The Oscar turmoil was still stirring when Martin suddenly received a notification from "The Dark Knight" production team, Warner Bros. had suffered a data leak, with hackers breaking into the production database, stealing a batch of important files.
It seed the hacker had taken a leaf from Kim Kardashian's video scandal, selling all the data to TMZ.
The related news spread like a plague, swiftly sweeping across all major entertainnt websites, with countless print dia following suit.
Martin received a call from Nolan himself, responding to the production's ergency statent by giving an interview to the dia journalists who had co specially to Los Angeles International Airport, urging TMZ not to release the stolen data arbitrarily.
Once on the plane, and settled into the stratosphere, Bruce said, "They should be paying us royalties."
"It's Nolan's plan," Martin unbuckled his seat belt and spoke broadly, "He's a remarkable director; ordinary directors concerned about artistic quality will not roll up their sleeves and enter the fray personally."
Bruce asked, "What got stolen this ti? It's not videos of you ssing with Bale, is it?"
Martin shook his head, "I'm not quite sure."
Bruce suddenly thought of a possibility, "ne has been in close contact with Emma Thomas."
Martin frowned in thought, "Nolan wouldn't be that crazy."
By the ti he rushed from John F. Kennedy International Airport to the hotel, and after taking a nap, TMZ had already exposed these heavyweight materials.
It wasn't the movie's master copy nor the ads and trailers, but behind-the-scenes footage archived by the production team.
All of it was behind-the-scenes footage from the production period, crafted by Martin and Nolan themselves!
Such authentic and interesting extras imdiately attracted a multitude of movie fans' attention, keeping the buzz high.
The "The Dark Knight" production promptly released the first teaser, just thirty seconds long, entirely showcasing the duel between Batman and the Joker.
Naturally, the news about Martin and Bale's psychological issues as the two main leads resurfaced.
Not wanting to be left behind in the heat, the "John Wick" production spoke up; given Martin's poor state of ntal health, the production would provide a professional psychologist for Martin throughout the filming.
The hacker incident combined with genuine and entertaining behind-the-scenes footage, along with news of Martin and Bale, plus the teaser of the duel, catapulted "The Dark Knight" to the top of the entertainnt news, halting the ripple effects of the Oscars and becoming the hottest topic at the end of February.
The traditional dia was one thing; on the internet, countless people were spectating.
In the list of the most anticipated films for the sumr of 2008 on major movie websites, "The Dark Knight" outranked "Indiana Jones 4" and "Hancock" to claim the top spot.
On the way to Brooklyn Studio, Warner's Daniel shared a ride with Martin.
He said, "Nolan is a very thoughtful director."
Martin completely agreed, "A director for a new era, he might beco a top-tier auteur."
Daniel, as the distributor's representative, was not only responsible for "The Dark Knight" but had also signed "John Wick" for Warner Bros. a few days ago. Concerned about both films, he made a suggestion for promotional considerations, "Let's make a big deal out of the T Gala in May."
Martin inquired, "The tropolitan Museum of Art's charity dinner? The Oscars of the fashion world?"
Daniel nodded, "It has been gaining more attention in recent years. You should be in New York then, so take a day off to join, will you? Warner Bros. is preparing the tickets for you, two of them."
Martin had a mory of this event, dubiously reviewed by the bigwigs in his previous life's group chat as chaotic.
After pondering for a mont, he said, "I'll think of a way to draw attention. If Warner has any good recomndations, let know."
Daniel countered, "Those idiots at Warner, shackled by years of habit, are far inferior to you, even Nolan doesn't compare."
Martin felt sowhat regretful that Nolan had covertly adopted the thod of hyping the video scandal, but he couldn't charge a royalty fee for it.
At Brooklyn Studio, the production rented two large sound stages and an outdoor set for constructing scenes.
Considering Martin's past encounter with a drugged driver, the production went the extra mile to hire professional security personnel to patrol the set and trailer area.
When Martin arrived at the trailer area, he saw ne.
Dressed in a sharp suit with slightly whitened temples, he had the deanor of soone accustod to mingling with successful won, exuding an air of high authority.
This was the heaviest role in the entire series, apart from the male lead.
ne had prepared very seriously; he ca over and said earnestly, "Jonathan, you're late."
Martin pulled out a coin and gave it to ne, "I want the safest room."
ne led the way, pulling open the door of the largest trailer for Martin, making a gentlemanly gesture, "This one here."
Martin and Bruce entered the trailer, with ne following and closing the door behind them.
Soon, the costu designer and the styling team entered the trailer as well.
Inside the soundstage, the various departnts of the production were making final preparations for shooting under Chad's coordination.
Chen Hu called over a few stunt perforrs to remind them of safety precautions.
In the set designed to look like a factory, the extras had already taken their places.
Apart from forklifts and equipnt, the factory's rest area also had bottles of Coca-Cola.
