A Change of Pace

With professionals on board, Alex immediately realized that none of the problems he had worried about were problems anymore. They had all sorts of ways to turn scenes Alex had considered difficult to achieve into reality.

Seeing everyone so brimming with confidence, what else could Alex say? Time to start filming!

But on the very first day of shooting, Alex ran into trouble.

The film’s opening scene was a ship caught in a storm at sea. That was not difficult at all. To make it more impactful, Alex had even brought in a mutant who could control storms and actually whipped up a tempest over the ocean. The scene was magnificent and intense.

After that scene was finished, Tarzan’s parents were supposed to escape in a small boat. The trouble lay there—with the child.

It had to be said that Emma had made an excellent choice. The child was only about a year old and bore some resemblance to Remy. More importantly, the little guy was smart, bold, and very cooperative during filming.

But after several takes, Alex was still dissatisfied. He circled the child over and over before finally figuring out the issue. "This kid isn’t cute enough!"

Children were naturally adorable; they could melt hearts without even trying. The child Emma had found was also very cute, but after being bombarded by countless adorable things in the twenty-first century, Alex no longer found this child stunningly cute.

"Cute? What is that supposed to mean?" It was the first day of filming, and nearly everyone was there. Audrey looked surprised when she heard Alex’s words.

Alex paused before explaining, "It means adorable."

"Little Pete is adorable." Audrey reached out and picked up the child. As she teased him, she said somewhat unhappily, "Look at him. His smile is so cute!"

"Not cute enough. He looks more like a tiny pervert!" Alex reached out and nudged Little Pete’s head, which had tilted toward Audrey’s chest, then laughed.

Audrey lowered her head and glanced at her chest. Her face immediately reddened. She shot Alex a glare, then ran off with Little Pete in her arms.

"Why are you running? I’m telling the truth." In Alex’s eyes, Little Pete was simply too smart, which made him seem to lack some of the childlike adorableness a kid should have had.

Emma stood to one side with a frown. She smiled slightly, then asked with a serious expression, "Then what kind of child do you want?"

"Uh…" Alex paused and thought it over. "Big, bright eyes. The kind that makes you want to pick them up and kiss them the moment you see them." Alex did not know how to describe it, so he gestured as he spoke, using his extremely limited vocabulary to explain.

While Emma searched for a more suitable child, Alex could only lead the crew in filming Tarzan’s adult storyline.

Vivien Leigh was a professional actress, and Remy was quite talented as well. Under Vivien Leigh’s guidance, his acting had not improved by leaps and bounds, but it was more than enough for a film adapted from an animated movie.

There were plenty of grand scenes in the animation, and Alex wanted to bring every one of them to the big screen, so filming kept getting delayed again and again. Fortunately, Alex did not have to worry about funding, and the entire crew followed his orders completely. So he kept tinkering away to his heart’s content, polishing things bit by bit, with all the airs of a perfectionist director.

Before they knew it, two months had passed, and the film was only a little over halfway done. Today, they were about to tackle the most difficult shoot of the entire film: the sequence where a troop of baboons chased Tarzan and Jane.

Alex did not care about the cost at all. He had Emma bring in ten thousand baboons—genuine black baboons with vicious-looking teeth. When ten thousand baboons gathered together, the sight was a sea of black as far as the eye could see, and their cries shook the heavens. Fortunately, Emma and the others were keeping them under control. Otherwise, who knew what trouble they might have caused?

Once he confirmed that everything was ready, Alex signaled for filming to begin. After that, the rest had little to do with him.

Alex was the film’s director in name, but his main job was really just reviewing the footage after the cameramen had captured it and choosing the best takes. As for exactly how to shoot it, he had straightforwardly handed those professional matters over to people who were more qualified.

On the first take, Alex angrily called cut after only a few minutes. The scene of ten thousand baboons giving chase was an absolute mess.

Second take.

Third take.

After who knew how many takes, the sky had gone dark, yet Alex still was not satisfied.

"Take a break. We’ll continue tomorrow." After an entire day, they had gotten only a few usable shots and accomplished nothing else. Alex was irritated and did not even eat. He used Teleportation and vanished, leaving Vivien Leigh, who had come to comfort him, unable to find him. She could only leave disappointed.

Alex did not know where to go. On a whim, he found himself at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Nick Fury looked at the suddenly appearing Alex in surprise. After a moment of stunned silence, he smiled and asked, "Howard told me you’ve been busy making a movie?"

The moment Alex heard the word "movie," he felt annoyed. Still, he could not take his frustrations out on Nick Fury, so he gave a listless grunt and changed the subject. "Any news lately?"

"Hellfire has been getting more and more active recently. Edward Backman is doing everything he can to persuade various countries to join his plan to wipe out mutants." A mocking gleam flashed across Nick Fury’s dark face as he said casually, "That guy is completely insane. Luckily, most countries see things clearly enough and have ignored him."

After his earlier discussion with Emma, Alex had also seen things clearly. For now, he had no plans to clash with Hellfire. Let them make trouble if they wanted.

Seeing Alex’s calm expression, Nick Fury secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had truly been worried that Alex might fly into a rage and kill Edward Backman again. That would have been troublesome.

Speaking of Hellfire, Alex could not help thinking of Hydra. He had quite a few entanglements with Hydra, and he needed to find a way to resolve the Descendants of Atlantis issue in the Savage Land as well. Keeping it hidden was not a solution.

"Hydra is in quite a mess right now. Red Skull has returned and is seizing power. Strucker has no choice but to prepare to break away with the people from the technology division!" Speaking of Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s sworn enemy, Nick Fury could not help laughing again, his laughter growing increasingly mocking.

"Red Skull is seizing power?" Alex froze. Wasn’t Red Skull locked up in the Savage Land?

Seeing Alex’s stunned look, Nick Fury burst out laughing. As he laughed, he explained, "It’s that fake Red Skull. He turned an act into reality and truly replaced Strucker as Hydra’s leader." Alex had mentioned the fake Red Skull to Nick Fury before, so he knew about it.

Thinking of Strucker’s current situation, Alex did not know whether to laugh or cry. Strucker was a smart man too. How had he been played so thoroughly by a fake Red Skull?

"Oh, right. We have news about Bucky and Logan." As if suddenly remembering something, Nick Fury rubbed his forehead and complained, "Actually, we got the news a month ago, but we could never get in touch with you."

Alex gave an awkward laugh. Rather than address the matter of being unreachable, he asked, "What news?"

"Logan is in the Arctic. I have no idea why he went there!" Nick Fury shrugged, then continued, "As for Bucky…"

Just then, Carter rushed in. Her steps were hurried, and the expression on her face was rather strange.