Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"This is a device to monitor diving conditions. There is a signaler on the diving equipment. If you encounter trouble, just press it and the alarm will be received here. I will let the assistant director watch here, and there will be a diving instructor on standby at the scene. The underwater photographer Al Giddings will dive with me.

You see, this is very safe. Everyone in our crew can dive to the deepest. Don't you want to try it? I remember you were not so timid when you were filming Top Gun."

The next morning, Ronald watched the crew start to get busy with diving, and Cameron still invited him to go diving together. This is a hobby he has had since he was a child. Cameron likes to dive alone, without any sound and in a state of isolation from the world. He really wants to share this feeling with his good friend.

"No, I am born with a physical discomfort with diving..." Ronald shook his hand desperately. Cameron and underwater photographer Giddings began to wear rubber diving suits. The smell of bleach and rubber made Ronald feel sick.

The large containment vessel of the nuclear power plant holds a total of 7.5 million gallons of water, which has not been changed for many days. The sheep nearby often come here to drink water and eat grass, and sometimes the filth is discharged into the artificial lake.

In order to prevent infection caused by long-term underwater shooting, the crew has to pour a lot of bleach into the water every day, which makes people's eyes uncomfortable. Ronald noticed that Cameron and the underwater photographer's hair was a little faded by the bleach.

Cameron noticed Ronald's nausea. Some people are not born suitable for diving. He shrugged his shoulders. His friend Ronald could not share the mysterious and quiet feeling with him.

"Then you stay here for a while. I'm going to verify the reliability of the underwater camera. It will take an hour to shoot. There are many interesting props here. You will like it. When the time comes, we will watch the videotape together and I will tell you about the diving shooting."

Ronald nodded, "Then I'll wait for you here, and you, Mr. Giddings, I am very interested in underwater photography. I'm going to listen to your opinions in an hour."

Underwater photography, especially deep diving photography like Cameron, has many of his unique skills in machinery and shooting. It's a rare opportunity.

Giddings said nothing, pointing to his ears.

"It's the sequelae of a diving accident. He likes to use a diving bell to dive in shallow waters. One day, the diving bell had an accident, and the rapid change in pressure made his ears almost deaf."

"Oh?" Ronald was a little scared again. He would rather fly into the sky than go into the sea.

"When we float up, we must be very careful to let the pressure change slowly, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble... So we can't come back in an hour, and it will take half an hour to float up."

Ronald nodded to indicate that he understood. Cameron smiled, made a gesture to Giddings, and the two walked into the artificial lake together.

"By the way," Cameron walked halfway and turned back to Ronald and said, "Gail is coming today, you can talk to her..."

Ronald was speechless. The relationship between the two couples was purely a work relationship. Gail Hurd as a producer and Cameron as a director, the two cooperated very well at work, but everything ended there.

"Mr. Li, do you want to see this thing? It's very interesting."

The assistant director who stayed on the shore and was responsible for watching the alarm device came over to interrupt Ronald's nostalgic thoughts. He took a small bottle with a liquid like water in it.

"What is this?" Ronald felt that it must be an interesting prop.

"Oxyfluorocarbon liquid", the assistant director came up to offer his treasure, this is future technology, people can use it to breathe when diving.

"Oh?" Ronald didn't believe it. People can still breathe with this liquid without air? Isn't it the same as fish.

"We have done a lot of experiments", the assistant director expected Ronald not to believe it, and immediately snapped his fingers and asked the assistant to send a cage.

"Squeak...", there was a little white mouse in the cage.

"Look...", the assistant director caught the little white mouse, pinched it with both hands, and then threw it into the bottle of so-called oxyfluorocarbon liquid.

"Squeak...squeak...", the mouse made a few noises, and then began to struggle violently. Ronald could see that it was in pain due to lack of oxygen. Finally, the air in its lungs was exhausted, and then it turned over and lay at the bottom of the bottle, motionless.

"God...", Ronald felt that the assistant director must have made a mistake in the liquid. Although it was a mouse, it was dying in such pain, and he couldn't bear to watch it.

The assistant director wanted to make a good impression in front of him, but in fact, this trick might be able to amaze laymen. As a director, Ronald's requirement for the assistant director is to deal with all kinds of troubles in the crew, rather than reproducing a little bit himself.

If this was seen by some animal protection organization, it would definitely cause a storm. Hollywood directors don't like to shoot animal scenes, and these organizations must have contributed to more than half of the reason. If they are completely in accordance with their requirements, a pet, a horse, they are often treated better than actors in the crew.

