A Senior from the University of Southern California: George Lucas

"Oh!"

"Director Kevin, well done!"

"..."

The crew cheered once more.

Not every Hollywood film held a party after filming wrapped.

After all, parties cost money.

But Kevin naturally did not care about such a small expense. He generously set aside a hundred thousand dollars from the production budget for the final wrap party.

Tom Cruise finally let out a breath as well. After four straight months of rushing around, even an iron man would have felt tired.

Let alone someone made of flesh and blood.

The post-production work had nothing to do with him. What he needed to do was start the advance publicity, but before that, he intended to go home and rest properly for a few days.

At a five-star hotel.

After a thoroughly enjoyable party.

Tom Cruise came over to Kevin and said with a hint of emotion, "I believe Mission: Impossible will become another masterpiece in Director Kevin's hands. I'm honored to have worked with you on this film, Director Kevin. I hope we'll have more opportunities to work together in the future."

Whether a movie would turn out to be a cash-grab could actually be felt during filming.

A good movie could bring out an actor's potential and allow them to deliver their best performance.

And in a bad movie, audiences could directly sense the actors' painfully awkward acting.

It was an unconscious behavior. Sometimes even the actors themselves did not realize it, but it was real. After all, when they knew they were acting in a bad movie, they often could not muster any enthusiasm, so they naturally became far too relaxed.

People like Nicolas Cage, whose acting remained steady no matter what movie he was in, were exceptionally rare.

And from Kevin's directing, Tom Cruise could sense the care Kevin had put into designing this film, whether it was the action scenes, the characters' traits, or the plot's overall arrangement.

Simply put, this was a movie with substance.

And movies like that usually did not perform too badly at the box office.

"There'll be opportunities, Cruise. You're an excellent actor."

In the future, Tom Cruise would be surrounded by countless controversies.

But for an actor, what truly mattered was whether he was qualified at his own job.

And on that point, Kevin, who had worked with him, had only one thing to say.

Respect.

In Kevin's eyes, Tom Cruise possessed outstanding professional ethics. Aside from certain excessively dangerous stunts that were rejected by insurance company staff and producers, he was fearless about everything else.

He had sustained a few minor injuries during those action scenes, but Cruise had never complained because of them.

Kevin could not help but sigh. There was a reason Cruise had become a superstar.

And only then did Kevin ask the question that had been on his mind.

"Cruise, why did you choose to join them?"

"Because I'm part of their upper ranks."

Cruise's words were simple, but Kevin instantly understood what he meant.

It was not that he had been deceived by them. They had directly recruited him by offering him a high-ranking position.

The people they harmed were the lower and middle classes. Someone like him, joining their upper ranks, would only enjoy their resources and suffer no disadvantages.

He had no reason to refuse.

Kevin, who held citizenship in two countries, did not question Cruise's choice.

At the end of the day, other people's choices had nothing to do with him.

As long as Tom Cruise was a qualified and good actor, that was enough.

The next day, the other members of the crew all began their vacations.

Kevin, however, did not rest at all. Other than thoroughly rolling around in bed with Jolie the night before and venting some of his exhaustion.

He headed straight to MGM's building.

Before filming had begun, he had already agreed that the editing would be done at MGM. That way, once it was completed, MGM would be the first to rate Mission: Impossible.

Warner and Paramount did not particularly care about that point, but it was very important to MGM, which placed immense importance on this film.

Rett looked at Kevin's haggard face and unkempt beard after four months of constant running around, then said solemnly, "I'm leaving everything to you."

"Leave it to me."

Kevin smiled and plunged headfirst into the editing room.

Seven days later, Tom Cruise, Jolie, and the other major supporting actors resumed their busy promotional work after several days of rest.

This included, but was not limited to, appearing on various television programs controlled by the major capital forces behind Warner and Paramount, where they discussed all sorts of interesting stories about Mission: Impossible.

MGM was at a disadvantage in that regard. This was also why it had fallen out of the Big Five studios and could only maintain its position among Hollywood's Big Eight.

Without major capital backing it, MGM could not keep up in many areas.

The outside publicity had little to do with Kevin. In this era before the internet, people generally did not pay much attention to a film's director.

They cared more about the stars who appeared in the movie.

After more than ten days of editing, the film's first cut was finally completed. Kevin then had to busy himself with dubbing and adjusting the color tones of the footage.

Of course, the most important matter was handling the special effects.

Regarding that, MGM president Rett recommended Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects company founded by George Lucas.

George Lucas and the director of Titanic, James Cameron, were both directors focused on special effects technology.

They paid greater attention to the application of various special effects techniques in their films.

The movies they made often brought audiences unprecedented visual shock.

Cameron in particular—every one of his films came with advances in filmmaking technology.

Avatar's success could not be separated from his research into 3D film technology.

Under Rett's introduction, Kevin went directly to Industrial Light & Magic.

And his arrival received a warm welcome from Lucas.

"Steve Kevin, I'm George Lucas. I was also a student at the University of Southern California, so technically, I'm your senior."

Lucas, wearing a neatly trimmed full beard and looking quite serious, laughed heartily.

As students of the University of Southern California, they naturally belonged to the same faction in Hollywood.

As long as there was no conflict of interest, it was perfectly normal to lend a hand to one's juniors or seniors.

The University of Southern California faction wielded considerable influence in Hollywood.

To say nothing else, it played an absolutely crucial role during awards season.

Kevin laughed as well. He had spent over a year in Hollywood, but because he spent most of his time making movies, his network there was actually fairly ordinary.

But since such a faction existed, he had no reason not to join it. In response to Lucas's goodwill, Kevin responded enthusiastically.

"Hello, Senior Lucas. I came here today because I want Industrial Light & Magic to create some of the special effects for Mission: Impossible."

"As Hollywood's strongest special effects company, if I have needs in this area, of course I'd come directly to my senior."

After exchanging a few compliments and briefly chatting about Hollywood's behind-the-scenes talk.

The two quickly entered formal business negotiations.

Mission: Impossible 1 did not have an especially large number of special effects shots, but none of them were easy, so they would still cost a considerable amount of money.

After some negotiations, they ultimately settled on a two-month schedule and a deal involving more than a hundred special effects shots.

After finalizing the deal, Kevin agreed to attend a future University of Southern California gathering that Lucas would organize when the time was set.

Kevin left Industrial Light & Magic and began handling the detailed work for his other films.

Overall, Kevin was satisfied with this movie. The only regret was that, because it had been made early and he was not particularly short on money, he had not found a suitable advertiser. As a result, he had invested a full eighty million dollars into it, spending with extravagant confidence.