Although it is rarely shown openly, most Hollywood directors come to China with a sense of superiority.
As if covered with an inexplicable brilliance, it descended into the wild land, and used cool special effects to amaze a group of Chinese movie fans who had never seen the world before, and went crazy for it.
Mostly...
James Lee has this kind of mentality.
"Oh, my God, you scared me, my legs are weak even now!"
"The feeling of bullets shooting through the screen was so realistic that I couldn't help but block it with my hand..."
"The scene of Superman flying in outer space carrying a rocket is so shocking, damn, it makes my scalp numb from the excitement!"
"Epic sci-fi blockbusters, really, foreign movies are so enjoyable. Hey, domestic movies are always like this. When will our Chinese movies also have such blockbusters?"
"Ten years from now!"
"It may not be available in ten years. Look at this technology..."
"..."
The plot of this movie follows the predecessor "Superman 1". The special effects alone cost 80 million US dollars. Among the more than 1,400 stunt shots, including Superman flying into the deep sea, passing through a burning tunnel, and once again recreating the baseball field to help
A series of shots including the soft landing of a Boeing 777 that made an emergency landing can be said to be one of the most expensive special effects blockbusters in Hollywood...
After the premiere of "Superman 2", young movie fans were very excited. After walking out of the cinema, they repeatedly chatted with their friends about their feelings while watching the movie. Some even felt that it was not enough and went to the ticket window again to watch it a second time...
…
The directors' eyes were extremely complicated, as if a new door was opening in front of them. Some were disappointed, some were surrounding James Lee with admiration and saying all kinds of flattery, and some were muttering to themselves, seemingly shocked.
I don’t know what to say. I originally thought that "Superman 1" was already the pinnacle of Hollywood special effects blockbusters, but no one could have imagined that the special effects in "Superman 2" were even more shocking than "Superman 1". After wearing 3D glasses,
Everyone seems to have come to another world...
Django was also shocked by the special effects of "Superman 2".
But compared to Cao Bangguo, who was always enthusiastic with James Lee and chatting about the evening lecture, he always maintained mixed emotions.
The emergence of "Superman 2" is destined to be a catastrophe for Chinese movies.
Whether it's "Infernal Affairs" or his "Night Walker", they will be affected by this hero...
"This is Mr. Milank, one of the special effects team of "Superman 2". Xiao Jiang, I will make an appointment for you later so you can have a good chat."
"Okay, thank you, Uncle Cao..."
When they left the screening room and came to the reception hall of the China Film Association, a group of directors were chatting about various topics around the "Superman 2" team. Cao Bangguo pulled Jiang Ge deliberately when he was in a trance, and then
Pointing to the blond and blue-eyed young man not far away, he patted Django on the shoulder.
Jiang Ge nodded, and the words "learn from the barbarians and learn skills to defeat the barbarians" echoed in his heart.
But somehow, he felt an inexplicable sense of humiliation in his heart, especially when he saw Feng Minmin, the president of the China Film Association, showing a hopeful smile when he saw James Lee. He always felt that this smile was
It has a hint of flattery.
A year ago, he was actually very adaptable to this kind of situation. Even when filming "Roboman", he wanted to kneel down and lick these foreigners.
And now...
I don’t know if I watched “Those Things About That Rabbit That Year” a few days ago, and I don’t know if it was influenced by the song “My Motherland”, but I always felt it was quite ironic.
However, after thinking about it carefully, he did not think that Cao Bangguo and others were wrong.
There is a gap between Chinese movies and Hollywood movies, right?
Being nice to them now is not flattery, nor is it flattery...
Even so, it is just to learn from them...
……………………
USA.
Los Angeles.
Christian is a really fucked up director.
When I met Christian, he was preparing to shoot "The Lambs". Later, after "Saw" was completed, he was still preparing to shoot "The Lambs". Now even the American version of "The Departed" has been filmed before the movie "The Lambs" is completed.
Halfway through filming, it was shelved for the time being due to issues with the actors...
The American version of "Infernal Affairs" is called "The Departed".
Yes, it is the Hong Kong version of "Infernal Affairs". The plot of the movie is roughly the same as "Infernal Affairs", and even the screenwriter openly uses Zhou Yang's name.
But after Zhou Yang watched the full version of "The Departed", he didn't know how to evaluate this "The Departed".
"Infernal Affairs" has a strong flavor of Eastern Buddhism, and every dialogue and content is full of the unique Eastern ideological realm.
The spirit of the character needs to be upgraded. He needs to be able to do things that normal people can't do, but the whole thing is relatively subtle. People need to understand his realm carefully and feel the charm of this movie.
"The Departed" expresses Western thinking, and the emotional expression of the characters should be more realistic...
There is surprise, frustration, anger, panic...
In fact, if we really want to talk about the differences, Zhou Yang found that the American version of "The Departed" was more unrestrained or more emotional than the one shot by Zhou Yang, completely abandoning the implicit feeling of "The Departed".
"Infernal Affairs" is more of a literary film, while "The Departed" is more of an out-and-out American police film...
Especially the occasional swear words in the lines, as well as the conflict between the black boy and the white police detective, have once again risen to a mainstream flavor from a subtle point of view.
