novellhall Chapter 221 I am Groot [6000]
Chapter 221 I am Groot [6000]
Chapter 221 I am Groot [6000]
Chen Xun didn't have time to care what Warner thought.
However, the change in public opinion brought Chen Xun a great boost:
[Cultural Influence +30]
[Cultural Influence +14]
[Cultural Influence +29]
The progress of "Reputation Spreads" has rapidly increased to 96%!
Just 4% away from upgrading!
Not long after the official announcement, Chen Xun flew to the UK with his luggage.
In order to control costs and take full advantage of local tax incentives, the main filming of Guardians of the Galaxy will be completed in the UK, without using the expensive large studios in the United States.
The production team rented a large, converted warehouse on the outskirts of London as the main soundstage and training base.
-
This is where Chen Xun and the Galaxy Freaks will be staying for at least the next six months.
It was 5 a.m. on the second day after I joined the crew.
Training begins.
The strength and conditioning coach was a former Royal Marine, nicknamed Sergeant Major, bald, with sculpted muscles and a perpetually unsmiling face.
His training plan was simple and direct.
For six months, four hours a day, without fail.
The program includes long-distance running, weight training, core training, and explosive power cycling, with an intensity so high that even Chen Xun, who had experienced training in "Fast & Furious" and "The Hunger Games," found it a bit overwhelming.
Diet was strictly controlled, with boiled chicken breast, brown rice, and broccoli becoming staple foods, and oil and salt were measured precisely to the gram.
Fortunately, the broccoli was fresh, not vacuum-packed frozen broccoli.
That stuff is really not edible!
"The Star-Lord you're playing isn't a gym-goer who's all show and no substance; he's a tough guy who's been through the wringer in alien junkyards, and his muscles have to be functional."
The sergeant would repeat these techniques and training plans to Chen Xun every day.
Chen Xun did not complain.
That's it!
After four hours of work each day, the sweat can soak a small patch of the ground.
Physical endurance +8
Muscle control +5
Attribute orbs drop consistently.
He could feel his body adapting and getting stronger at an astonishing speed.
Physical training in the morning, and specialized training in the afternoon.
The weapons instructor was a taciturn Englishman.
I specifically taught him how to use Star-Lord's two elemental guns.
The key is not aiming.
He was required to quickly draw his gun, turn and fire, roll to find shooting angles, and even design some slightly flamboyant shooting postures that he thought were cool but were actually useless.
"Remember, Peter Quill isn't a sharpshooter; he's a show-off thief, and his shooting style has to have an element of theatricality."
The weapons instructor demonstrated a rolling maneuver followed by kneeling on one knee with a rifle raised, saying seriously, "Even if this posture is full of flaws in actual combat."
Chen Xun understood!
This is similar to the coin trick he designed for Han Li.
What we need is the character's charisma, not military precision.
He started incorporating some of the flamboyant little moves he'd seen in 80s action movies and music videos.
What he found most novel was the dance training.
Marvel hired a choreographer specifically to design the opening scene of the movie where Star-Lord dances solo on a deserted planet while wearing headphones.
The music used is "Come and Get Your Love".
"It should have the hip-swaying and gliding feel of 80s disco, but it can't be too standard. It should have a bit of improvisation, self-indulgent, and even a bit silly and cute vibe."
"7
"You're a kid who's lost in his own musical world, not a professional dancer."
The choreographer repeated his requirements over and over again.
Chen Xun stood in front of the mirror, wearing headphones, practicing those seemingly simple movements over and over again, but it wasn't easy to match the music's beat and emotions.
At first, it was a bit stiff, but gradually, as I grasped the music and the character's mindset, the movements began to become more natural, and I was even able to add some of my own small modifications.
The choreographer looked at Chen Xun, who was gradually transforming into Star-Lord in the mirror, and gave him a thumbs up.
In addition to individual training, there is also team combat training.
The location is a professional martial arts school in London.
Here, Chen Xun met his two teammates, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, who had already completed their costume fittings.
