Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

There is only one cinema in Mangya.

Although Mangya is a big place, the surrounding area is barren, with hundreds of miles of uninhabited land, and the administrative level is not high.

The permanent population of the entire Mangya Committee is only a few thousand people, and there is no way to have a movie theater. The reason why there is a movie theater is sponsored by the Deep Space Corporation.

The movie theater is not big, there is only one hall in total.

This only hall is not big, and there are so few seats that the crew of "The Martian" alone can't fit in. Many people can only add extra seats or simply stand behind and watch.

Although the conditions were average, Spielberg and the others did not dislike it. For them during this period, this was a rare pastime.

While the theater staff were adjusting the equipment, Spielberg asked a few more words about the new movie, "I heard it's a gangster movie?"

Lu Xi replied, "It's a gangster movie, but it's different from ordinary gangster movies."

Spielberg didn't speak, and Matt Damon on the other side asked curiously, "What's the difference? Are the gangster movies in China different?"

Although Matt Damon was a few years older than Lu Xi and entered the industry earlier, the two got along quite well, so they usually talked a lot.

The two of them often talk about some film topics together. Through Lu Xi, Matt Damon has a better understanding of China's film industry.

Matt Damon found that the path of Chinese films is very different from that of Hollywood, whether it is literary films or commercial films.At first he thought that this difference was due to the difference in economic level between the two countries, but later he changed his view and believed that the main reason was the difference in culture.

The root cause of his change of view was the Deep Space Corporation.

As such a powerful company, Deep Space Company definitely surpasses most American film and television companies in economic strength, but they are still different from other American companies when they make movies.

Lu Xi smiled and said: "It's just that this movie is different. Oh, by the way, there are actually two versions of this movie. What we are seeing now is the mainland version."

Spielberg nodded, not too surprised. He had more contact with Yu Dong and the others, and he knew more and more about China.

While the three were talking, the screen lit up, and the whole hall gradually fell silent.

Just a few minutes into the movie, Spielberg couldn't help raising his eyebrows. Lu Xi was right, this is indeed not an ordinary police movie.

Compared to Matt Damon, Spielberg knows more about Chinese gangster movies—or the gangster movies of Xiangjiang, China.

Ordinary Xiangjiang gangster movies start with a fierce gun battle, trying to stimulate the audience's adrenaline from the first scene.

Most audiences go to the cinema and choose to watch a gangster movie, but they also go for the exciting scenes.

Of course, this phenomenon does not only exist in Hong Kong's gangster movies, but also in Hollywood gangster movies.Even if there is no shootout at the beginning, there are some scenes that grab the audience's attention, such as other violent scenes, and sex.

But the "Infernal Affairs" he is watching now is not the case at all. It has been 10 minutes of the movie, and there is not a single intense scene.

But the amazing thing is that the story is not boring at all, and it even feels fast-paced.

Spielberg understands that the reason for this feeling is that the film has a brilliant setting.

Whether the setting of a movie is good or not is fundamental to determining whether the audience can watch it.

And "Infernal Affairs" threw out the setting in the first few minutes-not only the police will place undercover agents in the gang, but gang members will also place undercover agents in the police force.

I thought that the setting was over, and the undercover agents on both sides were installed, and there must be some movement, but what Spielberg didn't expect was that there was no such a very intense scene after the movie was played for a long time.

As a gangster film, "Infernal Affairs" can be said to be very different.

If a movie doesn't include a few intense gun battles and blows up a few cars, how can it be ashamed to call itself a gangster movie?

However, although there are no gun battles and blown cars, the story of the whole movie is very smooth. Spielberg especially likes the design of the scenes on the roof.

He regards the scene where the two male protagonists meet on the rooftop as the climax of the whole play, and this scene can be said to be the epitome of the whole movie.

When Liu Jianming said to Chen Yongren, "Now I want to be a good person", Spielberg couldn't help but nodded. This line is very exciting, a bit unexpected, but it fits Liu Jianming's mental journey very well.