""The Departed" will be released in North America tomorrow..."
"Not only will it take over the film schedule of "The Departed", but there will also be more publicity resources, especially the FBI police officers, who are willing to cooperate with the promotion of "The Departed"..."
"..."
Zheng Jun introduced the situation of "The Departed" in front of Zhou Yang.
Zhou Yang listened to Zheng Jun's introduction about the movie "The Departed" and nodded.
The memory gradually became clearer.
When I first met Zheng Jun, Zheng Jun was humble, strong, and restrained, as if his edges had been smoothed by life, like an inconspicuous stone on the roadside.
Now, he stood in the most conspicuous position at the conference table, became extremely confident, and explained his concept of filming "The Departed".
I have to admit that Zheng Jun is very talented and has a deep understanding of American and Lao culture. For the same plot, Zhou Yang's filming and Zheng Jun's filming are simply two different concepts.
One is in the Sky, and many American viewers felt their heads hurt watching it.
"On the Ground" is very down-to-earth, especially the description of each fragment, which is very realistic about the current situation of the old and the United States.
"The Departed" is definitely more marketable than "The Departed" in the United States.
After introducing "The Departed", Zheng Jun began to talk about his future ambitions in Laos and the United States...
It seemed that after filming "The Departed", a certain nerve in his body was completely touched. He kept telling Zhou Yang that he wanted to make an old American gangster movie for his new movie, and told Zhou Yang some of his feelings about gangsters. The idea and concept of the film.
"I want to make a gangster film from the 20th century, from the 1920s to the 1960s... It mainly tells the history of gangs in this period, as well as the story of the rise of some low-level people..."
"If possible, I hope this movie is an epic gangster movie that depicts human conflicts such as friendship and opposition, loyalty and betrayal..."
"Mr. Zhou, no matter how much the box office of "The Departed" is, as one of the directors, I don't want a penny. I hope you can support me in making this movie. I am very eager. I can even say that this is a kind of movie." A longing from the depths of the soul..."
"This is my script outline. Although the film investment may be huge, I guarantee that this film will not lose money! If it does... I am willing to sign a ten-year or even twenty-year contract with you to repay the debt..."
"..."
In the conference room of SKY Company.
Zheng Jun's eyes were full of desire, and he was as fanatical as a madman.
He handed the outline of the script to Zhou Yang, his hands were shaking constantly, and Zhou Yang could clearly feel a little sweat on his palms.
Quite like a desperate gambler.
"I'll look at the outline first."
Zhou Yang did not agree, but took the movie synopsis of "American Gangster History" and started reading it.
Zheng Jun's scripts are always so pleasing to the eye...
Just like the previous "Mineral Bottom", although it is an outline, every character and every shot is extremely detailed, and even the time period when the main characters appear is clearly written.
But perhaps because of cultural differences, or perhaps because Zheng Jun wrote the outline in such detail that it makes one’s head hurt, Zhou Yang really didn’t have much sense of the outline of the movie "American Gangster History". After reading it, he looked up at Zheng Jun. After hesitating for a while, he looked at Zheng Jun's expectant eyes, but he couldn't bear to refuse in his heart.
"How much investment?"
"Ten million dollars..."
"How many?"
"Ten million dollars." Zheng Jun continued. After he finished speaking, the light in his eyes became more intense.
Ten million US dollars, equivalent to nearly 80 million yuan.
After Zhou Yang heard this figure, his heart froze for a moment, and he felt his heart skip a beat. In all the movies he has made so far, he has never had such a high investment.
The huge conference room suddenly became silent.
Then, he lowered his head and glanced at "American Gangster History" and looked at the script outline of the movie again.
As he watched, Zhou Yang always felt a little strangely familiar...
Vaguely, another movie came to mind, that movie was called "Once Upon a Time in America".
This movie was very famous in the original world, but due to some editing reasons, an investment of 40 million US dollars was exchanged for several million US dollars at the box office. It has only entered the history of American and American films and has been regarded as one of the landmark films of American classics...
I also read the synopsis of Zhou Yang's movie, but I haven't seen the full version of the movie.
The full version is too long, a full four hours...
He really didn't have the patience to watch.
But after seeing "American Gangster History", the general outline and core selling points of "Once Upon a Time in America" emerged in Zhou Yang's mind...
"Let's do this. Give me your script and I'll make some slight changes. After the changes are made, do you think it's suitable? If so, just shoot it! Well, it's not a change, it's just adding something to your script outline. You
Do you think it’s okay?”
"Okay, okay, great. Actually, there are some things I don't understand here. Mr. Zhou, I just want to ask you for advice..." Zheng Jun nodded excitedly, his face turned red, as if he was on drugs.
Average.
……………………
"Has the box office of "Infernal Affairs" been released on the 15th?"
"Out……"
"How many?"
"Twenty million...is not ideal. Being hit by "Superman 2" is really too big!"
"Does Mr. Zhou know?"
"I don't know, Mr. Zhou's phone has been unreachable..."
"..."
China.
China Star Entertainment.
After Wang Jing and Xu Mei received the box office tickets for "Infernal Affairs" on the 15th, they fell silent instantly.