novellhall Chapter 200 Learning to Drive a Tractor [5000 words]
Chapter 200 Learning to Drive a Tractor [5000 words]
Chapter 200 Learning to Drive a Tractor [5000 words]
Anne Hathaway?
It matched the cast of "Interstellar" in his memory.
"Just received official notification from Nolan's studio."
Rob continued, "Anne signed a contract to play Professor Brand's daughter, Emilia Brand, the scientist who went to space with you. She previously worked on Nolan's Batman series."
Anne Hathaway, winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She can act in both commercial and art films and has a great rapport with audiences.
Her addition means that the cast of Interstellar has reached a top-tier level.
"Any further news from Nolan?"
Chen asked.
"Training preparations are now on the agenda."
"Is Annie also participating in training?"
"Of course, all the actors playing astronaut roles will participate, but her training may not be as extensive as yours, as your role involves more scenes of actually operating the spaceship."
Chen Xun nodded.
This arrangement is reasonable.
After hanging up the phone, Chen Xun threw the towel on the sofa and picked up his phone to browse the news.
The internet is buzzing with news about Anne Hathaway starring in Nolan's new film.
The Hollywood Reporter's front-page headline: "Nolan locks in Hathaway! Lead actress confirmed, Oscar winner joins sci-fi blockbuster."
The comments section below is already in an uproar.
"Anne? Seriously? Hasn't she had enough of playing the perfect princess yet?"
"Upstairs, that person just won an Oscar, how could their acting be problematic?"
"Come on, she's just too hardworking. Every acceptance speech she gives sounds like she's rehearsed a hundred times."
Chen Xun swiped the screen and clicked his tongue.
He also thought about how he felt when he saw this news in his previous life.
At this time, Anne was in a very mysterious state.
She had just swept the awards season with her role as Fantine in "Les Misérables" and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, but her reputation took a sharp turn for the worse.
A bunch of people online started criticizing Annie, saying she was fake, pretentious, and too eager to please everyone.
There's even a dedicated hashtag #HateHathawayGroup# that can generate several pages of discussion on Twitter.
Chen Xun remembered this.
Back then, he was puzzled as to why an actress with solid acting skills, a strong body of work, and no real scandals would be criticized so much after winning an Oscar.
He only understands now.
Hollywood is such a magical place.
Sometimes, viewers don't need a reason; they just don't like you.
Especially Annie's image as a good student.
She didn't grow up to be unattractive, had no scandals, and her acting skills steadily improved, which some people considered unrealistic.
It's as if you have to stumble, break your persona, and experience a low point before you deserve success.
"Perfection itself is the original sin."
Chen Xun muttered something and continued scrolling down.
Variety's report provided more details: "According to insiders, Hathaway signed on for Interstellar for approximately $850 million, below market value. Sources say Hathaway proactively adjusted her salary in exchange for the opportunity to work with Nolan, marking his second collaboration with her after Batman."
Chen Xun raised an eyebrow.
850?
For a sci-fi blockbuster with an investment of 1.65 million yuan, this salary is actually not high.
In comparison, Robert Downey Jr. was already earning $5000 million plus bonuses when he made Iron Man 3.
But Anne had just won an Oscar and was in the period of rising commercial value. Her willingness to lower her salary to take the role shows that she really valued this opportunity.
That's true, who wouldn't want to be in a Nolan film?
My phone vibrated again.
This time it was a text message from Kristen: "Saw the news, Anne Hathaway, you're really lucky."
It was followed by an eye-rolling emoji.
Chen Xun laughed and replied, "What's wrong, are you jealous?"
"Eat your head, I'm just reminding you that her reputation isn't good right now, and the media will definitely use that to make a fuss. You have a lot of scenes with her, so be careful not to get dragged into it."
"Understood, thank you for your guidance, Ms. Christine."
"Pah! Just wait until I get home, you'll regret it!"
The two exchanged a few more words before hanging up when Christine called for them to get to work.
The next morning, Rob showed up at the door.
"I brought you breakfast." He placed the paper bag on the table. "And there's a pile of documents to sign."
Chen Xun yawned as he came out of the bedroom: "So early?"
"Good morning? The media are practically besieging your door."
Rob pulled coffee and bagels from his bag: "Warner Bros. has officially released a press release, and now all the entertainment sections are discussing the casting for Interstellar. Guess what the focus is?"
"Annie's salary?"
"That's only one point; the important thing is—"
Rob opened his tablet and clicked on a report: "Nolan has once again cast an Oscar-caliber actress, comparing your pairing with Anne to Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard in Inception."