When the story reaches this point, it seems that the finale is about to come, but Spielberg always feels that there is something wrong. The movie paves the way for Liu Jianming a lot, and it is too simple for Chen Yongren to catch him so easily.

However, what Spielberg never expected was that another undercover gangster appeared and directly beat Chen Yongren to death.

Spielberg turned his head to look at Lu Xi next to him in surprise, his eyes seemed to say: Is this really the mainland version?
Although Spielberg is not very familiar with the review system in mainland China, he also knows that one of them is "bad guys must be sanctioned". Why are the bad guys so strong in this movie?
But in the end, the ending of the movie solved Spielberg's doubts. Liu Jianming was arrested after he stepped out of the elevator, and Chen Yongren's identity was also found out, and his injustice was cleared.

At the end of the movie, there was a burst of applause in the auditorium.

Some of these applause are polite and some are sincere. The movie is of course a good movie, but it cannot meet everyone's taste.

Especially for many American employees, there are many places in this movie that are too subtle, which makes them hard to understand. For example, the explanation about Infernal Affairs in it makes them feel quite obscure.

After the movie ended, Spielberg didn't stand up immediately. He stared at the screen and wondered whether the movie could be brought back to the United States for a remake.

In fact, Spielberg doesn't like the obscure parts in it, but he likes the setting and structure of the whole story. If he wants to remake, he will definitely change the ending. He doesn't care about the ending. very satisfied.

Of course, Spielberg didn't have to make the film himself. What he thought was to buy the rights to the remake and then find someone to film it.

He turned his head and asked Lu Xi: "Lu, you said this movie will be released in Europe and America?"

"Well, it won't be long before it will be released in the United States, and then it will be released in other countries and regions one after another."

"Does your company have any expectations for the movie's box office in Europe and America?"

Lu Xi shook his head with a smile, "This is our company's secret, I don't know. Steven, what do you think, will this movie do well at the box office in the United States?"

"It's hard to say." Spielberg frowned. "If the ending is still the same, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get a good box office. Of course, even if the ending is changed, the box office will not be too good. If your company promotes If it is enough, it may also get a box office of tens of millions of dollars."

"Tens of millions?" Lu Xi raised his eyebrows, a little surprised, "This is already very high."

It is indeed very high.

Although the box office of Deep Space Corporation's movies can easily exceed hundreds of millions of dollars, for "Infernal Affairs", let alone tens of millions, its box office in the United States can exceed tens of millions of dollars, which is very powerful.

In the United States, foreign language films are very difficult to mix.

So far, the highest-grossing foreign-language film is the Italian film "Life is Beautiful", which was released in the United States last year, with a US box office of 700 million US dollars.

Prior to this, the highest-grossing foreign-language film in the United States was "The Postman," which grossed just over $2000 million.

If "Infernal Affairs" can have a box office of more than 1000 million US dollars in the United States, it will be able to rank at the forefront of the foreign language film box office rankings in the United States.

Seeing Lu Xi's surprise, Spielberg said with a smile, "Don't be so surprised, you have to believe in the propaganda ability of Deep Space Corporation and the power of the name YU. If it was a few years ago, I would say that the Chinese people most like to watch The movie is a martial arts movie, and if American audiences want to pay to see a Chinese movie, it must be a martial arts movie, but the situation is different now."

"It's not the same?" Lu Xi looked puzzled, not understanding what Spielberg meant by the difference.

"Well, it's not the same. Now American audiences know more about China. Apart from Kung Fu, there are many other things, such as science fiction... This is all thanks to YU. I think American audiences can also Other movies besides martial arts movies are accepted."

Lu Xi nodded thoughtfully, then rushed to Matt Damon next to him and said, "Shall we go?"

The two turned their heads to look, and it turned out that there were not many people left in the theater. After the movie ended, most of them left.