"Look, look, it's about to come back to life," the assistant director unconsciously held the bottle in front of Ronald.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..." To Ronald's surprise, the little white mouse came back to life and slowly resumed its activities as if it were in the air.

"I...what kind of magic is this?" Ronald's eyes almost jumped out of his head. This is indeed future technology.

"This is a new invention of oxygen-containing fluorocarbon compounds. It is very special and has extremely high oxygen solubility. Therefore, it can store and transport large amounts of oxygen. It is the invention of Dr. Keirstra and Dr. Bennett of Duke University. invention."

A man in a white coat saw Ronald's surprised look and came over to explain to him.

This is the emergency doctor on the crew. This oxyfluorocarbon solution has been carried out exploratory research in some hospitals. Some patients with severe lung disease have used this oxyfluorocarbon solution to allow their lungs to breathe oxygen again. .

"Can this thing really allow humans to breathe?" Ronald was surprised.

"Yes, but we haven't found a way to allow him to re-absorb oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. It's only in the experimental stage now." The emergency doctor has some understanding of this pioneering technology.

"In the movie, the plot of the male protagonist Ed Harris, this oxyfluorocarbon liquid is at a key point in the plot. In order to save his ex-wife, a diving expert, he is willing to give up his chance of survival. Later, he meets high-level creatures We rely on this liquid to maintain the oxygen supply. "

"You'd better watch the sirens..." Ronald felt bad. The star of this plot is Cameron's expression that he wants Gale back.

The couple were like-minded people traveling together, and they once had a deep love. This relationship was particularly tormenting for Cameron. Especially now that I can still meet Gale, but it’s just a professional relationship. He just told himself that Gale would come, with an obviously complicated expression.

"Huh?" Ronald thought of something. Did Cameron have a subtext for him to communicate with Gale? He is a common friend of the two of them, and they have been together since they were young. Maybe Cameron wants to know what Gale really thinks. Is there still a chance to save it?

Ronald looked at the director's seat and saw a photo frame on which he took a photo of the two of them when he was at New World Pictures.

"Hey..." Ronald sighed.

"Ronald, what a surprise to see you here."

After a while, Gale Hurd came.

She hugged Ronald happily. Several recent films made by Ronald are all centered on women, which makes Hurd very happy. With more stories like this, the next generation of young people in America will use the images of women in these films as moral role models. , men will also feel that dealing with women in this way and respecting their personal choices is the correct way to communicate with women.

Gale chatted with Ronald happily for a long time. Ronald took the opportunity to bring up the topic and pointed to the photo on the table, "So, you and Jim now?"

"Purely a working relationship... nothing else..." Gale replied decisively. She followed Ronald's eyes and saw the group photo. Without saying a word, she threw the photo frame on the table with a snap. .

"Ms. Hurd, would you like to take a look at this thing? It's very interesting." The assistant director seemed like an immature child and came over to show off to Gale.

"Who brought this in?" Ronald was dissatisfied, but Gale had a pleasant chat with him. He couldn't talk, so he stood up and walked outside, "I'll go find a cup of coffee and then go Check out the artificial lake."

Ronald turned and walked out the door. The sunlight outside the door shone in, leaving a shadow on the table. The assistant director performed even harder, "Look, look, he's coming to life soon."

While dancing, he accidentally touched one of the sockets on the alarm, which led to the speaker. The warning light on the side is also connected to the pager.

Suddenly, the warning light began to flash faintly. But it was hidden in the sunlight, and no one noticed it.

"Didi... Didi..."

At the bottom of the artificial lake, there was a problem with Cameron's diving equipment, and there was a problem with the throttle valve of the oxygen tank. He put the respirator in his mouth and inhaled hard, but there was no response.

"Al..." Cameron made a loud sound, but Al Giddings, the diving photographer in front, couldn't hear what was happening here because he was deaf.

"What the hell..." Cameron tried his best to send out a signal for help, but there was no response. There were no first responders at the lake, and the crew's diving instructor came to the rescue.

He had to take off his respirator, free his hands, and swim upward as hard as he could.

"It's really unlucky. I just talked about the diving disease to Ronald. I didn't expect that I would have to surface quickly. If I'm unlucky, nitrogen will cause trouble in the blood vessels. It can damage the muscles in the least, or cause blood clots in the heart and brain in the worst case. There is a problem with the blood vessels in the body.

Soon, the rapid ascent caused Cameron's ears to start buzzing, and his whole head began to hurt, accompanied by a huge tinnitus.

Bang... The lifeguard who was a diving instructor on the shore noticed a huge splash emerging from the bottom of the water. He immediately threw a respirator into the water, jumped into the water himself, and dived. Something must have happened. He immediately saw that Cameron was not wearing a helmet and a respirator. Something must have gone wrong.

