The prison scenes were all filmed on a soundstage. This included the underground prison facilities of Alcatraz; all were built as real sets in the studio. Only the exterior shots would be filmed on Alcatraz itself. When "The Rock" crew decided to film in San Francisco, it became a hassle to go back to Los Angeles for shooting, requiring long and tiring journeys. Luckily, 20th Century Fox joining the project solved that problem.
Originally, because land prices in Los Angeles were too expensive, 20th Century Fox's newly built soundstages were located in San Francisco. After 20th Century Fox joined "The Rock" project, the crew was able to use the San Francisco soundstages, saving them the trouble of constantly traveling back and forth.
Roger Moore was getting his makeup done, putting on a wig to make himself look more like a prisoner. He had shackles on his feet and was holding "The Art of War" in his hand. Gilbert saw that the prop book was in Chinese and immediately felt something was off. He quickly went to the prop master: "Why is this book in Chinese? Can John Mason, a prisoner, even read this?" The prop master quickly admitted his mistake: "My director, I'll go find another one right away."
Gilbert's fascination with Chinese culture was already evident in his last movie, "Real Steel," which featured Chinese elements like the robot Master Bao. So, it wasn't surprising to the crew that he'd include a military strategy book from China this time. However, finding an English version of "The Art of War" on short notice was tough, so the prop team simply made an English cover for the Chinese version of "The Art of War." As long as they didn't film the inside, no one would know it was the Chinese version.
Gilbert communicated with Roger Moore, who was still getting his makeup done: "Even though Captain Mason is imprisoned, he's a secret agent, a warrior. You need to maintain that imposing presence, that sharp, ruthless feeling." Looking cool wasn't hard for Roger Moore. He nodded, then shook the copy of "The Art of War" in his hand, indicating he understood.
Filming quickly began. Roger Moore lay in his prison cell as the jingle of keys sounded, and the cell door opened. He was led out of his cell, handcuffed and shackled, and the camera zoomed in on two books inside the cell: a copy of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and an English version of "The Art of War."
An interesting tidbit is that in the Chinese streaming version of "The Rock" from his previous life, these two books were translated as one: Shakespeare—"The Art of War." In reality, Shakespeare never wrote a book called "The Art of War." The actual author of that book was a Swiss man named Jomini, who served in Napoleon's army and later became a military advisor to Imperial Russia. Who knows if the streaming translation was intentional or accidental, but it looked pretty funny. Most people wouldn't notice such details, but Gilbert had a strong impression of the original, which is how he knew this interesting little detail.
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### Mason's Portrayal and Nicholas Cage's Performance
This scene played out completely differently from the Sean Connery version. In the original, Sean Connery's performance was pure James Bond – the quintessential British gentleman, elegant, charming, and suave. But here's the problem: how could a British agent imprisoned for over thirty years maintain such a gentlemanly image? After so long, he'd either become demoralized or violently enraged. This suggests that in the original script, the character wasn't intended to be a James Bond-type British agent, which explains why Sean Connery wasn't the initial choice for the role in the original film.
Now, Gilbert certainly didn't need to compromise for Sean Connery. During the scriptwriting process, he and the screenwriters from both studios wrote John Mason as a character whose personality and image were more consistent with someone who had been imprisoned for over thirty years. This eliminated the slightly odd feeling of the original, making the plot flow more smoothly and the character more fully developed.
In terms of acting skill, Roger Moore and Sean Connery were pretty much on par. However, Sean Connery had his image to maintain, whereas Roger Moore, despite also playing James Bond, didn't have that burden, so he could naturally act according to Gilbert's vision. But in terms of popularity, the first James Bond was far more popular than the third. Still, Gilbert believed that with his box office draw and the improvements made to the film, this movie could shine even brighter than it did in his previous life.
John Schwarzman handled the camera, filming this shot. John Mason walked out of his cell under the escort of military police and agents. The camera gave a close-up of his eyes, filled with coldness and simmering anger. "Good, Roger, excellent job. That's a wrap on this take."
Roger Moore could rest now. Next up were the scenes with Nicolas Cage and guest star Naomi Watts. They had two simple scenes to shoot today. Both were in good form and finished quickly. In a male-dominated film like "The Rock," Naomi Watts' character served as a bright touch, adding a splash of color to the movie. Because she had other projects lined up, Naomi Watts' scenes were shot back-to-back and largely wrapped up in three days. "Largely" because she still had one final scene to shoot later, so she'd have to come back for that.
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### Behind the Scenes and Business Ventures
After receiving simple well wishes from the crew, Naomi Watts and Gilbert spent the night in the same room. After some intimate moments, Naomi Watts went to shower, then came out naked with a glass of wine: "Darling, want some wine?"
