America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

In the streets of New York, a camera dolly zooms by, narrowly missing a galloping Cadillac, as the high-speed lens precisely captures the image of Martin controlling the car through the lowered window.

The Cadillac, not actually moving too fast, brakes to a stop, and a cameraman carrying a camera gets into the passenger seat of Martin's car.

Martin starts the car again, performing a dazzling array of driving maneuvers.

When the pursuing vehicles catch up, he pulls out a handgun from under his arm and fires at the cars behind him.
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The car isn't very fast, so Martin finds it relatively easy to operate.

The pistol quickly runs out of bullets, and a car behind crashes and flips over.

Martin ejects the empty magazine with one hand, loads a new one, and continues driving and shooting.

Chad's action shot style is different from that of Michael Bay and others.

The latter group uses a dense array of ultra-short cuts, creating a particularly sharp visual impact.

Chad, on the other hand, tries to use long shots as much as possible to create a sense of realism.

After this long car shot is finished, Martin opens the door, gets out, hands the gun to Bruce, and goes to check the footage with Chad.

The camera is always in motion, but unlike the constant hand-held shaking and jostling of "The Bourne Identity," the camera mounted on the steadicam moves much more smoothly.

With a wide-angle lens and soft, vivid lighting, plus fluid camera movements, a unique style is forged.

The incessant shaking of "The Bourne Identity" gives the viewer an immersive first-person perspective.

But the shots by Chad feel like they are from an elite observer.

As a director who started as a stunt double, Chad designs a narrative driven by action, using physicality to convey the story.

He planned from the beginning to forgo flashy rapid cuts in favor of showcasing each exquisite fight scene with wide-angle and long shots.

Because the style of "John Wick" at first glance appears realistic; in actuality, it is a spectacled action under the guise of realism.

As the male lead, Martin had to kill hundreds of assassins in the first movie!

At least over 150 by conservative estimates.

In a sense, Jonathan, the male lead, is like a video game character controlled by the audience, fighting his way through levels and defeating the final boss to complete his mission.

This heavily relies on Martin's performance skills.

Stunt doubles are used less often as many high-difficulty stunts require him to take the stage himself.

After long shooting sessions, it's inevitable for Martin to have bruises here and there, and minor injuries that never seemed to stop.

Fortunately, he found a great way to relieve the pain—massage.

The person providing massage services to Martin is called Alexandra Daddario.

During work on set, Alexandra uses her hands to massage Martin.

When they finish for the day and return to the hotel or apartment, under Martin's guidance, softness and warmth are used for healing.

Martin sits down to rest in the break area; next up, his stunt double Buck takes over to perform a series of car stunts and other scenes.

The crew has sealed off an entire street in New York for the shoot.

Compared to shooting "Limitless" in New York, this time the city's municipal department provided much more convenience.

A female lead who lives only in the male protagonist's memory has brought so many benefits, a very cost-effective deal.

"Water?" Alexandra places a cup with a straw on a small table next to Martin.

Martin nods, "Thank you."

Chad's bellowing can be heard in the distance; the crew needs to shoot quickly and clear the street before rush hour, as there is not much time available for filming.

Soon, a chain of car collisions occurs.

The crew has proper safety measures in place, and nobody gets hurt.

Martin goes over to check on Buck, takes the suit jacket he had removed, and puts it on himself.

After Buck departs, the legitimate male lead steps back onto the impromptu set and begins an intense gunfight with a group of assassins.

The relentless gunfire echoes as Martin, like a protagonist in a video game, goes on a frenzied killing spree, fully showcasing what it means to be a suit-clad thug.

"Bodies" lay strewn across the streets of New York.

When Chad calls cut, the "bodies" don't get up; cameramen run over and choose the right angles to take several set photos.

This is Martin's crew; although busy with shooting and lacking the creative talent of a Nolan, always ready to script real behind-the-scenes stories, they still manage to generate news to attract attention.

By four in the afternoon, the crew wraps up on time, and a professional cleaning company moves in like a swift clearing squad, quickly removing all trash from the street, ensuring it is clear before the evening rush hour arrives.

On the way back, Martin and Chad ride in the same business van with others.

Marcus looked at the photos taken by the photographer on set, "These can't be released directly, can they?"

Chad said, "They need to go with the right news."

Martin leaned over to take a look and said, "That's easy to say, everyone outside is already spreading rumors that I've gone mad with depression because of the Joker, and these bodies scattered everywhere fit my state perfectly."

Next to him, the publicity director Jessica said, "I've got an idea."