Zoe was wearing a training outfit, but the green skin special effects makeup hadn't been applied yet.
She simply nodded to Chen Xun and said "Hi" as a greeting.
Chen Xun could sense her curiosity.
She clearly has her own observations about this Chinese actor who was kicked out by Warner Bros. but was then sought after by Marvel and Universal.
The system shows that Zoe's favorability rating is 50 points, which is the starting value for being polite but keeping a distance.
The truly passionate one is Dave Bautista.
This former WWE wrestling champion is intimidatingly large with a shiny bald head, but his smile is surprisingly goofy.
As soon as he saw Chen Xun, he strode over and stretched out his large, fan-like hand: "Chen! I've finally met you in person! I'm Dave, the brainless guy who plays Drax."
The handshake was firm.
"Hello, Dave, I'm Chen Xun."
Chen Xun also gripped his hand tightly in return.
"I know you! I've seen 'Green Lantern'! Your fight scene with Gina Carano was really exciting!"
Dave's eyes lit up: "Gina mentioned you to me, saying you're the most capable and least afraid of fighting among all the actors she's worked with!"
She also said your action choreography was very creative!
So that's where my goodwill came from.
Gina Carano, a former MMA fighter, had a memorable fight scene with Chen Xun in "Green Lantern".
It seems that actors who transitioned from the fighting world have their own social networks.
"Gina is being too kind!"
Don't be modest!
Dave patted him hard on the shoulder.
Chen Xun felt as if he had been slapped by a bear.
"If someone says it's good, it must really be good. This is the first time I've played such an important movie role, so I'm actually a little nervous."
"The director told me that Drax wasn't stupid, he was just pure anger, but I haven't really acted much outside of wrestling —"
He was quite frank.
Chen Xun glanced at the top of his head.
Dave has a favorability rating of 60 points, which is currently the highest among the cast.
This goodwill stems from peer recognition and open communication.
Let's figure it out together.
"Didn't the director arrange for improvisation? Just keep trying."
Chen Xun patted Dave on the shoulder.
Combat training begins.
The martial arts choreography is very diverse, combining the agility of Capoeira, the ferocity of Muay Thai, and the grappling techniques of professional wrestling, aiming to make the fights both visually appealing and powerful.
Chen Xun observed from the sidelines and absorbed quite a bit as well. [Close Combat Observation +3]
Dave used his WWE experience to design a straight-punch fighting style for Drax.
It is bold and powerful, full of brute force.
However, the rhythm is a bit hard to control, and it's often difficult to stop.
The martial arts director had to stop him repeatedly, telling him to tone it down, that this was a movie shoot, not WrestleMania.
Dave would scratch his head and apologize sheepishly each time, but he would probably still go a bit too far next time.
But his attitude was excellent; he wasn't afraid of hardship or fatigue, which reminded Chen Xun of his own enthusiasm when he first entered the industry.
In addition to physical training, director James Gunn assigned other new tasks.
He asked each of the main actors, especially Chen Xun, to write a childhood diary for their character, recording their life on the space pirate Yondu ship and their vague memories of Earth and their mother from Peter Quill's perspective.
Chen Xun sat in his dormitory, looking at his laptop.
He tried to empathize with the mindset of an American kid in the 1980s who was suddenly thrown into an alien gang.
That's difficult!
But as I wrote, feelings about loneliness and building my inner world from stolen fragments of pop culture gradually became clearer.
This delves deeper into the core of the character than simply analyzing the script.
As Chen Xun continued writing his childhood diary, his understanding of Peter Quill deepened.
The image of that little brat who used petty theft and rambling nonsense to cover up his homesickness grew more and more vivid in his mind.
However, life at the training base is more than just doing homework.
The morning physical training was, as always, a testament to the sergeant's care.
Chen Xun can now complete that cycle without changing his expression. He's still sweating profusely, but he's not panting as much.
For the first time today, the sergeant's lips twitched slightly on his usually sculpted face, a gesture that could be considered an acknowledgment.
