Chapter 635: Eat Melons with Peace of Mind

silence.

The conference room suddenly fell into a strange silence...

Li Chungang is thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of Ridley Scott directing "The Lord of the Rings", and at the same time, he is more concerned about sitting on the Diaoyutai and waiting for the price. After all, this is a suggestion made by Evans. At this time, the other party should take the initiative and take a dominant position in promoting the whole incident.

If possible, it would be better to reduce his personal influence as much as possible!

"Why don't I invite Ridley Scott to the conference room to meet with everyone and have a chat before making a decision?" Evans, who hesitated for a long time, was finally not so calm and took the lead to break the deadlock on the scene , put forward his own ideas, in his opinion, as long as Li Chungang meets Ridley Scott and has a deeper understanding of the latter, he will naturally get on the same boat.

"Yes! Let's do it like this."

Then the two began to "do their own thing" again, and Evans did not shy away from dialing the contact number of Ridley Scott's agency in front of Li Chungang in the conference room.

First, he confessed to the other party that he wanted to invite Ridley Scott to direct the filming of "The Lord of the Rings", and then he mentioned that the author of "The Lord of the Rings" also expressed his desire to meet Mr. Lei in person at the company...

The entire call should last no more than three minutes. Anyway, there is no need for Evans to speak. Li Chungang has already seen the answer from his face, and the brokerage company must have agreed.

"Ding dong—"

It just so happened that the mobile phone's WeChat notification sounded. I didn't expect to ask Lin Meng to check Ridley Scott's information so soon that there would be news. Looking at the total size of this document "10.7M", if it is pure Written information is not too small, but if it is the kind with pictures and texts, it is not bad.

However, considering the limited time, it is not easy to collect to this extent.

This is also due to the fact that Ridley Scott is well-known internationally. If you want to find most of the information about him, you only need to search on Du Niang. The content recorded on Wikipedia is already very detailed That's right, plus some achievements in the film, reputation and comments from insiders, etc., all added up to form this "10.7M" document.

It will definitely take some time to wait for the arrival of Ridley Scott, so I can take a good look at this information, and I can have a confrontation with "Ridley Scott" from another plane in my memory. certificate.

Meanwhile at Ridley Scott's house.

After receiving Evans' invitation, the brokerage company immediately called Ridley Scott's daughter, Jordan Scott, who is currently resting at home.

And tell the content in detail on the phone, how respectful the attitude of the whole process is.

In fact, for a brokerage company, directors like Ridley Scott, whose personal reputation and the benefits created by filming are indisputable, are held in their hands with great care for fear of being transformed. The object of fawning.

Therefore, how could he refuse Mr. Lei's small request to let his daughter enter the brokerage company and become his broker.

It is said that "you know your son better than your mother, and you know your daughter better than your husband", and the same principle is also applicable in turn "know your father better than your daughter".

Jordan Scott knows better than anyone how much his father wants to be able to direct and shoot the "Lord of the Rings" series of movies. It can be seen by writing and drawing on my portable notebook while watching.

It's a pity...the Hollywood movie circle talks about whether it's big or small, and it's almost hard to hide a little trouble from someone who cares.

For example, the news of Ridley Scott was not on the list of three candidate directors selected by Universal Pictures after the final negotiation, and they couldn't hide it at all.

Originally, Jordan Scott had already figured out how to tell his father the news and comfort him, but who knew that things would suddenly turn around because of a call from the brokerage company.

Because Evans, the producer and project leader of the "Lord of the Rings" series of films, and Li Chungang, the author of the book himself, named and wanted to invite Ridley Scott to Universal for a talk.

And this talk is exactly what they want to hear the most. What they are most afraid of is that the other party will directly reject it without even giving a chance to talk like before. Can fight!

"This may be the last chance we can fight for!"

With this in mind, Jordan Scott told his father about the matter, and at the same time, the two made quick preparations and then drove to Universal's location.