"A little, please." Gilbert took the glass. They clinked glasses, and Gilbert drained his. But Naomi Watts didn't finish hers. Instead, she held the wine in her mouth, then straddled Gilbert's lap, leaned over him, and kissed him on the mouth. The wine was exchanged between their mouths, and they shared it, half and half. After swallowing, Naomi Watts gave Gilbert a sweet smile: "Thanks, this wine is too strong. I couldn't drink it all in one go. Good thing I have you."
Gilbert understood the hidden meaning in Naomi Watts' words. He patted her smooth back and said, "Naomi, you're welcome. You know our relationship; we don't need all that."
"Of course I know," Naomi Watts leaned back onto Gilbert, listening to his strong, steady heartbeat, feeling incredibly content. "Darling, I want to learn Chinese..." This was a secret code, and Gilbert, of course, wouldn't refuse his beauty's request to learn and improve. He immediately transformed into a teacher and launched a fierce offensive.
The next day, Naomi Watts didn't go to the set; instead, she rested at the hotel for the entire morning. Last night's exertions had been considerable, and Naomi Watts couldn't help but inwardly curse Gilbert's monstrous stamina and ability. She had also heard about Gilbert's father's romantic escapades, apparently very virile and a regular at various bar parties. It seemed Gilbert inherited his father's prowess, but not his father's party-loving nature.
Sofia said that last time Nicolas Cage invited Gilbert to a wild party, Gilbert turned him down. In Hollywood, what did that make him? A good man! Although Gilbert had never mentioned wanting to get married and start a family, he was still much better than those Hollywood film people who were married and outwardly respectable but secretly engaged in debauchery. Besides, why get married? Gilbert was strong enough to satisfy her needs, and she could also get his care and establish herself in Hollywood. If she was lucky enough to have a child with Gilbert, her life after retiring from acting would also be secured.
Naomi Watts was Gilbert's intimate partner; others might not know about Gilbert's immense wealth, but she did. Last August, the Netscape company he invested in rang the bell on NASDAQ, creating several multimillionaires. Gilbert was prominently listed among the shareholders, and that wasn't even the full extent of his holdings. In a Silicon Valley tech magazine, Gilbert's two unicorn companies, where he was the behind-the-scenes owner, garnered significant attention from Silicon Valley and Wall Street, exposing his identity as both an investor and an owner. Combined with shares in popular internet companies like Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle, plus Orange Peel Studios, Gilbert's assets had long surpassed a hundred million. And except for Apple, which was still operating at a loss, all the others were pure net assets.
Oh, and Gilbert said he also invested in a man named Jeff Bezos, who founded an online bookstore called Cadabra. Gilbert said that online shopping would be very promising in the future. Naomi Watts didn't understand. Right now, the internet struggled to even transmit images, which was why Facebook's growth was relatively slow. She couldn't see the potential in an online bookstore. Gilbert even offered Naomi Watts a chance to invest, giving her an opportunity to get rich, but the cautious, petite woman didn't participate.
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### Scarlett Johansson's Cameo and Nicolas Cage's Volatility
Instead, Cameron Diaz listened to Gilbert and invested a hundred thousand dollars, almost all of the savings she had accumulated since becoming an actress. After all, a female star's expenses aren't small, so Cameron Diaz managing to save a hundred thousand dollars meant she was good at managing her money. Cameron Diaz even pouted to Gilbert, saying that if she lost it all, he'd have to compensate her with a role. But Gilbert promised that she wouldn't lose money and would make a huge profit.
After Naomi Watts' scenes wrapped, filming continued as usual. Soon, little Scarlett Johansson also finished her cameo shots and went back to school. Gilbert even told the little girl to study hard, hearing that she was quite mischievous at school, which was unacceptable. Scarlett Johansson's cameo, which originally had only a few shots, was extended by Gilbert, adding a few more scenes and three lines of dialogue, which made the little girl incredibly happy.
"The Rock" is ultimately a man's movie, and the main actors' performances are the top priority. Especially Nicolas Cage; his performance fluctuations were giving Gilbert a major headache. Nicolas Cage had a "god or devil" duality, very similar to an LPL player Gilbert knew about. He could deliver Oscar-worthy performances in one movie, then completely lose his acting chops in the next, performing terribly. And that wasn't even the biggest headache. Gilbert had personally witnessed Nicolas Cage deliver a good performance in one take, only to lose all his focus in the very next. Roger Moore, acting opposite him, was stunned and told Gilbert, "Nicolas is truly a unique actor; I've never seen anyone like him." Gilbert was also helpless; he chose the lead actor, so he had to make it work. Because of this, helping Nicolas Cage maintain his performance became a very important part of Gilbert's job.
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