The afternoon team combat training became the highlight of the day.
Dave Bautista truly considered Chen Xun one of his own. During breaks, he would often come over, gesturing with a water bottle: "Chen, look, if Drax throws a punch right now, shouldn't we add a 'Whoa!' sound effect?"
Zoe Saldana mostly stretches quietly on the other side or discusses Gamora's more martial arts and jujitsu-oriented action choreography with her stunt double.
She practiced very hard; the marks left from the green special effects makeup trial hadn't completely faded yet, and her focused gaze was frightening.
Chen Xun could feel her occasional glances drifting over, filled with assessment and curiosity.
The favorability rating remains at 50, as stable as a mountain, but the sense of distance seems to have faded slightly.
It might be because he got along well with Dave, or it might be because he never slacked off in training and learned the moves very quickly.
During a break in training that day, director James Gunn strolled over, sporting messy hair and holding a tablet.
Instead of mentioning training, he sighed and said, "There's still one thing that's not completely settled: Groot's voice acting."
Dave blinked. "That tree that just says 'I'm Groot'? Do we really need a big name for that? I think I could do it myself, just say the same thing in three different tones!"
Gunn was amused by him: "Dave, your 'I am Groot' might sound like I'm going to tear you apart."
"What we need is a distinctive voice, an emotional depth, and preferably one that resonates with the audience and generates buzz, since the lines are few but every appearance is crucial."
He scratched his head: "I tried a few, but they were all just not quite right. My budget was also limited, and I couldn't afford the expensive ones."
Chen Xun was wiping his sweat with a towel when he heard this, and his heart stirred.
He remembered someone.
A person with a deep, resonant voice, whose speech has a natural echo.
When the break ended, he didn't go to training immediately.
I walked to a relatively quiet corner, took out my phone, found the number with "Vin Diesel" in the contact, and dialed it.
The phone rang a few times before being answered. The background noise on the other end was a bit loud, like it was coming from an event.
"List?"
Vin Diesel's voice came through, sounding slightly surprised: "Calling me at this hour? Aren't you practicing?"
"I just took a break, and there's something I might be a little presumptuous about, but I think you might be interested."
Chen Xun got straight to the point.
"explain."
"There's a character in Guardians of the Galaxy whose voice actor hasn't been decided yet, Groot."
"Groot?"
Vin Diesel paused for a moment: "I know, I've seen it in the comics, the line is just one line, right—"
"Yes, I am Groot, but I need to express a lot of meaning with different tones, rhythms, and emotions. The director wants to find someone who is recognizable and has audience appeal."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Vin Diesel's deep, magnetic chuckle: "Chen, you don't mean you want me to voice a tree, do you? And just one line?"
"More than just voice acting."
Chen Xun said, "This character is based on motion capture and voice acting. Although it's mostly CGI, the actor's performance and voice give it a soul. Fan, isn't Fast & Furious 6 coming out soon? This is a great point for cross-promotion."
"Fans will love to hear Dominic Toledo's voice in the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
He added, "I mentioned it to the director. He's heard of you and is very interested. Of course, his salary might not be as high as yours as the lead actor, but we can talk about other options."
"In what way?"
Vin Diesel became interested.
"Dubbing copyright!"
Chen Xun explained carefully: "If the movie is made, there will definitely be merchandise featuring the character Groot, including toys, games, and T-shirts."
"T-shirt—you need to use this phrase 'I am Groot' everywhere."
"We can try to negotiate a revenue share from the dubbing rights, splitting it proportionally. This is a steady stream of income, more profitable than a lump sum payment!"
The other end of the phone suddenly went silent.
Chen Xun could imagine Vin Diesel weighing the options.
He is very sensitive to business and brand value.
"List,"
Vin Diesel spoke again, his tone more serious: "Send me the scenes of Groot in the script, and the director's specific ideas about the character's voice."