"Pfft..." Cameron grabbed the respirator thrown by the lifeguard and took a breath, only to find that it was not oxygen but water. Now the only air in his mouth was exhausted again, and Cameron choked several times. His hands were waving wildly.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here, you're safe." The other party thought Cameron had panic symptoms after spending too much time underwater. Floating up quickly at this time would cause big problems, so he went over and grabbed him and held him down desperately.

"Damn..." Cameron's mouth was full of water, and he had no strength or ability to say that he didn't have a chance to have panic attacks when diving deep, but that his respirator was broken.

The more he struggled, the closer the other party clamped him, and the two of them moved more and more underwater, and the movement on the surface of the water gradually became more intense.

"Jim! Jim! Are you okay?" Ronald, who had just come over, discovered the problem on the surface of the water and shouted loudly. Isn't this an accident?

"Ro..." Cameron was not far from the surface of the water, and he felt Ronald's call. Suddenly, a force came out of nowhere, and he punched the lifeguard in the chin. Then he used the last bit of his strength and jumped up hard.

"Jim!" Ronald saw that Cameron had floated up and his hands were no longer moving. He was so scared that he ran forward quickly, took off his sneakers, and jumped into the artificial lake converted from the nuclear power plant containment.

"Jim, I caught you, hold on," Ronald dragged the unconscious Cameron to the shore. Just when Ronald's cry came, some staff came and pulled them ashore together.

"Go find a doctor," Ronald put Cameron on the shore and tried his breathing and heartbeat. Fortunately, he just fainted. But he floated up so quickly that Ronald was also worried about the kind of decompression sickness he had mentioned.

Soon, the doctor of the crew came over and the preliminary examination showed no major problems. Just rest for a while and observe. If there is no thrombosis or other conditions, there will be no major problems.

Cameron had woken up at this time. He remembered that it was Ronald who pulled him ashore in the end. Although he couldn't speak, Ronald understood his eyes. When a person is at the moment of life and death, perhaps the little thing he holds is the most precious thing to him. Maybe at that time, Cameron saw what Gale looked like.

"I'll go find Gail."

"I'll go, I'll go," someone hurried to inform producer Gail.

When he found Gail, Cameron had been carried to the director's chair by the lake, half lying down, covered with a blanket, looking pitiful.

"What did the doctor say?" Gail Hurd did not speak to Cameron, but asked Ronald next to him.

"It takes a day to observe. If there is no problem, there will be no problem." The doctor interrupted and answered.

Gail's eyes turned back to Cameron, with a complicated look. This man is talented, but he also has various common problems of men. He gave him the opportunity to shoot the Terminator, but now when there are problems in their relationship, he and the female director...

"Huh..." Ronald breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. This situation is very similar to the scene when he and Gail went to Italy to save Cameron... Wasn't it because of this that they met back then?

"As a director, can you continue to shoot?"

A cold word came out of Gail's mouth.

"As a producer, you can rest assured that I will be able to continue working tomorrow." Cameron finished his words one by one, and he spent a lot of effort, then closed his eyes and had no strength to speak anymore.

"This is unnecessary..." Ronald looked at Gale's back with mixed feelings.

Just like the 7.5 million gallons of water in this artificial lake, every drop is not as heavy as the tears that the two people who parted ways tried to hold back.

Ronald didn't know what to say, and he had nothing to say.

Cameron rested for half a day, began to recover at night, and resumed work the next morning.

The first thing he did was to fire the assistant director who neglected his duties and ignored his distress signal, and the coach who was negligent and did not ensure the diving equipment. If it had been someone else, it would have been a big deal.

Then he quickly invited the best diving coach in Los Angeles to give all the actors a week of intensive diving training before filming.

Cameron himself talked to Ronald about the special effects production of this movie.

"So you mean, you are not sure about the computer special effects this time?" Ronald heard Cameron's story and felt that his old friend was really taking a risk.

"There is no way. The people from Industrial Light and Magic have done two experiments and both failed. They used to deal with solid targets like the TIE fighter or particles like lightning and flames. This method of liquid deformation still needs to be gradually tested."

In the story of "The Abyss", the high-level creatures on the seabed finally used seawater to simulate the appearance of humans and communicate with the professional diving expert played by Ed Harris.

"Aren't you afraid that they won't be able to do it in the end?"

"This is a risk that is difficult to avoid, but I am confident. This is an engineering problem. No one has done it before. Now that I am here, more directors will design special effects in this way in the future."