She took out her laptop, booted it up, and started working busily.

By the time the group arrived at the hotel, not only had Jessica uploaded the news to the crew's official website, but her team had also shared it across a series of entertainment websites.

The news came with photos from the Manhattan street shoot-out scenes, each with several bodies lying on the ground.

It was as if there were bodies everywhere, rivers of blood.

Jessica personally crafted the headline: "John Wick" has just started filming, and Martin Davis has already gone on a killing spree on set!

Upon reaching the hotel, Jessica also took a team to film a news video with the set's psychologist.

The psychologist, who was paid handsomely, cooperated with the request. In the video, he warned, "Martin must reduce his workload to prevent a relapse of old ailments due to the excessively violent scenes."

This statement not only highlighted Martin's condition to attract attention but also revealed a major feature of the movie: violence!

Violence is one of the biggest selling points of commercial cinema.

After dinner, Martin returned to his room. Alexandra had gone home for the night, leaving him with some free time.

Bruce grabbed a bottle of essential oil and deliberately asked, "Do you want me to give you a massage?"

Martin gave him the finger, "Save your energy for Kim and Khloe."

"It's Khloe!" Bruce emphasized, "Nothing to do with Kim."

Martin scorned the scumbag, "You're just a player, flying them both, eating everything up without acknowledging it afterward."

Bruce quickly changed the subject, "Be careful with Alexandra's sister, she's been giving you some strange looks."

Martin, with a steadfast mind, responded, "How could a good guy like me lay a finger on Catherine, much less go after her? I'd rather avoid her at all costs."

Bruce put away the essential oil and threw a book to Martin, saying, "You academic loser, you've been given a book, aren't you going to read it?"

"I've been too busy these past few days, busy filming during the day," Martin took the book Chuck Hogan had gifted him, "Prince of Thieves," and said, "Let alone at night, these last few days have been spent in a level-nine earthquake."

When it was just the two of them, Alexandra wouldn't let him rest, not to mention the post-tiredness massages with essential oil.

Martin stretched lazily, made himself a cup of tea, and with time to spare tonight, he could settle in and read slowly.

He opened the cover of the novel and began reading earnestly.

Graham King, a long-time producer for Scorsese, was a reliable person; an author he recommended couldn't be too bad.

This crime novel was set in Charlestown, an ancient town in Boston with a long-standing criminal tradition among its residents.

Charlestown was the very image of Boston's beginnings, predominantly settled by Irish-Americans engaged in blue-collar work. One significant characteristic of this town was that it had the highest rate of armored vehicle and bank robberies in America, with a number of bank robbers, monitored by Massachusetts police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ranking highest in the nation.

The main characters were four inseparable young men from the town, master bank robbers with sophisticated weaponry and bold tactics until a bank heist changed their fate forever. The male lead got entangled with a female bank manager.

Martin, though thoroughly a poor student, had enough patience to keep reading for a while and gradually got immersed in the plot.

Chuck Hogan's novel was quite good, even better in its depiction of crime than Alan Green's "Dark Domain," completely unambiguous and highly entertaining, especially the several robbery scenes, which were thrilling.

After reading the first part, Martin skimmed through it, reaching almost halfway by late night.

Bruce came back and, seeing Martin engrossed in the novel, was a bit surprised, "Is this novel so fascinating that it has Sacred Valley-like plots?"

Martin said, "Although this crime and realism-themed novel takes place in Boston, after reading it, it reminds me of our life back in Atlanta."

Bruce took the novel, flipped through the beginning, and said, "We were lucky to have struggled out of the muck. If we had stayed in that kind of place too long, we might have ended up on the same path, after all, it's a quick way to make money."

Martin laughed, "I'm an American hero, the kind that caught Russian spies."

Bruce knew Martin well enough, shaking the novel and said, "You're interested in it, aren't you? Want to buy the film adaptation rights?"

"You know me so well," Martin did not conceal his intentions from Old Cloth, "Tomorrow I'll drop a hint to Jessica, let her... no, we should take the time to visit in person."

He was thorough in his considerations, "Chuck Hogan is a friend of Director Scorsese and was personally introduced by Graham King. Now that I'm interested in his novel, I need to show the proper level of interest."

In this aspect, Martin always knew how to deal with people.

Bruce took Chuck Hogan's business card, noting down the address and contact information.

Martin prepared to take a shower.

As for the plot of this novel, it had reminded him of a movie, "The Town" directed by Ben Affleck.

Big Ben, what a coincidence.