The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 657 Li Shengyao’s choice is not wrong

In the beautiful country, late December to early January is a very important period. At this time, there are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and other holidays.

Just like China's Lunar New Year festival, many blockbusters will be released at this time, trying to cut leeks and make a lot of money.

For example, Disney's "Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens" was released at this time, as well as Paramount's "Daddy's Home", 7th Century Fox's "Rascal 4" and "Joy Struggle" ", Sony's "Concussion", and Universal's "Sisters" are all released at this time.

Of course, Warner Pictures also has new films, namely "Bad Thief" and "Creed."

The gimmick of "Bad Thief" is extreme sports. Although there are no big stars, the cost is nearly 70 million.

The promotion for "Creed" focuses on the Rocky film series.

There is no doubt that compared to "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens", these two movies are simply not enough to watch.

In the recent movie box office rankings, "Bad Guy" ranked seventh and "Creed" ranked ninth. Neither of these two movies could beat the hit "Sisters".

The box office war during this period seems to be a reflection of the box office of this whole year. Disney is the dominant one, and other film and television companies compete for the second place.

The once glorious Warner Pictures is now in obvious decline, and they have once again become an industry joke.

There is a lot of investment, and every publicity is very loud, but the effect is very bad.

Under such circumstances, the executives of Warner Pictures were naturally in a bad mood.

During this period of time, the only Warner executive in a good mood is probably Toby Emmerich.

"Joker", which he mainly promoted, was completed, and Lee Sheng-yew showed his past editing style. It only took ten days to complete the first cut of the film.

Emmerich has been following the production of "Joker" almost all the time. He believes in Li Shengyao's ability and believes that the movie can be successful.

After the initial editing and dubbing of the film was completed, Lee Sheng-yew returned to China with most of his team members.

"Joker" will participate in the 2015 Venice Film Festival and only needs to complete post-production before October, which still leaves ten months.

Film composer Hildy Guznadottir had not finished her work yet. Lee Sheng Yew gave her enough time, saying that she could take her time, quality was important, and there was no need to pursue time.

Therefore, the specific completion time of the film is still uncertain, and it depends entirely on Hildy's work progress.

Emmerich couldn't wait and planned to see the first cut now.

In addition to Emmerich, Robert De Niro and Laurie Anderson were also watching.

De Niro has always attached great importance to the production of "Joker". He has already told Emmerich that he must take him with him when watching the film.

As for Laurie Anderson, she is one of the top executives of Warner Pictures and a very famous documentary producer and director in Hollywood.

Many Warner executives believed in Lowry's aesthetics. This time "Joker" completed the initial cut, and Lowry came over on behalf of Warner Pictures to see the effect of the film.

The three people came to the viewing room. The staff was playing the movie, and someone also brought coffee and pastries.

The coffee was very hot, and thick white smoke came out of the dim viewing room.

Laurie picked up the coffee cup and whispered to Emmerich: "Toby, Lee is an excellent director, but an excellent director is not necessarily an excellent editor. Editing is a very professional job, Li The editing was completed in just ten days, wasn’t it too fast?”

She has short hair and is wearing black trousers and a small suit today. She looks very capable. She took a sip from her coffee cup and then continued: "Li used to have very good results in Hollywood. But he has been away from Hollywood for several years, and the North American film market has changed a lot. Although he has been winning awards recently, the business side is obviously not as sharp as before. Are you sure there are no problems with the movies he edited?"

Emmerich heard this and looked ahead with a cold face.

He was not very happy.

Warner Pictures had already signed a contract with Lee Sheng-Yao, who was solely responsible for the editing of "Joker". At that time, Warner's senior management meeting approved this decision.

Now that that's established, what does Laurie say now?

Do you regret it now?
Or is it interfering with Lee Sing-yew's editing?
In this case, he would be embarrassed.

Laurie continued: "Don't think that we are against you or sabotaging. Toby, we have been friends for decades. I hope you can go further with "Joker". This movie is very important to you." , you know, Warner Pictures and DC Pictures will re-select CEOs next year. You have ideas and hopes. Don’t you want "Joker" to be more outstanding?"

Emmerich looked slightly better after hearing what Laurie said. He nodded on the table and whispered: "Laurie, I'm not rejecting your kindness, but "Joker" is a completely new story, and Li is the story The most important writer.

In the whole world, he is the person who best understands the connotation of this story.

I think we should give her enough credit to make the story she wants to express the most.