Chen Xun took the tablet and glanced at it.
The report was quite informative.
Nolan does have this habit; he likes to cast Oscar-winning actors in important supporting roles.
Halle Berry appeared in "The Dark Knight," although her scenes were later cut; Marion Cotillard appeared in "Inception"; and Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard appeared in "The Dark Knight Rises."
Now, in "Interstellar," he's the male lead, just nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and the female lead, Anne, has just won an Oscar.
"The media says you benefited from the Oscars."
Rob took a bite of his bagel: "I suggest you don't respond, let them make a fuss."
"I wasn't planning on responding anyway."
Chen Xun took a sip of coffee and also picked up a bagel.
This stuff tastes nowhere near as good as a big steamed bun!
When will the crew's training begin?
"It will take some more time!"
"Nolan rented a simulation training center from NASA, and all the actors involved in space scenes had to go there for two weeks of basic training, followed by additional training specific to their roles."
Rob pulled out the schedule: "Your character, Cooper, is a pilot, so you'll need to learn the basics of spaceship operation. Even though it's just a simulator, Nolan wants it to be as realistic as possible."
"Where's Annie?"
"Her role is that of a scientist, and her training focuses on operating equipment during spacewalks and in zero-gravity environments, oh yes—"
—
Rob suddenly lowered his voice: "Just a heads up, Annie might be acting a bit sensitive lately."
"Because of cyberbullying?"
"You found out too?"
Rob sighed, "Her team is on high alert right now. In the last interview, when the reporter asked her how she felt about the criticism of you online, she almost cried on the spot. So try not to talk about these things during filming."
Chen Xun nodded.
He can understand.
Actors may appear glamorous on the outside, but they actually face immense psychological pressure.
Especially actresses.
Appearance, age, body shape, private life, political stance, and even laughing too loudly can all get you criticized.
Anne was just unlucky to have been born in the era of the rise of social media, where even the slightest negative emotion can be amplified and cause her public image to collapse.
"But then again,"
Rob suddenly laughed: "How was it acting with an Oscar winner?"
"What can we do? We'll just act as we're supposed to."
Chen Xun shrugged: "She won't gain an extra hand just because she won an Oscar."
"You have a pretty stable mindset."
Rob put away the tablet: "Oh, right, there's one more thing. The promotional period for 'The Hunger Games 2' is coming up, and you'll need to do a few appearances. I'll try to schedule them to coincide with the 'Interstellar' training."
"What about Jennifer?"
"Her team has already contacted me, wanting to arrange for you to appear on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' with her. After all, the Jennifer Lawrence and her husband joke is still quite popular."
Chen Xun rubbed his forehead.
This meme is going to stick.
"Alright, you arrange it."
Chen Xun resigned himself to his fate.
Anyway, the promotional period only lasts a few months, so we just need to get through it.
When the plane landed in Calgary, Chen Xun thought he had traveled to some kind of post-apocalyptic movie set.
The view outside the window was a grayish-yellow.
In November, the grass on the prairie in Alberta has withered, and the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the distance gleam coldly under the overcast sky.
The temperature was minus fifteen degrees Celsius, and the wind felt like knives on my face.
The production team told him to come here to experience the life of a farmer before the intensive training.
-
I didn't expect it to be this cold!
No wonder Robert repeatedly told him to wear more clothes.
Chen Xun stomped his foot.
"Welcome to the Canadian grain warehouse."
The crew assistant who came to pick him up was also stamping his feet and rubbing his hands: "If you think it's cold here, wait until we get to the farm. It can get to minus twenty degrees Celsius there."
Chen Xun zipped his down jacket up to his chin: "Where's Director Nolan?"
"He asked you to come early to London to do the final preparations and learn how to be a farmer from the farm owner."
The assistant started the car: "Oh, by the way, you're not staying in a hotel, you're staying in the workers' quarters on the farm. The director said we need to experience real farm life."
Chen Xun's lips twitched.
very good!
This is so Nolan!
The farm is located in central Alberta, a three-hour drive from Calgary.
The more they drove, the more desolate the area became, and the cell phone signal dropped from full bars to one bar, and finally disappeared completely.
Chen Xun looked out the window at the boundless plain, with scattered farmhouses and granaries in the distance, and the sky seemed to hang low.
"Is this a place where corn is grown?"
He couldn't help but ask.
In his memory, corn shouldn't be in such cold weather.
"Theoretically, it shouldn't be planted."