—

"Making a movie is like a child who is free and unrestrained in a toy box. Only when I make a movie do I have this kind of child-like romantic feelings and innocent enthusiasm. I just like making movies. After so many years, I have come to an important point. The conclusion is that you don’t need any plan to make a movie, you can make it if you want.”

Ridley Scott looks far older and stronger than everyone imagined. He is still active among Hollywood's first-line directors. He is still in his eighties and still maintains a high production rate of one film a year, which is faster than many young directors. Both are much faster!

His sincerity towards movies is probably the most important reason why he is still making movies at such an old age.

After hearing what he said, Evans replied with a smile: "I have always liked your style, could you please briefly talk about how you plan to shoot "Lord of the Rings"?"

"I plan to make it a majestic war epic in the cold weapon era. I don't want to use a sharp style and fast-paced narrative to show the movie, but I plan to tell the story slowly. The emergence of heroes is always linked to the big era. of."

Li Chungang kept nodding beside him. As the saying goes, heroes make the times, and times make heroes. When the world has been quiet for too long, great things will happen naturally.

The world of "The Lord of the Rings" was supposed to be a high-magic world, but due to various reasons, it has become a low-magic world. When Bilbo Baggins was young, he could still see the last dragon in Middle-earth, but by this time Frodo Only the pseudo-dragon that the Nazgul rides is left.

"I have to give a compliment. The book "The Lord of the Rings" is definitely the best book I have read in my life. Every word and every sentence in the book is quite attractive, which is inexplicable to me. The familiar feeling, which is full of realism and romanticism intertwined, I must show these scenes conceived in my mind!"

Ridley Scott is a native of the Eagle Country, and perhaps he can naturally feel the original intention of Tolkien, who is also a native of the Eagle Country—to personally fabricate a new and unique mythology system for his own country.

The so-called realism means that the abilities of the characters in the Lord of the Rings have not expanded without limit, and the magic has gradually declined. If there is no magic in the cool text, a large number of enemies will be harvested like wheat, whether it is war or the life described. It is easy to resonate with the protagonist in the book.

The classic civilian hero route, Frodo did not fight monsters all the way to become a great person, this is the difference between Frodo and Harry Potter.

Of course, only realism cannot become an epic. If it is pure realism, there is only one ending of the Lord of the Rings, that is, Frodo and other so-called Fellowship of the Ring squad all die tragically, and the Lord of the Rings finally returns to the biggest villain Boss Sauron hands.

At this time, it was the turn of romanticism to come on the stage. When these heroes were swept by the current situation, Li Chungang abruptly completed the impossible task under the condition that the Fellowship of the Ring was fragmented.

When it comes to major decisions in Middle-earth, these positive characters tend to be emotional. Knowing that the road ahead is extremely bumpy, the members of the Fellowship of the Ring still hold their heads high; knowing that Frodo and Sam are weak chickens, but Aragorn still He decides to rescue Merry and Pippin; he waits for rescue in Helm's Deep, and asks the undead to fulfill his promise, and finally gathers the whole army.

Personal ability is limited, but human willpower is unlimited. It can affect everyone around you. This kind of feeling can make all readers and audiences bloody and excited!

"This is a simple demonstration version made by my special effects company Mill-Film a few days ago. The actors may not be suitable. They are actors I randomly selected from Hollywood. The main reason is that the battle scenes produced want to make you You can take a look."

As a film company, the most unlikely thing missing in the meeting room is the playback equipment, and Li Chungang was really amazed when this video appeared.

It is very simple, and the gray-robed and white-robed wizards appear in the picture. The acting skills and demeanor of the two cover up the lack of makeup, hair and clothing, and the clanging of swords and swords is powerful.

"I have to admit that in this type of movie, there should be no one stronger than Mr. Lei." Li Chungang broke the silence, and he seized the opportunity to express his attitude.

Evans glanced at Li Chungang quietly, and at this time he probably knew it in his heart.