"Let's go too." Spielberg stood up, "The box office of "Infernal Affairs" in North America, let's wait for it to be released in the United States."

The three started to walk out of the cinema, and Matt Damon proposed to have another meal. He was a little hungry.

Lu Xi and Spielberg both shook their heads, they didn't have the appetite that Matt Damon had.

In fact, Matt Damon was not very good at eating before, but in order to play "The Martian", he ate a little fat, and then he became stronger, and now he looks much bigger than before.On the contrary, his appetite is much better than before. After work is over every day, this guy is the most active in eating.

"Even if we wanted to eat, it was hard to find a place to eat. This is not New York or Los Angeles."

Lu Xi was right, no matter whether it was Mangya or Lenghu, there were no people moving around, let alone restaurants that were open.

"Unfortunately, it is very easy to gain weight by eating at this point."

"If you really want to eat it, you can go to the base. I have hot pot seasoning there. I can treat you to hot pot. As long as your stomach can stand it, that thing can also gain weight."

"Hot pot?" Matt Damon shook his head, "It's still not necessary."

Lu Xi knew that Matt Damon would refuse, and said with a smile, "You will accept hot pot one day, and then you will regret that you did not accept it earlier."

"Maybe." Matt Damon shrugged disapprovingly.

……

What Lu Xi and Matt Damon didn't know was that Spielberg called Yu Dong early the next morning.

"YU, have you eaten?" After coming to China so many times, Spielberg also learned the Chinese way of greeting.

Yu Dong on the other end of the phone said, "Steven, what can I do for you? I heard that you have been very busy recently. I didn't expect to have time to come to me. What happened to the filming of "The Martian"? "

"No, it's related to another movie."

"Another one?" Yu Dong thought for a while and asked, "Did you say "Shrek"?"

"No, what I want to talk about is "Infernal Affairs". Yesterday Lu Xi took me to the cinema to watch it."

Yu Dong was a little surprised, "Then you called, do you have any comments or suggestions on this movie?"

Spielberg didn't go around in circles anymore, and said directly, "I want to buy the rights to adapt this movie."

Yu Dong didn't expect that Spielberg would be attracted to "Infernal Affairs" only the second day after its release.

Yu Dong was going to sell the remake rights of "Infernal Affairs", or he could just write the script himself and sell the script.

Or, their own company raised investment, and then asked Scorsese to shoot, anyway, this project will definitely not lose money.

"Steven, are you going to buy it and shoot it yourself?"

"I will definitely find the most suitable person to shoot."

Hearing that Spielberg said that he didn't make the film himself, Yu Dong was not interested, "Actually, I have already chosen someone for the remake of this movie."

Now it was Spielberg's turn to be surprised, "This movie has just been released, and you've already decided who to remake it?"

"Aren't you the one who asked me to buy the right to remake the first day the movie was released?"

"Uh..." Spielberg was speechless for a while, and after a while, he asked again: "Can you tell me, who do you want to send to?"

"There's nothing that can't be said, and I want to give it to Scorsese."

"Martin... is a good choice. Have you told him about it?"

"Not yet, it's just an idea. Now that "Infernal Affairs" has just been released in China, there's no need to think too far."

Spielberg pondered for a while, and said, "Maybe, we can cooperate, I will invest some money, you will invest some money, and then invite Martin to direct, or, I will be your producer."

Yu Dong smiled and said, "Would Scorsese want you to be his producer?"

"Don't worry, Martin will agree." Spielberg said quite confidently.

Spielberg and Scorsese are very good friends. Although they don’t have much cooperation, they spend a lot of time together in private. It belongs to the kind of mutual learning, mutual appreciation, and mutual competition. They are both friends and competitors. relation.

Since Spielberg was confident that he could convince Scorsese, Yu Dong nodded, "No problem, come to Jinling after the filming of "The Martian" is finished, and we can have a good chat."

Hearing what Yu Dong said, Spielberg laughed, "Okay."