Early the next morning.
Cassius and the Fanning sisters ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
Dakota kept her head down the whole time, focusing on dealing with the scrambled eggs on her plate, just not daring to look into Cassius's eyes.
Occasionally, when their gazes met accidentally, she would look away immediately as if scalded, and the roots of her ears would uncontrollably turn red.
Cassius wanted to act natural, but every time he looked over, Dakota obviously got more nervous.
Was the [Gaze] halo effect a debuff?
Why did the aftereffect feel even stronger than last night?
Elle was still happily planning to find Cassius to play next time she went to Los Angeles, completely oblivious to the subtlety between her sister and Cassius.
What Cassius found strange was that Elle's gaze towards him didn't change much; it was always adoration!
He guessed that in Elle's heart, he was already her idol.
On the way to the airport.
Dakota decisively chose the passenger seat.
Leaving Cassius and Elle in the back seat.
Elle squeezed next to him, still chattering:
"Brother Cassius, you must be careful when filming action scenes next time. I saw many actors get injured..."
Cassius dealt with the enthusiastic little fan while looking at Dakota in the front row pretending to watch the scenery.
This scene could simply be filmed as an awkward comedy.
[Dakota Fanning Favorability +8, Current Favorability 73]
At least the favorability increase was real!
Did this count as cheating the system to boost favorability?
On the plane, Dakota directly put on an eye mask, adopting an "I'm sleeping, do not disturb" posture.
Cassius was happy for the quiet, closing his eyes to organize his thoughts.
The [Gaze] halo would refresh after midnight today. Hopefully, a useful attribute would be randomized for the test shoot.
Just landed in Los Angeles and turned on his phone when Rob's call came in right on time.
"Bro! You finally turned on your phone!"
"Warner's side is set! Test shoot is the morning after tomorrow! Final script segments sent to your email, hurry up and read!"
"What about Ryan Reynolds?"
Cassius walked out carrying his luggage.
"Accepted too! Heard that guy read the modified Hal script and is very motivated!"
Rob spoke rapidly:
"Playing for real this time. Both sides shoot three core segments directly on green screen. Simple special effects synthesis will be done in post to simulate the finished effect! All Warner executives who can make decisions will be there to watch the playback!"
This posture was indeed a real showdown!
"Also news!"
Rob lowered his voice:
"Internal tip, Ryan's side hired an action director for extra training, wanting to play up Hal's test pilot vibe more!"
"Your fight choreography shouldn't be too fancy. Needs to be grounded, but also look good!"
"Understood!"
Hanging up, Cassius glanced at Dakota following behind, still avoiding his gaze.
"I have to go straight to my agent. You guys..."
"We'll drive back ourselves!"
Dakota interjected immediately, speaking fast like answering a quiz show: "You do your thing!"
Elle was reluctant to part:
"Go Brother Cassius! You can definitely beat that Ryan whatever!"
Cassius smiled, reached out to ruffle Elle's hair, then looked at Dakota: "Leaving!"
Dakota glanced at him quickly, nodded, and didn't speak.
[Dakota Fanning Favorability +2, Current Favorability 75]
Cassius: "..."
The colder the exterior, the hotter the interior!
Cassius suddenly remembered a male and female colleague from his past life. They usually liked to joke around when they had nothing to do.
The content was also quite suggestive!
Until one day, they were particularly serious, not even daring to look at each other!
In that moment, Cassius knew they definitely slept together the night before!
Rob's office.
The burly agent looked more nervous than Cassius, sporting two heavy dark circles under his eyes.
"How do you feel? Can we take it?"
"Script is no problem, after all, I wrote it myself!"
Cassius was very calm. "Now the key is on-the-spot performance!"
"Ryan's side is fully prepared!"
Rob paced back and forth in the office:
"I heard he's sore all over from training for those flight and combat scenes! Have you thought about your action design?"
"Coder fighting can't be too cool, but can't be too weak either!"
Cassius laughed:
"Who told you a coder can't fight? Don't forget the setting; he's in a lion dance team on weekends!"
"What I want is that effect of having some foundation but not knowing how to use it, getting beaten by the instructor looking for teeth all over the floor, but occasionally having a flash of brilliance and using some strange moves!"
He subconsciously mimed a horse stance and shoulder sink common in lion dance, combined with a wrist turn, like stabilizing the lion head, or parrying an attack.
After the [Body Language] attribute rose to Level 3, his control over his body was indeed much handier!
"Fuck! You still have the mind to play with this!"
Rob saw him still having time to mime and almost went crazy:
"The director for this test shoot is still Martin Campbell!"
"Although he likes your idea, he's famously strict on set! If you can't act out the feeling he wants, even the best idea is useless!"
"Relax, I know what I'm doing!"
Cassius comforted him:
"Find me a reliable action director, someone who knows a bit of basic Chinese martial arts. Doesn't need to be too routinized. Ideally someone who can design that kind of street fighting mixed with some traditional moves, wild style!"
"OK! I'll contact immediately!"
Rob noted it down, then remembered something:
"Warner requires costumes for both versions to be ready too!"
"Ryan wears a motion capture suit; battles rely entirely on CGI. Your side has a physical battle suit made according to your requirements. Try it tomorrow!"
Things came one after another; time was tight.
Cassius left Rob's and went straight to a nearby training gym.
The action director Rob found was already waiting. A foreigner named Dave who had worked on Hong Kong film sets for many years, surprisingly could even speak a few halting sentences of Cantonese.
As soon as Cassius stated his requirements, Dave understood:
"I get it! Not Jet Li style, Jackie Chan style! Fighting has to be real, painful, and have a bit of cleverness!"
The two began designing moves against the training conflict scenes in the script.
[Comical Body Movement +3]
[Comedic Rhythm +3]
Attribute orbs dropped from the action director one by one.
Cassius absorbed them all!
Plus his Level 3 Body Language attribute foundation.
Cassius learned fast!
Many moves Dave demonstrated once, he could imitate 70-80%!
Then integrating his own understanding of the clumsy yet struggling feeling belonging to a coder.
"Good! Very natural!"
Dave watched Cassius get faked out by a feint.
Then scrambling to pull distance, subconsciously muttering "this won't do, this won't do" in Chinese, and gave a thumbs up:
"That's exactly the spirit of being cowardly but not wanting to give up!"
After training for a few hours, Cassius was covered in sweat but felt his grasp of the character's body language was clearer.
And his [Body Language] attribute rose by over 50 points in just a few hours!
Efficiency getting higher and higher!
Cassius discovered that as his attribute panel level rose, the frequency and quality of attribute orb drops also increased!
His progress speed didn't slow down because experience required for leveling up increased; instead, leveling speed further increased!
This was also related to the increasingly professional actors and staff he came into contact with!