If one second ago he was still worried about how to completely persuade Li Chungang to join him in proposing to the company leadership that Mr. Lei should direct the "Lord of the Rings" series of movies, then from this sentence, from this There was no need to worry at the beginning of the second, because the matter could not be more obvious by now.

And compared to the three directors on the shortlist that the two met before, the meeting with Ridley Scott this time is obviously more enjoyable, and it looks like a semi-finished film from the other party. When the video came out, the sincerity shown couldn't be more obvious!

Before I was not sure whether I could direct the film, I asked the special effects company to make a sample video regardless of the cost and time. The reason for this was that Ridley Scott was really optimistic about the "Lord of the Rings" movie from the bottom of his heart. And want to shoot in person, Li Chungang and Evans can't think of a second reason.

In addition, after seeing Ridley Scott in person, the mental outlook and physical condition shown by the other party can be said to have dispelled their last trace of concerns.

With his current physical health and mental state, there must be no problem in insisting on filming the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy series of movies.

That being the case, what else is there to consider! ?

"I am now sure that Ridley Scott is the director we have been looking for! Next, let's talk about the contract. After the contract is finalized, we will start writing the script and preparing the behind-the-scenes team. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done.”

The salary of 12 million US dollars is considered the highest among the first-line Hollywood directors, and this is only the salary of one movie.

Although the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was filmed together, the pay still has to be calculated separately, which means that Ridley will take a full 36 million US dollars from Universal Pictures just for the pay, not counting the box office dividend!

At this time, it is the turn of the agent and the producer to fight and bargain. Li Chungang is not an investor, so he has no right to speak at this time, just be a handsome and melon-eating crowd quietly .

Even though Ridley Scott's box office performance fluctuated greatly, the agent still got 5% of the global box office dividend. There is no threshold, and it is almost a steady profit!

But in another place, they had a huge disagreement.

In Hollywood, the producer-centered system is often implemented. In the production process of a film, the producer controls the whole process, from investment to script supervision, from the shooting cycle to the final editing of the film, to release, issued.

The producer has the most power in the entire crew, and at the same time is very familiar with the market, funds, and resources. For commercial considerations, he often scissors the film!

The reason why the producer has the final editing rights is that there are several considerations. One is the length of the movie, which is generally one and a half hours to two hours. If it is too long, it will affect the audience's viewing experience (people's holding back urine level is limited). The other is due to the consideration of ratings. The ratings of Hollywood movies are enough to affect the box office of movies. PG-13 is completely different from R ratings.

For example, the release version of Peter Jackson's version of "The Lord of the Rings" is 178 minutes, while the director's cut version on the disc is a full 228 minutes.

There are certain risks in letting the producer master the scissors. It may reap commercial success, but it may also destroy an original masterpiece.

And Ridley Scott, sitting opposite Li Chungang, is the biggest victim. "Kingdom of Heaven" was originally planned to be 3 hours and 14 minutes, but the producer, Twentieth Century Fox, felt it was too long and cut it to a reasonable length. 2 hours and 25 minutes left.

The director's cut version is not just as simple as adding 50 minutes, and the feeling of watching the movie is completely different. Many people say that if the version edited by Ridley Scott is released, the box office may be doubled several times!

This situation abounds in Hollywood. It is often seen that the advertisements of various movies when they are released on DVD or Blu-ray discs are gimmicks of the director’s cut version.

In addition to "Kingdom of Heaven", Lao Lei's "Blade Runner", "Gladiator", and "The Martian" have all released director's cut versions.

It is conceivable that the released versions are served by "scissors".

Of course, not all director's cuts are great, and can be bloated.

For example, the 4 hours and 02 minutes of the Justice League edited by Zadao released some time ago is definitely a huge test for the audience.

Li Chungang didn't know what other people felt when he watched it. Anyway, he didn't stop pressing the "→" key on the keyboard when he watched it!