After Chen Hu finished, he went through the blocking with the extras once more, and Martin, wearing a Brioni suit custom-made for him, entered the soundstage.
Chad rose from the director's seat and beckoned Martin to the middle of the set.
Chen Hu grabbed Martin, informing him of important points, "All the Coca-Cola bottles are custom-made, so when you make your move, don't hesitate; be quick, accurate, and ruthless."
Martin said seriously, "No problem, I'm good at bashing people with Coca-Cola."
Chad handed Martin a wallet, "This is a very important prop, don't lose it."
Martin then opened and looked inside; there was so change and cards, but the place for a photo was empty.
Chad said, "This is where the female lead's photo will go. Your house will also need to have a group photo and a wedding picture. I've specially set aside ti this afternoon. The female lead will go to Brooklyn Bridge later, and you'll take wedding photos together."
Martin put away the wallet, "I'm having a wedding photo shoot for the first ti. Make sure to make look handso."
Chad laughed heartily, "No problem, I'll take the pictures myself."
The crew started with action scenes, almost all of which were shot live. After all the actors arrived, Chen Hu led Martin and others to do a warm-up first.
Bruce checked all the firearms and handed a USP pistol to Martin, who had been familiarizing himself with this model recently and found it quite handy.
At Chad's command, the clapperboard clapped, and the shooting began.
Martin, alone and ard, charged into the factory.
He hid by the corner, listening for footsteps on the opposite side, moved the muzzle down, and with a bang, shot the enemy's foot, then rolled out.
The shot enemy scread and fell to the ground, no ti to react, before Martin finished him off with two more shots to the head.
He forcefully pushed off the ground, rolling behind a forklift as two enemies shot in his direction, while explosives planted in the ground erupted in plus of smoke and dust.
Martin fired from beneath the forklift, hitting one man's leg. As that man fell, the USP echoed once more, the actor's head jerking back to simulate a headshot.
Marcus, a forr professional soldier who had seen hundreds of people get shot in Afghanistan, delivered a death act that was impressively realistic.
Martin sprang up from hiding behind the forklift, appeared on the other side, and his handgun thundered again, dropping three gunn to the ground.
He had practiced countless tis; his reload was lightning fast. As fresh rounds chambered, the gunfire resud.
This was also one of the film's signatures, double tapping!
Any enemy that fell before the protagonist was always dead beyond doubt.
"Cut!" Chad called a halt to this long take, praising, "Guys, that was fantastic!"
The film, over a year in preparation, had involved several months of professional training.
Martin's ceaseless training, starting from Atlanta, with firearms training, greatly reduced the difficulty of filming the action scenes.
After a brief rest, they shot several short takes, preparing to film the pivotal Coca-Cola scene.
Coca-Cola was the crew's major sponsor, and Martin was still the Sect Hierarch of the Cola Cult; thus, the crew took the Coca-Cola comrcial very seriously.
Of course, they would not allow overly awkward product placents.
Like an ATM from another country's bank appearing in rural Arica.
Stuntman Lewis entered the set and bumped fists with Martin, "My head's in your hands now."
Martin, having worked with him multiple tis, replied, "Don't worry, I won't hit your face."
The bald Lewis touched his face, "This face is what gets the girls."
The shooting quickly started.
Martin charged into the factory's rest area, delivering a low kick that made a man clutch his groin. He then casually picked up a nearby Coke and smashed it on the person's head.
With a crisp crack, the glass bottle shattered, and Coca-Cola splashed everywhere.
Two other n brandishing knives charged, and Martin, with a Coke bottle in each hand, smashed their heads.
He rolled to dodge Lewis's gun, picked up a dropped Coke, and threw it with force, just like he did at Burbank Middle School with the gunman's head.
The Coke bottle exploded on Lewis's head; he seed slightly dazed as Martin charged, eye-gouging, groin-kicking, throat-locking, and bringing him to the ground.
"Where is Ivanov?" Martin demanded.
"I don't know,"
Martin picked up a Coke bottle and smashed it on the hardest part of Lewis's forehead, waited for the bottle to burst, and asked again, "Ivanov!"
Lewis didn't answer.
Cola War God on scene, Martin picked up another Coke, cursing fuck under his breath, and gave him another bottle.
Chad yelled cut.
Martin quickly asked, "You good?"
Lewis gave a thumbs-up, "Piece of cake."
Both stayed motionless.
The cara position shifted, a prosthetic hand was delivered to Lewis, and the Coke was swapped for the glass bottle version available in stores.
Then, Martin wielded a real glass Coke bottle, smashing the fake hand to force the boss character played by Lewis to disclose Ivanov's hideout.
After extracting the information, he finished off the character with a bottled Coke.
The entire morning was spent filming action scenes.
At lunch, Chad extended the break to give Martin ti to recover his energy.
In the afternoon, they fild for just two hours before the crew announced that work was done for the day.
Martin was heading to Brooklyn Bridge Park to take wedding photos with the female lead.
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