The assistant explained, "Corn is a warm-weather crop. Here we are at 50 degrees north latitude, and the temperature can drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius in winter. But Director Nolan wanted this effect. The Earth's environment has deteriorated to the point that even the coldest places can only grow corn. That's what gives it an apocalyptic feel."
Chen Xun understood.
This is about experiencing firsthand what despair truly means!
The farmer's name was John. He was in his sixties, with a ruddy complexion, and wearing overalls covered in mud.
When he held Chen Xun's hand, Chen Xun felt as if he were holding a piece of sandpaper.
"An actor? Come learn farming?"
John sized him up, his eyes clearly showing disbelief: "With your delicate skin, can you really handle it?"
"Give it a try!"
Chen Xun didn't speak too definitively.
This was the first time he had ever encountered such cold weather.
John laughed: "Okay, but let's make it clear first, I don't do the Hollywood stuff here."
"You have to get up at five in the morning and go to the fields at six. You have to know how to operate tractors, harvesters, and irrigation systems. If you get injured, you are responsible for yourself. The first-aid kit is in the barn."
"clear!"
The workers' quarters were a small wooden hut containing only a bed, a stove, and a table.
There was no internet, only an old-fashioned radio.
Chen Xun threw his luggage on the bedside and glanced at his phone.
No signal.
Excellent, completely isolated from the world.
On the first day, Chen Xun was woken up at five o'clock by John's knocking on the door.
"Get up! The sun is about to rise!"
Chen Xun struggled to get up. It was still dark outside, and the temperature was minus eighteen degrees Celsius.
He put on his thickest clothes and followed John into the yard.
"This is your tractor."
John patted a red machine: "John Deere 6250R, 200 horsepower. Today we'll learn the basics."
Looking at the pile of control levers and pedals, Chen Xun felt it was even harder than learning to pilot a spaceship.
"Left foot for clutch, right foot for brake, this is the hydraulic lifting lever, which controls the raising and lowering of the implement, and this is the power take-off shaft switch —"
John explained, exhaling white breath.
Chen Xun climbed into the driver's seat.
The seats were ice cold, and the steering wheel felt freezing to the touch.
He tried to start it, and the tractor roared, shaking the entire cab.
"Now drive to that land."
John shouted, pointing into the distance.
The tractor was so loud that you couldn't hear it unless you shouted.
Chen Xun released the clutch, and the tractor suddenly lurched forward, almost stalling.
"Slow down! Do you think this is a sports car?"
John shouted again.
It took Chen Xun half an hour to barely manage to drive the tractor in a straight line.
The "Street Vehicle Offense and Defense Instinct" was of no use at this moment.
Right.
This tractor doesn't look like any of the vehicles you'd see on the street.
John jumped into the passenger seat: "Now let's learn how to attach farm implements. See that type? Reverse and align with the connection point."
Even reversing into a parking space isn't this difficult.
Chen Xun tried to align it several times but couldn't get it right, so John jumped down and manually adjusted it.
"Well, this is pretty good for the first day."
He hung up the plow: "Now we'll start plowing."
The tractor pulled the vehicle into the field.
Chen Xun saw in the rearview mirror that the soil had been turned up, revealing a dark brown color.
The wind whipped up dust and debris, slamming it against the windshield, casting a dim, yellowish hue over the view.
Tractor driving skills +1
A gray attribute orb fell from his body.
He froze for a moment.
This can drop attribute orbs?
Chen Xun absorbed the information quickly and efficiently.
He felt he had gained a deeper understanding of tractor driving skills, and the constantly vibrating steering wheel had become more familiar in his hands.
By noon, Chen Xun's back and waist were aching.
John called a halt, and the two sat on the edge of the field eating sandwiches.
"Your film crew really knows how to pick a location."
John took a bite of bread: "This land was originally for grazing. To grow corn, you need a special permit. The Canadian Ministry of Agriculture took several months to approve it, saying we were damaging the grassland ecosystem."
"It's been approved?"
"It's approved. Warner Bros. must have spent a lot of money."
John took a sip of coffee from his thermos: "But they're right. The native grasslands here are a threatened ecosystem, and our large-scale corn planting is indeed against regulations."
Chen Xun looked at the newly turned-up ground in front of him.
In the distance are the outlines of the Rocky Mountains, and nearby are withered yellow grasslands.
They planted corn in this place where it shouldn't have been planted, just to make a movie.
It's quite ironic.
"We'll learn about irrigation systems this afternoon."
"We're short of water here, so we have to pump it from underground. Do you know how to fix water pipes?"
