Director in Hollywood

At the beginning of November, the production team had finished shooting all the action scenes, and the action choreography team led by Yuen Woo-ping from Hong Kong returned home.

They gained a lot from this experience, witnessing firsthand how a top-tier Hollywood production operated.

The level of professionalism and efficiency they observed left these Hong Kong film industry professionals in awe.

Yuen Woo-ping once told Gilbert that he had originally believed the primary gap between Hong Kong cinema and Hollywood was just the market size.

Hollywood had a much larger market than Hong Kong, but in terms of talent and filmmaking techniques, he thought the two industries weren't that different.

However, after working on The Matrix, Yuen Woo-ping completely changed his perspective.

Here, he witnessed an incredible number of specialists at work. The Matrix production team's level of professionalism shocked him.

A crew of over a thousand people operated in perfect order, with everything under Gilbert's control.

And this wasn't even the full scope of the production. At Orange VFX Studio, there were over a hundred visual effects artists dedicated to crafting the film's special effects.

According to the film's producer, Charles Roven, a separate team of several hundred people was already stationed in Mainland China, preparing for a major project called The Ring.

This truly startled Yuen Woo-ping. He had never imagined that Hollywood's industrialized and highly professionalized filmmaking system operated at this level.

It wasn't just about having a large workforce; it was the mature and refined system that nurtured such a highly specialized talent pool.

In comparison, Yuen Woo-ping now saw Hong Kong's film industry as nothing more than a loosely assembled grassroots operation.

He made up his mind that upon returning home, he would push for a new development strategy for Hong Kong cinema. Without change, how could they compete with Hollywood's professional teams?

In fact, when Jurassic Park premiered in Hong Kong, a handful of forward-thinking individuals had already recognized the gap between Hong Kong and Hollywood.

Unfortunately, they also realized that the local Hong Kong market alone wasn't enough to change the situation. They needed to find a new path.

Some Hong Kong filmmakers chose to venture beyond their home market and into Hollywood. Directors like John Woo and actors like Jackie Chan and Jet Li were representatives of this movement.

Interestingly, in the previous timeline, the Wachowski Brothers originally considered Jet Li for the lead role in The Matrix. Jet Li himself confirmed this in interviews.

However, due to certain considerations, Keanu Reeves was ultimately cast instead.

Without Jet Li in the film, it was impossible to compare outcomes.

But Jackie Chan's success in Rush Hour indirectly proved that Jet Li likely would have performed well in the role too.

Then again, nothing in Hollywood was ever certain. Gilbert never once considered casting Jet Li.

With an $80 million budget at stake, he couldn't risk hiring an Asian lead—it was an unspoken Hollywood taboo.

After the Hong Kong action choreography team left, the production shifted its focus to filming special effects sequences and dialogue-heavy scenes.

Filming dialogue scenes was relatively simple. The real challenge lay in creating the visual effects.

Gilbert visited Orange Studios to check on the progress of the bullet-time effects. The VFX artists had gone through over fifty versions before barely meeting Gilbert's expectations.

What followed was even more grueling—the depiction of the futuristic world, the special effects for the mechanical squids, and the creation of the human incubation pods.

Notably, the special effects team collaborated with the prop department to construct a life-sized human incubation cage, adorned with dozens of human pods.

When the lights inside the pods turned on, they emitted an eerie red glow, making the sight deeply unsettling.

Each pod was filled with a nutrient solution. According to the film's lore, when a human inside the pod died, their body would be flushed through pipes into a waste pool, where they would be converted into nutrients.

In other words, every human was essentially cultivated using recycled human remains.

The mere thought of this setting sent shivers down one's spine—it was downright grotesque.

During filming, Keanu Reeves had to shave off all his body hair, including his eyebrows. Once the tubes were removed, he would slide down the pipe into the waste pool.

At that moment, a daring cameraman would jump in after him, capturing the entire sequence with complete authenticity.

Despite being occupied with The Matrix, Gilbert still made it a point to fly across the Pacific once a month to oversee the preparations for The Lord of the Rings.

The progress of The Lord of the Rings was going smoothly. With support from Warner Bros. and Disney, the two massive soundstages Gilbert had built in Qingdao faced no roadblocks in acquiring modern filmmaking equipment.

Of course, the likely reason was that while these devices were still considered mainstream, they were from the previous generation of studio technology.

Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox were already upgrading their facilities with the latest equipment, so exporting this batch across the Pacific wasn't an issue.

When the China Film Group, responsible for coordinating the studio construction, saw the influx of equipment, they were overjoyed.

Carefully and discreetly, they took detailed measurements of every device during the installation process, planning to replicate them later.

When Gilbert eventually found out, the China Film Group representatives were visibly embarrassed.

But instead of being upset, Gilbert simply said, "It's fine, go ahead and copy them. It doesn't matter."

"These devices are already on the verge of obsolescence in Hollywood. They don't violate any trade secrets or proprietary technology."

Only then did the China Film Group breathe a sigh of relief—though they also felt a wave of frustration.

The equipment they had treated as priceless treasures turned out to be discarded, outdated technology in Hollywood. That was the gap between the two industries.

Seeing their disappointment, Gilbert decided to be even more generous. He gifted them two cameras—also soon-to-be obsolete models.

Even so, the China Film Group treated these cameras like rare gems, handling them with the utmost care.

They had endured too many years of hardship, never having seen such advanced technology before. Gilbert's generosity made him a true international friend—a man of great kindness!

His generosity had another unexpected benefit—none of the construction projects suffered from corner-cutting or delays.

Every site requiring construction was bustling with activity.

The first structure nearing completion was the Hobbit village of the Shire. Its outline was already taking shape.

The project's manager confidently stated that once the flowers bloomed in April or May next year, the place would look stunning.

The most ambitious construction, Minas Tirith, had its foundation laid. The entire White City was being built against a mountainside, modeled after Mont Saint-Michel in France.

Once completed, Minas Tirith would surpass Mont Saint-Michel in every aspect—except for historical significance.

Meanwhile, Edoras, the capital of Rohan, was also taking shape, with glimpses of Rohirrim warriors galloping on horseback.

For the warhorse training, project coordinator Kane Wexman had reached out to multiple ranches, planning to breed a total of 2,500 horses.

Simultaneously, the crafting of weapons and armor was underway. Gilbert examined several samples and was quite satisfied with the results.

When he visited in November, he was even received by a high-ranking official.

The two engaged in in-depth discussions about cultural differences between their countries and the development of the film industry.

Gilbert shared everything he could, doing his best to contribute to the film industry back home.

Following this, his alma mater, the Beijing Film Academy, awarded Gilbert the title of Honorary Alumni. This was just the beginning—if he continued to excel, more honors would surely come.

Gilbert was content. In his previous life, when would he have ever received an honorary title from his alma mater? It would have been impossible.

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