"Also, please arrange a video conference with director Gunn and the person in charge at Marvel for me. The fee is negotiable; I can offer a friendly price, or even a symbolic fee. But the terms for the revenue sharing need to be clearly discussed."
Become!
Chen Xun felt a sense of relief.
"no problem!"
"What are you thanking me for?"
Vin Diesel's voice carried a hint of amusement: "We're a family, and we're voicing a tree in the Marvel universe. Sounds pretty cool, right? When the movie comes out, I can tell Paul and the others, 'I'm part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe now, even if I'm a tree, haha!'"
After hanging up the phone, Chen Xun immediately went to find Director Gu En.
Gunn's eyes lit up when he heard that Vin Diesel was interested.
Vin Diesel's voice is undeniably distinctive, and his involvement will definitely be a huge boost to the film's promotion.
Moreover, the words "friendship price" were like heavenly music to Gunn's ears, as he was trying to control his budget.
The video conference was scheduled for the next day.
Chen Xun also participated.
At the conference table, Gunn enthusiastically explained his vision for Groot, while Vin Diesel listened attentively, occasionally asking a few key questions, such as the emotional tone and how Groot would interact with other characters.
When discussing commercial terms, Vin Diesel's agent stepped in and engaged in a heated debate with Marvel's commercial representatives.
The focus was indeed on the revenue sharing of dubbing rights.
Marvel was initially reluctant.
This is their core asset.
But Vin Diesel's stance is very clear.
Low pay is acceptable, even zero pay is fine, but we must share in the long-term voice copyright revenue generated by the character's success.
This is equivalent to considering the actor's voice as part of the intellectual property rights of the character.
After several rounds of negotiation, a compromise was finally reached.
Vin Diesel completed the voice acting work for a very low fixed fee, while receiving a percentage of the net sales of Groot character-related voice merchandise.
The specific percentage was not disclosed, but both parties were satisfied.
The news was not immediately announced to the public, but it quickly spread within the production team.
Dave Bautista was the most excited: "Vin Diesel? Really? Wow! That would be so powerful to say 'I'm Groot'! It feels like I'm about to run someone over with my car!"
Even the usually aloof Zoe Saldana, during lunch, unusually remarked to Chen Xun, "You have a wide network of connections!"
His tone was neither positive nor negative, but his eyes seemed to have softened.
Chen Xun glanced at the top of her head, and Zoe's favorability towards her subtly shifted.
It became version 52.
Director Gunn patted Chen Xun on the shoulder and said, "Well done, Chen!"
"This not only solved the dubbing problem, but also secured a huge amount of attention from Fast & Furious fans for our film in advance! The contrast between Vin Diesel's voice and Groot's adorable personality—I already have marketing ideas!"
Vin Diesel has been cast as the voice actor for Groot.
Training continues.
A week has passed.
Director James Gunn appeared with his notebook, announcing the start of a new training phase.
Immersive role-playing and spontaneous interaction.
A space next to the training field was cleared out and a few chairs were placed there, resembling a makeshift talk show set.
Gunn pulled up a director's chair and sat to the side, holding a notebook and pen, like an observer.
"Alright, everyone,"
Gunn pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping over Chen Xun, Zoe, and Dave: "Physical fitness and movement are the skeleton; now we need to fill in the flesh, the things that will make the audience believe you're really a group."
He paused for a moment, then presented the first scenario.
"Imagine the three of you are stranded in a small bar on an alien space station because of a mission."
"The spaceship is broken and will take at least six hours to repair. The bar only has the cheapest buzzing worm slime drinks and a broken jukebox that keeps playing old Earth country music."
What do you talk about?
"Let's start with whoever speaks first, and then everyone can speak freely."
"Remember your roles: Peter is a thief who always wants to look cool, Gamora is an assassin who is extremely impatient with wasting time, and Drax is an avenger who doesn't understand metaphors and might even have a destructive urge to destroy the jukebox—"
"Action!"
The scene was quiet for a few seconds.
