Chapter 100: Future Transformation Plan
The Pentagon's generosity saved the crew a fortune, especially for several large-scale outdoor explosion scenes. The White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was the perfect location. The crew could detonate explosives and wreak havoc across the range to their heart's content without worrying about environmentalists knocking on their door.
To that end, coordinated by Pentagon liaison Lieutenant Colonel Lenho, Duke led a team—including director of photography John Schwartzman, art director Hannah Selina, assistant director Zack Snyder, pyrotechnician Joss William, and several department heads from Industrial Light and Magic—on location scouts to Edwards Air Force Base and the White Sands Missile Range to discuss set construction for the upcoming shoot.
During pre-production, Duke was hardly less busy than he was during an actual shoot. After returning to Burbank from New Mexico, he dispatched Zack Snyder with a small camera unit to capture location footage of landmarks and scenic spots worldwide—including Cairo, Sydney, the Middle East, Paris, and Mount Kilimanjaro—gathering raw material for the special effects team's CG compositing.
Negotiations with the lead actors also made headway. After a tug-of-war at the bargaining table, Will Smith signed a $250,000 acting contract. Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Naomi Watts, and Halle Berry subsequently secured their own deals, essentially finalizing the core cast.
Duke even carved out time to review Scarlett Johansson's audition. The little girl's acting chops were streets behind Kirsten Dunst's performance in Interview with the Vampire, but she was more than capable of playing the President's daughter in Independence Day. A few other child actors had tried pulling strings with the assistant directors, but once Duke made his preference known, they voluntarily backed off.
After the audition, Duke instructed Sofia to promptly pass the news to Scarlett Johansson and her mother. He then returned to his office to discuss the White Sands Missile Range shoot with his two production managers and John Schwartzman. As their discussion drew to a close, a knock came at the door, and Sofia Coppola walked in first.
"Can I come in?" Scarlett Johansson popped her little head through the doorway.
"Didn't you go back to class?"
Turning to look at her, Duke frowned. "Or did you skip?"