimmed glasses, giving people a very weak feeling. But at the age of 12, he followed his parents to South Africa, where he studied and grew up, joined the police reserve and became a police officer. Later he got involved in the work of the South African Chinese Police Community Cooperation Center and became the general manager of the South African Chinese Security Company after it was established.
"I feel that the law and order situation here is worse than I imagined!" Lin Mingyang didn't hide his worries during the conversation.
"What makes you think so?" Xie Qiang wanted to hear Lin Mingyang's reasons for making this judgment.
"On the airplane, I looked through some of the local Johannesburg newspapers and then found a very unreasonable thing, why would they put such a big news as the robbery of a money truck in a very unobtrusive one on the page, and then I looked through the other newspapers and the result was the same. This can only mean one thing, that this kind of security incident, which seems to me to be a very serious one, is just a norm in the eyes of South Africans."
"Your judgment is accurate, but the actual situation is not as bad as you think. As the saying goes, 'Tigers don't eat people, but they have a bad reputation'. South Africa is, after all, a very politically stable country, and in recent years, the government has already invested a lot of financial and police resources to rectify the law and order environment, and the results are very obvious. Most of the vicious cases are organized and premeditated acts, usually not against individuals, even if the unfortunate encounter with small thieves, will rarely hurt the body."
The problem of firearms, especially private guns, in South Africa is an important reason for the high incidence of numerous robberies and shootings. However, Xie Qiang told Lin Mingyang that last year the South African government changed the law so that each person can only own four guns, and private individuals cannot own guns of mass destruction.
But at the same time, South Africa's legal provisions are also very harsh, if the other side is only armed robbery, not allowed to use the gun for counterattack; even if the robber is armed robbery, if the robbery is over, but also can not shoot from behind to hurt the robber and so on.
"The gun, just a deterrent tool. Really move the gun, hit into what kind of possibility. Maybe the bandit is acquitted and the bodyguard becomes a criminal instead." Xie Qiang's security company was established for so many years, the number of times a year that he actually shot and robbers in a fierce battle was only two times, the others were in a dangerous situation firing warning shots in the sky, summoning nearby security guards or police to come to support.
"So many armed crimes, don't the police care?"
"The corruption of the South African police is also a major reason for the chaos of law and order there!" The only way to deal with robberies in South Africa is prevention, and relying on the police is an impractical idea. That's why Andrew Niccol hired Xie Qiang's security company to take care of all the crew's security during the filming in Johannesburg, and according to Xie Qiang's own words, "That's what he does."
Lin Mingyang learned from Xie Qiang that every year in South Africa, foreign tourists were robbed and even shot by robbers. With his security company, the goal was to protect the lives and properties of local South Africans, and at the same time, he could also provide personalized security services for foreigners who came to South Africa for tourism or business trips.
Although the security guards in Xie Qiang's company had all undergone professional training by the South African Security Association, and they knew how to deal with a wide variety of situations to ensure the safety of their employers, Lin Mingyang was still a little uneasy in his heart, and when he met Andrew Nicoll on the set, the expression on his face was not very pleasant.
"Cutting steel in a military factory, the shell is stamped and molded. Load primers, powder, load cartridges, box, transport, load magazines. Into the chamber, aimed, and then a baby-faced African child falls in response. A bullet has thus completed its life trajectory and its mission - to end human life. That's the beginning of my design for this movie, what do you think?" Andrew Niccol didn't notice this, and as soon as Lin Mingyang arrived at the theater set, he pulled the other party to visit the freshly set up exteriors.
"From the beginning of that script, I've given you my full trust in your abilities without question, it took a madman to give another madman 40 million dollars to make a crazy movie." Lin Ming Yang stopped in his tracks, "But what I appreciate is only your madness in movie creativity, I don't like this place you chose, it's too dangerous for the crew!"
"The thing foreigners talk about the most at gatherings here is law and order, I had a deep experience just now when I went to a restaurant to eat, almost every store has one or two iron gates that have to be closed tightly when customers go in. Even when going home from work, people have developed a habit of keeping a close eye on the rearview mirror of their cars to guard against being followed. Do you really think it was a wise choice to put the filming location here?"
"Why not?" Andrew Nicoll looked at Lin Ming Yang with a straight face, "I know even better than you how dangerous this place is, with a local family of 5, a family can own 20 guns. On the black market, a gun sells for around 400 rand, which is still less than 50 dollars. On the black market in Soweto, it can be rented for a month for as little as R200. But with so many guns, how many of them are made in South Africa itself, and it's only by actually walking in here that everyone on the crew, including me, really knows what kind of depth the movie can convey. So I think coming here was an incredibly good choice."
"Alright, since you insist, then increase the security force, and I'll pay for the excess!" Lin Ming Yang made an unquestionable decision, this was his first time being an agent for a movie, although he wouldn't interfere with the director's work, he didn't want any accidents to happen to the crew in Johannesburg.
Andrew Niccol did not refuse, and Lin Ming Yang finally put down some worries in his heart. The climate in Johannesburg was a bit stuffy, even with the air conditioning on, staying in the room wasn't very comfortable. Lin Mingyang found a good place to escape the heat and cool off, he sat alone next to the pool and froze, when someone behind him suddenly walked over.
"I thought I was the only one on the crew who hated the damn weather in Johannesburg!" Nicolas Cage sat on his butt by the pool and dipped his feet into the pool just like Lin Ming Yang.
Feeling the coldness of the pool water, Nicolas Cage sighed comfortably, "Why didn't I find this great place before, it would be perfect at this time of the year if there was a cold beer and two bikini chicks in cool clothes!"
Lin Ming Yang twisted his head and smiled at him, "Beer can be had, but beautiful women are not within the hotel's services."
After saying that he raised his hand and snapped his fingers to the waiter standing in the distance, the black waiter quickly ran over, "Sir, is there anything I can serve you?"
"Two cold beers, please!"
"Last time at the Vanity Fair reception, I remember you had juice in your hand." Nicolas Cage had a meeting at the last Oscars, and they chatted a bit at the reception.
"I only finished my 18th birthday in April, I'm a good law-abiding citizen!" Lin Ming Yang's eyes stayed showing a sly look, and after that waiter fetched the wine, he and Nicolas Cage touched a glass unspokenly.
"I heard that the investment for this movie was all made by you alone?" Nicolas Cage knew that the little guy in front of him was very rich, but while lamenting Lin Ming Yang's large sum of money, he still had some doubts in his mind.
"Then Mr. Cage why are you willing to star in this movie?" Lin Ming Yang kicked the ball back again.
"From the theme to the plot, this movie is extremely attractive, and you know that old men like me always like to play some special roles so that they can give themselves more challenges!"
"Actually, Andrew wanted to ask me to star as your brother in the movie at first!"
"What?" Nicolas Cage froze for a moment and tilted his head back to take a sip of his beer, "Luckily that stupid idea didn't materialize, the two of us don't look anything alike."
"I feel the same way, but Mr. Andrews certainly wouldn't have given me the director's chair, and since I love this movie as much as you do, I ended up having to be an investor!"
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