Dave looked around and spoke first in a gruff voice: "This music makes me want to smash things. Why does it sound like a sick Nak beast howling?"
He perfectly captured Drax's direct aversion to things he didn't understand.
Chen Xun immediately chimed in, leaning back in his chair and trying to strike a relaxed pose, but his eyes betrayed a hint of unease about the current situation: "Hey, relax, big guy, this is country music, an antique from Earth."
He glanced at the imagined broken jukebox: "My mom seems to have a similar cassette tape, but it sounds better than this one."
Zoe crossed her arms and said calmly, "Discussing musical tastes is pointless. What we should be discussing is the patrol cycle of this space station if the repair time exceeds six hours, and whether we need to change our hiding place."
"See!"
Chen Xunchao Dave pursed his lips, as if he had found an ally: "She never relaxes. Sometimes you have to learn to enjoy the wait."
"How about a cup of buzzing worm slime?"
He seemed to recall the taste and made a disgusted expression: "Never mind, forget I said anything."
Dave frowned, trying to understand: "Enjoy the wait? Wait for what? Wait for the enemy to discover us? So I can enjoy the pleasure of tearing them apart."
He spoke very seriously.
Chen Xun rolled his eyes, but a slight smile played on his lips: "You're not really going to tear them apart—okay, you might be, but I mean, enjoy this time when you have nothing to do."
"When I was a kid, I was on Yondu's ship, and we often did this, waiting for the next target while listening to strange music that I don't know which planet it was stolen from."
[Character credibility +17]
Chen Xun saw the values on his panel begin to change.
This also shows that he is getting closer and closer to the character of Star-Lord.
Zoe astutely noticed something: "You seem to be very good at using meaningless small talk and reminiscing to mask your nervousness and inability to make practical plans."
"That's called strategic relaxation, honey. And how do you know I'm not planning? Maybe I'm trying to remember where the emergency power interface is usually located on this type of spaceship."
[Character credibility +30]
Gunn quickly jotted down notes in his notebook, a smile playing on his lips.
My first time improvising.
Everyone was quite inexperienced.
But the characters' traits emerged, and a peculiar tension began to develop between the three of them.
Gunn added a few more scenarios.
"If you two have to raise an alien baby you found by chance."
"If Star-Lord stole a cheap trinket that Gamora considered important."
"If Drax insists that some awful-tasting nutritional paste is the most delicious food in the entire universe."
At first, Gunn had to call out "start" and "stop," but later everyone gradually loosened up.
Dave contributed many silly but unexpected laughs, such as insisting that the cubs spraying slime was an expression of affection.
Zoe was a little reserved at first.
The dialogue is quite close to the cold and hard tone of the script.
But inspired by some of Chen Xun and Dave's nonsensical interactions, she began to try adding some sarcastic and helpless responses.
Chen Xun is increasingly finding the feeling of using jokes as a shield, just like Peter Quill.
He could sense that Dave's favorability rating was steadily rising, and it was approaching 70.
-
Zoe's favorability rating has finally broken through 55.
Chen Xun himself also clearly felt the difference.
When he fully embodies Peter, speaking in that slightly exaggerated tone, trying to control the situation in awkward moments but often messing it up, he is no longer acting, but rather releasing a part of his personality.
[Character credibility +23]
Every time Chen Xun immerses himself in the character, the stats on his character panel increase.
A few days later, Gunn came up with a new trick.
He acquired an old VCR and a bunch of genuine American home videotapes from the late 70s and early 80s.
In a rehearsal room decorated like an old-fashioned living room.
He showed the actors these blurry videos filled with frizzy hair, oversized shirts, and silly smiles.
"look!"
Gunn pointed to a birthday party on the screen, with children surrounding a cake covered in candles and adults laughing beside them: "This is probably the last bit of normal life on Earth that Peter will see before he's taken away."
"His nostalgia is not a longing for grand history, but an obsession with these specific, trivial, even somewhat rustic, everyday moments."
"His Walkman and those outdated jokes and dance moves all came from here."