If our people decide how to edit, the true meaning of "Joker" may not be shown, which will greatly reduce the quality of the movie. "

De Niro glanced at Laurie and continued: "What Toby said is right. Facts have proved that when the film was made, many people did not understand Lee's various choices. They felt that they could choose better actors. Better photographers, better scenes, better stories.

But based on my feelings on the set, in all aspects, Lee's choice is always the right one. There is no reason. His decision is the best choice for "Joker". "

Laurie shook his head, "De Niro, this does not conform to the Hollywood film production model. It is unscientific and the division of labor is unreasonable."

"No, many Hollywood movies are directed by big directors. You think they are not suitable. It's just that you don't trust Li."

Emmerich thought for a while, "Laurie, let's watch the movie and don't say anything else. I believe in Li." Laurie nodded silently after hearing this.

She is one of the best producers at Warner Pictures and has often made suggestions for Warner movies in the past. However, "Joker" is a movie that Emmerich mainly recommends. If others don't listen, she has nothing to do.

Personally, she prefers literary and artistic films, and she actually looks good on Lee Sing-yew.

However, from the perspective of a senior executive at Warner Pictures, she still has some mature words to say, hoping that more professional people can be arranged to handle the post-production work of the film.

After a while, the movie officially started.

Under a dark sky, on a dim street, people are coming and going, and the pedestrians are very indifferent. The male protagonist Arthur holds an LED billboard, dancing and displaying advertisements at the same time.

Both Emmerich and De Niro had read the script and knew what the story was. When they saw Arthur appearing in the camera, they both nodded excitedly.

Li Shengyao's scheduling of filming and Phoenix's performance were not mentioned at a glance.

Laurie had never read the script of "Joker" before, so he quickly absorbed it as he sat there.

She has produced several documentaries, all of which reflect the lives of ordinary people. Compared with ordinary Hollywood film company executives, she can be considered a more people-friendly and down-to-earth person.

She likes movies that reflect the lives of ordinary people at the bottom.

In this way, amidst the faint smell of coffee, the three of them watched the movie with full concentration and without daring to blink.

After the movie ended, it took two minutes before De Niro stood up excitedly and then clapped his hands.

"It's great. This is the most exciting movie I have seen in recent years. I like this movie very much. This is not a superhero movie or a DC universe movie. This is a movie that reflects the people at the bottom of New York."

Emmerich applauded.

The movie has not yet had a soundtrack, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of emotional guidance.

However, just after completing the first cut, Emmerich was very excited and excited.

He was 100% sure that this was a very good movie. This time he made the right bet, and Lee Sung-Yew delivered a perfect answer.

"Lee is great and you're right, the movie is brilliant."

Laurie only came back to her senses at this time. She had not read the script, and she only figured out some details in the movie at this time.

"It's a great, wonderful movie. Phoenix shows the working attitude of an artist. His performance will definitely shock everyone. He will become the most powerful contender for the Oscar for Best Actor.

Li is also very good, and the movie has almost no shortcomings. It is difficult to imagine such a movie without special effects or exciting scenes. It relies entirely on the plot, making people fully immersed in it and not daring to miss any part. "

Lowry finally said with certainty: "This movie must be the most competitive movie for the Oscars in 2016."

Emmerich nodded, "Laurie, you believe me now, this is the movie Li Hua edited in ten days. He is a genius, he has this ability, we cooperate with him, just stand aside and listen quietly, He will never let us down."

Laurie nodded and praised "Joker" for a while.

When the three of them left the viewing room together, Laurie still felt in a trance.

The world of "Joker" is so real, those stories seem to happen in reality.

However, Los Angeles is sunny and bright, and there is still a big gap between it and the world of "Joker".

She couldn't help but said: "The movie has not yet completed the soundtrack, and the effect is not the best. I can't wait for "Joker" to complete the soundtrack. I believe the movie will be even more exciting by then.

Who was assigned the score for this film? "

"Hildy."

"Hildy? How come I haven't heard of it?"

In Laurie Anderson's opinion, the film production is so wonderful, and if there is a first-class soundtrack, the film will be even better.

She thought Li Shengyao would find a music master, but she didn't expect it to be a stranger.

"Hildi is a young lady from Iceland who has scored two European films in the past and is very talented."

Laurie shook his head, "Toby, such a wonderful movie must use a soundtrack master. You shouldn't save money on such a thing."

Emmerich shook his head, "It's not that I want to save money, it's that Li fell in love with her and he felt that her style is very suitable for "Joker"."

"Did Li choose it?"

"Yes, it was Lee's idea."

Laurie was completely impressed by Li Shengyao at this time, "Since it is Li's choice, let's keep her. I believe in Li."

(End of this chapter)