"Won't!"
"I learned it today!"
For the next two weeks, Chen Xun lived the life of a true farmer.
I get up at five in the morning to check the farm machinery.
We go to the fields at six o'clock, either driving a tractor or operating a harvester.
I'll have a quick lunch and then learn repair in the afternoon.
The irrigation pump needs repairing, the tractor tire needs patching, and the barn door hinges need tightening.
His hands quickly developed calluses, his face became rough from the wind, and he lost five pounds.
But the attribute balls drop quite frequently.
[Endurance +2]
[Hands-on skills +3]
[Mechanical understanding +1]
Although they are all small gray and green balls, they add up to a lot.
Chen Xun discovered that when he truly mastered a skill, the quality of his dropped balls would increase.
On the third day, he repaired the irrigation pump on his own, and a purple ball fell from John's body [Fault Diagnosis +5].
"You learn things pretty quickly, kid."
John was a little surprised: "You've done farm work before?"
"No, but I learn everything quickly!"
With the help of the panel, his learning ability far exceeds that of ordinary people.
John only needs to teach him once, and he can grasp about 70-80% of it.
By the second week, he was able to operate most of the farm machinery independently and even help John with simple repairs.
At night, Chen Xun lit a stove to keep warm in the cabin.
Without internet, he could only listen to country music on the radio or read the farm management manual John had given him.
The manual mentions Alberta's agricultural regulations, such as land use permits, water resource management, and environmental protection requirements.
Chen Xun found it daunting, thinking that making movies was much simpler than farming.
Occasionally, when there is a signal, he will receive a few text messages.
Christine: "Are you still alive? I saw the tractor picture you posted on Instagram, it was pretty cool."
Jennifer: "I heard you're a farmer in Canada? Teach me how to drive a tractor next time we meet."
Dakota: "Keep warm, it's very cold over there."
Chen Xun replied to each question, then continued reading the manual.
Nolan arrived in the third week.
The director, wearing a thick down jacket, stood on the edge of the field, looking out at the boundless plain.
The corn has already been planted.
Although the crew knew that corn wouldn't grow well at this time of year and latitude, they still planted it.
Apply more fertilizer during the growing season and manage it well; the corn will gradually grow well, although the growth rate will be relatively slow.
"How is it?" Nolan asked.
-
"It's cold and I'm exhausted; I've become a farmer!"
Chen Xun was joking.
"This is exactly what I want."
Nolan looked into the distance: "CG can't create this kind of realism. I want real wind, real dust, and a real sense of oppression. The actors must actually know how to do farm work, otherwise the camera will immediately tell it's fake."
Chen Xun nodded.
He understands this logic.
Nolan's films are so impactful because of their obsessive realism.
"Your training with Annie is scheduled for December."
"NASA simulator, weightlessness training, but before that, you have to ingrain the feeling of a farmer into your body. Cooper is not just a pilot, he is a farmer in the apocalypse, you have to act out that kind of exhaustion and despair."
"clear!"
Nolan stayed for an afternoon and then left.
Before leaving, he pointed to the distant mountains: "See those snow-capped mountains? They were the background when we were filming. There was no need for post-production compositing. The real scenery was already this scale. Alberta's grassland landscape is unique in all of North America."
Chen Xun looked in the direction he was pointing.
The plains stretched to the horizon, then were abruptly cut off by the mountains.
The grassland was grayish-yellow, the snow-capped peaks were white, and the sky was a cold blue.
CG simply cannot create this sense of vastness.
Chen Xun had a dream that night.
In his dream, he was driving a combine harvester in a cornfield, but he could never finish harvesting all the corn.
The sky was dark red, and a sandstorm was rolling in from afar.
He drove forward as fast as he could, but the harvester suddenly broke down.
He jumped down to fix it, his hand was cut by the parts, and blood dripped into the soil.
Then he woke up.
The fire in the stove was almost out, and the cabin was as cold as an icebox.
Chen Xun got up to add firewood and glanced at his phone.
Three o'clock in the morning.
He couldn't sleep, so he got dressed and went outside.
The starry sky was frighteningly bright.
With no light pollution, the Milky Way stretches across the sky, and the stars are densely packed like diamonds scattered on the ground.
The temperature was minus twenty degrees Celsius, and your breath froze instantly.
Chen Xun walked to the tractor and touched the cold metal casing.
In another month, he will be filming on this site.
A farmer has been transformed into someone who is about to go into space wearing a spacesuit.
He found this sense of dislocation rather interesting.
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